Free Republic

Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs and a group of 29 other state financial officials recently sent letters to six of the nation’s largest private sector money managers in a transparently partisan attempt to bully them out of supporting Republicans. The effort is a misuse of the power that adheres to managing billions of dollars of taxpayer money and sets a dangerous precedent that might well invite retaliation in the same form by Republicans holding similar offices or from a Republican successor to Frerichs. It’s an attempt by incumbent officeholders to control much of the money that controls politics. Unfortunately, the effort...

A study conducted by the Clalit HMO (Health Maintenance Organization) studying the effectiveness of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine among 1,200,000 people – half of whom received the vaccine and half who did not - became the first large scale study to be published in a peer-reviewed journal on Wednesday after it was published in the New England Journal of Medicine... The (Pfizer) coronavirus vaccine prevents 57% of symptomatic cases within about two weeks after the first dose and 94% of symptomatic cases starting seven days after the second dose, according to the study... The efficacy of the vaccine was found...

Subtitle: American Dictator. The National Emergencies Act of 1976 is a hand grenade on our Constitutional shelf. Any President can pull the pin. The spark for this squib is the national emergency declaration by President Trump over the southern border crisis. Since the media focus is, as always, on politics, they devote little attention to the bigger picture of the proper place of republican chief executives. In times of crisis, republics exercise despotic powers, meaning those unauthorized by their constitutions. Laws passed in, and justified by, pressing times too often remain after the return of peace.1 During war, some Natural...

The U.S. Air Force’s top officer wants the service to develop an affordable, lightweight fighter to replace hundreds of Cold War-vintage F-16s and complement a small fleet of sophisticated—but costly and unreliable—stealth fighters. The result would be a high-low mix of expensive “fifth-generation” F-22s and F-35s and inexpensive “fifth-generation-minus” jets, explained Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Brown Jr. If that plan sounds familiar, it’s because the Air Force a generation ago launched development of an affordable, lightweight fighter to replace hundreds of Cold War-vintage F-16s and complement a small future fleet of sophisticated—but costly and unreliable—stealth fighters. But...

Total Vaccine Doses Delivered: 91,673,010 Receiving 1 or More Doses: 46,074,392 Receiving 2 Doses: 21,555,117

The chair of the conservative House Freedom Caucus is urging Rep. Liz Cheney to step down from her position as the number three House Republican in leadership over her latest critical comments of former President Donald Trump. "She should step down," Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona told reporters on Thursday. And Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, another House Freedom Caucus member, said Cheney has "forfeited her right to be chair of the Republican Caucus."

A stunning fresco in the garden of Pompeii's Casa dei Ceii (House of the Ceii) has been painstakingly laser-cleaned and touched up with new paint by expert restorers. The artwork — of hunting scenes — was painted in the so-called 'Third' or 'Ornate' Pompeii style, which was popular around 20–10 BC and featured vibrant colours. Poor maintenance since the house was dug up in 1913–14 saw the hunting fresco and others deteriorate, particularly at the bottom, which is more vulnerable to humidity. The main section of the fresco depicts a lion pursuing a bull, a leopard pouncing on sheep and...

Explanation: On a mission to explore the inner heliosphere and solar corona, on July 11, 2020 the Wide-field Imager on board NASA's Parker Solar Probe captured this stunning view of the nightside of Venus at distance of about 12,400 kilometers (7,693 miles). The spacecraft was making the third of seven gravity-assist flybys of the inner planet. The gravity-asssist flybys are designed to use the approach to Venus to help the probe alter its orbit to ultimately come within 6 million kilometers (4 million miles) of the solar surface in late 2025. A surprising image, the side-looking camera seems to peer...

House conservatives are renewing their calls for Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) to step down from her leadership post after she split with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) over whether former President Trump should speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). House Freedom Caucus members are going after Cheney, chair of the House Republican Conference, following an awkward moment during a press conference Wednesday with the House GOP leader. Just moments after McCarthy said he thought Trump should speak at the CPAC gathering this weekend in Florida, Cheney reiterated her position that she does not think the former president...

Michael Horowitz, the (Justice Department inspector general) who wrote the Dec. 9, 2019, Review of Four FISA Applications, recently reaffirmed his earlier statements that Trump fired two inspectors general “for doing their jobs” and called Trump’s presidency “a challenging time … particularly in the last year” during a Feb. 10 ( online discussion) hosted by Harvard Law School and moderated by Jack Goldsmith.[snip]Neither man acknowledged Trump’s early actions in shutting down travel from China on Jan. 31, 2020, nor did Horowitz exhibit any signs of disagreement with Goldsmith and Woodward, although he was clearly more careful with his wording.At one...

“Unprecedented,” say experts. Look at the number of earthquakes in the last 48 hours! Southwestern Iceland was rocked by a series of earthquakes Wednesday. According to geological experts, the epicenter of the main quake was located near Mt. Keilir, roughly 30 km (19 miles) south of the capital Reykjavik. Experts say shocks from the quake, which registered 5.7 in magnitude, sparked increased volcanic activity, triggering a number of aftershocks registering over 4.0 for hours after the initial quake hit. “I’ve never experienced or felt so many strong earthquakes in such a short period of time. It’s unusual,” Icelandic Meteorological...

British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell has offered to give up her UK and French citizenship in exchange for bail. Ms Maxwell is accused of helping the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein groom young girls, which she denies. She is due to stand trial in July. In a court filing, her lawyers said she had no desire to leave the US. She would be willing to renounce her foreign citizenship "to eliminate any opportunity for her to seek refuge in those countries", the filing added. Her lawyers also proposed that her and her husband's assets be placed in a monitored account, to...

I was very happy to find out my kid's Catholic school would have in-person classes this year. Public schools throughout the region have telecommunting students, which amounts to simply cancelling lessons... at least here anyway. I'm very disturbed to find my son has been suffering headaches, dizziness, and attention troubles that seem to disappear when he's done with the masks. Naturally, I blame masking. So far, school officials don't, of course. Anyone else have kids being masked for school?

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Sabo always such a great job representing the truth

John Geddert, a former USA Gymnastics coach who was charged with sex crimes and human trafficking Thursday, has died by suicide, according to multiple reports. Geddert, 63, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound Thursday afternoon, Michigan state officials told local news station WLNS. The Attorney General’s Office, which had just announced the charges at a news conference, did not immediately return a request for information. This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Democratic New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham reportedly used thousands in taxpayer funds to purchase groceries, liquor, and dry cleaning for her personal use. Grisham racked up a $13,500 tab during the last six months of 2020, according to financial disclosures reported on by the Sante Fe New Mexican. Her bill allegedly included $6,500 in luxurious groceries such as Wagyu beef and tuna steaks, as well as bottles of tequila, vodka, gin, wine, and beer. Grisham or one of her surrogates allegedly spent $200 on alcohol during one visit to Sam’s Club and also used tax dollars to pay for...

Gov. Mike DeWine said Thursday that entertainment events, including sports and banquet venues, will be allowed to re-open this spring with limited capacity and other coronavirus-related restrictions. Indoor entertainment venues will be allowed to re-open at 25% capacity, while outdoor events including Cleveland Indians games and other professional sports in Ohio will be limited to 30% capacity. DeWine said safety protocols will be required, like mandatory masks and social distancing between unrelated groups of people as a condition of re-opening. The Indians, for example, have told fans that tickets will be sold in “pods” of two or four seats. All...

Like a dictator who rules with absolute unchallengeable power, Sleepy, Creepy Joe Biden has signed 32 executive orders, 13 presidential memorandas, and nine proclamations. Of all these, three executive orders stand out as direct attacks on the female gender. One order canceled "Operation Talon, a program that was successfully removing illegal sex offenders and sex traffickers from cities and town across America. With this actiion, Creepy has enabled sex offenders and pedophiles to continue their perverse practices, without fear that the long arm of the law will catch them. More on the other two executive orders later.It's not like sexual...

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