Free Republic

President Donald Trump was within his constitutional authority to declare a national emergency at the southern border last year, a federal judge ruled Thursday, but environmental groups can move forward on a central challenge in their lawsuit: whether the president can divert $3.6 billion in military funds to build a border wall. The environmental groups, which include the Center for Biological Diversity and the Rio Grande International Study Center, each filed lawsuits arguing Trump abused his authority by reallocating money from military construction accounts to fund a southern border wall without congressional approval... In allowing the environmental groups to proceed...

I am deeply opposed to the government shutting down churches and arresting preachers. But I am also deeply opposed to churches meeting right now. Let me tell you about Albany, Georgia. There are 490 cases of COVID-19 in Dougherty County, Georgia. The county seat is Albany. There are 29 deaths in the county. For perspective, I started writing this piece on Wednesday, and there were 466 cases and 26 deaths. By the time you read this, the number will be over 500. Dougherty County has 89,000 people, making it, per capita, the hardest-hit part of Georgia and, again per capita,...

Sub-headline:"The next attack on Donald Trump by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her cadre of un-American progressive socialist democrats has begun…" The Russia collusion hoax failed and revealed massive spying on American citizens and the subversion of our premier intelligence and lae enforcement agencies by the Obama Administration. The Ukraine hoax failed and revealed nefarious activities by former President Joe Biden and his family. The obstruction of justice hoax failed revealing the patent dishonesty and duplicity of House Representative Adam Schiff, Jerrold Nadler, and others in the Democrat majority. And, now it appears we are about to see another attack...

This season's colours are blue, white and bork Bork!Bork!Bork! Chicago! A town famed for what some might regard as a jumped-up quiche masquerading as pizza and home of the first skyscraper. Could there be a better venue for today's bork?We like Chicago, although we're less keen on the landing approach to the city's O'Hare airport, which left this hack feeling a tad poorly on one occasion as Boeing's finest tumbled through the turbulence.Also unwell, and snapped by a Register reader, is this example of digital signage, caught borking in the window of LOFT, a women's clothing emporium. Sadly, a jaunt...

MOSCOW - Ventilators delivered by Russia to the United States to help treat patients of the new coronavirus were manufactured by a Russian company that is under U.S. sanctions, Russia’s RBC business daily reported on Friday. A Russian military plane carrying the ventilators landed in New York on Wednesday after U.S. President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone. Russian state television footage of the plane’s unloading showed boxes of “Aventa-M” ventilators, which are produced by the Ural Instrument Engineering Plant (UPZ) in the city of Chelyabinsk, 930 miles east of Moscow, RBC reported. UPZ is part of...

The Trump administration is expected to use a federal stimulus package to pay hospitals that treat uninsured people with the new coronavirus as long as they agree not to bill the patients or issue unexpected charges, according to two people familiar with the planning. The plan, which could be released Friday, comes as the White House faces mounting criticism for not launching a special enrollment period for people seeking coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Congressional Democrats also are pressuring the administration and insurers to waive treatment costs for the growing number of Americans who are losing employer-provided health coverage...

A Russian military mission that is in Italy ostensibly to help tackle the coronavirus crisis will be covertly gathering vital intelligence, a British expert warned on Thursday. The team of more than 100 Russian soldiers, including experts in chemical and biological warfare, arrived in Italy last week, with their equipment stamped with logos reading “From Russia with Love”.

Of all the industries feeling the fallout of the Coronavirus pandemic, America’s airlines are likely the hardest hit. The Transportation Security Administration estimates that air traffic is down 90 percent as President Trump is purportedly considering domestic travel restrictions on top of the international bans already put in place. Congress sensibly stepped in to protect the struggling airline industry in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and. Economic Security (CARES) Act, providing aviation businesses $29 billion in loans and loan guarantees and $32 billion in direct grants to defray payroll costs. But in exchange, Congress empowered the federal government to demand access...

Pray for an Easter Miracle.The CDC has overblown the coronavirus pandemic EVERY STEP of the way since January when Dr. Fauci said Americans should not be worried about the coronavirus.The experts told the American public the masks did not work.Now the experts want everyone to wear a mask when you go outside your home.The Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort docked in in New York City on Monday, March 30, 2020. The ship was expected to bolster a besieged New York City health care system by treating non-coronavirus patients while hospitals treat people with COVID-19.But after three days in the harbor only three patients had been transferred to the...

The WNBA training camps and season opener will be delayed due to the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, the league announced Friday. It had been expected, especially with the extended social distancing guidelines by the federal government and sporting entities canceling events into July.

Democrats would be a whole lot better off if Andrew Cuomo were their nominee for president. While it may be too late to derail front- runner Joe Biden, a candidate bent on self- destruction, Cuomo, the governor of New York, has shown the nation what it means to be a leader in a time of crisis. While Biden may be ahead in Democrat convention delegates, he is behind when it comes to charisma and confidence. Cuomo has no delegates, but he oozes both, just as his father Mario Cuomo did

I'm cooped up now, just looking for sanity in this new world.

This sweet golden retriever is showing that dogs aren’t just man’s best friend—they’re also man’s best neighbor, too. 71-year-old Renee Hellman is just one of many Colorado residents who have isolated themselves in their homes for fear of risking exposure to the novel coronavirus. Since Hellman is also particularly vulnerable to the virus because of her chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, she has been quarantined inside her home in Manitou Springs for more than three weeks. Hellman’s neighbor of 10 years, Karen Eveleth, knew that she wanted to do something to help her senior neighbor in quarantine—but she didn’t know...

While the media agitators continue to rage and ruthlessly attack the president for not acting in a timely manner to forestall or perhaps even prevent the coronavirus from arriving in the United States, one thing is becoming abundantly clear: the chance of contracting the virus is exponentially higher if you reside in or in the vicinity of a crowded, congested American city. Your chances are greater if you use the subway, city bus, or light rail system. There is an undeniable correlation between population density and the odds of contracting COVID-19, yet the Green New Deal mandates herding small-town and...

The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum picked the plain-speaking expert on the coronavirus as many see him as a hero right now.The United States' top infectious disease specialist is getting his own bobblehead. The creation from the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum in Milwaukee features Dr. Anthony Fauci wearing a suit as he makes a motion showing how the nation needs to “flatten the curve” in the coronavirus pandemic. The museum in Milwaukee picked Fauci because many people see the plain-speaking expert on the coronavirus as a hero right now, said co-founder and CEO Phil Sklar....

The outbreak of the novel coronavirus has thrust this great nation into a tenuous time of hardship. Nevertheless, we will overcome this challenge through perseverance, teamwork, and American ingenuity. Healthcare professionals are working day and night to care for those infected, while biopharmaceutical industry scientists work to develop treatments and a vaccine. Additionally, our political leaders continue to debate policy measures to ease the burden of this pandemic and aid in the development and distribution of care. While I support these efforts and understand their challenges, I am deeply troubled by recent news that the Trump Administration plans on issuing...

Americans are going to transit stations, retail and recreation locations and workplaces much less frequently now than they were just a month ago, according to a new mobility project from Google that traces human movements worldwide. The U.S. tech giant said it's creating Community Mobility Reports for nations around the world that detail people's daily movements based on data gathered from its Maps platform and other mobile services. Google said the data are collected in a way that protects individual privacy and gives healthcare officials a view on how the coronavirus pandemic has changed people's movements, routines and habits worldwide....

How to Fix a Drug Scandal” revisits the double whammy Massachusetts’ criminal courts faced when its two most prominent drug-testing labs were shut down and literally thousands of convictions had to subsequently be tossed. What began in January 2013 as one lab chemist’s drug bust expanded into a shocking case of the Attorney General’s Office being charged with knowingly withholding key evidence from the trial judge. Ultimately over 35,000 convictions were overturned. In 2012 Boston’s Hinton Drug Lab chemist Annie Dookhan met the demands of her job by simply not testing drug samples and saying she did. She hoped to...

How the virus infects Every coronavirus infection starts with a virus particle, a spherical shell that protects a single long string of genetic material and inserts it into a human cell. The genetic material instructs the cell to make around 30 different parts of the virus, allowing the virus to reproduce. The cells that SARS-CoV-2 prefers to infect have a protein called ACE2 on the outside that is important for regulating blood pressure.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is getting pressure to close down the state’s gun stores, which have been allowed to remain open during the coronavirus pandemic when most other retailers have had to shut their doors. Under a series of executive orders — including a stay-at-home order issued Monday — Hogan has gradually closed schools, sit-down restaurants, malls, theaters, gyms, casinos and businesses deemed “nonessential” in hopes of slowing the spread of the virus. Gun shops and shooting ranges, however, made the cut as an “essential” business. The ability of gun stores to remain open during this pandemic is worrisome for...