Free Republic

Migrant families coming across the border into Texas amid a new illegal immigration wave are testing positive for COVID-19 at a much higher rate — up to 10 times higher in some quarters — than the positive test rate among the U.S. population. The Washington Times reports that its survey of jurisdictions that are doing the testing has found that Brownsville, Texas, has reported a 12% positive rate for the novel coronavirus among incoming migrant families. And a homeless shelter in Harlingen has seen a 25% positive rate among the migrants it has helped. The current positivity test rate for...

The Alaska Republican Party State Central Committee voted to censure Sen. Lisa Murkowski during its quarterly meeting in Anchorage on Saturday. The vote was 77 percent in favor of the censure resolution, which was offered by House District 23 Chairman Kris Warren.

When realtor Ben Dixon caught sight of his face during an early morning Zoom call with a client in January, he was distracted by what he perceived were bags and discoloration under his eyes. “I thought, ‘You could do with a little help here!’” the 42-year-old admitted to The Post, noting how he’d become more bothered by his appearance while working remotely during the pandemic. So, like a growing number of dudes who are increasingly horrified by their appearance on countless Zoom calls, he consulted a friend with seemingly perfect skin, who generously shared his secret: concealer for men.

Berea College, a small Christian school in Kentucky, will host a seminar that associates “white citizenship” with terrorism. The flyer also takes a critical approach to the “Make America Great Again” slogan. “Despite calls for multiculturalism and color-blindness, segments of white America mourn their so-called loss of privilege, consistently begging to return to the nostalgic past in which their esteemed value as white citizens went unquestioned,” read a promotional poster obtained by Young America’s Foundation. “Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ appears to follow suit by offering a seemingly benign promise to return America to a previously ‘great’ past,” the poster...

On Friday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis criticized President Joe Biden’s remarks about the possibility of reinstating COVID-19 lockdowns in the United States if people are not “vigilant.” “To even contemplate doing any type of lockdown, honestly it’s insane,” said the Republican governor. DeSantis vowed to protect his state from possible Washington mandates. “That’s not gonna happen in the state of Florida,” DeSantis said, referring to lockdowns. “We’re gonna continue doing what works, but under no circumstances would we entertain anything of the sort.” Epoch Times Photo Supporters of former President Donald Trump gather along Southern Blvd near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home...

Disillusioned staffers are abandoning embattled Gov. Cuomo, sources said. “I hear that most people aren’t even coming into work, and the offices at the Capitol are empty,” said one well-placed insider in touch with staffers in recent days. “He’ll fight and fight and fight, but the staffers I’ve talked to are ready for him to hang up the gloves. Everyone feels like there is an inevitable conclusion — I mean at some point will Biden call on him to step down? They [staffers] just want this torture to stop.” Rebellion in the ranks deepened as Cuomo on Friday defiantly refused...

“John 3:16, Up Close and Personal” (John 3:14-21) It’s perhaps the most famous verse in the Bible. People know what it says simply by the reference, “John 3:16.” It’s so well known that folks will hold up a sign with just the reference on it, and people will remember what the verse says: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” A brief, concise, beautiful summary of the gospel. In fact, this verse is often called “The gospel in a nutshell.” Well, let’s take...

Campaigners have accused the government of not moving quickly enough towards banning LGBT+ "conversion therapy" in England and Wales. MPs from across the political spectrum called during a Westminster debate for the practice to be made illegal. Equalities minister Kemi Badenoch said the government was "committed" to "ending" it, and took the issue "very seriously". But equality campaigners and some MPs said targeted action was needed. "Conversion therapy" refers to any form of treatment or psychotherapy which aims to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity. The practice is already outlawed in Switzerland and parts of Australia, Canada and...

ROME – Several prominent Vatican personalities marked International Women’s Day by celebrating the contribution a feminine touch can bring to their work and calling for more space to be created for lay people in general within the ranks of the Roman Curia. Speaking during a March 8 panel organized by the Australian Embassy to the Holy See, Sister Nathalie Becquart, Undersecretary to the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, said Pope Francis is calling the Church “to recognize the legitimate place of women” at all levels of the Church in order to achieve “greater justice and equality, and he...

Alejandra Frausto, the Mexican government’s Secretary of Culture, lamented the March 7 destruction of the church on social media.MORELIA, Mexico — St. James the Apostle church in Nurio, in the Mexican state of Michoacán, was destroyed by a fire on Sunday. The church building which dates to 1639, contained historical works of indigenous art preserved there for centuries. Its exterior walls are standing, but the roof and interior have been gutted. Nurio is located about 80 miles west of Morelia. Alejandra Frausto, the Mexican government’s Secretary of Culture, lamented the March 7 destruction of the church on Twitter. “Devastating images...

In the late '60s and early '70s, the open roads of America — particularly the American West — became a kind of shorthand for two things: white-knuckled driving movies and the concept of freedom itself. Richard C. Sarafian's Vanishing Point, which premiered on March 13, 1971, exemplifies this as well as any film of the era. Once regarded as a pretty dull affair — the New York Times' reviewer called it "a movie about which I can think of almost nothing good to say" — Vanishing Point has now ascended to that hallowed realm of "cult movie," coming in at...

In Calvary Chapel of Ukiahv. Newsom, (ED CA, March 10, 2021), a California federal district court refused to issue a preliminary injunction against California's COVID-19 restriction on indoor singing and chanting during worship services. The court rejected plaintiffs' free exercise, free speech, equal protection and Establishment Clause claims. The court said in part: [T]he State has now issued protocols allowing those who serve as performers during church services, presumably including choir members or soloists, to sing indoors subject to masking and distancing.

Kidnapped students of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization Kaduna, have appealed to the Government not to use force to rescue them as their captors warned that such moves would lead to the killing of all the students. Benson Emmanuel, one of the students who spoke in a video that went viral on Saturday, said that they were surrounded by the gunmen who threatened that none of them would leave alive once the security agents attempt to rescue them by force. Emmanuel, who sat on the ground together with the other abductees, both males and females, said they needed urgent...

So completely ridiculous, like somehow naming them interrupts their “wild nature”. I and thousands of others have watched the pair of eagles in Hanover, PA. nest for many years. We have watched from mating, eggs hatching to fledging. Every year the watchers give the new babies names, the Adult pair are Freedom and Liberty. THIS year the PA Game Commission has issued a directive prohibiting this group from naming them. Looks like the cancel culture has a new target. “ THE naming of the hatchlings and their offspring introduces an element of domestication. In order to respect the eagles wild...

YouTube has taken down 800,000 videos containing COVID-19 misinformation since February 2020, The Hill reported March 12. YouTube spokesperson Elena Hernandez told The Hill the website has removed 30,000 videos containing COVID-19 vaccine misinformation since October. She said the removed videos "included claims about COVID-19 vaccinations that contradict local health authorities or the World Health Organization." YouTube's disclosure of the number of COVID-19 misinformation videos it has removed comes amid tech platforms' collective push to impose stronger measures against COVID-19 misinformation. Twitter recently revamped its policy, establishing new rules that target false claims about vaccines and lead to flagged tweets,...

Amnesty International is criticizing Zimbabwe's plan to evict 12,000 members of the Shangani indigenous minority from ancestral land. Zimbabwe's government this week indicated the evictions, which will make way for animal feed production, will go ahead despite a court order to halt the move. Robert Shivambu, Amnesty International's spokesman for Southern Africa, said Zimbabwe should stop the planned evictions of the Shangani people, who live in Chiredzi district’s Chilonga village on the border with Mozambique. The villagers are being kicked out to make way for grass production to make animal feed for a dairy company. "Zimbabwe authorities are attempting to...

Dar es Salaam — Tanzanian President John Magufuli, Africa's most prominent Covid-19 denier, disappeared from public sight 17 days ago. Now, he is widely rumored to be seriously ill with the same virus that he has dismissed and downplayed over the past year. Last May, Magufuli declared that "Tanzania has beaten coronavirus" after ordering three days of national prayer. The president abruptly stopped updating the number of cases, and assured foreign tourists that Tanzania's game parks and Indian Ocean resorts were open for business, leading to a wave of travel advisories cautioning travelers to avoid the country. Since then, he...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Friday she has directed key Democratic lawmakers to work with Republicans on drafting the next big legislative push from Congress—the much-anticipated infrastructure package. Pelosi said it would be “big, bold, and transformational” but it is also drawing scrutiny on how it will be paid for.

Pray For the Peace of JerusalemLambs, Sheep, and Shepherds Psalm 2Psalm 2 1 Why do the nations conspire[a] and the peoples plot in vain? 2 The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, 3 “Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.” 4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. 5 He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, 6 “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.” 7 I will proclaim the Lord’s decree:...

China’s absence of compulsory sex education in schools blamed for woman’s late discovery The woman tried to fall pregnant in the previous 12 months; she now has to decide her gender identityA 25-year-old woman in eastern China, who failed to fall pregnant after 12 months of trying, was shocked to discover she was actually born male and is intersex. The woman, whose external female genitalia never forced her to question her sex, stumbled upon the discovery after an X-ray of her injured ankle was taken in a hospital in her hometown. When the X-ray revealed that her bones had not...