Free Republic

“The whole aim of practical politics,” H.L. Mencken famously quipped in the 1920’s, “is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” How very true. Although written a century ago, Mencken’s metaphor of an endless series of imaginary hobgoblins easily describes the string of new “variants” of the COVID virus, all which send petty tyrants from New York’s Bill de Blasio to Australia’s Scott Morrison, clamoring for new lockdowns and restrictions – for our safety, of course. As I wrote last week,...

BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgian police used water cannon and tear gas Sunday to disperse some rowdy protesters in Brussels after most demonstrators marched peacefully to protest tightened COVID-19 restrictions that aim to counter a surge of coronavirus infections. Thousands came to reject the new measures announced Friday, the third week in a row that the government has tightened its rules as an avalanche of new cases strains the country’s health services, depriving people with other life-threatening diseases of treatment. Shouting “Freedom! Freedom!” and carrying banners that said, “United for our freedom, rights and our children,” protesters marched to the European...

If anything, political pressures may prevent the White House from going far enough, Binghamton University political science professor Olga Shvetsova argued. In order to halt the virus, she said vaccines must not only be mandated but that fully vaccinated people need to be tested regularly to stop the emergence of new variants. “We cannot allow people to be sick but not too sick,” Shvetsova said. “That’s what created delta, and that’s what created omicron. It’s not only about preventing people from being terribly sick. It’s about preventing them from being sick in invisible ways.” — As reported in the Washington...

The federal government spies on every email, text, and call you make. It uses your phone's location services to pinpoint where you are at all times. It knows which I.P. addresses are associated with online comments that have been deemed "politically incorrect." Its partnerships with Amazon and Walmart let it know what you're reading and buying. Its partnerships with Google and Facebook let it know what you're thinking. Its partnerships with Twitter and Hollywood allow it to censor unapproved messages before too many brains have the opportunity to consider new thoughts. Its alliance with credit card companies allows it to...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A federal judge on Monday blocked President Joe Biden’s administration from enforcing a coronavirus vaccine mandate on thousands of health care workers in 10 states that had brought the first legal challenge against the requirement. The court order said that the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid had no clear authority from Congress to enact the vaccine mandate for providers participating in the two government health care programs for the elderly, disabled and poor. The preliminary injunction by St. Louis-based U.S. District Judge Matthew Schelp applies to a coalition of suing states that includes Alaska,...

Democracy isn’t as popular as it used to be. Take the Oroville City Council’s overwrought recent declaration that it’s a “Constitutional Republic City,” which is steeped in creeping disregard for a once-presumptive American ideal. “NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED by the Oroville City Council that the City of Oroville is declared to be a Constitutional Republic City,” thunders the resolution, and “that any executive orders issued by the State of California or by the United States federal government that are overreaching or clearly violate our constitutionally protected rights will not be enforced by the City of Oroville against its...

In Chile, the presidential election was straightforward: communism or liberty. Pick one or the other. No soggy middle.So guess which one got the most votes!Yep, liberty, and I'm not talking about some namby-pamby nice-guy RINO kind of liberty, respectable at Santiago cocktail parties. It was 100-proof hard stuff liberty, prompting shudders from the press.The Associated Press reports this:SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Two onetime outsiders hailing from opposite extremes of the political spectrum received the most votes Sunday in Chile's presidential election but failed to garner enough support for an outright win, setting up a polarizing runoff in the region's most...

Dear Elected Officials of [City, State], Since you took an oath to uphold and defend the Constitutions both of [State of Residence] and of the United States, I and others are genuinely interested to know your answers to the following questions, as these will help us to be informed of your attitudes and qualifications for the offices you hold: 1.) What is meant by “the pursuit of happiness” as expressed by our founding fathers? 2.) What is the difference between a “right” and a “privilege?” 3.) In applying for and attaining to public office, were you ever officially questioned as...

Reading Time: 5 minutes Charlotte, NC — “I can tell you right now, I do not know whether we’re going to win or lose. The only thing that I can control is a little piece of real estate inside my own shoes, and I can tell you whatever happens that I will go down fighting and that I will die with my boots on,” said Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Kennedy’s remarks came at the end of a nearly 50-minute speech given last month. He described how America is currently in the midst of the second American Revolution, and indeed it...

White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that the administration will not rule out imposing COVID-19 vaccine requirements for domestic travel as the United States lifted its travel ban on non-essential travel for vaccinated air and land travelers on Monday. When asked about restrictions being lifted for vaccinated travelers into the United States starting Monday and if the administration is considering extending vaccine requirements to domestic travel, Jean-Pierre demurred but did not rule it out. “So, we say this all time … everything’s on the table,” she said, adding: “We just don’t have any announcement to preview right now...

The Biden administration signaled today that they are going to continue to push the envelope when it comes to vaccine mandates. That came from US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, who spoke to CNN’s Martha Raddatz this morning.According to Murthy, the administration is not ruling out the possibility of expanding the current vaccine mandate to cover small businesses as well, i.e. those with less than 100 employees.Biden’s Surgeon General Vivek Murthy doesn’t rule out EXTENDING the vaccine mandate to businesses with fewer than 100 employees. pic.twitter.com/0nhwLWSr5V— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) November 7, 2021RADDATZ: And, Dr. Murthy, if the law survives legal challenges,...

DENVER (AP) — A federal judge issued a restraining order against a suburban Denver county’s policy allowing parents to opt their children out of a mask mandate at school, finding the rule violates the rights of students with disabilities who are vulnerable to COVID-19. U.S. District Judge John L. Kane on Tuesday called the Douglas County Board of Health order that allowed parents to opt their children out of mask-wearing a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which guarantees equal access to education for all. Kane’s order came after the Douglas County School District filed a federal lawsuit challenging...

<Transcript of Riccardo Bosi's warning ["No consent. No consent. No consent"]Q is the result of the sacrifices and commitment of countless patriots to win back our captured country from the Deep State and achieve the transformation President Trump promised in this campaign video. President Trump has said the awakening of the public is key to this transformation.Q describes this awakening as follows: "The Great Awakening ('Freedom of Thought’), was designed and created not only as a backchannel to the public (away from the longstanding 'mind’ control of the corrupt & heavily biased media) to endure future events through transparency and...

President Biden, who in December said he “wouldn’t demand” vaccines be mandatory, not only mocked unvaccinated Americans on Thursday and their freedom to make their own medical decisions, but also endorsed the firing of first responders and police who don’t comply. During a town hall event with CNN, moderator Anderson Cooper asked about his thoughts on first responders and police in a number of major cities who are refusing to take the vaccine, which has been mandated at the city level. “Should police officers, emergency responders be mandated to get vaccines and if not, should they stay at home or...

Introduction I begin with the foundational axiom that Christ rose from the dead, and that He was who He claimed to be. Everything else follows. Christ is therefore Lord. He, the incarnate one, was sent into the world by the Father for us men and for our salvation. He was born of a woman, born under law, lived a perfect and sinless life, thus qualifying Him to be our sacrificial and pascal lamb. He suffered on the cross, as was appointed for Him, He was buried in a stone tomb, and three days later, in accordance with the prophetic and...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — After Gov. Gavin Newsom imposed the nation’s first COVID-19 vaccination mandate for schoolchildren, parents unhappy with the move converged at the Capitol on Monday to protest. California parents against the mandate were also expected to keep their kids home from school as part of the protest.

UT-Battelle manages Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) UT-Battelle requires all their employees to submit their vaccination status as a condition of continued employment. This choice, to get vaccinated, is a private choice that should be made between an individual and their doctor. UT-Battelle did offer employees the option to submit for an exemption on medical or religious grounds; many employees chose to do this. UT-Battelle apparently approved all exemptions (religious or medical) and subsequently used these approved exemptions to identify employees that did not fit within their business decisions. These employees are being put on unpaid leave for an undefined...

A 16-year-old Wyoming high school student was arrested for refusing to wear a mask, resulting in an hour-long school lockdown. Grace Smith, a Laramie High School student, said in an interview with Wyoming Sen. Anthony Bouchard about her arrest that she had received three separate two-day suspensions. She was also allegedly fined $1,000 for trespassing after she refused to leave the school's premises. "It makes me angry," Smith said. "It makes me feel unwanted by the school system. It makes me stressed out that I have to fight this battle as a 16-year-old. Right now, I should be playing sports...

“Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined" - Patrick Henry (Patrick Henry, 3 J. Elliot, Debates in the Several State Conventions 45, 2d ed. Philadelphia, 1836)

Merrick Garland answered the National School Board Association's plea for broad federal intervention, which only stands to keep parents out of meetings while escalating political warfare.From Day One, public schooling has been a political and social battleground. From conflicts over whose religion would be taught in Horace Mann’s “common schools,” to the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial, to critical race theory, public schooling has forced Americans to fight one another. It is inevitable in a system that requires all, diverse people to fund politically controlled schools.Last week, the National School Boards Association (NSBA) escalated the combat to the highest level, calling...