Free Republic

During the pandemic, the FDA has granted emergency-use orders to allow millions of N95 and KN95 face masks to be imported from around the world to help combat a dire shortage of protective equipment in the US. But, according to a report published online September 22, as many as 60-70 percent of those masks imported to the US from China may not meet America's minimum safety standards. Researchers at ECRI, an independent nonprofit researching safety and cost-effectiveness in healthcare, tested nearly 200 KN95 masks from 15 different manufacturers. They found that a significant majority filtered out fewer than 95 percent...

LIVE: President Trump Remarks in ATLANTA on Black Economic Empowerment: The Platinum Plan Friday, September 25, 2020: Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. announced that President Donald J. Trump will deliver remarks on Black Economic Empowerment: The Platinum Plan in Atlanta, Georgia on Friday, September 25, 2020 at 1:30 PM EDT.

A new exoplanet discovery is the first of its kind, sitting in a strange 'gap' of exoplanets insanely close to their host stars. The planet is a Neptune-sized body that whips around its star once every 19 hours. Never before has a Neptune-sized exoplanet been found with an orbital period of less than a day. Usually, exoplanets this close to their star are either gas giants, known as ultra-hot Jupiters, or smaller, rocky planets like Earth, Mercury, Mars and Venus, known as ultra-short period planets. This new class, represented by this sole member, has been dubbed "ultra-hot Neptunes". Curiously, its...

While President Trump continues to be at odds with his administration on the science of the coronavirus, the task force member tries to stop the spread on the ground. ------ WASHINGTON — Since July, Dr. Deborah Birx has logged thousands of miles, mostly by rental car, in order to gather ground-level reports on the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 200,000 Americans and infected millions more. As President Donald Trump continues to publicly contradict many of his administration’s top experts on everything from vaccine timelines to the wearing of masks — all while holding large campaign rallies — Birx’s...

SAN FRANCISCO – Pacific Gas & Electric Co. is poised to shut off power to thousands of residents in the Sierra Foothills this weekend amid hot, dry and windy conditions. In a news release Thursday, PG&E said “high-risk fire conditions are expected to arrive Saturday evening, continue through Sunday evening and subside Monday morning.”

Joe Biden’s campaign strategy is simple: Sit in his Wilmington, Delaware, basement and try not to say anything stupid. Of course, it’s not working but he’s trying it anyway. Just look at Trumps schedule. WOW!

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - Two bench warrants have been issued for a central figure in the Breonna Taylor case, sources told WAVE 3 News on Wednesday. The revelation comes two days after WAVE 3 News received 39 pages of leaked documents that paint a picture of a close relationship between Taylor and her ex-boyfriend, convicted drug dealer Jamarcus Glover. “It’s unfortunate that the city did not provide LMPD’s post-death report and that we only learned of it until it was leaked to the media,” Sam Aguiar, an attorney representing Taylor’s family, told WAVE 3 News on Wednesday. "Either way, it...

The Sacramento Bee will leave its 2100 Q Street headquarters next summer, a move that is intended to help offset a decline in ad revenue, according to the newspaper’s regional editor. The announcement was made on the Sacramento Bee’s website in a story surrounded by more than a dozen digital advertisements, some of which obscured the text of the article when they weren’t distractedly animated. The move comes as many non-essential Sacramento Bee staff had been asked to work from home due to the ongoing coronavirus health pandemic.

The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus quietly surpassed 200,000 on Tuesday, less than eight months after the first American fatality. The U.S. reached 100,000 deaths in May. Now, some experts estimate the death toll could almost double by year's end. Fatigue for social distancing and the push to get back into offices and schools could fuel new cases – and deaths – in the coming weeks and months. Experts at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington predict 378,321 deaths by Jan. 1. Some significant developments: Our travel writer David Oliver checked in at...

AstraZeneca’s late-stage coronavirus vaccine trial in the U.S. remains on hold as federal investigators seek “answers to important questions” over its safety for patients, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told CNBC on Wednesday. Global clinical trials for AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine, called AZD1222, were placed on hold Sept. 6 after one of the participants in the U.K. reported a serious adverse reaction. Following an investigation, AstraZeneca said on Sept. 12 that it had resumed trials in the U.K., though the U.S. trial has since remained on hold. “Look at the AstraZeneca program, phase three clinical trial, a lot of...

AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx on Thursday pushed back against a report that said she was distressed over the direction of the task force and was considering leaving. During a livestreamed news conference at Auburn University in Alabama, Birx was asked about a CNN report that said she was frustrated with what she saw as a diminished role and questioned how long she could remain in the role. Birx said she was not considering leaving. “Do I look like a person that is diminished? I’ll tell you that is the first time those...

It was another one of those liberal-media, "move along, nothing to see here" moments. On CNN's New Day this morning, the crew did its best to utterly dismiss the significance of nine military ballots, seven of which were identified as being for President Trump [the two others apparently still sealed], having been found discarded in a Pennsylvania dumpster. [snip] At the end of the segment, Camerota put a dismissive capper on it, calling the ballots in a dumpster just "hiccups."Get the rest of the story and view the video here.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) and First Lady Pamela Northam have tested positive for the Chinese coronavirus, they revealed Friday. According to a statement, a member of the governor’s residence staff “who works closely within the couple’s living quarters” fell ill and tested positive for the virus. On Thursday, both the governor and first lady received a PCR nasal swab test, both of which came back positive. While the governor is currently asymptomatic, his wife is “currently experiencing mild symptoms,” according to the press release.

There have been five total drone delays in Major League Baseball this season from people flying unauthorized drones over MLB ballparks during games, leading to players being called off the field and to those games being temporarily postponed (including the Aug. 4 one between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Minnesota Twins seen above). That’s a concern for the league, but current federal laws limit what they can do about it.

What happened to Breonna Taylor was a tragedy. There is no getting around that. Yet Black Lives Matter made things a million times worse by lying and lying and lying about what actually happened. For months we've been fed phony accounts from the media who swallowed whatever BLM and the Taylor family attorney told them to say. Please read: In the aftermath of the death of Breonna Taylor during a police raid on her Louisville apartment, many have questioned whether the police were at the right apartment in the first place.“Unwarranted raid, at the wrong house for a suspect that...

The Department of Justice has disclosed additional evidence of the FBI’s efforts to undermine the Trump presidential campaign and presidency. Attorney Sidney Powell includes it in her memorandum filed yesterday in support of the “agreed dismissal” of the case against General Flynn. Powell characterizes the FBI misconduct involved in these efforts as “Stalinist tactics.” The FBI’s briefing to President Obama on January 5, 2017, figures in the mix. I have embedded Powell’s memo at the bottom of this post. [snip]"Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents tasked by fired former Director James Comey to take down Donald Trump during and after...

A controversial drug taken by Donald Trump to ward off the coronavirus may be safer than sceptics initially thought, research suggests. The president announced in May he had been taking the anti-malarial medication hydroxychloroquine for a week and a half, causing first-time prescription rates and online searches for the therapy to soar. Hydroxychloroquine is not approved for the prevention or treatment of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, in the UK or US. The World Health Organization (WHO) stopped testing the drug after a Harvard study found patients on hydroxychloroquine were more likely to develop de-novo ventricular arrhythmia, the...

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Law enforcement from multiple agencies arrested Tyree Conyers-Page, also known as Sir Maejor Page, during a raid on a home in Toledo on Friday morning. According to a press release sent out by the FBI, a complaint was filed with the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center in April alleging Page was fraudulently utilizing a Black Lives Matter non-profit organization by way of misrepresentations and by posing as a Black Lives Matter leader. Page has been federally charged with one count of wire fraud and two counts of money laundering. He will have an initial court appearance Friday afternoon. Page has...

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced Friday that he and his wife have both tested positive for the coronavirus, though he said he is showing no symptoms. He’s among four governors around the country who have tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19, but one of the others turned out to be a false positive. Northam and his wife, who has mild symptoms, plan to isolate for the next 10 days while working remotely, according to a statement from his office. The Democrat, the country’s only governor who is also a doctor, has previously been criticized by some Republican lawmakers...