Free Republic

Ben Roethlisberger broke pandemic restrictions to get his hair cut and beard trimmed, along with a small recording crew, for a video the Steelers quarterback put out on his Twitter account Monday. Governor Tom Wolf doesn’t want Roethlisberger, or anyone to break coronavirus restrictions in that way. “My concern is just a general concern and anybody who puts himself or herself into harm’s way is something i think we ought to try to avoid,” Wolf said in response to a question about Roethlisberger specifically. "And when you go to something like a barbershop and you’re not protected, I don’t care...

The Oregon Supreme Court Monday evening issued a stay blocking a decision earlier in the day by Baker County Circuit Court Judge Matt Shirtcliff that temporarily stopped the state from enforcing Gov. Kate Brown's executive orders restricting certain activities due to the coronavirus pandemic. That means the executive orders will remain in effect statewide. After a 20-minute hearing Monday morning at the Baker County Courthouse, Shirtcliff granted a preliminary injunction to the plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed against the governor May 6. The next step is for attorneys from both sides to submit responses to the Supreme Court related to...

Constitutional sheriffs, judges and state legislators are rising up against tyrannical orders issued by state and local leaders and they deserve our support and encouragement. Here are just a few examples of courageous actions in the heat of battle to break the bands of tyranny.

Both owners were issued summonses and clients were given a warning. But Murphy suggested during his Monday briefing that the state might have to step in if the gym’s defiance continues. “I’m not concerned it will spiral out of control, and we will take action,” Murphy said. “If you show up at that gym again tomorrow, there’s going to be a different reality than showing up today. These aren’t just words. We’ve got to enforce this, but I also don’t want to start World War III.”

It appears the Governor is realizing his Executive Orders are not laws and they violate people’s Constitutional rights. What is the norm in Illinois when elected officials get exposed for violating the law? Change the law. In this case, change the rules and make criminals out of the very people that are the economic engine in this state. Not only do these new suggested rules invoke criminal penalties, but they also are to last 150 days and are being pushed through in an Emergency provision for such rule changes, meaning the public has little say about it. Let that sink...

Neither the ancient Romans nor our British ancestors had written Constitutions. Their supreme law was whatever the Senate or King-in-Parliament determined. While the United States has a written Constitution, it’s honored in the breach, and is often twisted to suit the social justice goals of political opportunists. Time and neglect rendered the supreme law of the land a corrupted dead-letter known as a living and breathing Constitution in which the hard clauses that established the three branches, and little else, remain. In comparison, our quaint and written Constitution is an anachronistic memory of the living and breathing beast that replaced...

A flag company in Pennsylvania will not be able to sell flags for Memorial Day observances because of the governor’s shutdown of all non-life-sustaining businesses to slow the spread of the coronavirus. FlagZone LLC near Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania, had asked Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf for special permission to ship American-made flags for veterans’ graves in nearby Berks County and nationwide for Memorial Day. Flagzone LLC was one of the many non-life-sustaining businesses that Wolf ordered to close on March 19 in response to the coronavirus. “We want to be able to honor veterans as we do every year and as we’ve...

In April something was bugging me… a familiarity amid the COVID lock-down status & another time… I couldn’t quite put my finger on it until a dear friend reminded me.Many U.S. states are acting like the early 1980’s and the imposition of Martial law in Poland to target the Solidarity movement.  Subsequently I wrote about it on a Twitter thread, because the parallels were really quite remarkable.Both Poland circa 1980 and the U.S. friction in 2020, center around fragile economic issues. Both were an outcome of state control; and the key connection is government targeting control over the workers.In both...

The Emergency Services Act gives California’s governor broad emergency authority. Typically, the state constitution requires policy decisions (what we should do going forward) to be made through the deliberative legislative process.[1] But in a crisis, that authority (what we should do right now) may be consolidated and exercised by one executive.

A federal judge overturned North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s orders Saturday that sought to cap religious services at no more than 10 people while businesses and other organizations in the state were left to accommodate up to 50. The double standard, District Court Judge James C. Dever ruled in the Eastern District of North Carolina, was an overt show of distrust among those gathering to worship and deemed the directive illegal, according to the News and Observer. “The record, at this admittedly early stage of the case, reveals that the Governor appears to trust citizens to perform non-religious activities...

Baker County Circuit Court Judge Matt Shirtcliff this morning issued a preliminary injunction declaring Gov. Kate Brown's executive orders related to the coronavirus pandemic as "null and void." Attorneys for the governor said they would file a motion seeking review of Shirtcliff's decision by the Oregon Supreme Court.

Huge win for churches, ministries, businesses and the people of the great state of Oregon! Bend, OR – Prepare the Way Ministries and Bend Community Church, along with churches, businesses and individuals across Oregon, applaud the decision out of the Baker County Circuit Court today declaring that Governor Kate Brown violated the Oregon Constitution in her emergency declarations and authoritarian executive orders. The Judge ruled that churches, businesses and individuals have been irreparably harmed by Gov. Brown’s unconstitutional orders. It is time that the free exercise of religion be respected and pastors across the state of Oregon be allowed to...

Graham is the owner of the Glamour Salon in Salem, Oregon. She reopened her hair salon on May 5 in defiance of Governor Kate Brown’s lockdown. Oregon’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reacted by issuing a $14,000 fine to Graham, saying she’s endangering her workers. . . . In a shocking revelation, Graham says Child Protective Services visited her home and interrogated her child after she defied lockdown. . . They questioned my child without me present and they searched our home. I never expected such a violent, aggressive, vindictive thing could ever have been done to me or...

Over at the Washington Post, Keith Humphreys ended the week on a pessimistic note, opining that no matter how much testing and contact tracing is required to get us fully past this pandemic, America will never do as well as several other countries that seem to be taming the virus more quickly. The reason? Because Americans love their “freedom” too much. (Please note for the record that it was Humphreys who put the word freedom in scare quotes, not me.) He begins by quoting medical professionals who insist that the only path toward the new normal relies on our...

Stay-at-home orders aimed at reducing the spread of coronavirus are now facing legal challenges from residents and state officials alike, alleging that some measures – mostly put in place by Democrats -- go too far while the country gradually moves toward reopening. California alone is facing at least a dozen lawsuits that include claims that the state has unjustly closed down gun shops and religious services, infringed on freedoms of speech and assembly by restricting protests, and one case where a resident alleges that being forced to remain at home constitutes forced detention without due process. “We’re being challenged,” California...

Still some people still say what happened in Wuhan, China could never happen here.   https://youtu.be/eqnnyDa7C7Q 

(CHICAGO) People heading to Philadelphia Romanian Church in Ravenswood on Sunday might have a hard time finding a parking spot. Ald. Matt Martin (47th) said no-parking signs have been put up for several surrounding blocks near the church at 1713 W. Sunnyside Ave. The signs have been mounted on Sunnyside Avenue between Greenview and Ravenswood avenues, and Paulina Street between Lawrence and Berteau avenues. The parking ban is in effect from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. Martin said the signs were put up at the direction of the Mayor’s office, in response to plans by the church to hold...

The raging public debate over statewide coronavirus lockdowns is running parallel to a series of legal battles in state capitals - and the lockdown skeptics got a big boost this week. The decision by Wisconsin’s Supreme Court on Wednesday to toss Gov. Tony Evers’ statewide shelter-in-place order set off a scramble in cities across the state to impose their own local restrictions. Elsewhere, bars and restaurants shut down by the order declared themselves open for business. And legal challenges are continuing to pile-up across the country - even as governors who extend their state’s shelter-in-place orders begin peeling back some...

A Western New York law firm has sued Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state Attorney General Letitia James for alleged “abuse of power” amid the coronavirus pandemic. HoganWillig PLLC filed a lawsuit this week after the state hit them with a “cease and desist” order for continuing to allow employees to report its office in Getzville, N.Y. The firm said Cuomo’s executive orders shutting down non-essential businesses violated the U.S. Constitution and accused James of resorting to “scare tactics” in threatening civil and criminal penalties. “Defendants, in a disturbing and gross abuse of their power, have seized the COVID-19 pandemic to...

In 2005, New Jersey enacted a sweeping law called the Emergency Health Powers Act, giving the governor greater authority to take actions to protect Garden State residents during a health crisis. Gov. Phil Murphy has cited the statute frequently the last two months as he’s issued a series of orders to place the state in near-lockdown to fight the coronavirus pandemic. But in an unexpected development, some government agencies in Murphy’s administration have also cited the law to reject requests from media outlets seeking public records related to how the state has responded to an outbreak that has killed more...