Free Republic

President Joe Biden is moving to surrender to China U.S. patent and trade secret protections on America's COVID-19 vaccines. Two of those vaccines, made by American-based Pfizer and Moderna, employ revolutionary mRNA technology. Specifically, the Biden administration has agreed to support a request by India and South Africa for waivers that would permit members of the World Trade Organization to not enforce laws protecting patents and trade secrets covered under the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (TRIPs). "This is a global health crisis, and the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures," declared U.S. Trade...

Sioux Falls, South Dakota; : A third-generation farmer filed a lawsuit today against the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which is unlawfully preventing him from farming one of his fields. In 2011, a division of the Department of Agriculture ruled that a small seasonal mud puddle on Arlen Foster’s farm is protected by federal law as a wetland. Even though the federal government has no authority to regulate such puddles, the department is forcing Foster to choose between productively using his field or participating in federal programs for farmers, like crop insurance. “The government lacks the authority to insist that he...

"Exile" conjures images of banished figures like Napoleon, who languished on the island of Elba, rendered powerless by isolation. Groups of people considered troublemakers also have been exiled from their lands. Diasporas of "undesirables" like the Jews have been a constant in the history of nations whose rulers wanted to be rid of what they considered indigestible elements. Exile within one's own country by a totalitarian regime has been less noted. For such an enterprise, we may look at Vichy France, which was under the thrall and control of a fascist political system imported by Germany but facilitated by French...

The battle over housing is back at the state Capitol.... ...For some time, a main focus of housing legislation has been to bulk up density along major transit corridors. That concept appears to have broad support. But the real fight is over key provisions that allow for two, three or four units — and sometimes more — to be built on lots zoned for single-family homes... ...Eliminating single-family zoning has become a bedrock goal for many housing advocates. It is also one vociferously opposed by suburban homeowner groups ...Such developments would have to be within a half-mile of transit lines,...

How do we effectively fight to restore private property, and our freedom of movement in America? Most think that just getting a president elected is the answer, but what if we lose that race? Or, what if we win the Presidency but lose the House of Representatives and the Senate? What chance do we then have to make any progress in protecting liberty? We have to live in the days after an election. We have to make our way forward in our lives. So, do we simply surrender and accept our fate? Or do we create a new path to...

The increasing encroachment of government regulations, pontificating politicians and the enforcement of Social Justice schemes have led to a loss of understanding of the terms private property and property rights. Once it was understood that the unauthorized entering of private property was a violation to the utmost. The property owner was justified and supported in taking necessary actions to remove the trespasser and secure that land. Today, such ideas in the new America are considered radical, old fashioned, out of touch, and even reprehensible. The homeowner can be arrested for defending against an armed intruder. The intruder can actually sue...

Most Americans tend to think of private property simply as a home – the place where the family resides, store their belongings and find shelter and safety from the elements. It’s where you live. It’s yours because you pay the mortgage and the taxes. Most people don’t give property ownership much more thought than that. There was a time when property ownership was considered to be much more. Property, and the ability to own and control it, was life itself. The great economist, John Locke, whose writings and ideas had major influence on the nation’s founders, believed that “life and...

The lines used to be so clear. On the one side were free markets, free societies, and openly-elected representative governments. On the other, was the force of totalitarianism choking off individual initiative, private ownership of property, and providing a ballot box with but one choice, normally defined as communism. The ideological lines were drawn as a titanic battle ensued across an iron curtain. The Western world united in a mixture of proud, independent, sovereign nations to fend off the creeping black plague that swallowed whole nations and erased their identities. In the end, the “Evil Empire” disintegrated under the weight...

Andrew Cuomo is currently fighting for his political life after becoming engulfed in a sexual harassment scandal. But this is not the first time the three-term Democratic governor has faced similar obstacles. Since taking office in 2011, Cuomo has frequently been mired in scandal in a state with a history of corruption. His administration’s mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic and the snowballing sexual harassment allegations are only the latest in a long line.. Here are five other scandals that have threatened Cuomo’s grip on New York. 1. The Mario Cuomo Bridge.. When the rickety Tappan Zee Bridge needed replacement in...

VALENTINE, Neb. – “Land: see Snatch.” On first look, the Biden Administration’s “30 x 30” plan looks like a scheme cooked up by Hedley Lamarr, the main villain from Mel Brooks’ “Blazing Saddles.” However, far from the comedic genius of the late Harvey Korman, the new Federal land grab is a serious threat to private property owners in the United States. And it’s moving fast.. Just a few days into office, President Joe Biden released a flurry of executive orders, among them being through Executive Order 14008, “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad” (86 Fed. Reg. 7,619), which...

The World Economic Forum (WEF) was founded fifty years ago. It has gained more and more prominence over the decades and has become one of the leading platforms of futuristic thinking and planning. As a meeting place of the global elite, the WEF brings together the leaders in business and politics along with a few selected intellectuals. The main thrust of the forum is global control. Free markets and individual choice do not stand as the top values, but state interventionism and collectivism. Individual liberty and private property are to disappear from this planet until 2030 according to the projections...

I'm thankful. Yes, we've got the pandemic, lockdowns, a worsening deficit, etc. But we still live in a relatively free country at the most prosperous time in human history. The pandemic showed that when people are faced with crises, we adjust. Restaurants switched to takeout and outdoor dining. Grocery stores began curbside pickup. Companies mass-produced masks, hand sanitizer, ventilators and, now, vaccines. I hide from COVID-19 by staying home; yet, thanks to new services such as Zoom, I can research this column and make my weekly videos from my couch. That's brought benefits. I no longer have to deal with...

Since becoming the head of the Catholic Church in 2013, Pope Francis has not shied away from the political domain. On Sunday, the religious leader used the COVID-19 pandemic to renew his criticisms of free-market capitalism. “The fragility of world systems in the face of the pandemic has demonstrated that not everything can be resolved by market freedom,” Francis wrote in part of a lengthy religious text. “To care for the world in which we live means to care for ourselves. Yet we need to think of ourselves more and more as a single family dwelling in a common home....

Bill Clinton’s land management rules and other liberal policies paved the way for future debilitating wildfires ... Zybach warned of potential disastrous wildfires shortly after Clinton signed a slate of rules in the mid-1990s that drastically reduced logging and road creation on federal lands. ... Shortly before leaving office in 2001, Clinton limited the ability of the United States Forest Service to thin out a dense thicket of foliage and downed trees on federal land... created a ticking time bomb ... “If you don’t start managing these forests, then they are going to start burning up. Thirty years later, they...

As the widening gyre that that is 2020 continues to turn, it seems that every day some new disastrous and ill-thought-out proposal is made or policy implemented. ... The idea of abolishing rent is not new, but until now it has never really been considered anything but a nutty pipe dream. ... One of the most high-profile leaders of the cancel rent movement is Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who introduced legislation in April that basically amounts to nothing other than government extortion of landlords. ... Attempting to collect rent or reporting the nonpayment of rent to credit agencies results in...

BROOKLINE (CBS) – The owner of a Brookline deli said he’s getting threats from customers who are refusing to wear face masks in his restaurant. Steven Peljovich, the owner of Michael’s Deli, said a small group of customers is making life hard by not respecting the rules and lashing out if they are asked to put on a mask or wait outside for their orders. “It’s really hard when you are trying to run a business and you need all the revenue you can get, to try to accommodate people like that as politely as you can when they don’t...

Mr. McCloskey explained during his on-camera interview on Monday that he announced to the Marxist mob that they were on private property and that’s when they became enraged. “Somebody forced the gate, and I stood up and announced that this is private property. Go back. I can’t remember in detail anymore. I went inside, I got a rifle. And when they … because as soon as I said this is private property, those words enraged the crowd,” he said. McClosky said one of the militants pulled out a loaded pistol magazine and clicked them together and said ‘you’re next.’ “We...

OXFORD (CBS) – An escalating standoff with the town of Oxford and a local gym owner came to a head as the town moved in and changed the locks and ordered any members inside to leave. This week a judge ruled the town could use whatever means necessary to close the facility and took the first step overnight by turning off the water and electricity. In the afternoon, a constable posted a copy of the court order and soon after the locks were being changed. “I understand shutdown laws and rules but enough is enough,” said Prime Fitness owner David...

SAFEGUARDING NATIONAL SECURITY: President Donald J. Trump is dismantling China’s ability to use graduate students to steal intellectual property and technology from the United States. President Trump has issued a proclamation to block certain graduate level and above Chinese nationals associated with entities in China that implement or support China’s Military-Civil Fusion (MCF) strategy, from using F or J visas to enter the United States.China’s theft of American technology, intellectual property, and research threatens the safety, security, and economy of the United States.Today’s actions will not affect students who come to the United States for legitimate reasons. Affected students...

Some unscrupulous tenants in the tony Hamptons are using the state’s non-eviction order to squat in style, local landlords and real-estate brokers claim. The short-term renters moved into their beach-town pads on Long Island before the coronavirus struck and Gov. Andrew Cuomo enacted a moratorium on evictions till at least Aug. 20 to protect those financially struggling amid the pandemic. The tenants are now allegedly twisting the non-eviction order to their benefit, refusing to vacate their prime summer pads even though their leases are up — and exasperated local landlords say there is nothing they can do about it. “We’re...