Free Republic

Zebra mussels, those invaders that have wreaked havoc on the Great Lakes, have found a new way to further their damaging spread: pet shops. A citizen's report of an invasive zebra mussel found in an aquarium moss package from a Seattle pet store prompted a U.S. Geological Survey expert on invasive aquatic species to trigger nationwide alerts. That has led to the discovery of the destructive shellfish in pet stores in at least 21 states, from Alaska to Florida and including Michigan. A Seattle pet shop employee on Feb. 25 reported finding an invasive zebra mussel in an ornamental aquarium...

With the rise of gig economy jobs such as driving for Uber and other forms of independent work enabled by the digital era, more than 57 million Americans now work as freelancers in some capacity. But President Biden just endorsed a radical labor law that endangers their livelihood. House Democrats recently reintroduced the PRO Act, which, among many sweeping reforms, would make many commonplace forms of independent contractor (freelance) arrangements illegal. It’s based on a California law that was so dysfunctional even voters in the very blue state voted to change it. “The Administration strongly encourages the House to pass...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KY3) - The Missouri Attorney General’s Office filed numerous charges of abuse against the operators of the Circle of Hope Girls Ranch in Cedar County. Authorities arrested Boyd and Stephanie Householder. They remain jailed in the Vernon County Jail in Nevada, Mo. Attorney Eric Schmitt will detail the case against the Householders at noon news conference on Wednesday. You can watch that news conference LIVE here. State investigators removed about two dozen girls in mid-august from the facility outside Humansville. The state along with the Cedar County Prosecutor’s Office began outlining a case against the Householders. Four...

Two separate groups of researchers have suggested new theories as to how to make wormholes safe enough to be traversable by humans. Both papers were published today in the journal Physical Review Letters. If wormholes were to exist, any conventional matter would end up jamming the connection up as something travels from one side to the other. That’s why some theorists suggest using exotic matter to keep the wormhole open. But we may not even need exotic matter, as Jose Blázquez-Salcedo from the Complutense University of Madrid and his colleagues suggest. In their framework, matter is made up of fermions,...

......The Minneapolis Police Department squad car has been in storage at the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension garage pending this trial. One day a couple months ago, Nelson, along with the other defense attorneys and some staff members, went there to look over the car. Inside, Nelson said they spotted some chewed up pills and a full pill. And the state tested them. "They are in fact methamphetamine and fentanyl, and they contain the DNA of George Floyd," Nelson said. The implication is that the drugs were in Floyd's mouth, and he spit them out when the former officers were...

The Sommersett Case and the Slave Trade (1) It is said that some generous humane persons subscribed to the expence of obtaining liberty by law for Somerset the Negro.(2) It is to be wished that the same humanity may extend itself among numbers; if not to the procuring liberty for those that remain in our Colonies, at least to obtain a law for abolishing the African commerce in Slaves, and declaring the children of present Slaves free after they become of age. By a late computation made in America, it appears that there are now eight hundred and fifty thousand...

Vice President Kamala Harris had another call with a foreign leader Tuesday, independent of President Biden. Harris spoke with the prime minister of Norway, Erna Solberg, where Harris "affirmed her commitment to deepening the strong alliance between Norway and the United States." " The Vice President thanked the Prime Minister for Norway’s close security partnership with the United States and generous contributions to development and health security efforts around the world," according to a readout of the call. Harris previously took calls alone with French President Emanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as well as Israeli Prime Minister...

McALLEN, Texas—As President Joe Biden rolled back several existing border initiatives, the number of people crossing illegally into the United States skyrocketed. In February—despite a week of freezing weather—Border Patrol apprehended 101,535 illegal border crossers along the southern border, according to Jaeson Jones, a former Texas Department of Public Safety captain. Another 26,000 people evaded capture, he said.

Alan Cartwright, Procol Harum's bassist from 1971 to 1976, died on March 4 at age 75. The musician, born Oct. 10, 1945, first met Procol Harum singer-keyboardist Gary Brooker in 1966, having grown up in the same region of Edmonton/Enfield, England. He joined the progressive rock band five years later, first appearing on their influential 1972 recording, Procol Harum Live: In Concert With the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, and remaining in the group for three studio albums: 1973's Grand Hotel, 1974's Exotic Birds and Fruit and 1975's Procol's Ninth. Primis Player Placeholder "It is with great sadness that I heard of...

Details of a summer season will be announced later this month.The Globe is preparing to open again. Provided the conditions are met for Step 2 of the Government's roadmap for cultural reopening the Globe's guided tour of the theatre will return from 13 April and include welcoming schools back onsite with tours and workshops. The open-air theatre is preparing exciting plans for full reopening in preparation for Step 3 of the roadmap, sharing details of a summer season later this month. Last summer, the site was open to the public for a new guided tour of the theatre, with over...

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives approved H.R. 1, the Democrats’ sweeping election reform package. While many have focused on how the bill changes voting and voter registration, the bill also has major implications for free speech—which have largely gone unnoticed.

Babies were aborted alive, placed in fridge to harvest cell lines used in some vaccines: researcherThese babies were literally placed into the fridge alive and then stored between one and 24 hours until they could be dismembered.'February 19, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – Cell lines derived from aborted babies used in the production or testing of various vaccines, including a number of COVID vaccines, most likely came from babies who were aborted alive, and according to the general practice as outlined in medical literature, may have been placed in a fridge while still living where they awaited dismemberment before having their organs...

Republican Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed Senate Bill 6 (SB6) on Tuesday that bans abortions unless the life of the mother is endangered. Supporters of the controversial bill hope it could force the Supreme Court to revisit Roe v. Wade, though opponents intend to block it before the law takes effect later this year, according to The Associated Press. “We must abolish abortion in this nation just as we abolished slavery in the 19th century – all lives matter,” said Republican state Sen. Jason Rapert, who is the bill’s sponsor. Hutchinson was at first reluctant to sign the bill because...

With no major labor reform since the 1930s, Democrats are seizing on the opportunity to strengthen workers' rights -- including their ability to unionize. On Tuesday, the House of Representatives passed the PRO (Protect the Right to Organize) Act, the most pro-worker labor reform in decades, according to the bill’s sponsors, by a vote of 225-206. Though it faces an uphill battle in the 50/50 split Senate, President Joe Biden has said that labor reform is one of his administration’s top priorities. The House passed a version of the bill last year, but it was dead on arrival in the...

Hackers breached Verkada and accessed its customers' security cameras, Bloomberg reported Tuesday. They gained access to 150,000 cameras inside places such as Tesla, Cloudflare, hospitals, and jails. Some cameras let the hackers access Verkada customers' separate corporate networks.

White liberals are the worst. We all know this. These are the college-educated folks who have declared themselves the political correctness police and protectors of communities of color. They see racism everywhere. They see oppression everywhere. They see problematic societal trends everywhere. Mr. Potato Head was diced up by this crew. Pepe Le Pew has been branded a rapist. If you think this is insane and not really helping normal Americans, you’d be right. Outside of the cities, no one cares about any of this stuff. White liberals are keen on another action item: defunding the police. It’s part of...

ountries should not require travelers to present so-called “vaccine passports” for international travel during the ongoing Chinese coronavirus pandemic, as such a demand would be unfair to nations with limited vaccination capabilities, a senior World Health Organization (W.H.O.) official said Monday. “Vaccination is just not available enough around the world and is not available certainly on an equitable basis,” Dr. Michael Ryan, director of the W.H.O. Health Emergencies Program, said at a press briefing March 8. Ryan said the W.H.O., the United Nations’ (U.N.) official health body, advises against the use of coronavirus vaccine passports for now while there are...

During an interview aired on Tuesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “AC360,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) stated that getting “big, bold change done” is the most important priority of Democrats, and that he hopes “that now that Republicans have seen we can do it without them, that they’ll realize they ought to try to work with us.” Schumer said, “I always say, we want to work with Republicans where we can. But we have to get big, bold change done, and that is our number one priority. I have a hope. I’m always an optimist, you know that, Anderson, that...

Bari Weiss has written an outstanding piece for City Journal about the ways in which wokeness has moved from universities to some of the country’s most exclusive prep schools. After speaking with parents and teachers at schools on both the east and west coast, Weiss concludes the woke revolution is already over. In fact, parents at these schools, aware their kids could be kicked out for any reason, are afraid to be identified as skeptics of critical race theory. This fear of being accused (or worse having your children blacklisted) is already so great that not a single person Weiss...

My colleague Jeff Charles wrote a great article on how the Nevada Democrat Socialists of America (DSA) have taken over the Democrat Party in the state, and why the traditional leadership chose to resign.Hi new followers! Yesterday DSA members Judith Whitmer, Jacob Allen, Dr. Zaffar Iqbal & Ahmad Adé took over @nvdems. We've been hard at work after @BernieSanders's caucus win, organizing for power wherever we can. Let us tell you a little bit about what we've been up to 1/11— Las Vegas DSA (@LasVegasDSA) March 7, 2021The far-left socialist wing of the Democratic Party just scored a significant victory...