Free Republic

Congressional leaders passed a new stimulus package meant to alleviate the financial pain of the coronavirus, but it won’t cure all that ails PennDOT’s pocketbook. PennDOT press secretary Alexis Campbell said Monday afternoon it wasn’t clear if the relief plan will cover the $600 million funding gap plaguing PennDOT. Early media reports indicate that $10 billion of financial relief could be distributed to the 50 states’ highway systems, though it’s unclear how much would come Pennsylvania’s way. State Sen. Pat Browne, a Lehigh County Republican and longtime chairperson of the Appropriations Committee, said Tuesday that transportation-specific wording included in the...

The crystal orb that normally draws millions of visitors to Midtown will still make its famous descent down the flagpole — but don’t bother trying to sneak a peek in person, says the NYPD. “Next year we will all gather and fill Times Square,” Chief of Department Terence Monahan told reporters Wednesday. “This year, don’t even attempt to come and watch it.”... [BUT] ...First responders and other essential workers will be allowed to watch the ball drop from a private spot...

COVID is over on Feb. 8 The end of social distancing, and the secondary knock-on effect of exposing masking as an unenforceable charade, is approximately 40 days away. How apropos that we must wander in the desert of dystopia 40 more days, but here it is. What is the most precise way of determining when social distancing will end? The return of full-sale concert arena events. Note that this also portends the end of masking, as there is zero chance concert security is going to bust a fully-sold arena for mask violations. And the first one is a shocker. Michael...

When the lockdown began in the United States in the Spring of 2020 it was billed as a two-week effort to “flatten the curve” and get ahead of the spread of the virus. With little or no explanation, the authorities that told us this would be sufficient then extended and expanded lockdown measures across the country. It is now nine months later. There is no end in sight. In fact, very much to the contrary; a whole host of new excuses for continuing the lockdown have appeared. We must all be vaccinated. We must all produce proof of vaccination. The...

As an adult who teaches, I got to choose an open school. Union politics have now barred millions of families from a similar privilege.I don’t blame schools for closing in March. Very little was known about COVID-19 then, so closures seemed the safest decision amid the uncertainty. Neither do I blame schools for a meager showing that semester. My own district threw together online curricula and instructional materials practically overnight. The results were dismal, but it’s the best many could have done given the situation. However, we’ve now had nine months to understand this virus, and all the evidence favors...

Commie China Inspired Global LockdownsPope Francis backed Prof. Pantsdown's totalitarian quarantine LONDON (ChurchMilitant.com) - A U.K. scientist notorious for pushing global lockdowns as a response to the Wuhan virus has confessed to receiving his inspiration for the imposition of totalitarian quarantines from communist China.Anti-lockdown protests in Trafalgar Square, London In a revealing interview, disgraced professor of mathematical biology Neil Ferguson admits that the draconian lockdown policies adopted by Western countries and endorsed by Pope Francis and top prelates would have been unthinkable even a year ago."No European country's pandemic plans seriously entertained the prospect of putting a country on pause"...

A poll out last week found that 75% of Americans say they support a nationwide mask mandate to fight COVID-19. Why shouldn’t they, since the public has been told repeatedly by politicians and public health officials that these steps will slow the spread of the disease and save lives. Yet new research provides clear evidence that – whatever the lab results of mask-wearing and disease spread might suggest – real-world mask mandates do little, if anything, to slow COVID-19. The survey, conducted by STAT and the Harris Poll, found there is a partisan split on a mask mandate: 60% of...

Measure is virtually unenforceable.. Authorities in Victoria, Australia have banned kissing and hugging on New Year’s Eve despite the fact that there have been no new cases of COVID-19 in two months. State Premier Dan Andrews said hugging and kissing should not take place during celebrations between anyone but immediate family members. “Just as Christmas was a little different this year, New Year’s Eve will be too,” the Victorian Government said. “Take some hand sanitiser with you, don’t share drinks with others and [new year] kisses and hugs should [only] be shared with those in your immediate family.” Quite how...

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the governments of the United States have mistreated the citizens of the country by destroying their means of making a living and limiting their freedom of movement. Government powers have been used to shut down enterprises, knowing full well that people's livelihoods depend on their operation. Government edicts have prohibited people from moving freely in small localities and even between states. Individual citizens have the right to move about and do work for the purpose of maintaining themselves and their families as long as their work is not harming others. The government's judicial system...

Professor Neil Ferguson, an epidemiologist who played a key role in convincing the British government to adopt lockdowns, revealed that the country’s lockdowns were meant to emulate those carried out by the Chinese Communist Party – modeled to strip civil liberties and exert authoritarian control over citizens. In Ferguson’s recent interview with The Times, he revealed that lockdowns he championed as part of Britain’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) Board, were rooted in those carried out by the Chinese Communist Party. Dubbed “Professor Lockdown” by many for his contributions to swaying the British government to adopt stringent lockdown measures,...

By their reckoning, white evangelicals have become reckless plague-bearers with no regard for the poor and oppressed, and their cruelty rightly earns them the world’s opprobrium.So much for peace on earth and goodwill to men. America’s legacy media elites used the Sunday before Christmas for extra Christian-bashing, with white evangelicals the preferred targets. Writing in The New Yorker, Michael Luo complained that “white evangelical Protestants, once again, overwhelmingly supported President Trump in the election,” and that “churches, particularly conservative ones, fought lockdown orders and rebuffed public-health warnings.” New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof interviewed leftist pastor Jim Wallis, with the...

It’s been a hard year but at least we know, beyond all doubt, that our elites despise us and will do anything to expand their power.For as difficult as the past year has been, from politics to the pandemic, it has at least helped to illuminate and clarify certain things about the state of our country.Above all, 2020 has illuminated and clarified the relationship between America’s elites—in government, Silicon Valley, Hollywood, corporate America and the corporate press—and everyone else. In short, our elites believe, contra Thomas Jefferson, that most people were born with saddles on their backs while a favored...

Professor Neil Ferguson, the discredited Imperial College computer modeller behind Britain’s draconian lockdown policies, has come clean about his inspiration: none of it would have been possible without the shining example of the Chinese Communist Party. In an extraordinary interview with the Times (of London), Ferguson admits that if it hadn’t been for China’s example, no Western country would ever have dreamed of putting its populace under house arrest. Back in 2019, about the time someone was getting infected by a bat, no European country’s pandemic plans seriously entertained the prospect of putting a country on pause. Then, that’s what...

Gun-buying activity shattered records in the U.S. this year, with the Federal Bureau of Investigation recording both the highest number of background checks in its history and the highest increase of checks year-over-year in over two decades. Last month was the busiest November on record for FBI background checks in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, according to the Bureau's month-by-month data. Background checks were up 40% from the prior November, with over 3.6 million checks performed throughout the month. That number would be remarkable during any other year. Only one other month in NICS history prior to this...

Joe Biden’s America would look a lot like COVID-19 lockdowns if he does become president and that should terrify us all. It has been my contention since the Wuhan, China coronavirus hit America’s shores that the leaders of the Democratic Party would use the occasion to financially crush America’s middle-class. As stunning as that may sound, the truth is democrats need a permanent underclass as well as a perpetually expanding victim class they can exploit every couple of years to maintain their power in Washington D.C. and state capitols. This explains the left’s obsession with socialism and identity politics. To...

Proponents of lockdowns have continuously touted lockdowns as the way to curb the virus. When faced with the obvious economic damage caused by the lockdown, they in turn do not take time to point out that we cannot sacrifice lives for the economy. However, more and more evidence shows that lockdowns do more than harm the economy. And in reality, recessions have a damaging effect on length and quality of life. A lot of evidence points to the health impacts of lockdowns especially on the mental health of young adults as well as children. And just recently a new study...

A doctor in Northern California has been fired from his job after he co-authored a letter that questioned the science behind his county’s lockdown order. Dr. Michael deBoisblanc was working as the trauma medical director for John Muir Health in Contra Costa County, California, until last Friday, after he questioned the scientific basis for again locking down citizens of the area. KNTV reported that deBoisblanc wrote a letter to the county health director and board of supervisors voicing his concern regarding the continued lockdown policies prior to his dismissal. The former medical director spoke from his own experience as a...

this rate, the Empire State is on track to be a former empire. Citizens voting with their seat and leaving blue states for red states is no new phenomenon. The Daily Signal reported back in 2015 that even then, there were 1,000 people moving from blue states to red states every day, on net balance.

Hawaii Democrat Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has submitted legislation (HR 1267) that would force corporations such as Amazon, Facebook, Walmart, and Google that have seen their profits soar during the pandemic pay a tax that would fund aid to their small business competitors that were economically harmed by government lockdown orders. Since the start of the pandemic an estimated 50% of the nation’s small businesses have been forced to close. Meanwhile, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has increased his wealth by more than $70 billion and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has increased his by more than $25 billion. Big box retailers like...

COVID-19 Sheriff's Stay at Home Statement