Free Republic

Former New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg donated a total of $463.8 million to his self-funded presidential campaign by the beginning of February, according to a Federal Election Commission filing posted Thursday. Of that money, Bloomberg has spent $220 million in January alone — more than several of his opponents have raised in the entire cycle. Axios estimated that equalled a spending of $7.1 million a day, broken down into $4,942 spent per minute and $82.37 per second. Bloomberg, who’s worth over $50 billion, has been spending heavily on TV advertisements, especially on Super Tuesday states on March 3. The...

Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren on Thursday decried an Arizona bill that would prevent biological males from competing in girls sports, calling the legislation “cruel.” “Trans athletes are not a threat,” Warren wrote in a tweet. “We need to protect trans kids - and all LGBTQ+ kids - and ensure they feel safe and welcomed at school. I urge the Arizona legislature to reject this cruel bill.” The “Save Women’s Sports Act” would assign high-school students to interscholastic and intramural leagues by their “biological sex” rather than the gender with which they identify, grouping biological females together and likewise for...

BERLIN - A German court ruled on Thursday that Tesla Inc can continue to clear forest near the capital Berlin to build its first European car and battery factory, in a defeat for local environmental activists. The court said in a statement it had rejected urgent applications to stop the land being cleared of trees from several environmental groups, adding its ruling was final. It had temporarily halted the tree felling earlier this month. The U.S. electric carmaker announced plans last November to build a Gigafactory in Gruenheide.

A federal judge issued a permanent injunction against the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector on Wednesday, telling the agency that it cannot hold migrants, including families with children, for longer than 48 hours. In his 40-page decision, U.S. District Judge David C. Bury ruled the conditions at the sector's eight stations are "presumptively punitive and violate the Constitution," and he blocked Border Patrol and parent agency U.S. Customs and Border Protection from holding people who have been processed by agents for more than 48 hours from "book-in time." "Detention may not extend into a third night under the 'no longer than...

[Catholic Caucus] Francis-approved communist parallel Chinese ‘church’ approves abortion, contraception The government-established 'church' cannot deviate from the Communist Party's position, which includes support for forced abortion. BEIJING, China, February 20, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) ― The confusion around the Vatican’s concordat with China and its state-founded version of the Catholic Church has been compounded by the failure of the so-called Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (CPCA) to transmit the Gospel of Life. According to expert Steven Mosher, the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association is in lockstep with the pro-abortion, pro-contraception Chinese Communist government when it comes to life issues.  “The CPCA cannot deviate...

Fans of the beloved old CBS show Walker, Texas Ranger will be sorely disappointed to hear it will be getting the CW treatment in its reboot. In addition to Walker getting a new female partner, media reported on Wednesday that he will have a “gay, conservative younger brother.” The new series will be titled simply Walker and star Jared Padalecki (Supernatural) who will also executive produce. The original, which starred Chuck Norris as Texas Ranger Cordell Walker and aired eight seasons from 1993-2001, was a wholesome, moral show about good vs. evil and roundhouse kicks. With the show, movie actor...

The third (yes, third) Democratic primary debate of the month will be held in Charleston, South Carolina, on Tuesday, February 25. It is co-hosted by CBS and the Congressional Black Caucus Institute, and will air from 8 pm to 10 pm ET on CBS, BET, and Twitter. The debate is the last of a deluge scheduled for February, and it’s taking place just days before the South Carolina primary...Candidates’ performances onstage could play a critical role — in New Hampshire, many voters...indicated that the debate right before the primary influenced their ultimate decisions. This debate will also be the final...

Twitter is experimenting with adding brightly colored labels directly beneath lies and misinformation posted by politicians and public figures, according to a leaked demo of new features sent to NBC News. Twitter confirmed that the leaked demo, which was accessible on a publicly available site, is one possible iteration of a new policy to target misinformation it plans to roll out March 5. In this version, disinformation or misleading information posted by public figures will be corrected directly beneath the tweet by fact-checkers and journalists who are verified on the platform, and possibly other users who will participate in a...

Sepsis, an infection that kills millions worldwide each year and is the third leading cause of death in the United States, may have finally met its match. Paul Marik, the EVMS Foundation Distinguished Professor in Internal Medicine, Professor of Internal Medicine and Chief of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, believes he has developed a cure for the life-threatening infection. His treatment breakthrough promises to revolutionize sepsis care and produce results that are nothing short of astonishing. Vitamin C is often used intravenously as part of a treatment for cancer. Hydrocortisone is used to relieve inflammation and for a variety of...

A prominent City of Buffalo employee plead guilty to the sexual abuse of a 17-year-old boy. Antwan Diggs, 50, plead guilty Thursday to the abuse that happened at the Marriott Hotel at Canalside last August. He forced the boy to perform oral sex on him, then later blamed “demons” for his actions. Diggs was the former Community Crime Prevention Coordinator for the Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency. He has since lost his job. Diggs was also a pastor at the Hananiah Lutheran Church in Buffalo. “There are human frailties in life and people make bad decisions and mistakes,” Defense Attorney Tom...

Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders lost his cool Wednesday night when former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg called him the “best known socialist” who “happens to be a millionaire with three houses.”

More than 1,000 military veterans have signed on to a letter condemning President Trump over his "sustained attacks" on Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the Army official who provided damaging testimony during the House's impeachment inquiry and was later recalled from the White House's National Security Council (NSC). The letter, which was organized by the anti-Trump group National Security Action, condemned the dismissal of Vindman and his twin brother, Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindman, saying it suggests that Trump is prioritizing "a personal vendetta over our national security.".... Signatories of the letter include former U.S. Army Europe Commander Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling,...

All three network morning shows on Thursday ripped into Michael Bloomberg’s Democratic debate debut, hammering the “universally bad” night as possibly a “knockout punch” for the former New York Mayor. ABC even suggested it would have been better if Bloomberg never qualified for the debate. On CBS This Morning, co-host Gayle King ripped, “Listen, the reviews are in for Mike Bloomberg, as you know. And they are universally bad with words like ‘disastrous,’ ‘pummeled,’ ‘stumbled.’” She then held up the mocking front covers of the New York Post and Daily News. King opened the show by declaring, “Mike Bloomberg stumbles...

A state judge has revoked, retroactively, a building permit at 200 Amsterdam on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. If the decision holds, the developer might have to lop off almost half of the 668-foot tower. The Municipal Art Society and other opponents of “super-tall” buildings are elated. But Judge W. Franc Perry’s ruling is likely not only wrongheaded but also a threat to basic fairness and legal predictability. The problem: the developer received his building permit under an official guidance on the definition of zoning lots dating to 1978. That guidance may have been in error—the Department of Buildings (DOB) has...

CROYDON, N.H. — A New Hampshire town’s chief of police left town hall in his underwear after officials voted to dissolve the one-man department. “I was told that I had to turn over the keys to the cruiser and my uniform immediately. I had no other means of transportation, as the cruiser is a take-home vehicle, and I have no spare clothes in the office, so I did as ordered,” police chief Richard Lee told the Union Leader. Lee, who had worked nearly 20 years for the town, walked nearly a mile home during a snowstorm in a pair of...

Last night’s Democratic Debate was like a WWE wrestling event minus decent wrestlers. Seriously, if Warren could have grabbed a folding chair and slammed it over Bloomberg’s head she probably would have. Man, she was absolutely unhinged, which tells you she knows she’s just about done. James Woods summed ALL of this up in one perfectly hilarious meme:

A school district in Maryland revamped its eighth grade U.S. history curriculum after reviewing how it approached topics like slavery. Eighth graders at Montgomery County Public Schools, one of the largest districts in the nation, now mostly use primary sources like letters and speeches to learn about U.S. history, instead of relying on textbooks alone. "It was really important to us to make sure that we are telling an inclusive narrative of American history," said Tiferet Ani, social studies curriculum specialist. "And so to get away from sort of the dominant narrative that's focused on presidents, on generals, you know,...

More than 1.7 million Americans develop sepsis every year and incidence of the condition is on the rise. In severe cases, widespread inflammation leads to multiorgan failure and death. Results of a new study hold the tantalizing prospect that, for some patients with sepsis, intravenous (IV) vitamin C could increase survival and shorten intensive care unit (ICU) stays. The findings, published in JAMA, are from the CITRIS-ALI (Vitamin C Infusion for Treatment In Sepsis-Induced Acute Lung Injury) trial. Cleveland Clinic was one of seven enrollment sites across the country chosen for the study because of the diversity of its patients...

Preliminary results from two clinical trials of therapeutics for the new coronavirus that’s spreading around the world are expected in several weeks, World Health Organization (WHO) officials said on Feb. 20. The organization’s R&D Blueprint, a plan that allows the rapid activation of research and development activities during epidemics, has enabled the fast-tracking of two trials, WHO director-general Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference in Geneva at the organization’s headquarters on Feb. 20. “We expect preliminary results in three weeks,” Tedros said. 1) One of the trials is using lopinavir and ritonavir, two drugs typically used to...

A Shawnee State University philosophy professor's lawsuit over the pronoun he used to address a student has been dismissed. Professor Nicholas Meriwether, a “professed Evangelical Christian”, was confronted in January 2018 by student Alena Bruening. Bruening said identified as a transgender female and wanted to be addressed by the pronouns she/her/hers. When Meriwether refused to abide by the request, the lawsuit claims, Bruening “became belligerent” and said, “well I guess that means I can call you a c**t.” "the court’s decision opens the door for them to shift from being a marketplace of ideas to an assembly line for one...