Free Republic

Geneva (AFP) - Though factories have shut, planes have been grounded and cars left in the garage, the coronavirus pandemic is having very little impact on climate change, the World Meteorological Organization said Wednesday. Any reductions in pollution and carbon dioxide emissions are likely to be temporary, said Lars Peter Riishojgaard, from the infrastructure department of the WMO, a United Nations agency based in Geneva. "It does not mean much for climate," he told a virtual press conference. Riishojgaard said there was a lot of media speculation about what impact the global pandemic might have on the climate, greenhouse gas...

A drug that has proven effective against the Wuhan Coronavirus was banned in Michigan by its Democratic governor after it was promoted by President Donald Trump, but now that the drug is being circulated with proven efficacy against the virus, Michigan’s governor is practically begging for it. It wasn’t but a few days ago that Democratic Michigan Governor, Gretchen Whitmer, was banning the drug hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine from being sold in pharmacies and threatening “professional consequences” if they prescribe or dispense it, even ordering pharmacists to “ignore physician orders for this medication.” Why had Whitmer denied this potentially life-saving drug...

Yesterday's thread here: http://freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3830232/posts?page=1

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) said Monday he will introduce a bill to create a “nonpartisan commission” to study “our mistakes” on coronavirus — which spread while Schiff was leading the effort to impeach and remove the president. As Breitbart News has noted, Democrats handed over the articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump on the very day the first coronavirus victim landed in the U.S. from China. Congress spent the next 20 days on the impeachment trial, led by Schiff as head impeachment manager and chair of the House Intelligence Committee. It was not until Trump was acquitted Feb. 5...

Some 90 million years ago, a temperate rainforest grew near the South Pole. Scientists recovered fossil traces of the ancient rainforest from seafloor sediment cores collected near West Antarctica's Pine Island Glacier. Seismic data suggested the sediment layer was unique, but researchers weren't expecting to find the remnants of a Cretaceous forest. "The finding of this well preserved 'forest soil' layer was actually a lucky dip," researcher Ulrich Salzmann, professor of palaeoecology at the University of Northumbria in Britain, told UPI. "We did not know of the existence of this layer before." Among the sediment layers, Salzmann and his research...

...It appears that the new media trope, which is also a Democratic Party talking point, is that Trump did not establish restrictions and guidelines soon enough. For example, CNN gadfly Jim Acosta asked Coronavirus Task Force member, Dr. Antony Fauci, if social distancing should have happened earlier. Fauci robustly pushed back on that speculation, reminding the media that China was less than forthcoming with critical data...

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) is drafting legislation that would set up an independent commission that would investigate why the country was unprepared for the coronavirus pandemic. “After Pearl Harbor and 9/11, we looked at what went wrong to learn from our mistakes,” the House Intelligence Committee Chairman said in a tweet. “Once we've recovered, we need a nonpartisan commission to review our response and how we can better prepare for the next pandemic.” Schiff did not give specifics regarding when the legislation will be dropped, but suggested it would be after Congress finishes the task at hand: mulling a series...

The coronavirus pandemic could take away the momentum that has built in the past few years for new federal policies to counter climate change. “What I fear is everyone is so focused on the problem at hand that I don't think climate issues are on the front burner again,” said Rep. Francis Rooney of Florida, a Republican who supports a carbon tax. “All the eggs are scrambled until these things are solved and steady. I hope we don't lose the momentum we've gained among Republicans," Rooney said in an interview with the Washington Examiner. Polls over recent years have shown...

The construction of several new miles of border wall along the U.S.-Mexico boundary has continued while much of the country has gone on lockdown. That has met with the approval of President Donald Trump, who sees it as a way of keeping the country safe. In response to a tweet by conservative pundit Charlie Kirk who praised Trump for stopping flights from China to contain the coronavirus and continuing to build the wall March 10, the president tweeted: "Going up fast. We need the Wall more than ever!" The Washington Times reported Saturday that 140 miles of border wall have...

Georgia Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler traded millions in stocks in the days after a closed Senate briefing on the coronavirus – and dumped holdings in retail stores that have been battered by the pandemic. The wealthy Loeffler, who was appointed to her seat and is married to the president of the New York Stock Exchange, sold $18.7 million in International Stock Exchange, according to information her office shared with the Atlanta Journal Constitution. That is the company that owns the New York Stock Exchange. The trades came Feb. 26 and March 11, as the virus spread but the broader public...

Well thank God March is finally over. It only lasted longer than the Thirty Years War. And now April, T.S. Eliot’s “cruelest month,” which will likely seem longer than the Hundred Years War. Where is our Marlborough, who led the War of the Spanish Succession? A Marlborough is obviously what we need for the War of the Spanish Flu Succession. (Thanks, I’ll be here all month. Try the roast beef.)

The Coast Guard is directing cruise ships with passengers that may be infected with coronavirus to stay offshore “indefinitely” and prepare to treat passengers aboard their ships, according to a safety bulletin issued Sunday. The Coast Guard’s new regulations mandate all ships in U.S. waters with more than 50 people give daily updates on their medical caseloads or face civil or criminal punishment. Coast Guard Rear Admiral E.C. Jones, whose district covers Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Puerto Rico, signed the bulletin preventing ship evacuations. “This is necessary as shore-side medical facilities may reach full capacity and lose the ability...

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Boys adventure movement Trail Life USA (www.TrailLifeUSA.com) today announced its first-ever “National Backyard Campout” -- encouraging families to “make memories” during the COVID-19 lockdown. At a time when “outward bound” has become “homebound” for families across the nation, Trail Life USA is inviting America’s families to take a break from their COVID-19 preoccupation and have a camping adventure in their own backyards April 17. “Our Troops have had to hold their meetings online for the past few weeks during self-isolating,” said Mark Hancock, CEO of Trail Life USA, which has more than 30,000 members in 830-plus troops...

The U.S. Intelligence Community has concluded that China concealed the extent of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak in the country, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday. A classified report submitted to the White House states that China intentionally lowered its reported number of coronavirus cases, according to three officials familiar with the matter. The officials did not indicate if the report estimates what China’s actual infection rate is. The news comes a day after Dr. Deborah Birx, response coordinator for the White House Coronavirus Task Force, suggested that the U.S. response to the pandemic may not have been as effective as possible...

Open letter to Rush Limbaugh: Rush, check the depression at the door and leave it outside in the democrat rain. The shutdown was necessary to give the infection curve a 'flattening'. The self sequestration has worked and supplies are ramped up in the pipeline. We now have a much more robust testing process and a drug regimen has been developed to quickly reduce viral load so a person's immune system can kill this virus. The hydroxychloroquine + Zinc stops virus replication. That same medication will be a powerful tool to allow America to get back to work with a preventative...

More than two dozen students from the University of Texas who chartered a plane to Mexico for spring break are now infected with the novel coronavirus, COVID-19. The City of Austin, Texas, announced the news on Tuesday, saying of the 70 students who chartered the plane to Cabo San Lucas about a week and a half ago, at least 28 of them have tested positive for COVID-19. Dozens more are under public health investigation. At least four of the confirmed cases were asymptomatic, said officials.

Congress passed and the president signed a $2 trillion "stimulus" bill. "Not enough!" shrieked politicians. They said the government must do more. They demanded President Donald Trump reactivate the Defense Production Act, a 1950 law that lets government force companies to make things. Trump hesitated. That upset lovers of big dictatorial government. They demanded the president order companies to make respirators, masks and other desperately needed medical equipment. CNN's Alisyn Camerota joined the media mob asking "What's the holdup!?" Then a White House press reporter confronted Trump at the White House, asking, "Why not use it now?" The president surprised...

Crises bring out the best and the worst in people. We've seen a great number of good and kind things done during this current crisis and we're seeing some of the worst, and most of the worst are coming directly from the liberal media. This morning,  Joe Scarborough (@joenbc) uncorked one of the yugest lies I've seen in a long time. http://www.floppingaces.net/2020/04/01/joe-scarborough-is-a-world-class-lying-scumbag/ "Everybody saw this coming in early January" They did, did they? Let's have a look, courtesy of Tom Elliott. The first mention of the virus on MSNBC  was on Jan. 24 and it was "don't worry about Corona"...

Protecting Americans’ health also means fighting infectious diseases. We are coordinating with the Chinese government and working closely together on the coronavirus outbreak in China. My administration will take all necessary steps to safeguard our citizens from this threat. Complete 2020 State of the Union Speech

As authorities arrest pastors for holding Sunday services in defiance of social distancing orders, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Tuesday that religious services are to be considered essential in his state. Abbott issued an executive order relating to state-wide continuity of essential services and activities during the coronavirus pandemic. The order mandated that all Texans will minimize social gatherings and in-person contact with people who are not in the same household, and, among other statutes, clarified that religious services conducted in churches, congregations and houses of worship are to be considered essential services. “‘Essential services’ shall consist of everything listed...