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After accusing Taiwan of launching “personal attacks” and a “racist campaign” against him at a news conference on April 8, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus quickly stirred up another controversy over whether the WHO had ignored Taiwan’s warning at the end of last year about possible human-to-human transmission of the COVID-19 virus. That dispute extended the battle of words between Tedros and Taiwan, with unexpected results. It turned into a “battle of unequals” initiated by Tedros, but his display lacked meticulous tactical thinking and effective strategic adjustments. Taiwan used this to its advantage by highlighting the effects of its epidemic...

GLENDORA, Calif. (KABC) -- Glendora police this week arrested and released a man for allegedly stealing cars and other property three times in the same day, blaming California's new zero-bail policy for their inability to keep the suspect behind bars. In early April, the California Judicial Council established a new policy setting bail at zero for most misdemeanor and low-level felonies to keep the jail population lower during the coronavirus crisis. As a result, Glendora police say, they were unable to keep a car theft suspect in custody, and ended up arresting him three times in the span of 12...

The coronavirus has been circulating among people since late 2019 and appears to have experienced a highly rapid spread after the first infection, according to a new genetic analysis of 7,600 patients around the world. Researchers in Britain wrote in a report published Tuesday in the journal Infection, Genetics and Evolution that they examined samples taken at different times and from different places, concluding that the virus first began infecting people late last year. The researchers found evidence of quick spread but found no indication that it is becoming any easier to transmit the virus, which was first identified in...

Stream columnist Jason Scott Jones took part in the #ReOpen Hawaii demonstration last week. He texted me right after posting bail. So I decided to interview him. I saw that sweet pic of you getting arrested. What happened? I’m in trouble with the lawless Governor of Hawaii and the Mayor of Honolulu. Or more accurately, I’m in trouble with distant, un-American, unelected bureaucrats. They’re working their will through Governor Ige and Mayor Caldwell. I was arrested on Friday for participating in the #ReOpen Hawaii event. What did you observe about law enforcement at the re-open Hawaii protest? How were they...

A new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll, conducted after Biden's first interview denying the accusation, finds significant Democratic discontent with him.Joe Biden’s biggest job right now is to unite the party after a divisive primary. The Tara Reade allegations aren’t helping. A new poll and interviews with Democratic strategists indicate that the sexual assault charges immediately complicate the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee’s efforts to broaden his support. The POLITICO/Morning Consult poll released Tuesday shows that more than a third of voters believe Democrats should abandon Biden as their nominee over the recent claims from the former Senate aide that date back to...

New research out of England suggests the novel coronavirus spread quickly around the world late last year. The study by the University College London Genetics Institute also identified 198 recurrent genetic mutations of the coronavirus — though it’s unclear if the changes are rendering the virus more dangerous. The researchers analyzed the virus genomes of over 7,500 patients infected around the world to draw their results, according to a UCL press release announcing the study, which was published Tuesday in the journal Infection, Genetics and Evolution.

Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.) is set to introduce a bill to help companies move their manufacturing from China to the United States as momentum builds for the country to “decouple” from the Chinese regime as a result of the pandemic. Green told The Epoch Times that his forthcoming bill would allow firms to deduct the entire cost of capital spending associated with relocating from China—known as “immediate expensing”—to lure companies to move to the United States. The bill would pay for this with money collected from U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports, he proposed. The idea of covering 100 percent of...

May the fourth turned out to be an unlucky day for one “Star Wars” enthusiast dressed as a stormtrooper from the sci-fi franchise, when police responded with guns drawn to two 911 calls about her. Now police in Lethbridge, Alta. say they’ve launched a service investigation into the actions of the officers who responded on Monday morning. A video circulating on YouTube shows a person dressed as a “Star Wars” stormtrooper in front of a business called Coco Vanilla Galactic Cantina. The person recording the video asks the costumed person to do a dance. However, the video takes a serious...

A 90-year-old woman from Long Island, New York, has miraculously recovered from coronavirus — and she wants to offer hope to everyone else feeling afraid amid the pandemic. Before she was hospitalized for 13 days, Anna Fortunato came down with a sore throat, but believed it was simply a cold, her daughter Teresa Gund recalled to the Associated Press. But Fortunato’s condition continued to worsen, and she was transported from the assisted living home where she lives to a hospital on March 13. Once there, Fortunato spoke to her daughter over FaceTime while using a nurse’s phone. “She says, ‘Don’t...

A mutation in the novel coronavirus mirrors a change that occurred in the genetically similar SARS virus in 2003 — indicating that the bug might be weakening, researchers announced in a newly published study. Lead study author Dr. Efren Lim, an assistant professor at Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute, and his team use a new technology called next-generation sequencing to rapidly read the genetic code of the coronavirus, referred to scientists as SARS-CoV-2.

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP/VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE and AMERICA: Government, Family, Military, Business, Education, Churches, and the Media. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 1 JOHN 5:14 Religion Forum threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate of any kind.

There are many new examples of the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) as an early treatment of COVID-19, yet stockpiles of it waste away in government warehouses. Most of the 100 million donated doses will expire without ever being distributed to help dying Americans. Ever since President Trump suggested that HCQ could be an effective treatment for COVID-19, Democrats have worked overtime to prove the president wrong. They falsely trumpeted the death of a man who ingested fish tank cleaner, an incident which his friends say may have actually been foul play to harm him while hiding the crime.HCQ is a...

In a sign of Colorado’s increasingly Democratic lean, a poll released Tuesday showed former Gov. John Hickenlooper with a commanding lead over Republican Sen. Cory Gardner in the U.S. Senate race, while former Vice President Joe Biden overwhelmingly leads President Donald Trump as well.

A former Obama administration CDC director called out the stark socioeconomic and racial inequities in President Donald Trump’s push to rapidly reopen the economy, as poor and minorities communities continue to suffer disproportionately from the coronavirus pandemic. Dr. Richard Besser, who was acting head of the nation’s disease control agency during the early part of President Barack Obama’s first term, spoke with CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Tuesday. During the conversation, he highlighted the grim outcome that will likely result from a premature relaxation of shelter-in-place rules. Besser’s comments came in the wake of numerous states opening up business and travel...

The French government has been notably restrained in their criticism of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for unleashing a pandemic upon the world.  One possible reason for their reticence is a single, highly embarrassing fact: They essentially built the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s P4 lab in which the coronavirus now sweeping the world was being researched, and from which it escaped.  That the French delivered the turn-key, high-containment biolab to China has long been public knowledge, but now a German newspaper, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, has added riveting details to the story.  The insider information comes from interviews with French...

The scientist whose advice led to Boris Johnson putting Britain into lockdown has resigned from his government advisory position after he broke social distancing rules to meet his married lover. Professor Neil Ferguson, 51, allowed the woman to visit him at home during the lockdown while lecturing the public on the need for strict social distancing to halt the spread of coronavirus. Antonia Staats, 38, lives with her husband and their children in a £1.9 million ($3.68 million) house, UK's Daily Telegraph reported. Prof Ferguson leads the team at Imperial College London that handed a bombshell piece of research to...

When President Trump brought up hydroxychloroquine as a promising potential treatment for COVID-19, a huge upsurge of negative political publicity followed from it.  It was strange stuff, because up until then, the treatment, which had been safely used to treat malaria, lupus, and arthritis, had been seeing promising results for COVID-19, too.  Yet the condemnations from all sides poured for weeks.  It wasn't just the political establishment blasting it; it seemed to be the medical establishment, too.  That raises questions as to whether financial interests might be involved here. It started with the press engaging in its customary contrarianism against Trump when he called...

The union that represents roughly 22,000 grocery workers at Ralphs and Food 4 Less in Southern California announced Monday that Kroger has agreed to provide access to free COVID-19 testing for workers.... In addition to testing, UFCW Local 770 is calling for: deep cleaning of an entire store when an employee tests positive and a 24-hour store closure for sanitation; notification for affected workers and evaluation of who to quarantine when someone contracts COVID-19; access to testing for all workers when someone contracts COVID-19; a safety and health committee at each store comprised of both union and management representatives; and...

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made an impassioned speech about gun violence Friday in announcing a ban on 1,500 types of firearms. While Trudeau’s speech carried emotional weight, there is one glaring problem with the ban’s implementation — how can the nation’s government ensure citizens turn over their now-banned weapons when there is no way to know exactly how many such firearms are in circulation? “Effective immediately, it is no longer permitted to buy, sell, transport, import or use military-grade assault weapons in this country,” Trudeau declared, even though police believe the weapons used in the Nova Scotia attack were...

May 06 2020 Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Easter Reading 1 Acts 12:24—13:5a The word of God continued to spread and grow.After Barnabas and Saul completed their relief mission, they returned to Jerusalem, taking with them John, who is called Mark.Now there were in the Church at Antioch prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Symeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who was a close friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have...