Free Republic

The head of the U.N. food agency warned Tuesday that, as the world is dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, it is also “on the brink of a hunger pandemic” that could lead to “multiple famines of biblical proportions” within a few months if immediate action isn’t taken. World Food Program Executive Director David Beasley told the U.N. Security Council that even before COVID-19 became an issue, he was telling world leaders that “2020 would be facing the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II.” That’s because of wars in Syria, Yemen and elsewhere, locust swarms in Africa, frequent natural disasters...

On Tuesday, Attorney General Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) filed a lawsuit in federal court aiming to hold the Chinese Communist Pary accountable for a "sinister campaign of malfeasance and deception" that helped spread the coronavirus across the globe and brought concrete harm to the people of Missouri. "The Chinese government lied to the world about the danger and contagious nature of COVID-19, silenced whistleblowers, and did little to stop the spread of the disease. They must be held accountable for their actions," Schmitt said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. "COVID-19 has done irreparable damage to countries across the globe, causing...

The IRS is now sending paper stimulus checks, and plans to send approximately 5 million paper checks each week. The order of stimulus checks is not random or based on geography. The IRS will send checks starting with taxpayers who have the lowest annual adjusted gross income as reported on their 2018 or 2019 tax return, whichever is more recent. Here is the planned weekly schedule for the IRS to mail stimulus checks based on annual adjusted gross income, as first reported by The Washington Post. All dates represent the “week ending” (for example, the week ending April 24) and...

An American patient diagnosed with the coronavirus (COVID-19) has been given a treatment by Israeli-based Pluristem that, so far, has a 100 percent survival rate. The development, which occurred under the Israel’s compassionate-use program, comes days after the company released preliminary data showing that six critically ill coronavirus patients in the Jewish state who are considered high-risk received the Haifa-based company’s placental cell-therapy treatment and survived one week later. The patient, whose condition was similar to the Israeli ones, was treated with Pluristem’s PLX cell therapy at Holy Name Medical Center in New Jersey, where the company is conducting a...

Pressers usually start 35-50 minutes late.

An anti-malaria drug touted by President Trump as a potential "game changer" amid the coronavirus outbreak showed no benefit for patients, according to an analysis of those hospitalized in Veterans Health Administration medical centers. The analysis found the two primary outcomes for COVID-19 patients treated with hydroxychloroquine were death and the need for mechanical ventilation.

President Donald Trump will "slash" regulations in a bid to jumpstart the economy as COVID-19 restrictions begin to loosen around the country. The Washington Post's Jeff Stein and Robert Costa reported earlier today that "senior administration officials are planning effort to relax rules" perhaps as soon as late April, which is just days away. The reporters spoke to two people "familiar with the internal planning" who told them that the "initiative is expected to center on suspending federal regulations for small businesses," as well as "expanding an existing administration program that requires agencies to revoke two regulations for every new...

Preliminary data from two clinical trials using the antiviral drug remdesivir to treat COVID-19 patients is encouraging, researchers report. One trial is providing the drug to patients with moderate illness and the other focuses on patients with severe illness. A number of the patients are now recovering and have been released from the hospital. While it's too early to tell, the researchers said there are also indications that remdesivir can possibly stave off being put on a ventilator. "Early results are promising, and that is important right now. Much of what we are learning about COVID-19 management is centered around...

Newly declassified documents spotlight the role of John Kerry’s State Department in fueling the FBI’s dubious Russia collusion probe, showing it was the State Department that provided “information” leading to the controversial surveillance of Carter Page. Last Thursday, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham released a trove of documents from the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation into Trump’s campaign, including a less redacted version of the Obama administration’s FISA warrant applications to spy on Page, who served as a tangential adviser to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Buried deep in the underbelly of a USA Today story from April 13 is a stunning statistic. “About 8 in 10 support drastic steps on immigration: imposing mandatory quarantines for people who have traveled to any other country and temporarily stopping immigration from all other countries,” according to a poll by Ipsos and USA Today. Monday night, President Donald J. Trump announced that he will order a complete halt on immigration while the United States recovers from the devastating economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. “In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to...

Spain called off the Running of the Bulls in July, the U.S. scrapped the national spelling bee in June and Germany canceled Oktoberfest five months away, making it clear Tuesday that the effort to beat back the coronavirus and return to normal could be a long and dispiriting process. Amid growing impatience over the shutdowns that have thrown tens of millions out of work, European countries continued to reopen in stages, while in the U.S., one state after another — mostly ones led by Republican governors — outlined plans to gradually get back to business. All indications are that some...

Who is better, dog or cat

Mayor Bill de Blasio’s critics let him know how they really felt about him ordering New Yorkers to snitch on each other for violating social-distancing rules — by flooding his new tip line with crank complaints including “dick pics” and people flipping the bird, The Post has learned. Photos of extended middle fingers, the mayor dropping the Staten Island groundhog and news coverage of him going to the gym have all been texted to a special tip line that de Blasio announced Saturday, according to screenshots posted on Twitter. One user sent the message “We will fight this tyrannical overreach!”...

Coronavirus Updates: Panola County gets 5th death, N95 masks given to PSCO

Even a Hampton's liberal is criticizing Pelosi over her ice cream debacle.

American department stores, once all-powerful shopping meccas that anchored malls and Main Streets across the country, have been dealt blow after blow in the past decade. J.C. Penney and Sears were upended by hedge funds. Macy’s has been closing stores and cutting corporate staff. Barneys New York filed for bankruptcy last year. But nothing compares to the shock the weakened industry has taken from the coronavirus pandemic. The sales of clothing and accessories fell by more than half in March, a trend that is expected to only get worse in April. The entire executive team at Lord & Taylor was...

Did anybody happen to catch the segment on Rush's show today where he recited two Californian studies (one in Santa Clara one in SoCal) that indicates that anywhere from 44% to 58% of Californians have been infected by covid-19 but didn't know it because so many of those people showed no symptoms.

Below you will find regular, but not daily, updates on medical and political developments.April 21, 2020 Medical updates Stanford professor of medicine John Ioannidis explains in a new one-hour interview the results of several new studies on Covid19. According to Professor Ioannidis, the lethality of Covid19 is „in the range of seasonal flu“. For people under 65 years of age, the mortality risk even in the global „hotspots“ is comparable to the daily car ride to work, while for healthy people under 65 years of age, the mortality risk is „completely negligible“. Only in New York City was the mortality...

Target & Walmart shouldn’t be allowed to sell clothes if I can’t.

The new Dynamic Ventilator Reserve provides a promising model for delivering necessary healthcare supplies to areas in need. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Government has worked tirelessly to “bend the curve” and prevent healthcare utilization from exceeding the healthcare system’s capacity. Given ventilators’ life-saving role, it is important that demand stay below supply so that no person who is in need of a ventilator is denied one.Federal policy has achieved this objective so far, and the Trump Administration recently announced the voluntary Dynamic Ventilator Reserve to ensure that patients everywhere can continue accessing ventilators. The Dynamic Ventilator Reserve will...