Free Republic

Throughout the Trump era, the media have hated President Donald Trump for both coming and going. They condemned him for not having "formal" press briefings. Now they condemn him for having them. The Washington Post and The New York Times augmented their aggression on the briefings by doing content analysis of the transcripts. Research by reporters Philip Bump and Ashley Parker of The Post was published Monday under the headline "Trump briefings full of attacks, boasts but little empathy: Analysis shows how much politics dominates daily news conferences." They analyzed the transcripts of 35 press briefings since March 16 and...

“When you are going through hell, keep going.”Winston Churchill Churchill made clear that he had little to offer but blood, sweat, toil and tears. He certainly didn’t sugarcoat the gravity of the situation his countrymen were facing. But his plan was for victory. Victory at any cost. He didn’t dwell on the hell they were going through. He did not allow predictions of massive casualties alter plans for the Normandy invasion. Churchill understood that he had to buck up his British subjects. More than anything, they needed hope. These White House briefings offer little of that. Investment Guru Jim Cramer...

"Surreal" is a word people have been using a lot in the last month or so, under the new coronavirus reality. The word can be used to touch upon the terrifying and the life-endangering, as well as the merely inconvenient. Many of our lives are not what they once were. Routines are out of whack, and work and family dynamics are shifting. And, of course, there is the all-around uncertainty, and the wistful thought that maybe this is all just a bad dream we will wake up from. We need something to latch on to when we don't really have...

When she announced the startling results of a new COVID-19 study on Monday, Los Angeles County's top public health official emphasized that the number of infections far exceeds the official count of confirmed cases. She underplayed another important implication of the study: COVID-19 seems to be far less deadly than many people feared. The way Department of Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer framed the study's results raises a question that policymakers across the country will confront as they consider when and how to loosen sweeping restrictions aimed at curtailing the COVID-19 epidemic. Will they be guided by emerging evidence, or...

On my daily walk down a side street, I saw the restaurant with a diagonal cross made of adhesive tape on its sign. Gone was the notice that it would open for takeout; it looked to be closed for good. Although I'm aware that most restaurants go out of business within a few years or even months, I felt a certain sadness. The owners and staff members lost their jobs and perhaps their dreams through no fault of their own and for reasons they couldn't have anticipated just a few weeks ago. I'm guessing they'd like to go back to...

There isn’t a lack of information relative to the Wuhan coronavirus. There’s a ton of it put out there every single day. But it’s the same information, while some other important information is lacking. While the media is focusing on retroactive hypotheticals – “If we’d acted sooner, long before we knew how bad it was because China was lying (something they never mention), could this have all been avoided?” – information that could either make people more or less concerned, is not being given or asked about. First, let me start by saying I’m of two minds on all of...