Free Republic

Santa Clara County (SCC) residents earn the title for longest duration living under the strictest COVID rules in the nation. SCC's public health department (SCC DPH) director, Sara Cody, became the face of lockdown — the spokesperson to declare the nation's first Shelter-in-Place (SIP) order on March 16, 2020. SCC was first in the nation to enter lockdown, lowest for in-person schooling, highest in restrictions, highest in punitive fines, and last to ditch school mask mandates. While frequently lauded by her proponents for touting "safety first," she knew that "the efficacy of face masks and physical distancing hadn't been established...

America’s top doctor and his wife – the chief ethicist – were the administrative state’s pandemic dream team. It's the Washington, D.C. power couple that cost taxpayers nearly $1 million per year. While Dr. Anthony Fauci gave the nation its pandemic public policy prescriptions, his wife, Dr. Christine Grady, the Chief Bioethicist at Fauci’s employer, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) provided the moral framework. The Faucis are important to the center-left, because they represent the pinnacle moment of the administrative state – top-down public policy run by an elite group of government scientists. Conversely, to the center-right, the Faucis...

March 17, 2020, was the first day of the end of civilized life, the one for which Western peoples had been fighting for one thousand years. It was the first full day following the lockdowns that ended all rights and liberties, including even the right to have friends for dinner or go to community worship services or attend or hold weddings and funerals. The sun had fallen the previous day just after the press conference announcing “15 Days” that stretched to 30 days and then to three years of quasi-martial law imposed for a virus. But nature is oblivious to...

Big Brother is closer than you think. According to this disturbing report in the Epoch Times: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) purchased data from tracking companies to monitor compliance with lockdowns, according to contracts with the firms. The CDC paid one firm $420,000 and another $208,000. That bought access to location data from at least 55 million cellphone users. The contracts, approved under emergency review due to the COVID-19 pandemic, were aimed at providing the CDC “with the necessary data to continue critical emergency response functions related to evaluating the impact of visits to key points...

Ready to read about a real-life Orwellian nightmare that happened right here in the good ol' US of A? The bureaucrats at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention bought data from tracking companies to monitor Americans' locations in real-time during the reign of COVID, according to contracts obtained by the Epoch Times. The CDC paid $420,000 to one company and $208,000 to another, gaining access to location data from a minimum of 55 million cellphone users, the purchase orders show.

At first slowly but in recent weeks with seemingly gathering pace, two trends have emerged. On the one hand, many of the core claims behind lockdowns, masks, and vaccines are unravelling and the prevailing narrative has been in retreat on all three fronts.But there is still a long way to go, as indicated by the cussed refusal of the Biden administration to let Novak Djokovic play at Indian Wells.On the other hand, the explosive lockdown files in the UK have blown apart the official narrative. We the sceptics were right in our dark suspicions of the motives, scientific basis, and...

Three years after the March 2020 shutdowns, the legacy of Covid-era policies are still haunting Colorado. History will show the Covid policies pushed by the Governor, State Health Officials, and the Federal Government not only failed to achieve their goals, but caused tremendous harm. Communities suffered, businesses failed, and many individuals were pushed over the edge. Drug overdoses, suicide, domestic violence and record crime are the legacy of the State’s Covid policies. It must not be forgotten how destructive these policies were. And the names of those responsible must be remembered. Sadly, after three years, politicians and state health officials...

The liberal Washington Post is deeply upset that Conservatives and Libertarians are standing in the way of future pandemic lockdowns. This is an excellent reminder that the liberal media gleefully supported shutting down the United States during COVID and would absolutely love to see it happen again. If Conservatives and Libertarians are standing in the way, they deserve our thanks and admiration. FOX News reports: Washington Post torched on Twitter after complaining health officials have limited powers: ‘Medical fascism’ A new Washington Post report slammed “conservatives and libertarians” on Wednesday for working to legally block future pandemic lockdowns and other...

Matt Hancock suggested to an aide that they "frighten the pants off everyone", messages published by the Sunday Telegraph show. It appears the former health secretary discussed when to reveal the existence of the Kent variant of Covid, to ensure people comply with lockdown rules. In another exchange, the head of the Civil Service, Simon Case, suggested the "fear/guilt factor" was vital to the government's messaging. The BBC has not verified the messages. More than 100,000 WhatsApp messages were leaked to the Telegraph by the journalist Isabel Oakeshott, who has been a vocal critic of lockdowns. The former health secretary...

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida prizes preparation and the way it allows him to control his political narrative. But suddenly, he was on the verge of going off message. He had traveled to a Central Florida warehouse this past week to promote a $2 billion tax cut proposal when he was confronted with the inevitable: an especially ugly attack from former President Donald J. Trump that seemed to warrant a strong response. Mr. Trump had insinuated on social media that Mr. DeSantis behaved inappropriately with high school girls while he was a teacher in his early 20s. As a reporter...

One of the strangest parts of the COVID-19 pandemic has been all of the public health “experts” who openly lied to the American people while expecting to be lauded as heroes in response. Certainly, most have witnessed Dr. Anthony Fauci’s grotesque level of arrogance over the years, with numerous examples of the good doctor admitting to lying in order to get the outcome he desired from the public. For his efforts, he’s got magazine covers and million-dollar awards. But we shouldn’t forget about Dr. Deborah Birx, the other half of Donald Trump’s initial COVID-19 advisory team. Though she has rarely...

Education Minister Chris Hipkins is set to become New Zealand’s next prime minister after emerging as the only candidate Saturday to replace Jacinda Ardern.Hipkins still needs the endorsement from his Labour Party colleagues, but that’s believed to be a formality at this point. He’d have just over eight months in the role until the next general election.“It’s a big day for a boy from the Hutt,” Hipkins said, referring to the Hutt Valley near Wellington where he grew up. “I’m really humbled and really proud to be taking this on. It is the biggest responsibility and the biggest privilege of...

Prohibition started on this day, January 16, in 1920. It was a disaster. Well intentioned people attacked personal freedom and created the conditions for criminals to restore it. To day is also the birthday of the only guy ever to achieve the rank of Admiral Of The U.S. Navy, George Dewey. (This rank was superseded by the rank of fleet admiral in 1944.) Do Freepers see the similarities between Dewey's thoughts on education and the thoughts of my friend John Murphy in the Australian freedom movement now?

Dr. Anthony Fauci fired back at Elon Musk and other critics who are scorching the retired NIAID director’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, saying he can defend his actions. "I can defend everything that I've said and done," Fauci told "Your World" on Friday. "There was an explanation for it. This was a moving target right from the beginning and people need to appreciate that when something is obvious in January or February, that might not be the same in March, April, May, June or the rest of the summer. This has been an evolving problem. We've been through multiple...

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Hundreds of thousands of students across the US will be forced to wear face masks in class when schools go back this week as controversial mandates make a return. Despite Covid infection rates plateauing for months, elementary and high schools in New Jersey, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania have made face coverings a condition of entry for students returning from the holidays. Education officials claim the policy is to prevent a boom in respiratory illnesses after increased mixing during the first normal Christmas and New Year in years. But there is little evidence that face masks actually reduce infection rates, and mounting...

Forget Jan. 6. The worst day in recent American history came on May 2020, when the city of Los Angeles filled the skateboarding park at Venice Beach with sand. The move was a deterrent done in the name of preventing the spread of COVID. A month later, and without permission, the skaters dug out the park and started riding again. For those of us who are skateboarders , the closing of the park was a dark day. We seem to intuitively know what has since been proven: joyful exercise in fresh air and sunlight is a natural preventative to illness,...

The lockdowns of March 2020 shocked the American people and most public health agencies, not to mention infectious disease doctors. The idea of school shutdowns, business closures, plus mandatory remote work and other restrictions have previously seemed inconceivable. It was especially remarkable to have such an “all-of-government” response to a virus that we already knew posed a threat mainly to the elderly and infirm. Issues like public-health precedent, American legal tradition, and medical knowledge about dealing with respiratory viruses, not to mention natural immunity and collateral damage of lockdowns, were all thrown out the window. Robert Kennedy, Jr.’s book “The...

Over the past two years or so, the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) influence over governments and institutions of sovereign nations has become increasingly apparent. Founded in 1971 by German economist Klaus Schwab, the WEF has remained fairly under the radar for decades. However, the organization has been quietly expanding its icy grip around the throats of the world’s population by installing operatives in the upper echelons of governments and corporations. This influence has expanded so far that Schwab and his allies appear to have given up trying to conceal their agenda and even openly gloat about controlling nations’ leaders. When...

CDC said that increases in Strep A, flu and RSV cases are tied to lockdowns ... Leading US health officials have finally acknowledged that pandemic restrictions they supported may have fueled a boom in respiratory bugs currently overwhelming hospitals. Healthcare systems across the country have been pushed to the brink after an unseasonably high number of flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) cases with some pediatric units forced to erect inflatable tents to treat patients in parking lots. ... In a statement to DailyMail.com, the CDC said it was 'hearing from some doctors and state health departments about an apparent...