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Oh, sure I hate people who design packages like the inner cereal bag you can't open without using your teeth. Or the tiny little necks on ketchup bottles. Or the erupting juice boxes (why can't I peel off the seal? Why make me apply pressure with the ideal conduit for juice to squirt at my new shirt?) But no-one deserves to be stuck on a car trip with the Eagles' Love Will Keep Us Alive on endless loop like the bastards who made *every* *single* *appliance* *I* *own* attempt to tell me something with the same high-pitched beep that goes...

Military personnel will being treating coronavirus patients at new medical facilities that have popped up in the cities of New York, New Orleans and Dallas, the White House said Thursday, marking a shift in policy for how the Pentagon is aiding in the medical response to the pandemic. Vice President Pence said at a White House briefing on the virus that President Trump had directed the Department of Defense to use military personnel to operate facilities fully focused on coronavirus patients. The move comes one day after Defense Secretary Mark Esper said in response to a question from The Hill...

Too many are scared to tell the truth — 'I'm not one of them' Conservative political commentator Candace Owens has decided to run for political office and is "eyeing a seat right now," she told BlazeTV's Glenn Beck Thursday morning. Ditch the fake news ==> Click here to get news you can trust sent right to your inbox. It's free! Owens, 30, did not disclose exactly which office she was looking at, but declared that when she decides to run, she will win. "I'll tell you something else, Glenn, I'll win," she said. "They won't know what hit them ......

The head of Florida's Division of Emergency Management has accused U.S. mask manufacturer 3M of shipping the critical protective equipment to foreign countries who outbid U.S. buyers -- even as hospitals and state officials desperately scramble to secure N95 protective masks for healthcare workers on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic. Jared Moskowitz told "Tucker Carlson Tonight" Thursday that he discovered that 3M distributors were prioritizing foreign buyers after they refused to sell him the essential equipment. "For the last several weeks, we have had a boiler room chasing down 3M authorized distributors [and] brokers representing that they sell the...

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – It’s as if small business owners, including some startups in the Triangle, are lined up for the start of the Indy 500 as the flag drops Friday for $350 billion in loans through the federal government’s $2 trillion coronavirus economic relief package. The loans are seen as a lifeline for companies that are short of capital and losing business as the virus shuts down much of the US economy. Small business makes up some 44 percent of the US gross domestic product and employ millions of people. But banks are warning they may not be ready...

Chemists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have chemically synthesized a new peptide (a short protein fragment) that can bind to part of SARS-CoV-2's spike protein, a key protein responsible for getting the virus into mammalian cells, potentially disarming it. "We have a lead compound that we really want to explore, because it does, in fact, interact with a viral protein in the way that we predicted it to interact, so it has a chance of inhibiting viral entry into a host cell," said senior author Dr. Brad Pentelute, a researcher in the Department of Chemistry at MIT. Coronaviruses,...

Most coronavirus patients who end up on ventilators go on to die, according to several small studies from the U.S., China and Europe. And many of the patients who continue to live can't be taken off the mechanical breathing machines. "It's very concerning to see how many patients who require ventilation do not make it out of the hospital," says Dr. Tiffany Osborn, a critical care specialist at Washington University in St. Louis who has been caring for coronavirus patients at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. That concern is echoed by Negin Hajizadeh, a pulmonary critical care doctor at the Donald and Barbara...

[Catholic Caucus] Sorry, Cdl Cupich, you can’t insist that private baptisms require episcopal approval Church law informs parents that they have an obligation—not just an option—to have their children baptised in the ‘first few weeks’ April 2, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – Much has been written about the lack of Holy Communion and the Sacrament of Penance (Confession) in the current public health situation, but I’d like to say something about the Sacrament of Baptism. This will only affect a small number of people, but it has a particular interest because in principle, as we are all taught in Catechism, anyone having...

I’m now honestly considering running for office. Never had any desire to previously, but something changed in me last night. Had a conversation with my husband and I think it’s a plan.

Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert and member of the Trump administration’s coronavirus task force, said he doesn’t know why some states still do not have stay-at-home orders in place to steam the spread of the coronavirus. "Whether there should be a federally mandated directive for that or not, I guess that’s more of a political question, but just scientifically, doesn’t everybody have to be on the same page with this stuff?” CNN’s Anderson Cooper asked the physician during an interview on live television Thursday evening. "I don't understand why that's not happening,” Fauci responded. “If you look...

ALBANY, NY—New York state has announced a new plan to raise taxes on the novel coronavirus. The 15% income tax on all COVID-19 viruses, coupled with an 8% luxury disease tax, is expected to generate significant revenue and stop the virus in its tracks. The plan is designed to cause the virus to flee the state to a lower-tax, more virus-friendly area. "We thought about all the different ways to solve problems that we know of, and we just returned to the tried-and-true method: taxing something until it runs away," said Governor Andrew Cuomo. "This new legislation will cause the...

Baker said his parents were in perfect health until three weeks ago when they visited their doctor, who told both of them that they may have a slight case of pneumonia but should be fine. When they continued to feel worse, his parents went to the hospital on March 19. .... “I started thinking, "This has got to stop. We’ve got to work to stop spreading this virus,'” said Baker. He said that people have to stop thinking, "I’m too young, I’m too healthy" and realize that "it could happen to somebody in your family.”

A 38-year-old, female, Belizean national from San Pedro is the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Belize, according to The Ministry of Health. The patient sought medical attention after arriving in Belize on Thursday, March 19. She arrived at the private health facility with symptoms on Friday, March 20. Prior to this visit, she travelled from Los Angeles, California and transited through Texas. Based on her symptoms and travel history, Belize’s health system was alerted, and due process and protocol was started. All necessary precautions were taken on the Ministry’s end. The sample was processed for COVID-19 and other flu...

A cable news correspondent who has been barred from White House briefings by a journalists’ organization said Thursday she had been explicitly invited by President Trump’s press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, and plans to continue covering the daily sessions. Chanel Rion, who works for the Trump-friendly One America News Network, made the remarks on the air Thursday amid a standoff with the White House Correspondents Association over her repeated appearances in the small briefing room on days when it was not her organization’s turn to attend. Hours later, she showed up to the briefing for the third consecutive day. Rion said...

Ammon Bundy said this at the public meeting he organized: "It's all of us going to the governer's house, right, literally, and saying, YOU WILL NOT DO THIS! WE ARE NOT OK WITH THIS! WE ARE GOING TO HIS HOUSE!" How is calling for potentially infected and undoubtedly armed angry people to show up at the Governor's personal residence not considered a real threat? He plans to hold another public event tonight in Emmett Idaho.

The last witch execution that can be documented in the Holy Roman Empire’s illustrious history took place on this date in 1756, in Landshut, during the age of Maria Theresa.* Its subject was a 15-year-old named Veronika Zeritschin, who was beheaded and then burned.

Such were the expectations for the Navy hospital ship U.S.N.S. Comfort that when it chugged into New York Harbor this week, throngs of people, momentarily forgetting the strictures of social distancing, crammed together along Manhattan’s west side to catch a glimpse. On Thursday, though, the huge white vessel, which officials had promised would bring succor to a city on the brink, sat mostly empty, infuriating local hospital executives. The ship’s 1,000 beds are largely unused, its 1,200-member crew mostly idle. Only three patients had been transferred to the ship, officials said, even as New York hospitals struggled to find space...

How dangerous is the COVID-19 coronavirus?   [slightly edited and restructured answer I originally wrote on Quora, to the question, but which summarily deleted by them without explanation] That depends on many factors.The Guardian (March 21) and some other news media stated that about 80% of people who get Covid-19 experience a mild case [WHO said the same] – about as serious as a regular cold – and recover without needing any special treatment.[1]Also, the amount of the coronavirus that you first take in may play a factor in the severity of your symptoms (other aspects being equal).[2]CDC (March...

President Donald Trump said Thursday his administration will soon release nationwide recommendations on wearing face masks after initially telling Americans they weren't necessary to prevent the spread of coronavirus. But a top health adviser on his team strongly cautioned that masks should not lull Americans into a false sense of security that would lead them to abandon social distancing guidelines. Speaking at a White House task force briefing, Trump said the new guidance would stop short of requiring all Americans to wear face coverings. "I don't think they'll be mandatory because some people don't want to do that," he said,...

MEMORANDUM FOR THE DIRECTOR OF THE PENSION BENEFIT GUARANTY CORPORATIONSUBJECT:       Providing an Order of Succession Within the Pension Benefit Guaranty CorporationBy the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, as amended, 5 U.S.C. 3345 et seq. (the “Act”), it is hereby ordered that:Section 1.  Order of Succession.  Subject to the provisions of section 2 of this memorandum and to the limitations set forth in the Act, the following officials of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, in the order listed, shall act...