Free Republic

More than 200 people gathered in Huntington Beach on Friday protesting the Governor's stay-at-home order and the impact its had on the economy, reports said.

Is there still a profoundly entrenched inability to allow freedom in British culture? The American woman who married into their royal family has come back home. Why? Can Brexit set the English spirit free?

It's reasonable to assume that the vast majority of Americans process news and data, and calculate that self-quarantining, wearing masks and social distancing make sense for themselves, their families and the country. Free people act out of self-preservation, but they shouldn't be coerced to act through the authoritarian whims of the state. Yet this is exactly what's happening. There has been lots of pounding of keyboards over the power grabs of authoritarians in Central and Eastern Europe. Rightly so. Yet right here, politicians act as if a health crisis gives them license to lord over the most private activities of...

Is President Trump’s “Opening Up America Again” announcement one of the most courageous presidential decisions ever? Will Americans back it and accept the possibility of increased risk of death as a necessary sacrifice for the nation?

The media tell us China "beat coronavirus." I don't believe it. The Chinese government lies. AEI's Derrek Scissors argues that they've underreported the number of COVID-19 cases by millions. Still, it's possible that China has the virus under control. But at what cost? Most of us in America now practice "social distancing." I've barely left my house in a month. I do that voluntarily. Forty-two states do have some sort of shelter-in-place orders, but most of American's social distancing is voluntary. Not so in China. China's dictators are quick to take extreme measures against whatever they see as a problem....

Modern feminism has ruined life for me in The West. In Indonesia I found a sense of love and family impossible for far too many men in modern Australia. Do any Freepers have knowledge of similar life experiences?

The Trump administration has come out against a proposed digital tracking system that could tell authorities about an individual’s vaccination history. The Orwellian measure has been proposed by technocratic oligarch Bill Gates, who is attempting to exploit the coronavirus pandemic to inch closer toward mandatory vaccinations. “Eventually we will have some digital certificates to show who has recovered or been tested recently or when we have a vaccine who has received it,” Gates said during an “Ask Me Anything” appearance on Reddit about the coronavirus. Attorney General Bill Barr is skeptical of Gates’ idea to tag people with these mark-of-the-beast...

The Panic of 2020 In my lifetime I have been witness to some fairly catastrophic events. While in Eastern Europe, I witnessed the aftereffects of the fall of the Soviet Union. I served in Iraq and briefly in Afghanistan. In our own nation, I have seen the dot.com bubble bursting in 2001, the collapse of the housing market in 2008, and now the pandemic of 2020. There have been panics throughout the history of the world. In the United States there have been the panics of 1819, 1837, 1857, 1873, 1893, 1929 as well as the most recent financial calamities....

Sweden is sticking with its unusual coronavirus strategy, relying on people to take responsibility and follow guidelines instead of implementing lockdown measures like most other countries with outbreaks have done.There’s only a handful of restrictions in place, like a ban on gatherings of more than 50 people, while shops, restaurants, bars, and schools remain open.The government has defended its strategy and says people are following its advice, while statistics have suggested that many people are taking social-distancing steps like avoiding public transport.Sweden’s Parliament is also moving to give the government powers to quickly introduce more restrictions if needed, though...

On Good Friday, Christianity’s most solemn day, lawyers for religious freedom are expanding their war on governors and mayors who have ordered an Easter church lockdown and ban on drive-in services due to the coronavirus. Notable cases in Kansas, Virginia, Kentucky, and Mississippi argue that the orders violate the First Amendment and religious freedoms that the country was founded on. And in Washington, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has strongly urged opponents to drive-in services to drop the ban. In a letter to Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, a ban fan, the Kentucky senator urged, "Religious people should not be singled...

Editor's Note: This piece was co-authored by David Feder.Today is the three-year anniversary of Justice Gorsuch’s swearing-in as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Although still early, Justice Gorsuch has already proven to be a grand slam for anyone who cares about interpreting the Constitution as written; for anyone who cares about the differences between judges and legislators; and for anyone who cares about protecting individual liberty. As a judge on the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, Justice Gorsuch was widely recognized as a leading proponent of the judicial philosophy known as “originalism.”...

A man has been arrested of destroying three Buddha statues on Sunday, 5 April, at Wat Lao Santitham, a Buddhist temple in the city of Fort Smith, Arkansas. Twenty-one-year-old Shawn Michael Israel was caught on police body cameras at the temple with a hammer in his hand. Israel is heard saying that the statues were a “false idol . . . a false monument,” and that he was doing what God told him to do through scripture. (40/29 News) Police officers arriving at the scene reported seeing Israel “beating on a gold Buddha statue, with a hammer, causing severe damage...

The days all blur together into a monotonous similarity now that life’s pre-COVID 19 routines are gone. What day it is barely matters and yet here it is Friday again. Wasn’t it Friday just a day or two ago? I am firmly in Attorney General Barr’s corner: End 'draconian' lockdown by May 1. We can't 'just tell people to go home and hide under the bed'. The attorney general said he trusts the American people to adhere to social- distancing guidelines on their own. This unconstitutional lockdown has brought out the tyrant in every two-bit tin-horned politburo chief across the...

Attorney General William Barr expressed concerns in an interview on Wednesday that “draconian” measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus will come at the cost of freedom for the American people. “I’m very concerned about the slippery slope in terms of continuing encroachments on personal liberty,” Barr said. “I do think during the emergency, appropriate, reasonable steps are fine.” Barr said in the Fox interview that the Justice Department will continue to track any actions that “restrict people’s liberty.” The restrictions have not only limited personal freedom, but have also devastated the American economy, with millions of jobs lost...

Dr. Michael Ryan, executive director of the World Health Organization’s Health Emergencies Program, suggested during a March 30 press conference that individuals infected with the Chinese coronavirus should be removed from their homes to prevent further spread of the deadly disease. The clip, first reported by Fox News Channel’s Tucker Carlson, shows Ryan warning that “most of the transmission that’s actually happening in many countries now is happening in the household at family level” before he speculates on measures to prevent the infection of patients’ relatives.

Inside an old factory building north of Boise, a few dozen people gathered to hear from Ammon Bundy. The meeting, which appeared to violate orders by Gov. Brad Little of Idaho to avoid group gatherings, was an assertion of what Mr. Bundy said was a constitutional right to peacefully assemble. But Mr. Bundy said he also hoped to create a network of people ready to come to the aid of those facing closure of their businesses or other interference from the government. “If it gets bad enough, and our rights are infringed upon enough, we can physically stand in defense...

My first vanity is quite awhile. Let’s assume that in the coming 2-3 weeks, Trump gives the all clear that its time to get back to work. We already have several governors just looking for any reason to keep things closed. Inslee in WA just shut the schools down for the rest of year. Murphy in NJ is talking well into May before he opens things up. Cuomo will probably be a bit more flexible in NY but not much. Northam has VA closed until June. Wolf has PA closed indefinitely. DeWine has Ohio until May. Point is, Trump can...

When President Lincoln told America that America needed to give freedom to the slaves not everyone was ready to hear him. https://freedom-demokrasi-and-civilised-humanity.com/2019/12/01/abe-lincolns-civil-war-xmas/ Honest Abe was right. Because freedom is right. Now Donald Trump has told America that America and America’s great sports are not built for lockdown. Yes, this Coronavirus can kill many people. But while that happens many more can become immune. But how much more debt can the American economy stand? What happens to America, to Americans, to American freedom and to the world if American debt spirals out of control? I dont know for sure. Can anyone...

Fair play in the Olympics or in politics means balancing freedom and discipline: https://freedom-demokrasi-and-civilised-humanity.com/2020/04/06/please-stay-free/ What do Freeepers have to say about evaluating presidents through their use (or overuse/underuse?) of the veto. We want leaders to protect freedom while being disciplined (i.e. not too free ) themselves. The first thing I noticed was POTUS 45’s low rate of use of the veto compared with other eras. How do Freeepers evaluate Trump’s use of the veto? Here are some facts: 298 years ago, on April 5, 1792, President Washington exercised the first presidential veto. He blocked legislation that would have given Northern...

Since we are under house arrest, name your favorite songs that have to do with freedom/prison/lockup etc.