Free Republic

The U.S. government is taking wise measures to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. But, as the saying goes, we should pray like it all depends on God and prepare like it all depends on us. When I was in school studying infectious disease epidemiology, none of the cool kids worked on flu. We all wanted to chase Ebola, HIV/AIDS, drug-resistant tuberculosis, malaria, and other exotic killer bugs.Everyday, ho-hum killers like influenza, pneumonia, and other respiratory illnesses were just too mundane for globetrotting adventurers like us. Who wants to spend her life hand-sanitizing and finger-wagging about vaccines when you could...

Diversicare Health Services Inc., has agreed to pay $9.5 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by knowingly submitting false claims to Medicare for rehabilitation therapy services that were not reasonable, necessary, or skilled, the Department of Justice announced today. The settlement also resolves allegations that Diversicare submitted forged pre-admission evaluations of patient need for skilled nursing services to TennCare, the state of Tennessee’s Medicaid Program.  Diversicare, based in Brentwood, Tennessee, provides skilled nursing and rehabilitation services at approximately 74 facilities across the country.“Today’s settlement demonstrates our commitment to protect patients and taxpayers by ensuring that...

A Black Lives Matter activist said Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey's husband brandished a gun at her as she, along with other protesters, rallied outside the couple's home in Granada Hills early Monday morning. Melina Abdullah, one of the the most vocal Black Lives Matter organizers in Los Angeles, released video of the confrontation she said happened between her and Lacey's husband David at around 5:40 a.m. The footage opens with a man holding up a firearm at his door saying: "Get off of my porch, right now. Get off." A woman is heard responding: "Good morning. Are...

Miami, FL ~ Friday, February 28, 2020 Remarks as Prepared for Delivery Thank you, Vince [Hawkes]. It’s wonderful to be here. I’m grateful to Vince and to all the leadership and staff at the International Association of Chiefs of Police for the work they do, every day, on behalf of brave law enforcement officers across the United States and throughout the world. The relationship between the IACP and my office, the Office of Justice Programs, goes back many years, but it has never been stronger than it is at this moment. We have stood side by side in the fight...

Guest piece from America’s History Teacher, Larry Schweikart I know. I get outright laughter when I say this (which I first did in 2018 on Brandon Voght’s radio show in New Mexico when asked who would be the GOP nominee in 2024 assuming Trump wins in 2020. (First, there is no doubt in my mind that Trump not only will win in 2020, but will do so even far more convincingly than in 2016—perhaps between 320 and 340 electoral votes and win the popular vote. But it could be even better for Trump depending on who the Democrat nominee is)....

As millions of students across the United States celebrate Read Across America Day, Melania and I are pleased to join them in celebrating the wonders of reading and literature, while also honoring our Nation’s outstanding educators, librarians, and families who support America’s remarkable young people. Read Across America Day is a celebration of the joys of literacy and an important reminder that we must make every effort to ensure that our Nation’s children receive the necessary education in reading and writing to cultivate the skills they need to pursue their American Dream. To help all of America’s students unlock their...

Vice President Mike Pence today convened a regularly scheduled White House Coronavirus Task Force meeting via phone at 4:00 pm EST. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield provided the latest update on the Coronavirus including the actions taken to implement the announcement yesterday from President Donald Trump. Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun discussed the measures taken for screening of outbound passengers from Italy, South Korea, Iran, and China in addition to the assistance provided to State and local communities by the CDC....

Two cases detected weeks apart in Washington State had genetic links, suggesting that many more people in the area may be infected. Researchers who have examined the genomes of two coronavirus infections in Washington State say the similarities between the cases suggest that the virus may have been spreading in the state for weeks. Washington had the United States’ first confirmed case of coronavirus, announced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Jan. 20. Based on an analysis of the virus’s genetic sequence, another case that surfaced in the state and was announced on Friday probably was descended...

We have long heard the phrase “The dumbing down of America” to describe the effort of the Democratic Party to indoctrinate, under-educate, immigrate and acclimate, to influence the coming elections to favor the Democrat candidates. Usually, when we think about this process, we tend to imagine it to be the poorly educated, illegal aliens, the huddled masses who dwell generationally at the bottom of the prosperity chain, looking for someone to blame their plight on. And such a movement does exist in those echelons as the “progressive” wing of the Democratic Party strives to tilt the playing field by hook,...

Today, Vice President Mike Pence and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar announced the addition of the following individuals to the President’s Coronavirus Task Force: Dr. Ben Carson, Secretary of Housing and Urban DevelopmentDr. Stephen Hahn, Commissioner of Food and DrugsKelvin Droegemeier, Director of The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy  Last week, the Vice President announced the addition of Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin, Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams, Director of the National Economic Council Larry Kudlow, and Coronavirus Response Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx to the task force. Additional members can be found here.  

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg explained in an interview with “60 Minutes” why he believes America will choose him over President Donald Trump this fall by characterizing those who swept Trump into office as mounting a “revolution” against the educated elite.

As we observe National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, Melania and I join the American people in remembering those family members and friends who have been lost to this terrible disease. We extend our support to those brave individuals battling colon and rectal cancers and encourage them to always keep up the fight. Colorectal cancer accounts for 50,000 deaths each year, the third most among all types of cancers. Colorectal cancers affect people of every race and ethnicity, and are most prominent in people over the age of 50. Furthermore, colorectal cancers do not always show symptoms in the early stages,...

A federal court on Monday ruled that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton must sit for a deposition where she will be questioned on matters relating to her use of a private server during her time in the State Department. The ruling from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia was issued in relation to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from conservative activist group Judicial Watch. The Court had previously ordered discovery into three main areas: whether Clinton’s use of a private email server was an intentional attempt to evade FOIA; whether the State Department...

We are pleased by yesterday’s well-reasoned decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejecting a suit by House Democrats seeking to compel the testimony of former White House Counsel Donald F. McGahn II. The court recognized the long history, dating back to President George Washington, of presidents of all parties resisting improper information requests from Congress and rightly held that it is not the role of the courts to referee such inter-branch disputes. House Democrats went so far as to impeach the President on a wholly partisan basis in part for resisting their...

VIDEO Now that Joe Biden had a bit of a comeback in South Carolina on Saturday, the mainstream media is desperately looking towards him for salvation against a big Bernie Sanders win on Super Tuesday. The name of the game, as the MSM is well aware, is to keep Bernie down to winning a plurality of the delegate vote, not a majority. Then at the Democrat convention they can steal the nomination away from Bernie again via superdelegates in round two. And the one they hope can make that happen is the semi-coherent, gaffe-prone Joe Biden.

Fr. James Martin: Pope Francis supports LGBT, wants to ‘move on’ from abortion The Jesuit's recorded talk at a liberal parish was peppered with justifications for homosexual ministry and criticism of 'fundamentalist' Catholics. MINNEAPOLIS, February 25, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) ― An LGBT activist priest told an audience in a dissident Catholic parish that Pope Francis supports his LGBT ministry and that the pontiff wants the Church to “move on” from its fight against abortion.  Fr. James Martin, S.J. was recorded giving these and other illuminating thoughts on January 9 during a talk at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church in...

The Dodge Grand Caravan’s journey is finally ending this spring. The minivan is scheduled to end production on May 22, the automaker has confirmed. The Caravan was introduced alongside the Plymouth Voyager in 1984 as a “garageable” van that helped kick off the minivan craze that continued through the 1990s, until family car buyers started making the shift to SUVs. The stretched Grand Caravan was added to the lineup in 1987 and eventually became the only version offered. The Caravan lived through five generations, with the current one dating back to 2008. U.S. sales topped 300,000 in 1996 and 1997,...

AND NOW... it is time for... that harmless, lovable little fuzzball, the highly-trained broadcast specialist, having more fun than a human being should be allowed to have, from behind the golden EIB microphone, firmly ensconced in the prestigious Attila-The-Hun chair at the Limbaugh Institute of Advanced Conservative Studies.

Thomas Knight with the enormous lake trout that broke New Hampshire's 62-year-old state record for the largest lake trout. (CNN)When Thomas Knight set out on the ice to go fishing for lake trout, he was determined to haul in a big one. He came prepared with an 11-inch sucker because big bait attracts big fish, he said. But what he reeled in was bigger than anything he could have imagined. Knight, of Meredith, New Hampshire, caught a lake trout last Tuesday that weighed in at 37.65 pounds, easily breaking the state record that was more than 60 years old. The...

The United States and Afghan governments took their first step in ending the almost two decade war with the Taliban on Saturday by signing a peace agreement and a joint declaration to take U.S. troops out of Afghanistan. The withdrawal agreement was signed after a "reduction in violence" agreement was in effect between the two sides. The plan is to now have both sides come to the table to enact a permanent ceasefire and enable conditions to allow U.S. troops to completely leave Afghanistan in 14 months. The "reduction in violence" agreement only applies to the Taliban and not Al-Qaeda...