Free Republic

It’s a new year, but nothing much has changed since 2019 as far as how dumb and ignorant some college kids can be. Yeah, you can chalk it up as kids just being young and dumb, but when a graduate student and some other college kids from several of America’s most prestigious law schools and colleges decide to express their deep disdain for the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, well, some of us take notice. Daniel Espo, who according to his Facebook profile is studying or had studied at Harvard Law School, expressed his distaste for the late Justice...

First there was the beheading of 11 Nigerian Christians during the recent Christmas celebration. The next day, a Christian woman, Martha Bulus, was beheaded in the Nigerian state of Borno with her bridesmaids, five days before the wedding. Then there was a raid on the village of Gora-Gan in the Nigerian state of Kaduna, where terrorists shot anyone they met in the square where the evangelical community had gathered, killing two young Christian women. There was also a Christian student killed by Islamic extremists who recorded his execution. Then pastor Lawan Andimi, a local leader of the Christian Association of...

Coronavirus could spread on surfaces, World Health Organization (WHO) said Wednesday. There is evidence that the coronavirus 'can also be spread via fomites - when the virus survives on inanimate surfaces for a short period of time,' said Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, a member of the WHO's emergency committee on the outbreak. If the possibility becomes a certainty, it's a worrying revelation for hospital settings, where patients coming to be diagnosed and treated for coronavirus may touch chairs, tables, beds, railings and much more. WHO officials are careful to note that it's not yet clear how contagious the new virus...

John Bolton warned the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee shortly after his departure in September that former ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch's ousting was 'improper,' it was revealed Wednesday. 'He and I spoke by telephone on September 23,' Democratic Representative Eliot Engel revealed in a statement Wednesday. 'On that call, Ambassador Bolton suggested to me — unprompted — that the committee look into the recall of Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.' 'He strongly implied that something improper had occurred around her removal as our top diplomat in Kyiv,' Engel said. The call, on September 23, came just a few days...

It's Catching The Chinese Coronavirus Is Not the Zombie Apocalypse It’s time to take a deep breath and dial down the hysteria.I am not downplaying the seriousness of the new Coronavirus that has been spreading around the world. People are dying and every death is a tragedy, but it is not the end of civilization as we know it, contrary to some media outlets which risk causing undue alarm and panic. The headlines are ominous: “Wuhan is Ground Zero for Deadly Coronavirus.” “Situation in China is Grave.” One paper carried an image of a Wuhan medic breaking down in tears....

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) isn't scared, and he doesn't think his fellow Democrats should be either. Manchin on Wednesday suggested he's open to calling Hunter Biden as a witness in the impeachment trial. "Being afraid to put anybody that might have pertinent information is wrong, no matter if you're a Democrat or a Republican," he said during in an interview with MSNBC's Willie Geist. "If it's relevant then it should be there."

Former White House national security advisor Michael Flynn denied ever having lied to the FBI in a new legal filing submitted as part of his attempt to withdraw an earlier guilty plea to making false statements. “In truth, I never lied,” Flynn said in the Wednesday filing, CNBC reported. In their own filing, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said that in the event that Judge Emmet Sullivan, an Obama appointee, rejects Flynn’s plea withdrawal, the federal government has no objection to Flynn being sentenced to probation without prison time. Flynn claimed in the filing that he...

An 8-year-old boy goes outside for shopping. On the way, he tragically slips and drowns in a pool of rainwater, where he is found dead the following day. Some observers accuse Jews — without any evidence — of having murdered the boy. Leaders echo the charge, and locals march toward a nearby Jewish neighborhood seeking “vengeance.” ... The rumors of kidnap and murder spread on social media. A Twitter account named “Real Seif Bitar” tweeted that Abu Ramila was “kidnapped and executed” by a “herd of violent Israeli settlers,” who assaulted him and threw his body in a well. Palestinian...

Catalans Dragons' controversial signing Israel Folau can expect to face protests on his first visit to England. The 30-year-old dual-code international, who has not played since being sacked by Rugby Australia last May for making homophobic comments on social media, joined the French Super League club on Tuesday. The signing has caused a storm, with even Super League executive chairman Robert Elstone condemning the move, and Wigan responded by declaring their home game against the Catalans in March a 'Pride Day'. Former Wales international Gareth Thomas said he is "really upset" by Dragons' decision to sign the controversial player. Thomas,...

The House Managers look like second graders at this proceeding.

Flatiron Books, the publisher of the controversial novel, “American Dirt,” cancelled the book tour for the work on Wednesday, citing concerns for the safety of the author, Jeanine Cummins. The book has faced criticism over its depiction of immigrants and Mexico. "Jeanine Cummins spent five years of her life writing this book with the intent to shine a spotlight on tragedies facing immigrants," Bob Miller, president and publisher of Flatiron Books, said in a statement. “We are saddened that a work of fiction that was well-intentioned has led to such vitriolic rancor.“Unfortunately, our concerns about safety have led us to...

If you’ve ever wondered who would come out on top in a bird battle between a great blue heron and a red-tailed hawk (honestly, who hasn’t?), this short clip should put any doubts to rest. Mike Benard @BenardMF Bird battle today (watch to end): heron hunting gophers in field. Catches a gopher with a powerful strike. A hawk screams. Heron drops gopher, flies into air pooping and screaming. Hawk lands, steals gopher, flies away. #MerryChristmas #TeamBird Santa Cruz County, CA. 1,183 7:34 PM - Dec 21, 2019 Twitter Ads info and privacy 328 people are talking about this Mike Benard,...

Dozens of scientists have endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) sweeping plan to combat global climate change after fellow Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden declared that “not a single solitary scientist thinks it can work.” The former vice president derided Sanders’ proposed $16.3 trillion Green New Deal during a campaign stop last week in New Hampshire, adding that “you can not get to zero emissions by 2030. It’s impossible.” Sanders swung back over the weekend, telling a crowd in Iowa that he would soon unveil “a long list of scientists” who back his plan. The Sanders campaign delivered on Tuesday, releasing...

A new exoplanet only 4.2 light years away would prove that there's plenty left to discover in our own cosmic backyard. Scientists have found evidence of a new exoplanet candidate orbiting our closest stellar neighbor, Proxima Centauri. This exoplanet candidate, Proxima c, likely has a mass six times that of Earth. But it's unlikely that life would survive on the planet, given its frigid temperatures. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The red dwarf star Proxima Centauri is our closest stellar neighbor; the star system is a measly 4.2 light years from Earth and can be seen with the naked eye. Because of this proximity,...

Federal agents raided a Philippines-based church in Los Angeles early Wednesday in a human trafficking investigation that led to arrests of two church leaders in what prosecutors said was a decades-long scheme to trick followers into becoming fundraisers and arrange sham marriages to keep them in the U.S. The local leader of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ church was arrested on immigration fraud charges in the early morning bust along with a worker who confiscated passports of the victims of the scheme, the U.S. attorney’s office said. Fundraisers who managed to escape from the church told the FBI that they...

Wuhan citizen says the symptoms of the virus do not match what authorities are saying. “Imagine being a Wuhan citizen…we can’t get any medical treatments, we can’t even get a diagnosis. We can only sit and wait to die.” Direct link to video… https://twitter.com/EpochTimesChina/status/1222596705465643008

U.S. stocks pulled back after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell offered investors a mixed outlook on the economy, deflating the stock market’s recovery from an early-week selloff. The central bank left interest rates unchanged, which initially kept the stock market steady. Stocks started slipping after Mr. Powell, in his press conference later in the afternoon, said the fast-spreading coronavirus may pose risks to global growth and offered a more tempered outlook on economic growth. “There are grounds for what I would call cautious optimism for the global economy,” said Mr. Powell. ”We are not at all assured of a global...

The Free Software Foundation really set the bar high there Good news everybody! The Free Software Foundation has blown through its self-imposed target of 7,777 signatories in its efforts to persuade Microsoft to make Windows 7 open source.We noted last week the GNU-gang's attempt to coax the born-again open-sourcerer formerly known as "The Beast Of Redmond" into making a surprise deposit into GitHub.The thinking was that since Windows 7 has now come to the end of the road, as far as free security updates are concerned, then perhaps Microsoft might release it as open software?We put it to the Free...

The Supreme Court said Monday it will allow the Trump administration to begin enforcing a controversial new policy making it harder for low-income legal immigrants to obtain green cards or visas. The administration's new, expanded “public charge” rule, which makes it easier for officials to bar immigrants who use, or are deemed likely to use, non-cash government benefits such as Medicaid or food stamps, is one of the most consequential policy changes by the Trump administration to date in its efforts to curtail legal immigration. (Under previous practice, the public charge rule was only applied to immigrants who were considered...

Boston EMS and Massport were called to the airport around 3 p.m. Wednesday for a report of a sick passenger at Terminal E. Boston EMS says the passenger was evaluated on scene and refused to be taken to the hospital. Officials would not give any details about the person’s symptoms. A source told Boston 25 News the person could refuse hospital transport because they did not fit coronavirus criteria. If they did fit the criteria, they would not be able to refuse transport. That criteria is set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.