Free Republic

BERLIN (REUTERS) - Germany plans to extend restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus until March 14, a draft agreement for talks between Chancellor Angela Merkel and leaders of the 16 federal states on Wednesday showed. The number of new daily infections in Germany has been falling, leading some regional leaders to push for a timetable to ease the lockdown, but concerns are growing about the impact of more infectious strains of the virus on case numbers. "We have a highly fragile situation," Winfried Kretschmann, Greens premier of the southern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, told Spiegel Online. "We can see...

A Wisconsin doctor who was 14 weeks pregnant claims she suffered a miscarriage within days of receiving the Covid-19 vaccine.

A judge ruled on Monday that an excerpt from a 2016 deposition by British socialite and accused sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell can be unsealed. Manhattan District Judge Loretta Preska made the decision to unseal the excerpt, noting that Maxwell had a “minimal” privacy interest in it, according to Reuters. “There is no reason not to unseal this portion of testimony,” Preska wrote, Reuters reported. “While the court acknowledges Ms. Maxwell’s interest in a fair criminal trial, Ms. Maxwell can argue all her points to the presiding judge in her criminal trial, as she has already.” Preska previously released larger excerpts...

CHAPEL HILL – An experimental drug created at a subsidiary of Emory University has shown potential to both prevent and treat COVID-19, according to researchers at UNC-Chapel Hill. The drug, known as EIDD-2801, is being developed by Miami-based Ridgeback Biotherapeutics. Ridgeback is partnered with drug giant Merck in the development process. The drug was invented at Drug Innovations at Emory, a not-for-profit biotechnology company wholly owned by Emory University, according to Ridgeback.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) concluded on Tuesday that former President Donald Trump “gave the order” to attack the U.S. Capitol on January 6, referencing the cherry-picked montage played by the House impeachment managers on Tuesday on the first day of the Senate impeachment trial. “‘We will stop the steal.’ ‘We’re gonna walk down to the Capitol.’ ‘We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, we’re not gonna have a country anymore,'” de Blasio said, quoting Trump and concluding that the former president “gave the order.” “He unleashed his mob on the U.S. Capitol. Convict...

In a recent Salon interview, former FBI Assistant Director Frank Figliuzzi calls for a large-scale “de-radicalization approach” to “Trump’s political cult members” who have been radicalized “for the last four years,” while stating the need to “deprogram” those who believe that Joe Biden did not win the recent presidential election. The interview, published on Monday, begins with Salon politics staff writer Chauncey DeVega declaring that “today’s Republican Party is a political crime syndicate, and Trump is its leader” before asking how to “de-radicalize” Trump supporters. “What, if anything, can be done to de-radicalize Trump’s political cult members and others being...

Blockchain-based startup Presearch.io has released a decentralized search engine to help provide a more private alternative to Google. Taking a play out of privacy-centric web browser Brave’s book, it also rewards its users with it native crypto token, PRE. The Ethereum-based project uses searches powered by independent nodes to help protect the identity of the people who make queries for data. Moreover, it puts a dent in the monopolistic power of Google to organize and rank results. The project’s origin story begins in 2011, when Colin Pape’s ShopCity.com had its content buried by Google’s algorithm. The company filed a complaint...

President Joe Biden’s administration is getting blasted by lawmakers, local officials, and critics for advocating lockdowns and restrictions for Americans during the Chinese coronavirus crisis while seemingly opening the nation’s borders to illegal aliens who can flout Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines. As Breitbart News has extensively reported, the Biden administration has resumed the Catch and Release program wherein border crossers are apprehended and promptly released into the interior of the United States. These border crossers are not required to test negative for the coronavirus before their release into American communities. Instead, many border crossers are being put up...

The Republican Party of Louisiana said Tuesday it is “profoundly disappointed” in Sen. Bill Cassidy’s vote to join Senate Democrats in their claim that impeaching former President Donald Trump is constitutional and that a “trial” should proceed. The statement reads: The Republican Party of Louisiana is profoundly disappointed by Senator Bill Cassidy’s vote on the constitutionality of the impeachment trial now underway against former President, now private citizen, Donald J. Trump. We feel that an impeachment trial of a private citizen is not only an unconstitutional act, but also an attack on the very foundation of American democracy, which will...

ABC News confirmed the reporting of Breitbart News senior contributor Peter Schweizer, author of the New York Times bestseller Profiles in Corruption: Abuse of Power by America’s Progressive Elite, regarding the corruption of the Biden family — specifically the connection between the president and his son-in-law Howard Krein. Krein serves as StartUp Health’s chief medical officer. He oversees the company’s investments “in hundreds of companies, including some hoping to break through with the federal agencies battling the global coronavirus pandemic,” as ABC reported.

One of Donald Trump's impeachment attorneys has slammed House Democrats for presenting a 'spliced and manufactured' video as their first piece of evidence in the Senate trial on a charge of incitement to insurrection. Attorney David Schoen was reacting to the first piece of evidence presented by House impeachment managers on Tuesday, a 14-minute video which inter-cut footage of the January 6 U.S. Capitol riot with Trump's speech earlier that day urging his supporters to 'fight'. 'It's very easy to stand up and show spliced and manufactured films. Literally the Democrats, the House managers, hired a large movie company and...

“As the whirlwind passeth, so is the wicked no more: but the righteous is an everlasting foundation” (Proverbs 10:25 KJV).

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin faces an early test as he races to advance a major initiative targeting far-right extremism in the ranks,...the nation's first African American Pentagon chief...Historical data from outside the government has suggested a correlation between military experience and right-wing terrorism. An academic analysis published in 2011 by the Justice Department's Terrorism Research and Analysis Project found that right-wing terrorists have been significantly more likely to have military experience...

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media. I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone: for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 1 Timothy 2:1-2 Religion Forum threads labeled “Prayer” are closed to debate of any kind.

One of the lawyers heading former President Donald Trump’s defense at his second impeachment trial did what Trump himself has not: conceded Joe Biden won the presidential election. — In opening remarks Tuesday, lawyer Bruce Castor said: “The American people just spoke, and they just changed administrations.” He added that Americans are “smart enough to pick a new administration if they don’t like the old one, and they just did.” The comments by Castor, a former county prosecutor in Pennsylvania, were a surprising contrast to Trump’s defiance. The former president repeatedly disputed the results of the election, falsely claiming he...

Good for Mark. [cut] “I went to a Rangers game with my brother and we’re standing there [for the anthem] and it felt stupid,” Thomas Wilson said. “It feels like a cult, everyone standing up. The freedom doesn’t stop if we don’t raise the flag. I know that sounds unpatriotic. We know we’re in America. We didn’t forget that. I served for 13 years.”

The United Arab Emirates' "Hope" probe on Monday successfully entered Mars' orbit, making history as the Arab world's first interplanetary mission....The probe is designed to reveal the secrets of Martian weather, but the UAE also wants it to serve as an inspiration for the region's youth. Officials at mission control broke into applause, visibly relieved after a tense half-hour as the probe carried out a "burn" to slow itself enough to be pulled in by Martian gravity, in what was the most perilous stage of the journey. Hope is the first of three spacecraft to arrive at the Red Planet...

Five myths cloud our perception of both the past and the present: (1) The “robber baron” myth which holds that in late nineteenth-century America there were powerful men who became rich at the expense of the poor. The reality is that they became wealthy by being productive, and that there is no other period in history which saw such a rapid and widespread improvement in the well-being of the average individual. (2) The myth that the Great Depression was caused by a failure of business. It was, in fact, produced by a failure of government and specifically by the Federal...

A recent study by the Naval Medical University in Shanghai found that about one-fifth of China’s servicemen in the submarine force stationed in the South China Sea have psychological problems. According to an analysis by Taiwanese military experts, submariners need to have very strong psychological health. However, problems have been reported that may be related to the frequent military exercises conducted by the Chinese regime. In addition, there may be problems with the psychological counseling provided to military personnel. The study, published in the international journal Military Medicine on Jan. 7, found that among the 580 male participants, 21 percent...

The “Top Chef” Quickfire Challenge was about to start filming, and Padma Lakshmi — the Bravo show’s longtime host, judge and executive producer — was being fussed over by people wearing masks and face shields. “This is a lot of copy to get through,” said Lakshmi, who would soon have to describe a complicated “Black Box” challenge — one imported from “Top Chef: France” — to the show’s five remaining contestants on this Sunday afternoon in mid-October. In the Quickfire, the cheftestants (to use the “Top Chef” fans’ term of art) would enter a lightless box one at a time...