Free Republic

Sometimes the military needs a little bit of nudging to determine it actually needs a new weapon. That might just be the short version of the history of the Barrett M82. The U.S. military has a proven track record of sometimes not seeing the potential, and this was true initially of the machine gun – and more recently with a very high powered sniper rifle. The concept of large rifles isn’t entirely new. Large caliber “wall guns” had been used since the 16th century in Europe, and remained in use throughout the 18th and 19th century in India and China...

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – Actress Dawn Wells, best known for playing Mary Ann on the hit sitcom “Gilligan’s Island,” has died at the age of 82 after becoming infected with COVID-19.

ONE YEAR AGO, in a column headlined "What was so great about the 2010s," I remarked that the first decade of the 21st century, "for all its sorrows, has been the best time to be alive." Despite the media's relentless focus on bad news, I argued, humankind was living in the most fortunate era our species had ever known.Then came 2020.The past 12 months have brought misery, turmoil, and distress on a scale that most Americans couldn't have imagined last New Year's Eve: the emergence of the coronavirus, a torrent of sickness and death, economic and social lockdowns, a tidal...

Gov. Tom Wolf announced Wednesday that he will lift some temporary restrictions on Pennsylvania businesses, including a suspension of indoor dining at restaurants, on Jan. 4. The news conference comes days before restrictions the governor has imposed on businesses are slated to expire. Wolf said those measures will indeed end on the scheduled expiration date of Jan. 4. Earlier this month, Wolf imposed temporary restrictions on businesses, including a three-week ban on indoor dining at restaurants. Wolf also has ordered the closure of entertainment venues, including casinos, theaters and concert halls. Retailers and most other businesses are restricted to 50%...

An at-home haircut led to the coronavirus deaths of a Chicago couple who took every precaution they could prior to contracting the deadly virus, according to their distraught son. Joe Bruno said his parents, Mike and Carol Bruno, died from COVID-19 just nine days apart after the couple, who were married for 59 years, got infected during a Nov. 20 visit to his apartment so he could get a haircut from his sister. “We never thought this would happen to our family – and it did,” Bruno told WLS-TV Thursday. “This virus is really unforgiven and just attacks in really...

Today, the D.C. Circuit affirmed a signature initiative of the Trump Administration, which ensures that American patients have access to the hospital pricing information they need when they need it, beginning on January 1. This transformative hospital price transparency rule has been fought at every step by the swamp and defenders of the status quo. Today’s ruling should reassure the American people that President Donald J. Trump refuses to bow to the influence of special interests who would prefer to keep patients in the dark. This initiative is just one in a series of rules that will bring unprecedented price...

In all the gloom and doom, and media-driven nihilism, there is actually an array of good news. As many predicted, as testing spreads, and we get a better idea of the actual number and nature of cases, the death rate from coronavirus slowly but also seems to steadily decline. Early estimates from the World Health Organization and the modeling of pessimists of a constant 4 percent death rate for those infected with the virus are for now proving exaggerated for the United States. More likely, as testing spreads, our fatality rates could descend to near 1 percent. There is some...

This morning, I realized that everything is about to change. No matter how I vote, no matter what I say, something contrary to my belief has invaded our nation, and our lives are never going to be the same. I have been confused by the hostility of family and friends. I look at people I have known all my life— so hate-filled that they agree with opinions they would never express as their own. I think that I may well have entered the Twilight Zone. You can't justify this insanity. We have become a nation that has lost its collective...

4:46 in. The bar code expert’s team hacks the Georgia election voting system DURING the hearing.

As we approach the end of 2020—a year with a deadly pandemic, a crushing economic shutdown, brutal riots, and a contested presidential election—it often feels as though things can’t get any worse. Yet the political left sees these very moments when the American people are overwhelmed and exhausted as opportunities to push its destructive agenda. It won’t stop promoting socialist climate policies, government-run health care, identity politics, racial division, bending a knee to our worst enemies, and penalties for offending the sensibilities of the woke. As the threats continue to grow, Americans are feeling anxious. They’re worried about whether America...

Today's identity politics leftists have a different idea for society. Although they speak about wealth redistribution, they try hard to keep that fact their little secret. Instead, their focus is on reducing humans themselves to an indistinguishable blending of race and sex. (The racial blending is interesting because neo-leftists also cling to their belief that the races are entirely distinct, with an immutable hierarchy from dark skin down to light.) The latest example of this new leftist utopianism is something that most of us missed back in March, when we were preoccupied with the emerging virus. On March 3, the...

‘This should not happen’December 30, 2020 | 1:35 PM ETDuring a Senate hearing in Georgia over fraud in the 2020 presidential election, Jovan Pulitzer told the senate members, “At this very moment at a polling location in the county, not only do we now have access to the devices through the poll pad — the system — but we are in.”Pulitzer told the senators this should not be able to happen, but his team was has able to hack into the voting system and has documented evidence to prove it.pic.twitter.com/1craf5cO51— JovanHuttonPulitzer ™ #JovanHuttonPulitzer (@JovanHPulitzer) December 30, 2020Pulitzer said the machines...

Los Angeles police responded after a mass of maskless demonstrators forced their way into an Erewhon Market in the Fairfax district Tuesday afternoon in protest of coronavirus restrictions. “We’re not here coughing everything, smearing everything,” Jason Traver said. “We just want to shop, we want to take our own precautions that we’ve been doing all of our lives, and we’ll be fine.” Officers stayed on scene to monitor the situation and ensure it didn’t escalate, but police said no arrests were made. After leaving Erewhon, some protesters walked to a nearby Trader Joe’s and claimed medical reasons for being maskless....

President Donald Trump’s campaign adviser said the team is aiming to present evidence during a potential congressional debate on Jan. 6 if lawmakers in the House and Senate object to states’ Electoral College votes.As of Wednesday, it appears that at least one member of the Senate, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), and a number of House lawmakers will object to the electoral votes during the Joint Session of Congress. Hawley announced he would object to the electoral vote, pointing to previous Democratic efforts to do so during the 2004 and 2016 presidential elections. After the objection, an hours-long debate will occur.Miller...

On Christmas Eve, Antifa activists rented sixteen motel rooms in the Travelodge in Fife, Washington. Christmas Day they refused to leave and refused to pay for the additional nights. The activists are now demanding that local government pick up the tab and turn the motel into a shelter.Tacoma Housing Now (THN) paid for 16 rooms for one overnight stay on Dec. 24 at the Travelodge and then moved in more than 40 people. Rebecca Parson, spokesperson for THN and local socialist activist, told The Post Millennial that they targeted that specific location because "…it had the cheapest rates in the...

Video contradicts government assertion of overrun wards.. A woman in the UK was arrested by police after she filmed a video inside an almost completely empty hospital and posted it online. The clip shows the woman walking through virtually empty corridors and filming empty wards at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital. “This is a disgrace…it is so dead…all the people in our country desperately waiting for treatment, cancer treatment heart disease, honestly this is making me so angry,” she states as she films a row of empty waiting chairs. The woman expressed shock at how quiet the hospital was, saying she expected...

Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley became the first senator to say he’ll object to the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory when Congress meets on Jan. 6 to accept the results of the presidential election. Several House Republicans have previously signaled their intention to do the same. With members of both the House and Senate planning objections, it’ll set off a dramatic scenario requiring a vote in both chambers. Democrats control the House and will be able to vote down the measure. In the GOP-controlled Senate, several GOP senators have already indicated their objections to efforts to overturn...

A pack of young bicyclists attacked a BMW in broad daylight in Manhattan, terrorizing the man and woman inside in a terrifying ambush caught on video. Several assailants surrounded the luxury ride at Fifth Avenue and 21st Street around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, with some pounding the vehicle with their fists and feet, and another smashing a bike down on top of it, video posted to Instagram by Breaking911 shows. One attacker got a running start, vaulted up on the hood of the BMW and jumped on top of the windshield, causing it to partly cave in, the video shows. “This...

In what is almost an unbelievable turn of events, even for this horrible year of 2020, the official Twitter account for WalMart just outright attacked GOP Senator Josh Hawley today. After Senator Hawley became the first GOP senator to make it known that he will object to the January 6 certification of the Electoral vote, WalMart weighed in with a response that reads “Go ahead. Get your 2-hour debate. #soreloser”. PauseUnmute Fullscreen VDO.AI Image That a major corporation would weigh in on a political issue with a partisan political response is no surprise. We see that happening all the time....

Back on October Joe Biden had the answers for everything, including the pandemic. Back in October he presented a plan, which was pretty much Trump’s plan at the time. Masking: Biden said he would go to every governor and ask them to impose a mask mandate. If governors refused, as they have in several states, Biden said he would turn to local officials. He also said he will mandate masks in all federal buildings and on all interstate transportation.Testing: The former vice president said he would launch a national testing plan aimed at conducting as many tests each day as...