Free Republic

The Chinese partners of US citizens have been banned from a rescue flight to evacuate Americans from the city of Wuhan amid a deadly outbreak of coronavirus. A charter flight is scheduled to fly from the Wuhan Tianhe International Airport to San Francisco International Airport on Tuesday. The US consulate in Wuhan began reaching out to all Americans registered as living in the city last week to offer them a seat on the plane. There are roughly 1,000 Americans in the city. Benjamin Wilson, who is from Louisiana but living in the epicenter of the disease with his Chinese wife...

SUBTITLE: As face masks sell out, people say "information is so hidden" and "we don't know the whole picture". Subtle changes are seeping into daily life in Bangkok. Thermal scanners now stand at the doors of luxury malls and attendants pump disinfectant into the hands of visitors as they stream in. With 14 cases, Thailand now has the highest confirmed number of coronavirus infections outside China and people are starting to worry. "It's spreading so fast and the information is so hidden, we don't know the whole picture," young mother Cathy told me. Even her four-year-old son obediently wears a...

“He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. Happy is the man that feareth alway: but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief” (Proverbs 28:13-14).

An Iranian news agency has claimed a CIA chief who helped plan the assassination of general Qassem Soleimani was killed in a plane crash yesterday in Afghanistan. The highly dubious report comes after the Pentagon yesterday denied its E-11A communications jet had been shot down by the Taliban, but stated it had crashed in the Dih Yak district. The US gave no details of casualties but Iranian media and Kremlin-linked news sites have claimed that among the dead was Michael D'Andrea, a CIA boss credited with hunting down Osama bin Laden, known as the 'Dark Prince' and 'Ayatollah Mike.' Iranian...

I guess I should say something. For five years my office at AEI was right next to John Bolton. Lately I’ve been having fun with this photo suggesting I can do “hearsay” with the best of Adam Schiff’s witnesses (that is, “making stuff up”). I can’t say I got to know Bolton very well, but as early risers we were often the first people in the office before well before 7 am on many days, so I’d sometimes stop to chat over coffee and we’d joke about things. And he was helpful to me several times when I needed some...

I’m taking the day off to go skiing as the Sundance herds continue to muck around town. I feel a bit safer from the coronavirus up in the clean mountain air.There will be hot cocoa, as I understand it is loaded with antioxidants; and whipped cream.So I leave today’s heavy lifting and trolling in your capable hands. Don’t do anything they wouldn’t do on a Ukrainian bot farm.Posted from: MOTUS A.D.

Environmental organizations are urging the board members of a major lobbying group for California restaurants to reconsider their support for a lawsuit against Berkeley over the city's ban on natural gas in new buildings.

A French climate alliance of charity groups and local authorities launched an unprecedented legal action Tuesday against Total, hoping to make the French energy company drastically reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. Activists from the non-governmental organizations and over a dozen local governments say it’s the first time a French multinational has been taken to court over the fight against climate change. They want Total, one of France’s top companies, to be more vigilant about the environment and align itself to the goals of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement in fighting climate change. This climate alliance accused Total of failing to...

What are they teaching in New York City preschools? At one taxpayer-funded Brooklyn nursery, it isn’t numbers, letters or nap time — but ­racism and victimhood, plus transgender and “queer’’ rights, with a heavy dose of political indoctrination in the mix. “I was kind of horrified,’’ the father of a preschooler told me. “They say they’re trying to reduce racism and discrimination. To me, they’re perpetuating it, fomenting a sense of victimhood that 4-year-olds would never consider on their own.’’ In an e-mail to parents and caregivers on Jan. 16, teacher Rosy Clark lays out lessons based on the Black...

1:19 On Monday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “The Story,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) stated that if the Senate agrees to hear additional witnesses and grant the subpoenas that Democrats have asked for, then the Senate’s impeachment trial will end up lasting “through April or May.” Kennedy said, “If we make the decision to hear from more witnesses and to grant the subpoenas that our Democratic friends are asking for, I think we’ll be here through April or May.” He continued, “I’ve seen the articles that you might be referencing, Martha, that there’s been a change in momentum. I...

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has been a loud and constant voice for socialist policies throughout his 30 years in Washington, D.C., a self-proclaimed champion of the collective good. But in researching my new book, "Profiles in Corruption: Abuse of Power by America’s Political Elite," I discovered that while Sanders may talk about the common good, his public service has made him and his family quite wealthy. Perhaps no one has benefited more from Sanders’s career in politics than his wife Jane. When Bernie was first elected mayor of Burlington, Vermont, he appointed his then-girlfriend, Jane Driscoll, to head his administration’s...

LIVONIA, Mich. - Ask Victor Burch about the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, and he will rattle off a string of issues of more pressing concern to him, starting with making a living as a barber in this northwestern suburb of Detroit. “You’ve got elderly who need help. You’ve got veterans who need help. You’ve got poor people who need help. Impeachment doesn’t really help a person who is struggling,” said Burch, 40, who took up cutting hair after he lost his job at a plastics factory in the 2007-2009 financial crisis. Burch, an undecided African-American voter, added: “Close...

The next step in the impeachment of the president needs to be considered in both its legal and political aspects.The legal issue is easily determined, is evident from the first few days of proceedings, and remains a foregone conclusion. It was obvious from the endlessly repetitive and absurdly overstated arguments of the House managers, Representatives Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) in particular, that they had no legal case. There was no evidence that the president committed a high crime or misdemeanor as the Constitution requires for a president to be removed from office in such a proceeding. What was...

Paris - For anyone planning to drink their way through the impending climate catastrophe, science has some bad news. According to a new study by US-based experts, global warming of just two degrees Celsius (3.6 Farenheit) could see the world's wine-producing regions shrink by more than half. That's the temperature goal laid out in the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. With 4C of warming, 85 percent of current wine-producing land would be unable to produce good vintages. "In some ways, wine is like the canary in the coal mine for climate change impacts on agriculture, because these grapes are...

For several months after her daughter was born in 1991, Lori Day had terrifying anxiety dreams about failing to protect her baby. Decades later, the recurring nightmares about her daughter’s safety have returned, triggered by the prospect of catastrophic climate change, said Day, 56, an educational consultant in Newburyport, Mass. Day is one of a growing number of people who say their alarm over global warming has led them to adjust - or even abandon - hopes for biological children or grandchildren. Last winter, Day stumbled upon the Facebook page for BirthStrike, a group of about 650 people, based in...

IMPEACHMENT BY DUE PROCESS In this season of a political maelstrom, Trump’s impeachment offers Americans a splendid window on our legal system. Frankly, the old common law standard Due Process is the best way to properly view impeachment as it presumes fairness – common sense, transparent process, and just standards, outside any emotion and bias. One can argue Due Process as the crown jewel of the common law. IMPEACHMENT OVERVIEWImpeachment is not abstruse, but resembles a trial, synonymous for “accusation,” or “charge.” The US House of Representatives has sole discretion in assembling the charges.The House, upon a credible accusation of crimes,...

Hunter Biden has agreed to pay child support to a former stripper with whom he fathered a child in an 11th-hour deal that allowed him to dodge a public court appearance this week. The 49-year-old son of Joe Biden was set to appear in an Arkansas court this coming Wednesday to explain to a judge why he wasn’t handing over financial documents in the case. But Hunter reached a last-minute temporary settlement out of court with ex-lover Lunden Alexis Roberts, with whom he has a 1-year-old child, according to papers filed in Independence County Circuit Court Monday. He agreed to...

DOES TEACHING “GENDER FLUIDITY” PRODUCE GENDER DYSPHORIA? The school board in Denver, Colorado recently passed a resolution requiring all district schools to provide at least one all-gender bathroom. The board also mandated speech by requiring staff to use students’ preferred names and pronouns regardless of their official names or gender. Additionally, the Board said employees should not be disciplined for “disclosing their sexual orientation or gender identity in work-appropriate ways,” and that teachers and other staff should be allowed to hang a rainbow flag or other symbols that represent support for LGBT people.” The Denver Post reported. In a time...

The Pentagon has denied the Taliban shot down a US military plane over Afghanistan killing everyone on board, despite the terror group claiming responsibility. Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the militant group, said that high-ranking American officers were among the dead after the aircraft was brought down in Dih Yak district around 1.10pm local time. US officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said there were no indications so far that the plane had been brought down by enemy activity. One of the officials said there were believed to be fewer than 10 people on board the small military plane....

I think this Dr's comments on this study are very interesting, he addresses the bioweapon conspiracy talk: