Free Republic

A number of states are approaching the threshold needed for “herd immunity” from COVID-19, according to an analysis from Fundstrat, a financial research and consulting firm.At least ten states may already have at least 50% of residents either vaccinated or previously infected with COVID-19, according to the firm’s analysis. Scientists have not reached a precise consensus on how many members of a population must be immune to the virus to have reached herd immunity, but common answers range from 60%-90%.FUNDSTRAT: Slowly, “the US is getting to that threshold of presumable herd immunity,” as seen in this ranking of states by...

As Joe Biden makes massive moves in every progressive direction possible with overreaching executive orders, several states are setting the stage to stop Democrat-led Washington DC from going beyond their enumerated powers. Federalism is back, baby!Limited-government federalism is what most of the founders envisioned as a permanent ideology guiding this nation through history. They wanted power divided not only between branches of government but also between the jurisdictions. Thomas Jefferson wanted a government in which states were supreme. Alexander Hamilton wanted states and the national government to share powers. What we have today would be opposed by both as Washington...

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) said in a statement Monday the Democrats’ $1.9 trillion coronavirus proposal amounts to nothing more than payback to liberal states that helped Democrats during the recent elections. Scott, a former Florida governor, said Republicans want to pass targeted relief to help Americans suffering from the economic effects of the coronavirus; however, he added that they should not bail out liberal states such as New York, Illinois, and California. He also noted that liberal states are starting to see tax revenue growth, which further calls into question the need for state and local government aid in a...

President Joe Biden told Americans in his Inaugural Address last week: “We have learned again that democracy is precious. Democracy is fragile. And at this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed.” But one would be forgiven for thinking otherwise, given the Biden administration’s behavior on taking office. After a week of Biden, the United States is being run more like a Third World country than an advanced democracy. Here are nine of the most salient examples:

This list is based on the availability of the Sacraments in the traditional rites, homeschooling laws, and coronavirus regulations. As the Biden regime teases another national lockdown and Americans worry about their civil liberties and the basic right to peaceably assemble, the divide between blue and red states is becoming increasingly obvious. The following is a list of what I think are some of the best and worst states for pro-life Catholics and freedom-loving Americans, based on the availability of the Sacraments in the traditional rites, homeschooling laws, and coronavirus regulations. These rankings are based on publicly available data and...

There is a saying that “all politics is local,” and it’s most commonly used in the United States. The saying is often ascribed to former Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill (Democrat, Massachusetts). Whether or not he actually coined the phrase doesn’t matter. He was right, but not in the way he thought. O’Neill was talking about how federal politicians need to pander to local needs in their districts in order to secure their seats in office. However, the saying has a much deeper meaning that O’Neill (a Washington insider) may not have fully grasped. According to the historical record,...

It's easy to guess the states people are leaving. Can you guess the top states where people are headed?Top Outbound StatesTop Inbound States The above numbers are on a percentage basis of inbound to outbound moves, not absolute numbers. The report is from North American Moving Services.Key Takeaways from the 2020 Migration ReportPeople are fleeing California for Texas and IdahoIllinois, New York, and New Jersey are the three states with the most outbound moves. The top five inbound states in 2020 are Idaho, Arizona, Tennessee, South Carolina, and North Carolina, with Tennessee overtaking South Carolina from the 2019 results. Florida,...

Democrats must use our majorities to defend America from those who fueled and supported the riots. That means making it easier for every American to vote. ... I've been fighting for more than two years to pass universal vote-by-mail legislation in the Senate, where Republicans have blocked it again and again. That can't go on any longer. We saw unequivocally this time that voting by mail is secure, convenient and good for turnout. It's also among the best ways to combat racist disenfranchisement, because people opposed to your voting can't shut down your polling place if your polling place is...

...The GOP gains, which were particularly extensive in coal-producing regions, all but assure that Trump’s rigid brand of politics will persist in state capitals, becoming incubators for a new generation of politicians who reject compromise and bipartisanship. Republicans picked up a net 295 state legislative seats nationwide last year, according to data from the National Conference of State Legislators — giving the GOP complete legislative control in 31 states, including veto-proof majorities in at least 15.... ...Those gains were made just as Wyoming and many other states are facing massive budget shortfalls fueled by the coronavirus pandemic and shifting economic...

The disastrous results of the 2020 election have proved a few things. They’re lessons hard learned, but if we are to survive as a free people, we must learn them. The lessons are as follows… The Republican Party (GOP) is essentially dead. The “Republican In Name Only” (RINO) career-politicians have completely turned their backs on Trump-supporting Patriots and made it crystal clear, in no uncertain terms, that they are willing to go on without us, and they would rather remain a minority party indefinitely, or go the way of the Whigs, than accept our support. When it comes to the...

Brilliant, CORRECT-- FOLLOW THE CONSTITUTION. Do not ACCEPT Illegally Unconstitutionally determined Electors.

Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday said that he doesn’t believe he has the “unilateral authority” to decide between competing slates of electors. “It is my considered judgment that my oath to support and defend the Constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not,” Pence said in a statement released just before a joint session of Congress began. As president of the Senate, Pence is presiding over the session. The purpose of the session is to count electoral votes. Under the Electoral College system, voters choose electors. Those electors...

The surface transportation construction industry has long had to rely on Washington for its prosperity. We spend most years holding our breath and hoping we will receive more Federal funding to fix our crumbling roads, bridges and highway systems. Currently in the United States, 7 percent of bridges are structurally deficient, and 19 percent of major highway pavements have deteriorated. Yet, our existing financing structure has few tools to address the looming reconstruction challenges facing existing infrastructure. In 2020, Congress passed a one-year extension of the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. While the one-year extension of the FAST Act...

The American population is a unique mosaic of cultures—and almost 40% of people identify as racial or ethnic minorities today. In this treemap, we use data for 2019 from the Kaiser Family Foundation, which bases its analysis on the latest American Community Survey (ACS) data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Then we break down the same data on a state-by-state basis. Growing Diversity in AmericaAs of 2019, here is the current distribution of the U.S. population by race and ethnicity: •White: 60.1% (Non-Hispanic) •Hispanic: 18.5% •Black: 12.2% •Asian: 5.6% •Multiple Races: 2.8% •American Indian/Alaska Native: 0.7% •Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander:...

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci said Thursday on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports ” that Operation Warp Speed’s Covid vaccine rollout was falling short of the administration’s goal of administering 20 million shots in December because states had not been given the resources they require. Mitchell said, “So now we have two highly effective vaccines. Administering them has been anything but at warp speed. What we’re seeing is, you know, the fact that only something like 2.8 million people have actually gotten their vaccines, 14 million doses have been distributed, though. That’s really a big...

Just curious. What state do you live in? I'll start - Minnesota.

Like many others who have been glued to political blogs and podcasts since election night, I have been constantly checking for any news that might "break the dam" and, effectively, "stop the steal" in it's tracks. And like many others, it's been a 7 week long emotional rollercoaster, with some occasion highs, but an overall sense of frustration and anger. After weeks of public hearings, rumors about gunfights between the CIA and Special Forces, speculation about the DNI report, Electoral college challenges, SCOTUS, etc, etc, I feel that it's time to take a step back, recalibrate, and try to see...

In a move that seems to incorporate the direction that US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito tacitly voiced in his accompanying statement Friday’s decision not to hear Texas’s lawsuit against Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Georgia, the Trump legal team is or has filed lawsuits in each of the Defendant States.The Attorney General of the State of Texas, Ken Paxton, filed a lawsuit in the US Supreme Court against the four battleground states alleging the election laws in each of those states were violated.The suit charged that because the procedural amendments to facilitate expanded mail-in and absentee voting in those states...

The Texas case against Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Georgia has exploded. Now nearly the entire country is picking sides. The whole country knows now that the state of Texas sued Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin on Monday night in the US Supreme Court challenging their unlawful election procedures.Texas argued these four states violated the US Constitution because they made changes to voting rules and procedures through the courts or through executive actions. But these states did not make the changes through the state legislatures as spelled out in the US Constitution.We reported earlier today that President Trump joined Texas in...

Update (1555ET): A total of seventeen US states filed a brief at the US Supreme Court on Wednesday in support of Texas's bid to overturn the election results.* * *By SaraACarter.com,First it was Louisiana, then late on Tuesday Eric Schmitt, the Attorney General for Missouri, announced he will join Texas in the battle to Supreme Court.“Election integrity is central to our republic,” said in a tweet Schmitt. “And I will defend it at every turn. As I have in other cases – I will help lead the effort in support of Texas’ #SCOTUS filing today. Missouri is in the fight.”Election...