Free Republic

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – When Southern California’s theme parks reopen as early as April, it could be with one very significant and silent difference: no screaming on rides. The California Attractions and Parks Association (CAPA), a trade group which represents theme parks statewide, is backing a plan that would tamp down on shouting on rides, such as rollercoasters, in an effort to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus... California’s reopening guidelines calls for businesses to limit activities that can spread the virus, such as singing and shouting. That means that visitors to parks such as Disneyland, Universal Studios, Six...

Pastor James Coates’ church had been admitting believers exceeding 15 percent of the building’s capacity, violating lockdowns in Alberta... EDMONTON, Alberta,.... Canadian Pastor James Coates, who was jailed for holding church services amid COVID lockdowns, will soon be released from prison. His legal team announced today that Crown prosecutors agreed to drop most of the charges. “The Justice Centre today announced that Crown Prosecutors have agreed to withdraw all but one of the Public Health Act offences that Pastor James Coates has been charged with. The Justice Centre expects Pastor Coates will be released from jail in the coming days,...

With election season over and a Democrat president safely in the White House, the mainstream media appears to have gained an increased willingness to acknowledge greater nuances in the debate over COVID-19 response policies than was the norm at the height of the public health panic. Over the weekend, the Associated Press published a report acknowledging that “California and Florida have experienced almost identical outcomes in COVID-19 case rates,” despite the former state imposing some of the most draconian lockdown measures in the United States under Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom, and the latter state remaining mostly open under Republican Gov....

In the latest episode of “TRUTH” with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Kennedy sat down with the iconic Naomi Wolf for a spirited discussion on abuse of power, standing up to tyranny and preserving our Constitution. Wolf explained how tyrants always follow the same predictable route in their attempts to bring democracies to a close and how she believes our society has reached “Step 10” of her “Fascism in 10 Easy Steps.”

There is no evidence shutdowns did anything but deepen the economic suffering, increase suicides, and prevent lifesaving medical tests and treatments.The government response to COVID-19 has mostly been a failure. Theatric, yes—see New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Emmy. Symbolic, yes. But there is no evidence shutdowns did anything but deepen the economic suffering, increase suicides, and prevent lifesaving medical tests and treatments.With the exception of former President Trump’s effort to speed research, approval, and rollout of a COVID vaccine through Operation Warp Speed, and efforts to discourage the spread of the virus through border restrictions (now abandoned by President Biden),...

If a child doesn't have to die to save grandma from coronavirus, why would we ever let that child die? A heartbreaking longread from ProPublica challenges the nation.One year ago, when lockdowns began, Americans were told we had to make a terrible choice akin to the climax of the superhero movies in which a villain threatens two things the hero loves, forcing him to choose which to save and which to sacrifice. We were told that millions of Americans were going to die from a Chinese supervirus, and the only way to reduce that death toll from inflating even higher...

When the state announced its own version of lockdowns and face mask mandates last spring, Peaster briefly experimented with remote learning. But a survey of parents and students showed that a majority didn’t like it. When it came time for classes to start in August, Peaster simply ignored most of the mandates. They continued their classes as usual. For both teachers and students alike, if you wanted to wear a mask you were free to do so. If not, you didn’t. It was as simple as that. They didn’t move the student’s desks any further apart. Nobody was learning “remotely”...

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a professor at Stanford University Medical School, recently said that COVID-19 lockdowns are the "biggest public health mistake we've ever made...The harm to people is catastrophic." Several U.S. states have started to ease their COVID-19 restrictions over the past few weeks.. Bhattacharya, who made the comments during an interview with the Daily Clout, co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration, a petition that calls for the end of COVID-19 lockdowns, claiming that they are "producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health." As of Monday, the Great Barrington Declaration has received signatures from over 13,000 medical and public...

Dr. Martin Makary is sounding the alarm that children are 10 times more likely to die of suicide than coronavirus. Makary is professor of surgery at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a professor of health policy and management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “New research on kids we should have anticipated: Self-harm and overdoses increased 91-100%. Published this morning by @FAIRHealth @axios @caitlinnowens. Kids are 10X more likely to die of suicide than coronavirus. #OpenSchoolsNow to save lives,” he tweeted Tuesday. The study he cites states was published March 2 by the nonprofit FAIR...

President Biden’s announcement this week that the U.S. should have enough vaccines to inoculate every adult American by the end of May brought hope of a return to normalcy. This apparently is prehistoric thinking. “The last thing we need is Neanderthal thinking,” Mr. Biden said Wednesday after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott lifted his statewide mask mandate and restrictions on businesses. Democrats are applauding Mr. Biden, but imagine if Donald Trump had attacked Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s lockdown as “Neanderthal thinking.” Vaccination rates in Texas and other states have been increasing while hospitalizations are plunging. About one in five adults in...

A report published in Nature Climate Change claims carbon emissions fell drastically during COVID-19 related lockdowns. In order to meet goals set forth in The Paris Agreement, they say, a pandemic scaled lockdown would be needed once every two years in order to maintain “safe” temperature levels. The lead author of the report, which was reviewed and summarized by The Guardian, argues that “we have failed to understand in the past that we can’t have tackling climate change as a side issue. It can’t be about one law or policy, it has to be put at the heart of all...

The constitutional rights and freedoms of Canadians are front and centre in a flurry of legal challenges to pandemic measures, as civil liberties groups take on multiple cases they say represent unconstitutional measures implemented by authorities. The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) has court actions underway or pending, as of Feb. 25, against five provinces around lockdown measures it says violate Charter rights. And it’s suing the federal government for imposing mandatory hotel quarantine on travellers, among other travel restrictions. JCCF is also representing dozens of individuals across the country for violation tickets they’ve received related to pandemic measures,...

A group of high school athletes in Southern California are suing Gov. Gavin Newsom over the statewide ban on indoor youth sports during the CCP virus pandemic. Five student athletes from Orange County—two volleyball players, a basketball player, a wrestler, and a cheerleader—filed a joint lawsuit against Newsom, seeking a temporary restraining order that would allow them to return to competition under the same guidelines used by college or professional sports. The lawsuit argues that the Democratic governor’s youth sports rules violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, since college and professional athletes in California have been allowed...

It felt humiliating.”. A man in Wales was arrested by police for going for a walk too far from home and failing to identify himself before he claimed he was taken to the police station and subjected to a strip search. The incident was highlighted by Welsh member of Parliament Neil McEvoy, who posted a video of the arrest to Twitter. According to McEvoy, the couple in question were grieving the recent death of an uncle and wanted to visit the nearest beach to go for a walk. Mr. Radek, the man seen being handcuffed in the video, says that...

It’s time for Summit County to get over itself and lift the restrictions. The public health crisis is long gone, and what remains is a liberal Democratic government at the local, county and state levels that keeps using over-extended emergency powers to continually move the goalposts down the field. Widespread misinformation and overstated danger have left the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration and World Health Organization with serious credibility issues. Add the one-size-fits-all approach of Gov. Jared Polis and the Summit County commissioners, and people are frozen in place with no personal responsibility allowed to...

Recall petition is on pace to get at least 2 million signatures by mid-March deadline.. On Friday, the campaign to recall Governor Gavin Newsom closed in on 1.9 million signatures, coming closer to meeting the 2 million signature goal. While state law only requires 1.495 million valid signatures, campaigners have pushed for the 2 million signature goal to allow for up to 25% of signatures to be invalid and still reach the ballot. While the California Secretary of State’s office has revealed that 84% of all signatures processed so far have been valid, the California Patriot Coalition/Recall Gavin Newsom 2020,...

The World Economic Forum, founded by Klaus Schwab in 1970, hosts a yearly January gathering of global corporate and political elites in Davos, Switzerland. Annually, it draws hundreds of private jets, as attendees gather to assure the rest of us that we must tighten our belts and sacrifice our standard of living in order to reduce carbon emissions. It calls itself: …the foremost creative force for engaging the world's top leaders in collaborative activities to shape the global, regional and industry agendas at the beginning of each year. That sounds an awful lot like powerful people conspiring with each other...

New US COVID-19 cases are a quarter what they were six weeks ago, with the daily numbers dropping 15 percent to 25 percent a week. It’s time for the country to start moving rapidly to normalcy — restoring jobs and restoring lives. Caution is still in order, but only that. Yet President Biden, after vowing the nation will have enough vaccine doses by July’s end to vaccinate every American, just said he only hopes for a return to normal by “next Christmas.” Huh?... Biden’s chief medical adviser, Anthony Fauci, says the worst of the pandemic “might be” behind us. Yet...

The Supreme Court is telling California’s Santa Clara County that it can’t enforce a ban on indoor religious worship services put in place because of the coronavirus pandemic. The high court issued an order Friday evening in a case brought by a handful of churches. The justices, in early February, told the state of California that it can’t bar indoor church services because of the pandemic. The justices said at the time that the state could cap indoor services at 25% of a building’s capacity and continue to bar singing and chanting. ... The justices’ unsigned order Friday said that...

Irish police officers have been injured after attacks during a demonstration against COVID-19 restrictions in the center of Dublin, Irish broadcaster RTÉ has reported. Hundreds of protesters were prevented from gathering at St. Stephen’s Green and were moved to Grafton Street by officers using batons. Police were attacked with fireworks, cans and bollards, RTÉ said. It added that 23 people have been arrested. One of the injured police officers has been taken to hospital. …