Free Republic

Whether it’s the keffiyeh that they wear pulled over the face, which both hides the wearer and expresses his support for the killers of Hamas, or the other mask that they wear that has so many different names — ski-mask in the U.S., balaclavain the UK, cagoule in France, and passamontagna in Italy (this may be some sort of record: four widely-different names for the same article of clothing). The brownshirts who have been stomping on American campuses want to be sure the authorities will not identify them as they unleash their physical and moral mayhem, harassing, and at times...

Masks.

Behind closed doors, New York lawmakers are advancing a dangerous statewide mask ban. Gov. Hochul first proposed it in June 2024, framing it as a measure for “Jewish safety.” But using Jews to justify stripping civil rights doesn’t make us safe — it makes us a scapegoat. In response, a few of us medically high-risk Jewish New Yorkers launched Jews for Mask Rights. Our open letter — signed by 2,500 Jews, including more than 315 Jewish leaders and 80 clergy — makes it clear: banning masks won’t make us safer. It turns Jews into justification for policies that put us...

VIDEOIf anyone out there has the slightest doubt that absurdly wearing a mask outdoors in the year 2025 is clear proof of mental illness, then this video will remove all doubt. The only upside for the clown wearing the mask is that it keeps this GroupThink Enforcer from being easily identified thus sparing him from well deserved humiliation when he is out in public. Even wearing a mask outside in 2024 as well as the year before that are also signs of severe mental illness.

A group of people continued marching and circling around the main gate of Columbia University on Monday afternoon, banging loud drums and chanting, "Long live the intifada." Their actions come shortly after Columbia University professors held what they called an "emergency vigil" in response to the college's agreement to implement a host of policy changes, including overhauling its rules for protests and conducting an immediate review of its Middle Eastern studies department following demands from the Trump administration. The group gathered outside the university's gates on 116th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, holding signs that read "defend democracy," "defend teaching" and...

The reaction to Covid showed Americans the system wasn’t going to save them. They were going to have to do it themselves. When Donald Trump first sailed into the Oval Office, his detractors shrieked that his blunt rhetoric was dividing the country. His supporters pointed out that Trump wasn’t so much creating division as he was revealing divisions that had been growing in America for a long time. The reaction to the novel Wuhan coronavirus did the country a similar service, by revealing a new fault line: two sets of rules, which were applied differently to Americans depending on their...

Let’s revisit the tumultuous second half of 2021. Dementia-addled President Joe Biden executed a disastrous retreat from Afghanistan in August that resulted in the killing of thirteen servicemembers. Having spectacularly failed America’s warfighters, he transitioned quickly to the ongoing “fight against COVID.” No cost was too great or burden too onerous in the federal government’s war against microscopic organisms. Billions were funneled to pharmaceutical companies (aka Democrat Party donors) to pay for witch doctors’ experimental elixirs. Billions more were funneled to “news” platforms and “non-governmental” organizations (all on the USAID dole) to push the White House’s preferred COVID narratives and...

Most of the world found itself confined to their homes in March 2020 as Covid-19 spread at a blistering pace. Some countries didn't impose any lockdown restrictions – so was their decision the right one? In March 2020, billions of people stared out through their windows at a world they no longer recognised. Suddenly confined to their homes, their lives had shrunk abruptly to four walls and computer screens. Around the world, national leaders appeared on television, telling them to stay put – only leave the house to buy essential supplies or for once-daily exercise, maybe. It was a last-ditch...

“Head’s Up: Firing the National Archivist. More of how the new authoritarian regime is taking over. Control the press, control education and control what remains of the history of our country.” I pulled the quote above off Facebook this morning. I could have pulled a score more like it, most of them from educated liberal females (ELFs), all of them actual friends or relatives. This one impressed me for its concise summary of ELF concerns and ELF cluelessness. “What remains of our history?” Ladies, can we step back in time just five years and recall how eagerly you ceded control...

So basically taxpayers paid for the creation of the Covid-19 virus through USAID and then paid the mainstream media to brainwash them about masks, vaccines, and lockdowns? It's unbelievable what these sick people did to us. ... You, the American taxpayer, paid for the global pandemic and then you paid the media to brainwash you into complying with their agenda. ... Americans went from starting a revolution over a tea tax to sleeping through our own government trying to kill us. ... It's time for the masses to wake up to how corrupt their own government is. ... Mind-blowing what...

March marks the five-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic, a collective trauma that New Englanders faced together. For an upcoming story to mark the anniversary, the Globe is asking readers to share their memories of moments from the pandemic. Examples: Memories of being sent home from school or work, losing a loved one, new routines you created in isolation, including on Zoom; getting your first vaccine, going back to school or work; seeing someone without a mask for the first time. Please share photos, videos, social media posts and written recollections of no longer than 100 words.

As the COVID pandemic swept across the United States and in the years that followed, scientists, informed commentators, and journalists who questioned the origin of the virus and subsequent COVID policies were summarily dismissed, censored, blacklisted, and even canceled without serious consideration. From ineffective masks to "social distancing," to corporate lockdowns and school closures, those among us who relied on unbiased facts and valid information have been vindicated, as one COVID canard after another has gone up in smoke. Now, new study results published by the Journal of Infection further undermine the lies and obfuscations told by the former head...

BURLINGTON, Vt. — The FBI says an arrest has been made in connection to the fatal shooting death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent who was from Minnesota. On Friday, FBI Albany announced a 21-year-old woman from Washington state, Teresa Youngblut, was arrested in David "Chris" Maland's death in Vermont. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Vermont has since charged Youngblut with assault on a federal law enforcement officer. "Our hearts remain with our partners at U.S. Border Patrol Swanton Sector as they mourn this tremendous loss," the FBI said. Maland, who was born in Blue Earth, Minnesota, was killed Monday...

The FBI announced the arrest of a suspect Friday in the killing of U.S. Border Patrol Agent David "Chris" Maland near the Vermont-Canada border. Washington state resident Teresa Youngblut, 21, was taken into custody following the fatal shooting on Monday, according to the FBI’s office in Albany, N.Y. "The United States Attorney’s Office District of Vermont has charged Youngblut with assault on a federal law enforcement officer," it said. "Our hearts remain with our partners at U.S. Border Patrol Swanton Sector as they mourn this tremendous loss."

Susan Scarbro stares down a bowling lane at the distant pins. She hears a sound that breaks her focus. Was that a cough? Will her mask protect her? COVID-19 remains a very present threat for the 55-year-old. Scarbro has multiple immune disorders, making her vulnerable to infection. “Any minute anybody could cough, just incidentally,” said Scarbro, who lives in Sunset Beach, North Carolina. “And that cough could be the one thing that could make me sick.” This month marks the fifth anniversary of the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the U.S. The virus would go on to kill 1.2...

The news of Governor Henry McMaster reappointing Dr. Edward Simmer as the Director of the South Carolina Public Health Department has understandably angered countless South Carolinians following Simmer’s failed career as the head of DHEC during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. To fully comprehend Simmer’s mistakes as the Director of DHEC, I reviewed all of DHEC’s board meetings from 2021 and boiled down the main clips so you don’t have to. As the Health Director of South Carolina during the pandemic, Simmer spearheaded all vaccination efforts of adults and children, required masks for kids in school against the legislature’s efforts...

A quadruple-whammy of viruses are hitting the US as millions go back to work after the holidays, data shows. Official figures reveal that infections cause by flu, Covid, RSV (a respiratory illness that causes the cold) and norovirus (sometimes called the stomach flu) all started to surge over the Christmas period, when families gathered to celebrate. And experts say figures will only continue to rise over the coming weeks as the US heads into the peak period of its annual flu season. Data shows that norovirus cases are at their highest level for this time of year since 2012, while...

A hospital system in Illinois this week issued a mandate that everyone entering its facilities must wear a mask due to “widespread respiratory illnesses” in the area.“Starting Tuesday, December 31, all employees, patients and visitors at our hospitals are required to wear masks due to the widespread respiratory illnesses in our communities, including COVID-19, influenza and RSV,” said OSF Saint Francis Medical Center, based in Peoria, Illinois, in a statement posted on Facebook.“Additionally, we are implementing a temporary visitor restriction: only two visitors (age 18+) per patient at a time. Thank you for your cooperation in keeping our community safe.”It...

If you’ve spent any time online over the past four days, you’ve probably seen internet users thirsting over Gavin Newsom. But if you chose to crawl into a hole after Tuesday’s election, I will sum up the posts for you: Gavin Newsom is an evil sociopath and he’s hot and he hates Republicans so he must run for president. The reason for this unabashed yearning is, of course, that Donald Trump is the president-elect. Again. How catastrophic his second term will be is still unclear. What is clear, though, is that Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party suffered...

How many people still wear masks out in public.