Free Republic

The idea that bars should remain open yet schools remain closed runs counter to any sense of logic, not to mention good public policy.The past nine months have seen more than a quarter-million Americans die from the coronavirus. Each and every death represents a tragedy — a life cut short, an empty place at the family table this holiday season, children mourning their parents, even parents mourning their children. But a separate and ongoing tragedy has also struck at countless more than another quarter-million Americans: Children who have disappeared from school following last spring’s COVID-19 closures. A survey conducted by...

With the coronavirus running rampant in Los Angeles and hospitals projected to overflow by Christmas, officials have fallen back on a familiar refrain: Stay home. “My message couldn’t be simpler: It’s time to hunker down. It’s time to cancel everything,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said last week. “If you’re able to stay home, stay home.” Some 33 million Californians are now under a new regional stay-at-home order that began Sunday night, a last-ditch effort to turn the corner on an alarming rise in coronavirus cases statewide. The blunt messaging worked to bend the curve in the spring, when fear...

Monday on FNC’s “The Story,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) questioned the efficacy of the measures instituted by government authorities done so in the name of COVID-19. Paul, a physician and coronavirus survivor, told Fox News’ Marth MacCallum that there was no proof any of those measures were doing anything to contain the virus’ spread.

America's big cities and habitually blue states have suffered a pre-existing condition for a long time: their left-leaning government control.America’s big cities might be the ultimate victims of COVID-19. Leftist policies have raised their spending beyond self-sustaining levels, making them increasingly dependent on external revenues. Beyond interrupting these external revenue streams, the Wuhan virus threatens a long-term disruption that might be irreversible. A recent border budget battle in leftist New England demonstrates COVID-19’s growing strain on America’s big cities. In October, New Hampshire filed suit with the Supreme Court to stop Massachusetts from continuing to tax 80,000 of its residents...

Los Angeles has suffered its worst year in decades for smog and air quality, despite coronavirus lockdowns and stay-at-home orders that kept many residents off the roads. Heat waves and wildfires, combined with other natural factors, turned the air a yellow hue that hearkened back to the bad old days of the 1990s, when the air in L.A. was practically visible.

SORKIN: “The difference between a big box retailer — hold on. The difference between a big box retailer and a restaurant or frankly, even a church, are so different it’s unbelievable. Going into a big box retailer, you’re wearing a mask.” SANTELLI: “I disagree! I disagree! I disagree! You can have your thoughts and I can have mine.” SORKIN: “It’s science. If you’re wearing a mask, it’s a different story.” SANTELLI: “It’s not science! 500 people in a Lowe’s aren’t any safer than 150 people in a restaurant that holds 600. I don’t believe it! Sorry. Don’t believe it.” SORKIN:...

This is the best thing I’ve seen all day lol MSM meltdown https://twitter.com/stephanie_co239/status/1334935012437843970

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?...