Free Republic

If you're bored, here's a video about 'the most unusual musical instruments in the world'. I'm a fan of Ben Franklin's Glass Armonica, and of the Hang; but I had never seen most of the others. (I'd really like to know what that fourth instrument is, after the Kalimba - it looks home-grown; and would like to have seen a didgeridoo and a steel drum.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCYHMVlQezAhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_harmonica#Franklin's_armonica

We are the richest country in the history of the world, but at a time of massive income and wealth inequality, that reality means little to half of our people who live paycheck to paycheck, the 40 million living in poverty, the 87 million who are uninsured or underinsured, and the half million who are homeless.

Breitbart News that Congress had reached a $470 billion deal to fund the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), offering his remarks in an interview on SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Sunday with host Joel Pollak. The funding bill includes $250 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program — $60 million of which will go to community banks — $65 billion for disaster loans, $75 billion for hospitals, and another $25 billion for testing.

The 32-year-old marketer took sheltering in place to the next level when he became trapped in a California ghost town he recently purchased. The problem is: There’s no running water and a snowstorm has him trapped. Plus, it may be haunted. “When I first got out here, I was in a T-shirt and enjoying myself,” Underwood tells The Post. “And then it snowed for four days straight and now there’s no way to get out.” He bought Cerro Gordo, a former silver mining town with a murderous history, for $1.4 million in 2018. Aside from monthly visits, Underwood has largely left it in...

Neiman Marcus Group is preparing to seek bankruptcy protection as soon as this week, becoming the first major U.S. department store operator to succumb to the economic fallout from the coronavirus outbreak, people familiar with the matter said. The debt-laden Dallas-based company has been left with few options after the pandemic forced it to temporarily shut all 43 of its Neiman Marcus locations, roughly two dozen Last Call stores and its two Bergdorf Goodman stores in New York. Neiman Marcus is in the final stages of negotiating a loan with its creditors totaling hundreds of millions of dollars, which would...

The World Health Organization (WHO) is claiming that there is “no evidence” that natural antibodies can protect individuals from coronavirus, setting the stage for a widespread vaccination push as the only solution to the pandemic. WHO leaders are telling governments across the world not to rely on tests that indicate whether or not an individual has contracted coronavirus at some point because they believe theses people could be reinfected even after they had the virus previously. “Nobody is sure whether someone with antibodies is fully protected against having the disease or being exposed again,” said Mike Ryan, the executive director...

I don’t know why everyone is freaking out. The flu kills tens of thousands of people each year, and no one is shutting down borders because of that. Sound familiar? It’s a common refrain from the past few weeks as the novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, made its way across borders from Wuhan, China. It’s something I (now shamefully) admit to saying, myself, when this all first started. And the confusion is understandable. So why is this one causing so much panic? “We are familiar with coronaviruses because, for a long time now, strains of coronavirus have circulated...

Seth Aldridge was at the tail end of a 12-hour night shift when he got the call at 6 a.m. The voice on the other end said he had just lost his job as an oil field pumper for Occidental Petroleum in the Permian Basin. “It was a shock to get the call, for sure,” said Aldridge, a 34-year-old resident of Lea County. “You see it coming, but you never really think … or you hope it’s not you that gets that ax.” The ax is falling throughout energy-rich southeastern New Mexico as crude prices have plummeted amid the COVID-19...

New drone footage showing Florida beaches goers social distancing is causing much concern after other news outlets used older pictures that seemed to indicate crowded beaches. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis reopened Florida beaches, a decision which incurred criticism from long-term shutdown proponents. The drone footage, found here, shows people keeping more than enough recommended social distance. However, not all news agencies handled the Florida beach reopenings from a similar perspective. Forbes, an American business magazine, utilized a social media feature image that showed beach goes nearly shoulder to shoulder.

Amid an escalating outbreak in the northern Chinese city of Harbin, provincial authorities announced on Friday that it would punish 18 officials working in the municipal government and three local hospitals. That same day, another northern region, Liaoning Province, reported one new domestic infection in the province, whom authorities said was infected while being treated at a Harbin hospital. This was the first reported case in the province since March 2. Local authorities did not report any new cases for over a month. The Epoch Times’ previous reporting, including interviews with locals and internal government documents, has shown that regional...

Christian conservatives say 'yes', secular leftists say 'no'DETROIT (ChurchMilitant.com) - Half of Americans believe strongly the Bible should be the basis of U.S. law but younger leftists want God out of legislation. A new poll by Pew Research reveals 49% of Americans say Judeo-Christian morals, as laid out in the Bible, should have "a great deal" of influence or "some" influence in how U.S. laws should be made. Nearly two out of three U.S. Christians generally believe Sacred Scripture should influence laws. Among white, evangelical Protestants, the number goes up to almost 90%. The numbers among Catholics, however, are lower,...

So the government told Americans we had to shut down our churches house to protect people from the China Virus. Some states slapped fines on church members who refused to comply. Others were ordered to undergo mandatory quarantines. And several were subjected to surveillance by state police. Our government leaders told us not to worry because we could still worship online. But what are Christians supposed to do when Big Tech decides to shut down online church services and Bible studies? Ray Wright, a Sunday school teacher at Calvary Chapel East Anaheim, announced on Facebook that YouTube had removed his...

Pro-life Catholic scholars: Coronavirus is not the work of an angry ‘Mother Earth’ 'It is immensely sad that Pope Francis should have encouraged this worldview by speaking of the 'earth having a fit' or being angry,' the group has said. April 17, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – The John Paul II Academy for Human Life and the Family wishes to communicate that Catholics and all reasonable men and women must beware the infiltration of a pagan, earth-centered New-Age sentiment subtly making its way into certain levels of our culture. The present-day proponents of the primitive belief in an “Earth Goddess” have advanced their...

The Israeli NGO Shurat HaDin plans to file a class action lawsuit against China in the coming days over its alleged negligence in treating and containing the coronavirus, N12 reported on Sunday. The Israeli lawsuit, once filed, will join at least four on-going lawsuits submitted to US courts against Chinese authorities over the pandemic, according to Newsweek. Shurat HaDin usually focuses on terror groups, yet according to Aviel Letiner, husband of Shurat Hadin director Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, just as states cannot commit acts of terror and claim immunity due to their being sovereign agents, China should not be able to avoid...

Myrrh-streaming icons are a relatively rare phenomenon in the life of the Church, by which God strengthens, comforts, and blesses His faithful. However, one village church in the Lipetsk Province of Russia, 290 miles south of Moscow, is home to nearly 20 myrrh-streaming sacred items. In the Church of the Archangel Michael in the village of Voron-Lozovka, 13 icons, two chalices, a Gospel book, and two crosses are all streaming Heavenly myrrh, reports donvesti.ru. With the cross began the revival of the church on May 25, 2019. At first, the rector, Fr. Diodore, would celebrate the services holding the...

Good movie the story of the Funk Brothers.... Good history of Detroit and Mottown music Some great music... Just saw it on Amazon Prime

Investigators have determined that an Emirates Airbus A380 descended far below the glideslope at Moscow Domodedovo after its crew entered a rapid descent, erroneously believing the jet was too high for the correct approach path. It descended to 504ft above ground – with a rate of descent of 1,600ft/min – while still some 7.4nm from the threshold of runway 14R, in darkness, before the crew executed a go-around. The A380 lost a further 109ft, dipping to just 395ft, before climbing away, the aircraft’s ground-proximity warning system having sounded ‘terrain’ and ‘pull up’ alerts. This instrument reading had been false, because...

The Archbishop of Canterbury has responded to criticism over a request for churches to stay closed during the coronavirus pandemic. Some vicars have challenged the guidance from the Archbishops and bishops of the Church of England to keep doors closed as the lockdown continues. Church of England churches were first told to suspend all public worship when the lockdown started last month, forcing services to go digital. This was then followed up by additional guidance telling churches to close their doors completely, including for private prayer and the livestreaming of services by pastors. Fr Marcus Walker, Rector at Great St...

The New York Times suggested Saturday that statements by Sean Hannity of Fox News helped encourage a Brooklyn bar owner to take a cruise regardless of the risk of coronavirus, which killed him. The headline of the article, as it appeared in the Sunday print edition, was: “‘Fake News’ and a Possibly Ill-Fated Trip.” (The online headline: “A Beloved Bar Owner Was Skeptical About the Virus. Then He Took a Cruise.”) The problem: the Times quoted a remark Hannity made eight days after the man left for the cruise. Later, the Times inserted that information as a comment from Fox...

‘No one has the right to deprive a sick or dying person of the spiritual assistance of a priest. It is an absolute and inalienable right.’April 14, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – A top Vatican cardinal stated that the coronavirus, “a microscopic virus, has brought this world to its knees,” a world that was “drunk with self-satisfaction because it believed itself to be invulnerable.” According to Cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, the present COVID-19 pandemic is a “parable” that should lead mankind to ponder its dependence on God, faulty priorities and help it discover the true values...