Free Republic

The deadly animal virus epidemic spreading globally may have originated in a Wuhan laboratory linked to China’s covert biological weapons program, according to an Israeli biological warfare expert. Radio Free Asia this week rebroadcast a local Wuhan television report from 2015 showing China’s most advanced virus research laboratory known the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Radio Free Asia reported. The laboratory is the only declared site in China capable of working with deadly viruses. Dany Shoham, a former Israeli military intelligence officer who has studied Chinese bio warfare, said the institute is linked to Beijing’s covert biological weapons program. “Certain laboratories...

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is resetting its “Doomsday Clock,” which has stood still since 2018 at two minutes to midnight. I was a member of the Bulletin’s Board of Sponsors for a dozen years and chaired it from 2009 through 2018, and I think it’s time to retire the clock.... Psychologist Steven Pinker argues—and the bulletin admits—that the clock is anything but a scientific instrument. In Mr. Pinker’s view, the annual announcement is a publicity stunt that demeans the scientific community and makes the world seem more dangerous than it actually is. The clock is a publicity stunt—and...

Accosted by a voter who questioned her promise to cancel college debt, Democratic presidential contender Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass) rebuffed his contention that bailing out the debtors was unfair to people like himself who worked and saved to pay his children's college expenses. "Look, the fairest principle for organizing society is that each person should contribute according to his ability and each person should be rewarded according to his need," Warren asserted. "You were able to work two jobs and could afford to pay your kids' way. Not everyone has as much energy or willingness to sacrifice. These less able...

Swedish climate worrier Greta Thunberg held a press conference in Davos, Switzerland, on Friday and complained the climate movement’s demands (on fossil fuel divestment) have been “completely ignored” this week by attendees at the World Economic Forum. Asked for her impressions of the event, a clearly underwhelmed Thunberg was to the point, saying “We had a few demands (coming into the World Economic Forum). Of course these demands have been completely ignored. We expected nothing less,” She cautioned that while world does not treat, “this crisis as a crisis, and as long as the facts are ignored, we will not...

President Trump’s legal team gets its first crack at defending the president Saturday in a truncated Senate session before a more fulsome presentation on Monday. The Senate is scheduled to convene at 10 a.m., and Trump’s attorneys are expected to argue their case for no more than three hours. Members of the legal team insisted the abbreviated schedule was agreed to in order to accommodate senators’ schedules, though it is also likely meant to satisfy Trump, who bemoaned that the public might tune from impeachment coverage out over the weekend.

One person is dead and several are injured following a head-on crash involving a charter bus carrying Covington Catholic students, Campbell County police said. The crash happened around 7:20 a.m. Saturday in the northbound lanes of the AA Highway at California Crossroads in Campbell County. According to witnesses on the scene, a southbound car somehow entered the northbound lanes of the highway, striking the charter bus head-on. "I saw a car come across the median and head toward me," said Ricky Lynn, a witness who was also driving north. "I was able to get out of the way." The driver...

Posted on January 24, 2020January 24, 2020 by Msgr. Charles Pope The Ministry of Angels As Seen in a Commercial Most of us struggle with the fact that God allows bad things to happen to us. Why does He not intervene more often to protect us from attacks of various kinds and from events that cause sadness, setbacks, or suffering?While mysterious, the clearest answer is that God allows suffering in order that some greater blessing may occur. To some degree I have found this to be so; some of my greatest blessings required that a door slam shut for...

Funniest joke you've ever heard about being late. Andy Woodhull - Full Special

People should cut the amount of beef, lamb and dairy produce they eat by a fifth to combat climate change, a report says. It says public bodies should lead the way by offering plant-based options with all meals. But it says if people don’t cut consumption willingly, taxes on meat and dairy might be needed. The report comes from the government’s official advisers, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC). Its chief executive Chris Stark told BBC News: “We can't meet the government's 2050 Net Zero target without major changes in the way we use the land, the way we farm,...

Pat Cipollone (Screenshot) Despite talking for 24 hours in the Senate impeachment trial, Democrats failed to mention key evidence, because they know facts aren’t on the side, President Donald Trump defense attorney said in opening statements Saturday as Trump’s defense began arguments. Cipollone promised that Trump’s attorneys would present the evidence that Democrats omitted, and said that those watching should ask: “Why am I just hearing about this now, after 24 hours of sitting through arguments?”: “The fact that they came here, for 24 hours, and hid evidence from you, is further evidence that they don’t really believe in...

As infectious disease specialists and epidemiologists race to contain the outbreak of the novel coronavirus centered on Wuhan, China, they’re getting back up that’s been possible only since the explosion in genetic technologies: a deep-dive into the DNA of the virus known as 2019-nCoV. Analyses of the viral genome are already providing clues to the origins of the outbreak and even possible ways to treat the infection, a need that is becoming more urgent by the day: Early on Saturday in China, health officials reported 15 new fatalities in a single day, bringing the death toll to 41. There are...

The ‘Year of the Rat’ started with little celebration as the entire country of China is overwhelmed with the outbreak of the Wuhan coronavirus. Experts are now warning of the possibility of an epidemic. One doctor on Twitter discussed the danger of the Wuhan coronavirus: (SEE tweets and charts)

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Philippians 4:8 KJV The only corrupt dictator in DC is Nazi Pelosi. She and her brownshirts in the media have managed to hamstring the President through lies and inuendo with the complete abuse of her power in the House. We are now watching that climactic conclusion with her Seinfeld Impeachment, an Impeachment about nothing. This impeachment serves...

Pass the salt and pepper. It appears that the Washington Post's Dana Milbank has written another column that he needs to eat. This time it is a column chock full of abusurdity so it will probably be harder to digest than during Milbank's previous column dining experience. The premise of Milbank's column on Thursday is that the real reason why we are currently experiencing an impeachment process is not due to the Democrats' urge to impeach from the moment President Trump was elected in 2016. No, according to Milbank the true impeachment culprit is..... Chief Justice John Roberts. I kid you not....

Two threads of educational reform can be discerned during the past 25 years. Both miss the need for real reform and have contributed thereby to the further dumbing down of our public schools. One involves greater federal involvement and funding through No Child Left Behind legislation followed by Common Core initiatives extending federal involvement even further into the realm of standardized testing. The other thread of reform blames racism as an underlying cause of educational failure, and through busing and various regulatory requirements seeks more racial balance in neighborhoods and in schools. The increase in federal control of educational policy...

Only 6% of the respondents in the latest unscientific poll at SharylAttkisson.com say they “won’t miss a minute” of the impeachment trial, while over 40% say they already know how it will end. Twelve percent (12%) replied, “just tell me how it ends”, and 19% of those responding won’t follow the impeachment trial at all. Read the full results below. Meantime, be sure and vote in our latest poll at SharylAttkisson.com on the home page. Look for the black box in the right sidebar or scroll way down on the mobile site! How closely will you follow Trump’s impeachment trial?...

Happy New Year, everyone!! Here's hoping 2020 is the best year yet!! President Trump should take the win in the Senate trial without dragging it out, then concentrate on winning the 2020 election with wide coattails, then bide his time as the cases against the various coup plotters wind their way through the justice system. Win the election, hold the senate, take back the house!! And then continue the work of making America great again: Build the wall, enforce the law, deport them all!! End DACA!! End sanctuary cities!! End anchor babies!! Continue cutting regulations, cutting government, cutting spending and...

On Thursday, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which takes stock of the threats posed by nuclear war and climate change each year, moved the Doomsday Clock to 100 seconds before midnight. We are now measuring how close the world is to catastrophe in seconds -- not hours, or even minutes. It is the closest to Doomsday we have ever been since the clock was created in 1947.

Freshman congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) is often presented in the press as the quintessential Muslim American, representing the values of an increasingly politically active class of voters who cling to their religious convictions while embracing progressive activism. She has unilaterally established the boundaries of appropriate discussion among Muslims, labeling any topic "Islamophobic" that infringes upon her carefully curated image as a champion of the oppressed. Yet, when it comes to Omar's flirtations with Islamist dictators such as Turkish president Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan, her agenda could not be more at odds with the Muslim Americans she claims to represent. While serving...

Not a day goes by that citizens and pundits alike don’t decry how partisanship in Washington is worse than ever. This week, as the Senate trial over a completely partisan impeachment gets underway, they’re half right. If “bipartisanship” can be defined as an ability to compromise, work or vote with the opposing political party, then there certainly is a lack of it on Capitol Hill. However, on the most serious matters before Congress in recent days and decades -- the remaking of healthcare, a Supreme Court appointee, and impeachment of a president -- the inability to compromise exists exclusively on...