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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is expected to announce a shelter-in-place order during Wednesday's daily coronavirus news conference, according to sources close to the situation. The order is not likely to be as extensive as the "Safer at Home" order put in place by Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers. The governor's briefing will be streamed live on KSTP.com at 2 p.m.

Since it was first discovered in August 2019, astronomers have been awestruck by interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov. But recent observations of the space object suggest that it could be breaking apart. A group of researchers from Poland have noted that the object has brightened up twice this month. “The total brightness increase is thus about 0.7 mag in 5 days between UT 2020 March 4.3 and 9.3,” the researchers wrote in a note published March 12. “This behavior is strongly indicative of an ongoing nucleus fragmentation.” In September 1019, the International Astronomical Union confirmed that the object was from another solar...

There has been quite a bit of talk in the past couple of days about when we might get back to normal. The president is hoping that might happen as soon as Easter while others are saying it could be 3-4 months. But some people aren’t interested in going back to normal. On the contrary, they see the crisis as an inflection point that presents and opportunity for some significant changes to the country. On the left there are a lot of people who see the crisis as an opportunity to push forward some of the socialist agenda they’ve had...

On March 24, 2020, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf (D) augmented his list of “life-sustaining” businesses to include gun dealers, allowing them to remain open as long as they adhere to certain restrictions. The new language was added under Trade, Transportation, & Utilities, in the subsection Sporting Goods, Hobby, Book, & Music Stores. It says: Firearms dealers may operate physical businesses on a limited basis to complete only the portions of a sale/transfer that must be conducted in-person under the law, subject to the following restrictions: 1) all such sale/transfers will be conducted by individual appointment during limited hours only so...

The coronavirus martial law lockdown has turned into a real-life version of Groundhog Day, as we’re stuck inside and hearing pretty much the same news every day. Wash your hands! Don’t touch your face! Orange man bad! Anthony Fauci for president! ESPN hosts getting ready to stab each other for lack of any sports news to talk about. Meanwhile, I hear rumors that there are supertankers full of toilet paper anchored offshore waiting for the black market price to soar even higher. Or was that the oil rumor from 1979? I can’t remember. I’ve been inside for six years now...

Straw Poll Create a Poll Do you think the extended severe restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 are too extreme? Yes - too extreme: the long-term unemployment and lack of activity, and fear of others will do more harm than a more moderate or shorter period. No: long-term outlawing of most sports, recreation, many businesses is necessary to stop this deadly virus. Yes: a moderate response of wearing masks in mass transit, work and crowds instead of isolation, except for those in need of care, would be better. No: if anything, the most severe and extensive restrictions - from...

PC idiocy in the form of feminism and the destruction of freedom and of freedom's economy in the name of unattainable safety are hard to ignore and hard to beat. Maybe humor has a chance. In the past FReeepers have had trouble with my comic character Jim Cousen's Aussie dialect. Do the subtitles help?

Mark of the Beast The Bible reveals that Satan's final game plan is for the entire world to worship him. Just as in Luke 4, he offers "the world" to people if they will bow down and worship him. We should not be surprised when we read stories about celebrities, world leaders, and elites being involved in Satanic rituals (e.g. spirit cooking, Epstein's Island, seances, etc.). Satan demands his worship and gets it, else he will not bless his followers. Lady Gaga being an example of a recent celebrity claiming she bowed to Satan in order to become a star....

American liberals universally bemoan our “crumbling infrastructure.” Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders both do so while campaigning. So did Barack Obama as president. We hear the refrain from the Teamsters and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. CNN, PBS, CNBC, and VICE News echo the phrase. So do HuffPost, the Nation, the Los Angeles Times, the Harvard Business Review, the Guardian, Mother Jones, the Progressive… [author pauses, catches breath]… Jacobin, the New Republic, the Atlantic, the… Screw it—the point is, the left is on record with concern about the state of America’s transportation systems and other public...

The coronavirus pandemic is shutting down entire sectors of the economy and putting millions of Americans out of work, but one corner of Wall Street may find opportunity amid the carnage: private equity. Private equity firms have been stockpiling cash in recent years as rising markets made it harder for them to invest, accumulating a record pile of “dry powder” for deals. The industry typically buys undervalued companies with borrowed money, taking them private to spruce up operations for an eventual sale. The high company valuations that kept them at bay collapsed this month amid widespread business closures and quarantines...

Two Wisconsin neighbors found a humorous way to practice social distancing when one sent the other a beer delivered by a radio-controlled (RC) car. After getting home, Eric Trzcinski had the idea of sending his neighbor a Corona beer, an intentional pun according to Fox 6 Now reports. The brew is held in place with a spare exhaust tip to the back of the makeshift delivery mobile.

A makeshift morgue has been set up outside a Manhattan hospital in a bid to handle any possible surge in coronavirus victims as the New York City death roll rose to 192. Armed military personnel, NYPD and NYC Medical Examiner's Office employees were spotted outside Manhattan's Bellevue Hospital on Wednesday as crew members erected huge white tents as part of the makeshift facility. In addition to the dome-like tents, multiple refrigeration trucks were also lined up at the site in Midtown along 30th Street and the FDR Drive parkway. The coronavirus death toll in New York City has risen to...

DOW up 1,040 Nasdaq 129 S&P 82

Posted on March 24, 2020 by Msgr. Charles Pope Mulier Fortis – A Homily for the Feast of the Annunciation In preparation for the Feast of the Annunciation I picked up Jesus of Nazareth, Vol. 3 (The Infancy Narratives), by Pope Emeritus Benedict. I was very moved by a brief reflection that he made on Mary as the Angel Gabriel left her. His remarks consider her faith in a very touching manner.I must say that I have always been moved—and intrigued—by the faith of the Blessed Mother. She is mulier fortis (a strong woman) and “a woman wrapped in...

Thread #26 here: http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3827832/posts

Washington (AFP) - US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Group of Seven foreign ministers agreed with him in talks Wednesday that China was waging a "disinformation" campaign about the coronavirus pandemic. Pompeo, who has heavily criticized Beijing over what he calls the "Wuhan virus," said he was united with other ministers -- from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan. "Every one of the nations that were at that meeting this morning was deeply aware of the disinformation campaign that the Chinese Communist Party is engaged in to try and deflect from what has really taken place," Pompeo told...

Gospel/atonement-deniers often run to James 2 to say works are necessary for salvation and to 1 John to say obedience to commandments is necessary for salvation. Are they rightly understanding God's word? Eternal life has always been an unmerited gift, even from Eden. God bestows life out of His love and grace. Adam and Eve didn't earn life, but were given it freely when God made them. They then maintained their status as children of God by not [initially] eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. But as the story goes, they didn't maintain it...

Looks like eco-extremists in the liberal media aren’t the only ones who’ll use the coronavirus pandemic to push their climate change talking points. Now, The Washington Post’s self-proclaimed “conservative” opinion writer is using the pandemic to spew the same eco-propaganda nonsense others on the left have at President Donald Trump and Republicans. Jennifer Rubin wrote a column headlined “Can the Coronavirus Obliterate Some Republican Myths?” She babbled that the much-hyped “climate-change crisis” finds a “parallel in the global covid-19 pandemic.” “Both the pandemic and climate change are inescapable facts with deadly outcomes unless our behavior radically changes,” Rubin quipped.

Turkish prosecutors said Wednesday they had formally charged 20 suspects for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018. An indictment from the Istanbul chief public prosecutor’s office accuses ex-deputy chief of the Saudi intelligence service, Ahmed al-Asiri, and Saud al-Qahtani, a former close adviser to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, of “instigating premeditated murder with monstrous intent.” It cites “evidence” from phone, travel and CCTV footage, as well as statements from dozens of witnesses. Eighteen other Saudi nationals were also accused of carrying our Khashoggi’s killing...

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin took no chances this week when he visited coronavirus patients in a Moscow hospital, sporting a full hazmat suit and breathing mask to protect himself from the bug. Video showed Putin getting suited up Tuesday in bright yellow hazmat gear by doctors at a Kommunarka infectious diseases hospital. He then received help putting on a breathing mask, gloves and plastic coverings for his feet at the hospital, which currently has over 400 patients being treated for the virus, according to ABC News. The Kremlin said Putin is expected to address the Russian people Wednesday afternoon in...