Free Republic

A state judge on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit by Georgia voters and self-described election integrity activists who alleged that officials in Atlanta's Fulton County had counted fraudulent ballots in the November 2020 election. Henry County Superior Court Judge Brian Amero in McDonough just southeast of Atlanta, who oversaw the case, ruled that the petitioners had failed to allege injuries that affected them in a "personal and individual way," leaving them with no standing to bring the lawsuit. The order is the latest defeat for private groups in the United States which have claimed without evidence that widespread voting fraud in...

People who received Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine have higher antibody levels if their booster shot is from Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna, a new report suggests. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has allegedly collected data showing that mixing-and-matching is more protective than getting two doses from the New Brunswick, New Jersey-based company, a person who has seen the data told Axios. NIH officials plan to present the findings during a meeting of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) vaccine advisory committee on Friday. It comes as J&J has asked the FDA to approve a shot of its own single-dose...

Some social media users have been saying that Merck’s experimental COVID-19 antiviral product molnupiravir is a rebranded version of the anti-parasitic Ivermectin. Two disease experts have told Reuters that this is not the case and that the chemical make-up of the two drugs is different. One tweet (here ) reads, “Ivermectin is a safe cure that was removed from CDC treatment protocol. Merck refurbishes it and *poof, it’s a miracle pill. Further proof that Big Pharma is in the business of creating customers.” Similar posts on Facebook are visible here and here .One reads, in part, “The pharmaceutical giant Merck...

At a recent Virginia rally, Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin talked up his plans to boost the economy and fight crime, and said nothing at all about false claims that Democratic President Joe Biden's election victory was the result of fraud.But some in the crowd heard the message all the same, moments before the former private equity executive's speech, when Republican state Senator Amanda Chase told Youngkin supporters - offstage and without a microphone - that she was on guard against a repeat of election cheating."I know what the Democrats are trying to do," she said in an interview after...

The Pentagon's first ever chief software officer resigned last month in protest at the slow pace of technological transformation in the U.S. military, claiming the failure to respond to China winning the Artificial Intelligence battle is putting the U.S. at risk. Nicolas Chaillan, 37, told the Financial Times after resigning: 'We have no competing fighting chance against China in 15 to 20 years.' 'Right now, it's already a done deal – it is already over in my opinion,' he added. 'Whether it takes a war or not is kind of anecdotal.' Chaillan worked for three years on a Pentagon project...

A pre-print study which claimed that there is a 1 in 1,000 risk of contracting a heart inflammation condition known as myocarditis has since been retracted due to a calculation. The study which was conducted by researchers at The University of Ottawa Heart Institute, was featured in numerous blogs and social media posts as proof that the COVID-19 vaccine is unsafe for use. “New Study Shows 1 in 1000 Develop Heart Inflammation After Covid Vaccination; Myocarditis and Other Related Heart Conditions Have Increased Death Rate Within 5 Years,” the headline of an article published on September 21 on The Gateway...

BEIRUT, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Lebanon's Prime Minister Najib Mikati has asked his foreign minister to seek clarification from the international community after Israel granted U.S. oilfield services group Halliburton an offshore drilling contract in the Mediterranean. Lebanon and Israel are in dispute over the delineation of their territorial waters in the Mediterranean and negotiations between the old foes could lead to Lebanon being able to unlock valuable gas reserves...

WASHINGTON/ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE, Sept 7 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden on Thursday will present a six-pronged strategy intended to fight the spread of the highly contagious coronavirus Delta variant and increase U.S. COVID-19 vaccinations, the White House said on Tuesday. The United States, which leads the world in COVID-19 cases and deaths, is struggling to stem a wave of infections driven by the variant even as officials try to persuade Americans who have resisted vaccination to get the shots. Rising case loads have raised concerns as children head back to school, while also rattling investors and upending company return-to-office...

WASHINGTON — Hundreds of officials who worked for former Republican President George W. Bush are endorsing Democratic White House hopeful Joe Biden — the latest Republican-led group coming out to oppose the re-election of Donald Trump. The officials, who include Cabinet secretaries and other senior people in the Bush administration, have formed a political action committee — "43 Alumni for Biden" — to support the former vice president in his Nov. 3 race, three organizers of the group told Reuters, which first reported the story. The group on Wednesday put out a statement announcing its formation.Bush was the country's 43rd...

Click here to read the full articleMEXICO CITY (Reuters) — Mexico’s gov­ern­ment is wor­ried the new U.S. administration’s asy­lum poli­cies are stok­ing ille­gal immi­gra­tion and cre­at­ing busi­ness for orga­nized crime, accord­ing to offi­cials and inter­nal assess­ments seen by Reuters.Ever since Pres­i­dent Joe Biden won the White House vow­ing to undo the hard­line approach of his pre­de­ces­sor Don­ald Trump, Mex­i­co has both looked for­ward to an end to migra­tion bur­dens imposed by Trump, and braced for a new influx of people.Deten­tions on the U.S bor­der have surged since Biden took office on Jan. 20. Mex­i­co has urged Wash­ing­ton to help stem...

A U.S. federal judge on Thursday rejected Parler’s demand that Amazon.com Inc restore web hosting services for the social media platform, which Amazon had cut off following the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol. U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein in Seattle said Parler was unlikely to prove Amazon breached its contract or violated antitrust law by suspending service on Jan. 10, and that it was “not a close call.” She also forcefully rejected the suggestion that the public interest would be served by a preliminary injunction requiring Amazon Web Services to “host the kind of abusive, violent content at...

Supporters of President Donald Trump who stormed and invaded the Capitol on Wednesday reportedly intended to find and execute Vice President Mike Pence. Reuters News Pictures Editor Jim Bourg revealed in a Twitter post that he heard “at least 3 different rioters at the Capitol say they hoped to find Vice President Mike Pence and execute him by hanging him from a Capitol Hill tree as a traitor.” “It was a common line being repeated,” he added. “Many more were just talking about how the VP should be executed.” A Twitter user later responded to the report, sharing a video...

VALDOSTA, Georgia - U.S. President Donald Trump campaigned in Georgia on Saturday for two Republican senators at a rally that some in his party feared could end up hurting, not helping, their chances by focusing on his efforts to reverse his own election defeat. In his first rally appearance since he lost to Democrat Joe Biden in the Nov. 3 presidential contest, Trump urged the crowd to vote for Republican candidates in the Georgia runoff election on Jan. 5 despite his unsubstantiated claims of significant electoral fraud in the state. But he gave considerable time in his remarks to allegations,...

Next year is "going to be catastrophic" in terms of worldwide humanitarian crises, World Food Program executive director David Beasley warned on Friday, per Reuters. Driving the news: The stark outlook comes as many countries contend with not only the coronavirus pandemic, but also possible famine, economic instability, conflict and other humanitarian crises. A record 235 million people will need humanitarian assistance and protection next year, a nearly 40% increase from 2020, the UN projected earlier this week On Wednesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged nations to take greater action on climate change to end the "war on nature," saying...

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary’s government proposed a constitutional amendment on Tuesday requiring children to be raised with a Christian interpretation of gender roles, as Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s ruling nationalists turn to anti-LGBT rhetoric to shore up support. The draft amendment submitted to parliament by Justice Minister Judit Varga declares that children must be guaranteed an “upbringing based on values stemming from Hungary’s ... Christian culture.” “The basis for family relations is marriage,” it says. “The mother is a woman, the father is a man.” It also says Hungary “protects children’s right to the gender identity they were born with,”...

A joint American-Israeli delegation landed in Bahrain Sunday, where officials will be signing a number of bilateral agreements following an announcement last month to normalize relations. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's national security adviser, Meir Ben-Shabbat, led the delegation that flew out of Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport on Sunday morning. Ben-Shabbat said ahead of departure the visit will ‘translate plans to actions and concrete agreements’ with the signing of a range of deals involving finance, investment, trade, tourism, communications, technology and agriculture.

A chain of U.S. survival communities plan to activate and open to members for the first time over fears of violence following the presidential election on Nov. 3. Fortitude Ranch camps in West Virginia and Colorado will open on election day to protect members, the company’s October newsletter said. Regardless of whether Republican President Donald Trump or Democratic challenger Joe Biden wins the election, Fortitude Ranch expects possible “looting and violence” that could devolve into long-term, widespread clashes, the newsletter said. Fortitude Ranch CEO Drew Miller said some on social media feared civil war, and he did not rule out...

KHARTOUM — Sudanese officials will discuss the removal of their country from a U.S. list of state sponsors of terror with U.S. officials during a visit to the United Arab Emirates this week, the ruling council said on Sunday. Sudan's transitional government, in charge since the toppling of Omar al-Bashir last year, has been pushing to get off the U.S. list, which hinders its ability to access foreign loans to tackle an economic crisis. In August, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo raised the issue of Sudan establishing ties with Israel during a visit. Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok told him...

Honduras hopes to relocate its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem before the end of the year, putting an end to its policy of neutrality - a move likely to further anger the Palestinians. "I have just talked to Prime Minister Netanyahu to strengthen our strategic alliance, we spoke to arrange the opening of the embassies in Tegucigalpa and Jerusalem, respectively," Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez posted on Twitter on Sunday. "We hope to take this historic step before the end of the year, as long as the pandemic allows it." Netanyahu said the intention was to open and inaugurate...

Turkey and Russia agreed on Wednesday to press for a ceasefire in war-ravaged Libya, but Ankara said the leader of the eastern forces was illegitimate and must withdraw from key positions for a credible truce to take hold. Moscow and Ankara are among the main power brokers in Libya's conflict while supporting opposing sides. Russia backs the eastern-based forces of renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar, while Turkey has helped the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) repel Haftar's attempt to storm the capital. "We've just reached an agreement with Russia to work on a credible and sustainable ceasefire in Libya,"...