Free Republic

China and the largest newspaper in Germany have been in a war of words, according to reports, over the role of President Xi Jinping in the coronavirus pandemic. "You [Xi], 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. Your top experts didn't respond when Western researchers asked to know what was going on in Wuhan. You were too proud and too nationalistic to tell the truth, which you felt was a national disgrace,” wrote Julian Reichelt, editor-in-chief of Germany’s largest paper, Bild, which...

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer ordered on Monday the creation of a task force to investigate why the novel coronavirus has disproportionately affected the state’s African-American community. “The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted communities of color throughout our state,” Whitmer, a Democrat, said in her executive order. “For example, while African Americans represent 13.6 percent of our state’s population, they represent a staggering 40 percent of the deaths from COVID-19.” Whitmer’s task force will investigate and study strategies to address the disparity as well as the historical and systematic inequalities pertaining to race that have amplified the death rate in the...

Residents in one New York county have filed a class-action lawsuit on Monday against the World Health Organization (WHO), accusing the agency of covering up the coronavirus pandemic. The three residents in Westchester County -- which was seen as an original hotspot for the virus -- claim the WHO failed to quickly declare a pandemic and monitor China’s response to the original outbreak. It seeks unspecified damages for the alleged harm the organization caused to the county's roughly 756,000 adult residents.

The U.S. Department of Justice on Monday cited "extreme urgency" in clearing U.S. pharmaceutical distributors from legal hurdles in order to provide the controversial anti-malaria drug to coronavirus patients. The Justice Department penned a response letter Monday notifying one of the country's largest wholesale drug distribution companies, AmerisourceBergen, that antitrust hurdles have been removed as part of an "expedited, temporary review procedure." The DOJ letter dated April 20 says the drug corporation is now set to work with federal government agencies and health care providers to distribute hydroxychloroquine to patients with coronavirus symptoms. The anti-malaria drug has been controversially touted...

The Biden campaign is facing backlash over an attack ad against President Trump and his apparently weak treatment of China during the coronavirus outbreak. Critics are saying it is "racist" and "xenophobic." President Trump and his reelection campaign have been slamming former Vice President Joe Biden in recent days, attempting to tie the presumptive Democratic nominee to the communist regime as suspicion continues to grow that China had been dishonest about the origins of the pandemic as well as the data it has shared with the rest of the world regarding known cases and deaths within the country. On Saturday,...

Former Vice President Joe Biden announced on Monday night that he brought in $46.7 million dollars in March, the most the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee’s raised in a single month since launching his campaign nearly one year ago. Biden – who struggled to bring in cash for much of his campaign, has seen his fundraising spike the past couple of months. He raised just $8.9 million in January, but doubled his haul to $18 million in February. Thanks to a series of sweeping primary victories by Biden stating in South Carolina on Feb. 29 and extending into mid-March, all but...

It appears President Trump had the last laugh as his satirical video mocking President Obama's recent endorsement of former Vice President Joe Biden has garnered more views within hours than Obama's 12-minute address did in the last week. Obama endorsed his former running mate after all of Biden's primary rivals withdrew from the presidential race. The widely publicized endorsement received 10.2 million views since last Tuesday. However, the video Trump shared surpassed Obama's video, earning 10.3 million views within roughly 13 hours despite the former president's remarks still having more likes and retweets.

China is becoming increasingly assertive in the region as the coronavirus crisis eases on the mainland while raging elsewhere in the world, with a crackdown in Hong Kong and sabre-rattling around Taiwan and in the South China Sea.

Speculation about health builds after Kim misses key event honouring country’s founder, Kim Il-sung... Kim Jong-un underwent heart surgery earlier this month and is recovering at his private villa, according to a South Korean report, with US media citing officials as saying the North Korean leader was in “grave danger” after the procedure. If accurate, the surgery claim, made by the Daily NK website, would explain Kim’s absence from an event to mark the anniversary of the birth of his grandfather – and the country’s founder – Kim Il-sung. Kim Jong-un underwent the procedure at a hospital in the county...

Pluristem Therapeutics (PSTI), a small Israeli biotech provided promising preliminary data regarding a possible COVID-19 treatment. Last week, Pluristem released initial results from its compassionate use program for the treatment of patients with acute respiratory failure and inflammatory complications resulting from COVID-19. Specifically, all seven ICU patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) treated so far with Pluristem’s PLX cell therapy have survived, with 6 out of 7 having completed the seven-day follow-up (one is still within the period). 4 out of the 6 (66%) patients displayed improvement in respiratory parameters, and 3 of the 6 (50%) patients are in...

Our beautiful daughter is a doctor in New York (at Bellvue Hospital of all places). Please pray for her safety, and for the safety of the brave doctors and nurses on the front lines in this terrible battle. She's treating COVID patients, and we are proud of her, but are terribly worried. Thank you!

NEW YORK—Over 2,200 members of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) have recovered from COVID-19 and returned to their posts as of Sunday. The largest police force in America has seen a total of 4,371 positive cases of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which causes the disease COVID-19. At some point, nearly 20 percent of the force was out sick, but that number has since dropped to 14 percent, according to a press release. It’s good news for the agency, but the silver lining surprised NYPD Sergeant Joseph Imperatrice. “It’s incredible because you see all around the world—especially...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was mocked as "Nancy Antoinette" last week for showing off her posh freezer with boutique ice cream that goes for $13 a pint in a webcam interview on 'The Late Late Show with James Corden.' The Trump campaign showed off her extravagant fridge and freezer set in a new campaign web video highlighting Americans standing in line at food banks.

I bought a hypochlorous acid water generator. To disinfect surfaces, food pretty much everything. It makes 300ml in 8 minutes. My question is how long is it good for as a disinfectant? I thought I would make a few gallons of it (water and salt) and put it into spray bottles and give a couple of bottles to each of my family households to disinfect with. Is it still an effective disinfectant 2 days later, a week later, 2 weeks later...?

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (FOX19) - An extension and some slight modifications for Indiana’s Stay-At-Home order was announced on Monday by Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb. The Stay-At-Home order now goes until 11:59 p.m. May 1, the governor stated. Part of the governor’s updated Stay-At-Home order, hospitals can begin conducting non-emergent procedures as long as there is sufficient personal protective equipment. Examples of what are considered nonemergent procedures include: Diagnosing cardiac issues or cancer Upper or lower endoscopy Respiratory procedures Procedures to reduce pain Governor Holcomb said future restrictions on procedures will be reevaluated every seven days.

LOS ANGELES - Researchers at the University of Southern California and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health on Monday released their initial findings from an antibody study, which suggests that hundreds of thousands of L.A. County residents may have developed coronavirus antibodies. ... Based on the results of the first round of testing, which was conducted on 863 adults in the county, the researchers estimate that 4.1% of the county's adult population has an antibody to the virus, meaning they have SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in their bloodstream. "Adjusting this estimate for statistical margin of error implies about 2.8% to...

[Catholic Caucus] The Pandemic Crisis: The Absence of the Catholic Church -- The Dereliction of Duty of the Hierarchy The crisis into which we are all immersed—there is no escape—is showing forth in a clear way, clear at least with those whose eyes are not clouded by false piety, the complete irrelevance of the Catholic Church within this crisis. The Catholic Church throughout her two thousand year history has been involved in very many crises: heresy, war, plague, ecclesial strife, famine—you name it and the Church has been involved in these crises within civilization, which civilization in the end means...

April 21 2020 Tuesday of the Second Week of Easter Reading 1 Acts 4:32-37 The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common. With great power the Apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great favor was accorded them all. There was no needy person among them, for those who owned property or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale, and put them at the feet of the Apostles, and they were distributed...

KEY POINTS The Korean won weakened sharply on Tuesday against the dollar on unconfirmed reports that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is seriously ill. As of 0239 GMT Tuesday, the Korean won fell 1.54% to trade at 1,239.35 per dollar. The moves came after CNN reported Tuesday, citing an unnamed U.S. official with direct knowledge, that Washington is “monitoring intelligence” that Kim is in “grave danger after a surgery.”

Here's Iz (gray tabby) and his daddy Noel (orange & white) from the famous Scottish Fold cat family in South Korea. Iz is a grown boy, but still loves his daddy and wants love and attention from him. Video, 3 minutes, 26 seconds