Free Republic

Staff Report – Buncombe County – 2/10/21 A number of counties within the United States have passed various Second Amendment sanctuary laws or declarations in the event there are federal laws ever passed that encroach the right to bear arms. Newton County Missouri has taken that a step further. Newton County Commissioners just passed a law that endows the sheriff with the authority to arrest federal agents if they attempt to enforce any laws related to firearms that contradict the Second Amendment. The county also inacted a “Second Amendment Preservation Act of Newton County Missouri”. This Act stops – •...

A team of researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found that opioid overdoses increased in black and Hispanic Philadelphia residents during the coronavirus lockdowns. However, public health officials in the city are still supportive of the restrictive measures. “[O]pioid overdoses have increased during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic,” the paper, published in the American Medical Association’s JAMA Network Open, said. The team found that the first three full months of the lockdowns, April 2020 to June 2020, showed a 60 percent increase in fatal opioid overdoses in black Philly residents compared to December 2019 to February 2020. Hispanics also...

Eric July (a black dude) discusses White Leftists' decrying their "White Privilege" and supposed (self-claimed) inherent racism.

<p>Adam Kinzinger, a Republican, represents Illinois’s 16th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.</p><p>Winston Churchill famously said, “Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.” All Americans, but especially my fellow Republicans, should remember this wisdom during the Senate’s trial of former president Donald Trump.</p>

Recent court documents have indicated that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) possesses a tool allowing them to access encrypted messages on the Signal app. Signal has rapidly gained in popularity as Silicon Valley monopolists have grown more openly hostile to free speech, but the platform may be vulnerable to backdoors that undermine the privacy protections provided through the encrypted messaging service. According to documents filed by the Department of Justice and first obtained by Forbes, Signal’s encrypted messages can be intercepted from iPhone devices when those Apple devices are in a mode called “partial AFU,” which means “after first...

[Catholic Caucus] Vatican modifies distribution of ashes for Ash WednesdayThe Congregation for Divine Worship releases a note laying out the procedures priests around the world are to follow for the distribution of ashes at the start of Lent.By Vatican NewsThe health situation caused by Covid-19 continues to forces changes on daily life, which are also reflected in the Church’s sphere.Ahead of the beginning of Lent, on Wednesday, 17 February, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments has published a note detailing how Catholic priests are to distribute ashes.InstructionsAfter blessing the ashes and sprinkling them with holy...

The Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium, a group administering coronavirus vaccines in hard-hit communities, announced that it will start turning people away — they said outsiders are taking doses from the vulnerable. “We’re going to be much more stringent on who comes in the door,” said consortium founder Dr. Ala Stanford. ---snip--- Individuals will have to bring an ID and a utility bill with their address on it to prove their residency. “If you’re not 75 and over, you’ll have to bring in a medicine bottle with your name on it confirming that you meet criteria,” said Stanford.

Doug TenNapel (creator of Earthworm Jim) talks about the Superbowl, ratings, Tom Brady's witchcraft, the encroaching wokeness and God's joy... in Exile! (Check him out - he's got some good stuff)

~ The FReeper Canteen Presents ~ ~ Remembering Our Troops!! ~ FALCON CHECKS Air Force Lt. Col. Thomas Wolfe performs preflight checks on an F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft on Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, Feb. 1, 2016. Wolfe is deputy commander of the 455th Expeditionary Operations Group. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Nicholas RauCanteen Mission StatementShowing support and boosting the morale ofour military and our allies' militaryand family members of the above.Honoring those who have served before. FEET TO THE FIRE U.S. soldiers march through fire while conducting fire phobia training at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany,...

...On 5 February, sundance at Conservative Treehouse picked up on a relevant filing with the IRS: a complaint against True the Vote, which partnered with the GOP in Georgia after the 2020 election to “ensure a transparent, secure ballot effort for the Senate runoff elections.” The gist of the complaint is that True the Vote partnered only with the GOP, and not the Democratic Party in Georgia. Now, this complaint was filed over a month ago, on 28 December 2020. So the complaint itself is not part of the propaganda parade unfolding in the past week. But what’s in the...

Three people believed to have been stranded on an uninhabited island in the Bahamas for 33 days have been rescued, the US Coast Guard says. An aircrew was on a routine patrol when it spotted the group frantically waving a makeshift flag on Anguilla Cay. The Cuban nationals told officials they had survived largely on coconuts. One of the crew members involved in the rescue efforts told the BBC he was "amazed that they were able to survive f The group was first spotted on the island located between the Florida Keys and Cuba on Monday. Coast Guard official Riley...

Whatever your opinions on cryptocurrencies — from a dyed-in-wool fanatic to utter skeptic — the fact remains that these digital assets are becoming a more important part of the payments world. We are seeing this fact play out on the Mastercard network, with people using cards to buy crypto assets, especially during Bitcoin's recent surge in value. We are also seeing users increasingly take advantage of crypto cards to access these assets and convert them to traditional currencies for spending. To be clear, this data is not of any individuals — it's anonymized and in aggregate — but the trend...

Previously, the governor — in a peculiar move — had asked the judge to rule against him and end the restrictions.WASHINGTON, D.C., February 9, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — A federal district court judge issued an order yesterday blocking New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s capacity limits on Orthodox Jewish synagogues permanently. Previously, the governor — in a peculiar move — had asked the judge to rule against him and end the restrictions. The judge’s order applies to all of the houses of worship in red and orange “zones” in New York, and is one of the first in the country to block...

Jeep has officially paused its Bruce Springsteen ad campaign that aired during the Super Bowl following the revelation that the pro-Biden rock singer was arrested for drunk driving in November. A spokeswoman for Jeep confirmed to CNBC that the entire campaign is on hold. “It would be inappropriate for us to comment on the details of a matter we have only read about and we cannot substantiate,” a Jeep spokeswoman said in a statement to the cable network. “But it’s also right that we pause our Big Game commercial until the actual facts can be established. Its message of community...

Larry Flynt — the notorious porn peddler who built a smut empire out of his “Hustler” magazine and fashioned himself into a champion of the First Amendment — died on Wednesday. He was 78. Flynt, whose death was first reported by TMZ, had suffered from a slew of health problems since a 1978 murder attempt that left him paralyzed from the waist down. The controversial mogul and self-described First Amendment champion was known for challenging the establishement and his myriad legal battles involving free speech and pornography regulations. He often clashed with feminist groups and the religious right, and was...

The Russian Orthodox Church has initiated a broad discussion among its clergy and flock to consider updating its stance towards in vitro fertilization reproductive technology, taking into account the development of medical science over the past 20 years. The draft document, “Ethical Problems Associated with In Vitro Fertilization,” was published on the official site of the Russian Church on Friday and on several other outlets. Comments are being collected by the Inter-Council Presence of the Russian Church until March 29. The Russian Church formulated its first official position towards IVF in the document, “Bases of the Social Concept of the...

Republicans on Wednesday dug up past instances of Democratic House impeachment managers and President Biden using the words “fight” or “fight like hell” — one of the key allegations against former President Donald Trump at his Senate trial. The Save America PAC’s “Trump War Room” tweeted a “FLASHBACK” screenshot of lead House manager Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) invoking the notion of combat to block Republican efforts to swiftly replace the late US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg following her death in September. “The GOP rush to replace Justice Ginsburg is all about destroying the Affordable Care Act, women’s health care...

ROME — Pope Francis will celebrate Ash Wednesday Mass Feb. 17 in St. Peter’s Basilica rather than making the traditional walk from the Church of St. Anselm to the Basilica of Santa Sabina on Rome’s Aventine Hill, the Vatican said. Because of ongoing concerns about drawing a crowd and the potential that could have for spreading the coronavirus, the Mass and distribution of ashes will take place with a congregation of about 100 people at the Altar of the Chair in the basilica as has been the practice for the past several months, the Vatican press office said Feb. 5....

Washington National Cathedral is taking flak for having allowed an evangelical who believes homosexuality is immoral to preach during a virtual church service. Max Lucado, a bestselling Christian author and pastor of the nondenominational Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas, preached to the church about the Holy Spirit on Sunday, which outraged some members of the liberal Episcopalian denomination to which the National Cathedral belongs. Lucado, who was invited by the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Paul in the City and the Diocese of Washington, D.C., to preach, has publicly opposed homosexual behavior and gay marriage. A petition...

Europe's oldest person, French nun Sister Andre, has survived COVID-19 and will celebrate her 117th birthday this week, her caregivers said. Lucile Randon, who took the name of Sister Andre when she joined a Catholic charitable order in 1944, tested positive for coronavirus in her retirement home in Toulon, southern France, on Jan. 16. She was isolated from other residents, but displayed no symptoms. Asked if she was scared to have COVID, Sister Andre told France's BFM television, "No, I wasn't scared because I wasn't scared to die... I'm happy to be with you, but I would wish to be...