Free Republic

MADISON — Gov. Tony Evers’ incendiary tweets after a police-involved shooting of a black man in Kenosha Sunday was like lighting the fuse of a bomb, conservative lawmakers say. Now the Democrat is calling the legislature into special session to take up a package of “policing accountability and transparency measures,” a move Republican leadership see as the latest in a long line of Evers’ political stunts.

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert has no sympathy for parents objecting to his edict that children attending school either wear masks or face possible criminal charges. Herbert issued the mask mandate, for grades K-12, in July. The reopening of Utah’s public schools has drawn new attention to the edict, which calls for a maximum punishment of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine for showing up without one. The order applies equally to adults and children, and any charge would be a misdemeanor. Herbert said Thursday that parents opposed to his order are “a little bit irrational,” according to The...

Republican Gov. Larry Hogan would not commit to voting for President Trump during an interview with Salem radio host Hugh Hewitt on Monday. Discussing the governor’s new book, “Still Standing,” Hewitt sought to get a clear answer from the Maryland governor right from the start given his differences with the president, particularly on the administration’s handling of coronavirus

Several days ago, I happened across a video of a group of women in a store who took off their panties to wear as masks (link in comments). I thought, "In light of the most recent issuance by Alabama Governor Ivey (link in comments), I will wear two pairs of underwear during my next public outing."

Governor J.B. Pritzker Governor of Illinois Chicago, Illinois 60601Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot Mayor of Chicago Chicago, Illinois 60602Dear Governor Pritzker and Mayor Lightfoot:I write to you today to call your attention to and urge action on the devastating violence in Chicago.  While I have been heartened to see crime reductions nationally the last few years, I have been horrified by the continued violence in this great American city.I recently read an article from the Chicago Sun-Times on June 8, 2020, “18 murders in 24 hours: Inside the most violent day in 60 years in Chicago,” which discussed the severe...

The Department of Justice today filed a statement of interest in a Maine federal court in support of a lawsuit filed by campgrounds in Maine—and New Hampshire residents who wish to enjoy them—challenging a measure by Governor Janet Mills in response to COVID‑19 that treats Maine residents more favorably than out-of-state residents when they seek to patronize campgrounds and RV parks within Maine. The Statement of Interest is part of Attorney General William P. Barr’s April 27, 2020 initiative directing Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband for the Civil Rights Division, and the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan,...

Today, First Lady Melania Trump and Tennessee Governor Bill Lee held a call to discuss children’s well-being and Tennessee’s efforts to address mental and physical health for children and families. Penny Schwinn, Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Education, also participated in the call.Governor Lee discussed the creation of the state’s COVID-19 Child Wellbeing Task Force and its focus on whole child care, going beyond academic support to include mental and physical health and well-being. Governor Lee and Commission Schwinn outlined the group’s successes in building strong partnerships between public, private, and non-profit groups to ensure that communities and...

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz ordered all National Guard troops activated for the first time in the state’s history Saturday, vowing to put an end to the “wanton destruction” that he pinned on outside forces — from drug cartels to white supremacists.But President Trump seemed to point to leftist agitators and poor leadership for the unrest in Minnesota following the death of George Floyd.“It’s ANTIFA and the Radical Left. Don’t lay the blame on others!” Trump tweeted Saturday.Walz told reporters in a pre-dawn briefing: “The absolute chaos — this is not grieving, and this is not making a statement [about an injustice]...

It's pretty amazing how many negative activities gather around Michigan's hard-faced and ambitious Democrat governor, Gretchen Whitmer. Besides her outrageous performance on the coronavirus crisis - banning sales of garden seeds, seeding nursing homes with COVID-19 patients, forcing private dam operators to overfill their reservoir for greenie purposes, causing two of them to burst -- she's also a liar. We saw that clearly enough when her husband tried to put himself at the front of the boating queue by citing his marriage to her -- cronyism at its worst -- and she claimed it was a joke. It was a...

Casinos in Las Vegas and other Nevada cities can reopen next Thursday for the first time since the coronavirus forced the gaming industry to shut down more than two months ago, Gov. Steve Sisolak says. The state plans to revive its gaming industry nearly a week after it starts Phase 2 of its reopening this Friday. "We continue to see a consistent and sustainable downward trajectory of percentage of positive COVID-19 cases and a decrease in the trend of COVID-19 hospitalizations," Sisolak said Tuesday night. Casinos are forming plans that they hope will entice customers to return. As Nevada Public...

Buoyed by a letter from the U.S. Justice Department to Gov. Gavin Newsom that emphasizes the right to worship, a lawyer for a church suing over California’s coronavirus ban on in-person services says he expects thousands of congregations to return to their churches a week from Sunday. The move comes as the fight over whether the state has the right to prohibit church services for now has moved to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where a Lodi church is seeking an emergency injunction against the ban, and as hundreds of pastors have signed a petition declaring that their...

Raleigh, N.C. — Some North Carolina business owners eagerly awaiting the move to the second stage of a three-part plan to resume activities amid the coronavirus pandemic were stunned Wednesday when they were left out of Gov. Roy Cooper's "more modest" approach to reopening. "The increases in the COVID-19 cases signal a need to take a more modest step forward in Phase 2 than originally envisioned," Cooper said at a news conference. When Cooper first laid out his three-part plan in April, bars, gyms, movie theaters and other indoor entertainment venues pointed to Phase 2 as when they could resume...

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) fired back at President Trump Tuesday after the president referred to Northam as “crazy” and an opponent of Second Amendment rights. Trump, speaking at a White House event Tuesday, followed a speaker from Virginia by saying, "We're going after Virginia, with your crazy governor, we're going after Virginia. They want to take your Second Amendment. You know that, right? You'll have nobody guarding your potatoes." “I grew up on a Virginia farm, Mr. President - our potatoes are fine. And as the only medical doctor among our nation's governors, I suggest you stop taking hydroxychloroquine,”...

Defying the state’s order that shuttered health clubs due to coronavirus (COVID-19), a gym in New Jersey reopened with the support of hundreds of protesters on Monday, according to NJ.com. People began gathering outside the Atilis Gym in Bellmawr several hours before it reopened at 8 a.m. Monday. Ian Smith, co-owner of Atilis Gym in Bellmawr, unlocked the doors and let some members inside after their temperatures were checked, the Advance’s sister publication, reported. Police were seen responding to the club. Protesters, some without face coverings, sang the National Anthem, shouted slogans about the need to reopen businesses and return...

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Wednesday that the protests in the state's capital city against state measures meant to limit the spread of the coronavirus make it more likely that the state will have to keep restrictions in place longer. Appearing Monday on ABC's "The View," Whitmer, a Democrat, was asked about the pushback against her administration's coronavirus restrictions. There have been multiple protests in the state's capital city of Lansing in the past few weeks, including one late last month that saw protesters -- some of them armed -- entering the state Capitol, screaming at law enforcement officers and...

A Michigan barber said Sunday he plans to stay open in defiance of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s extended order on nonessential businesses, insisting that the Democratic governor “has no concept at all of the damage she’s doing.” p>Owosso barber Karl Manke, 77, received a cease-and-desist order Friday from the state Department of Health and Human Services, delivered by state police, after his shop reopened Monday. Ms. Whitmer has extended closure of nonessential businesses to May 28. “This has absolutely brought me to my knees. I just couldn’t do that. I’m a small business owner,” said Mr. Manke on “Fox & Friends.”...

Andrew Cuomo’s policy of barring visitors in nursing homes and hospitals is inhumane and illogical. It inflicts cruel and unusual punishment upon people who have done nothing other than have the misfortune to live under his tyrannical rule. He has imposed suffering of the cruelest nature upon residents, patients and families, and it is an indictment of the health care industry that it has not challenged him on behalf of the people it supposedly serves. In mid-March, Andrew Cuomo placed a ban on all visitors to nursing homes. Unfortunately, he simultaneously approved the transfer of covid-positive patients to nursing homes...

Many Democrats who once loudly proclaimed that we must believe all women when it comes to sexual assault allegations are now changing their tune. Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a potential vice presidential pick, is one of them. CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Whitmer on Sunday why she believes Joe Biden’s denial of the alleged assault but did not extend the same courtesy to Justice Brett Kavanaugh over allegations from Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. “Just because you’re a survivor doesn’t mean that every claim is equal,” she said. “I have read a lot about this current allegation, I know Joe Biden,...

This is heartbreaking! "@GovernorVA my son is special needs and lives in a residential facility. We have not seen him in two months due to this hoax. Your order now goes to June 10th, another month without seeing him. He asks us everyday if he did something wrong. Can you answer this?" Remember when the left accused Trump of separating children from their families? Apparently, it doesn't count when the Left does it. Her son's name is Caden Bray. If you're on Twitter, please use the hashtag #CadenBray whenever you have extra space to do so. If you could give...

The First Amendment states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” That’s unambiguous. Not “pretty unambiguous,” just unambiguous. Full stop. Yet governors across the country are ignoring or suspending almost every one of those rights enumerated at the top of the Bill of Rights, with little to no pushback from the press, which just happens to be the only part of the...