Free Republic

We will be paying for lockdown — in lives and dollars for decades to come.'.. While there are likely many Canadian doctors who quietly agree that lockdowns as a cure for stopping the spread of coronavirus may be worse in the long run than the virus, some doctors have risked their reputations by publicly warning policymakers just how damaging lockdowns may prove to be. The following three doctors are especially noteworthy in this regard. Alberta heart surgeon.. Alberta retired heart surgeon Dennis L. Modry, BSc, MD, MSc, FRCS, FACCP, FACS, criticized Premier Jason Kenney in a Dec. 11 open letter...

The COVID-19 lockdowns in Philadelphia triggered a surge in gun violence in the city during the pandemic — and worsened poverty, unemployment, and racism, a new research study found.The study was conducted by researchers at Temple University, and published by JAMA Network, was led by Dr. Jessica Beard, assistant professor of surgery and director of trauma research at Lewis Katz School of Medicine."It was in March actually that we saw a significant and sustained increase, nearly double of our violence in the City of Philadelphia," Beard told Philadelphia's ABC affiliate.

The Heritage Foundation conducted a panel discussion webinar on February 1 concerning the disfavoring of houses of worship in applying restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic. Katheryn Jean Lopez, Editor-at-Large of National Review, moderated the discussion, which included Garry Leist, Pastor of Calvary Chapel, Dayton, Nevada, Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel, Executive Vice-President of Agudath Israel of America, and Matt Sharp, State and Government Relations Director of the Alliance Defending Freedom. Emilie Kao of the Heritage Foundation, who is also an IRD board member, introduced the panel by noting the victory for religious liberty won at the Supreme Court last November...

I was listening to Conservative morning AM radio in Chicago this morning and a guest talked about his group of resisters against the Illinois Governor's lock down of Illinois restaurants. His group is 'REBEL DINERS'. Each week, more and more diners join his group and have dinners at restaurants that are struggling with all of the restrictions. 👍 🇺🇸 He is encouraging people to form similar groups nationwide. ABOUT REBEL DINERS The Illinois Governor announced on October 20th, 2020 that a new round of stronger restrictions going into place that Friday. All six counties surrounding Chicago will not allow indoor...

The extreme and continued Covid-19 government mitigation mandates are unprecedented for any respiratory virus in our history. The economic consequences of these directives – masks; social distancing; testing, tracking and quarantines; travel, school and business restrictions − have led to historic levels of job losses and failing businesses. People looking for work have been crippled from finding jobs. Tens of millions of Americans are at risk of losing their group health insurance. As Americans grow increasingly more desperate, the government continues to restrict peoples’ options. The CARES Act epitomized the tenet of redistribution of wealth, growing the numbers of Americans...

Declarations of Covid-19 as a health emergency, followed by extreme and continued government mitigation mandates, are unprecedented for any respiratory virus in our history. The economic consequences of these directives – masks; social distancing; testing; travel, school and business restrictions − have led to historic levels of job losses and businesses stopping new hiring. People looking for work have been crippled from finding jobs. Tens of millions of Americans are at risk of losing their group health insurance. As Americans grow increasingly more desperate, they are more willing to be convinced to accept government bailouts. Government handouts come with strings...

Almost a year after retreating inside from a deadly virus whose spread has only gotten monumentally worse since, I turned on the Super Bowl. It might be weird to see a sports event as typically hyperbolic as the Super Bowl brought down to a simmer Amid Pandemic, I thought, but at least I’d have some new shade of background noise on as I put together my 80th puzzle of quarantine. The reality of the event was almost stranger than the strangeness I’d expected. Instead of making obvious changes to reflect the fact that the entire country is in some version...

‘[I]f Hollywood may host a studio audience or film a singing competition while not a single soul may enter California’s churches, synagogues, and mosques, something has gone seriously awry.’In a Friday night 6-3 injunction responding to emergency petitions from two California churches, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion that California’s restrictions against worship services have gone too far. The court gave a short, unsigned opinion demanding California lift its restrictions on in-person, indoor church services while allowing California to keep banning singing and limiting attendance to 25 percent of church buildings’ capacity. The decision allows churches to present evidence...

Joe Biden is falling back into nakedly partisan politics in which teachers’ unions get what they want no matter what the evidence shows or common sense dictates.Outside of his family, few people believe Joe Biden will seek a second term in 2024, at age 82. Thus, he is uniquely positioned to rise above partisan politics, stand up to the special interests and put regular Americans first. But if the debate about re-opening schools is any guide, Biden is wasting that opportunity and falling back into nakedly partisan politics in which the Democratic Party’s biggest donors—here, teachers’ unions—get what they want...

Some people have a hard time getting the message about social distancing in Canada. That seems to be the case in Newfoundland, where police arrested a woman for the second time after she refused to self-isolate. She was previously taken into custody on March 25. Narcity spoke with Constable James C. Cadigan, the Media Relations Officer with the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary. He confirmed that officers were called to the community of Curling on Thursday morning. There, they found the 53-year-old woman who had been arrested previously walking down a road. Constable Cadigan confirmed that officers were met with noncompliance when...

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, professor of medicine at Stanford University and co-author of the Great Barrington Declaration, told podcast host Megyn Kelly that lockdowns have ineffectively addressed the concerns and danger COVID-19 poses to certain communities. “I’ve come to think of it as trickle-down epidemiology. We’ve used the lockdowns to protect the rich, whereas we essentially expose the — like in California for instance, it’s the poor areas that have had the high death rates from COVID. The lockdowns haven’t protected people living in places where there’s high poverty,” Bhattacharya said on “The Megyn Kelly Show.” “Minority populations, especially Hispanics, have...

About 2 million Australians begun their first full day of a strict coronavirus lockdown on Monday following the discovery of one case in the community in Perth, capital of Western Australia state, but no new cases have since been found. Authorities ordered a five-day lockdown of Perth after a security guard at a hotel used to quarantine people returning from overseas was found to have contracted the virus. The state government said 66 people have been deemed close contacts of the unidentified guard and none of those already tested were infected. "In total 13 close contacts have now tested negative...

Despite it being legal under volunteer exemption.. Police in the UK arrested a man for handing out free soup in a park, claiming that he had violated COVID-19 restrictions. Nick Smith had been giving out free soup to people in his village for 17 weeks before Sussex Police intervened, claiming he had violated COVID rules by encouraging people to gather. However, Smith cited exemptions under the rules for volunteering, which allows for up to 15 people to gather either indoors or outdoors. Smith said he found the whole experience “very shocking” and insisted he was only trying to help people...

New York’s Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo is the poster child for the most macabre chutzpah we have ever seen. Having mismanaged his state’s Wuhan China virus pandemic to the point of herding COVID-19 patients into nursing homes where even he admits it spread like a wildfire through dry grass. Yet he blames everyone but himself for his state’s carnage, has written a book bizarrely claiming to be his state’s savior, and even won an Emmy for his daily bloviating press conferences. Ir should have been for best performance in a horror show. Now we know the carnage and death he...

“We’re the police, we’re not just someone, you idiot”.. Two viral videos encapsulate the state of the UK at the moment with police abusing powers given to them to enforce lockdown laws. In one case a man was arrested on his way to work for not identifying himself, while another who went to a shop was hauled away for not wearing a mask properly. West Midlands police were forced to apologise after a man in Solihull was followed, called an idiot, and finally arrested by overly officious police. The police can be seen harassing the man, asking him where he...

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...