Free Republic

As we write these words, several billion people, the majority of the world’s population, are confined to their homes or subject to physical-distancing policies in an attempt to contain one of the worst pandemics of modern times. Economic activity has plummeted, countless people are out of work, and entire industries have ground to a halt. Quite understandably, a couple of questions are on everyone’s mind: What is the exit strategy? How will we know when it’s safe to implement it? Around the globe, epidemiologists, statisticians, biologists, and health officials are grappling with these questions. Though engineering perspectives are uncommon in...

MARION, Ohio (WCMH) — More than 1,800 inmates at Marion Correctional Institution have tested positive for COVID-19 coronavirus. As of Sunday, 1,828 Marion Correctional inmates have tested positive, along with 109 staff members. Of the 1,828 cases, 38 are currently receiving outside hospital level care, according to an Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction spokesperson. There are approximately 2,500 inmates in the Marion Correctional Institution. One staff death was announced on April 8, corrections officer John Dawson. No inmates at Marion Correctional have died. According to the ODRC, mass testing has been instituted at Marion Correctional, as well as Pickaway...

Mayor Eric Garcetti warned Sunday that the economic downturn facing Los Angeles will be more painful than the 2008 recession, requiring cuts to government programs and the furlough of thousands of city employees. In a remarkable State of the City address, one that comes five weeks into the shutdown of many businesses, government buildings and other facilities, Garcetti declared that the city is “under attack” from the coronavirus and the economic fallout that has come with it.

New COVID-19 cases in Pennsylvania have stabilized, but the statewide stay-at-home order will remain in place through May 8, Gov. Tom Wolf announced Monday afternoon. The order originally was set to expire April 30. Additionally, curbside pickup is now available at 176 state liquor sales – a move that will help state officials determine whether curbside pickup can be expanded safely to other businesses currently closed by the pandemic. Wolf said several coronavirus-related restrictions will be relaxed next month. Online car sales and some limited construction will be permitted beginning May 8. He called them the first "small steps" toward...

Take warning, Mr. President, knowing that if their lies manage to take you down, the entire world comes crashing down with you The plague that has shut down the entire world by keeping people hostage in their own homes is, as President Donald Trump calls it, an “Invisible Enemy”. “Invisible” in the respect that all of those who count on gaining from it, are no longer visible anywhere in the flesh, but waiting it out from the safe distance of the virtual world where they can be only be seen digitally. Having hoarded ice cream and plenty of chocolate, they...

Before and throughout the Trump Presidency, he’s been under daily attack by Democrats, with often tepid support from Republicans in general, and opposition from others in particular. The Event: A Star-studded fund raiser for the World Health Organization (WHO) “Contributions, all filmed in their homes, also came from Elton John, Jennifer Lopez, Stevie Wonder, British soccer star David Beckham, former U.S. first ladies Michelle Obama and Laura Bush, Andrea Bocelli, Celine Dion, Billie Eilish, Bill Gates and dozens of others.”

"You [Jinping], your government and your scientists had to know long ago that coronavirus is highly infectious, but you left the world in the dark about it."BERLIN – The editor-in-chief of Germany’s largest paper Bild on Thursday launched a full frontal attack on China’s communist President Xi Jinping for his regime’s failure to come clean about the (coronavirus) outbreak and the massive human rights violations carried out by the Communist Party. Julian Reichelt, the prominent editor-in-chief of the Bild, wrote to (Jinping) that “Your embassy in Berlin has addressed me in an open letter because we asked in our newspaper...

Just sharing a disturbing anonymous email that was in my inbox this morning. The email tells me to send $2000 in bitcoin to a bitcoin address or they will send camera porn of me (I dont have a camera) to my friends, coworkers, and relatives. If you get this same scam you can report it at. https://www.bitcoinabuse.com/

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room  April 19, 2020 6:28 P.M. EDTTHE PRESIDENT:  Thank you very much.  I’d like to begin by saying that we’re continuing to negotiate with the Democrats to get our great workers and small businesses all over the country taken care of.  I think we — we’re getting close to a deal.  It could happen.  It could happen.  A lot of good work has been going on, and we could have an answer tomorrow.  And we’re going to see what — what exactly does take place.We’re also looking at helping our hospitals and our rural...

On Sunday, Trump made an announcement about CNN Let it be known: The network is “pathetic.” One thing you can say about the guy is he’s not especially vague. During Sunday’s Coronavirus Task Force press briefing, a CNN reporter queried: “On President Xi, you now talk about the missteps that China made early on in this crisis and how it put the United States behind the curve. So, when you repeatedly praised Xi in January and February, you said he will solve the problem, you said he was doing a great job. Were you duped by President Xi?” Press Pause....

How many American Whos give a fig if the returnees to work don’t include Ice Cream Queen Nancy Pelosi? Well rested from not having to show up at work and invoking sanctimonious “prayerfulness” while overdosing on chocolate, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has morphed over to the Granny Grinch who’s trying to rob Americans of their beloved country. But millions of Whos down in the Whoville called America are not buying into her bull. How many American Whos give a fig if the returnees to work don’t include Ice Cream Queen Nancy Pelosi?

Bottom line is there is very little storage remaining. Saudi's are shipping oil our way. F'n Shummer pulled money for the last COVID-19 bill to fill the strategic national reserve. Cushing, OK is about full. If future contracts fall below $0 and stay there until expiration, then oil producers will have to pay buyers to take oil off producer's hands.I don't want to think about the consequences of having no place to store oil. You can't just turn off all oil wells.

California authorities tried to stop skateboarders by dumping literally tons of sand into at least two area skateparks in an effort to enforce so-called “social distancing.” However, the effort was for naught, it seems. Young residents in California responded to the government’s extreme social distancing enforcement action by grabbing a few shovels, buckets, and booms and turning at least one sand-filled skatepark into a park for both skating and dirt biking. “Took advantage of all the sand the city dumped into the San Clemente skatepark then helped some local skaters dig it all out so they could do some social...

Right now the left is wetting itself in joy circulating a New York Times story suggesting Donald Trump knew early on about the Wuhan (COVID 19) virus. He Could Have Seen What Was Coming: Behind Trump’s Failure on the Virus An examination reveals the president was warned about the potential for a pandemic but that internal divisions, lack of planning and his faith in his own instincts led to a halting response. ... A week after the first coronavirus case had been identified in the United States, and six long weeks before President Trump finally took aggressive action to confront the danger the nation...

Former President Obama wasn’t identified with his typical title as the 44th president of the United States in the first installments of a Michael Jordan docuseries that aired Sunday on ESPN, but rather as a “former Chicago resident.” A graphic in "The Last Dance" identified Obama as a “former Chicago resident” and another labeled former President Clinton a “former Arkansas governor." Twitter users were quick to call out the designation as clever and an understatement. SNIP Sam Roberts Twitter

U.S. crude futures for May delivery, the near-term contract, sank to their lowest level on record ever Monday, falling below $10 a barrel as traders fretted over the capacity of storage facilities both in the U.S. and abroad. At last check, West Texas Intermediate crude fell 74% to $4.72 a barrel. Contacts for June delivery declined 23%. "In my view, the plunge in oil prices speaks to the decline of global growth as demand dries up," said Dan Russo, chief market strategist at Chaikin Analytics, a quantitative investment research firm based in Philadelphia. "This could be a concern for investors...

WO2020060606 - CRYPTOCURRENCY SYSTEM USING BODY ACTIVITY DATA Applicants MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC [US/US]; One Microsoft Way Redmond, Washington 98052-6399, US Inventors ABRAMSON, Dustin; USFU, Derrick; USJOHNSON, Joseph Edwin, JR.; USTitle (EN) CRYPTOCURRENCY SYSTEM USING BODY ACTIVITY DATA (FR) SYSTÈME DE CRYPTOMONNAIE UTILISANT DES DONNÉES D'ACTIVITÉ CORPORELLE Abstract (EN) Human body activity associated with a task provided to a user may be used in a mining process of a cryptocurrency system. A server may provide a task to a device of a user which is communicatively coupled to the server. A sensor communicatively coupled to or comprised in the device...

We have learned the hard way that the scientists who produce mathematical models predicting disaster are not to be granted the presumption of infallibility. Nor are their demands that we impoverish ourselves in order to avert a disaster a matter of "settled science." The coronavirus doom that the Cassandras of prestigious scientific organs predicted is nowhere to be found, and it turns out that models are based on assumptions and can be spectacularly wrong. Americans have sacrificed trillions of dollars and turned our lives upside-down based on predictions of millions of deaths if we didn't follow radically change our way...

This piece by Dr. Ashish K. Jha, Director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, is absolutely crucial reading, especially by Washington policymakers handling the COVID-19 crisis. It puts forth the steps that must be taken immediately if we are to reopen the economy as soon as possible without a resurgence of this ghastly disease. The key is a rapid ramp-up of testing: The COVID-19 pandemic is taking an unprecedented toll on Americans and on the country’s daily life. President Trump has said he wants to open up again—we all do. The real question is how we reopen in a way...

Fundamental constitutional liberties at stake. Americans understand the extraordinary circumstances in which we find ourselves as a result of the China coronavirus. But we will not allow ourselves to become infected with the disease of Chinese authoritarianism. We have been willing to radically alter our normal routines and obey strict social distancing guidelines to get past the worst of this pandemic. Indeed, the American people have made extraordinary sacrifices and endured economic hardships unprecedented in our lifetimes to slow the virus’s spread. But it’s one thing to temporarily disrupt the normal pattern of our day-to-day lives and the economy in...