Free Republic

Embattled New York governor Andrew Cuomo reportedly helped draft a letter intended to discredit and disparage one of his sexual harassment accusers. The letter began circulating after Lindsey Boylan, 36, made her accusations on Twitter in December, the first person to publicly come forward against the governor. She alleges Cuomo kissed her without warning in 2018 and asked her to play strip poker prior to that. 'Weaponizing a claim of sexual harassment for personal political gain or to achieve notoriety cannot be tolerated,' one version of the letter read, according to the New York Times.

We’ve been wearing masks during the pandemic for months and months now, so we looked at when we can take them off. As more people get vaccinated, many wonder when mask mandates will go away. “Now that we got one of our shots, we’re probably going to not wear our mask much at all anymore,” Mark Pierce said. Pierce wants his face to be free as COVID-19 cases decline. He says rules should too. “We’re just really fortunate to live in Florida where our governor has some common sense,” Pierce said. We did speak to people who explained their loved...

The director of research at a Massachusetts biotech firm has been accused searching online for deadly poisons and purchasing 800 castor bean seeds so he could extract the toxin ricin from them, federal prosecutors say. Dr. Ishtiaq Ali Saaem, 37, was charged on Tuesday with obstruction of justice after he allegedly lied to FBI agents when they were investigating why he was trying to acquire the deadly toxin. Authorities say Saaem had ordered 100 packets of castor beans, which each contained eight seeds, online.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday backed reforming, rather than scrapping, the filibuster after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell warned Democrats that ending the long-standing Senate procedure that can block partisan legislation would bring the Democratic president's agenda to a standstill. Top Democrats, including the two highest-ranking party members in the Senate, have stepped up rhetoric in recent days about the future of the filibuster, which requires support from 60 of the chamber's 100 members to pass most legislation - effectively giving power to the minority party in a closely-divided chamber. The parliamentary custom has long been seen as a mechanism...

Iran has showed off what it says is a new high-tech “missile city” with an underground stash of rockets operated by its Revolutionary Guards. The base was inspected by Guards commander Hossein Salami who boasted that it makes up only a “small section of the great and expansive missile capability” possessed by Tehran. Footage broadcast by state TV showed rows of missiles stashed in a depot at the underground base, while the head of the Guards’ naval unit said the site was equipped to detect enemy signals. The report claimed the base’s “electronic warfare equipment” included radar, monitoring, simulation and...

“Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than an house full of sacrifices with strife” (Proverbs 17:1 KJV).

President Biden on Tuesday issued a blunt message to migrants thinking about crossing the border: “Don’t come.” The president spoke about the crisis at the US-Mexico border in an interview with ABC News — in which host George Stephanopoulos asked, “do you have to say quite clearly, ‘Don’t come’?” “Yes, I can say quite clearly: Don’t come over,” Biden replied. “Don’t leave your town or city or community.”

Pfizer is looking to turn its lucrative coronavirus vaccine into an even bigger cash cow. The drugmaker sees a “significant opportunity” to charge more for the groundbreaking shot once it gets to the other side of the COVID-19 pandemic, one top executive says. Pfizer set the current prices for the vaccine it developed with its German partner, BioNTech, based on the need for governments to secure doses and get the virus under control, according to chief financial officer Frank D’Amelio. For instance, Pfizer is charging the US government $19.50 per dose — well below the $150 or $175 per dose...

Medical and religious experts urge Muslims in the UK to take the vaccineTaking the Covid-19 vaccines on offer in the UK is permissible in Islam and does not invalidate fasting, the British Islamic Medical Association said. Ramadan is expected to begin on April 12 and some Muslims have concerns about being inoculated during the holy month. Dr Salman Waqar, a board member at Bima, said Islamic opinion on the matter was fairly unambiguous. "Muslim scholars around the world, not only in Europe and the UK, have said that the Covid vaccines are religiously permissible and that taking a vaccine...

Mick Fleetwood’s all-star salute to Peter Green will premiere online April 24. The concert event, held Feb. 25, 2020 at the London Palladium, was created to honor Green’s contributions to Fleetwood Mac’s early years. "The concert was a celebration of those early blues days where we all began," Fleetwood explained via statement. "It’s important to recognize the profound impact Peter and the early Fleetwood Mac had on the world of music. Peter was my greatest mentor, and it gave me such joy to pay tribute to his incredible talent. I was honored to be sharing the stage with some of...

Proven technologies for a net-zero energy system already largely exist today, according to a report published Tuesday by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). The report predicts that renewable power, green hydrogen and modern bioenergy will shape the way we power the world in 2050. Adopting such solutions would set world leaders on track to meet their target of keeping the planet from heating by more than 1.5 degree Celsius above preindustrial levels this century, according to the World Energy Transitions Outlook report. The UN had warned in November that pledges to meet this goal were so far “woefully inadequate.”...

“No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.” – Amendment III, The U.S. Constitution “The army...is a dangerous instrument to play with.” – George Washington to Alexander Hamilton, April 4, 1783 “A standing army is one of the greatest mischiefs that can possibly happen.” – James Madison, Debates, Virginia Convention, 1787 “Standing armies are dangerous to liberty.” – Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers, 1787 “None but an armed nation can dispense with a standing army.” –...

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for PRESIDENT, VICE PRESIDENT, and AMERICA: Government, Family, Military, Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 1 JOHN 5:14 Religion Forum Threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate of any kind.

Reporter: "Do you have any plans to travel to the southern border?" President Biden: "Not at the moment."

Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday it’s possible that Americans may be able to gather in larger groups on the Fourth of July — if the nation doesn’t pull back on public safety measures. “You know, that’s entirely conceivable and possible,” Fauci said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” Fauci explained that while President Biden set a more “reasonable” Independence Day goal of small groups being able to gather, it doesn’t mean that larger celebrations are off the table. “What the president was saying is that we traditionally have, at the Fourth of July, the kind of barbecue in the backyard, the kind...

There is something odd about this video. Biden comes out of the White House alone. He walks up to the media but they are kept out of frame. At exactly the 1 min mark, look at the furry microphone on the left very carefully. You can see Bidens' hand is superimposed over the microphone. As he walks away, there's a quick cut keeping the media out of frame. Biden hits the road to push COVID relief package

The Sparta Area School District is investigating a Sparta High School teacher who sharply criticized Donald Trump, opponents of same-sex marriage, white men and Tomah Area School District.

ATLANTA—A Georgia man who professed a passion for guns and God was in custody on Tuesday night after a string of shootings that police said appeared to target Asian women at massage parlors and left eight people dead. Aaron Long, 21, of Woodstock, Georgia, was caught on video at the crime scenes and later nabbed on a highway two hours south of Atlanta following a police chase, authorities said. Police stressed that it was still much too early to announce a motive, but the horrific attacks come amid a wave of targeted violence against the Asian-American community. Details about the...

Sir Elton John has criticised the Vatican of "hypocrisy" after it said the Catholic Church cannot bless same-sex marriages. The Vatican’s orthodoxy office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, responded to a question about whether Catholic clergy can bless gay unions on Monday saying that God "cannot bless a sin". John, who married David Furnish in 2014, subsequently lambasting the response on social media as he said the Vatican had invested “millions” in his 2019 biopic Rocketman. “How can the Vatican refuse to bless gay marriages because they ‘are sin’, yet happily make a profit from investing millions...

As CCP virus variants grow in number, scientists are increasingly concerned about whether vaccines will remain effective despite the new strains. On March 12, southern China’s Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the B.1.525 strain had been detected in two cases. This is the first time it has been discovered in the province. B.1.525 was first found in late December in Nigeria but since then the new variant of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus has been found in 26 countries around the world, including the UK, Australia, Denmark, the United States, Canada, Italy, and most...