Free Republic

Many hold out hope for a vaccine to bring our present COVID-19 pandemic to an end. But development of a vaccine is not a certainty and could take months or years to develop, while millions suffer job losses and economic devastation. The second-best hope to escape our nightmare in a timely way is herd immunity. A month ago, Dr. David L. Katz, wrote a significant piece in the New York Times, “Is our fight against Coronavirus worse than the disease?” He advocated a pivot from our current health policy to a “surgical approach” in fighting the disease. On April 19th,...

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Sunday that the administration will send more funding to states if necessary but will only do so with bipartisan support. There is an emerging battle over whether to fund state and local governments in the next stimulus bill. Democrats including Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) have vowed to include such support in the legislation. “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace asked Mnuchin if President Trump would back giving aid to the states as several governors across the country are requesting. Mnuchin responded that the president had “heard from governors,” and the administration would consider providing this...

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-Mich) warned the people of her state that “the continued anti-government antics of a minority may force me to extend the lockdown longer than I originally planned.” She likened her predicament to that of “a teacher trying to deal with a few unruly students. She’s spoken loudly and sternly. Yet, there are some who insist on mocking and resisting the rules she’s laid out for everyone. Her ultimate weapon is to threaten to cancel recess or keep everyone after school in the hope that she can inspire enough social pressure to contain the offenders. Like that school...

As a biker in the 1960s, Joe Campbell always carried a gun with him. He had gotten into many fights and stolen from people. He needed to be ready for anything. “I carried a gun around,” he said, “because of the amount of people I had wronged.” His life was a chaotic mix of violence, drugs, alcohol, gambling and other biker gang activity in Illinois, and he knew it “would destroy my marriage,” Campbell says. When his wife Connie got saved, Joe didn’t immediately join her. In fact, he mocked her and constantly hounded her to return to their former...

China has rolled out a digital currency trial in Xiong’an, an area southwest of Beijing in the Hebei province, according to state-backed media reports. McDonald’s, Starbucks and Subway are the only three American firms among 19 companies participating in the trial. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has been working on a digital yuan for the past few years but has made clear that it has not yet officially launched. McDonald’s and Starbucks are among a handful of companies taking part in a new pilot program for China’s upcoming digital yuan, according to state-backed media, as the world’s second-largest economy...

Based on how Americans are handling the coronavirus lockdowns, it is hard to be optimistic about what will happen when a really severe crisis hits us.  Yes, this pandemic is definitely a great tragedy.  There are more than 700,000 confirmed cases in the U.S. and more than 40,000 Americans have died.  But it isn’t the end of the world.  I am sorry to tell you this, but COVID-19 is not the worst thing that we are going to face.  In fact, it is not even close to the worst thing that we are going to face.  So it is a...

After new evidence emerged corroborating Tara Reade's sexual assault allegation against former Delaware senator and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, the major news networks failed to ask a single question about it on the Sunday morning shows. Two people rumored to be on Biden's potential VP list, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) and Stacey Abrams (D-failed politician), were not asked a single question, despite Sunday appearances on ABC and NBC, respectively. Speaker Pelosi also made the rounds on Sunday, where she too wasn't asked a single question about the new evidence. The speaker did say she supports releasing prisoners, however,...

The New York Times' Bret Stephens took a lot of heat for arguing New York lockdown rules don't fit the rest of the country. I know the feeling. Bret Stephens has a tough job. I don’t mean like 19th-century coal miner tough, but as one of the “conservative” opinion contributors at The New York Times, he winds up pleasing none of the people a lot of the time. This is because much of the Grey Lady’s leftist readership doesn’t think the Times should run conservative views at all and much of the American right finds the anti-Trump “can’t we go...

Here's a pretty dramatic shot of a whooole lotta oil parked off the coast of Southern California.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested Sunday that the Trump administration’s January China travel ban implemented to curb the spread of the novel Wuhan coronavirus should have barred U.S. citizens from returning home. “Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign told me earlier this month that he supported President Trump’s partial travel restrictions on January 31st blocking foreign nationals from China from coming to the United States. Do you agree that it was the right move by President Trump at the time?” asked Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union.”Pelosi dodged the question and instead lodged criticism that the ban still allowed...

There’s not much to laugh about these days, but the news that smokers might be protected from Covid-19 is certainly one of them. With study after study showing that smokers are under-represented in coronavirus wards, the renowned French neuroscientist, Jean-Pierre Changeux, is working on a randomised control trial to test the effect of nicotine patches on Covid-19 patients. This is far from being a crackpot theory. Changeux has explained his hypothesis at length here. In simple terms, he says that nicotinic acetylcholine receptors play a key role in the development of the disease and that nicotine can put a brake...

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Sunday that he has put First Lady Chirlane McCray in charge of a special coronavirus task force — insisting her work with her embattled ThriveNYC initiativemade her perfect for the new job. McCray will work with Deputy Mayor Phil Thompson in leading a task force on racial inclusion and equity to make sure the Big Apple rebounds as a “better and more just society than the one we left behind,” Hizzoner said. The mayor insisted that the First Lady deserved her place at the head of the new initiative because of the ideas she generated  —...

Virginia Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam’s office said Friday that Phase One of reopening the state under federal guidelines could last as long as two years as the state battles the novel Wuhan coronavirus. “I personally think Phase One will be a two year affair,” said State Health Commissioner Norman Oliver, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. “There are a lot of people working on this, and I hope they prove me wrong, but I don’t see it happening in less than two years.” Phase One under federal recommendations feature a limited reopening of some businesses with strict safety restrictions, social distancing...

President Donald Trump floated a proposal that would see the government purchase years of tickets from airlines at a discount. Speaking Friday at a bill signing, the president said he spoke with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. “I told Steve we’re the biggest user of the airlines—the United States government. And one of the ways we can help the airlines is buy tickets at a very large discount, maybe 50 percent off or maybe more,” Trump said. “And you buy into four or five years’ worth of tickets, and you infuse them with some cash. And in the meantime, we’re flying...

NEW YORK — Molly Roth was proud to move to a neighborhood she considered real America.

Anil Subba, a Nepali Uber driver from Jackson Heights, Queens, died just hours after doctors at Elmhurst Hospital thought he might be strong enough to be removed from a ventilator. In the nearby Corona neighborhood, Edison Forero, 44, a restaurant worker from Colombia, was still burning with fever when his housemate demanded he leave his rented room, he said. Not far away in Jackson Heights, Raziah Begum, a widow and nanny from Bangladesh, worries she will be ill soon. Two of her three roommates already have the symptoms of Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Everyone in the apartment...

What’s your biggest concern about Congress? These days, you probably worry that lawmakers won’t respond quickly or boldly enough to the crisis on our hands. Squabbling between the parties allowed funding to run out for a wildly popular program to help businesses keep workers employed and paid even when they’ve slashed or even shuttered their operations. Meanwhile, plenty of other people and interest groups are crying out for federal help, including state and local governments, hospitals and public health agencies. Some House Republicans, however, are evidently more concerned about their ability to register their opposition to the big aid packages...

I just found this video on Youtube. Unfortunately, no translation for it, only in Korean. This group of 6 rescue kittens was found by a couple of women who take them in. I've never seen such diffuse and wild color patterns, as if Calico & Tortoiseshell were just mixed haphazardly together. Video, 19 minutes & 36 seconds

Jackson Heights is a neighborhood in the northwestern part of Queens, New York. It is known to be the most culturally diverse neighborhood in the United State, where 167 languages are spoken.

Gov. Phil Murphy (D-NJ) characterized Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's opposition to using federal money to bail out New Jersey's government as "utterly irresponsible." McConnell suggested that "rather than try to sponge off federal taxpayers, states in financial trouble should file for bankruptcy." Murphy started off by threatening to lay off state employees. "Let's see how McConnell and the Republicans like it when thousands of essential government workers join the ranks of the unemployed," he said. "The booming economy that Trump and the GOP are counting on to win the election would be further set back." Murphy also chastised McConnell's...