Free Republic

Today, two years after COVID-19 first hit these shores from China, most studies confirm that the heavy-handed government lockdowns of businesses, restaurants, schools, churches and parks did more harm than good to our health and well-being. States and countries with strict and prolonged lockdown and stay-at-home orders had slightly better health outcomes, but they ruined their economies and had highly adverse effects on children. If any good comes out of COVID-19, it should be that we've learned this lesson the hard way, and never, never again should we allow politicians to impose these unconstitutional lockdown orders again. Now we have...

...So this isn’t a grass-roots trucker uprising. It’s more like a slow-motion Jan. 6, a disruption caused by a relatively small number of activists, many of them right-wing extremists. At their peak, the demonstrations in Ottawa reportedly involved only around 8,000 people, while numbers at other locations have been much smaller.

Pray For The Peace of JerusalemPhilippians 4Thanks for Their Gifts 10 I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. 11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty...

As school board meetings across the nation become increasingly contentious, parental pushback over COVID-19 related regulations and virtual learning has brought things to a head in San Francisco. There, voters are headed to the ballot box Tuesday to decide the fate of three school board members in an unprecedented recall election. San Francisco School Board President Gabriela López and board members Faauuga Moliga and Alison Collins could all be recalled Tuesday. The recall effort began in January of last year as tensions rose during the pandemic with parents claiming board members misplaced priorities, focusing their attention on social issues rather...

For two years, Americans have been partially or entirely deprived of fundamental freedoms -- of assembly, speech, religious liberty, making a living, a child's right to an education, access to early treatment for a potentially deadly virus, and more -- for the first time in American history. That half of America, especially its elites, has either made peace with or supported these deprivations of freedom is why many of us worry about America's future as a free society. Even more concerning has been the reactions of America's great religions -- specifically, Catholics, Protestants, Mormons (Latter-day Saints) and Jews. The government...

Last week, I wrote about the beginning of my journey, driving to Boise, Idaho from the San Francisco Bay Area in California. I subsequently spent most of the week exploring the city, where I enjoyed myself very much. I think I would have liked Boise in any event but what made the trip so eye-opening was being reminded what life is like in a state that hasn’t destroyed itself by embracing squalor and crime while imposing totalitarian restrictions on its law-abiding citizens. My first impression was that Boise, compared to California, is incredibly clean. I didn’t see any random garbage....

Joy Reid has slammed the NFL for trying to 'sanitize Blackness' from the Super Bowl after Eminem took the knee during the half-time show. The MSNBC host, wearing a football jersey in support of Colin Kaepernick, said she has fallen out of love with the game over its apparent inaction against racism and the lack of Black coaches in the sport, in comments echoing resident Joe Biden. Reid and her panel of hosts noted how Eminem has been praised for taking the knee during his performance in what was nothing more than a 'performative' gesture, but Kaepernick has remained unsigned...

Hiring on anything but merit can only lead to national decline. When I wrote "Woke Hiring by Airlines is a Scary Business" for American Thinker on Feb. 8. I thought about the concept of merit in the U.S. and now want to expand further on the concept of woke quotas for any area of our society. Almost since its inception as a nation, the United States of America has become synonymous with excellence in many areas. Our unique Constitution guarantees its citizens rights and privileges almost unknown elsewhere on the planet. SNIP Most “Human Resources” departments of corporations, whose minions...

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The Florida House is slated Tuesday to take up a proposal that would prohibit doctors from performing abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

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Earlier this century, conventional political wisdom posited that Republicans would never be able to win a national election unless the party out-pandered the Democrats on the issue of amnesty for illegal aliens. Republican political “experts,” who spent too much time listening to other “experts” instead of actual voters, insisted that supporting massive amnesties for illegal aliens was the key to unlocking the Hispanic vote for the party. John McCain and Mitt Romney took the advice of the experts to heart and got wiped out in 2008 and 2012, garnering just 31 percent and 27 percent of Hispanic votes, respectively. Donald...

Christina Yuna Lee entered her apartment in Manhattan's Chinatown on Sunday morning, not realizing she was followed inside allegedly by a homeless man out on bail for previous alleged violent crimes. The man is accused of stabbing Lee to death in her apartment. Assamad Nash, 25 years old and of no fixed address, was arrested by the NYPD in connection with Lee's murder. Nash has been described as a "career criminal" who has a history of violent behavior. He was out on bail with charges of assault and a court date pending on March 3...

The world knew Xi Jinping and the People's Republic of China would use the 2022 Olympic Winter Games for propaganda purposes; that was expected. All countries hosting the games use the opening ceremony to put their best foot forward. However, even the most jaded China skeptics were taken by surprise when a Uyghur athlete marched out carrying the PRC's flag during the opening ceremony. One can only wonder if cross-country skier Dinigeer Yilamujiang was forced to carry the flag or if she is the worst turncoat since Benedict Arnold. The level of hypocrisy, deceit and hubris Xi demonstrated in having...

On the morning of Feb. 10, 2022, far-left extremists gathered for a direct action at Fields Park in the Pearl District of Portland, Ore. Secret video captured three militants getting out of a burgundy 2005 Saturn Ion with the Washington state license plate "AYV8117." The three gathered multiple rifles and put on body armor and face coverings. The direct action was organized by Letha Winston, the mother of Patrick Kimmons, a black gang member who was shot and killed by Portland Police in 2018 after he shot two people. (More details about Winston and Kimmons can be read in my...

On May 6, 2021, an armed far-left street protest organized by Letha Winston marched through a residential area of north Portland, attacking civilians on the road. One driver had their windows smashed out and all the tires slashed. Another older driver was stopped on the road and had multiple guns aimed at him. They then mobbed him, assaulted him and stole his personal firearm. The man was hospitalized for his injuries. [Read about what happened to him: https://nypost.com/2021/05/08/portland-man-recovering-from-beating-after-standoff-amid-protest/] The Portland Police are still seeking suspects involved in the attacks of that day. Please read their press release and look at...

INDEPENDENCE, Missouri -- The half-circle of 13 chairs that framed the statue of President Harry Truman in the heart of the historic Independence Square this past fall was placed there in the days after 13 American soldiers were killed in the attack on the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, in late August. The flags on either side of Truman flew at half-mast, with the chairs bearing the names of each service member lost in that attack. All hailed from small-town corners of our country. Their average age was 22. Eleven were Marines, one was a member of the Army, one a...

Marc Racicot, a former Montana governor and former chair of the Republican National Committee, has written a letter to current RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel calling for her to lead the committee in reversing course on the recently passed resolution censuring GOP Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois. Both Cheney and Kinzinger have been been outspoken critics of former President Donald Trump, and they are the only two Republicans serving on the House select committee tasked investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. “My suggestion and request is that you lead the Committee through the process of withdrawing...

Let me preface this with the fact that I don’t know what I’m going to speculate about here to be true, but it’s the only thing that makes sense of the entire situation. Of course, if Russia invades Ukraine, either by the time this is published Tuesday or anytime thereafter, this could look pretty stupid. Still, I’m willing to risk it because nothing else makes any sense, when you consider the entire situation. What if the idea of Russia invading Ukraine is a hoax? What if it’s just Russia doing what Russia loves doing – saber rattling – and nothing...

Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger received donations from thousands of grassroots supporters who helped fund Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, revealing how Democrats are willing to cross party lines to back Republican lawmakers that have broken with Donald Trump over the January 6 riots. Last year, more than a third of Kinzinger’s grassroots donors and roughly a fifth of Cheney’s were people who gave to Biden in 2020, according to a Financial Times analysis of data from WinRed and ActBlue, the main platforms for small-dollar donors. Kinzinger, a congressman from Illinois and Cheney of Wyoming are two of six House Republicans...