Free Republic

Soldiers are holding modified funeral honors at Arlington National Cemetery so they can continue to honor war heroes during the coronavirus pandemic. Guards were seen wearing masks during a military funeral for Command Sgt. Maj. Robert Belch at the cemetery in Virginia on Tuesday. Mourners observed social distancing at the service. US Army soldiers assigned to the 1st Battalion of the Old Guard or 3rd US Infantry Regiment were responsible for the rendering of honors at the funeral...

President Trump made precisely the right call in suspending U.S. funding to the World Health Organization, pending a review of its role in "severely mismanaging and covering up the coronavirus." Trump is doing an important service not only to America, but to the world, with his demands that the WHO clean up its abysmal and misleading act, and stop kowtowing to China. But here comes the chorus of alarms that this particular moment, in the midst of the worst pandemic since 1918, is not the time to interrupt the WHO's annual intake of roughly $500 million from U.S. taxpayers. Bill...

For my amusement, I’ve been trying to identify great all-time baseball lineups. I thought some readers might be interested in my findings. I’m going to begin with five great lineups from what I call the first half of modern baseball — the period from the formation of the American League at the beginning of the last century until the 1961 expansion. Only readers in the their mid-70s or older might remember any of these lineups, so this post may not be of broad interest. However, I want to recognize these lineups. I did not include any lineups from the dead-ball...

Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell declassified a slew of footnotes from Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report on Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act abuse. Yesterday, Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell declassified a slew of footnotes from Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report on Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act abuse. In a cover letter to Sens. Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson, the Republican senators who had pushed for the declassification, Grenell noted that “transparency is now needed more than ever.” Grenell added that Attorney General William Barr concurred in the declassification decision as it relates to DOJ interests. Wednesday’s declassification follows...

Police in New Jersey discovered 17 bodies piled inside a nursing home’s small morgue after receiving an anonymous tip about a body being stored in an outside shed, the New York Times reported Wednesday. The 17 bodies were among 68 recent deaths linked to Andover Subacute and Rehabilitation Center I and II, the state’s largest licensed facility. When police arrived, the corpse had been removed from the shed.“They were just overwhelmed by the amount of people who were expiring,” said Eric C. Danielson, the police chief in Andover, according to the New York Times. Of those who died, 26 people...

CHINA PLAYING THE LONG GAME: China's population in 2019 was estimated at 1.4 Billion people. The United States 2019 estimated population was 330 Million people.

India will provide hydroxychloroquine, which is being seen as a drug that may counter coronavirus, to over 50 countries while deliberations are underway on more such proposals. India has received requests from several nations for the medicine. The ICMR has recommended the use of drug as a preventive medication to healthcare workers and household contacts looking after a positive case. Besides, the Union Ministry has also recommended the use of hydroxychloroquine in combination with azithromycin on those severely suffering from COVID-19 who require ICU management. INDIA PROVIDING HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE TO OVER 50 COUNTRIES: FULL LIST USAAfghanistanBhutanBangladeshNepal MaldivesMauritiusSeychellesSri LankaDominican RepublicMadagascarMyanmarZambiaUgandaBurkina FasoNigerMaliDemocratic Republic...

The threat of coronavirus overwhelming the health system, requiring the rationing of crucial resources like ventilators, has hospitals and institutions nationwide creating and updating plans for how to determine who gets life-saving treatment.

President Trump is asking a bipartisan group of lawmakers to join a panel tasked with determining how to reopen the U.S. economy, which has been hard hit by the rapid spread of the coronavirus. The White House invitations went to the Republicans and Democrats in both chambers, multiple sources have confirmed to The Hill. Among those invited are Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and Angus King (I-Maine), who caucuses with Democrats. A spokesperson for Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) confirmed...

Gov. J.B. Pritzker defended his decision Wednesday to arrange for two charter flights to transport millions of masks and gloves from China to Illinois to bolster the state's limited supply of personal protective equipment as it responds to the COVID-19 pandemic. The flights, which cost about $1.7 million, were listed in a new state comptroller portal that tracks state spending on the public health crisis. Details of the fights are being kept secret out of fear President Donald Trump's administration might seize the cargo, Pritzker said. “It is true that the federal government seems to be interrupting supplies that are...

A ton of people would stop drinking alcohol for a year if it meant sports would start back up. According to a study from TickPick, 20.3% of people would give up booze for a year in return for sports being back. More than 6% of people would give up sex for a year for sports to return from the coronavirus pandemic. Another 5.2% of people said they’d straight up get the virus to have sports back, and 4.7% would take a pay cut. Would you give up sex for a year in return for college football? The more I think...

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey (R) is advising sheriffs in his state to stay on task processing concealed carry permit applications and issuing those permits for applicants legally able to carry a gun. Morrisey wants residents of this state to maintain the ability to defend themselves, regardless of coronavirus shutdowns and/or social distancing requirements. The NRA-ILA quoted Morrisey saying, “While we want our residents to be safe and practice good social distancing, we also want to ensure they can still exercise their right to keep and bear arms.” On March 27, 2020, Breitbart News reported Texas Attorney General Ken...

Andy Stanley, son of famous pastor Charles Stanley, is a serial blasphemer and idolater who twists God’s Word — whenever he even discusses it — and uses it to create a false church built around a false gospel and a false Jesus. Andy Stanly has made a number of dubious claims about the Christian faith and in particular, the Scriptures. Famously stating that Christianity needs to “unhitch” from the Old Testament, he told his audience that the Ten Commandments don’t apply to Christians. He’s flopped on homosexuality — telling the mother of an openly-gay and practicing girl that her daughter...

Differences: COVID-19 and the Flu Cause COVID-19: Caused by one virus, the novel 2019 coronavirus, now called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, or SARS-CoV-2. Flu: Caused by any of several different types and strains of influenza viruses.

Brave New World is an adaptation of the classic Aldous Huxley novel and will broadcast on NBC's streaming service, Peacock which launched in the US this week. The dystopian story is centred around the futuristic New London where people are sorted into an intelligence based hierachy. Demi, 57, plays Linda who moved from New London to an outlying reservation with her son John. Peace has been achieved in the seemingly utopian New London thanks to prohibiting monogamy, privacy, money, family, and history itself. Other cast members include Jessica Brown Findlay (Downton Abbey), Harry Lloyd (Game of Thrones), Alden Ehrenreich (Solo),...

India is four times more populous than the US, but has just 2% the number of cases and only 1.5% of the number of Covid-19 deaths. How has the country, whose per capita income is just tenth of the US, avoided being flattened by the pandemic? There are four possible explanations: 1. The epidemic may have struck later than in other countries. Since epidemics have exponential growth at the start, a small delay can have massive effects on the number of cases. 2. India’s 21-day lockdown may have successfully suppressed the epidemic. Physical distancing is one of the best ways...

Republicans in the Richmond area will have a month and a half longer to pick a nominee to run against Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-7th, in November. The coronavirus pandemic also is pushing the Virginia Democratic Convention into the virtual realm. A Richmond judge on Tuesday granted a request from the Republican Party of Virginia to push the deadline for nominating a challenger from June 9 to July 28. The party had been scheduled to hold a convention April 25 at the Arthur Ashe Center in Richmond, but is looking into other options with executive orders from Gov. Ralph Northam limiting...

The coronavirus that has ravaged the world, effectively bringing it to a halt, is not as resistant to high temperatures as previously believed, a new study notes. The research, which was published in the bioRxiv repository and has not been peer-reviewed yet, notes that researchers from France infected African green monkey kidney cells with COVID-19, placing the cells in a "dirty" environment and a "clean" environment. Both vials were heated to 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60 degrees Celsius) for one hour and the researchers found the virus was still able to replicate. However, higher temperatures for a shorter period of time...

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread across the world, killing thousands and bringing economies to their knees, doctors, scientists and governments are on the lookout for safe and effective treatments to help those who are sick. And yet a large issue with COVID-19 is that there is, as yet, no cure. Though there are treatments that can alleviate the symptoms—such as difficulty breathing—they do not address the underlying cause: the virus. The idea is that treating the symptoms will help prolong a patient's life and buy time for their own immune systems to kick in and remove the infection.While...

Three southern California churches who want to remain open amid the coronavirus pandemic filed a lawsuit against Gov. Gavin Newsom and other officials on Monday, arguing that stay-at-home orders violate their First Amendment right to freedom of religion and assembly. The Center for American Liberty, a conservative non-profit, filed the lawsuit in the federal court for the Central District of California on behalf of three pastors and one parishioner in San Bernardino and Riverside counties, east of Los Angeles. Attorney General Xavier Becerra and officials of San Bernardino and Riverside counties are also named as defendants. Newsom, a Democrat, and...