Free Republic

The highest-paid US federal official earned $8.16 million last year, and he may be in line for a big pay cut as populist outrage shapes a new infrastructure package intended to put people back to work after the coronavirus outbreak. There’s a bipartisan drive to cut compensation for Jeff Lyash, president of the Tennessee Valley Authority, as the White House and House Democrats begin talks on up to $2 trillion in infrastructure spending to offset a spike in joblessness. The TVA is a federally owned electricity provider that controls dozens of dams built during the Great Depression as a jobs...

A staff occupational therapist at Southeast Nursing and Rehabilitation Center raised concerns to multiple supervisors that a fellow therapist had continued to work there despite possibly being exposed to COVID-19, according to text messages obtained by the KSAT 12 Defenders.The staff occupational therapist resigned March 20, citing concerns over the nursing facility not requiring her co-worker to self-quarantine and instead having him continue to show up for shifts the entire week. On March 31, a week and a half after she made her outcries, health officials confirmed a localized outbreak had occurred inside the facility. Ten residents have died and...

I created this COVID-19 meme based on The Simpsons. Please feel free to share it! I created this COVID-19 meme based on The Simpsons. Please feel free to share it!There’s a bigger version at this link: https://imgflip.com/i/3vwy2q

Dozens of restaurants and retail businesses across San Francisco are boarding up their storefronts with plywood, lending the normally lively retail corridors a feeling of neighborhoods about to be slammed by a hurricane, rather than one under siege by a pandemic. “When the times get tough, the tough gets going,” that’s the way Evan Kidera, owner of Señor Sisig describes a video of his restaurant getting vandalized two days ago. https://twitter.com/LuzPenaABC7/status/1246323447719817219?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1246323447719817219&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rightjournalism.com%2Fvideo-anarchy-in-pelosis-san-francisco-stores-are-boarding-up-as-people-are-looting-all-over-the-city%2F On Monday, the sound of hammering cut through the empty streets as work crews boarded up windows on closed businesses. Luxury retailers like Fendi, Louis Vuitton and Gucci were...

Meet Charlie. His back legs were paralyzed due to abuse, and with his foster mom and hard work/daily physical therapy, he was able to regain their use again. Video, 11 minutes, 20 seconds.

A little-known Washington nonprofit has filed a lawsuit against Fox News in King County Superior Court, claiming the news station, its parent companies and owners violated the state’s Consumer Protection Act and acted in bad faith by disseminating false information about the novel coronavirus through its television news broadcasts and minimized the danger posed by the virus as COVID-19 began to explode into a pandemic. The suit, filed on behalf of the Washington League for Increased Transparency and Ethics (WASHLITE), alleges Fox News engaged in unfair or deceptive acts by representing the coronavirus as a hoax in broadcasts that aired...

Hours before South Carolina governor Henry McMaster’s statewide “stay-at-home” order took effect on Tuesday afternoon, a Columbia, S.C. man was cited by city police for protesting an abortion clinic. The man received the citation even though McMaster’s order – aimed at combatting the spread of the coronavirus pandemic – was not in effect at the time. And in an interesting plot twist, the abortion clinic he was protesting remained open for business – i.e. performing abortions – at the time he was cited despite a statewide order deferring all non-elective medical procedures. Further, the man – Midlands pro-life activist Mark...

Dr. Scott Jensen, a Minnesota physician and Republican state senator said he received a 7-page document coaching him to fill out death certificates with a COVID-19 diagnosis without a lab test to confirm the patient actually had the virus. “Last Friday I received a 7-page document that told me if I had an 86-year-old patient that had pneumonia but was never tested for COVID-19 but some time after she came down with pneumonia we learned that she had been exposed to her son who had no symptoms but later on was identified with COVID-19, then it would be appropriate to...

The political and legal chaos that engulfed Wisconsin’s primary Tuesday marked the beginning of a national battle over how democracy will function in the middle of a pandemic — a months-long struggle that could tip the balance of power between the major political parties. At stake is the most basic function of a democracy — the ability to hold elections that partisans on both sides regard as valid. That consensus, already eroded in the Trump era, is now being further undermined. Prompted by Republicans' refusal to postpone the state's primary, the Wisconsin meltdown whipsawed voters with on-again, off-again election plans,...

Conservative activist David Benham was arrested Saturday for providing counseling outside a North Carolina abortion clinic despite a stay-at-home order amid the coronavirus pandemic. Benham, who made national headlines after getting dropped by HGTV allegedly for his Christian beliefs, posted a video of the arrest outside the offices of A Preferred Women's Health Center of Charlotte. He alleges officials are using the virus as cover for discriminating against pro-life groups. "It's government overreach. It's viewpoint discrimination. It's selective enforcement of the COVID law. It's the suppressing of religious expression. It's all those things," Benham told Fox News. "It's just a...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Mayor Greg Fischer announced drive-in, parking lot Easter services are not allowed in Louisville due to the high number of coronavirus cases in Jefferson County. Gov. Andy Beshear had left it up to local officials to decide. At his daily briefing, Fischer said the decision was tough but it was not practical to let hundred of thousands of people leave their homes. "I am reluctant to do that but I am at the same I am emphatic at doing that because I want to save the lives of people in our community," Fischer said. The Dixie Valley...

San Francisco’s Green Apple Books struggles for survival, adapts to change The Richmond District institution Green Apple Books has been around for more than 50 years. They have closed their doors to adhere to COVID-19 restrictions, but are still taking orders and are adapting by holding an author's book release through an online Zoom meeting. SAN FRANCISCO - Many would consider Green Apple Books on busy Clement Street in San Francisco's Richmond District an institution. After all it opened its doors in 1967. Now, the owners of the bookstore have turned to online sales to comply with the coronavirus shelter-in-place...

It’s hard enough being a doctor in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. But Sanjibani Panigrahi, a psychiatrist at a government hospital in western India, now finds her own neighbors turning against her. We are sure you have corona,” one woman recently shrieked at her, she says, — part of a torrent of abuse from residents at her apartment complex. “We will not allow you in the building.” In some cities, health-care workers are earning standing ovations for the long, life-risking hours they’re putting in to battle the coronavirus. But in others, they’re facing discrimination and even attacks. In Mexico,...

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — With Easter Sunday just three days away, some area pastors are asking whether ‘drive-in’ services are allowed under Governor Roy Cooper’s Executive Orders and local Declarations. These Orders and Declarations prohibit any event or convening that brings together more than ten individuals in one place (indoor or outdoor) at one time. Wilmington Police say this prohibition includes “drive-in” services. “We thank churches and all houses of worship for doing their part in slowing the spread of COVID-19 and believe that their participation is critical in our community-wide success,” said Daniel Thurston, City of Wilmington Police Attorney....

The mild spring weather was perfect for basketball, and residents of West Philadelphia’s Mill Creek neighborhood went outside. Adults and kids gathered on the concrete court and nearby on the sidelines Monday evening, playing games and sitting shoulder to shoulder. Neighbors said they counted more than three dozen people at the West Mill Creek playground that day — and few were taking precautions to ward off the spread of COVID-19. “They were chest-bumping, popping fist bumps. They were living like there was nothing happening,” said Reatha Wilson, whose Reno Street house faces the courts.

Seven miles in to our do-it-yourself wilderness elk hunt, I was growing discouraged with the number of hunters my buddies and I were seeing. Then, at about the 13-mile mark, camps began to dwindle. Leading our pack string of horses five more miles, we found the isolation we desired. That night – two days before opening day of Wyoming's archery season – the mountains were alive with bugling bulls. On opening morning, the three of us hiked four more miles, to over 9,000 feet in elevation. By 9 a.m., two of us had big bulls down, with the third member...

NEW YORK, April 7, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — An LGBT activist shouted his hatred for evangelical Christians as he was led away by police in Central Park on Sunday afternoon. Professional activist William Talen, 69, was arrested at the COVID-19 field hospital set up in New York’s iconic park by Samaritan’s Purse, an international evangelical disaster relief organization. Talen, who has made a career of mocking Christian clergymen, was in character as “Reverend Billy,” sporting a blond bouffant hairdo, a shocking pink suit, and a clerical collar as he planted an LGBT rainbow flag outside the 68-bed hospital. A statement from...

Long Island resident Anna Fortunato, a 90-year-old survivor of COVID-19, has a message for the rest of us: Do not be afraid. Do not despair. "Keep on fighting, have that positive a JERICHO, N.Y. -- Anna Fortunato, a 90-year-old survivor of COVID-19, has a message for the rest of us: Do not be afraid. Do not despair. "Keep on fighting, have that positive attitude, and pray," she says. "And get out of bed. Don't stay in bed all the time. ... And I want to say to them, 'If I did it, you can do it.'" That she is here...

WICHITA, Kansas, April 3, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – Pro-life activists in Witchita, Kansas are calling on state health officials to suspend operations of Trust Women Wichita Clinic (TWWC) over reports that the abortion facility is taking in both patients and abortionists from states currently quarantined by the Kansas government. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) currently requires travelers who have recently been in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York, or Washington, or recently been out of the country, to quarantine for 14 days due to concerns of spreading the coronavirus. Yet the Kansas Coalition for Life...

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) edited a headline from the New York Post that slammed her and other members of the "Squad." The headline, which reads, "'Squad' members want to make illegal immigrants eligible for coronavirus aid," was edited by Omar on Twitter, who swapped the words "illegal immigrants" to "American taxpayers." "There, fixed it for you," Omar said in her tweet. The New York Post report highlights components that progressive members of the so-called "squad," including Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Omar, want to add to the next coronavirus aid and relief package. The article highlighted that...