Free Republic

The German Cabinet met on Wednesday to discuss the removal of terms like “mentally perverted” and “weak in the mind” from the criminal code, where they are used to refer to disabled people The government’s commissioner for people with disabilities, Jürgen Dusel, welcomed the possible change, saying such terms were “stigmatizing, discriminatory and dehumanizing.” “Terms like ‘mental perversion’ [seelische Abartigkeit] and ‘mentally weak’ [schwachsinnig] are simply crude,” he told DW. “People outside of legal and political circles often don’t know that these terms exist in the criminal code,” he added. Since his appointment to the office in May 2018, he...

As Placer County’s health officer, Dr. Aimee Sisson, did the math, she realized that quarantining those exposed to the new coronavirus was not going to contain the spread of the disease. This realization hit Sisson as she and her team investigated a case of COVID-19 in a Placer County resident who had returned home Feb. 21 from a cruise to Mexico aboard the Grand Princess. The respiratory illness wasn’t diagnosed until March 3, however, so for 11 days, other local people could have been infected. While researchers have put the maximum incubation period for COVID-19 at 14 days, Sisson said,...

Public health leaders in Placer, Sacramento and Yolo counties say their departments will no longer recommend isolation or quarantine for people exposed to someone with COVID-19, as they now will focus on reducing the risk to populations at the greatest risk of dying from the respiratory illness. In an interview Monday, Dr. Peter Beilenson, head of Sacramento County’s Department of Health Services, said public health officials quarantined the sick and those who came into close contact with them as a way to slow spread of the disease, but as the number of cases increase statewide, public health has to acknowledge...

March 12 2020 Thursday of the Second Week of Lent Reading 1 Jer 17:5-10 Thus says the LORD: Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh, whose heart turns away from the LORD. He is like a barren bush in the desert that enjoys no change of season, But stands in a lava waste, a salt and empty earth. Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose hope is the LORD. He is like a tree planted beside the waters that stretches out its roots to the stream: It fears...

[Catholic/Orthodox Caucus] Suspension Of Public Celebration Of The Eucharist Announced For The Archdiocese of Seattle Please watch this video for an important update regarding efforts in the Archdiocese of Seattle to slow the spread of the COVID_19 epidemic.

An elderly patient in a northern California assisted living facility has died of the novel coronavirus, sparking fears of an outbreak among other residents of the facility and renewing concerns about statewide availability of testing kits to detect the virus. Sacramento County health officials announced Tuesday that a patient in her 90s was the county’s first fatality from COVID-19.  The Sacramento Bee identified the facility as Carlton Senior Living.The woman was among about 140 patients of the facility in Elk Grove, the same suburb where all public schools were closed this week after two family members with students in multiple sites tested positive for...

The Minnesota Democrat announced on Instagram Wednesday night that she’d remarried, apparently to the political consultant she allegedly had an affair with. “From partners in politics to life partners, so blessed,” Omar captioned a black and white shot of her and her new husband canoodling with rings on their fingers.

You CAN have your favorite cheese on hand, even in an emergency, and even though no stores are open and you have no access to electricity. All you have to do is buy the hard blocks of cheese that you want now in order to have them stored for up to the next 25 years. Cheese wax prevents your cheese from developing mold or bacteria and it keeps the moisture in. Simply use a combination of dipping and brushing with a natural boar's hair brush to apply the melted cheese wax liberally to your block of cheese, let it harden,...

Federally funded tests conducted by scientists from several major institutions indicated that the novel form of coronavirus behind a worldwide outbreak can survive in the air for several hours. A study awaiting peer review from scientists at Princeton University, the University of California-Los Angeles and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) posted online Wednesday indicated that the COVID-19 virus could remain viable in the air "up to 3 hours post aerosolization," while remaining alive on plastic and other surfaces for up to three days. "Our results indicate that aerosol and fomite transmission of HCoV-19 is plausible, as the virus can...

On Wednesday, the St. Paul City Council waded into a national debate over abortion access by approving a resolution on a 7-0 vote to recognize March 10 as Abortion Providers Appreciation Day in St. Paul. “I am saddened by the St. Paul City Council’s vote to approve Abortion Providers Appreciation Day and disturbed by the insensitive nature of their resolution,” said Senator Mark Johnson (R-East Grand Forks). “Movements like this are indicative of the moral decline occurring in Minnesota and across our country. As a father of three, I understand the sanctity of life and the joy that children bring...

Terrorist organizations are "on the march" in West Africa and the Sahel with international efforts failing to curb the increase in violence, a four-star American general in charge of U.S. troops in Africa warned on Tuesday.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has proclaimed March 10 as Abortion Provider Appreciation Day. On Tuesday, Gender Justice and the Whole Woman’s Health Alliance announced the news and applauded Frey’s proclamation. National Abortion Provider Appreciation Day first began in 1996 to honor the life of Dr. David Gunn, an abortion provider who was shot and killed on March 10, 1993. The proclamation also comes days after abortion providers and their attorneys argued before the Supreme Court in the June Medical Services v. Russo case. The result of the case could impact abortion access across the country. Frey says...

On Wednesday, Rep. Ilhan Omar announced on her Instagram account she is married. The photo attached to the post shows her and who appears to be political consultant Tim Mynett, who she has been romantically linked to.

I'm a doctor in a major hospital in Western Europe. Watching you Americans (and you, Brits) in these still-early days of the coronavirus pandemic is like watching a familiar horror movie, where the protagonists, yet again, split into pairs or decide to take a tour of a dark basement. The real-life versions of this behavior are pretending this is just a flu; keeping schools open; following through with your holiday travel plans, and going into the office daily. This is what we did in Italy. We were so complacent that even when people with coronavirus symptoms started turning up, we...

In principle, such magnets can greatly simplify the design and production of twisty fusion facilities called stellarators, according to scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) and the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in Greifswald, Germany. PPPL founder Lyman Spitzer Jr. invented the stellarator in the early 1950s. Most stellarators use a set of complex twisted coils that spiral like stripes on a candy cane to produce magnetic fields that shape and control the plasma that fuels fusion reactions. Refrigerator-like permanent magnets could produce the hard part of these essential fields, the researchers...

Archbishop Bernard Hebda said he was “profoundly saddened” that elected officials in St. Paul and Minneapolis declared March 10 Abortion Provider Appreciation Day. “Given that each human life is created in the image and likeness of God and has value, to honor those who purposefully end such life is an affront not only to our Creator but to the foundational values of civil society,” he said in a March 10 statement. “There is no way around it — abortion kills children.” He continued: “What gives me hope, however, are the countless women and men of goodwill who tirelessly give of...

The Justice Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) today announced the results of Project Python, a DEA-led interagency operation encompassing all global investigations and related disruption activities targeting the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG).This announcement marks the successful conclusion of six months of investigative and enforcement activity targeting CJNG, culminating in large scale arrests throughout the country within the past week.  Project Python has resulted more than 600 arrests, 350 indictments, as well as significant seizures of money and drugs.“Project Python marks the most comprehensive action to date in the Department of Justice’s campaign to disrupt, dismantle,...

Washington, DC ~ Wednesday, March 11, 2020 Remarks as Prepared for DeliveryGood afternoon, everyone.  Thank you for joining us.Today, we are announcing the results of Project Python, a multilateral interagency operation targeting the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, also known as CJNG.  This operation was led by the DEA, and on behalf of the Department, I want to thank Acting Administrator Dhillon for his strong leadership in the fight against transnational organized crime. And I want to express my appreciation for the courageous law enforcement professionals of the DEA – the men and women who, day in and day out, put...

[Catholic Caucus] Bishop Who Banned Latin Mass Is Suspected Coronavirus Patient Bp. Antonio Napolioni first prelate hospitalized with COVID-19 symptoms ROME (ChurchMilitant.com) - A bishop who gained notoriety across Italy for his hostility to the Latin Mass has been "hospitalized since Friday afternoon with lung symptoms attributable to COVID-19."  An updated press release from the northern Italian diocese of Cremona issued Monday reported the prognosis on Bp. Antonio Napolioni who is being treated by the Operational Unit of Pulmonology at the Maggiore Hospital in Cremona.  The diocesan statement, however, cautioned that "the diagnosis not yet confirmed" and "the outcome of the (pharyngeal) swab...

Attorney General William Barr voiced his support on March 11 for the passage of the House bill reauthorizing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The attorney general said that the bill plugs the gaps in the current law, which allows for the surveillance abuses identified in the DOJ inspector general report on the department’s spying on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. “The bill contains an array of new requirements and compliance provisions that will protect against abuse and misuse in the future while ensuring that this critical tool is available when appropriate to protect the safety of the American people,”...