Free Republic

Unite the Country, the super PAC backing former Vice President Joe Biden, released a somber new ad condemning President Donald Trump for invoking the word “hoax” in relation to the coronavirus, eliminating the U.S. pandemic response team, and allowing the virus to spread “unchecked” across the country. The ad, entitled “Crisis Comes,” makes the point that crisis comes for every president, which they shouldn’t be blamed for, but argues that it is Trump’s response to the coronavirus outbreak that is unforgivable. “Crisis comes to every president — this one failed,” the ad concludes.

Amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has issued a directive restricting the sale and distribution of "hydroxychloroquine" declaring it as an essential drug to treat the COVID-19 patients and meet the requirements of emergency arising due to the pandemic. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Thursday made the announcement making it clear that the order "shall come into force on the date of its publication in the official Gazette". In the order, the government declared that the Central government is "satisfied that the drug hydroxychloroquine is essential to meet the requirements...

To fight the coronavirus at home, France is removing all military forces from Iraq. When NATO scaled back its war games in Europe because of the pandemic, Russia reciprocated. Moscow announced it would cancel its war games along NATO's border. Nations seem to be recognizing and responding to the grim new geostrategic reality of March 2020: The pandemic is the real enemy of us all, and while we fight it, each in his own national corner, we are in this together. Never allow a serious crisis to go to waste, said Barack Obama's chief of staff Rahm Emanuel during the...

"You're actually sitting too close," President Trump remarked at a press briefing. "Really, we should probably get rid of about 75, 80 percent of you.” Trump was only partly joking. The White House Correspondents Association had asked its members to sit one seat apart at press briefings, but at a time when most businesses have been shut down even when they offer far more space to customers and employees, the sight of crowded press briefings is still surreally hypocritical. Governor Jared Polis delivered his press briefing on social distancing surrounded by a huddle of other Colorado officials, including a sign...

Professor John Ellis has served on college faculties since 1963 and is now an emeritus professor at the University of California-Santa Cruz. He has witnessed enormous changes in higher education over his years and he finds those changes to be deplorable. In his new book The Breakdown of Higher Education, Ellis explains how our system was subverted, why it matters, and what it will take to put it back on the proper track. Americans, Ellis observes, used to have almost unlimited confidence in our colleges and universities. They were expected to provide advanced learning for serious students and a forum...

Mayor LaToya Cantrell of New Orleans refuses to take responsibility for her decision not to call off Mardi Gras over concerns of the Wuhan coronavirus. That decision has caused New Orleans to become the epicenter of coronavirus cases in the state of Louisiana, according to medical experts. So who exactly does the Democratic mayor blame for not canceling Mardi Gras in her own city? Donald Trump. In an interview with Wolf Blitzer, Cantrell said she didn't take the threat of the virus too seriously because President Trump didn't take it seriously. She then gave herself credit for canceling other events...

FL-26 was just moved from “Likely Democrat” to “Lean Democrat” because of strong GOP recruitment. In Case You Missed It… House Rating Changes: Fall Outlook Shifts in 10 Districts FL-26: Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D) – South: Homestead, The Keys, The Everglades Lean Democratic. It looked like Mucarsel-Powell might cruise to victory after former GOP Rep. Carlos Curbelo, whom she defeated 51 percent to 49 percent in 2018, announced he wouldn’t seek a comeback. But Republicans got new life here in January when two-term Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez, who is term-limited in 2020, declared he would run and bring his universal...

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...