Free Republic

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared a monthlong state of emergency for Tokyo and six other prefectures on Tuesday to ramp up defenses against the spread of the coronavirus as the number of infections surges. But the move came in the form of a stay-at-home request — not an order — and violators will not be penalized. The COVID-19 outbreak is now rampant and rapidly spreading, threatening people’s health, their daily lives and the economy, Abe said. The state of emergency, which is until May 6, will only permit Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike and heads of the six other prefectures...

by Julio Gonzalez, M.D., J.D. A controversy has arisen regarding the utility of using chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine with azithromycin in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. On the one hand, there are the purists who maintain that these medications ought not be employed until the proof of their benefits has been established. On the other, some advocate for the aggressive and immediate deployment of these medications. With these two very valid competing arguments proffered by sophisticated scientists and healthcare providers, the question for the rest of us mere mortals is what should we do? The first step in addressing this...

“And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart. (She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house . . ." (Proverbs 7:10-11).

Part of service is sacrifice. If you are unwilling to make sacrifices, including utilitarian ones, then you are unfit to serve, and certainly unfit to lead. Simple as that. U.S. Navy aircraft carriers live by the phrase “complacency kills.”There are so many different ways to die aboard an aircraft carrier, it should be the setting for a Final Destination film. Rotors, props, engines, exhausts, wires, wheels, catapults, and Davy Jones’ locker all pose a constant threat to the sailor and Marine upon the world’s most dangerous 4.5 acres. Except none of these things kills without the assistance of ones’ own...

“They talk about 25 million infected people in just one of the 50 states. Allah be praised." Thousands of Americans have died of the coronavirus. But ‘Gaza Firster’ Democrats don’t care. Eight Senate Democrats, including Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren, dispatched a four-page letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, demanding to know what America was doing about the coronavirus. Not in America. In Gaza. According to the Senate letter, “as of March 24, the first two cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in the Gaza Strip.” That’s two cases. Two. The United States has over 200,000 as of now. By...

Here's our favorite Scottish Fold cat family from South Korea. Soul plays "tag" with his mom, Suri. Video, 4 minutes, 34 seconds

I'd encourage everyone to watch to this video. 1. WHO official Dr Micheal Ryan says now that we have worldwide lock downs, most of the infections are off the streets and are taking place in family households, so now it's time to enter people's homes and remove infected family members in a “safe and dignified” manner. It's not clear exactly how he proposes to do that. 2. LA mayor says, we are going to have a series of lock downs because it when it gets cold in the fall coronavirus will return. 3. A former Obama official and two Pittsburgh...

President Trump asked a reporter at his April 6th press event if she was working for the government of China, following a hostile question. [Snip] ...The Hong Kong/Cayman Islands based Phoenix Media is actually owned in large part by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and by a former CCP propaganda officer. As of 2018, Phoenix Satellite Holdings was owned by Liu Changle (37.1% of shares). Changle is a “former PLA propaganda official who is close to senior Chinese government leaders”.

On Monday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Rachel Maddow Show,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) criticized the U.S. Supreme Court for its ruling on Wisconsin’s primary election, accusing the court of “undermining” American democracy. Pelosi said, “Well, people should not have to decide whether they can vote or be sick. That’s just not a good choice for anyone in a democracy. And you would think that the Supreme Court of the United States would not overturn a court decision which gave the voters extra time to do vote by mail by a few more days to get their vote by mail ballot...

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is "in good spirits" after spending the night in intensive care being treated for coronavirus, No 10 has said. A spokesman said Mr Johnson, 55, was stable overnight, is being given oxygen and is not on a ventilator. It comes as Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove became the latest politician to self-isolate after a family member showed symptoms. Mr Gove said he did not have symptoms and was continuing to working at home. Mr Johnson was admitted to St Thomas' Hospital in central London with "persistent symptoms" of Covid-19 on Sunday and was moved to intensive...

.. Kaline, the Hall of Fame outfielder who played his entire 22-season career for Detroit, died Monday at his home in Michigan. “Mr. Tiger” — as he was affectionately known — was 85 ..

Assuming that the explanations coming from the Chinese government have no credibility, the true origins of COVID-19 are not yet known. This has encouraged a great deal of online idle speculation, including conspiracy theories ranging in terms of Chinese deception from low to high: (1) tainted "wet market" bat meat; (2) tainted "wet market" bat meat originating from the Wuhan Institute of Virology; (3) a laboratory accident, (4) an intentionally concealed laboratory accident; (5) a bioterror attack by a rogue individual; and (6) intentional bioterror attack by a belligerent regime.

At every turn, ChinaÂ’s communist government has lied, censored, and tried to cover up the truth about the coronavirus, making cooperation impossible. If you havenÂ’t noticed, a narrative has been brewing the last couple of days that the United States should cooperate with China to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, that the two countries need to set aside their differences, stop the blame game, and come together for the good of the world.In alternate reality where China hadnÂ’t lied at every turn about the origin and extent of the virus, silenced and reprimanded a whistleblower who died from the virus, concealed...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem (Music in The Bible) Psalms Psalm 148 1 Praise the Lord.[a] Praise the Lord from the heavens;     praise him in the heights above. 2 Praise him, all his angels;     praise him, all his heavenly hosts. 3 Praise him, sun and moon;     praise him, all you shining stars. 4 Praise him, you highest heavens     and you waters above the skies. 5 Let them praise the name of the Lord,     for at his command they were created, 6 and he established them for ever and ever—     he issued a decree that will never pass away. 7 Praise the Lord from the earth,...

For hospitalized patients with COVID‐19 who have evidence of pneumonia, we suggest hydroxychloroquine (or chloroquine) on a case‐by‐case basis. Requirements include all of the following: a) shared decision‐making in which the patient is informed about the possible benefits and potential side effects, b) collection of data in a manner that enables studies that use valid methods for causal inference and control of confounders for the purpose of interim assessment, c) the patient’s clinical condition is sufficiently severe to warrant investigational therapy, and d) there is not a shortage of drug supply. 73% for intervention, 16% no suggestion, and 11% against...

Keeping the masses of people in the dark, lying to them constantly, and setting them up for more disasters. That’s the way of the CCP.

India has removed bans on Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) after facing pressure and perhaps a prospect of retaliation by the U.S. and President Donald Trump. With a population just short of 1.4 billion people, second only to China, India has yet to feel the full impact of the global pandemic caused by the coronavirus. The latest statistics from Worldometers, a website that is tracking COVID-19, shows India with only 4,858 confirmed cases and 136 deaths as of April 7. By all appearances, this is a ticking time bomb considering areas of India with a dense and financially stressed population and a health...

President Donald Trump reportedly owns a stake in a company that produces hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug he has repeatedly touted as a coronavirus treatment even though his experts say there’s no strong evidence it works. Trump “has a small personal financial interest” in Sanofi, the French drugmaker that makes Plaquenil, the brand-name version of hydroxychloroquine, The New York Times reported Monday. In addition, Sanofi’s largest shareholders include a mutual fund company run by major Republican donor Ken Fisher, the paper said. Trump’s three family trusts, as of last year, each had investments in a mutual fund whose largest holding was...

Over the past three weeks, there's been debate over whether hydroxychloroquine, a drug used for decades to treat malaria, can help ease the symptoms of Wuhan coronavirus. During White House press briefings, reporters have done their best to shoot down the possibility. But doctors around the country and the world are using it and seeing positive results.First, in Los Angeles: Dr. Anthony Cardillo said he has seen very promising results when prescribing hydroxychloroquine in combination with zinc for the most severely-ill COVID-19 patients."Every patient I've prescribed it to has been very, very ill and within 8 to 12 hours, they were...

Are Anthony Fauci, the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization our best guides through current events? Are we so confident in their opinionsmodels of COVID-19 spread that we are willing to risk whole economies? Is it possible that those authorities not only miscalculate, but see such a small piece of the overall biomedical/social picture that they are creating worse problems -- by shouting “fire” in a crowded world theater? I have reason to believe that they will: As a postdoctoral fellow at Fauci’s NIAID from 2004-2009, and one of its few theoretical biologists, I found Dr. Fauci...