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If the COVID-19 pandemic tails off in a few weeks, months before the alarmists claim it will, they will probably pivot immediately and pat themselves on the back for the brilliant social-distancing controls that they imposed on the world. They will claim that their heroic recommendations averted total calamity. Unfortunately, they will be wrong; and Sweden, which has done almost no mandated social distancing, will probably prove them wrong.Advertisement Lots of people are rushing to discredit SwedenÂ’s approach, which relies more on calibrated precautions and isolating only the most vulnerable than on imposing a full lockdown. While gatherings of more...

Honor Blackman, best known for playing Bond girl Pussy Galore, has died aged 94, her family has said. The actress shot to international stardom as Pussy Galore at the age of 38, starring alongside Sean Connery, in 1964's Goldfinger. In a statement her family said: "It's with great sadness that we have to announce the death of Honor Blackman aged 94. "She died peacefully of natural causes at home in Lewes, Sussex, surrounded by her family. "She was much loved and will be greatly missed by her two adopted children Barnaby and Lottie, and her four grandchildren Daisy, Oscar, Olive...

This gem from the AP last night was posted here: https://apnews.com/a04cb47fc2fd9dff61118e5086aabb0e One doesn’t realize the absolute ignorance of our media until they report on an area where one has expertise. You also realize the degree to which the media relies on the public’s ignorance. The conflation of FDA approval of an expanded use of an approved drug or drugs and efficacy for that expanded or new use in the above article is astounding. Everyday, a physician somewhere prescribes a drug for a use for which it was not originally approved. Everyday. But just because the drug is not approved for...

All this when experts agree that rinsing yourself with water is infinitely more sanitary and environmentally sound. Dr. H. Randolph Bailey, a colorectal surgeon at the University of Texas McGovern Medical School in Houston, recommended bidets or toilet attachments, such as the Washlet or Tushy. “A lot of people who come to see me have fairly significant irritation of their bottoms,” he said. “Most of the time it has to do with overzealous cleaning” — wiping too vigorously with toilet paper or using wipes, which often contain harsh fragrances and chemicals. Editors’ Picks Dressing Up for Work … at Home...

MUMBAI, India - The motherhouse of the Missionaries of Charity in India has confirmed to Crux that a religious sister of the order has died of the COVID-19 coronavirus in Wales. Sister Sienna, 73, died at Morritson Hospital in Swansea on April 1. The nun had been distributing food packets to the poor in the midst of the coronavirus lockdown in the United Kingdom. She was from Jharkhand state in eastern India, Sister Sienna has served the community in North London until 2016. As of Thursday, 117 people have been confirmed to have died from COVID-19 in Wales, which has...

The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that a Kansas police officer acted lawfully when he stopped a car whose owner’s license was suspended before confirming it was in fact the owner behind the wheel. In an 8-1 opinion, the justices said the officer’s assumption that the owner was driving was reasonable, given the officer had no reason to think the vehicle was being operated by someone else. “We hold that when the officer lacks information negating an inference that the owner is the driver of the vehicle, the stop is reasonable,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the majority in a...

It’s an interesting question and, given the stakes, the former might actually be preferable. One of the dumber aspects of the Trump presidency has been for the media, Democrats, and some Republicans to pretend D.C. was a bastion of truth-telling prior to the 2016 election. What that means is that when you get someone like Joe Biden opposite of Trump, there’s this automatic assumption made that he’s somehow more honest than the current President. To be frank, there’s very little evidence of that. Biden has been lying his entire career and he’s hit a record pace lately. As my colleague...

Medical experts are predicting that these next two weeks are likely to be the most severe in terms of the COVID-19 pandemic. As such it is prudent that we Americans take every precaution that will mitigate the spread of the disease. At the same time, it is important that we not overreach or overreact in our efforts to contain this coronavirus when some of the rules and regulations should give way to common sense. Americans must have clearly defined guidelines, because the further local governments go in stringent enforcement of nonsensical or counterproductive measures, the more likely it is that...

The initial results from a placebo-controlled trial of hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19 indicate that patients hospitalized with mild illness recovered more quickly with addition of the drug than with placebo at the start of a standard treatment. The results also suggest that hydroxychloroquine might convey some protection against the illness worsening. Zhan Zhang, MD, of Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China, and colleagues reported results from 62 patients randomized to receive either placebo or hydroxychloroquine 200mg twice daily for 5 days on admission in addition to standard treatment consisting of oxygen therapy, and unspecified regimens that could include antiviral and...

To slow the exponential growth of coronavirus, and lessen the burden on hospitals and healthcare workers, local and state officials have issued sweeping mandates closing non-essential businesses and schools and ordering residents to stay at home. But have these blunt measures started to "flatten the curve" of the virus' spread? Data from recent days, as seen in the charts below, point to encouraging results. We review daily deaths reported in California, New York, and the U.S. as a whole. While case numbers are regularly reported and updated, the number of cases is fraught with bias due to testing constraints and...

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Social distancing may be helpful in slowing the spread of a virus, but it doesn’t do a thing in terms of gang violence because six feet is still considered a very short range when aiming a handgun. That may be the lesson coming out of Charm City as the pandemic grinds on. Private businesses and schools may be shut down, but the gang bangers still out there murdering each other with abandon. The body count in Baltimore from gang warfare is still leaving the coronavirus in the dust. (Baltimore Sun) Since March 23, the city has seen 11 killings in...

The Supreme Court on Monday said it would not take up the Catholic church's challenge to the Washington, D.C., transit authority's policy banning religious ads, allowing the policy to remain in place. The Archdiocese of Washington had sued the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) after the agency refused to run one of its Christmas ads, alleging that the policy violates the First Amendment. The case appeared to be an attractive one for the court's conservative wing, but with Justice Brett Kavanaugh recusing himself from consideration of the case because he was involved as an appeals court judge, the faction...

Prayers up for all the families suffering from the impact of this virus. And we're still praying that the spread starts fading with the warmer Spring weather and that an effective treatment and vaccine are developed before the next flu season starts. And we pray that our people are allowed to go back to work very soon and that our economy comes roaring back. Meanwhile, we may be hurt and slowed down somewhat, but we have faith in the long-run that "what doesn't kill us only makes us stronger." God willing, America will survive and we will survive and we...

A protester donning a pink suit and bandana mask was arrested Sunday afternoon at a COVID-19 field hospital in New York City's Central Park that is being run by an evangelical group whose leader has a long history of anti-LGBTQ beliefs. “They have no business being in New York City,” the protester, William Talen, 69, shouted as six New York City Police Department officers, one of whom appeared to be carrying Talen’s rainbow flag, removed him from the park. “They are the virus.” The 68-bed field hospital is run by Samaritan’s Purse, an evangelical Christian humanitarian organization run by Franklin...

We are now moving into the phase of the coronavirus apocalypse that I truly believe will be the most trying for those who aren’t used to working from home all of the time. There has been some novelty in these first few weeks -- learning to use Zoom and whatnot -- that’s been carrying everyone through the madness. Now it is time to settle in and I fear that this transition will wreak some emotional havoc on my more extroverted friends. For those of us in the Roman part of the Christian calendar, this is the beginning of Holy Week....

ABSTRACT: Labile zinc, a tiny fraction of total intracellular zinc that is loosely bound to proteins and easily interchangeable, modulates the activity of numerous signaling and metabolic pathways. Dietary plant polyphenols such as the flavonoids quercetin (QCT) and epigallocatechin-gallate act as antioxidants and as signaling molecules. Remarkably, the activities of numerous enzymes that are targeted by polyphenols are dependent on zinc. We have previously shown that these polyphenols chelate zinc cations and hypothesized that these flavonoids might be also acting as zinc ionophores, transporting zinc cations through the plasma membrane. To prove this hypothesis, herein, we have demonstrated the capacity...

Add Arkansas to the list of states where the governor has banned abortions along with, other non-essential medical procedures, to help fight the coronavirus by conserving medical supplies. Governor Asa Hutchinson released a letter via the Arkansas state health department on Friday that all health care facilities postpone all surgeries and procedures that are not medically necessary during the current COVID-19 pandemic. In his statement the Governor said that all ambulatory surgical centers and all abortion facilities are included. On Saturday afternoon, state Senator Trent Garner posted a copy of the letter and thanked Governor Hutchinson for issuing the ban...

The Trump administration reportedly plans to designate the far-right Russian Imperial Movement as a terrorist organization, the first time the designation has been applied to a white supremacist group. The designation will allow the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control to seize assets belonging to the organization in the U.S. and prohibit Americans from financial dealings with the group. Officials said the U.S. will also designate three of the organization’s leaders, Stanislav Anatolyevich Vorobyev, Denis Valliullovich Gariev and Nikolay Nikolayevich Trushchalov, as terrorists, making them subject to similar sanctions at a personal level. The group, an ultranationalist Russian...

Pro-life Christian David Benham was arrested Saturday while praying outside an abortion facility in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department confirmed that they arrested eight people outside the abortion facility for allegedly violating a stay-at-home order during the coronavirus outbreak, the Christian Post reports. Benham’s is not the first arrest in recent days. While abortion facilities in most states are allowed to remain open during the pandemic to abort unborn babies in elective procedures, pro-life advocates are being persecuted for standing outside trying to save them. Benham runs a pro-life charity called Cities for Life that has helped more...