Free Republic

A former Minnesota bar owner who now commutes two hours a day to sling suds in neighboring Wisconsin said Gov. Tim Walz’s restrictive pandemic-era lockdowns in the state “decimated” local businesses — and caused financial ruin for those who stood up for their livelihoods. “I think he’s an evil man who overstepped his role as the governor. He took small businesses and ripped them up. He destroyed us,” Lisa Zarza. ... She said when shelter-in-place and business closures first went into effect in March, 2020, “I did everything I was supposed to do. I wore my mask, I social distanced....

Minnesota business owner Greg Urban on Fox News Wednesday criticized Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz for his allegedly tyrannical record during the COVID-19 pandemic as governor of Minnesota. Walz implemented harsh lockdown measures during the COVID-19 pandemic, establishing a hotline for Minnesotans to report people who violated stay-at-home policies and pushed residents of his state not to gather for Thanksgiving. Urban, on “America Reports,” characterized Walz as an “evil” tyrant for his policies during the COVID-19 pandemic, asserting the vice presidential candidate is farther left than Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom. “Walz was a complete dictator through that whole...

British Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer has vowed that police have his full support in taking on “extremists” as anti-mass migration protests and riots have broken out across the United Kingdom following the mass stabbing at a children’s dance party in Southport earlier this week. Facing a full-blown crisis less than one month into office, recently elected leftist Prime Minister Starmer gathered top cabinet ministers on Saturday as unrest erupted in dozens of towns and cities throughout the UK, in many cases in typical Labour Party strongholds in the north of England, in response to the slaying of three young...

A Government advisor has called for Sir Keir Starmer to impose "Covid-style" measures to take back control of the streets of Britain as far-right riots continue. Baron Walney, John Woodcock, told Times Radio: "I think the government and new ministers will understand the British public will back them in whatever measures they feel is necessary to get this situation under control. "Hopefully we can see this petering out now over the next few days and the extra effort which is being put on forces being able to have effect. "But if that isn't the case, I think the British public...

On Tuesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Lead,” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) stated that she would handle the coronavirus pandemic differently if she knew then what she knows now, but “We did not know it was respiratory in nature. We didn’t know that it would be people on the other end of the age spectrum who would be most vulnerable. And so, I think that the education stuff, we would’ve been able to do a lot more to help our kids.” But overall, “I’m proud of what we did, and I can tell you, the people of Michigan, I think,...

Here’s the least shocking news of the day for you. No need to sit down or brace yourself for this revelation—anyone with half a functioning brain already knew that the lunatic who targeted Trump and tragically succeeded in taking his life was a violent Biden supporter. How this was confirmed is an interesting story. It all started with Andrew Torba, the CEO of the free speech-powerhouse social media platform GAB. Mr. Torba was thrust into the dramatic whirlwind surrounding the Trump assassination plot due to some mysterious activity on his site. After a series of very serious developments, Mr. Torba...

What disease are we supposed to be desperately afraid of this election cycle? As if on cue, the Centers for Disease Control issued their latest attempt to terrify the public on...spin the wheel...the ball lands on vingt-deux: the horrors of Dengue Fever! Before Barack Obama wandered onto the political scene, the CDC were the undisputed leader in protecting public health and safety through controlling and preventing disease, injury, and disability in the U.S. and the world. After Obama, you would have to be blind not to see that the CDC have been fully compromised and are no longer a responsible...

How Did a Small Group Do This?A very interesting study appeared last week by two researchers looking into the pandemic policy response around the world. They are Drs. Eran Bendavid and Chirag Patel of Stanford and Harvard, respectively. Their ambition was straightforward. They wanted to examine the effects of government policy on the virus. In this ambition, after all, researchers have access to an unprecedented amount of information. We have global data on strategies and stringencies. We have global data on infections and mortality. We can look at it all according to the timeline. We have precise dating of stay-at-home...

Time for the Truth About the PandemicA group of Dutch medical researchers are igniting a firestorm by calling for an investigation of the deaths caused by vaccine mandates and lockdowns imposed on the public during the COVID-19 pandemic. What's wrong with that?Everything, if you're part of the global public health mafia and want to avoid questions about the mistakes you made and the lies you told.We all saw Dr. Anthony Fauci squirming last week when he was forced to admit to the House Oversight and Accountability Committee that the social distancing rules — like standing 6 feet apart — on...

Australia has implemented lockdowns on farms due to bird flu outbreaks. Specifically, in the state of Victoria, more than 500,000 chickens have been euthanized, and strict quarantine zones have been established to restrict the movement of birds and equipment. The highly pathogenic H7N3 strain of avian influenza has been detected on four farms, while another virus, H7N9, has been found on a fifth property over the past seven weeks. As part of sweeping biosecurity controls, at least 580,000 birds have been destroyed.

Small businesses are citing the highest levels of uncertainty since the COVID-19 pandemic, a concerning economic indicator. The National Federation of Independent Businesses released the survey of small businesses, which found that small business uncertainty spiked last month. NFIB keeps an “Uncertainty Index” which spiked 9 percentage points last month, hitting the highest level since November of 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic was raging and businesses were shutting down across the country. “The small business sector is responsible for the production of over 40% of GDP and employment, a crucial portion of the economy,” NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg said...

A January 6er stole the show during Dr. Anthony Fauci’s House Select Subcommittee hearing on Monday. Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), was testifying about the origins of COVID, lockdown measures, and misleading medical advice. Fauci, who has been widely criticized for his role in advocating for draconian lockdowns, unnecessary masking, social distancing mandates, and for spreading false information about the ‘Wuhan lab leak’ theory, was met with hostility from audience members. Shouts of “Nuremberg 2.0” and “You killed my grandmother” echoed through the room as Fauci took his seat, according to...

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. targeted Donald Trump over his administration’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, as he spoke to Libertarians during the party convention on Friday. Kennedy argued that the former president and his administration had violated people’s First Amendment rights when they instituted health guidelines to combat the coronavirus pandemic. “I think he had the right instinct when he came into office. He was initially very reluctant to impose lockdowns, but then he got rolled by his bureaucrats. He caved in, and many of our most fundamental rights disappeared practically overnight,” Kennedy said at the Libertarian National Convention in...

Moderna stock spiked in Wednesday trading, climbing 13.7% over the course of the day amid swelling concerns over the avian influenza outbreak in U.S. cattle...Moderna confirmed to Barron's that the company is in discussions with the federal government about "advancing our pandemic flu candidate." Pfizer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On Tuesday, both of the New Jersey gym owners who had been fighting a legal battle over their defiance of the Garden State's COVID-19 lockdown orders were finally cleared of all charges. A controversial New Jersey gym owner who defied the Garden State’s COVID-19 restrictions was cleared of more than 80 charges relating to a series of pandemic-era confrontations with police — and he celebrated by posting on social media that the governor could “suck his d–k.” Ian Smith and Frank Trumbetti — co-owners of Atilis Gym in Bellmawr — racked up the summonses after they kept their workout spot...

A revision to the municipal code made it illegal for groups of four or more people to convene in public spaces for commercial recreational activities without a government stamp of approval.They come in packs. They're often crunchy. They're chameleons: a downward-facing dog one moment, a cobra or child the next. (What versatility!) They do handstands and breathe peacefully. And we can't have any of that. At least, not on public land. By "they," I'm referring to the world of yogis. And by "we," I mean the city of San Diego, which revised its municipal code in March to prevent groups...

The co-owner of Atilis Gym in Bellmawr, New Jersey, who fiercely defied tyrannical lockdowns in 2020, has won a monumental victory after a court dismissed all 80 charges against him. Ian Smith famoulsy reopened his gym in the middle of lockdown, defying Democrat Governor Phil Murphy’s draconian COVID-19 lockdown orders.

There was plenty of calculated strategy behind Western governments’ COVID madness. The COVID police state revealed Western governments’ zeal for totalitarianism. Forced masking, forced experimental injections, forced school and business closures, forced isolation, and forced compliance provided Western citizens an opportunity to see the tyrannical inclinations hiding just beneath the surface of their supposedly beneficent “democracies.” None of it was pretty. Mass propaganda disguised as medical expertise (remember when Joe Biden and his CDC army of Goebbels clones demanded that we wear three or more masks outside?) and mass censorship of social media conversations (because, we were frequently told, disinformation...

~The western world's one-size-fits-all response to the Covid - lockdowns, mandates, silencing of dissenting voices, assault on core liberties such as freedom of movement and freedom of worship - remains their template for the years ahead, as manifested in impending restraints such as "Net Zero", "fifteen-minute cities" and the World Health Organisation treaty. And, if you're minded to talk about any of that, the most effective assault has been on freedom of speech, where in the interests of "preventing misinformation" governments around the west are taking Covidstan's crushing of dissent to the next level. If you look at what happened...

Since the COVID scare worked so well for the left, could a climate lockdown be next? We all vividly recall the absurd COVID lockdowns. While they had no effect on the spread of illness, the imposed restrictions certainly proved that a large segment of the population was easily compelled to come to heel and submit to the government’s outrageous demands. Given the facts I provide in my new book, Climate Cult: Exposing and Defeating Their War on Life, Liberty, and Property, such a scheme should come as no surprise, especially given that the Biden administration and Congressional Democrats are priming...