Free Republic

The United Autoworkers Union (AWU) endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden's presidential bid on Tuesday, citing his commitment to putting a check on corporate power. The union said in a statement to The Associated Press that the U.S. was in need of stability “and more balance to the rights and protections of working Americans.” “This issue demonstrates the need for presidential leadership to follow the guidance of science and give workers a seat in discussions over their safety and well-being,” the statement said. Tuesday's endorsement comes after the group threw its support behind Biden's plan to reopen the U.S economy...

Today, President Donald J. Trump announced the following appointments for the Executive Office of the President:Dan J. Scavino will serve as Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications.  John C. Fleming, M.D., will serve as Assistant to the President for Planning and Implementation.  Kayleigh McEnany will serve as Assistant to the President and Press Secretary.Alyssa Farah will serve as Assistant to the President and Director of Strategic Communications. Nicholas F. Luna will serve as Assistant to the President and Director of Oval Office Operations.

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room 5:39 P.M. EDT  THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you very much everyone.  Thank you.  Following the release of our reopening guidelines, governors across the country are looking forward to phase one and announcing plans for an economic resurgence; we’re going to have a resurgence, too.  At a time when millions of American workers and families are struggling with the financial consequences of the virus, it’s critical to continue the medical war while reopening the economy in a safe and responsible fashion.During this time, Americans must maintain strict vigilance and continue to practice careful hygiene, social...

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE THE SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITYSUBJECT:       Providing Continued Federal Support for Governors’ Use of the National Guard to Respond to COVID-19 and to Facilitate Economic RecoveryBy the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. 5121-5207 (the “Stafford Act”), and section 502 of title 32, United States Code, it is hereby ordered as follows:Section 1.  Policy.  It is the policy of the United States to take measures to assist State and territorial...

On FR today I'm reading that Cuomo is insisting that New York get their Coronavirus tests from China, and Newsom in CA is setting up a Chicom owned factory in LA to produce millions of masks. You know what your governor is planning for your state; are they doing what you want? If not, please tell them what you want them to do. Call and leave a message, talk to staff, or email. They need to stop playing politics and serve the public. At the link, select your state and find the related phone and email information to use to...

The pandemic which is now ravaging the world – killing an estimated 170,000 people and causing trillions of dollars of economic damage – originated in China and was hidden by the Chinese Communist dictatorship. The dictatorship lied to the world and got its puppet head of the World Health Organization to also lie to the world. A recent University of Southampton study titled, “Effect of non-pharmaceutical interventions for containing the COVID-19 outbreak in China” estimated that 95 percent of the COVID-19 cases we have seen could have been avoided if the Communist dictatorship had told the truth at the beginning...

The first celebration New York City will hold when the city can reopen after the coronavirus pandemic will honor health care professionals and first responders, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday. “I want to guarantee you one thing, that when that day comes that I can restart the vibrant beautiful life of this city again, the first thing we will do is have a ticker tape parade down the Canyon of Heroes for our health care workers and our first responders,” de Blasio said at a briefing. “The first thing we will do before we think about...

Gov. Gavin Newsom's decision to spend almost $1 billion in taxpayer funds to buy protective masks drew national attention as an aggressive move by California to solve one of the most nagging problems of the coronavirus crisis. But almost two weeks after he announced the deal during a cable TV interview, very few details have been disclosed. The governor's advisors have so far declined requests for information about the agreement with BYD, the Chinese electric car manufacturer hired to produce the masks, though the state has already wired the company the first installment of $495 million. Newsom, who has been praised...

Facial recognition systems threaten our privacy. They can track where you go and add that information to the massive amount of information already saved about each of us. Big Brother is watching you and enabled by AI. And when it makes a mistake reading your face, you could end up with criminal charges far worse than when the toll tag system misreads your license plate. Here are several methods for fooling and interfering with facial recognition systems.

More deaths, no benefit from malaria drug in VA virus study By MARILYNN MARCHIONE This Monday, April 6, 2020 file photo shows an arrangement of hydroxychloroquine pills in Las Vegas. According to a study released on Tuesday, April 21, 2020, the malaria drug widely touted by President Donald Trump for treating the new coronavirus showed no benefit in an analysis of its use in U.S. veterans hospitals. There were more deaths among those given hydroxychloroquine versus standard care, researchers report. ( Hydroxychloroquine made no difference in the need for a breathing machine, either. Researchers did not track side effects, but...

A Harvard law professor is under fire for her comments in an article about the "risks" of homeschooling as parents face closed public schools because of the coronavirus pandemic. In Harvard Magazine's May-June issue, Elizabeth Bartholet, a law professor and faculty director of the school’s Child Advocacy Program, worried homeschooled children will not be able to contribute to a democratic society. HARVARD UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR ACCUSED OF COVERING UP TIES TO CHINESE SCHOOL, RESEARCH PROGRAM "The issue is, do we think that parents should have 24/7, essentially authoritarian control over their children from ages zero to 18?" Bartholet asked. "I think...

Visit Discoverthenetworks.org. When President Trump announced that his administration would withhold all U.S. funding from the World Health Organization, pending an investigation of its handling of the coronavirus pandemic, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus promptly straightened the halo atop his head and proceeded to address the world in the sober tones of a selfless, afflicted martyr: “For now,” he said, “our focus, my focus, is on stopping this virus and saving lives. WHO is getting on with the job…. When we’re divided, the virus exploits the cracks between us.” But as a close look at Tedros’s handling of the current crisis...

Although there is still much we don’t know about the coronavirus, we know enough to say that it is far more dangerous and deadly than the flu. It took twelve months and 61 million infections for the H1N1 swine flu to kill 12,500 Americans in 2009–10. The Centers for Disease Control estimated that the seasonal flu killed 34,200 Americans during the 2018–19 flu season. In 2019, car crashes killed 38,800 Americans. As for the new coronavirus? On March 20, the death toll in the United States was 225. By April 20, the coronavirus had killed more than 42,000 Americans.

During a press briefing Tuesday, Newsom indicated there is no specific timeline for modifying restrictions but said Californians should not expect a return to “normal” life until there is herd immunity and a vaccine exists for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Governments pass ever-more restrictive rules in the name of saving us. How many of these rules are helpful? In Encinitas, California, police gave $1000 tickets to people inside cars - watching the sunset. Surfers were arrested, despite being far from anyone. Such excessive restrictions may even do harm, by preventing people from getting exercise. Michigan's governor condescended to allow big stores to stay open, but told them they must not sell "carpet, flooring, furniture, garden centers, plant nurseries, or paint.” The stores had to rope off those aisles. These rules are arbitrary, and excessive.

On the 21st of April 1836, Sam Houston turned around the disaster of The Alamo and won freedom from Mexico for Texas. In 18 minutes. He was a leader who did not like war, who cared about people’s lives, about education, about his state and his nation’s unity and about freedom. He backed these feelings up with actions. Any one of these things is hard to be good at. What can we learn now from his example? Is this a time to be brave and ready for sacrifice? Is Dan Patrick a Herd Immunity Hero? Is pursuing that immunity our...

We recently saw a photo of Ethel Kennedy, the widow of the late Senator Robert Kennedy, with an image of Che Guevara in the background. At first, I thought that the lady was photographed in the wrong place. I tried very hard to give her the benefit of the doubt. After all, she is the widow of a former attorney general and U.S. senator plus sister in law of a president who almost went to nuclear war over Cuba. We were later told that Mrs. Kennedy is a big fan of Che because she has a "subversive streak." With all...

Gov. Andrew Cuomo revealed the key to navigating his contentious relationship with President Trump ahead of their coronavirus summit Tuesday at the White House: simple New York bluntness.

After the Great Pandemic has passed and we emerge from Great Depression II, what will be America's mission in the world? What will be America's cause? We have been at such a turning point before. After World War II, Americans wanted to come home. But we put aside our nation-building to face the challenge of a malevolent Stalinist empire dominant from the Elbe river to the Barents Sea. And after persevering for four decades, we prevailed. What, then, did we do with our epochal victory? We alienated Russia by moving our NATO military alliance into the Baltic and Black Seas....

A top U.S. regulator is considering taking steps to ease strains on mortgage companies facing a cash crunch as millions of Americans struggling with fallout from the coronavirus suspend their monthly payments, according to people familiar with the matter. The Federal Housing Finance Agency is weighing whether to allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-controlled mortgage-finance giants, to buy home loans that recently entered forbearance, meaning borrowers have stopped making payments, the people said. That would help nonbank mortgage companies that lend to home buyers and then quickly sell the loans to Fannie and Freddie. The strategy was upended...