Free Republic

1) Data shows a dramatic spike in “Influenza Like Illness” in certain states as early as November of 2019; 2) A number of states appear to have already experienced an ILI and made it through to a more stable ILI footing for this time of year; 3) The US Military participated in the 2019 Military World Games in Wuhan, China between October 18 and October 27 of 2019. Their chartered flights arrive and depart from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport; 4) Washington is one of the earliest states to show a spike in ILI, corresponding with the incubation period should the virus...

Osama bin Laden. Anwar al-Awlaki. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi— and Robert Spencer? BY ROBERT SPENCER 2020-04-06T14:06:34 If we all agree to ignore the passages in the Qur’an that enjoin believers to be violent toward non-Muslims, they’ll go away, right? If we deny that such passages even exist, jihadis will cease acting upon them, won’t they? That appears to be the view of Nathan Spannaus, a hustling young academic (or academic hustler, if you prefer) who identifies himself on Twitter as a “Middle East and Islamic Studies Ph.D” and author of a book called Preserving Islamic Tradition. Writing in the NYU Law...

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- New Yorkers who die at home are not being tested for COVID-19, even if they had flu- or coronavirus-like symptoms at the time of death, which is likely leading to a massive underreporting of COVID-19 fatalities. ..... A spokeswoman for the medical examiner’s office told Gothamist that an additional 200 people are dying at home each day, in addition to the 20 to 25 people that died at home each day before the pandemic.

MADISON, Wis. — A Madison doctor and her husband were shot and killed last month by their daughter’s boyfriend, according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday in the case. Khari Sanford and Ali’jah Larrue, both 18 of Madison, are charged with first-degree intentional homicide in the deaths of Dr. Beth Potter and Robin Carre. The bodies of Potter, 52, Carre, 57, were found in the UW Arboretum on March 31. A woman who lives near the Arboretum reported hearing gunshots around 11:15 p.m. the night before, the complaint said. According to the complaint, Potter and Carre had recently moved their...

Things are getting serious. The Coronavirus will pass but losing our freedom is something that we will regret. The criminals are being released from prison and being replaced with peaceful, law-abiding citizens who dare go outside. A 33-year-old Colorado man was handcuffed in front of his wife and 6-year-old daughter for allegedly violating a social distancing order. 33-year-old Matt Mooney said his young daughter was terrified the police were going to arrest him after the cops swarmed his family. The father reassured his daughter they were doing nothing wrong by playing tee-ball in the park, however, the police cuffed him...

Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly has resigned after giving a profane speech defending his firing of a ship captain who warned about the coronavirus infecting his crew. Modly resigned after meeting with Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Tuesday, according to multiple reports. Acting undersecretary of the Army James McPherson will replace Modly.

While it has a face only an astrogeologist could love, that rubble could be as old as the solar system itself. Bennu is also number two on the Palermo Technical Impact Hazard scale, meaning there’s a (slight) chance it could impact Earth very violently in around 150 years. And now, Bennu has the distinction of being the subject of the highest resolution mosaic ever made of any planetary body. The image was collected by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft between March 7th and April 19th, 2019. At the time, it was about 2 to 3 miles from the surface of the 1,600...

ABC News – While still maintaining that this will be a difficult week for Americans amid the coronavirus pandemic, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams said Tuesday that he feels “a lot more optimistic” as he reassured citizens “there is a light at the end of this tunnel.” “I absolutely believe this is going to be an incredibly sad and an incredibly hard week for our country, but we’ve had tough times in this country before and we always come out stronger,” Adams told ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos in an interview on “Good Morning America.” “The good news is...

There are libertarians who favor the two trillion dollar bailout, but basic libertarian principles oppose it. Let me argue both sides and see what emerges...I myself, In sum, from a libertarian point of view, am moderately opposed to the bailout. But I think it's no big deal — in the grand scheme of things. Right now our problem is not the bailout; it's the virus. And what about our problems tomorrow? Well, if there is a tomorrow, we'll deal with it tomorrow.

As doctors treat more patients who are severely ill from COVID-19, they’re noticing differences in how their lungs are damaged. Some patients coming to the hospital have very low oxygen levels in their blood, but you wouldn’t necessarily know it from talking to them. They don’t seem starved of oxygen. They may be a little confused. But they aren’t struggling to breathe. When doctors take pictures of their lungs -- either with a CT scanner or an X-ray machine -- those also look fairly healthy. The lungs may have a few areas of cloudiness and crazing, indicating spots of damage...

RUSH: My friends, just to be clear so that you’ll maybe be able to — not understand ’cause I know you understand — understand the context of much of the program today. None of this is making much sense to me. There’s so much of this that doesn’t make sense to me. And that is my overriding mindset here. I’m not off into conspiracyville, don’t misunderstand. There’s just some of this stuff that doesn’t make any sense. And I continue to be scared to death over what we are doing to our economy. img src=https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/APP-040220-Rush-California-Social-Distance-COVID-xxx.jpg> I never have believed that...

CNN’s Jake Tapper took heat Tuesday for retweeting a post from conservative lawyer George Conway — a frequent critic of President Trump and the husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway — that called the commander-in-chief “100% insane.” The CNN anchor on Monday retweeted Conway’s post, which said Trump “is 100% insane and nobody in the administration has the balls to tell him that,” The Hill reported. Tapper retweeted it again Tuesday while adding: “Noteworthy comment on folks in the administration from a Trump critic who knows a lot of them.”

History may very well show that the biggest casualty of the coronavirus outbreak may not be the body count, but rather the ability of a population to think critically...In a different day, there would be questions about coronavirus statistics in context of comparing them to other infectious diseases. There would be real-time figures of COVID-19 cases, alongside real-time figures of influenza deaths...There would be pundits who frequently reminded that COVID-19 case counts could be rising due to increased testing...In a different day, America would be looking at the links, at the ties, at the curious conflicts of interest. There would...

The HuffPost on Tuesday published a story claiming President Trump owned a share in a company that manufactured hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug the president and others have touted as a possible treatment for coronavirus. The story, titled “Donald Trump Has Stake In Hydroxychloroquine Drugmaker: Report,” argues that 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.” The story goes on to cite a New York Times story that Trump “has a small personal financial interest” in...

LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) — Following weeks of pay for employees during the coronavirus pandemic, Subaru of Indiana Automotive announced Tuesday it will end. According to the company, beginning April 13, all associates deemed non-essential will not be paid. As of now, the Lafayette plant is closed until at least April 17. Production has been halted since March 23. "While SIA has been pleased to provide full pay for three weeks for all associates, including most temporary production associates, it's no longer sustainable while production is suspended amid health concerns, declining market demand and supply chain issues," the company said in...

The conduct of some parts of the Victoria legal system in regards to the George Pell case is an "international embarrassment" according to The Australian's Legal Affairs editor Chris Merritt.

New York City auctioned off hundreds of city-owned ventilators at least five years ago under Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration, according to an investigation by ProPublica. The city acquired the ventilators in 2006 under former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration, when a new strain of the flu was circulating in Asia, according to a report from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene obtained by the news outlet. The city began acquiring ventilators and “stockpil[ing] a supply of face masks,” which were later auctioned off because the machines broke down and the health department "couldn't afford to...

Tonight's pink moon must have not gotten the memo about social distancing; the moon will be the closest to Earth today than any other day of the year, making it the largest full moon of 2020...You can see the moon rise in the sky this evening (in New York, that happens at 7:05 p.m. local time). But the moon won't appear full until 10:35 p.m. EDT (0235 GMT), according to NASA. If you miss it, fret not — the moon will appear full on Wednesday night, as well...Today's moon has one other claim to fame — it's known as the...

The criminals are being released from prison and being replaced with peaceful, law-abiding citizens who dare go outside. A 33-year-old Colorado man was handcuffed in front of his wife and 6-year-old daughter for allegedly violating a social distancing order. 33-year-old Matt Mooney said his young daughter was terrified the police were going to arrest him after the cops swarmed his family. The father reassured his daughter they were doing nothing wrong by playing tee-ball in the park, however the police cuffed him in front of the little girl. The incident was recorded by former Brighton City Councilman Kirby Wallin. “He’s...

The conservative Heartland Institute released a report on Tuesday in which it criticized leading politicians, activists, and media outlets for using the coronavirus to push their environmental agenda. "Not surprisingly coronavirus alarm has pushed most other issues and concerns out of the news ⎯ much to the dismay of climate alarmists," said Steve Milloy of the Heartland Institute. "But the alarmists aren’t taking displacement by coronavirus lying down. In fact, many climate alarmists are trying to use coronavirus as a means of advancing their agenda. They are trying to surf it." The report, published on ClimateRealism.com and Heartland.org, comes amid...