Free Republic

UPPER EAST SIDE, Manhattan — Some are calling it a Greek Easter Miracle. The family of 102-year-old Sophie Avouris never thought she’d survive COVID-19 to celebrate another Greek Easter with them, but that’s exactly what happened “Happy Easter, YaYa. We love you so much,” Elizabeth Hurley, the granddaughter of Sophie Avouris, said via FaceTime. "We can’t wait to celebrate with you in person." The extended family of Sophie Avouris can’t believe what a great Greek Easter this is for all of them. She was recovering from hip surgery at Mary Manning Walsh nursing home when she contracted COVID-19 last month....

The COVID-19 death toll in New York State is now close to 15,000 people while confirmed cases are approaching 250,000. Our state, country and the world need to combat this highly contagious and deadly virus with every weapon possible, including among others, mediation measures and medication. Although the use of hydroxychloroquine has according to many doctors and recovered patients been life saving, Governor Cuomo issued an Executive Order prohibiting the off label use of the drug for COVID-19 patients. This is notwithstanding that reportedly according to Governor Cuomo, the drug hydroxychloroquine has been "promising" and "effective." Governor Cuomo accuses other...

Coco and her mother playing. Video, 3 minutes, 20 seconds.

“You plan to strengthen China through a plague that you exported. You will not succeed. Corona will be your political end, sooner or later.” Bild is the largest circulation German newspaper. (English language website here.) It ran an article calling on China to make reparations for the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus. The total was 149 billion Euros...

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Crude oil futures fell on Monday, with U.S. futures touching levels not seen since 1999, extending weakness on the back of sliding demand and concerns that U.S. storage facilities will soon fill to the brim amid the coronavirus pandemic. The oil market has been under pressure due to a spate of reports on weak fuel consumption and grim forecasts from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the International Energy Agency. The volume of oil held in U.S. storage, especially at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for the U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) contract, is...

A former deputy national security adviser to President Trump denied Sunday that she was the author of a book and New York Times op-ed written by an anonymous senior official claiming to be part of the "resistance" within the administration. An attorney for Victoria Coates told Axios that Coates had no connection to the op-ed, published in 2018, or its follow-up book, "A Warning," published in 2019. Her denial comes as Real Clear Investigations published a piece on Wednesday citing claims from Trump administration officials involved in the probe to out the anonymous author of the book and op-ed, which...

World Health Organization officials Monday said they still recommend people not wear face masks unless they are sick with Covid-19 or caring for someone who is sick. "There is no specific evidence to suggest that the wearing of masks by the mass population has any potential benefit.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Good afternoon. We continue to see a number of positive signs that the virus has passed its peak. It’s been very devastating all over the world. A hundred and eighty-four countries. Probably more. That number was as of a week ago. Dr. Birx will walk through some of these trends in a few moments, but they’re very positive trends for winning. Going to win. We’re going to close it out. While we mourn the tragic loss of life — and you can’t mourn it any stronger than we’re mourning it — the United States...

Coronavirus is dealing a gut punch to the illegal drug trade, paralyzing economies, closing borders and severing supply chains in China that traffickers rely on for the chemicals to make such profitable drugs as methamphetamine and fentanyl.

Despite an economic slump due to tens of millions of Americans being furloughed from work after coronavirus-related business closures, the Republican National Committee says small-dollar donations continue to pour in. “It has not dropped at all, the small-dollar [donations], through the digital and the mail program,” RNC Chairwoman Rona McDaniel told the Washington Examiner Friday. “And, we’ve seen some pretty big days of fundraising as well.”

Walt Disney will stop paying more than 100,000 employees from this week as it struggles with coronavirus closures. The world's biggest entertainment group operates theme parks and hotels in the US, Europe and Asia. Stopping pay for almost half of its workforce will save Disney up to $500m (£400m) a month, according to the Financial Times. Disney made operating income of $1.4bn for its parks, experiences and products in the last three months of 2019. The company said it will provide full healthcare benefits for staff placed on unpaid leave and urged its US employees to apply for government benefits...

By Dr. Liji Thomas, MDApr 19 2020 The COVID-19 pandemic is still spreading around the world and affecting nearly 2.4 million people, with over 164,000 dead so far. With neither vaccine nor proven therapeutic drug being available so far, the need of the hour is for effective treatment. Now, a new study reports the potential usefulness of a combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin as a treatment in mild cases of COVID-19 infection and urges the need for further evaluation and widespread use if its findings are confirmed. Why do we need a COVID-19 cure? COVID-19 began in December 2019, caused...

SEATTLE — Thousands of people gathered at the Washington state Capitol to protest Gov. Jay Inslee’s stay-at-home order designed to combat the spread of the coronavirus. In Olympia on Sunday, some protesters wore masks, while others waved American flags. The Washington State Patrol said an estimated 2,500 people showed up to the protest. No arrests were made.Tyler Miller, one of the organizers of the event, had said rural areas should be treated differently than more urban locations with more coronavirus cases. Earlier Sunday, Inslee decried President Donald Trump’s call to “liberate” parts of the country from social-distancing decrees, saying Trump...

ENFIELD, Nova Scotia -- A man disguised as a police officer went on a shooting rampage in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, killing 16 people Sunday, in the deadliest such attack in the country's history. Officials said the suspected shooter was also dead. A police officer was among those killed. Several bodies were found inside and outside one home in the small, rural town of Portapique, about 60 miles north of Halifax - what police called the first scene. Bodies were also found at other locations. Overnight, police began advising residents of the town - already on lockdown because...

  Our Troops Rock!  Thank you for all you do!   For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces.   Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today!     ~ Hall of Heroes ~ Marci Hodge Info from here.             "In this job, you find out what you're made of; if you can hack it or not."Recently promoted to Major, Marci Hodge knows a thing or two about what she's made of. She's spent ten years in the Army; 5 years on...

... while the rest of the world has been shutting down schools, shops and restaurants, banning non-essential travel, and sending the police to shout at those who dare to dawdle in their local park, Sweden remains largely open for business. Our schools are full of students, and I can still visit restaurants in Malmo, where I’ve lived for more than 20 years. I’m working from home, but many offices remain open. I can have friends over for lunch. Should I want to, I could drive to the countryside for a weekend away... People say we are putting the economy ahead...

Criticized for refusing to lock down, Sweden’s top health official says herd immunity is inevitable and took credit for the slowing of coronavirus numbers. “According to our modelers, we are starting to see so many immune people in the population in Stockholm that it is starting to have an effect on the spread of the infection,” Anders Tegnell, who led the charge to keep Sweden open, told local media. “Our models point to some time in May.” Despite social distancing guidelines from the World Health Organization, Sweden has resisted lockdowns, instead keeping open schools, gyms, bars and restaurants and relying...

Not Desperado, but still a great song.

BRILLIANT, A MUST WATCH! @RepDanCrenshaw A video put together by Rep Dan Crenshaw destroying the left's criticism of President Trump's handling of the Corona Virus.

An acquaintance of mine made what I think is an astute observation when he wrote that “Politicians and bureaucracies tend to respond to crises with theater. After 9/11 it was airport security theater. Following Corona it was lockdown theater. There’s some utility to it, but only some, there is much more hoopla.” I agree, except for the “there’s some utility to it” bit. In my view, the TSA is 100 percent “airport security theater.” If we really wanted to be secure airline travel, we’d allow passengers to carry concealed weapons. A baddie pops up with a box cutter, pow, Mr....