Free Republic

The coronavirus crisis is crashing the U.S. economy at the fastest rate since the Great Depression, the government reported Wednesday, while the Federal Reserve pledged to keep interest rates near zero as long as it takes to bolster a recovery. President Trump said the need for people to go back to work is so urgent that he wants to see a return soon to full-capacity restaurants, sports stadiums —and campaign rallies — with or without a vaccine. “We want it to be the way it was,” Mr. Trump said during a meeting with business leaders at the White House. “We...

Americans are no longer putting a ring on it. The US marriage rate fell to its lowest level on record in 2018, federal stats released Wednesday show. New figures from the National Center for Health Statistics reveal the nationwide marriage rate fell 6 percent from 2017 to 2018, with 6.5 new unions formed for every 1,000 people. The figure marks the lowest rate since the US government started tracking such data in 1867, Sally Curtin, the report’s lead author and a statistician at the federal agency, told the Wall Street Journal. “Millennials are in peak marriage years, their 20s and...

In Ancient Greece around 600 BC the commoners had fallen into heavy debt. First they mortgaged their land, and delivered the majority of their crops to the lender. But after a bad harvest, the farmers needed to borrow more in order to afford another planting. With nothing left they used their freedom, and the freedom of their family as collateral. Many were sold into debt slavery after defaulting on this second loan. That’s when a poor aristocrat, Solon, was elected ruler by appealing to both the landowners and the heavily indebted commoners. He canceled the commoners’ debts and ended debt...

The Washington Post editorial board on Wednesday called on former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, to address allegations of a 1993 sexual assault from former aide Tara Reade and release documents relating to his Senate career. In the editorial, the board says there are “no clear conclusions” regarding the accuracy of Reade’s account but notes that the 1,875 boxes and 415 gigabytes of Senatorial records, which were donated to the University of Delaware in 2012, could confirm whether Reade filed a complaint over the alleged incident. Examining the documents, the editorial board states, would not necessarily...

Arizona police are now conducting a homicide investigation into a woman who claimed she gave her husband fish tank cleaner after President Trump claimed the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine was an effective treatment for coronavirus. Wanda Lenius told NBC News last month that she and her husband Gary consumed fish tank cleaner because it contained a chemical that Trump suggested might be an effective prophylactic and treatment for coronavirus. The cocktail, which contained four teaspoons of fish tank cleaner mixed with soda water, put Wanda in the ICU and killed Gary. “My advice,” Wanda explained, is “don’t believe anything that the...

The following is an email from Santa Clara County Supervisor I received earlier this afternoon. I hope this finds you well. Today, the seven Bay Area health officers, led by Santa Clara County’s Dr. Sara Cody, issued a new shelter-in-place order that beginning on May 4 reduces some of the restrictions that have been in place since March 16. A copy of the new order is here. A copy of the press release describing it is here. Our community’s success in sheltering in place has worked to flatten the curve and earned this first, careful step toward reopening. As President...

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced Wednesday a plan to provide free college tuition for people working on the frontlines during the novel coronavirus pandemic. Whitmer's "Futures for Frontliners" plan will provide those working on the frontlines - including hospital staff, grocery workers, and child care providers - with the opportunity to get either a college or a technical degree on the state's dime, if they do not already have one. "The Futures for Frontliners program is our way of saying 'thank you' to those who have risked their lives on the frontlines of this crisis. This program will ensure tuition-free...

As Americans continue to suffer under a public health lockdown due to the Wuhan coronavirus, many of them have turned to video-streaming services to pass the time. But few probably expected to scroll through their Netflix, Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, or Vudu and be exposed to blatant anti-American Chinese military propaganda. Yet that is exactly what audiences of “Operation Red Sea,” by screenwriter Feng Ji, producer Yu Dong and director Dante Lam are being unknowingly exposed to.

Have you ever explained to a friend of yours how fun protesting is, about how important it is, how its right in the constitution because the Founders wanted us to be protesters - only to be met with irritation or a belief that protesting is somehow a "left wing thing"? Or, the worst one of all is this one: "Yeah well protesting never solved anything". Honestly, I think this one could be just as bad: "I have a job", as if somehow being active and involved is beneath you and apathy is virtuous. I have news for you, because you...

Governor Paul LePage just announced on my show that he’ll be challenging Governor Janet Mills in 2022. Huge news.

SPARTANBURG CO., SC (WSPA) – Production at BMW’s plant in Spartanburg County will resume May 4, the company said Wednesday. BMW said during their production shutdown, which began March 29, the company implemented deep cleaning and safety measures which included disinfecting all equipment, sanitizing workstations, and remodeling the production layouts to enhance social distancing. “BMW has taken many precautionary measures to provide a safe workplace for our associates,” said Knudt Flor, president and CEO of BMW Manufacturing. “We return to Plant Spartanburg focused on taking care of each other and taking care of our customers.” The plant will also implement...

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Mich., criticized Tesla CEO Elon Musk for calling on the United States to reopen amid coronavirus in a Wednesday morning tweet. "Billionaires want to continue profiting off your labor even if it means risking millions of lives," Omar wrote. "They call this 'freedom.'"

A network of activists led by a handyman from Illinois is organizing simultaneous demonstrations in all 50 state capitals on May 1 to argue for ending governors’ stay-at-home orders and allowing people to go back to work. Josh Ellis of Naperville, Illinois, who owns a business repairing water and mold damage, said America’s foundation is being weakened by government overreach during the coronavirus pandemic. “We’re responsible for protecting our health,” Mr. Ellis told The Washington Times. “We believe in the severity of the disease, but at the same time, we don’t feel it’s government’s right to violate our constitutional rights.”...

"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

A pastor in Louisiana, who was placed under house-arrest for repeatedly flouting social distancing guidelines amid the coronavirus crisis, stepped out and hosted a Sunday service with a significant number of attendees.

A judge ordered a Dallas salon to shut down immediately after the owner reopened in defiance of county and state restrictions. Shelley Luther said she's planning to open again Wednesday anyway.

VACAVILLE, Calif. (KRON) – A Vacaville hair stylist is defying the shelter-in-place order amid the coronavirus pandemic. On Tuesday, she re-opened her salon to existing clients despite not being an essential business.​ KRON4’s Philippe Djegal reports the woman is willing to risk a fine or the possibility of her business being shut down.

Martin “Modey” Hicks, the mayor of Grants, New Mexico, has had enough of the mandate that businesses remain closed in the name of countering coronavirus. Russell Contreras reported last week at the Associated Press that Hicks, in defiance of an ongoing shutdown order from New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, “said he’s giving businesses permission to reopen on Monday and is ordering the police force in the city of about 9,000 people to prevent any State Police officers from issuing lockdown violation citations.” Contreras reports that 81 businesses in Grants had “signed a petition calling for the reopening of the...

HERE HERE! Bravo to a man who understands the Constitution and is fighting “FOR THE PEOPLE” not against them. That would be Franklin County Sheriff Scott Nichols of Maine. A battle is brewing between the County and the State of Maine after Maine’s Democrat Governor Janet Mills issued a very strict “stay at home” order.

The owner of Cook’s Barbershop in Collinsville opened his doors Monday, despite Governor Kay Ivey’s order to stay closed until May 1.