Free Republic

Pastor James Coates’ church had been admitting believers exceeding 15 percent of the building’s capacity, violating lockdowns in Alberta... EDMONTON, Alberta,.... Canadian Pastor James Coates, who was jailed for holding church services amid COVID lockdowns, will soon be released from prison. His legal team announced today that Crown prosecutors agreed to drop most of the charges. “The Justice Centre today announced that Crown Prosecutors have agreed to withdraw all but one of the Public Health Act offences that Pastor James Coates has been charged with. The Justice Centre expects Pastor Coates will be released from jail in the coming days,...

The menagerie of bacterial and fungal species living among us is ever growing - and this is no exception in low-gravity environments, such as the International Space Station (ISS). Three of the four strains were isolated back in 2015 and 2016 – one was found on an overhead panel of the ISS research stations, the second was found in the Cupola, the third was found on the surface of the dining table; the fourth was found in an old HEPA filter returned to Earth in 2011. All four of the strains belong to a family of bacteria found in soil...

A 6-inch Chinese porcelain bowl that was bought for $35 at a Connecticut yard sale was sold at auction Wednesday for a staggering $721,800, which includes a buyer’s premium. It was expected to fetch between $300,000 and $500,000 at Sotheby’s on the Upper East Side. The hammer price, which does not include the buyer’s premium and overhead premium, was $580,000. The name of the winning bidder in the Sotheby’s Auction of Important Chinese Art auction is private.

Editor’s Note: In the wake of the January 6 Capitol riot, the Biden administration ordered the U.S. Navy to stand down its global operations and subject all members to what it characterizes as training to recognize and combat”extremism.” The piece below was written by an active duty military member who has about 20 years of service. This member has been deployed overseas in the war on terrorism multiple times. The piece describes the Navy’s “extremism stand-down,” what it includes, and what it leaves out. Ted Mahan is not the member’s real name. Recently, my Navy unit held an “extremism stand-down”...

Novavax Inc. saw its share price skyrocket, more than 25% at one point, since it released positive late-stage data for its experimental Covid-19 vaccine — results analysts have pointed to as promising for the company's future.Shares have continued to rise since the Gaithersburg vaccine maker announced after the closing bell last Thursday that its coronavirus vaccine candidate was 96.4% effective against the original version of the virus, provided complete protection against severe cases and showed some efficacy against emerging variants, according to data from a late-stage clinical trial in the United Kingdom. The findings follow interim data that similarly drove...

The Philippines is in talks with the Serum Institute of India (SII) to study the possibility of local vaccine production, vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said Wednesday. Galvez, who recently returned from India where he signed a deal for 30 million Novavax doses, said the Philippines can take its cue from its Asian neighbor on how to produce vaccines locally. "We spoke with SII to study the possibility of bringing back the country’s capability to produce its own vaccines." he said during Kapihan sa Manila Bay. "The SII has 136 scientists and they want to help us produce our...

March 17 (UPI) -- A photographer taking pictures of a surfer at a Florida beach captured a rare shot when the man was photobombed by a wave-jumping manta ray. Rusty Escandell said he was visiting the beach near Patrick Space Force Base in Satellite Beach with his son when he decided to take some photos of a surfer out on the water. "To be frank with you, I was actually focusing on the surfer. I was doing a burst, catching several frames, and it wasn't until I got home and I was reviewing the pictures that I actually saw what...

Total Vaccine Doses Delivered: 147,590,615 (3,942,200 J&J) Administered: 113,037,627 (1,766,131 J&J) People Vaccinated, At Least One Dose: 73,669,956 Fully Vaccinated: 39,989,196

On a day that saw the Israel Antiquities Authority unveil the first Bible scroll fragments found in decades and numerous other dazzling artifacts from the “Cave of Horror” above the Dead Sea — including a huge 10,500-year-old complete woven basket, the oldest in the world — perhaps the most extraordinary news is that there are another 20 promising caves, holding untold potential treasures, that have yet to be excavated. That means the dozens of fragments shown to the public on Tuesday could mark the beginning of an exciting new era of discovery, 60 years after the last major scroll finds....

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy didn’t pull the trigger, but he created the environment for the virus to spread and kill thousands. Yes, New York’s Andrew Cuomo isn’t the only person facing a scandal concerning COVID deaths in nursing homes. Murphy is facing the same controversy. There are already hearings on the matter. Will it go anywhere? It’s tough in Democratic-run states. There is no accountability unless the charges are indefensible, or the evidence is simply too overwhelming for state lawmakers not to do anything. The worst part is Murphy was warned by state health officials that his grim reaper...

A French teacher says he was threatened with a beheading by a student and then suspended by the headmaster for defending beheaded teacher Samuel Paty. Paty was beheaded because a 13-year-old girl had lied about his course on free speech to her Muslim father. ============================================================= Le Parisien reported that the Muslim teenager had lied because she did not want her father to find out that she had been suspended for skipping classes. She claimed instead that her history and geography teacher Samuel Paty, had suspended her from classes after she had a disagreement with him over caricatures of the prophet....

Up to 16 million people in the United States may have had undiagnosed, asymptomatic COVID-19 as of September 2020 -- twice as many as previously estimated -- an analysis published Tuesday by JAMA Network Open reported. Just under 7% of about 62,000 people in the United States with no symptoms of infection tested in the study had antibodies against the virus, the data showed.. Antibodies are cells produced by the immune system to fight off infection, and their presence in blood suggests that people either are battling the virus or were recently. The nearly 16 million asymptomatic cases is more...

The FBI arrested the president of the Philadelphia Proud Boys on Wednesday morning at his Port Richmond home, weeks after photos and videos emerged placing him at the front of the organization’s presence during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. ---snip--- Prosecutors have charged at least two other men with trashing Merkley’s office, including Brandon Fellows, 26, of Schenectady, N.Y., who was arrested within two weeks of the attack. He told CNN on his way out of the Capitol Jan. 6 that he and others were smoking weed in “some Oregon” room. Merkley later posted a video to Twitter showing the...

Alabama House Democrats, including the Alabama Democratic Party chairman, rejected a preventative voter fraud measure, HB 167, designed to prevent voters from casting multiple ballots in a single election, dismissing it as an attempt to “further disenfranchise the black vote.”

CNN ratings have collapsed by almost 60% since President Trump left the White House almost 2 months ago. Here are the CNN post-inauguration ratings drops as of Monday 3/15/2021 compared to Monday 1/18/2021 according to Nielsen: Lemon -60% Tapper -59% Cuomo -58% Blitzer -57% Burnett -56% Cooper -55% For comparison purposes, here are some other ratings drops for the same time period: Mad Cow -26% Tucker Carlson -8% Laura Ingraham -6% Sean Hannity -5%

Michigan attorney general Dana Nessel has announced there will be no state investigation into the COVID-19 nursing home deaths scandal, which was done at the behest of Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Whitmer’s right-hand woman Nessel will be doing what she can to cover-up the scandal, similar to how she covered up voter fraud and issued threats to whistleblowers to intimidate and silence them. “Though I will not hesitate to act when justified, I also will not abuse the investigatory powers of this department to launch a political attack on any state official, regardless of party or beliefs,” Nessel said in a...

Former President Barack Obama on Wednesday urged for an “alarming rise” in anti-Asian violence to come to an end after a white man confessed to killing eight people, six of which were Asian, at massage parlors in Atlanta metro area. “Even as we’ve battled the pandemic, we’ve continued to neglect the longer-lasting epidemic of gun violence in America. Although the shooter’s motive is not yet clear, the identity of the victims underscores an alarming rise in anti-Asian violence that must end,” Obama wrote on Twitter.

Video footage of President Joe Biden meeting with reporters on Tuesday as he left the White House for a visit to Chester, Pennsylvania sparked a conspiracy theory, and people called Biden a green screen President. You have to wonder after you see the video from outside The White House on Tuesday as Biden prepares to board Marine One. Now, normally people focus on the crazy stuff that comes out of the mouth of President Joe Biden. But today everyone is focusing on his hands. Before Biden made his way towards Marine One on the South Lawn lawn en route to...

Before he got on a helicopter yesterday, Joe Biden was asked if he would be going to the border himself at any point to see the problems that are going on there. In the video below, a reporter asks, “Do you have any plans to travel to the southern border?” Biden says, “Not at the moment.” He says one more thing and then walks toward his plane. But what sparked a lot of comment on social media and why the video has over a million views isn’t so much that, although once again it suggests the border isn’t a priority...

...Writing in the Washington Examiner, Becket Adams makes the great point that this is more than just an indictment of the Washington Post, it is indeed an indictment of the media. That’s not because they ran with a bogus story they failed to verify – but rather because they ran with a bogus story that they claimed to have verified. NBC News reported it “confirmed The Post’s characterization of the Dec. 23 call through a source familiar with the conversation.” USA Today claimed a “Georgia official speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters confirmed the details of...