Free Republic

You can already feel it in the air. Lockdown—the euphemism describing the onerous restrictions on commerce and social gatherings that pertained throughout much of the country until the late spring—is making a comeback. The Sun Belt states, which are now experiencing a wave of coronavirus-related infections it had escaped in the spring, led the way. SNIP Relative to the nightmarish ordeal these states endured in April and May, these new caseloads remain comparatively low and stable. Indeed, half the states in the Union are either pausing or reversing their efforts to reopen businesses and social venues, and their relative infection...

The Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office is investigating whether a large mansion party in Alpine broke the governor’s limits on gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic. On Saturday, hundreds of partygoers crammed together at a bash, mainly outdoors, at a home on Hemlock Drive from the early afternoon to about 10 p.m., said Alpine Mayor Paul H. Tomasko. He said he does not know the exact number of attendees, but said a majority were not wearing masks or social distancing. He said the party was held by people renting the house with the knowledge of the owner. “Most everyone should be aware...

In a recent coalition letter to “decision makers,” 150 health experts call for a second lockdown. Certainly this letter is well-intentioned, with its authors citing the awful prospect of losing a projected “200,000 American lives by November 1st” as motivation for penning the message. Healthcare professionals are nobly bound to the hippocratic oath. But realistically, the idea of shutting America down again is impractical and insulting, especially to those who have complied with the first nationwide lockdown.

Students of American history will recall the colorful figure of Carrie Nation, who in her enthusiasm for the temperance movement, took to whacking up saloons with a hatchet. The six-foot-tall Nation would later go on to earn her a living from her notoriety by selling small axes as souvenirs. Nation’s avid co-laborers in the temperance movement would later succeed in passing legislation prohibiting all alcohol consumption. The broad sweep of what she and others saw as a deleterious influence on individual and national health and welfare accomplished little in the way of removing the scourge of alcoholism. But the temperance...

It seems that every day brings a breaking news story regarding the retail industry. The same is true for the entire world as it winds its way through the current health and economic crises. But it still came as a surprise when shoppers showed up at many Lord & Taylor locations late Sunday morning and found “Store Closing Signs” posted in the windows. The liquidation shouldn’t come as a complete surprise. The retailer has been battered by heavy debt, cash flow issues, and COVID-19 store closures. Its current owner, the clothing rental firm, Le Tote, purchased Lord & Taylor last...

California Teachers Association (CTA), the most powerful public-sector union in the Golden State, issued a statement asserting that, due to coronavirus concerns, state schools should not open .. The following day, the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) released a 17-page “research paper” in which concerns about coronavirus were secondary to sweeping political demands — including Medicare for All, guaranteed housing, a wealth tax, a millionaire’s tax, defunding the police, financial support for illegal immigrants, and a moratorium on charter schools. ... The Los Angeles Unified School District fell into line ... The circle was completed on July 17, when...

In 2020, something dramatically changed—and not for the better. The sloppy conventional rhetoric aside, it was most definitely not some “pandemic” that succeeded in undermining the economic, psychological, and communal well-being of hundreds of millions (possibly as high as 1.6 billion) of human beings around the planet.  And it was not some virus—“the Virus”—that wreaked havoc in the United States. Rather, it is the mass hysteria over a virus fomented by materially, ideologically, and electorally-motivated political and media elites that accounts for the incalculable suffering of countless human beings. In America, since March and courtesy of state governors and...

Exxon lost $1.1 billion in the second quarter, its economic pain deepening as the pandemic kept households on lockdown, diminishing the need for oil around the world. The Irving, Texas-based oil giant brought in $32.6 billion in revenue during the second quarter, less than half of what it brought in at the same time last year. The quarter was one of the worst on record for the oil industry. The price of a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude fell below $0 in April, a stunning downfall that had not before been seen in the industry.

New jobless claims have risen for the second week in a row, after dropping for 15 straight weeks, as spiking coronavirus cases delay plans to reopen or cause some states to backpedal. The Department of Labor said on Thursday that 1.416 million Americans filed for unemployment in the week ended on July 25, an increase of 12,000 from the prior week. It marked the 19th straight week that more than 1 million people have applied for unemployment benefits.

The man who staged a protest against beach closures on July 4th and who was taken into custody last week at a Broward County news conference is back with a new complaint against the county’s latest emergency order, which he says is unconstitutional. Chris Nelson, the Fort Lauderdale resident behind the group ReOpen South Florida, said he intends to file a lawsuit against the county’s order this week.

Health officials in Philadelphia are calling the city’s spike in coronavirus cases a “second wave,” prompting an extension of bans on activities like indoor dining. “The second wave has simply hit us right now,” Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley said, according to NBC 10. This means the ban on activities like indoor dining will be extended until at least Sept. 1, according to reports. The city had been targeting Saturday as a potential date to reopen indoor dining. The rest of the state had been allowing indoor dining at 25 percent capacity, but this had not been re-established in Philadelphia....

Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz on Sunday accused Democrats of deliberately seeking to extend coronavirus lockdowns of businesses and schools so that President Trump suffers politically ahead of the presidential election. Democratic-aligned teachers' unions have remained opposed to opening schools. In Los Angeles, the teachers' union has made overtly political demands as part of its reopening plan, including defunding the police, taxing the wealthy, implementing a moratorium on charter schools, providing "Medicare-for-all," and obtaining more federal funding. "We're 100 days out from the presidential election -- the only objective Democrats have is to defeat Donald Trump," Cruz told CBS News'...

Unemployment benefits expire tomorrow The $600 a week unemployment benefits are scheduled to end tomorrow. The Cares Act — the $2.2 trillion stimulus package — authorized $600 a week of enhanced unemployment benefits. The Cares Act references July 31, 2020 as the official expiration date of these unemployment benefits, which are also known as Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation. However, the U.S. Labor Department says that states can pay unemployment benefits no later than the week ending one week before July 31, 2020. Since July 31 is not a Saturday or Sunday, this means the week prior becomes the end date...

As states and municipalities pursue phased reopenings of economic and social life amid the novel coronavirus, workers are headed back to work. But some workers are finding teachers unions to be an unexpected impediment to their own resumption of something-like-normality. The burden of the unions’ obstinacy will likely fall hardest on suburban professional women, forced to choose between their careers and supervising children forced to “learn” through “distance learning” — a euphemism for government school systems’ pathetic substitute for classroom instruction. The unions argue that subjecting children to inferior home-based, video conference schooling is necessary to protect them and the...

The Republican Party of Texas (RPT) is off to a rocky start with its virtual convention this week. Though the party has worked on putting together a state convention for three years, the coronavirus changed things up at the last minute. Instead of the usual large, in-person convention, it is now a virtual convention. When the convention tried to open Thursday, things did not go smoothly.The RPT planned to stream the virtual convention on its Facebook page and on YouTube beginning at 9:00 a.m. After problems with electronic credentialing of delegates were worked out, the chairman gaveled in the...

Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), says the idea of firing or demoting Dr. Anthony Fauci is “unimaginable.” “This is a remarkable scientist who has led NIH’s efforts in infectious disease with great distinction for more than 30 years, and who continues to be our lead in vaccines and therapeutics for Covid-19,” Collins told STAT News on Friday. “The idea of losing that leadership at this critical moment for our nation is unthinkable.” Fauci currently serves as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which is part of NIH. Collins is Fauci's...

When California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that large sections of California would have to shut down businesses and churches because of a coronavirus resurgence, many religious leaders refused to comply with the order. The Monday order, which allows churches to continue socially distant services outside, effectively sends some of the most densely populated counties back into a full-on lockdown for an indefinite period of time. Newsom in a Monday press conference said that he expects the virus to keep spreading unless the state remains locked down because "COVID-19 is not going away anytime soon until there is a vaccine or...

There’s no estimated end to the new restrictions imposed on Pennsylvania restaurants, bars and gatherings in response to a new wave of COVID-19 infections. “While this step may feel like a move back toward the yellow phase, we need individuals to see the seriousness of the situation and to take personal action,” state health department spokesman Nate Wardle said. Gov. Tom Wolf offered no estimated duration on Thursday afternoon. “We’re trying to shut this down in a short, focused way so that all of us can get back to work as quickly as possible,” he said. “If we do nothing,...

Bars and restaurants in New York City that receive three “strikes” for failing to enforce social distancing will be forced to close, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Thursday. In addition, bars and restaurants across the state will be allowed to serve alcohol only to patrons also ordering food, and walk-up bar service will not be allowed. The governor announced the restrictions after numerous reports of compliance issues. “There is significant evidence of failure to comply,” Cuomo said during a conference call with reporters. “It’s wrong, it’s dangerous, it’s selfish, it’s unacceptable. It’s also illegal.”

RUSH: Raging argument in America over whether or not to send our kids back to school. Do you realize how ridiculous this is? We have never, even during the Spanish flu pandemic, we have never done what we are doing now, and we have certainly never been governed by fear. And we now have an entire political party that wants this country shut down as much as it can be — economically, educationally, you name it. It is obscene. And they are doing this for one reason — they can’t find a way to either defeat or get rid of...