Free Republic

Eran Polack is hunkering down for a long, cold winter. As CEO of HAP Construction in New York City, he knows the signs that precede government orders to stop construction work, and lately, he’s been seeing a lot of them. “We’ve heard this song before,” Polack said. “They closed the schools, so that’s a sign. You can’t have a restaurant open after 10 p.m. You can’t open a gym, or have a gathering of more than 10 people. So, it’s getting there.” Those signals have spurred Polack and his crews to step up work at Maverick, the 20-story, 312,500-square-foot condominium...

Lord Sumption, who served as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom until 2018, has branded lockdowns “useless” and a “profoundly immoral” imposition on the young ... We are forever being told not to blow it now by throwing away our past efforts. Truth is, our past efforts have been useless,” he claimed. The 72-year-old jurist suggested that successive waves of national lockdowns, tiered regional lockdowns, and so on have only reduced infections by “shifting them into a later period” and “That is why we are where we are now.” ... The judge also questioned the moral...

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and Oscar-nominated screenwriter David Mamet is warning Americans that they are giving up their Constitutional rights under coronavirus lockdowns, saying that questioning government authorities needs to remain a vital part of the country’s democratic tradition. In an interview with Breitbart News’ editor-in-chief Alex Marlow on Breitbart News Daily on Sirius XM Patriot 125, David Mamet blasted the shut-down and stay-at-home orders that have once again taken effect in many states, leading to widespread economic devastation. “It just doesn’t make any sense. It’s the first time in history that an entire economy has been shut down because of...

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A California judge said Thursday that all restaurants in San Diego County can resume on-site dining with safety protocols, marking a major setback to the governor’s stay-at-home order to slow the spread of the coronavirus. San Diego Superior Court Judge Joel Wohlfeil said the ruling he issued Wednesday that protected two strip clubs from being forced to stop indoor activity also extended to the thousands of eateries ...

My mother was telling me tonight that my cousin Tina had covid. I asked her if the rest of her family got it? Turns out my cousin Tina got it, her daughter who was in high school got it, her son who is in his early twenties did not get it, her husband who is the same age and works in a hospital did not get it. Here's the kicker, her brother who lives with them is 49 years old and had a heart transplant last year got it and recovered in a week. The rest who got it pretty...

Pennsylvania Sheriff James Custer said Monday that he’s done with the Democratic Party because of its “unconstitutional” lockdowns and “socialist agenda.”. “It’s the shift in ideals of the current Democrat Party at the national level — the socialist agenda — and this is something that I had been considering for several months. It probably started back when the pandemic started,” the Fayette County sheriff told “Fox & Friends” when asked why he was abandoning the Democrats for the Republicans. Custer also pointed to “the [lockdown] mandates coming down by the Democratic governors and of which we have one here in...

Group says protests will continue every Saturday until COVID-19 restrictions are loosened in Routt County.. STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — Members of the group Save Routt County, many of them restaurant workers, protested local restrictions put in place to combat the spread of COVIDS-19 that they say will lead to many local businesses demise. The protesters gathered at the Old Routt County Courthouse Saturday for what was billed as a non-partisan message that was indeed almost entirely absent partisan messaging. “It is not a partisan group here at all, the founding members of this thing, the initial group, there is Democrats, Republicans,...

She is 34 years old and works waiting tables at one of the best burger joints in town. Luckily, she’s still employed, but only for takeout orders — cutting her tips in half. Her husband, 36, is a recently laid-off bartender at one of the white tablecloth restaurants. They have two little girls who attend Breckenridge Elementary but are now at home since schools are shut down for in-person learning. They rent a small, two-bedroom house in town, but with the layoff, they are several months behind on rent, putting their struggling landlord in a tight spot making his monthly...

That’s the effect of the lockdowns on Big Business: thanks to their political pull and effective lobbying tactics they have done quite well and have profited off of our suffering and circumstances. That’s not to say that those companies are to blame. Even though Amazon has had a great year because of Covid, it is not to blame for the disease or its effects. China and our government are. Amazon and the others are just doing what businesses do: trying to earn money as best they can despite government interference. But, even if they’re not to blame, the success the...

I hereby declare we deserve a little respite from the real world. And whereas nothing is as conducive to fun as the Christmas season, bring on your favorite holiday memories and memes. Your favorite story – even if it’s been posted before. A favorite recipe – even if it’s been posted before.Upside Down Pear Gingerbread Topping: 3 tablespoons butter 1/3 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar 2 ripe, firm Bosc pears Cake: 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons Ground Cinnamon 1 teaspoon Ground Ginger 1/4 teaspoon Ground Cloves 1 large egg...

Most people today regard America’s experiment with alcohol prohibition as a national embarrassment, rightly repealed in 1933. So it will be with the closures and lockdowns of 2020, someday. In 1920, however, to be for the repeal of the prohibition that was passed took courage. You were arguing against prevailing opinion backed by celebratory scientists and exalted social thinkers. What you were saying flew in the face of “expert consensus.” There is an obvious analogy to Lockdowns 2020. My first inkling of this prohibition history came in reading transcripts of the then-famous Radio Priest James Gillis from the 1920s. He...

Dan Crenshaw crushes Madame Speaker on House floor...

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”, and it seems, as we approach the holiday of Hanukkah (beginning tonight) that these words are exceptionally true…especially in California, New York, and other states flexing their authoritarian muscles. ... Under the guise of “protecting against Covid-19,” multiple state governors have put citizens in lockdown. These governors have arbitrarily decided which businesses are essential and which are not, with total disregard for the holistic well-being of the people ... It is sickly ironic that Gov. Newsome here in California considers the production of television and films essential, but church...

FRANKFURT, Germany — The European Central Bank unleashed another half-trillion euro ($600 billion) wave of stimulus as a winter surge in COVID-19 infections shuts down large parts of the economy and wipes out pre-Christmas sales revenue ahead of the region’s most important holiday.

The sight of hurried business types carrying boxed salad was typical of San Francisco’s downtown lunch rush before March. But as the business crowd remains at home, that once familiar scene has since been replaced with emptied streets and dimmed storefronts. Ever since the pandemic wrought havoc on restaurants and bars around the Financial District and South of Market, Adam Mesnick says his sandwich shop, Deli Board, has become something of a destination for customers who happen to be in the neighborhood for coffee or walking to an appointment. “It's decimated down here. I mean, the whole time, you're sort...

Recently entertainer Seth MacFarlane made a quiet announcement that his sci-fi space satire television show ‘’The Orville’’ was going back into production. This is a somewhat unsettling announcement for a couple of reasons. For one, over the past months Seth had been a loud proponent of shutdowns, quarantines, and basically any limitations done in the name of safety. We can guess that the virus has been scientifically shown to avoid television productions. The other issue is that as Seth’s show ramps back up California’s Governor Gavin Newsom has imposed tougher lockdown standards on citizens and businesses, as well as instilling...

Shark Tank star and businessman Kevin O’Leary ripped apart the draconian economic lockdowns states have inflicted on the American restaurant industry in response to the pandemic. During the Dec. 7 edition of CNBC’s Squawk Box, co-host Joe Kernen asked O’Leary if it was “possible to thread the needle” between “total lockdowns” and protecting the “vulnerable, because the cure” could be “as bad as the disease.” O’Leary didn’t hold back his frustration against what these orders have done to food service businesses where he holds shares, specifically in Los Angeles, California. O’Leary’s critique — in a nutshell — centered on the...

The quality of life here has dwindled, and mental health has taken a hit. I had to start seeing a therapist because every other coping outlet has been eliminated.It’s more than eight months after the March 20, 2020 lockdown orders Gov. Gavin Newson placed on California. Most of the state is in a lockdown again, and we are now subject to a curfew, although no one can explain how that is going to “slow the spread.” Every freedom that I enjoy feels impeded upon, and simple outings can lead to a storm of frustration as I feel like everyone around...

HERMOSA BEACH, Calif. — Hermosa Beach resident and swimmer Ana Fradkin can often be found at an outdoor pool in El Segundo. Swimming gives her peace of mind, so-much-so she makes in into the pool before dawn about five times a week. “I’m a butterflier, and a freestyler. But now I’m a nothing, I’m a survivor who just swims", said Fradkin. Fradkin is doing everything she can to survive today, because in August, she lost her 14-year-old son Scotty to an accidental drug overdose. The tragedy has uprooted her world, along with her husband and younger daughter Juliet. Fradkin says...

For too long, mayors and governors and health officials across the country have overstepped their authority. Time to ignore them. By now it should be obvious that elected state and local officials issuing COVID-19 lockdown and stay-at-home orders are just making things up as they go along.Too often, their edicts aren’t based on science or data, but on a grotesque understanding of their own authority and infallibility. In the face of a worsening pandemic, they want to be seen doing something, taking bold action to stop the spread of the virus—that is, so long as it doesn’t hurt certain favored...