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Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) was none too pleased with his colleague Thomas Massie (R-KY) for threatening to demand a recorded vote on the $2 trillion coronavirus relief bill on Friday. Because that meant he had to hop on a red eye flight last night and race back to Washington. The vote could fail if at least 216 members don’t show up to vote on the floor. Gallego "thanked" the Kentucky Republican right before he hopped on the plane. "Taking a red eye tonight," Rep. Gil Cisneros (D-CA) added. "The American people, small businesses, and our healthcare workers need relief now."...

Anna Jones* had just finished her shift at St. Rose Hospital in Las Vegas, where she works as an emergency-room nurse, when she received an email from her landlord labeled “Quick Action Needed.” Her landlord—a quiet, older woman who lived downstairs from Jones and her husband—informed her that she would need to vacate the premises within 24 hours. The reason, she said, was COVID-19.

Among the many provisions in the $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief package that appear to have little to do with the immediate crisis at home is a nearly $11 billion pot of money for three international development groups. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) – which the House of Representatives is expected to vote on Friday – includes the funding for the African Development Fund (ADF), the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the International Development Association (IDA). The ADF and the AfDB are two related organizations that help fund development and poverty eradication efforts in Africa, whereas...

WASHINGTON - For the millions of Americans living under some form of lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus, not knowing when the restrictions will end is a major source of anxiety. Will life events - weddings, funerals, even just simple nights out with friends - be delayed for a few weeks, a few months or much longer? President Donald Trump gave one answer this week, saying he hoped businesses would reopen by Easter, on April 12, citing the severe damage restrictions have done to the economy. While we may yearn for a clear timeline for when life will...

Media and Congress have bowels in up roar over Republican Rep Massie may force members of congress to return to Washington for a vote on the Coronavirus bill. The Garbage men are still doing they jobs, young teens are working the Grocery checkout for less than $15.00 an hour. But Congress earning $178,000 a year is afraid of the big bad virus to do their constitutional job to show up and vote. Constitution requires a quorum for members to pass a bill, not 2 or 3 people yelling Yah then claiming the bill passed by a quorum majority. Do your...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's attempted partisan sabotage of the coronavirus relief bill might mark a new low for her. That the bill finally passed the Senate doesn't excuse her reckless gamesmanship. Republican and Democratic Senate leaders were close to an agreement when Pelosi parked her partisan broomstick and poured poison into the congressional punchbowl. "Talking to some Senate GOP sources," Townhall political editor Guy Benson tweeted. "They seem stunned and angry. I'm told there was lots of bipartisan input into the legislative outline & emerging specifics -- including an agreement in principle on broad strokes. Then Pelosi showed up and...

More than 300 people have died and a further 1,000 have fallen ill in Iran after consuming methanol in the belief that it will protect them against the coronavirus, according to local media. Fake remedies have spread across Iranian social media, with methanol simply the latest supposed cure. As an Islamic nation, the consumption of alcohol is banned, but bootleggers have distributed industrial alcohol. “Other countries have only one problem, which is the new coronavirus pandemic,” said Dr. Hossein Hassanian, an adviser to Iran’s Health Ministry who claimed that the problem could be more severe than reported. “We have to...

Buried inside data that NASA's iconic Voyager 2 spacecraft gathered at Uranus more than 30 years ago is the signature of a massive bubble that may have stolen a blob of the planet's gassy atmosphere. That's according to scientists who analyzed archived Voyager 2 observations of the magnetic field around Uranus. These measurements had been studied before, but only using a relatively coarse view. In the new research, scientists instead looked at those measurements every two seconds. That detail showed what had previously been missed: an abrupt zigzag in the magnetic field readings that lasted just one minute of the...

TGIFF! Its Fiddle Friday and we feature Jacie Sites with Mouth of the Tobique (2017). THE WESTERNER https://thewesterner.blogspot.com/

"Forgive us our debts" (Matt. 6:12). Forgiveness removes the guilt and penalty of sin and restores intimacy with God. Man's greatest problem is sin. It renders him spiritually dead, alienates him from God and his fellow man, plagues him with guilt and fear, and can eventually damn him to eternal hell. The only solution is forgiveness—and the only source of forgiveness is Jesus Christ. All sin is punishable by death (Rom. 6:23) but Christ bore the sins of the world, thereby making it possible to be forgiven and have eternal life through faith in Him (John 3:16). What a glorious...

The arrogant attitude that we or they own the answer and that anyone suggesting alternative responses to the coronavirus must be acting from stupidity, malice, or greed must stop. Two weeks into the coronavirus pandemic, much remains unknown. There are two certainties, though: Americans need more humility and we need more awe.Americans need humility to recognize the limits in our predictive capabilities; the uncertainty of scientific models; and that the countervailing interests of safeguarding lives and livelihoods render it impossible for any political leader to achieve a perfect outcome.The reflexive rejection of contrary views as either an ignorant exaggeration...

Shares of others in the race may lose momentum Companies working on COVID-19 treatment and prevention have seen their shares soar so far this year. Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA) gained 44%, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: REGN) rose 15%, Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD) climbed 9%, and Inovio Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: INO) soared 102%.These stocks may lose momentum if chloroquine becomes the "go-to" drug for COVID-19. As mentioned above, there is room for additional treatments, but if chloroquine gets the first-mover advantage, others that eventually enter probably will seize a smaller share of the market than hoped. The news also would burst the bubble of...

Collectors and investors appear to have flocked to gold coins as a safe haven buy amid stock market turbulence caused by coronavirus, with some at a behind closed doors auction this week selling for triple their estimate. More than 500 lots of coins dating from the Iron Age all the way through to 2008 went under the hammer at auction house Spink, selling from anything from £30 to £65,000. While the auction house told This is Money its estimates did tend to be more conservative to encourage bidding, many of the highest-selling lots dramatically exceeded their estimates in the online-only...

Please check in with your observations about the situation on the ground in China, to the extent you are free to talk without consequences.

Democratic presidential frontrunner Joe Biden will take part in a CNN town hall focusing on the coronavirus pandemic on Friday night, according to a network announcement. The 60-minute town hall will "feature questions submitted by individuals living in some of the communities hit hardest by the coronavirus," per CNN. Biden will join the event from his home studio in Delaware. It will be moderated by "AC 360" anchor Anderson Cooper. The former vice president has been mostly sidelined in recent weeks by the coronavirus pandemic, a development sparking anxiety among some Democrats. President Trump has seen his approval numbers rise...

Texas is ordering air travelers from the tri-state area around New York City and from New Orleans to self-quarantine for 14 days after they arrive -- to reduce spread of the novel coronavirus.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic super PAC Priorities USA said on Thursday it planned to expand its use of an advertisement critical of President Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic despite the Trump re-election campaign’s efforts to stop it. Trump’s campaign on Wednesday said it had sent cease-and-desist letters to local television stations that were running the ad in Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin - all expected to be swing states critical in November’s presidential election - because of what it considers a false assertion that Trump referred to the virus as a hoax. It threatened litigation if stations...

“Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips” (Proverbs 27:1 KJV).

In the months prior to the most ferocious stock market crash in history and the eruption of the biggest public health crisis of our generation, we witnessed the biggest exodus of corporate CEOs that we have ever seen. As you will see below, corporate insiders also sold off billions of dollars worth of shares in their own companies just before the stock market imploded. In life, timing can be everything, and sometimes people simply get lucky. But it does seem odd that so many among the corporate elite would be so exceedingly “lucky” all at the same time. In this...

Mexican protesters have blocked the Mexico-bound lanes at the main crossing in the twin border cities of Nogales to demand their government conduct strict coronavirus testing on Americans and other travelers entering the country Protesters wearing face masks and carrying signs used a pair of vehicles to blockade the two southbound lanes on Wednesday at the DeConcini crossing, which links Nogales, Ariz., and Nogales in the Mexican state of Sonora, the Arizona Republic reported. Some of the signs asked US residents to “stay at home,” while others called on Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to beef up controls and...