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The federal funds being sent to states to help deal with the COVID-19 pandemic shouldn’t be used on matters unrelated to the pandemic, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said. COVID-19 is a disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, a novel coronavirus from China. The $150 billion approved by Congress in legislation signed by President Donald Trump is being sent to states to cover CCP virus-related expenses, Mnuchin said during an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “We’ve been clear that to the extent people have to use police to enforce coronavirus issues, public safety, things like that, that they...

A rigorous trial sponsored by the U.S. government showed remdesivir has a clear impact on hospitalization time for COVID-19 patients, Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Wednesday. Fauci heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which provided funding for the clinical trial. An independent data and safety monitoring board, which analyzed results from the trial, notified researchers that the results show remdesivir “has a clear-cut, significant positive effect in diminishing the time to recover,” Fauci told reporters at the White House. “What it has proven is that a drug can block this virus,” he added. The median recovery...

Deng Xiaoping, the Chinese Communist Party leader who created China's economic revival, rooted his Four Modernizations in Premier Zhou Enlai's 1975 statement that China must modernize. Deng called for comprehensive modernization in four sectors: agriculture, industry, science and technology, and defense. Deng consciously placed the People's Liberation Army last in line, though its time would surely come. By invoking Zhou, Deng slickly connected his modernization drive to Chairman Mao Zedong. In 1979, Deng articulated his Four Cardinal Principles, which enshrine CCP authoritarianism: China must "uphold" the socialist path, support the "democratic" dictatorship, follow CCP leadership and follow Mao's thought. Deng's...

Parents have forced a council to pull guidance to schools which allowed transgender pupils to use girls’ toilets and dormitories. Warwickshire County Council said it had withdrawn its “Trans toolkit”, which offered advice to 300 schools, and placed it under review. Parents were furious that schools were being told to allow transitioning pupils to “sleep where they feel most comfortable” and use whichever toilets they wanted. Tessa McInnes, 50, who has two children in Warwickshire schools, told the Times: “The equal rights of girls are simply discounted and disregarded in this guidance. If they express any discomfort about a male...

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A US Navy guided-missile destroyer sailed through waters near the Paracel islands in the South China Sea challenging China's claim to the area, the Navy said Wednesday. The USS Barry undertook the so-called "freedom of navigation operation" on Tuesday, a week after Beijing upped its claims to the region by designating an official administrative district for the islands. The US sought to assert the "rights, freedoms and lawful uses of the sea recognized in international law," the Navy said in a statement. "Unlawful and sweeping maritime claims in the South China Sea pose an unprecedented threat to the freedom of...

The vessels are upgraded versions of a Jin-class sub and join the PLA fleet in time for the military wing’s 71st anniversary The subs are the latest in a long list of hardware additions to the navy over the last year Two new upgraded nuclear-powered strategic submarines have gone into service in China in time for the 71st anniversary of the navy, according to Chinese military sources. The vessels are revamped versions of the Type 094, or Jin-class, nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBN) and will bolster the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s underwater combat strength, two military sources told the South...

President Trump has been mocked relentlessly for suggesting that ultraviolet light could be brought “inside the body” to kill the coronavirus, but there is ongoing research to do just that. For example, the pharmaceutical firm Aytu BioScience announced on April 20, four days before the Trump remarks, that it has signed an exclusive licensing deal with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. The center has developed and is testing a UV-A “Healight” designed to be inserted via a catheter inside the trachea to kill pathogens, including the coronavirus. Ultraviolet, or UV, light is commonly used by physicians to treat skin...

[…] As many as 250,000 guest workers seeking a green card in the U.S. — about 200,000 of them on H-1B visas — could lose their legal status by the end of June, said Jeremy Neufeld, an immigration policy analyst with the Washington, D.C., think tank Niskanen Center. Thousands more who are not seeking resident status may also be forced to return home, he said. […] H-1B visas, for instance, are tied to a specific location and employer that commits to paying the recipient a minimum salary. Furloughing recipients, reducing their wages and in some cases allowing them to work...

When famous African-American guitarist and singer Jimi Hendrix was found dead in a London flat on September 18, 1970 aged a mere 27 years, newspaper reports claimed he had died from a heroin overdose while the autopsy report claimed he had drowned on his own vomit. It would take years to know the gifted entertainer was a victim of COINTELPRO which even in death slandered him. Jimi Hendrix was one of the highest paid musicians in the world by the end of 1969 after Woodstock festival – reportedly with a net worth of $175m (£141m) but life wasn’t always sweet....

More women are turning to an experimental at-home abortion program to abort their unborn babies during the coronavirus crisis. The TelAbortion experiment, approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), mails abortion drugs to women in 13 states. In some cases, the women may never see a doctor in person before aborting their unborn babies. As states restrict travel, health care, business and other things deemed “non-essential” due to the coronavirus, more women are contacting the experimental program. New York Daily News reports TelAbortion saw a 30% uptick in “virtual visits” between February and March. The pro-abortion has group mailed...

Since 1985, the first year for which the Census Bureau has posted this nation's bilateral merchandise trade deficits on its website, the United States has accumulated $5.5 trillion in trade deficits with China. No other nation comes close. In 2019, America's seven top trading partners -- when measured by the total dollar value of the bilateral trade in goods -- were Mexico ($614.5 billion), Canada ($612.4 billion), China ($558.9 billion), Japan ($218.3 billion), Germany ($187.8 billion), South Korea ($134.4 billion) and the United Kingdom ($132.3 billion). By far, however, the least balanced relationship -- both last year and in recent...

Lower performing students hardest hit BOSTON – As we approach the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the United States Department of Education in May, shocking trends in student performance should lead us to reconsider the federal role in education and whether the initiative for policymaking should be returned to local schools, communities, and states. Breaking with decades of slow improvement, U.S. reading and math scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and other assessments have seen historic declines since most states implemented national Common Core English and math curriculum standards six years ago, according to a new...

GoFundMe summary: Because I think it's important that during this time the President stay healthy and being that he's pushing this drug so much he should have his own. So, what nicer way to say thank you for all he's done for America than to send him, literally, a taste of his own medicine.

Goodbye, boneless chicken. Food retailers across North America are swapping boneless chicken legs for less popular thighs and drumsticks as a wave of shutdowns at meatpacking plants has reduced supplies of sought-after cuts. Covid-19 infections among workers at some of the largest meat processing plants in the U.S. and Canada have reduced slaughter capacity, and in some cases the types of cuts available. Outbreaks have shut down almost a third of U.S. pork capacity and the growing wave of disruptions has spurred plans by President Donald Trump to order meat-processing plants to remain open. In Canada, Cargill Inc. has idled...

The irony of this whole Tara Reade/"Fingers" Biden situation is that if Gropin Joe came out and made a public apology to her RIGHT NOW, he could most likely contain the blast damage from this situation. There's considerable sympathy on his side and in the middle with the independents for the #MeToo movement, and "believing all women". Telling the truth in the forthright "common man" Joe Biden way might just defuse the bomb. As it stands now, the longer Joe's Democrat political advisors delay the inevitable, the more collateral damage there is among his defenders, who are being forced to...

(CNN)A news conference by two California doctors that downplayed the threat of the coronavirus and made dubious claims that the disease had already spread widely, and therefore was not dangerous, struck a chord with those itching for states to ease stay-at-home orders -- but is being condemned by public health officials and experts. A widely shared local television video of last week's news conference, which was posted on YouTube, reached more than 5 million views and was amplified by Elon Musk and Fox News, where Dr. Dan Erickson and Dr. Artin Massihi appeared on primetime shows two nights in a...

The Fund for Public Health in New York City is looking for people to work as contract tracers as experts say the strategy is necessary for cities and states planning to relax social distancing orders. The position requires experience in a health-related field or some sort of "public health training." -The Fund for Public Health in New York City is seeking contract tracers to identify and record people who have been in contact with individuals diagnosed with COVID-19. -Bipartisan health experts recommended Congress spend $12 billion to hire an additional 180,000 contract tracing workers over the next 18 months. -The...

Caution: The massive disruptions caused by the Coronavirus outbreak may prompt me to revise the forecast, especially if there is a crack in Trump support. Primaries Predict Election Winner -- Cycle Also Favors GOP — Forecast Model Batting 5 for 6 (since 1996) The Primary Model gives President Trump a 91% chance of winning a possible match-up with Democrat Joe Biden in November, based on primary performance in New Hampshire and South Carolina, plus the first-term electoral benefit. Trump would get 362 electoral votes, Biden 176. In a possible match-up with Bernie Sanders in November, Trump’s chance of winning would...