Free Republic

Vox Media, owner of sites including Vox, The Verge and New York magazine, is furloughing about 9% of its employees for three months. The decision is one of several measures the digital media company announced Friday to cut costs after the coronavirus pandemic decimated its revenue sources. The furloughs, which will run from May 1 to July 31, affect multiple departments including sales, events, production, IT, operations and editorial. Vox Media currently employs about 1,200 people, resulting in about 100 people facing three-month furloughs. In addition, about 1% of the company's personnel will have reduced hours for the same time...

It’s just the flu, bro. Finally found a good source for national deaths from all causes: http://www.toptradeguru.com/?p=72407 This link has a link to the CDC website and it is showing deaths from all causes are at 5 year lows. Yes people are dying of CV - but It could be one tenth the number that is getting published. If lots of people were dying, who weren’t naturally going to die that day anyway, then the CDC weekly published national death numbers would be significantly higher. They would show a big jump up to reflect the 30k people who have supposedly...

Plans for a lockdown in Malawi have been scuppered at the last minute, after a court injuction ordered it be delayed by at least seven days, lawyers say. It was due to begin on Saturday. The news will come as a relief to traders who have fiercely opposed a lockdown because of the serious threat they say it poses to their livelihoods.

A man smelling of booze and cigarettes sat down on a subway next to a priest. The man’s tie was stained, there was red lipstick on his collar and face and a half-empty bottle of gin was sticking out of his torn coat pocket. He opened his newspaper and began reading. After a few minutes the man turned to the priest and asked, "Tell me Father, do you happen to know what causes arthritis?" The priest replies, "My son, it's caused by loose living, consorting with cheap, wicked women, too much alcohol, contempt for your fellow man, sleeping around with...

VILLAGERS in Filabusi, Matabeleland South are appealing for government intervention in stopping the influx of outsiders coming to harvest the mopane worm, commonly known as amacimbi in their area. Even the national lockdown declared by government against the spread of coronavirus has not stopped the movement of people coming to pick the delicacy. Mopane worms have emerged in parts of Filabusi in swarms, leaving locals apprehensive about the possibility of catching coronavirus from outsiders. Villagers in the area say there has been a lot of the mopane worm this season as compared to years before. This has seen hundreds of...

PING LIST Some of you have asked to be placed on the COVID-19 Update Ping List. Those who give me a request, will be placed on the list before the next Update is posted. If a person has expressed an appreciation for the data I'm presenting, I may add that person to the Ping List. Some folks don't like to be on ping lists, and I won't mind if you would rather I remove your name from the list. COVID-19 Update As of 04/18/2020 23:59 PDST Good morning everyone. Thank you for stopping by to check out the COVID-19 Update....

Jim Cousens is a comic character with some similarities to Archie Bunker. He rejects the modern world. But he also isn’t a perfect fit with all traditionalist people either.

SAN FRANCISCO - California is on its way to acquiring nearly 16,000 hotel rooms to house the homeless during the pandemic, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Saturday as he reminded people to stay indoors as outbreaks continue to crop up throughout the state. Standing in front of a Motel 6 near San Jose, Newsom said more than 4,200 people have been moved out of shelters and off the streets into motel rooms. He took the opportunity to scold leaders of unnamed cities for blocking efforts to house the homeless, asking them to “please consider the morality” of their decisions. The pandemic...

Please join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for President Trump, Vice-President Pence, and for America: Government, Family, Military, Business, Education, Churches, and the Media. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. (I John 5:14) Religion forum threads labeled “Prayer” are closed to debate of any kind.

This is a good interview with Kyle Bass, who is a hedge funds manager and has been studying China and its economy for years. Kyle Bass: US & China Fallout & Recovery from COVID 19; Hong Kong Looming Banking Crisis | CCP Virus

Conservative media giant Matt Drudge fired back at President Donald Trump, issuing a direct statement Saturday. Trump said earlier in the day that he, like “many others” had lost faith in Drudge. “I gave up on Drudge (a really nice guy) long ago, as have many others. People are dropping off like flies!” Drudge responded by giving a direct statement to CNN, saying in an email, “The past 30 days has been the most eyeballs in Drudge Report’s 26 year-history. Heartbreaking that it has been under such tragic circumstances.”

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More than 100 demonstrators gathered in Huntington Beach Friday, defying social distancing guidelines, to protest California’s stay-at-home order. The rally comes a day after the city announced that it was closing off all metered parking along the Pacific Coast Highway to limit beach visitations amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Protestors — most of whom were not wearing masks — could be heard chanting, “No foreign vaccinations” in the downtown beach area at Main Street and Walnut Avenue. “We’re here in defiance of Gavin Newsom and his socialist agenda to ruin our economy,” said a man hosting a livestream of the event...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - Good news for gym owners, according to new state and federal recommendations, if the government signs off, gyms can open back up May 1st, as long as members social distance. Fitness 4U 24/7 in Hoover says as a small business, they can’t wait to get back up and running, but reassures members they are preparing to do so safely. When gyms are allowed to reopen, the state recommends individuals stay six feet apart when working out. “If someone is on the treadmill or elliptical, don’t get on one right beside them,” said William Blake, owner of...

Mayor Bill de Blasio continued to rattle his beggar’s cup Saturday night, warning that without a few billion in federal dollars the city would “go broke.” The coronavirus pandemic has punched a $7.4 billion hole in the city’s budget that only Congress and the Trump administration can patch, he said in a pair of cable news appearances. Without the aid, the mayor said, the city would have to make “dangerous” cuts. “It means all the things that people depend on in their lives — police, fire, sanitation, education — go down the list of all the things that makes any...

“What You Don’t See Is What You Get” (John 20:19-31) The doors were locked. They were in lockdown mode. They had quarantined themselves. They were self-isolating. Why? Because they were afraid. Who is it that I’m talking about? Americans in 2020? No, I’m talking about Jesus’ disciples, around the year 30. Those disciples had locked themselves in. They were in self-quarantine. They were isolating and keeping their social distance. And the reason was, they were afraid. They were afraid of the Jewish authorities, who had just had their master killed a couple of days earlier. Now, since they were known...

In response to what officials are calling a nationwide shortage of coronavirus testing, many have turned online to see if they could find tests for sale to use at home. Near the end of March, legitimate companies like Nurx and Everlywell began marketing at-home collection kits that involved swabbing your mouth or throat to test for COVID-19. But, in a matter of days, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration came clamping down on such sellers, calling the tests fraudulent. In a release, the FDA said "At this time, the FDA has not authorized any test that is available to purchase...

For the majority of people of color who believe Donald Trump is a racist unworthy of reelection, the Republican president can point to Alice Marie Johnson. The 64-year-old African American great-grandmother spent 21 years in prison for a nonviolent drug offense before Trump commuted her sentence in 2018. She then became the unwitting star of his reelection campaign’s $10-million Super Bowl ad, which featured footage of Johnson’s emotional release from prison as she praised “Donald John Trump.” “I’m an African American woman and he signed my paper. How could I turn around and say he’s a racist?” Johnson said in...

istrict of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser yesterday ordered a one-month extension of the state of emergency, as cases in the region grow at a rapid pace. Federal officials in the nation's capital expect a New York-like epidemic in the District, Maryland and Virginia, one that could potentially cripple the government.

A rapidly increasing number of American families are opting out of sending their children to school, choosing instead to educate them at home. Homeschooled kids now account for roughly 3 percent to 4 percent of school-age children in the United States, a number equivalent to those attending charter schools, and larger than the number currently in parochial schools. Yet Elizabeth Bartholet, Wasserstein public interest professor of law and faculty director of the Law School’s Child Advocacy Program, sees risks for children—and society—in homeschooling, and recommends a presumptive ban on the practice. Homeschooling, she says, not only violates children’s right to...