Free Republic

You had to live--did live, from habit that became instinct--in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized."--George Orwell, 1984 It had the potential for disaster. Early in the morning of Monday, December 15, 2020, Google suffered a major worldwide outage in which all of its internet-connected services crashed, including Nest, Google Calendar, Gmail, Docs, Hangouts, Maps, Meet and YouTube. The outage only lasted an hour, but it was a chilling reminder of how reliant the world has become on internet-connected technologies to do everything from unlocking doors and turning up the...

Revolution, Inc.Angry Isms & Destructive Theories Combine to Divide the CountryThere is nothing new under the sun, and that holds true for Black Lives Matter (BLM), the anarchical organization hell-bent on cultural revolution, which means deracinating those institutions necessary for human flourishing. Marxism, feminism, and paganism were chewed up, swallowed, and vomited out as the bolus BLM.Knowing that a divided house cannot stand and longing for the collapse of the house, BLM uses race to divide and destroy. Saturated with Critical Theory, which emerged from the desiccated carcasses of failed Marxist projects and flourishes in academia, BLM exploits identity politics—not...

The researchers have developed an origami-inspired, folded plastic fuel bladder that doesn’t crack at super cold temperatures and could someday be used to store and pump fuel. Credit: WSU ================================================================== Washington State University researchers have used the ancient Japanese art of paper folding to possibly solve a key challenge for outer space travel – how to store and move fuel to rocket engines. The researchers have developed an origami-inspired, folded plastic fuel bladder that doesn’t crack at super cold temperatures and could someday be used to store and pump fuel. Led by graduate student Kjell Westra and Jake Leachman, associate...

McConnell's familial link to Chao family's Foremost shipping company, Chinese State Shipbuilding corporation, and Bank of China resurface after Kentucky senator's declaration of victory for Joe Biden ... McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao, is the daughter of shipping magnates James and Ruth Chao and the sister of Angela Chao, the latter of whom was appointed to a non-executive position on the Bank of China’s board of directors in 2016. ... However, critics have noted that the fact McConnell’s public refusal to help President Trump in the latter’s fight to restore election integrity could be influenced by the fact that President Trump’s...

On Monday, June 17, and again on Tuesday, June 18, freshman Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stated that the "authoritarian and fascist" Trump administration "has established concentration camps on the southern border of the United States for immigrants, where they are being brutalized with dehumanizing conditions and dying." "Concentration camps are an institutionalized practice in the home of the free … a presidency that creates concentration camps is fascist."

Sean Davis of The Federalist is reporting that the FBI on Monday canceled at the last second its briefing of congressional leadership on Rep. Eric Swalwell and his relationship with a Chinese spy.

Sandra Lee is focused on what’s ahead following an emotional few days. One day after being photographed packing up the New York home she shared with her ex-boyfriend Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the TV chef, 54, revealed Tuesday she had touched down in California ahead of the holidays. “I am in Malibu -watched ‘little women’ on the flight -decided I am Jo! Although Jo would have never cried all the way home..,” Lee captioned a selfie on Instagram.

Something that began in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 continues, a year later, to have a monstrous impact on the way Americans live their lives. We are less free today because a Chinese virus came our way -- and because of the way some politicians have reacted to it. Start with the science: COVID-19 originated in China. "As COVID-19 began spreading in Wuhan, China, it became an epidemic," says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Because the disease then spread across several countries and affected a large number of people, it was classified as a pandemic." Specifically, as this...

...A grand jury in Brownsville, Texas, on Monday handed up sixteen counts against Pascale Ferrier, court records show. The 53-year-old resident of the Montreal area is in federal custody in Washington, D.C. on similar charges, prosecutors said Tuesday. ...In September, Ferrier pleaded not guilty to making threats against President Donald Trump by mailing a package containing ricin to the White House after she was arrested at the U.S.-Canada border. A federal judge in New York denied her release on bail. Ferrier is also alleged to have sent ricin to six detention centers and law enforcement agencies in the Rio Grande...

Under Georgia law, emergency rules adopted by any state agency or regulatory body automatically expire 120 days after their adoption(see § 50-13-4-b). Subsequently, the State Election Board met on July 1 and unanimously voted to amend and extend Election Code Emergency Rule number 183-1-14-0.8-.14. for an additional 120 days, meaning the rule was set to expire on October 28, five days before the November 3 general election..

Social media giant Twitter has confirmed it is working on plans to crack down on President Donald Trump when he leaves office, with possible actions including banning him from the platform. Jack Dorsey's company revealed they will seek to crack down harder on Trump’s personal Twitter account after he leaves office.

This cruelest of years has claimed the life of another consequential scholar whose passing warrants some reflection. James Flynn, who died last week at 86, was an American social scientist born in Washington and educated at the University of Chicago. He spent most of his academic career on the other side of the planet, at the University of Otago in southern New Zealand. Flynn specialized in the study of mental tests and human intelligence, and he distinguished himself by bringing far more light than heat to this fraught debate. Many earlier researchers of group differences in mental performance were convinced...

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Gov. Tim Walz plans to keep bars and restaurants in Minnesota closed for indoor service through the holidays. Walz is expected to make the announcement Wednesday on extending the restrictions he imposed last month for a four-week “pause” that was due to expire Friday. The governor’s order also closed fitness centers and other places where people gather, as well as high school and other organized sports. Walz’s spokesman Teddy Tschann says the governor will lay out a strategy that prioritizes in-person learning for elementary students. Also, the governor is expected to sign the state COVID-19 relief...

The D.C. mayor’s office is only a half-mile from the National Archives. If Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser ever made that trek, she might have a better grasp on the U.S. Constitution. It’s right there for everyone to read, including the First Amendment, which warns leaders like her against infringing on the free exercise of religion—something her COVID-19 rules have done to every believer in the nation’s capital. Now, one of the holiest days of the year approaching, Catholic leaders are done with the unfair treatment. And they’re taking her to court to prove it. The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, like...

President Donald Trump continued tearing into Fox News Channel first thing Wednesday morning proclaiming that the right-leaning network was 'dead.' 'Can't believe how badly @FoxNews is doing in the ratings. They played right into the hands of the Radical Left Democrats & now are floating in limboland,' Trump tweeted. 'Hiring fired Donna Brazile, and far worse, allowing endless negative and unedited commercials. Fox News is dead. Really Sad!' Trump has been at war with Fox News Channel for weeks over the network's decision to first call Arizona in favor of President-elect Joe Biden on election night - and later join...

The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs will hold an oversight hearing to examine irregularities in the 2020 election Wednesday morning at 10:00 AM ET. Former special prosecutor Ken Starr will be testifying tomorrow before the senate committee. Ken Starr recently appeared on “Life, Liberty & Levin” and clearly explained that Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 of the Constitution gives plenary power to the state legislatures to choose their electors. Starr said what happened in Pennsylvania is a “Constitutional travesty.” Witnesses this morning include Kenneth Starr, Donald Palmer, James Troups, Frances Ryan, Jesse Binnall and Chris Krebs....

BERLIN - World powers that are part of a landmark 2015 nuclear deal with Iran urged Tehran on Wednesday to roll back violations of the accord and return to full compliance during a virtual meeting in Vienna, a German official said. The meeting comes as the signatories to the agreement — Germany, France, Britain, China and Russia — continue to try and keep it from collapsing after the unilateral withdrawal of the United States in 2018. The three European powers have expressed hope that with the change of administrations in Washington, the U.S. could be brought back into the deal,...

It has never been harder to teach artistic individualism in America. A religious devotion to the causes of social justice dominates the ideas of professors in the academy, and David Randall’s report “Social Justice Education in America” has made clear that their evangelical zeal for teaching students the merits of intersectional political activism is topped only by the enthusiasm of university administrators for it. The cultish creed has permeated throughout universities, with moderate professors bowing to the mob and leaving the tiny minority of their conservative colleagues paranoid and fearful of speaking out against the ideology that has dominated them....

FBI Consulting Contract Revives Tony Soprano’s Grift As of December 2019, Tuva LLC collected $48 million in fees from the FBI. What value did taxpayers receive, other than supplementing the retirement of former federal employees? By Adam Mill December 13, 2020 When Tony Soprano grifted money from waste disposal companies, he didn’t just embezzle it. He used his influence from within the company to obtain “consulting” contracts. With a little paperwork, the fictitious mobster could collect fees without actually delivering anything tangible in return. Although the government has set up various rules to prevent a Tony Soprano-style grift in which...

Leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement have come out against President-elect Joe Biden’s decision to nominate former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg for Secretary of Transportation, recalling his struggles with minority voters. Biden announced Tuesday that Buttigieg was his choice for the transportation post — a plum position for a candidate who dropped out of the presidential race before Super Tuesday and endorsed the former vice president.