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Spread of the coronavirus was allowed to run rampant in Ecuador. The city of Guayaquil has been worst affected. Rotting corpses in body bags line the sidewalks, uncollected. pic.twitter.com/a8i251jJwr

Ultimately, all coronavirus deaths are connected to Wuhan, but that’s not what UCSF microbiologist Dr. Charles Chiu means. He’s talking about different strains of the virus which can be detected with gene sequencing. So, for instance, the original Wuhan strain of the virus can be differentiated from the strain that formed the first U.S. hotspot in Washington state by looking for specific mutations.Dr. Chiu, who has been studying the outbreak in the Bay Area hasn’t been able to test samples from the three early victims of the disease which Santa Clara officials announced yesterday, so consider this informed speculation:...

On April 23, Police arrested a Meridian, Idaho mom while she was allowing her kids on a playdate at a local park for violating Coronavirus restrictions. While the kids were playing on a swing set, officers approached the mother who they inevitably handcuffed and walked to a police car. Other parents who congregated in a grassy area flanking the swingset gasped and asked the officers for explanations. Many of them filmed the incident. Now, Idahoans are taking matters into their own hands and protesting the cop’s home.

Several governors are beginning to engage in opening their states. Good. They should wait no further. As each day goes by, we learn more and more about the coronavirus and its effects, and the facts lead toward getting adults back to work and children back to school. We suggest a focus away from the blare and glare of raw death tolls and worst-case scenarios. Instead let’s look at less-alarming truths that are generally being ignored by a media more invested in shock and frenzy. Perhaps we should start with these...

Michigan Democrats reportedly plan to censure a state lawmaker who met with President Trump and expressed support and thanks to him and his administration for their endorsement of hydroxychloroquine as a coronavirus treatment. State Rep. Karen Whitsett faces a censure vote Saturday from party leaders who insist that she reports to them, according to a report Thursday in The Detroit News. “At the end of the day, we have political systems, we have political parties and political parties exist for a reason,” Jonathan Kinloch, the chairman of the Democratic Party Organization in Michigan’s 13th U.S. Congressional District told the newspaper....

To claim that “God did not do that” because we did it is simply a category mistake.Last week, Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, made a rather interesting theological observation. Commenting on the progress that his state has made in fighting the coronavirus, and praising the concrete efforts of medical personnel and ordinary citizens, he said, “The number is down because we brought the number down. God did not do that. Faith did not do that.” I won’t waste a lot of time exploring the hubris of that remark, which should be obvious to anyone. I might recommend, out...

Easter, which is usually celebrated with brilliance, crowds and leaping joy in the Orthodox world for a full 40 days, looked very different this year amid the global pandemic. (Contrast this year's photos with the spectacular photo essay from Easter in Russia in 2018).The policies regarding church attendance vary from country to country and from city to city, but even in places where attendance is allowed, it is strictly regulated. In Russia, many cities closed the churches to the public, with only the clergy permitted to participate in the service, while others allowed the faithful to attend as long as...

Vatican City, Apr 20, 2020 / 10:00 am MT (CNA).- Pope Francis has decided to postpone by one year World Youth Day and the World Meeting of Families, according to the Vatican. The events were expected to take place during the summers of 2022 and 2021. World Youth Day, programmed for Lisbon, Portugal in August 2022, will now take place in August 2023, according to an April 20 statement from Matteo Bruni, Holy See press office director. The World Meeting of Families, previously scheduled to be held in Rome in June 2021, will now happen in June 2022. Both events...

Protestants protest California quarantineProtestant pastors in the Golden State are suing Catholic Gov. Gavin Newsom to allow public worship despite the Wuhan virus lockdown. The suit comes after one of the pastors was slapped with a $1,000 fine for leading a service on Palm Sunday in violation of the statewide stay-at-home order. The Center for American Liberty — a nonprofit based in California — filed the lawsuit earlier this week. Harmeet Dhillon, the center's chief executive, told the Associated Press, "If a Californian is able to go to Costco or the local marijuana shop or liquor store and buy goods...

April 23 (Reuters) - The largest oil producer in North Dakota has halted most of its production in the state, notifying some customers it would not supply crude at current pricing, according to people familiar with the matter. Continental Resources Inc, the company controlled by billionaire Harold Hamm, stopped all drilling and shut in most of its wells in the state’s Bakken shale field, said three people familiar with production in the state. North Dakota is the second-largest oil-producing state in the United States after Texas. Global oil prices have plunged this spring because of excess supplies and a lack...

Hydroxychloroquine is one of many medications frequently used in rheumatology practice. Its remarkable versatility is attested by its routine use in lupus, in patients with an autoimmune coagulopathy, in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, as well as those with a low-level inflammatory arthropathy. It’s an amazing medication, with a novel history and wide array of indication and multiple actions that we now better understand. . . . . .The HCQ story begins in 1638 when the wife of the Viceroy of Peru, Countess Cinchona, acquired malaria while living in the New World. Rather than getting the “approved” therapy, blood-letting, she was...

It's been two weeks since Wisconsin voted in a Spring Election that Democrats spent days claiming would spark a massive surge in Coronavirus cases across the state...In the seven days leading up to the in-person vote, Wisconsin averaged 174.1 new Coronavirus cases per day...In the seven days leading up to the in-person vote, Wisconsin averaged 174.1 new Coronavirus cases per day...

Has anybody ever catalogued how China has benefited from Feinstein’s and Feinstein’s husband’s associations with China? Has anybody ever catalogued how China has benefited from Pelosi’s and Pelosi’s husband’s associations with China?

I feel strange. I’m rooting for ABC to show me some hope. Good start IMO.

~Favorite Songs With First or Last in Title or Lyrics~ Kid Rock - First Kiss [Official Music Video] *Video* Matthew Wilder - Break My Stride (Lyrics) *Video*

The Angels singer, 46, and his next-door neighbour, legendary Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy, 76, were once bitter enemies over a plan to build a “super-basement” underneath Robbie’s mansion. But Robbie says the two are now in harmony. He denied “hilarious” reports that he was blasting out songs by Jimmy’s ex-bandmate Robert Plant and Black Sabbath to annoy his neighbour, but said he would have loved to have played pranks on him. Robbie and Jimmy first clashed in 2014 over the basement scheme. Jimmy told planning chiefs he feared vibrations from the work would damage his Grade I listed home in...

A federal judge on Thursday blocked a California law requiring background checks for people buying ammunition, issuing a sharply worded rebuke of “onerous and convoluted” regulations that violate the constitutional right to bear arms. U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez of San Diego ruled in favor of the California Rifle & Pistol Association, which asked him to stop the checks and related restrictions on ammo sales. “The experiment has been tried. The casualties have been counted. California’s new ammunition background check law misfires and the Second Amendment rights of California citizens have been gravely injured,” Benitez wrote in a 120-page opinion...

Televangelist Jim Bakker said he’s been cut off by credit card companies after he was accused of selling a fake coronavirus cure and asked viewers to send cash or checks or he may have to file for bankruptcy. “You can’t use credit cards if you do give to our ministry at this time because there’s a situation,” Bakker said on his show this week. He told viewers that the government said, “’You sold products that we didn’t approve of,’ but that’s not what we did.”

I just watched today’s lamestream media argue-ferst otherwise known as a coronavirus task force update. A recurring preach of the media has been that Trump isn’t testing enough. So I found a well balanced chart which compares America’s CV testing to other countries To be fair in comparing America’s testing response you would have to move each of the country lines to start with zero cases at the same horizontal point. If you can imagine it then you will see that, even percapita, the USA has ramped up testing far faster than any of the other countries compared. Add that...

The Treasury Department is considering taking unprecedented control over key operations of the U.S. Postal Service by imposing tough terms on an emergency coronavirus loan from Congress, which would fulfill President Trump’s longtime goal of changing how the service does business, according to two people familiar with the matter. Officials working under Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who must approve the $10 billion loan, have told senior officials at the USPS in recent weeks that he could use the loan as leverage to give the administration influence over how much the agency charges for delivering packages and how it manages its...