Free Republic

MADISON - The Wisconsin Supreme Court has struck down Gov. Tony Evers' order shutting down daily life to limit the spread of coronavirus — marking the first time a statewide order of its kind has been knocked down by a court of last resort. The state's highest court, which is controlled by conservatives, sided with Republican lawmakers Wednesday in a decision that curbed the Evers administration's power to act unilaterally during public health emergencies.

Sports fans in Michigan who are expecting a return to normal in the months ahead from a coronavirus shutdown received some disappointing news Tuesday from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. “Life’s going to be different,” Whitmer said, referring to the state’s eventual emergence from her virus-response order. “We’re not going to be filling stadiums in the fall.” That appeared to be bad news for fans of the NFL’s Detroit Lions, as well as college football teams in the state, such as the Michigan Wolverines and Michigan State Spartans. Whitmer’s remarks came during an interview on Detroit radio station WKQI-FM, according to the...

Facing a lawsuit by state Republicans over her use of emergency powers during the coronavirus outbreak, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer fired back Tuesday, accusing the GOP of a “power grab.” “This is more than a political bluff for a dissatisfied coequal branch of government holding a losing hand under applicable law,” Whitmer wrote in a legal filing submitted Tuesday, according to The Detroit News. “It is a power grab cloaked in the fineries of unfounded legal reasoning.” Oral arguments in the dispute are set to begin Friday, the News reported.

Phil Kerpen, the president of the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, has been compiling data on nursing home deaths by state that have been attributed to the coronavirus, and there’s a lot of interesting things we can see in the data about the coronavirus. I took a look at the data to see what I could see.First, it should be noted that the sources for the data by state vary. Some come from government sources, others from media, and are updated at different intervals. Twelve states aren’t including nursing home deaths in their reporting. Some data, like that from New York,...

Protestors in Michigan planning to rally at the state Capitol on Thursday are being warned that if they bring firearms to the event they will be arrested. The warnings come after several members of the groups planning on attending the rally called for the assassination of Governor Gretchen Whitmer which saw one man writing: “Can we please just take up a collection for an assassin to put that woman from Michigan down.” On Monday, Whitmer said she respected people’s rights to protest but was becoming “increasingly concerned about the violent nature of the comments being made” and the “extreme rhetoric...

In effect, Wolf has declared war on the people he was elected to govern. Danny DeVito, a candidate in the 45th District of Pennsylvania, has called for the simultaneous impeachment of Governor Wolf and Lieutenant Governor Fetterman for their malicious handling of the COVID-19 crisis. President Trump has also added impetus to the revolt by Tweeting: “The great people of Pennsylvania want their freedom now, and they are fully aware of what that entails. The Democrats are moving slowly, all over the USA, for political purposes. They would wait until November 3rd if it were up to them. Don’t play...

Los Angeles County residents can expect to remain under some type of “Safer At Home” restrictions well into the summer barring any major change in the fight against the coronavirus, the county’s public health director said Tuesday. Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer made the suggestion during a Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday, saying some form of stay-at-home restrictions will likely remain in place “for the next three months”. “There’s now no way, unless there was a dramatic change in … this virus and the tools that we have at hand to actually fight against this virus, there’s no way that...

The Supreme Court unanimously resurrected a federal law struck down by an appeals court that made it a felony to encourage people to come to or stay illegally in the United States.

Gov. Tom Wolf is happy to welcome anyone to Pa., including President Donald Trump, but he does have a request for anyone visiting the commonwealth as it continues a phased reopening amid the coronavirus pandemic. Wolf said during a conference call with reporters Tuesday that the President did not inform him of Thursday’s planned stop at a Lehigh Valley medical distributor, Owens & Minor Inc., and from the sounds of it, that isn’t a surprise. That said, the Democrat has repeatedly said during this global health crisis that he can’t limit intrastate travel, which certainly applies to a trip made...

Data released from the California Departments of Health and Social Services on Friday show that nursing home deaths represent almost half of the coronavirus fatalities in the state. The San Francisco Chronicle reported on the development: There were at least 11,344 confirmed cases among staff and residents at California’s skilled nursing facilities and residential care facilities for elderly as of Thursday, according to state data. These cases account for 18.1 percent of the state’s total 62,512 cases. Meanwhile, 1,276 staff and residents at such facilities have died of the disease, making up 49.4 percent of the state’s 2,585 deaths as...

The level of corruption in the Department of Justice is astounding. Bureaucrats receive little or no punishment for serious infractions, as illegal activity is frequently overlooked as a result of what is called professional courtesy. For instance, a police officer might not ticket a fellow officer for exceeding the speed limit. This is almost excusable; we often excuse behavior by a family member that we would not tolerate in a stranger. But when a life-threatening situation is excused it is no longer a matter of courtesy. Allowing a highly intoxicated driver to proceed with only a warning does no favor...

<p>“Frankly, this is the final straw. Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately. If we even retain Fremont manufacturing activity at all, it will be depend on how Tesla is treated in the future. Tesla is the last carmaker left in CA.”</p>

A California county is facing a delay in reopening after some 2,000 people attended a rodeo, officials announced.

Many areas do not have the systems in place, or funds available, to accommodate an increase in absentee voting. Ballots must be printed, so officials will need to find companies who can print millions more ballots and secure, verified envelopes than they expected to need... Then, election workers will have to process those ballots by verifying the signature on the envelope matches that of the voter... If there are questions about a valid signature, that envelope must go through another verification process... Then, election workers must open each envelope and process each paper ballot. “There'll be mistakes all the way...

Washington -- As the coronavirus pandemic leaves thousands of Americans dead and roils the economy, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is urging Congress to move on the next phase of coronavirus relief legislation. In an interview with MSNBC on Monday evening, Pelosi said there is a "monumental" need for the next legislative package, with a focus on helping struggling Americans and cash-strapped states and localities. "We have a big need. It's monumental. And therefore, it's a great opportunity to say: let's work together to get this done. There's a way to open the economy based on science, testing, testing, testing...

John Kerry's former head of security has been arrested for repeatedly raping a ten-year-old child, according to reports.58-year-old J. Scott Moretti, who worked as Democratic former Secretary of State Kerry's security detail chief from January 2013 to April 2015, was arrested last week in Prince William County and charged with sexually abusing a young child between 2011 and 2013.Moretti was also a former deputy assistant secretary of the State Department, who oversaw diplomatic security training until 2018, according to his LinkedIn page and an archived State Department biography.

Something that Dr. Michael Ryan, epidemiologist and executive director of the World Health Organization’s Health Emergencies Program, said in a WHO virtual news conference March 30 could be a harbinger of a Big Brother approach to fighting COVID-19. When asked whether it is more effective to quarantine in place at home or centrally to contain a virus, Ryan said the only way to contain the virus during a home quarantine would be for officials to start knocking on doors.

The world is nowhere close to becoming immune to the coronavirus, and leaders at the World Health Organization Monday expressed outrage at the idea that some people might have to die in pursuit of a far-fetched virus-fighting strategy called herd immunity. "This idea that, 'well, maybe countries who had lax measures and haven't done anything will all of a sudden magically reach some herd immunity, and so what if we lose a few old people along the way?' This is a really dangerous, dangerous calculation," the WHO's Executive Director of Health Emergencies Mike Ryan said on a call with reporters....

Former Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner believes it’s time reopen the state amid the coronavirus pandemic, blaming politics for the decision to keep restrictions in place. In a text message, Rauner argued that the state’s phased reopening plan is a boon for Democrats, who he says are looking to benefit politically from the coronavirus. “Keeping economy shut (is a) Trifecta for Dems: justification for income tax hike in November, justification for federal bailout of states, (and a) horrible economy for Trump’s re-election,” the former governor said. “We’ve put this problem almost entirely on the backs of our children (who are at...

Daniel Horowitz Retweeted Pennsylvania has updated. They reported 23 nursing home deaths today, all other deaths just 1. Batch 98.5%. State total share 68.4%. Since April 15 72.2%. https://t.co/udR43akdhy pic.twitter.com/UZakKvkRfQ— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) May 11, 2020