Free Republic

Amid the rising cases of the coronavirus COVD-19 worldwide, the Pakistani Army is unwilling to close the mosques across the country fearing backlash from the fundamentalist clerics. The fact remains that the fundamentalist clerics are crucial for Pakistan's proxy wars in Afghanistan and India, especially Jammu and Kashmir. Amid the rising cases of the coronavirus COVD-19 worldwide, the Pakistani Army is unwilling to close the mosques across the country fearing backlash from the fundamentalist clerics. The fact remains that the fundamentalist clerics are crucial for Pakistan's proxy wars in Afghanistan and India, especially Jammu and Kashmir. The Imran Khan-led government...

Norfolk, Virginia 1:52 P.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Mark. And you’re doing a fantastic job, and our country appreciates it very much. And thank you, everybody, for being here. Today, I’m deeply honored to be at Naval Station Norfolk — the largest naval base anywhere in the world, and the home to the most powerful fleet that has ever sailed the seas. I just passed some of the most beautiful and, frankly, the most highly lethal ships that I have ever seen in my life, and there are a lot of them. And they’re in better shape...

WASHINGTON - Russia is very likely behind a disinformation campaign on coronavirus in the Western media, intended to fuel panic and discord among allies, experts tell VOA. The European Union has accused Moscow of pushing fake news online in English, Spanish, Italian, German and French, using “contradictory, confusing and malicious reports” to make it harder for the bloc leaders to communicate its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Reuters news agency reported Wednesday that the European External Action Service issued a nine-page internal document March 16 saying that “the overarching aim of Kremlin disinformation is to aggravate the public health crisis...

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainee who contracted the Chinese coronavirus has been released from the Bergen County Jail in Hackensack, New Jersey. The infected detainee was released following a federal judge in New York City ordering ten illegal aliens released from custody citing “inadequate conditions.” “The risk that Petitioners will face a severe, and quite possibly fatal, infection if they remain in immigration detention constitutes irreparable harm warranting a TRO,” US District Court Judge Analisa Torres wrote in her order. “Respondents have exhibited, and continue to exhibit, deliberate indifference to Petitioners’ medical needs.” Bergen County officials maintain that the...

The world’s oldest man, who turns 112 on Sunday, has been forced to cancel his birthday celebrations because of coronavirus. Bob Weighton, from Hampshire in the UK, was due to celebrate with family and friends, but with the UK locked down he will spend his birthday alone. “Everything is cancelled, no visitors, no celebration,” he told Sky News. “It’s a dead loss as far as celebration is concerned.” Weighton lived through the last truly global pandemic, the 1918 Spanish Flu outbreak, but says he does not remember it.

12:13 P.M. EDT Q Mr. President, do you think the Easter timeline is off the table now, sir? THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’re going to see what happens. We want to get our country back to work. The doctors, nurses, first responders — everybody doing a phenomenal job, like beyond good. I’m going to — as you know, the Comfort — the great ship, Comfort — is stocked up to the gills. It’s right up to the top. And we’re going over there. I guess some of you are coming with me. But we’re going to send that up to New...

Through the garbled word soup of fancy buzzwords and bureaucratic newspeak, officials in Washington state are basically saying they are preparing to ration health services, with those whom the state seems as less desirable to receive less attention and care. In the age of what’s pretty much Bernie Sanders’s wet dream of socialized healthcare, there simply aren’t enough resources to care for everyone.The Seattle Times reports: Washington state and hospital officials have been meeting to consider what once was almost unthinkable — how to decide who lives and dies if, as feared, the coronavirus pandemic overwhelms the state’s health care...

On Saturday, President Trump visited Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia to send off the USNS Comfort as the hospital ship departs for New York City. The ship is stocked with medical supplies and has 1,000 beds and other equipment to help aide New York in its response to the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic.  The ship has 12 fully-equipped operating rooms, two oxygen-producing plants, a pharmacy, a medical laboratory, an optometry lab, a CAT-scan, digital radiological services, and a helicopter pad, according to the Navy. Once in New York, the ship will provide medical services to non-coronavirus patients, freeing up New York's...

Dear Madam Speaker: (Dear Mr. President:) On November 29, 2019, the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) transmitted to me a report on his investigation into the effect of imports of titanium sponge on the national security of the United States under section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1862) (the “Act”). Consistent with the Act (19 U.S.C. 1862(c)(2)), I am reporting that in my memorandum of February 27, 2020 (The Effect of Titanium Sponge Imports on the National Security), I concurred with the Secretary’s finding that titanium sponge is being imported into the United States...

If this were a normal election year, voter registration organizations in Florida would be deploying an army of field volunteers and organizers to supermarkets and churches now. They’d be touting ambitious registration goals, knocking on a record number of doors and targeting overlooked voters. But as the number of cases and deaths related to COVID-19 continue to swell in the nation’s most populous battleground state, “Get Out The Vote!” groups are scrapping old plans and scrambling to address the challenges posed by a society in near-lockdown. Suddenly unable to reach voters on their doorsteps, Democratic activists are scaling back voter...

Tom Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, have returned to America after contracting the coronavirus and locking themselves in quarantine while visiting Australia. Hanks announced the couple's safe arrival in a statement on social media. "Hey, Folks… We're home now and, like the rest of America, we carry on with sheltering in place and social distancing. Many, many thanks to everyone in Australia who looked after us. Their care and guidance made possible our return to the USA. And many thanks to all of you who reached out with well wishes. Rita and I so appreciate it." After the two...

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room  March 27, 2020 5:56 P.M. EDTTHE PRESIDENT:  Thank you very much.  Great to have you. And thank you all for being here.  My administration is taking new action to ensure that America has the medical resources and equipment needed to fight the global pandemic.  It’s been a brutal pandemic for over 150 countries all over the world.We’ve had great success over the last month.  We’ve — as you know, the millions and millions of pieces of equipment have been delivered successfully by us — purchased and delivered.  And we’ve made it available to...

The New York Times defended its White House correspondent Maggie Haberman on Friday, saying that her work as a journalist has "stood the test of time" after President Trump accused her of being a "third rate reporter." "Maggie Haberman is a trusted journalist whose reporting has stood the test of time," the newspaper's communications team tweeted Friday. "As President Trump's campaign said today, Maggie is 'one of the most powerful and respected political reporters in the country." The conflict between Trump and the news outlet began earlier on Friday when Trump retweeted a post from Greg Price, a social media...

EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) - A pair of drug busts netted more than $8.7 million worth of narcotics last week at a South Texas border crossing, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said. Both drug seizures occurred at the World Trade Bridge in Laredo, Texas. On Friday, border officers conducted a non-intrusive imaging inspection on a tractor-trailer hauling a shipment of plastic containers. With the help of a drug-sniffing dog, officers found 137 packages containing 3,272 pounds of marijuana. The previous day, border officers discovered 159 packages containing 581 pounds of methamphetamine in a tractor-trailer following a secondary inspection that...

Despite a cacophony of criticisms directed at President Trump's handling of the COVID pandemic claiming it was too hasty, it's too sluggish, it's anti-science, and racist, a study by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security (JHCHS) published in late 2019 found that the United States was more prepared for a pandemic than any other country in the world. MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell dismissed the Study's findings, calling them "myopic in scope. The preparedness index was narrowly focused on medical issues like quantities of hospitals, doctors, equipment and medicines. It totally overlooked the political downside of generating a favorable image...

In 1959, Fortune revealed a “fascinating and brash” mission that got down to uncover the 100 best-designed merchandise of the modern technology. The checklist was once compiled via Jay Doblin, the director of the Institute of Design on the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), in line with a survey despatched out to 100 of the technology’s peak designers, architects, and design lecturers. The consequence is an engaging file for modern eyes—completely illustrating mid-century design philosophy, but continuously mirroring recent tastes: swish sports activities automobiles via Porsche and Cisitalia, or even sleeker armchairs via Eames, Aalto, and Saarinen. Domestic home equipment...

St. Corona, Pray for Us!Michael J. Lichens The last few weeks have been difficult for many of us living in the new reality brought on by COVID-19. While the virus threatens our vulnerable friends, family, and neighbors, you don’t have to be sick to feel its effects. The material and economic realities are hitting us from all sides. In such moments, it’s easy to let our anxieties overcome our spiritual hope.  As a relatively anxious person with a myriad of health problems, my experience over the last few weeks has been rough. This time of quarantine has also been a...

I do not think anyone knows for certain what is going to happen with Coronavirus. Amid the fear of the pandemic, how many people are scared that the risk of an economic depression from all the current “social isolation” makes this cure potentially far worse than the disease? Who is going to pay back all of the money that governments are suddenly spending? How many generations will that take? Or is it just being printed now to meet the needs of the 24 hours news cycle for a few weeks or months? In that case, where will real value go?...

CNN)Access to abortion is an essential service and a fundamental human right. Period. The denial of it, including in times of global crisis like the Covid-19 pandemic, constitutes cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. In the United States, the Trump administration's colossal failure to help keep people healthy and to slow the pandemic-driven implosion of the economy shouldn't come as a surprise to much of the public. He has delayed acknowledging the severity of Covid-19, prematurely hinted at an end to social distancing and over the course of his term in office, attempted to slash funding for the WHO, the CDC,...

The total number of Wuhan virus cases in the US surpassed the total in any other country yesterday. It is no surprise the media and their Democratic allies are using this data to cudgel the White House and mislead Americans. But anyone with fifth grade math (which apparently excludes most of the media) knows how irrelevant and misleading such a comparison is. As we have pointed out, the only way to compare the status of the pandemic across countries is to analyze the number of deaths and cases on a per capita basis. The number of deaths per capita is...