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The actor took to Instagram to share his new #IStayHomeFor initiative to promote social distancing and nominated some of his famous pals to share who they stay home for By • Published • Updated 4 hours ago Kevin Bacon wants all the social distancers out there to know that they're not alone. On Wednesday, the "Footloose" actor took to Instagram to share his new #IStayHomeFor initiative to promote social distancing in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Inspired by the pop culture phenomenon "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon," Bacon encouraged his followers to share who they're staying home for to...

Across the country, Americans are literally shining a light amid the darkness of the coronavirus pandemic. Nearly three months after Christmas, people practicing social distancing at home are putting their lights back up to help lift everyone’s spirits as the country fights through the crisis. “What if we all put our Christmas lights back up?” Lane Grindle, a play-by-play broadcaster for the Milwaukee Brewers, tweeted Sunday. “Then we could get in the car and drive around and look at them. That seems like a fair social distancing activity.”

The Washington Post was forced to issue a correction after columnist Jennifer Rubin attacked Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., for allegedly not rushing to pass financial aid during the national coronavirus emergency. In a column published Tuesday that trashed President Trump's handling of the coronavirus outbreak, the self-described "conservative blogger" took a swipe at McConnell, comparing him to a sloth for his inaction on a relief package. "Finally, the Republican-led Senate is fiddling while Rome burns. The failure to take an immediate vote on the House's relief package last week was emblematic of the sloth and irresponsibility of Senate...

Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar unexpectedly praised President Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic on Wednesday night, saying it was "incredible and the right response in this critical time." Omar, normally a staunch critic of the White House who herself has repeatedly drawn the president's ire, went on to quote Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., as saying "unprecedented times require unprecedented leadership" -- and, Omar added, "we are seeing that in our country right now." "Finally, we should never let politics get in the way of good policy," Omar concluded. "This is a great start and hope others will be part...

As the coronavirus outbreak continued to disrupt American life, numerous actions have been taken – in Washington, in state capitals and at the local level -- to help get a grip on a situation that simultaneously threatened to spin out of control. In Washington, President Trump said Wednesday he would invoke the Defense Production Act, a move designed to help private businesses ramp up production and distribution of medical supplies and equipment needed to combat the virus also known as COVID-19. “If we need to use it we’ll be using it,” the president said. “It’s full speed ahead.”

The Health Ministry announced Wednesday it has begun using mass surveillance tools to retrace the movements of coronavirus carriers and has already informed 400 people in contact with them that they must enter quarantine. The electronic tracking program, which is being conducted by the Shin Bet security service for the ministry, has faced harsh criticism, including by members of the government, and its legality is currently being challenged in the High Court of Justice.

While some of the earliest pandemics faded by wiping out parts of the population, medical and public health initiatives were able to halt the spread of other diseases.As human civilizations flourished, so did infectious disease. Large numbers of people living in close proximity to each other and to animals, often with poor sanitation and nutrition, provided fertile breeding grounds for disease. And new overseas trading routes spread the novel infections far and wide, creating the first global pandemics. Here’s how five of the world’s worst pandemics finally ended. 1. Plague of Justinian—No One Left to Die Three of the deadliest...

Northern Italy has one of the best public health systems in the Western world. Its doctors and medical professionals are well-trained. They felt prepared when the coronavirus began to spread through their prosperous, well-educated region. And they still could do nothing to prevent what happened. "I have never seen so many people die together before my eyes," said a nurse from one of the main hospitals in Bergamo, a city in northern Italy that is at the center of the worst outbreak in Europe. "It feels like we are crossing in the middle of a battlefield." More than 2,500 people...

A woman accused of stabbing a man with a pair of scissors Tuesday night in Frederick was granted release from the county detention center Wednesday on $10,000 unsecured bail. Aimee Nicole Seals, 39, of the first block of McMurray Street in Frederick, was charged with first- and second-degree assault and reckless endangerment shortly after city officers responded to a call for a stabbing in a domestic violence-related call at her home. The call came out at about 7:30 p.m. and officers found the injured man a short distance away driving a vehicle north on South Court Street near the Frederick...

Modeling has shown that more than 60,000 homeless people could become ill with the coronavirus in California over the next eight weeks, badly straining the healthcare system, the state governor said on Wednesday.

Big Apple first lady Chirlane McCray was apparently behind Mayor Bill de Blasio’s premature announcement that a shelter-in-place order was on the horizon for New York City. On Hot 97’s “Ebro in the Morning” Wednesday, de Blasio doubled down on his insistence that New Yorkers may soon be confined to their homes except for essential trips for food, medicine and exercise because of the coronavirus outbreak — even though Gov. Andrew Cuomo insisted the day before that he wasn’t considering the measure yet. The mayor said he wanted to prepare New Yorkers for something that “well might be happening soon.”

“Wealth maketh many friends; but the poor is separated from his neighbour” (Proverbs 19:4).

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Bloomberg so link only - just in case

March 19 2020 Solemnity of Saint Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary Reading 1 2 Sm 7:4-5a, 12-14a, 16 The LORD spoke to Nathan and said: “Go, tell my servant David, ‘When your time comes and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins, and I will make his kingdom firm. It is he who shall build a house for my name. And I will make his royal throne firm forever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. Your house and...

Virtually all cinemas in the U.S. are dark due to the coronavirus epidemic. The U.S. movie industry and its 150,000 employees are asking Congress for emergency relief as virtually all cinemas across the U.S. go dark due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“In this video, I am going to examine the issue of whether or not Gavin Newsome actually ordered Californians to socially distance or that meetings with more than 250 participants should be cancelled...

One of the astronauts who flew during the lunar program has died. Al Worden, 88, was a command module pilot who circled the moon during Apollo 15. His family announced the news on Twitter and NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said, "NASA sends its condolences to the family and loved ones of Apollo astronaut Al Worden, an astronaut whose achievements in space and on Earth will not be forgotten." Apollo 15 was considered one of NASA's most important scientific missions. But after the crew returned, they got in trouble for selling mementos they took to the moon. Al Worden grew up...

Can we please put on a third shift to post new articles? Late at night after a few snorts, I have a lot of fascinating things to say. At that time, I'm also quite the ladies man. Just ask anyone.

Grace Fusco — mother of 11, grandmother of 27 — would sit in the same pew at church each Sunday, surrounded by nearly a dozen members of her sprawling Italian-American family. Sunday dinners drew an even larger crowd to her home in central New Jersey. Now, her close-knit clan is united anew by unspeakable grief: Mrs. Fusco, 73, died on Wednesday night after contracting the coronavirus — hours after her son died from the virus and five days after her daughter’s death, a relative said. Four other children who contracted coronavirus remain hospitalized, three of them in critical condition, the...