Free Republic

In the South they say you focus on killing the closest snake first, and right now our country’s politicians and policy-makers are consumed with efforts to stem the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus and deal with the public health problems it has already caused. Our state, federal, and local governments have fully committed their resources and time to keeping people safe and assuring they get what they need. (Read: keeping toilet paper on the shelves.) More importantly, and impressively, the federal government and its newly-recruited corporate partners have brought their full weight to bear on finding a solution to this...

A former associate director of a US biotechnology company is facing up to seven years in prison in China after allegedly hiding her coronavirus symptoms and flying from Los Angeles to Beijing in hopes of receiving treatment. The Chinese national, 37, gobbled down anti-fever medicine at LAX to suppress her high temperatures before boarding the 13-hour flight back to her homeland with her husband and son, Chinese authorities said. The mother-of-one, named as Jie Li, worked for Biogen, a multinational firm at the center of an outbreak of the coronavirus in Massachusetts. Around 30 per cent of the confirmed cases...

President Trump held up two drugs as possible treatments for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, in a conference call with governors on Thursday. He said chloroquine, an older drug used to treat malaria, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis, was "very powerful" and has shown "very, very encouraging early results," adding that the Food and Drug Administration has approved the drug for use against the coronavirus. The FDA said in a subsequent statement that "there are no FDA-approved therapeutics or drugs to treat, cure, or prevent COVID-19." Doctors can prescribe chloroquine "off-label," for unapproved uses, to treat COVID-19 patients....

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is in an all-out propaganda war to deny its hand in the plague they unleashed on the world, and American corporations and media elites are wholly accepting its unverified information.Goodwill is central to the statecraft of the people’s Republic of China, which is why their response to the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak is two-fold. First, they suppressed information, threatened doctors, and allowed the new virus to spread rapidly in its infancy. Destroying evidence of what happened under their roof is crucial to maintaining their status on the world stage. Second, the CCP is not only...

But if the peoples are rotting in that ultimate civil disease and cannot agree on a monarch from within, and are not conquered and preserved by better nations from without, then providence for their extreme ill has its extreme remedy at hand....

Federal officials recently testified before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform about government responses to the COVID-19 crisis. Much of the members’ concern, frustration and finger-pointing focused on the slow development and distribution of diagnostic tests – particularly as compared to some other countries. They praised South Korea for testing more people in one day than the U.S. did in the past two months. Italy and the U.K. also got positive mention. In response to one question, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci said “the system is not really geared to what we need...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently shared some pretty stark statistics regarding how coronavirus will affect his state. “We project that roughly 56 percent of our population – 25.5 million people -- will be infected with the virus over an eight week period,” he predicted, issuing a stay-at-home order. Fox News anchor Bret Baier asked coronavirus task force member Dr. Deborah Birx if we can expect those kinds of numbers nationwide on "Special Report" Thursday night. Birx was one of the leaders in the fight against HIV/AIDS in the 1980s, and was appointed as the U.S. global AIDS coordinator in 2014...

VIDEO Leftist voices have already weighed in on Tulsi Gabbard endorsing Joe Biden when she dropped out of the presidential race and they are far from happy with her. The reactions range from disgust to sadness and even to being resigned to Trump's ultimate victory in November. In fact, it is even starting to sound as if some among the left will be SUPPORTING Trump in the election since their other options have been closed off.

Posted on March 19, 2020 by Msgr. Charles Pope Stopping by the First Station of the Cross in Time of National Crisis We might do well at a moment like this to ponder the First Station of the Cross, in which Jesus is tried before Pilate. At a critical moment Pilate said, “Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over me if it were not given to you from above”(John 19:10-11). Jesus thus acknowledges Pilate’s authority as governor but reminds him of its...

President Trump said he will trigger emergency war powers to accelerate the production of medical supplies to fight the coronavirus pandemic. Trump told Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) he would use the Defense Production Act in a phone call this morning, according to Schumer's office. THAT IS ALL.

There's blood in the water on Capitol Hill and Democrats are bathing in it. North Carolina Senator Richard Burr is hitting back against a story in NPR that detailed how he sold $1.6 million in stocks after receiving a private briefing about how bad the virus was going to get and then writing an op-ed reassuring his constituents that the government was prepared for the pandemic. NPR also said he addressed a group of private donors to brief them on the virus, being considerably more pessimistic than he was in his op-ed. Four other GOP senators -- Georgia's Kelly Loeffler,...

US airlines including Delta and United are sending their largest planes to a so-called 'boneyard' in the desert for storage as they significantly reduce operations due to coronavirus. Delta Air Lines, among others, are turning to Pinal Airpark some 90 miles south of Phoenix, to keep planes in good condition while they are not in use during the global health crisis. The 'boneyard' is home to hundreds of retired commercial and military aircraft that are stored in the dry desert conditions to prevent them from rusting. Major airlines have been forced to reduce their services near-on every day in light...

The coronavirus pandemic is a situation to be taken seriously, but is it possible that panic we’re seeing unfold right now is not necessary? Some experts say it is.Richard A. Epstein, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, offered some perspective on the pandemic, suggesting that while everyone seems to react to bad news from Italy, some good news is being overlooked. “Overlooked is the good news coming out of China, where the latest report shows 16 new cases and 14 new deaths, suggesting that the number of deaths in the currently unresolved group will be lower than the...

[Catholic Caucus] Where’s McCarrick? Where’s the Report? Unanswered questions: 612 days and counting DETROIT (ChurchMilitant.com) - Continual coverage of the COVID-19 scare has served to drive other pressing stories off the front pages. For Catholics, one important story is suffering from inattention — the long-promised report on the crimes of disgraced former cardinal and abuser Theodore McCarrick is yet to be delivered. It was 612 days ago (July 16, 2018) when a story in the New York Times on the former cardinal's double life as an abuser of young men and seminarians broke. First Calls for an Investigation Within a month, Cdl. Daniel N. DiNardo...

After the first of those oddly comical fistfights over toilet paper in grocery stores, and before the possibility of horrific battles over respirators in the weeks to come, I committed an act of coronavirus defiance. I sat in a comfy leather chair in the neighborhood cigar lounge and lit a fine maduro cigar. Why? Because I wanted to sit and think about all the things we'll learn from now forward. And I wanted to say goodbye to the guys. Just a few days ago they were worried about the FBI raiding the place again in pursuit of Chicago Way politicos....

If so, maybe we can call it the Spring Breakers Shutdown. Washington Examiner columnist Paul Bedard hears from sources that the Trump administration has begun warning key figures that the social-distancing campaign may not be succeeding in flattening the coronavirus curve, thanks to people ignoring CDC warnings about gathering in large groups. If the administration doesn’t see improvement in the next few days, Donald Trump may order a national shutdown, with Americans limited to essential activities only: The Trump administration, moving quickly to halt the spread of the coronavirus, is seriously considering grounding all passenger air traffic for up...

Dr. William Grace told Ingraham that they have 100 patients and have had zero deaths after the use of Hydroxychloroquine. Hydroxychloroquine is the less toxic version of Chloroquine. Grace said that a big reason older people die from the coronavirus is that their lungs fill up with fluid as part of an immune response to the virus. Hydroxychloroquine works, Grace notes, in both inhibiting the immune response and inhibiting the replication of the virus.Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYyrQ4RxtOQ

I am getting vague remembrances of something called The Cloward and Piven Strategy that was making the rounds about 10 years ago. If I remember correctly, the Strategy involved creating as many government dependents as possible so-as to overload the system, foment unrest and ultimately "nudge" people into calling for government to take control of every aspect of their lives. Anybody else remember any particulars?

As the United States prepares for a second week of lockdown to slow the spread of the Chinese coronavirus (COVID-19), hundreds of people in Italy are dying every day from this disease. And the reason why Italy now has more coronavirus deaths than any other country can be summarized in a single word — luxury. In the world of fashion, the “Made in Italy” tag has a distinct value associated with luxury and status. Merchants can charge higher prices for clothing, shoes, handbags, and other fashion goods manufactured in Italy, and that value was coveted by certain Chinese entrepreneurs. During...

By: Hassan.Mahmoudi Nowruz marks the first day of the Iranian calendar and the new year. People participate in the Nowruz celebrations and traditional Iranian Spring Festival. Spring starts in the Northern Hemisphere at 4:49 on Friday, March 20, 2020. The beginning of this spring and the new year is a pain since last year, for the Iranian people, have suffered amid the spread of the disastrous coronavirus in 198 cities, with 7,000 dead (according to the main opposition, the NCRI), the crackdown of their protests in November with 1,500 killed, the downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane with 176 dead,...