Free Republic

'To have the churches closed at this particular place seems to me to be the height of irresponsibility.'UNITED KINGDOM, April 6, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — A former Anglican bishop and chaplain to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has accused Catholic and Anglican bishops of being responsible for the closure of churches in the U.K. during the nationwide lockdown in response to the coronavirus. Gavin Ashenden, who was received into the Catholic Church in December last year, told the Sunday edition of The Nigel Farage Show on LBC that he is “halfway between cross and distraught” at the church closures. “To have...

In these first few days before rational minds prevail, I'm watching people grabbing as many bulk cases of toilet paper as their cart can hold as if we're in the End of Days. After seeing a fight break out between two mothers over a single packet of toilet paper, I figured it was time to make this video. I'm also a huge Breaking Bad fan and this seemed like the perfect mix while adding in just a bit of social commentary to help taper the anxiety levels out there. :) Be safe!

With all respiratory diseases, the only thing that stops the disease is herd immunity. About 80% of the people need to have had contact with the virus, and the majority of them won’t even have recognized that they were infected, or they had very, very mild symptoms, especially if they are children. So, it’s very important to keep the schools open and kids mingling to spread the virus to get herd immunity as fast as possible, and then the elderly people, who should be separated, and the nursing homes should be closed during that time, can come back and meet...

More than 100 people were fined in two separate incidences over the weekend in Greece for violating the state-mandated quarantine to go to church. The first incident occurred on Friday afternoon, April 3 at the Church of the Prophet Elijah in Agia Varvara, where about 100 parishioners had gathered, reports Russian Athens. The police arrived and issued fines of $160 (150 euros) to those present. An investigation has been launched and one person was arrested. A video of the incident shows that some people left when the police arrived, while others remained, shouting, “Get your hands off the church!” A...

Things are getting serious. The Coronavirus will pass but losing our freedom is something that we will regret. The criminals are being released from prison and being replaced with peaceful, law-abiding citizens who dare go outside. A 33-year-old Colorado man was handcuffed in front of his wife and 6-year-old daughter for allegedly violating a social distancing order. 33-year-old Matt Mooney said his young daughter was terrified the police were going to arrest him after the cops swarmed his family. The father reassured his daughter they were doing nothing wrong by playing tee-ball in the park, however, the police cuffed...

President Donald Trump persuaded India’s prime minister to release many millions of hydroxychloroquine pills on April 6 after the Indian government had announced it would keep all of the pills for its own population of almost 1.5 billion people. “I called Prime Minister Modi of India this morning … and I said I’d appreciate it if they would release the amounts that we ordered,” Trump told reporters April 4, They make large amounts of hydroxychloroquine — very large amounts, frankly. They had a hold [on exports], because, you know, they have 1.5. billion people, and they think a lot of...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Trump excitedly unveiled his latest improvements to the White House Press Briefing Room at Monday night's press conference: ejection seats. Controlled by a panel on Trump's podium, the ejection seats allow him to instantly send any White House reporter on a free trip to somewhere a few hundred yards down Pennsylvania Avenue. Any journalist parroting Chinese propaganda, insulting the president, or asking a question without referring to Trump as "His Majesty Donald Trump May He Live Forever" is likely to get a free flight courtesy of the White House. "Mr. President, why do you hate AmericaaaaaaaaAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" screamed one reporter...

The words “rapist” and “no justice” have been graffitied on St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne with inverted crosses attached to the church’s gate after Cardinal George Pell was acquitted for child sex abuse. In similar scenes, a children’s tricycle, ribbons and a paper bag bearing a biblical quote have been left on the gate of the east Melbourne monastery where Cardinal Pell spent his first night of freedom after 405 days in prison. Cardinal Pell, who consistently maintained his innocence throughout the legal ordeal, was taken to the Carmelite Monastery in Kew on Tuesday afternoon after being released from...

Should the Chinese regime be compelled to pay legal damages for mishandling and deliberately covering up the CCP virus, or coronavirus, outbreak? In practice, how could the Chinese regime actually be held accountable? What precedents are there? What could be used as leverage? In this episode, we sit down with Jeremy Alters, the Chief Strategist and (non-attorney) spokesperson of Berman Law Group, which is filing a class-action lawsuit against the People’s Republic of China, for how it handled the CCP virus, or Covid 19 outbreak. Alters previously launched and won a major class action lawsuit against Chinese manufacturers of...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Tuesday pledged to cut funding for the World Health Organization (WHO) in Congress's next appropriations bill unless it makes changes to its leadership. Graham said during an appearance on Fox News that he would use his position as chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee overseeing foreign operations to ensure the WHO did not get funding from the U.S. "I’m not going to support funding the WHO under its current leadership," Graham said. "They’ve been deceptive, they’ve been slow, and they’ve been Chinese apologists. I don’t think they’re a good investment under the current leadership for...

Joe Biden crossed a threshold thousands of podcasters never have: He made a second episode. This week’s installment of "Here’s the Deal With Joe Biden" featured Uncle Joe interviewing Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer about her state’s response to the coronavirus and President Trump’s continued attacks on her. Biden’s debut had mostly consisted of an interview with Ron Klain, his former chief of staff and President Obama’s Ebola czar back in 2014. It’s probably not fair to call either podcast an “interview,” not really; it’s more as if Biden speaks for a while, his guest speaks for a while, Biden speaks...

James S. Brady Press Briefing RoomApril 6, 2020 5:41 P.M. EDTTHE PRESIDENT:  Thank you very much.  Thank you very much.  This week, America continues our aggressive effort to defeat the virus as we enter a crucial and difficult phase of the battle.We continue to send our prayers to the people of New York and New Jersey, and to our whole country.  But right now, New York and New Jersey are very hot zones, and we’re with them.  We’re with everybody.  Your struggle is our struggle, and we will beat this virus.  We will beat it together.I also want to...

Fauci: ".. a safe and effective vaccine is needed to end the global AIDS pandemic expeditiously and sustainably,"

John Prine, the raspy-voiced country-folk singer whose ingenious lyrics to songs by turns poignant, angry and comic made him a favorite of Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson and others, died Tuesday at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. He was 73. The cause was complications from Covid-19, his family said. Mr. Prine underwent cancer surgery in 1998 to remove a tumor in his neck identified as squamous cell cancer, which had damaged his vocal cords. In 2013, he had part of one lung removed to treat lung cancer.

Hatred against Jews has spiked in Germany with the spread of the new coronavirus, the government’s anti-Semitism commissioner warned Tuesday. “There are direct links between the current spread of the coronavirus and that of anti-Semitism,” Felix Klein said in Berlin at the launch of a new government research project into the issue. “There is a boom in conspiracy theories in times of crisis,” he said, describing anti-Semitism as a virus of its own that is “contagious on a social level”. For example, he cited claims circulating online that the pandemic is the result of a failed bioweapon test by the...

The spectacular 7-0 decision of the High Court in favour of Cardinal George Pell is impossible to describe in conventional terms of winning or losing. It can be understood only in terms of impact. The impact of wrongful imprisonment and vile insult in the case of Pell. The ­impact of years of legal anxiety, and the final crushing collapse for the complainant. But the greatest impact will be on the Victorian criminal justice system. How could that proud system get something as important as this so legally wrong so consistently through so many steps over a process that lasted years?...

Folks, I know these are tough times, but this crisis has made it clearer than ever how much elections matter — and what a difference it makes who is in the White House. If you can, please chip in to fuel our campaign. I would really appreciate it. https://t.co/mZbSSmDbN2— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) April 8, 2020

Hollywood star Tracy Morgan is urging people to extend grace to President Donald Trump as he leads the country through the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Morgan, known for his TBS series “The Last O.G.,” appeared on NBC’s “Today” on Tuesday, where he talked openly about all kinds of (weird) things. Toward the end of the interview, though, he offered a defense of Trump.

President Trump signaled Tuesday he may put a “very powerful hold” on funding to the World Health Organization as he lashed out at the United Nations specialized agency and accused it of “being very China-centric” amid the coronavirus pandemic. Reiterating his complaints from a tweet earlier in the day, the president said that the WHO “has been wrong about a lot things.” Trump has been critical of the WHO for opposing the travel restrictions from China and Europe. “They’ve been wrong about a lot of things,” Trump said during the daily press briefing of the White House coronavirus task force....

Former Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair Howard Dean has taken a stance against MSNBC, vowing not to appear on the network unless it skips President Trump's daily coronavirus press briefings. There has been a growing chorus of critics who are calling on media outlets not to air the White House briefings live, accusing the president of "misinformation" and "lying," and condemning his attacks on reporters, as well as his ongoing praise for the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for the virus. Dean took to Twitter on Tuesday to challenge the network and urged others to join him. "I just...