Free Republic

Florida’s unemployment system has been overwhelmed by a record number of people thrown out of work because of the coronavirus. Its website, the primary way to apply for unemployment, brings up error messages more often than not. Its call center, meant to be a backup system for the website, has been overwhelmed with callers, and some people are spending up to 12 hours on hold, if they’re able to get through at all.

WASHINGTON -- Donald Trump’s approval rating has ticked up during the coronavirus crisis, but not as much as governors' and other world leaders', suggesting Americans are less confident in the president's management of the pandemic than the numbers suggest. For a president who has seen little movement in his public approval through prior crises, from nuclear standoffs with North Korea to his impeachment, the recent bump in poll numbers - coming in an election year - could be cause for optimism. But pollsters warn that compared to other leaders also battling the pandemic, Trump isn’t seeing the American public rallying...

A member of the Kennedy family and her 8-year-old son have been identified Friday as the two boaters who are still missing after vanishing Thursday in Chesapeake Bay. David McKean told the Washington Post that he, his wife Maeve Kennedy Townsend McKean, and their child Gideon Joseph Kennedy McKean had gathered Thursday at her mom’s home in Shady Side, Maryland. Children there were kicking around a ball in the yard – but at one point it went into the water, and his wife and son “popped into a canoe to chase it down,” he said. “They just got farther out...

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear on Friday vetoed a bill pushed by Republican lawmakers to require Kentucky residents to show a government-issued photo ID in order to vote. In his veto message, the governor said the measure would create an obstacle to voting, resulting in fewer people casting ballots and “undermining our democracy.” Beshear, a former state attorney general, added that the bill seeks to “resolve a problem that does not exist," pointing to the absence of voter impersonation cases in Kentucky. Secretary of State Michael Adams urged lawmakers to override the veto. The measure passed the Senate...

The U.S. government’s historic $2.2 trillion coronavirus aid relief package recently approved by Congress is highly vulnerable to fraud and abuse, oversight experts and veteran watchdogs who investigated abuse of the government’s financial system bailout more than a decade ago told ABC News. The size of the unprecedented relief package – in the scale of spending and the number of businesses eligible for funds – will make it difficult to verify the information from each applicant, and how they plan to use their money. “Everybody’s acceptance of some or a lot of fraud is going to have to be high,...

While the Trump administration is forecasting some 100 - 240k or more deaths from the coronavirus scare (and lots of hell) over the next few weeks, South Korea is well on its way in sliding out of its bell curve since the middle of March. South Korea was also hit pretty hard with this virus, being right next door to China. The people recovering, graphed in the green color, are now also biting deeply into the blue of those who are still sick. Those who have died are colored in red in between the green and the blue. Officially, as...

See how your community is moving around differently due to COVID-19 As global communities respond to COVID-19, we've heard from public health officials that the same type of aggregated, anonymized insights we use in products such as Google Maps could be helpful as they make critical decisions to combat COVID-19. These Community Mobility Reports aim to provide insights into what has changed in response to policies aimed at combating COVID-19. The reports chart movement trends over time by geography, across different categories of places such as retail and recreation, groceries and pharmacies, parks, transit stations, workplaces, and residential.

As I've mentioned in a previous post, my wife and I own a personal care home with almost 50 residents in Western Pennsylvania. We've been buying PPE supplies in bulk from Amazon for quite some time, but, this morning, my wife tried to order masks, gloves and sanitary supplies and, after almost an hour on a live chat with Amazon, discovered that we can no longer order from Amazon. Seems that Amazon is limiting the sale of PPE to hospitals and "government agencies."

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 5:3). If you are poor in spirit, certain characteristics will mark your life. The Puritan writer Thomas Watson listed seven ways to determine if you are poor in spirit (The Beatitudes [Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1971], pp. 45-48): You will be weaned from self—Psalm 131:2 says, "Like a weaned child rests against his mother, my soul is like a weaned child within me." When you are poor in spirit you will focus not on yourself but on glorifying God and ministering to others. You...

Here’s a sensible question. If the mayor of the most notable metropolis in the country can openly suggest that the government has the right to permanently shutter the doors of a church if it refuses to comply with “social distancing” guidelines, or any other edict the government finds necessary in a given moment, then what can’t the government do? Just a few weeks ago, the threat of COVID-19 was considered by nearly everyone to be potentially far deadlier than it has yet proven to be. The fatality rates, hospitalization rates, and the predictions of American death tolls (once routinely touted...

It seems that President Trump’s leading expert on the coronavirus task force knew something we don’t know because he warned three years ago that a surprise disease outbreak would happen during Trump’s reign. On January 11, 2017 “Anthony S. Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said there is ‘no doubt’ Donald J. Trump will be confronted with a surprise infectious disease outbreak during his presidency.” From Healio.: During a forum on pandemic preparedness at Georgetown University, Fauci said the Trump administration will not only be challenged by ongoing global health threats such as influenza...

Some 40,000 children slave away in Chinese-operated Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) mines, digging out cobalt for cell phones, laptops, Teslas and Green New Deal technologies, the London-based Guardian has reported. They’re exposed constantly to toxic and radioactive mud, dust, water and air. Blood and respiratory diseases, birth defects, cancer, paralysis and death by suffocation are common. Other investigators have confirmed the horrors. But the human rights violations continue. Unfortunately, other Guardian stories are a bizarre mix of fact, fake news, junk science, conjecture and nonsense. “Is our destruction of nature responsible for Covid-19?” a recent headline blared, adding “As...

“Gal Gadot’s Celeb-packed ‘Imagine’ Cover Spawns Outrage: Just call her Blunder Woman,” snarks the New York Post. “Gal Gadot’s attempt to cheer up coronavirus isolationists with a celeb-studded cover of John Lennon’s “Imagine” backfired.. “We’re all in this together,” says the “Wonder Woman” star, 34, at the start of the viral video. The three-minute clip then cuts to a montage of Gadot, Mark Ruffalo, Will Ferrell and other Hollywood elites singing the lyrics of the late Beatle star’s opus, which envisions a world without strife.” “The actress Gal Gadot, on her sixth day of precautionary coronavirus self-isolation, orchestrated a line-for-line...

Moscow (AFP) - Russia is ready to cooperate with Saudi Arabia and the United States to cut oil production, President Vladimir Putin said Friday. Putin said Russia was willing to make agreements within the framework of the OPEC+ group and that "we are ready for cooperation with the United States of America on this issue," according to a statement published by the Kremlin. "I believe that it is necessary to combine efforts in order to balance the market and reduce production." Oil prices have tumbled in recent weeks in the face of a drop in demand and global economic uncertainty...

Authorities continued searching Friday for two members of the Kennedy family who disappeared in the Chesapeake Bay after they had set out in a canoe to retrieve a ball in the water — a mission that family said “turned from rescue to recovery.” Maeve Kennedy Townsend McKean, 40, and her 8-year-old son Gideon Joseph Kennedy McKean went missing near Annapolis on Thursday evening while the family had gathered at a waterfront house owned by McKean’s mother, family and authorities said.

If there are two things that are clear during this Wuhan coronavirus outbreak, it’s that the liberal media is terrible. And the progressive Left is outright insufferable. The liberal media is making a daily habit trying to tank the markets with their trash reporting and desperate trap this administration in a ‘gotcha’ moment for their broadcasts. It’s sick. If there is one institution that could torpedo or threaten a united front in combating this disease, it’s the liberal media. Also, they’ve tried to for three years to entrap this White House, with each time ending in failure. They’re an embarrassment....

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, postal workers have been on the front lines, considered "essential workers" who must continue to do their jobs as usual while others stay home. But some lawmakers are warning that without more support, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) could completely shut down in the next few months, threatening the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Americans.

In a critical health crisis like the one we are experiencing, no single activity is more important than the role of the news media. People need the best information on the nature of the threat, how they can protect themselves, what to do if they suspect they are infected, etc. On March 25, President Trump conducted a daily briefing on the coronavirus. Attorney General Barr was there to warn people about price gouging. Health experts were there to update everyone on the latest information about testing – including the promise of a soon-to-be-approved test that can detect the virus with...

Broadway fans around the world will soon be able to stream the works of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber on YouTube — for free. The series, dubbed “The Shows Must Go On!,” will stream weekly to help ease cabin fever during the coronavirus quarantine. The musical theater legend plans to air some of his most celebrated — and reviled — shows. The first installment begins at 2 p.m. Friday with Lloyd Webber’s 2000 revival of 1991’s “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” starring Donny Osmond, Maria Friedman, Richard Attenborough and Joan Collins, available for a 48-hour period. The next production, scheduled...

It’s just the flu, bro. It is interesting to follow the countries who have Flubros as leaders: Mexico Brazil Belarus Sweden While these countries aren’t 100% Flubro, they do represent one end of a spectrum. We can watch to see how both viral deaths and the economy fare there, relative to those nations that have taken more of a Fearper approach. Some things to watch for: 1. If any world leaders discuss an endgame for their panic-driven lockdowns 2. Any evidence that people will stop inflating the official death count with people dying with Corona as opposed to from Corona...