Free Republic

Ignored or buried in this global pandemic panic is the giant risk we have already taken not to the economy, as horrible as that is, but to our essential liberties. This is not theoretical anymore. Forget the President. Since when does every governor, mayor, county executive and dog catcher in the country have unlimited powers over peoples’ lives in a time of crisis? Since never, at least if the Constitution has any relevance anymore. But in this crisis, in which fear has driven public policy, they are all acting as though they do. And the question is whether the American...

AURORA | Santa’s elves self-quarantined themselves long ago, and Christmas is many months away, but that doesn’t mean the St. Nick has abandoned the Denver metro in our time of need. Radio station KOSI 101.1 is throwing it back to Dec. 25 when DJs will start spinning Christmas music Friday morning – despite it being spring. From 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. Friday, Christmas tunes à la Crosby, Sinatra and the silky sounds of Michael Bublé will fill KOSI 101.1 airwaves. Hosts say that’s an effort to chill people out. “We’ve had a lot of listeners contact us saying they...

The House of Representatives on Friday started debating the CCP virus relief package the Senate passed earlier in the week as President Donald Trump called for ejecting a GOP representative who is considering blocking a vote on the legislation. .@RepThomasMassie is one of the most principled men in Congress & loves his country. He is defending the Constitution today by requiring a quorum. There’s nothing 3rd rate about that, @realDonaldTrump. I may miss vote if he forces roll call (flights) but it will pass. Back off. https://t.co/ms8TM3rJp8 Representatives entered the House chamber to begin up to three hours of debate...

The federal government is poised to send checks — or make direct deposits — to most Americans to help people survive financially in the wake of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. The health crisis has evolved into an economic crisis as businesses and schools shut down to slow the spread of the virus. Based on the CARES act approved by the U.S. Senate late Wednesday, many American would receive a payments of $1,200, and families would see an extra $500 per child they claim as a dependent on their tax returns. Want to know how much you are projected to receive?...

President Trump slammed Representative Thomas Massie (R., Ky.) on Friday for saying he would vote against the Senate’s $2-trillion coronavirus relief package, calling him a “third rate Grandstander” who “just wants the publicity” and saying he should be kicked out of the GOP. Trump, who called it “HELL” to work with Democrats, also admitted Republicans “had to give up some stupid things in order to get the ‘big picture’ done.” Trump then added that the Kentucky Republican is “empowering the Radical Left Democrats” and “is a disaster for America, and for the Great State of Kentucky!” According to Politico, Massie...

Definitely intended for an audience beyond the cheering masses. That Hitler fellow is on notice now and won't dare cause any trouble.

The government has closed the wilderness in the name of safety. I talked with a Ranger yesterday, and this is what I was told. All access to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is closed.

Up-to-date stats of France COVID-19 metrics, regional metrics, and then the current patients in Dr. Didier Raoult's group of patients on the Hydroxychloroquine and Azythromycin regimen. Here are the statistics as of 3/27/2020: France: Cases: 524,384 Fatalities: 23,587 IHU Stats: Number of tests performed: 38,436 Number of patients APM / IHU tested: 14,101 Number of APM / IHU patients testing positive: 1,577 Fatalities: 11 Patients on Hydroxychloroquine / Azythromycin treatment: Cohort Number: 701 Fatalities (for those at least 3 days on treatment): 1

Virginia churches could face criminal penalties for holding services during the coronavirus outbreak. Meanwhile, Gov. Ralph Northam, a pro-abortion Democrat who defended infanticide last year, is allowing abortion facilities to continue killing unborn babies in elective abortions unhindered. “Ralph Northam is putting the profits of the $1 billion abortion industry ahead of the health, safety, and well-being of all Virginians,” said Victoria Cobb, president of the Family Foundation of Virginia. “His decision to allow abortions to continue when other elective procedures have been suspended is anti-science, anti-health, and anti-life.” Pro-lifers all across the country are outraged by the situation in...

Expert warned agency as much as 87.5 percent of biomedical research was wasteful. On a steamy summer day inside the lecture auditorium of the storied National Institutes of Health headquarters, Dr. Michael Bracken delivered a stark message to an audience that dedicated its life, and owed its living, to medical research. As much as 87.5% of biomedical research is wasted or inefficient, the respected Yale University epidemiologist declared in a sobering assessment for a federal research agency that spends about $40 billion a year on medical studies. He backed his staggering statistic with these additional stats: 50 out of every...

It's unnerving, and perhaps instructive, that the arrangements elites have been prescribing for dealing with what they call our most dangerous environmental threat -- climate change, formerly known as global warming -- are almost precisely the opposite of the arrangements deployed to deal with the more immediate threat of COVID-19, aka the novel coronavirus. To reduce the carbon dioxide emissions thought to produce catastrophic climate change, Americans have been urged to cluster in large, densely populated cities. Large apartment buildings with small dwelling units, it is claimed, consume less energy and emit less carbon per capita than 2,500-square-foot houses spread...

Police in India going cane happy on lockdown violators. Video Here.

NEW YORK — An estimated 80,000 Americans died of flu and its complications last winter — the disease’s highest death toll in at least four decades.The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Robert Redfield, revealed the total in an interview Tuesday night with The Associated Press.Flu experts knew it was a very bad season, but at least one found size of the estimate surprising.“That’s huge,” said Dr. William Schaffner, a Vanderbilt University vaccine expert. The tally was nearly twice as much as what health officials previously considered a bad year, he said.In recent years, flu-related deaths...

To reflect on what happened in 2009 regarding the H1N1 (swine flu) pandemic, it is difficult to understand how the government response isn't an overreaction by comparison.  A review of the data reveals some vital distinctions: Not as many elderly were at risk or affected (only 20% of H1N1 deaths over 65) by the swine flu. COVID-19 is seemingly being tracked much more definitively, while the swine flu appears to have been almost casually traced, considering the wide and broad data ranges produced by the CDC.The "confirmed" cases of swine flu reflect a much less precise mid-range average of affected...

Bee Gee Barry Gibb was the latest celebrity to receive a knighthood at Buckingham Palace. Here's a look at other celebs who have been knighted as well. *This list does not include non-British actors who have received honorary knighthoods (List with photos, I cannot post - sorry)

Consider, for a moment, what ideas Americans seem to have generally accepted in the last few weeks. First, there seems to no longer be a question as to whether or not the government has a responsibility to ensure health care for American citizens. The prospect of some hospitals, in some specific locales, exceeding health care capacity has caused the bulk of the American economy, at the behest of government, to simply stop functioning in order to avoid it. In other words, the health of a comparative few is of far greater importance than the personal, financial, and social interests of...

There have been a few consistent points that many of those who post at American Thinker have been making. The main point is that the media are deliberately fomenting panic. They do this partly because that’s the nature of media (“if it bleeds it leads”) and partly because most members of America’s media are Trump haters. They would willingly send America into an economic nosedive if it meant routing Trump from the White House. Still, another thing we’ve been highlighting here is that media members are innumerates. They glom onto whatever large, scary, Trump-injuring numbers come their way, and...

Today's Quotefall Puzzle features a quote by Steve Deace. Click puzzle (or click here) for full size rendition, then use your browser's print command to print puzzle. Steve Deace is a conservative American talk-show host. He also runs a podcast on YouTube called the Michigan podcast. All hints, along with the answer, are provided in the first reply comment below, using filtered font to prevent accidental spoilers. Please refrain from disclosing the full answer in comments to prevent spoilers.To solve the puzzle: Enter the letters in the top half (letter columns) of the puzzle into the white squares on the bottom half...

President Trump has turned to a French virologist with a history of criticizing climate science to offer the world hope amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. Last week, Trump tweeted that the combination of two medicines could dramatically alter the often deadly course of COVID-19. "HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE & AZITHROMYCIN, taken together, have a real chance to be one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine," Trump wrote. He then cited a study published in the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents that afforded little time for peer review. Trump's optimism comes from a small study of about 40 COVID-19 patients...

If I followed all my doctor's instructions to the letter, life would be excruciating. It would be tantamount to having Michael Bloomberg make my life choices, which is to say my life wouldn't be worth living. Human beings have never been as risk-averse as experts want them to be. We instinctively calculate the costs and benefits of engaging in activities that put our health at risk every day. The coronavirus crisis, in fact, has been one of the few times in my life I've allowed medical experts to completely dictate my actions. I'm writing this piece bunkered down in my...