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Just a short walk from downtown Rochester, Minnesota sits one of the largest hospitals in North America. Established by the Sisters of St. Francis, St. Marys has 200 ICU beds and 50 operating rooms. A century ago a few of the nuns were stricken while treating patients of the Spanish Flu (pardon the culturally insensitive title). If you are seriously ill, Saint Marys is one of the best places in the world to be treated. Today, she stands virtually empty. Almost all staff (including doctors and administrators) are receiving pay cuts and/or furlough notices. These front line healthcare workers...

New York (CNN)In a rare statement, Matt Drudge, the prominent conservative news mogul, refuted President Trump's Saturday claim that traffic to his website has plummeted as its coverage has grown more critical of him. "The past 30 days has been the most eyeballs in Drudge Report's 26 year-history," Drudge said in an email to CNN. "Heartbreaking that it has been under such tragic circumstances." Matt Drudge, an influential figure in conservative media, sours on Trump as he faces impeachment The Drudge Report, founded in 1995, is arguably the most influential conservative news website. Drudge rarely reports or writes stories himself....

On Friday afternoon, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) sat at a table draped in black. With a sign language interpreter behind her, she delivered a sober update on the coronavirus outbreak in her state, urging residents to stay off the roads and away from gas pumps.... “Non-essential in Michigan: Lawn care, construction, fishing if boating with a motor, realtors, buying seeds, home improvement equipment and gardening supplies,” he wrote on Twitter. “Essential in Michigan: Marijuana, lottery and alcohol. Let’s be safe and reasonable. Right now, we’re not!”.... “All the sudden it went from kumbaya to, ‘It’s tyrannical,’ ” he said....

Sloppy laboratory practices at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention caused contamination that rendered the nation’s first coronavirus tests ineffective, federal officials confirmed on Saturday. Two of the three C.D.C. laboratories in Atlanta that created the coronavirus test kits violated their own manufacturing standards, resulting in the agency sending tests that did not work to nearly all of the 100 state and local public health labs, according to the Food and Drug Administration. Early on, the F.D.A., which oversees laboratory tests, sent Dr. Timothy Stenzel, chief of in vitro diagnostics and radiological health, to the C.D.C. labs to assess...

If you weren't convinced that Democrats are crazy, insane and a danger to us all, I now have clear and irrefutable proof. It's hydroxychloroquine. That's the anti-malaria drug that has become a weapon in our arsenal to defeat coronavirus. The stories of its remarkable success in the battle versus this terrible, deadly pandemic are everywhere. They are no longer "anecdotal." This Trump-touted drug appears to be a miracle drug. I'll get to all those stories in a moment. But first let me mention the latest Rasmussen poll, which shows that only 18 percent of Democrats would take hydroxychloroquine if they...

The Talk Shows Easter Sunday, April 19th, 2020 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Vice President Mike Pence; House Speaker Nancy Piglosi, D-Calif. Panel: Karl Rove, Marie Harf and Bret Baier. “Power Player of the Week” segment with José Andrés.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): VP Pence; Govs. Gretchen Whitmer, D-Mich., and Mike DeWine, R-Ohio. Panel: Peter Alexander, Jeh Johnson and Danielle Pletka. FACE THE NATION (CBS): Scarf-wearer Dr. Deborah Birx, White House coronavirus task force coordinator; Gov. Charlie Baker, R-Mass.; King Abdullah II of Jordan; Suzanne Clark, president of the U.S. Chamber...

“Whether through ignorance or incompetence or a propensity to politicize everything, Governor Pritzker is not being truthful with the people of Illinois when he says his state has not been provided resources from President Trump’s administration,” said deputy press secretary, Judd Deere. Trump doesn’t see red or blue, Deere insisted, asserting that the president has directed federal aid to “every state regardless of the political affiliation of the state’s governor.” And in the Illinois situation, the White House provided receipts. The Centers for Disease Control funneled $23.7 million to Illinois -- $12.2 million to its largest city specifically. The Department...

CURIOUS! Has anybody out there of Social Security got $1,200 stimulus direct deposit yet?

Tua Tagovailoa is one of the top quarterback prospects in the 2020 NFL Draft, even though there's a mystery where the talented quarterback will be taken in the first round as he comes back from injury. For those looking for another reason to dip Tagovailoa's draft stock, his Wonderlic test scores are ammunition for a red flag. Tagovailoa scored a 13 on the Wonderlic test, the lowest score among the quarterbacks in the 2020 draft class (per The Athletic's Bob McGinn). LSU's Joe Burrow, the projected No. 1 overall pick in the draft, had the third-highest score at 34. Iowa's...

Gov. Phil Murphy painted a dire outlook for New Jersey public-worker jobs on Saturday afternoon, pleading for more financial aid to lift a state economy that has been cratered by the coronavirus. “We will have layoffs that will be historic,” Murphy warned, as he called for Congress to send more direct aid to states, and as he urged state lawmakers to help him borrow billions of dollars. He added that the layoffs would be felt through New Jersey, at the state, county and local levels. “That’s what’s at stake. I don’t know how many, but it is big, big numbers,”...

Millions of masks purchased by the State of Illinois from China may not be useable by those on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic, after multiple states recalled similar equipment Thursday. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has been scouring the world for gowns, gloves and masks to protect medical workers and first responders across the state from COVID-19. An alert from the Illinois Department of Public Health followed, saying the KN95 masks may not meet performance standards and counterfeit masks are “flooding the marketplace.” “You know things come in shipments of a million – you can’t go through one mask...

Yes, that title is a Democratic Party mantra, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t useful lessons in it for everyone. For the American people, it’s an important reminder that Democrats will seek to exploit something as horrible as the coronavirus pandemic to advance huge portions of their big-government agenda. For conservatives, it may be the best opportunity to roll back the size of government we’ve ever had because it’s been the best real-life example of the failures of massive concentrated power in history. Anyone paying attention has noticed how Democrats across the country are using this emergency to expand their...

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...