Free Republic

Spain, which has the biggest cluster of COVID-19 infections outside the U.S., will introduce universal basic income “as soon as possible” as part of its efforts to combat the economic effects of coronavirus, Economy Minister Nadia Calvino said on Sunday. Critically, the scheme is expected to be rolled out indefinitely. The move has been prompted by the coronavirus crisis, but Calvino told Spanish channel La Sexta that the measure, once rolled out, will remain after the pandemic is finally over. No date was given for the rollout, but Calvino assured that the measure will be launched as soon as possible,...

Updated model projects far fewer hospital beds will be needed to cope with the CCP virus epidemic in the United States. But the model still doesn’t match reality as there were overall fewer CCP virus hospitalizations than the model assumed already on the day the updated version was released. The model was developed by the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). It’s previous update from April 1 predicted the country would need 120,000 to 430,000 hospital beds for the virus patients on April 16, when it indicated the epidemic was to peak. Some online commentators and...

Linky only.

Yesterday I wrote about how the official daily coronavirus death count in New York State had plateaued at 600 or so even though the IHME model projected 700+, with deaths expected to approach 900 per day at the peak. What explains the difference? Were the assumptions behind the model, which were based on China’s dubious early data, simply too pessimistic? Had social distancing by New Yorkers been more effective than anticipated in flattening the curve? Could be both, of course.There’s another possibility. There were reports last week that the official COVID-19 death toll in Italy and Spain didn’t fully...

President Donald Trump has removed the inspector general who was tapped to chair a special oversight board of the $2.2 trillion economic package intended to help businesses and individuals affected by the coronavirus, officials said Tuesday. Glenn Fine, the acting Defense Department inspector general and a veteran watchdog, had been selected by peers last month for the position. Now it’s unclear who will oversee the rescue law. The move threatens to upend the rigorous oversight that Democrats in Congress had demanded of the huge sums of money being pumped into the American economy because of the virus. “The president now...

The Trump administration is set to pare desk jobs at the top of the intelligence community, invoking the argument that its staffs are too large and duplicative, knowledgeable sources say. One of the first targets is the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), where Richard Grenell, the U.S. ambassador to Germany and a favorite of President Trump, arrived as acting director in February. Mr. Grenell has brought in Kash Patel, once a close aide to Rep. Devin Nunes, California Republican. Mr. Patel principally wrote the 2018 Nunes memo that exposed the FBI’s reliance on the discredited Christopher Steele...

Monday evening, Anderson Cooper greeted his ever-dwindling CNN audience with a stark and damning condemnation of the president of the United States and his daily Coronavirus Task Force briefings."What you mostly heard was the president. And what you saw was a hijacking. A hijacking of the task force press conference by a president determined to rewrite the history of his early and reprehensibly irresponsible response to this virus," said Cooper. "What the president showed us today is what the nation’s top scientists have to deal with every day- a president who now uses these briefings as a reelection platform, an...

Posted on April 6, 2020 by Msgr. Charles Pope Passiontide Chronology: Tuesday of Holy Week It is Tuesday of Holy Week. Jesus likely arises early, as did all the ancients. Days both ended and started early, at dusk and dawn, prior to the advent of electric lighting. They leave Bethany and head back to Jerusalem. Perhaps a few converts can be made before the transcendent events of the Passion begin.It is only a couple of miles, mostly downhill, to Jerusalem. As they come down the steep hill they see the fig tree Jesus had cursed the day before.As they...

While the news is inundated with stories about the COVID-19 pandemic, Inspector General of the Department of Justice Michael Horowitz issued a new report on the FISA program. His terse conclusion that "we do not have confidence in FBI policy compliance" grossly understated the gravity of the Agency's transgressions. The most alarming finding in this report is that 96% of the FISA applications requesting permission to spy on American citizens contained serious errors or omissions. These included "unverified, inaccurate, and inadequately supported allegations" that were used to get the FISA court to authorize the spying. James Comey, FBI Director overseeing...

The Kennedy Center reached a deal with its National Symphony Orchestra that includes pay cuts and wage freezes after the organization previously attempted to furlough the musicians. The center released a statement Tuesday announcing an agreement with the musicians that includes pay cuts of 35 percent for the next six months, a freezing of wages for the 2020-21 season and a delay of a planned pay increase. As part of the deal, the District of Columbia Federation of Musicians, the union that represents the orchestra members, said it will drop its grievance filed against the Kennedy Center, The Washington Free...

Dr. Michael Ryan, executive director of the World Health Organization’s Health Emergencies Program, suggested during a March 30 press conference that individuals infected with the Chinese coronavirus should be removed from their homes to prevent further spread of the deadly disease. The clip, first reported by Fox News Channel’s Tucker Carlson, shows Ryan warning that “most of the transmission that’s actually happening in many countries now is happening in the household at family level” before he speculates on measures to prevent the infection of patients’ relatives.

The Public Health measures mandated during the Coronavirus have made it to where healthy individuals who are used to taking communion cannot do so. This begs the question of should loved ones be giving communion to each other at home? While the deaths and sickness of the Coronavirus are tragic, as is any death, there are larger questions than even death such as “Where is God?”, “What is God trying to teach us during this time?” and “Who is Jesus Christ and what does it mean that He came to save us?” One of the greatest things that has happened...

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said this week that “snitches” in his city will get “rewards” if they tattle on neighbors who could be violating the stay-at-home order put in place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.  Garcetti last month implemented the “Safer at Home” order, like many cities and states across the nation, closing non-essential businesses and urging people to stay at home.“If any non-essential businesses continue to operate in violation of the stay at home order, we’re going to act to enforce the safer at home order and ensure their compliance,” Garcetti said, according to CBS Los Angeles.The mayor’s office said that city...

The COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic continues. As of today, the world has had over 1,340,00 cases with over 74,000 deaths. Since ancient times, diseases have spread throughout the world. But nowadays they can spread so much faster. With today’s rapid air travel, an infected person could fly around the world and infect hundreds of people before he’s even aware that he himself is infected. It’s a global problem. So, how are “globalists” handling it?

So if you've been sick, you know that intensive care is not something that doctors recommend lightly. Boris Johnson is clearly in danger, and that's a bad sign. Johnson is in his mid-50s and hale enough to lead a country. If coronavirus can happen to him, a lot of us should be worried. And we are worried -- worried enough to endure things that just a month ago would have seemed preposterous. Last week, Dr. Michael Ryan, a leader at the World Health Organization, announced that in response to the spread of this virus, authorities may have to enter people's...

The American way of fighting virusesIf the United States were a football team, our opponent would score two touchdowns before our players were even paying attention. but we’d claw back into the game during the second quarter and win going away in the second half. That’s the way World War II went. That’s how the Space Race with the Soviet Union went in the 1960s, supply side economics went in the 1980s, and the War on Terror went in 2001 and 2002. And that’s the way the coronavirus war is likely to go in 2020 and 2021. We staggered at...

There are models, and then there are models. I build models of ships as a hobby, I strive for accuracy, and after consulting up to a dozen sources I probably have the most accurate models of various navies possible for a reasonable price. The models, however do not talk to me so I have no actual confirmation that my model ships are absolutely accurate. I can’t remember the actual name of the Bill and Melinda Gates ‘model’ that the CDC is using exclusively, I don’t care – it doesn’t matter, but for the sake of discussion I’ll call it the...

Today's Morning Joe came close to accusing President Trump of plotting a coup d'etat to remain in office if he loses the election in November. The President has been openly critical of the loosened vote-by-mail measures that Democrats have proposed, suggesting that vote-by-mail facilitates voter fraud. Since the individual states control voting rules, many states are likely to adopt such measures in time for the November election. [snip] Heilemann not only agreed, but took it a stunning step further: "If he loses the election, he will stand up and say, 'This election was rife with fraud. We had way too...

Factories and other businesses reopen too. The key is to do a forehead temperature scan, those with high temperatures being sent away to get tested. If you have high temps you are Covid symptomatic. You are a spreader and large scale virus shedder. You are a danger to others such as seniors and the chronically ill. Those with diabetes and high blood pressure When you have covid-19 with zero symptoms you are a minor spreader. You are much less likely to infect someone else. You are helping to develop herd immunity. Those with zero Covid can go back to work...