Free Republic

After the Capitol riots on January 6th, the National Guard was called in to blanket Washington, D.C. to secure the city in order to protect lawmakers and the incoming Biden-Harris administration in advance of Inauguration Day. But a week after Joe Biden’s inauguration, the troops are still there – and reportedly will be through at least mid-March. That has Republican lawmakers demanding answers as to why thousands of National Guard troops are still fortressing the city, and why the city can’t return to some sense of normalcy instead of looking and feeling like a warzone. Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) appeared...

President Joe Biden’s brother Frank promoted his relationship to the commander-in-chief in an Inauguration Day advertisement for the law firm he advises. Frank Biden is a non-attorney senior advisor for the Berman Law Group. The firm is based in Boca Raton, Fla. Its ad featuring Frank Biden was printed in the Jan. 20 edition of the Daily Business Review, which is also based in Florida. The ad focuses on a lawsuit the firm is leading against a group of Florida sugarcane companies. It features a photo of Frank Biden, along with quotes regarding his relationship with the incoming president and...

"... Progressives, conservatives, and libertarians alike must stand firm against the latest push to infringe on civil liberties in the name of combating “domestic terror.” Otherwise, sweeping powers granted amid crisis will undoubtedly be used against millions of Americans who did nothing wrong on January 6."

A group of thieves walked past the body of a man who had died in his car and ransacked his Missouri home, taking tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of property, authorities said. Lincoln County Sheriff Rick Harrell said a man in his 60s died in his car in the detached garage of one of his two homes, and word spread quickly among thieves. “Once the information got out within that circuit — a group of people — they took full advantage of the situation and just ransacked the property, both properties, in fact, for anything they could find of...

Oscar winner and multiple Emmy winner Cloris Leachman, best remembered as the delightfully neurotic Phyllis Lindstrom on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and her own subsequent sitcom, died of natural causes on Tuesday in Encinitas, Calif. She was 94. “It’s been my privilege to work with Cloris Leachman, one of the most fearless actresses of our time,” her longtime manager Juliet Green said. “There was no one like Cloris. With a single look she had the ability to break your heart or make you laugh ’till the tears ran down your face. You never knew what Cloris was going to...

States have many factors to consider when allocating their scarce vaccine doses: the age of recipients, medical conditions that put people at risk, and jobs that put workers in contact with the public, to name a few. A committee in Oregon is considering an unusual recommendation to allocate vaccines by race. The proposal is intended to address inequities but would invite legal challenges to a vaccination program that has already been off to a rocky start. The state's COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Committee is a group of 27 individuals tasked with devising "a vaccine sequencing plan focused on health equity to...

Botticelli Portrait Expected to Fetch $80 Million at Sotheby’s NEW YORK – Sotheby’s is preparing to sell next week a rare portrait by Italian painter Sandro Botticelli that experts value at $80 million, a record for an old master print that is in exceptional condition and is one of the only three portraits of the Renaissance artist remaining in private hands. “In my 30 years of professional career, I have never had a Botticelli that comes close to the quality, the condition, the beauty and the importance of it,” Christopher Apostle, New York director of the Sotheby’s department of Old...

Even in Washington, hardly anyone understands what the Office of Management and Budget does. Yet buried in the 2½-foot stack of President Biden’s first-day executive orders is hard evidence that someone in the new administration not only understands the OMB but knows how to use it. As a result, the business climate in this country will be made dramatically worse. Forget reregulation; this is the beginning of hyperregulation. You probably didn’t pay attention to “Modernizing Regulatory Review,” a presidential memo released Jan. 20. Regulatory law is arcane and generally boring, but its effects can be monumental. Congress defers much of...

Five of the largest U.S. banks publicly committed to mandating a diverse slate of applicants when hiring employees, part of a push to diversify an industry whose top ranks remain largely white and male. JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., Wells Fargo and U.S. Bancorp all said they would either adjust policies for considering job candidates or disclose the ones they already have in place. Their policies mirror the so-called Rooney Rule, which started in the National Football League as a way of making sure people of color are considered for coaching jobs. In recent years, the rule...

Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) introduces a bill aimed at making Washington D.C. a state. Carper took to Twitter Wednesday to discuss his efforts to “give the over 700,000 D.C. residents a voice, vote and full representation in Congress.” The so-called ‘Washington D.C. Admissions Act‘ has received support from several members of the Democrat party. However, Republicans are concerned making D.C. a state will place two more Democrats in the Senate. Democrats would need at least 60 votes in the upper chamber to pass the proposal, but they may only need a simple majority if the filibuster is abolished.

Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates is “surprised” to learn people believe the conspiracy theory that he wants to use the COVID-19 vaccine to put microchips into Americans, and called such baseless ideas about him “crazy” and “evil.” “Do people really believe that stuff?” Gates asked during an interview with Reuters Wednesday. “I’m very surprised by that. I hope it goes away.”

Climate Envoy John Kerry and National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy told reporters in the White House briefing room that oil and gas workers who are laid off as a result of President Joe Biden’s new climate policies will find “better” jobs. Biden caused widespread layoffs — and potentially tens of thousands of lost future job opportunities — when he revoked the Keystone XL pipeline permit, and suspended oil and gas leasing on federal lands, on his first day in the Oval Office. Asked by a reporter what their “message” was to workers in the fossil fuel industry, Kerry and McCarthy...

Do we get a vote on which corporations own our government? I’d take Chick-fil-A over any of the Big Tech oligarchs. They’re efficient, friendly, and nobody beats their chicken sandwiches.In Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, the town’s drive-through COVID vaccination system suffered a computer glitch. Quick-thinking Mayor Will Haynie called in the undisputed drive-through champions: Chick-Fil-A.“We asked local Chic Fil A (sic) manager Jerry Walkowiak for help today after a computer glitch backed up things at the drive-through vaccination site. Instead of just giving advice, this video shows what he did,” the mayor wrote.“When you need help, call the pros,” he...

My parents are in their upper 80s and since the beginning of this pandemic have been wisely isolated in their home, a self-imposed house arrest. That’s close to a year now. Zoom calls with their children and particularly their grandchildren have been a poor substitute for the contact they need. My kids have missed bonding with them, a loss which could ripple through their lives as the years go on. My folks have gone without the greatest joy of their lives, time with family. And the caretakers they need to come to their home have been severely limited. If family...

Tenney currently leads by 29 votes nearly three months after the November election, but there are about 1,100 ballots on which presiding Oswego County Supreme Court Justice Scott DelConte has yet to rule, along with all Oneida County affidavit ballots the Boards of Elections must recanvass after it failed to process 2,400 voter registration applications, resulting in swathes of rejected affidavit ballots.

Sasha Stone learned long ago the secret to standing out in a crowded online field. Be honest, bold and truthful. Those qualities allowed her to build AwardsDaily.com into a self-sustaining career that snared the attention of Hollywood studios. Now, those same practices could get her canceled. “The industry I’m in has become so careful in how it talks about things, it’s so policed by Twitter,” Stone says. “I’ve been called out quite a few times … I’m radioactive on film Twitter. I’m not a popular person.” That led her to being interviewed by The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro recently, a...

WASHINGTON — President Biden’s climate czar, John Kerry, admitted Wednesday that the US reducing its emissions to zero wouldn’t make much of a difference in the global climate change fight — before pushing domestic manufacturing of electric cars and solar panels in favor of energy production. Kerry’s remarks were made ahead of Biden’s signing of a host of executive actions on Wednesday pushing his $2 trillion Green New Deal-inspired climate agenda.

I was taught in medical school that coronary artery disease (CAD), or the blockages that can choke off blood flow to the heart, progresses from minor “streaks” in youth, to visible plaques young adulthood, and on to complicated plaques and major problems later in life. During my training the arrow always pointed towards heart disease advancing and never reversing. This is just not true! Indeed, for nearly 3 decades it has been known that just as arteries can worsen with time, they can also improve rapidly. Some of the measures to achieve this are presented here. Statin Medication While reversal...

Minneapolis experienced a 105% increase in shootings between 2019 and 2020, according to an end-of-year report presented to the City Council last week.The city recorded 82 homicides in 2020, a 70% increase over 2019’s 48 homicides. Between 2016 and 2019, Minneapolis had an average homicide rate of 41, the report from the Minneapolis Police Department states.The number of gunshot wound victims jumped from 269 in 2019 to 551 in 2020, a one-year change of 105%. The average number of shootings reported across the previous four years was 283, the MPD said.The only violent crimes that saw a decrease in 2020...

During her confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill this week, Biden Commerce Secretary nominee Gina Raimondo admitted Democrats will have to raise taxes on all Americans, including the middle and lower class, in order to pay for President Biden's "climate" agenda."Let me say this, I as governor am deeply in touch with how much increasing bills affect the average American family. Having said that, we do need to meet the climate change challenge and we need funds for improved infrastructure," Raimondo said. "I would look to balance those interests." Last week Transportation Secretary nominee Pete Buttigieg told Keystone XL Pipeline workers,...