Free Republic

A historic pub in the centre of Oxford that has served students, scholars and literary greats for over 450 years is to close. The Lamb and Flag, once frequented by the likes of Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien and his friend C.S. Lewis, who wrote The Chronicles of Narnia, has suffered a disastrous loss of revenues since the start of the pandemic. It first opened in 1566 and moved to its present location on St Giles, a broad thoroughfare in the city centre, in 1613. It is owned by St John’s College, one of 45 colleges and private...

POLICE have today threatened to dish out £200 Covid fines for people having snowball fights and sledging in the snow. Forces in London, Surrey and Wiltshire sent out warnings urging Brits not to break lockdown while enjoying the snow, saying "Covid regulations still apply." Police forces reminded Brits that 'Covid regulations still apply' in the snow Surrey Police tweeted today: "We are currently receiving lots of calls and reports relating to snowballs being thrown and people outside sledging. "Enjoy the snow today but please don't involve other people, particularly more vulnerable residents. "Please stay safe and remember that Covid regulations...

More than 8 million Americans fell into poverty over the past six months as social safety measures put into place at the start of the coronavirus pandemic expired, according to a new study published this week. The report, released by economists at the University of Chicago and University of Notre Dame, found that the nation's poverty rate increased by 2.4 percentage points between June and December, surging from 9.3% to 11.8%. An additional 8.1 million people are now considered poor. At the end of March, Congress passed the massive $2.2 trillion CARES Act to blunt the financial pain of the...

America welcomed a new president last week. As predicted, the theme of Joe Biden’s inaugural address was unity. That’s not surprising after five years of toxic political discourse, in which families splintered and relationships were broken off by the mere admission that somebody supported Donald Trump. But just talking about unity isn’t enough. President Biden needs actions to match those lofty words, and he needs to make sure others in his administration and party do the same. He can start by calling for an end to the lockdowns that governments have ordered since last March in response to COVID-19.As I...

Keeping schools closed is having a "calamitous" impact on children, some of the UK's top paediatricians have warned as they called for teachers to be prioritised for a vaccine. The group said they were witnessing an "acute and rapid increase in mental health and safeguarding cases", with parents suffering breakdowns and other psychological stress due to home-schooling. Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi insisted it was the government's "absolute priority" to re-open schools. But Labour said people "need certainty" about how low coronavirus rates need to sink for all children to be sent back to the classroom. Over the weekend, Health Secretary...

The campaign to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom is inching closer to meeting the required number of signatures needed to qualify for a statewide ballot. Organizers said over the weekend they’ve gathered 1.2 million of the 1.5 million signatures needed by March 17. Rescue CA has a goal of getting in enough signatures to help the effort get to 2 million signatures. 1.5 million validated signatures are required to qualify a recall for a special election, according to Anne Dunsmore, Campaign manager and finance director, Rescue California. Currently the Secretary of State has confirmed that the signatures have been 84%...

Protesters block roads, hurl rocks at police after string of crackdowns on synagogues, educational institutions stokes tensions between Haredi factions and law enforcement; officer fires warning shot in the air after becoming surrounded by large crowds Hundreds of members of the extremist ultra-Orthodox Jerusalemite Faction blocked roads in the city of Bnei Brak on Sunday in protest against the government's coronavirus measures. Protest leaders defined it as an action against what they deemed as "the government's decision to restrict the movement of the ultra-Orthodox public in any way possible while using violent and tyrannical methods reserved for regimes we thought...

Infections higher after lockdown went into place.. Infectious diseases expert Professor Steven Riley says current data shows that the national lockdown in the United Kingdom is not working. Riley, who is professor of infectious disease dynamics at Imperial College London, cited a React study which shows “the prevalence of infection increased between 6 and 15 January,” after the national lockdown was announced on January 4. “It’s long enough that, were the lockdown working effectively, we would certainly have hoped to have seen a decline,” said Riley. The professor added that current research “certainly doesn’t support the conclusion that lockdown is...

Marc Morano, founder of Climate Depot and author of the forthcoming Green Fraud: Why the Green New Deal Is Even Worse than You Think, warned “climate change” would be used as a pretext for lockdowns as is being done with coronavirus. “They want to use the COVID lockdown as the model for climate lockdowns,” said Morano of Democrats and the broader left, offering his remarks on Tuesday’s edition of SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily with host Alex Marlow.

Federal prisons were locked down Saturday to prevent possible violence ahead of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, officials said,

"Real Time" host Bill Maher on Friday night addressed the death of Ashli Babbitt, the Air Force veteran from California who was fatally shot inside the Capitol on Jan. 6. Maher stressed that Babbitt "lost her life trying to prevent Biden from becoming president" -- despite the fact she was previously an Obama voter. He sympathized with Babbitt as a struggling business owner who was "pissed off at the greed and corruption," but insisted a second term for President Trump term would not have solved her problems since it was her home state of California that was "doing most of...

SAINT PAUL, MN—With Democrats in control of Congress, Americans are looking forward to seeing their elected representatives put the needs of the American people first. Democrats have responded by pursuing the one thing every American affected by devastating lockdowns needs: another Trump impeachment. According to experts, there are millions of struggling Americans-- many of whom are completely destitute-- wondering where their next Trump impeachment is coming from. Local unemployed waitress and single mother Alissa Martins spoke to reporters, saying she is "very happy" about this development. "I haven't made a dime in over 3 weeks," said the struggling young mother....

What we’re witnessing is the dangerous normalization of a dystopian concept of “freedom” in which government dominates your life “for your own good.”When the Australian state of Victoria issued a 48-hour warning on New Year’s Eve that its border with the neighboring state of New South Wales would be indefinitely closed, it likely secured the award for the most egregious measure by a western government to curb COVID-19. The state government instructed residents to return home by 11:59 p.m. on Jan. 1. Those who did not arrive at the border by the midnight curfew were turned away by police. Thousands...

Post-COVID world an “absolute” surveillance state.. As part of the post-COVID “new normal” in China, which has been heralded by many in the west for its lockdown policies, some citizens now have to scan a government tracking app before being allowed to re-enter their own homes. That’s according to a LockdownSceptics.org reader who has lived in China on and off since 2002 and owns a home and company there. According to the reader, life isn’t back to what it was before the pandemic and has in fact changed drastically. “Prior to the crisis, the population could move around freely without...

If you've purchased a new 4K or 8K television and need content to test it out Youtube has a lot of nice videos. I was just looking for something to use as eye candy while we were eating lunch so I put on a walking tour of one of my favorite cities, Barcelona. Instead of admiring the beautiful scenery and high resolution it turned out to be one of the most depressing shows we've seen in ages. This was filmed in July, during the height of the tourist season, and the place is practically deserted. The few people who are...

“It’s no understatement to say that the nation is facing a mental health pandemic”.. Experts in the fields of health, academia and charity have warned that the lockdown in the UK is creating a runaway pandemic of anxiety and depression. Paul Farmer, chief executive of the mental health charity Mind said “It’s no understatement to say that the nation is facing a mental health pandemic.” The charity has seen a massive increase in visits to its website, with unprecedented volumes of calls to helplines that deal with issues ranging from self harm to suicide. “It’s clear that our mental health...

Once more, dear reader, I venture into the insane world where experts falsely claim they’ve proved SARS-CoV-2 exists. Within that world, they contradict themselves. They just can’t keep their story straight. So let’s begin with Tony Fauci. We have him on video making the following statement: “…In all the history of respiratory borne viruses of any type, asymptomatic transmission has never been the driver of outbreaks…Even if there’s a rare asymptomatic person that might transmit [the virus], an epidemic is not driven by an asymptomatic carrier.” [1] Fauci is emphatic. People with no symptoms who are carrying a virus? Not...

The violent storming of the capitol cannot be condoned but it must be explained as so many posturing Trump critics and hater are unwilling to do. Just what do we expect to happen when 75 million Americans are told their votes don't matter and can stolen without consequence or concern, that their voices don't matter and can be silenced at will and that now they must be punished for supporting the candidate of their choice in a former free republic. As I write this, Parler, the touted alternative to the Big Tech monopoly and oligarchy, has been knocked off the...

“We are writing this letter to request that a federal investigation be commenced and/or expedited regarding the scientific debate on major policy decisions during the COVID-19 crisis. In the course of our work, we have identified issues of a potentially criminal nature and believe this investigation necessary to ensure the interests of the public have been properly represented by those promoting certain pandemic policies,” the 40-page report begins. The report posits that lockdowns originated “at the order of Xi Jinping” and “were propagated into global policy by the World Health Organization with little analysis or logic.” It also attacks the...

Long before the final countdown to the new year, the party was raging in the Mexican resort city of Puerto Vallarta."Ring in the New Year at White Party Puerto Vallarta: UNITY where restaurants, gyms, bars and clubs are open and ready to welcome you to the ultimate New Years weekend getaway!!!" read the online invitation for American party promoter Jeffrey Sanker's annual New Year's Eve circuit party, a large all-night dance event for gay men. Local officials were putting pressure on Sanker as the party neared, according to the Los Angeles Blade. Puerto Vallarta hospitals were at or near 100...