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When reports about the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 began circulating earlier this year and questions were being raised about how the illness it causes, COVID-19, compared to the flu, it occurred to me that, in four years of emergency medicine residency and over three and a half years as an attending physician, I had almost never seen anyone die of the flu. I could only remember one tragic pediatric case. Based on the CDC numbers though, I should have seen many, many more. In 2018, over 46,000 Americans died from opioid overdoses. Over 36,500 died in traffic accidents. Nearly 40,000 died...

Hillary Clinton took to social media Saturday to show off her face mask encouraging people to vote in 2020 elections. Clinton posted a make-up free photo of herself with the mask, which was emblazoned with the word “vote.” “No makeup? No pantsuit? No problem,” she wrote. “I’ve got the must-have accessory for spring.” “I’m wearing a mask (and voting!) for my country, my community, and my grandchildren,” she continued.

SACRAMENTO, CA—Governor Gavin Newsom has instructed detention facilities across California to begin releasing violent felons to make room for skateboarders, surfers, and other people who have committed the heinous crime of going outside. Thousands of cells have now been freed up for "the dregs of society," as Newsom referred to people who go to the beach or skate at a skate park. As the felons left the prisons, they laughed at the skaters and surfers entering their previous cells. The skater bros just said, "Dude, not cool" and the surfers said, "Totes not stoked bra, major kook move dude." "We...

JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves says he’s going to slow the state’s reopening process after a recent surge in coronavirus cases and deaths. Mississippi is currently reporting 7,212 cases, including 281 deaths. The state health department says 397 cases and 20 deaths were reported Friday. According to the governor, it’s the largest single-day increase of both cases and deaths the state has seen. Reeves said the case and death increases have caused him to reconsider his reopening policies for the state. “This was a large enough change to make me take a step back, and look at the...

By: Hassan.Mahmoudi Iran and Venezuela, both engulfed with similar crises, have economic and trade relationship since the time of Iran’s former president, Mahmood Ahmadi-Nezhad. On Thursday, May 1, Elliot Abrams, the head of Venezuela’s affairs in the US government said that during this week Iran has had many more flights to this country: "Our assumption is that those planes that come from Iran are bringing things for the oil industry, and they return full of gold as a form of payment," El Politico quoted Elliot Abrams, the U.S. Special manager for Venezuela as saying. On April 30, 2020, the Bloomberg...

wThe removal of a Red Army statue in Prague was never likely to go unnoticed by Russia. The monument in question was to Soviet Marshal Ivan Konev, who led the 1945 liberation of the Czech capital from Nazi Germany. To many locals he was a reminder of communist-era repression, having helped crush Hungary’s uprising a decade later and then contributing to the construction of the Berlin Wall. But in the time of the coronavirus, with most of the world in lockdown, post-Cold War conspiracy theories are finding fertile ground, especially in places that were once in the Soviet sphere of...

As countries lie frozen in lockdown and billions of people lose their livelihoods, public figures are teasing a breakthrough that would mark the end of the crippling coronavirus pandemic: a vaccine. But there is another, worst-case possibility: that no vaccine is ever developed. In this outcome, the public's hopes are repeatedly raised and then dashed, as various proposed solutions fall before the final hurdle. Instead of wiping out Covid-19, societies may instead learn to live with it. Cities would slowly open and some freedoms will be returned, but on a short leash, if experts' recommendations are followed. Testing and physical...

Calling him a “tyrant” who has violated his oath of office, a Gilbert resident who has been helping to organize protests at the Capitol against the COVID-19 restrictions imposed by Gov. Doug Ducey is now seeking to oust him from office. The governor’s executive orders are unconstitutional, legal papers filed Friday with the secretary of state’s office contend. So Marko Trickovic wants to force a special election not only to remove Ducey from office before his term ends at the end of 2022, but also to give voters a chance to select someone else. The burden is substantial: He and...

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North and South Korean troops exchanged fire along their tense border on Sunday, the South’s military said, blaming North Korean soldiers for targeting a guard post. The Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul said in a statement that North Korean troops fired several bullets at a South Korean guard post inside the heavily fortified border. South Korea fired two rounds in response after issuing a warning broadcast, it said. MORE AT LINK

Barber Steve Gomez was hunkered down at his home in Pueblo on Wednesday when he heard an unexpected knock. He was shocked to see one of his most loyal clients standing at his doorstep. “He knocked on the door and says, ‘I was going up and down these streets. I knew you lived around here,’” Gomez said. The man said he was in need of a haircut and wanted to know if Gomez would be at Prestige Barbershop on Friday. “I didn’t even know people had my phone number,” Gomez said. He hasn’t been cutting hair since March 19, when...

In the fight against terrorist groups in Africa, US forces provide crucial support to the G5 Sahel group (Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger) with intelligence, logistics and supplies. But as the terror threat continues to spread in the region, Africa is no longer a priority for the Pentagon, which could well withdraw its troops, as announced by US President Donald Trump. fancy video at the link

Police are investigating a series of break-ins at local auto dealerships in or near Winston-Salem, North Carolina, after a group of 19 juveniles ranging in age between six and 16 allegedly stole nearly 50 cars worth more than a million dollars over the past two months.The car thefts began on March 17, 2020, when 18 break-ins occurred at auto dealers in Winston-Salem, according to a release from Crime Stoppers of Winston Salem Forsyth County.An additional two auto dealers were targeted 15 minutes away in Kernersville.The stolen vehicles came from at least eight dealerships, including Audi, Ford, Lexus, Volvo, Honda, Subaru, Chevrolet, and Toyota.For...

Missouri Governor Mike Parson has given the okay for concerts to begin again in the state as early as Monday. On April 27, Governor Parson released his Show Me Strong recovery plan that details plans for gradually reopening the state's economy starting May 4. The plan allows for retail stores to serve customers in-store at limited capacities and for restaurants to re-establish dine-in services while remaining socially distanced. A first for the country since governments started instating lockdown orders, Missouri will allow residents to attend live events, including concerts. According to the Show Me Strong guidelines, large events and gatherings...

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Mayor Lori Lightfoot is threatening citations and potential jail time to residents failing to comply with the stay-at-home order as house parties continue to be held across the city. With the weekend bringing warm weather, Chicago police broke up multiple large gatherings Friday night, including a house party with 150 guests. "When you go out and party, when you go home to your momma, your grandma, or anybody in your household who has an underlying medical condition, you are bringing death to their doorstep," Lightfoot said. She said authorities are aware of more parties and gatherings planned...

As the coronavirus has spread throughout the world, many have disagreed on just how we should refer to it. Some people, including President of the United States Donald Trump, insist on calling it the “Chinese coronavirus” or the “Wuhan Virus”. Critics claim that attaching such a prefix to its name may trigger a surge of anti-Asian hate crime, and people all over the world have indeed shared their accounts of racist encounters that were clearly emboldened by the outbreak. In spite of this, many members of the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement have continued to stand firm on speaking of it...

Tara Reid of American Pie and Sharknado fame has found herself getting mistaken for Joe Biden accuser Tara Reade. Reid, 44, told the New York Post she had been on the business end of threats and trolling meant for Reade and wants the Internet to know: “You’ve got the wrong Tara!” Reade has accused presidential candidate Biden of pinning her to a wall and digitally penetrating her against her will in 1993, when he was in the Senate and she was one of his staff assistants — an allegation he denied on Morning Joe this Friday. “It’s so crazy. I...

The coronavirus may kill the controversial practice of “screening” students for admittance to NYC’s most coveted middle and high schools, at least temporarily. With this year’s state math and English exams canceled, a watered-down grading policy enacted, and the tossing of attendance, the key factors for admission to selective schools have been dropped or diminished.

They came with babies strapped to their chests, flags waving and even a speedboat parked at the curb to symbolize California's closed beaches. Hundreds of people — likely more than 1,000 — crowded around the California State Capitol on Friday to protest Gov. Gavin Newsom's social distancing orders amid a pandemic that has now killed more than 2,000 Californians. With nary a mask in sight, protesters called Newsom a tyrant and showed their support for President Trump, evidenced by Trump 2020 gear everywhere, including for sale. But despite the president's back-and-forth support of social distancing, most were quick to absolve...

“There’s been a re-engineering of priorities,” said Dror Bikel, who has had seven clients within the last month request to withdraw their divorce filings. Veteran divorce lawyer Maggie Kaminer said before COVID-19, in two decades she had two couples withdraw their divorce. Now in recent weeks, “I’ve heard from several clients that they want the lawyers to step back and they want to try and resolve the open issues and not litigate.” Some, like a couple in their 20s, began to mend their fractured two-year marriage after the March 20 shelter-in order. “They were moving toward divorce, no kids. But...

Pictures which appear to show slack safety standards at the Chinese laboratory at the center of international suspicion over COVID-19 have been systematically deleted from its website — as Donald Trump continues to ramp up the pressure on Beijing over its potential role in the outbreak. During the past month, Wuhan’s Institute of Virology has removed photographs of scientists working in its laboratories and edited out references to visits by US diplomats who subsequently raised the alarm about the laboratory”s work on bats. US President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he had seen intelligence that gave him a “high...