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Christmas is almost here. Usually, it's the happiest time that we have. This year of all years, Christmas has a deeper resonance, something closer to its original meaning. In a time of crisis, you inevitably start thinking about the things you might ignore if you were busier and more content. In general, people tend to become more spiritual, more openly religious when they're suffering. It's not an accident, in fact, it may be the upside of suffering. You get to think beyond the next Amazon delivery for a minute. Of course, not everyone is in favor of all the focus...

The best case for a right to party is in the right of assembly, placed in the Bill of Rights as many deadly diseases threatened the American population.In Alexander Pushkin’s “Feast in a Time of Plague,” an old priest returning from a mass funeral of plague victims catches young people partying, and unleashes a 19th-century rant: “A godless banquet, godless madmen all … Go back now to your homes!” “Be off, old man!” The partygoers yell back in a period version of “OK, Boomer.” Another tells the priest: “Our homes are sad. And youth is fond of joyousness.”Human nature remains...

Austin, Texas, Mayor Steve Adler is claiming he’s no hypocrite for vacationing in Mexico while telling residents to stay home due to COVID-19. But his claim that the situation worsened only after he traveled is belied by releases from his own office. Adler, a Democrat, said in a video posted Wednesday night he’s sorry for setting a “bad example” by taking the trip, but that he actually complied with his own health guidance when he embarked for the beach at Cabo San Lucas. The mayor hosted a wedding for his daughter in Austin two days before he filmed his infamous...

Hundreds of people on Wednesday night — including members of the right-wing group Proud Boys — protested the closure of a Staten Island bar that ignored COVID-19 restrictions. “Proud Boys in the house,” a handful of people chanted outside Mac’s Public House — the defiant pub that was shut down by authorities Tuesday night after operating without a license and in violation of health orders. One speaker led the crowd through the Proud Boy credo — “I am a proud Western Chauvinist” — before segueing into Queen’s “We Will Rock You.” The entrance of the pub was blocked on Wednesday...

The Federalist staff and writers spent some time thinking over what we've missed in 2020: big things, little things, surprising things. What are yours?The Federalist staff and writers spent some time thinking over what we’ve missed in 2020: big things, little things, surprising things. What are yours?Rachel BovardThe lockdowns didn’t bother me, at first. I am a homebody who is almost never at home, so an enforced pause to the relentless pace of travel, work events, and social engagements was something of a welcome relief. I don’t need to see people to “see” people, I told myself. Virtual check-ins and...

Acclaimed playwright David Mamet has added his distinctive voice to the growing chorus of dissenters who are questioning the effectiveness of government-mandated masks and lockdowns to combat the coronavirus. In a recent op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, the Glengarry Glen Ross playwright slams the so-called “experts” and advisers whose counsel has led to the destruction of large swaths of the U.S. economy. These people will likely never pay the price for their errors, but everyone else will, he noted.

'The United States has reached a tipping point: The damage done to schoolchildren with scarce resources is likely to be irreparable.'As report cards begin to roll out for fall, public schools across the nation are reporting a massive increase in children failing classes, due to the majority going online and the chaos of rolling COVID closures. In Fairfax, Virginia, one of the nation’s largest districts, “the percentage of middle school and high school students earning F’s in at least two classes jumped by 83 percent: from 6 percent to 11 percent,” the Washington Post reported Tuesday. That’s nearly 10,000 children.Saint...

Rock music legends Van Morrison and Eric Clapton have teamed up for “Stand and Deliver,” a song that takes coronavirus lockdowns to task. “There are many of us who support Van and his endeavors to save live music; he is an inspiration,” Clapton said according to Variety. “We must stand up and be counted because we need to find a way out of this mess. The alternative is not worth thinking about. Live music might never recover.” Clapton also said that the end of live entertainment due to coronavirus lockdowns is “deeply upsetting.” Proceeds for the track — set to...

Los Angeles County announced Friday a temporary stay at home order effective Monday that urges residents to avoid being with people not in their household. “The temporary order will be in place for three weeks through Dec. 20 and will allow essential and emergency workers, and those securing or providing essential and permitted services, to leave their homes,” KTLA reported.

"The death rate appears not to be linked with the responses of governments..stringency of the measures settled to fight pandemia, including lockdown, did not appear to be linked with the death rate." There's research from French scientists saying that government restrictions taken against the coronavirus have not reduced the mortality rate... "making a statement that it's a different court" New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's view of the Thanksgiving Eve 5-4 decision from the US Supreme Court against Cuomo's restrictions on houses of worship in the state... Breaking News: Iran reporting the assassination of a prominent Iranian physicist. Moshen Fakhrizadeh and...

Multiple religious congregations have sued the state of California over its COVID-19 restrictions, arguing that they broach the First Amendment’s protections on the ability to worship freely. Strip clubs have also gone to court, arguing the limitations curb their right to free speech. The latter group has succeeded, which might be the most California thing ever. In a ruling dated Nov. 6, San Diego Superior Court Judge Joel R. Wohlfeil wrote that the state couldn’t stop clubs from “being allowed to provide live adult entertainment” in San Diego County, saying that the “harm to plaintiffs if the application is denied...

I think it will be the definitive study that might guide us away from lockdowns as they were all based on false modeling. --------------- A systematic review and meta-analysis of 43 studies (3229 individuals) finds that viable virus appears to be short-lived, with high titres of SARS-CoV-2 are detected early in the disease course, with an early peak observed at the time of symptom onset to day 5 of illness (Lancet Microb. 2020;Published:November 19). RNA detection cannot be used to infer infectiousness, but the mean duration of SARS-CoV-2 RNA shedding was 17 days in upper respiratory tract ("no live virus...

Anthony Fauci says it’s because people are not following his guidance that they ought to be punished by being alone and away from family on the holidays. Go punish yourself, but not us.I reached out via the family group chat on Facebook messenger. I said I wanted to come home to New England for Thanksgiving, I missed my extended family, and asked if anyone would see us. I wrote: “Hey fam, We’d would really like to come to New England for Thanksgiving and see all of your beautiful faces. Would I be welcomed or are we too scared of covid?...

Gathering in barns, cafes and bookshops, worshippers are flocking to illegal services around the countryIt sounds like the build-up to an illegal rave. Invitations are passed by word of mouth to trusted people. Minimal information – time, directions – is quietly given with pleas for discretion. Once everyone is assembled in a barn on a remote farm – “away from prying eyes,” says the organiser – it begins. This is no rave, but an English church service under lockdown, and the organiser is a Protestant pastor. The Christians who will gather illegally in the west of England on Sunday morning...

“Coercing the entire population is morally and constitutionally indefensible in a country which is not yet a totalitarian state, like China”.. A British Supreme Court judge has slammed the UK government as ‘control freaks’ for attempting to control people’s lives under the guise of COVID, and labeled it “morally and constitutionally indefensible” to define what freedoms the public should and shouldn’t have. In an op-ed published Sunday, Lord Sumption noted that the “debate about whether to let us have a family Christmas perfectly sums up what is wrong with this Government’s handling” of the crisis. Sumption wrote that there are...

Welcome to the new normal. The head of the World Health Organization has suggested that coronavirus restrictions will continue even after a vaccine has been made widely available. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made the comments on Twitter after news broke of several new vaccines said to be effective in fighting COVID-19 coming closer to fruition. “Since the beginning of the #COVID19 pandemic, we knew that a vaccine would be essential for bringing the pandemic under control. But it’s important to emphasise that a vaccine will complement the other tools we have, not replace them,” said Ghebreyesus. He went on to add...

One of California Governor Gavin Newsom's children may have been exposed to the coronavirus at school and is in quarantine, a spokesman said on Friday. The child began a 14-day quarantine 'from the date of exposure' after the family was told a classmate at the private school had tested positive for COVID-19, spokesperson Nathan Click said in an emailed statement. The rest of the governor's family is not quarantining because they weren't directly exposed.

LONDON, November 20, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – As the U.K. enters the third week of its second national lockdown, the government is drawing up plans for a digital code allowing people to access public events, based on whether they have received a COVID-19 vaccine or not. The Telegraph reported that those who had a COVID-19 vaccine “could be issued with QR codes on their mobile phones to allow them entry to large cultural and sporting events under proposals floated by ministers.” Government sources suggested to the paper that “people who are inoculated should be issued with a form of immunity certification.”...

The head of one of the largest regional health systems in the Midwest has told his employees that he has recovered from COVID-19 and is back in the office — without a mask. Sanford Health’s president and chief executive, Kelby Krabbenhoft, said in an email Wednesday that he believes he’s now immune to the disease for “at least seven months and perhaps years to come” and that he isn’t a threat to transmit it to anyone, so wearing a mask would be merely for show. ... Sanford Health, based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, has 46 hospitals and more than...

I will not be lectured by people who say that eating in a restaurant with health protocols is riskier than shutting down the largest economy in the world.My parents and in-laws haven’t seen their grandkids in nearly a year. Because we live states apart, the most time we spend together is during the holidays and a week in the summer. Due to the lockdown this year, the grandparents have only been able to see our kids during video calls. It could be worse; some dear friends of ours buried a parent during the lockdown with no guests or funeral, and...