BETHLEHEM, Pennsylvania (PNN) - December 24, 2020 - It's a few days before Christmas in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and there is plenty of room at Seven Sirens Brewing Company.

The brewery's 7,000-square-foot tasting room has a fire code capacity of 320, but during happy hour on Monday, there are only about a dozen patrons scattered around the place, sitting in ones and twos at socially distanced tables and sipping beers served by two masked bartenders. Whether they know it or not, everyone here is engaged in an act of civil disobedience, challenging Pennsylvania's ban on indoor drinking and dining that will continue through New Year’s Day, at least. It's a policy that assumes all establishments in the state are equally risky - that a tiny, crowded diner or coffee shop is no different than a massive, mostly empty beer hall.

RICHMOND, Virginia (PNN) - December 21, 2020 - The Family Foundation of Virginia - along with pro-family organizations across the nation - raised alarms about possible violations of federal law being committed by health departments in multiple states.

At issue are anonymous sex-text hotlines (in Virginia, called “BrdsNBz”) for teens being promoted by state health departments - in several cases through funding from Title V federal grants.

Title V federal grants are designated for abstinence education or “education exclusively on sexual risk avoidance that teaches youth to voluntarily refrain from sexual activity.”

by Michael Badnarik

December 26, 2020 - I have been asked to write about the principles of Libertarian thought, and to comment on John Hospers’ book, Libertarianism: A Political Philosophy for Tomorrow. Both the Libertarian Party and Hosper’s book will be celebrating their fiftieth anniversaries in 2021.

Principle

In order to be effective, I must first define what a principle is. In physics, it is defined as “a fundamental, primary, or general law or truth from which others are derived”. In other words, the laws of physics are immutable. They cannot be changed—ever! There are never places or moments when gravity can be ignored. According to the public’s uninformed understanding, gravity does not exist on the International Space Station. They watch videos of astronauts floating from room to room, unsuspended by wires. Their conclusion is that gravity does not exist in “outer space”. However, upon further reflection, they might realize that the moon would not revolve around the earth, and the earth and other planets would not revolve around the sun, if it were not for the immutable law of gravity. The astronauts seem to “fly” through their environment because of micro-gravity, not because of the absence of it.

Infectious disease specialists and epidemiologists ask you to sign petition.

December 26, 2020 - As infectious disease epidemiologists and public health scientists we have grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing COVID-19 policies, and recommend an approach we call Focused Protection.

Coming from both the Left and Right, and around the world, we have devoted our careers to protecting people. Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health. The results (to name a few) include lower childhood vaccination rates, worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes, fewer cancer screenings, and deteriorating mental health - leading to greater excess mortality in years to come, with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden. Keeping students out of school is another grave injustice.

SAN DIEGO, Kalifornia (PNN) - December 22, 2020 - District officials in San Diego evidently believe that the practice of grading students based on average scores is racist.

K-12 students in large public school districts across the country spent much of the fall semester at home, a less-than-ideal result of the COVID-19 “pandemic”. But Zoom learning was hardly the only significant change to the education system. Some school districts are embracing trendy but dubious ideas about how to fight racism in the classroom.

NEW YORK (PNN) - December 22, 2020 - The posh Dalton School in Manhattan is mired in controversy after an eight-page memo of staff and faculty’s anti-racist demands was leaked, proposing sweeping changes to staffing, training and curriculum at the elite preparatory school.

Frustration had already been mounting at the Upper East Side school, where the $54,180 annual tuition is unchanged despite in-person classes remaining cancelled since March - even as other New York City schools reopened.

BALTIMORE, Maryland (PNN) - December 22, 2020 - Johns Hopkins University’s student newspaper, the News-Letter, reported on a university presentation stating that COVID-19 “had no effect on the percentage of deaths of older people” and that the virus “has also not increased the total number of deaths” in comparison to historical data. However, the paper later removed the article, stating that it had been used to support “dangerous inaccuracies” on social media.

Assistant Director for the university’s Applied Economics program Genevieve Briand critically analyzed the net effect of COVID-19 on deaths in the Fascist Police States of Amerika based on historical data. Using information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Briand identified the percentages of total deaths per age category both before and after the “pandemic” started.