Free Republic

Texas has joined other, mostly Democrat run, states in requiring face masks in most public places, including retail, services, and restaurants, except when eating or drinking. This is despite the fact that the GOP holds all statewide offices, as well as both houses of the Legislature, both Senate seats, and a majority of the U.S. House seats. Our rulers understand one thing above others: the almighty dollar. They also respect the voices of major financial donors. Texans and residents of all mask mandatory states should not buy anything other than food or items absolutely necessary, like a needed car repair...

Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation University of South Florida Tampa, Florida THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Well, Governor DeSantis, thank you for your leadership.  Thank you for bringing your team together.  And I want to thank Tampa General and the University of South Florida not just for your hospitality today, but for all you’re doing every day for the health and wellbeing of the people of Florida.Governor, the President wanted me to be here to say to you and to the people of Florida: We’re with you, and we’re going to make sure you have whatever you need to...

Thursday, July 2, 2020:President Donald J. Trump holds a Press Briefing

MADISON, WI — Empower Wisconsin has learned that Gov. Tony Evers’ power-grabbing Department of Health Services is set to soon post the names of all Wisconsin businesses that have recorded at least two COVID-19 cases. This government-sanctioned disclosure will slam a Scarlet Letter on Badger State businesses already reeling from the pandemic and state and local lockdowns, business advocates say. “Any business that is confronted with this report and suffers the unintended consequences, that’s equivalent to the old saying, Where do you go to get your good name back,” said Brandon Scholz, president and CEO of the Wisconsin Grocers Association....

"Following a verbal or written warning for a first-time violaton of this face-covering requirement, a person’s s second violation shall be punishable by a fine not to exceed $250. Each subsequent violation shall be punishable by a fine not to exceed $250 per violation"

In continued effort to fight fraud connected to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Justice, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Federal Trade Commission are partnering to alert the public of emerging threats to steal money and sensitive information through contact tracing scams. Contact tracing is a process underway to identify people who have come in contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19, instruct them to quarantine, and monitor their symptoms. Contact tracing scams often appear in the form of text messages or telephone calls seeking money, or Social Security, bank account, or credit card...

In a recent interview, Dr. John Ioannidis had a harsh assessment of modelers who predicted as many as 40 million people would die and the US healthcare system would be overrun because of COVID-19. =========================================================================== Dr. John Ioannidis became a world-leading scientist by exposing bad science. But the COVID-19 pandemic could prove to be his biggest challenge yet. Ioannidis, the C.F. Rehnborg Chair in Disease Prevention at Stanford University, has come under fire in recent months for his opposition to state-ordered lockdowns, which he says could cause social harms well beyond their presumed benefits. But he doesn’t appear to be...

... 75,000 “excess deaths” during that period, 17,000 more than the number officially attributed to covid-19, the disease the virus causes. While several experts said some of the excess deaths in the analysis were almost certainly unrecognized fatalities from covid-19, the review suggests that many patients suffering from serious conditions died as a result of delaying or not seeking care as the outbreak progressed and swamped some hospitals. Normally, heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. But in the early months of the pandemic, some hospital departments were nearly devoid of the heart, cancer, stroke...

By oxford’s eastern bypass road, some way from the famous spires, sits an unremarkable collection of glass office buildings that includes the Jenner Institute. Described by an industry observer as “a slightly dusty corner” of the university, until six months ago it mostly busied itself with useful but ill-funded research into diseases suffered by people in poor countries. Now it has become the likeliest candidate to produce the world’s first vaccine against covid-19. With governments all over the world pouring money into it, the effort to get a vaccine has come to resemble a more urgent version of the space...

Steven Manzo...spent much of his early 20s struggling with a drug addiction...Manzo, who worked as a cook and bartender in Michigan...Joanne Manzo told Arroyo...he...told her “that he’s not going to be able to handle this lockdown.” “He is not one to be shut in and he knew right from the start he wasn’t going to be able to handle it,” she said.

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WMBF) – Myrtle Beach City Council has approved a mandate requiring face masks to be worn in certain public places. The order starts at 11:59 p.m. Thursday, July 2, and will remain in effect for 67 days, which is through Labor Day, or until rescinded, or until the expiration of the declaration of a civil emergency. According to the executive order, individuals would be required to wear the face coverings, defined as a “uniform piece of cloth, fabric, or other material that securely covers a person’s nose and mouth and remains affixed in place without the use...

VIDEO The reaction of much of the media to the fantastic June unemployment report reveals why they have been in overdrive recently hyping the rise in Coronavirus cases. Of course, included in those cases are asymptomatic people as well as those who have RECOVERED from COVID-19 but have antibodies in their systems. Meanwhile, if you have been following my videos, tweets, and Newsbusters reports, then you know that while the media continues to report the increased cases they RARELY reveal the very important fact that the daily death numbers are in a steep decline. Since the media is DESPERATE...

Comrades, the ministry of COVID compliance in New York has now been given permission to issue subpoenas requiring the general public to comply with COVID compliance contact tracers. Any New Yorker who refuses to answer the interrogation questions by the COVID compliance police is now subject to arrest. You do not have the right to remain silent, and everything you say will be guaranteed to be used against you as the state takes control over your life. The process of “Contact Tracing” permits the state authority to identify the travel, contacts and associated risks presented by anyone who tests positive...

As coronavirus cases continue to surge across the country, students in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, have started throwing COVID-19 parties. The first attendee to become infected wins money, according to Tuscaloosa City Councilor Sonya McKinstry.

Students in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 have been attending parties in the city and surrounding area as part of a disturbing contest to see who can catch the virus first, a city council member told ABC News on Wednesday. Tuscaloosa City Councilor Sonya McKinstry said students have been organizing "COVID parties" as a game to intentionally infect each other with the contagion that has killed more than 127,000 people in the United States. She said she recently learned of the behavior and informed the city council of the parties occurring in the city.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is essentially setting policy across the country, endlessly putting out a stream of so-called facts (that they then revise or rescind).Their latest update on COVID-19, posted on Tuesday, is a real doozy. Here’s what the CDC said in a section headlined: What do your results mean? “A positive test result shows you may have antibodies from an infection with the virus that causes COVID-19. However, there is a chance a positive result means that you have antibodies from an infection with a virus from the same family of viruses (called coronaviruses), such...

The NFL is trying to figure out ways to mitigate the risk of a lawsuit if fans are allowed back into stadiums. In order to do that, the league is considering asking fans to sign a COVID-19 liability waiver if they want to attend games, according to Daniel Kaplan of The Athletic. That proposal is expected to be sent to teams in early July as the league considers its options for reopening amid the coronavirus pandemic. The waiver could be done electronically, according to Kaplan’s report.

Raj and I are going for his and her Ortho appointments for our knees (both of his, one of mine) this morning. Also, we’ve had a house guest since last Friday who needs extra care and attention so, well, I’m tired. Which is why I’m handing the mic off to you this Throwback Thursday.  Don’t make me regret it Today’s featured artist: The Police, back when Sting use to be a team player. In the Age of the Ubiquitous Coronavirus Mask where we gave Karens on every corner, two of their biggest hits - Don’t Stand So Close To Me,...

About 300 teens were exposed to Covid-19 at a "pong fest" party in Lakeway, Texas, on June 20, local officials say. At the time of the party, several teens were waiting for their Covid-19 test results, and have since tested positive, according to Shelly Parks, a spokesperson with Austin Homeland Security & Emergency Management.

Protesters against Africa’s first COVID-19 vaccine trial burned their face masks Wednesday as experts note a worrying level of resistance and misinformation around testing on the continent. Anti-vaccine sentiment in Africa is “the worst I’ve ever seen,” the CEO of the GAVI vaccine alliance, Seth Berkley, told an African Union vaccine conference last week. The trial that began last week in Johannesburg is part of one already underway in Britain of the vaccine developed at the University of Oxford. Some 2,000 volunteers in South Africa are expected to take part. “The people chosen as volunteers for the vaccination, they look...