Free Republic

According to North Korea, its fight against COVID-19 has been impressive: About 3.3 million people have been reported sick with fevers, but only 69 have died. If all are coronavirus cases, that’s a fatality rate of 0.002%, something no other country, including the world’s richest, has achieved against a disease that has killed more than 6 million people.

Americans think the economy is in far worse shape than it is. The U.S. unemployment rate is only 4.9%, but 57% of Americans believe it's a lot higher than that, according to a new survey by the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University. The general public has "extremely little factual knowledge" about the job market and labor force, Rutgers found. It's another example of how experts on Wall Street and in Washington see the economy differently than the regular Joe. Many of the nation's top economic experts say that America is "near full employment." The unemployment...

..... In a remarkably contrived display of evenhandedness - 6 discussion points apiece... Israel six-point list is as follows: Only build new housing in settlement blocks and in areas west of the security barrier. This means that Israel would build only in about 8 percent of the West Bank and no longer in the remaining 92 percent. Offer compensation to any Jews to relocate to Israel or the designated blocks. Consent to begin construction of housing within Israel or the designated blocks for all those settlers ready to relocate. In “Area C,” which represents 60.1 percent of the West Bank’s...

In a study published yesterday in the journal Science, researchers from Canada’s University of British Columbia posit that people who believe in God are not analytical thinkers. That’s a disingenuous way of saying people of faith are stupid. “Religious belief is intuitive,” explained Ara Norenzayan, co-author of the study, “and analytical thinking can undermine intuitive thinking. So when people are encouraged to think analytically, it can block intuitive thinking.” In other words, when religious people analyze their beliefs, they become less devout. They go from stupid to smart, like Norenzayan and fellow co-author Will Gervais. So how did the researchers...

SAITAMA, Japan (Reuters) -- European champions Greece shocked odds-on favorites the United States 101-95 to reach the final of the world basketball championship on Friday.

As the midday call to prayer was sung out, members of an Inglewood mosque said Wednesday that they were shocked to hear that three of their fellow worshipers were under investigation for a possible plot to shoot up National Guard recruitment centers and synagogues. Members of the mostly South Asian mosque described the trio — two African American Muslims and a Pakistani national — as "friendly, devout" adherents and said that they had been unaware of any dangers the men might have posed. "They said their prayers on time and were known to myself on a first-name basis," said Imam...