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Holland America Line Announces a Voluntary and Temporary Pause Of its Global Ship Operations for 30 Days March 13, 2020 SEATTLE , March 13, 2020 /CNW/ -- Due to the continued port closures and travel restrictions surrounding COVID-19 and in an abundance of caution, Holland America Line has made the decision to voluntarily pause global cruise operations of its 14 ships for 30 days, impacting sailings scheduled to depart through April 14, 2020 . "These are unprecedented times, and while no guests or crew have tested positive for COVID-19 on any of our ships, we must take a leadership position...

Rep. Maxine Waters told CNN’s Manu Raju that Trump is a “liar” who should “shut his mouth” on the coronavirus outbreak. Waters said, “It’s been said over and over again that you cannot trust this president. Not only is he a liar, he does not believe in anything scientific.” “So the President of the United States cannot be relied upon. Someone said he needs to be quiet. He needs to shut his mouth. And he should do that and allow CDC and NIH and others to deal with this issue and to help us through it.”

First of all, Wuhan is a place and not a race, and to identify the coronavirus by its place of origin, like naming the Ebola Virus for a river in Zaire, is not racist or xenophobic — it's merely accurate. There is no racism or xenophobia in labeling an infection "Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever" or calling something "Lyme Disease" after a nearby town in Connecticut. What calling this latest virus the Wuhan Virus is is a reminder of the multiple contagions China has spawned and released on an unsuspecting world. Nor is connecting some very big, ugly, and obvious dots...

"And we have got to come to moment we put all that behind us and come together.”

Stores across the United States hardly can keep hand sanitizer and toilet paper on their shelves, and sales of guns, ammunition and tactical wear also have surged during the coronavirus pandemic, according to media reports. Kevin Lim, who owns tactical gear retailer Bulletproof Zone, told BuzzFeed News his sales have jumped 50 to 100 percent. “I think with the way things have escalated quite quickly around the world and in the U.S. in just the last couple of weeks, it’s very hard to tell what’s going to happen next, and I believe it is better to be safe than sorry,”...

In a campaign stop at a Michigan automobile factory, Democratic presidential candidate former Vice-President Joe Biden verbally chastised a worker, called him a "horse's ass," and threatened to "slap you in the face." The worker's offense was to disagree with Biden's position on gun control. Atlantic writer David Frum called Biden's outburst "terrific. I think this lays to rest the contention that the Vice-President isn't up to the job of running the country. This was the kind of language the working class voters can appreciate. Joe is the father figure they've all been waiting for—a no nonsense guy who puts...

Autarky, for those unfamiliar, was an economic and industrial policy of self-reliance wherein a nation need not rely on international trade for its economic survival. This is not to say that said nation rejected international trade or isolated itself from the global economic order, rather that it merely could survive on its own if necessary. Though it has a long history, the concept of autarky saw a flourishing in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. In the early days of the American republic, Alexander Hamilton advocated for a limited measure of autarky. Hamiltonian autarky—or industrial self-reliance—aimed to protect weak American...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government is expected to announce on Saturday that it is expanding its travel ban on most European countries to include Britain and Ireland as it seeks to contain the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the globe, airline and U.S. officials told Reuters.

CNN chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta on Friday accused President Donald Trump of being “the take-no-responsibility president” after announcing a host of measures — from boosting coronavirus testing availability to suspending interest on federal student loans — to ease concerns as the United States combats the spread of the deadly illness.

According to the provided article, asteroid 99942 Apophis has a 1 in 40 chance of hitting earth in 2029. If it misses in 2029, it would have an even higher chance of hitting in 2036. According to NASA and other reputable sources the asteroid is of 370 meters in diameter which is about the size of the Eiffel Tower. When you plug this into a simulation like the asteroid collision map, you can see that its large magnitude can cause some pretty serious damages depending on the location it impacts. According to the simulation, some of these effects are earthquakes,...

Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the Tokyo Olympic Games will go ahead as planned in July, despite coronavirus concerns resulting in the postponement of sporting events. Abe added the International Olympic Committee (IOC) would have the final decision whether Tokyo 2020 goes ahead. "We will overcome the spread of the infection and host the Olympics without problem, as planned," Abe said. Japan has had more than 1,400 cases and 28 deaths resulting from coronavirus. The Tokyo Games is expected to cost about 1.35 trillion yen (£10.26bn) ..

President Donald Trump announced Friday on Twitter a National Day of Prayer on Sunday as the country combats the spread of the coronavirus. The National Day of Prayer will take place on Sunday, March 15. He encouraged all Americans to take time on Sunday to pray for the country.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nearly a quarter of Ohio’s counties are deploying fewer poll workers for the state’s Democratic primary on Tuesday than they have in previous presidential election years, raising concerns from voting-rights advocates who say the reductions could lengthen lines at the polls. Thanks to a change in state law last year, at least 1,200 fewer poll workers are slated to be on duty than in past federal elections, according to a Reuters analysis of staffing projections supplied by county election boards across Ohio. The cuts will affect polling stations across 20 of Ohio’s 88 counties, impacting 7.8% of...

What is the definition of a mainstream Democrat? How does the average Democrat voter look and act? What distinguishes the modern "mainstream" Democrat from an independent or a Republican? These are not rhetorical questions. I honestly have no idea... The Democratic Party has no positive messages to offer voters in November. The only thing Democrat voters appear to have in common is their intense, irrational hatred for President Donald Trump. What they lack is a coherent platform and any good reasons to vote for Joe Biden.

CLEVELAND (WJW) — The Cuyahoga County Court is looking to release hundreds of inmates from the Cuyahoga County Jail Saturday morning due to coronavirus concerns. Judges concerned about the virus spreading through the jail. Cuyahoga County judges are holding a special Saturday morning session to try to settle cases with guilty pleas, release inmates or send them to prison, or release them on house arrest. Administrative Judge Brendan Sheehan told the I-TEAM earlier this week that inmates are already in poor health, and it wouldn’t take much for the coronavirus to spread wildly behind bars. Sheehan also said almost any...

On March 1, the day after the first coronavirus death in the United States, brothers Matt and Noah Colvin set out in a silver SUV to pick up some hand sanitizer. Driving around Chattanooga, Tennessee, they hit a Dollar Tree, then a Walmart, a Staples and a Home Depot. At each store, they cleaned out the shelves. Over the next three days, Noah Colvin took a 1,300-mile road trip across Tennessee and into Kentucky, filling a U-Haul truck with thousands of bottles of hand sanitizer and thousands of packs of antibacterial wipes, mostly from “little hole-in-the-wall dollar stores in the...

Here is a fun riddle for you. Which is more obnoxious, a lefty late night host posturing as a politician, or a Democrat politician assuming the role of a lefty late-night host? Unfortunately, the teaser is no longer one of abstract concept but a reality, brought to life by former Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s stint as a fill in host on Thursday’s Jimmy Kimmel Live. The hosting gig choice was certainly a strange one on the part of Kimmel’s booking staff. Alas for Buttigieg, his anchoring responsibilities were off to a wonky start as he walked out to an almost non-existent...

VATICAN CITY – A cardinal on Friday modified his order to close Rome’s churches to help contain the spread of coronavirus after Pope Francis cautioned against “drastic measures” and Catholics took to social media to complain. Cardinal Angelo De Donatis issued a new decree less than a day after his initial order. Many churches in the Italian capital will now remain open. Some Catholics accused the cardinal of caving into the government after his initial decree on Thursday night. Andrea Fauro said on social media the move had put “Christ in quarantine”. Catholic bishops around the world were deciding how...

Nancy Pelosi trying to put abortion/baby killing in 'Emergency Funding Bill'. Adam Schiff (in general). Jerry Nadler (in general). Joe Biden getting bribes from Communist China and the Ukraine in cahoots with his son Hunter. Politicians for life such as Chuck Schumer and his New York connections to corrupt/partisan politics. Maybe we need to have a target list. Maybe, even if some of these folks have tons of 'dumb' voters backing them, we could still try to get them 'fired'. There is the story of the impossible dreamer (and the song by the same) of Don Quixote. Is this the...

It was not coronavirus. It was bubonic plague, a much more deadly disease...years before anyone knew what caused it. It was 1527, and a case of the bubonic plague was found in Wittenberg, where Luther was based. The Wittenberg University was closed (familiar?). Luther was urged to leave, even by his greatest supporter the Elector (prince) who was in charge of the town. After being besieged by pastors wanted him to make a statement, Luther sent out an open letter. Its title is translated often as “Whether one may flee a deadly plague” or as the printer had it “Whether...