Free Republic

I would like to know what Freeepers have to say about evaluating presidents through their use (or overuse/underuse?) of the veto. The first thing I noticed was POTUS 45’s low rate of use of the veto compared with other eras. How do Freeepers evaluate Trump’s use of the veto? Here are some facts: 298 years ago, on April 5, 1792, President Washington (should we now call him POTUS 01 or POTUS 1?) exercised the first presidential veto. If I am not mistaken, he blocked legislation that would have given Northern states more seats per head of population than Southern States....

But there’s one data point being used in all of the prevailing models, including Imperial, that no one is talking about. When did the COVID curve begin? And it’s an important point. How can we interpret the data we currently have if we don’t know where on the time axis we actually are?

Mr. President, Please recommend at least 5 states tentatively "re-open" the day after Easter, based on recent data. The following five states practice good social distancing (proven by their low daily percentage increase) and have the highest percentages of (formerly infected) citizens, deemed now NOT-contagious. State     % "Recovered" MN       50.9% SD       35.8% ND       33.9% ME       30.7% NH       23.2% One of these states in particular, MN, now had MORE 'recovered-positive cases' (440) on 04/04 than it had 'Total-Cases' seven days prior, which implies this...

Friends it's Sunday night again and time to relax. Warm up the tubes for another 4 hours of classic radio Americana. Listen Live Info *tonight's show will be available at the "Info" link starting tomorrow.

Former Mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani said Sunday that doctors, not legislators, should decide whether the immunosuppressive drug hydroxychloroquine should be used as a possible treatment for coronavirus. President Trump and some other politicians have presented hydroxychloroquine – a drug used to treat and prevent malaria – as a possible remedy for coronavirus after a number of small, early tests that some researchers have encouraged. “I think we should let the doctors decide if we should use hydroxychloroquine, not the national bureaucracy,” said Giuliani “Sunday Morning Futures” by Fox News. (Please see link for full story)

Since no one in the mainstream media would ever dare write this, allow me: I’d like to give a round of applause to Vice President Mike Pence. I can’t wait for the Trump-Deranged trolls to lose their minds as they read that opener. Take a deep breath guys, because I’m just getting started! We’ve always known that the vice president is a religious man. I mean, how could we forget? Since the day he was picked as VP in 2016, the media has never missed an opportunity to mock him for being an evangelical, born-again Christian.

(Article profusely illustrated, with movie links.) The mass of the Chinese people are held in thrall by an efficient system of hourly checks unimagined by George Orwell in 1984. But how does the CCP monitor their foreign-agent students in the U.S.? Saddam Hussein's state security engaged about 60% of the populace spying on the other 40% and each other, high-quality human intelligence unable to be easily worked-around like electronic intelligence, but also so high-maintenance it must have been a drag on the economy. China's reliance on public, closed-circuit cctv and regular cell-phone loyalty check apps could have once been beaten,...

I’m concerned about the possible temptation to inflation the number of co-vid deaths to obtain increased tax subsidies (along with renewed socialized-medicine push) now and down the road. Hospital administrators (along with nurses union Bosses) could get “sloppy” with the reporting. An inflated number would allow hospitals to claim we have an “extraordinary outbreak” here – and rent seek for more federal and state dollars and additional programs.

Are you or an immediate (i.e., household, close-relationship) friend/family member a patient with COVID-19? Are or have been positive? Please join the discussion!

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has come under increased pressure to lift his executive order prohibiting pharmacists from dispensing the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine outside a hospital or inpatient setting to treat the novel coronavirus. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Sunday that he recently witnessed an elderly man with a high fever arrive at Mount Sinai Hospital, “and the first thing they did before they even talked to him was give him hydroxychloroquine.” “Why is the governor banning it?” asked Mr. Giuliani, President Trump’s personal lawyer, on “Sunday Morning Futures.” “Everything shows that it works.” Touted by Mr....

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II delivers a special broadcast to the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth in relation to the coronavirus outbreak. The Queen has promised the nation that better days are ahead, during a special address on Sunday. In a rare speech, she acknowledged the grief and financial hardships Britons are facing during the coronavirus pandemic. Echoing the words of the Vera Lynn wartime song, she said that “we will meet again”.

Every city resident is being directed to wear masks when out in public and a citywide curfew is being instituted between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. said Boston Mayor Martin Walsh Sunday, as he noted his continued frustration with outside gatherings while coronavirus cases rise in Boston.

From Europe to South America, U.S. allies are complaining about the superpower's "Wild West" tactics in outbidding or blocking shipments to buyers who have already signed deals for vital medical supplies. In France and Germany, senior officials said the United States was paying far above the market price for medical-grade masks, on occasion winning contracts through higher bids even after European buyers believed a deal was done, and Brazil's health minister reported a similar incident. "Money is irrelevant. They pay any price because they are desperate," one high-level official in German Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling CDU/CSU group told Reuters. A...

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was admitted to a hospital after suffering from coronavirus symptoms 10 days after testing positive, his office announced Sunday. Downing Street said Sunday the hospitalization was a "precautionary step" and he remained in charge of the government. A spokesperson said: “On the advice of his doctor, the prime minister has tonight been admitted to hospital for tests. This is a precautionary step, as the prime minister continues to have persistent symptoms of coronavirus 10 days after testing positive for the virus. The prime minister thanks [National Health Service] staff for all of their incredible hard...

Former Vice President Joe Biden is planning to host a "virtual fireside chat" fundraiser in April, sources tell The Hill. Biden, who has spent the last few weeks sidelined in his Wilmington, Del., home because of the COVID-19 pandemic, has been looking for ways to connect more intimately with voters and donors. “There’s nothing cozy about a virtual fundraiser but they’re trying to make it a little more palatable,” said one donor. The virtual fundraiser, which is set to take place on April 16, will be hosted by Jed Katz, a venture capitalist. Katz helped put together another in-person fundraiser...

I find these guys really funny. They have a bunch of videos about the frustrations of modern life. But you can see some of their other videos at https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=tripp+and+Tyler I'm so tired of reading about Coronacircus and Democrats and how we're all doomed that I thought I would draw your attention to some of these videos. I do get a kick out of many of these. I hope alla y'alls do too. Have a fun Sunday nite.

Speaking Sunday morning on ABC News, a barely coherent Joe Biden, the former vice president turned-Democrat presidential front-runner, offered President Donald Trump some odd advice on handling the global coronavirus pandemic. “I would just tell them what we found is important to do when we went through, not as bad, but a similar crisis, and that is to — you have to move swiftly,” he said. “And we have to move more rapidly. You have to implement the Defense Production Act, empower a supply commander, create a Defense Production Act for banks that get out small business loans, ramp up...

Statement from the Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas B. Modly, regarding the relief of the Commanding Officer of USS Theodore Roosevelt. --------------- Good afternoon. Thank you again for your diligence and courage in keeping the American people informed as we all deal with the profound ramifications, and rapid developments, associated with this crisis. I am here today to inform you that today at my direction, the Commanding Officer of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, Captain Crozier, was relieved of command by the Carrier Strike Group Commander, Rear Admiral Stuart Baker.

There's the "novel coronavirus"—and then there's the "novel legal theory" concerning it floated by Joy Reid, pursuant to which Fox News could somehow be legally liable for the death of its viewers from the virus. So much for all the alarm in the liberal media about legal punishments for news organizations in the Trump era. On her MSNBC show today, Reid played a clip from her March 29th show in which longtime Fox foe and MSNBC contributor Gabriel Sherman (now a correspondent for Vanity Fair) claimed that Fox News "insiders" had told him that: "There's a real concern inside the...

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