Free Republic

...In the survey of over 8,000 swing and “persuadable” voters in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Iowa provided to Secrets this morning, 63% said that they approve of Trump’s handling of the crisis. Just 21% disapproved. And they appear to support his gradual shift from focusing on fighting the virus to also reopening the economy, as well as a reliance more on businesses than Washington to lead the way. “Swing voters are concerned about the impact of the coronavirus and generally approve of Trump’s handling of the crisis. Moreover, they are more concerned with health risks than the economy —...

The doctor’s fever spiked above 103 degrees. His dry cough was getting worse. And the fatigue was advancing. Dr. Joseph Manno was deteriorating with each passing day. "I was getting progressively weaker," he said. Manno, a vascular surgeon at Holy Name Medical Center, was home self-quarantining, trying to beat a case of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. He called a colleague March 30 to update him on his condition. There was urgency in the response. “You need to come in now,” the doctor told Manno, 65. Holy Name was the epicenter of one of New Jersey’s early hot...

The Experts’ Council for Church Art, Architecture and Restoration of the Russian Orthodox Church considers that the leaders of the state and Joseph Stalin will be included in the mosaics that will decorate the walls of the church dedicated to the Armed Forces of Russia. The statement was made by the Chair of the experts’ council, Archpriest Leonid Kalinin, in the TASS Russian News Agency. According to Leonid Kalinin, Joseph Stalin as the supreme military commander of the Soviet army in the period 1941-1945 will be included in the mosaic entitled “The Victory Parade,” which was created based on photographs....

Perugia, Italy, Apr 24, 2020 / 08:30 am (CNA).- The president of the Italian bishops’ conference has written a letter calling for Sunday Mass to resume in Italy as the country begins to ease coronavirus lockdown restrictions. “The time has come to resume the celebration of the Sunday Eucharist and church funerals, baptisms and all the other sacraments, naturally following those measures necessary to guarantee security in the presence of more people in public places,” Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti of Perugia wrote in a letter to his diocese April 23. Public Masses throughout Italy have been suspended for nearly seven weeks...

More than 300 individuals showed up in about 150 cars to Friday’s noon “Freedom Drive” at the Ventura County Government Center asking, pleading and even demanding that Ventura County Re-Open for business, social, education and religious life. 70 cars started off from the County Govt center at noon on 4-24-20 at the VC Drive for Freedom. Many were already driving the streets in the area and were joined by more, totaling about 150 cars. The cars which at one point stretched nearly half-a-mile on Victoria Avenue, then onto Telephone Road, Thille St,. and south past Ralston, had American flags waving...

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 22, 2020 / 04:30 pm MT (CNA).- Two Catholic dioceses have filed suit against the Small Business Administration (SBA), claiming they were wrongfully denied access to emergency loans during the pandemic because of their bankruptcy status. The New York dioceses of Rochester and Buffalo said they “will suffer immediate and irreparable harm” from being disqualified from emergency loans under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), in a lawsuit filed in federal court on April 15. The $349 billion in emergency loans were part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, signed into law by...

As of Wednesday night, the state had the fifth-most confirmed cases of COVID-19 and the fifth-most deaths from the virus in the U.S. The economic toll has been even more striking. Since March 14, about 1.3 million Pennsylvanians (or nearly 1 in 5 workers in the state) have lost their jobs — the second-highest number during that period in the country, behind only California. ...the political fallout for Trump in Pennsylvania is already significant — and is likely to remain stark unless the public health and economic situations improve dramatically before Nov. 3. Mark Harris, a Pittsburgh-based GOP strategist...warned that...

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Veterans advocates say they are frustrated at the lack of transparency around the Department of Veterans Affairs' use of the unproven drug hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for the coronavirus. After the release of a preliminary study of veterans hospitalized with COVID-19 last week that showed that hydroxychloroquine — an anti-malaria drug touted by President Donald Trump — had no benefit and caused a greater rate of deaths, the groups want answers and are worried that they may have been misled by the agency on its recent purchase of the drug. Jeremy Butler, CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America,...

Every study of asymptomatic carriers is bugged by the same question. How many are asymptomatic and how many are pre-symptomatic? How many ended up never developing symptoms during the course of their illness and how many happened to not be experiencing symptoms on the day they were tested but did so later?A prison study would be a perfect candidate for that sort of retrospective analysis since the sample isn’t going anywhere. A month from now, go back to all the asymptomatic prisoners and find out how many never had a fever, a cough, trouble breathing, and so on after...

...As mass coronavirus testing expands in prisons, large numbers of inmates are showing no symptoms. In four state prison systems — Arkansas, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia — 96% of 3,277 inmates who tested positive for the coronavirus were asymptomatic, according to interviews with officials and records reviewed by Reuters. That’s out of 4,693 tests that included results on symptoms...

As bars and restaurants remain shuttered in response to the coronavirus pandemic, Boston Beer is turning millions of dollars of expired beer into ethanol to recoup some of its lost sales. Beer sales rose 11.6% in the week ended April 11, according to Nielsen data, as consumers drink more at home. But the spike doesn’t benefit craft brewers as much because they rely on sales in restaurants and bars. The shift in consumption trends is leading to expired kegs for many craft beer manufacturers. **SNIP** The company’s founder and chairman Jim Koch said on CNBC’s “The Exchange” Friday that it...

With rumors about North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un’s deteriorating health and maybe even demise, the world’s eyes are turning to his younger sister Kim Yo Jong as a possible successor to the throne of the Hermit Kingdom. But who is Kim Yo Jong? Why is this reclusive young woman all of a sudden considered a possible replacement for her older brother, even though North Korea has always been a patriarchal society? What is it about this enigmatic 30-something female that has the world talking? Yo Jong first burst onto the world’s radar during the 2018 Winter Olympics, when this...

WARNING: There is some cussing both implied and explicit (to be expected whenever you're talking about celebrities!)

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un is ah-live! Maybe. He sent a message giving his appreciation to people building a complex at his father’s hometown on the border of China although state radio didn’t say anything about the 36-year-old’s health. South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported no photos of Kim have been published since his vanishing on April 11th amid speculation heart problems either felled or left him comatose. South Korea’s official stance is Kim remains in the realm of the living. South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s foreign policy adviser sent a statement to American media saying Kim is “alive...

To calculate excess deaths, the FT has compared deaths from all causes in the weeks of a location’s outbreak in March and April 2020 to the average for the same period between 2015 and 2019. 

Once again, the mantra of Never let a crisis go to waste rears its ugly head as we all try to survive the coronavirus pandemic. This time it is in the charge of homophobia being tossed at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and its blood donation guidance. Is it an antiquated and homophobic policy in place by the FDA which rejects blood donations (or plasma) from a gay man if that man has had sex within the last three months? This is the case that Bravo executive producer and television show host Andy Cohen makes after he tried...

Primary Author: David Williams, MD Revised April 23 with updates to section regarding COVID-19 deaths and the addendum.The Truth (and Lies) about CoronavirusThis is being written on April 19, 2020. Although there is a central author, it is being written on behalf of multiple physicians in West Alabama and will be distributed through multiple medical offices. Between us we have well over a hundred years of practice and have treated hundreds of thousands of patients suffering infectious diseases. Including mission trips we have treated patients on five continents. We planned this date for several reasons. First, most of our patients now...

There seems to be some confusion about how we should conduct ourselves during the current pandemic. The video below provides rules that should clear up that confusion. If you have any questions after viewing the video, please send them to Dr. Fauci. https://youtu.be/wVs5AyjzwRM