Free Republic

The Covid-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca was 79% effective in preventing symptomatic illness in a large trial in the US, Chile and Peru, the company said on Monday, paving the way for it to apply for US approval. It was 100% effective against severe or critical disease and hospitalisation and was safe, the drugmaker said on Monday, releasing results of the late-stage human trial study of more than 32,000 volunteers across all age groups. The data will give credence to the British vaccine after results from earlier, separate late-stage studies raised questions about the robustness of the...

A conservative judge on the influential federal appeals court in Washington used his dissent in a defamation case to lambaste most U.S. media outlets for trumpeting "shocking" anti-Republican views, and call for libel laws to be revised to make it easier to sue the press.The New York Times and The Washington Post are "virtually Democratic Party broadsheets," while the news section of the Wall Street Journal "leans in the same direction," said U.S. Circuit Judge Laurence Silberman, who added the major television outlets and Silicon Valley giants were similarly biased.

James O'Keefe @JamesOKeefeIII BREAKING: Project Veritas Obtains Horrifying NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN Images From Within Donna, TX Immigrant Detention Center; THOUSANDS of Illegal Immigrants PACKED Into Tight Spaces And Wrapped In Space Blankets On Floor; Insider: '50+ COVID Positive' #BidenBorderCrisis 6:47 AM · Mar 22, 2021

Former President Donald Trump unloaded on Democrat President Joe Biden on Sunday over Biden’s border crisis, saying that the border was secure when he left office and that Biden is singlehandedly responsible for the crisis that has unfolded. “We proudly handed the Biden Administration the most secure border in history. All they had to do was keep this smooth-running system on autopilot. Instead, in the span of a just few weeks, the Biden Administration has turned a national triumph into a national disaster. They are in way over their heads and taking on water fast. The pathetic, clueless performance of...

We’re about to access a part of your brain that holds all of your childhood memories. Ready? Kellogg’s Cereal Straws. Are you with us? The brand was ahead of its time with ditching plastic straws by creating its own that were inspired by cereal. It’s been a long time — 12 years, to be exact — but Kellogg’s is officially bringing back the treat that makes drinking the milk at the bottom of your bowl more fun. Kellogg’s is reviving two of the crunchy Cereal Straws flavors: Froot Loops and Cocoa Krispies. So whether you prefer the fruity taste of...

Even though Florida has been wide open for almost a year now (without mask mandates); even though Florida has millions of retired senior citizens; Florida still has less deaths and hospitalizations than any of the know-it-all liberal lockdown states run by authoritarian Democrat Governors. Florida’s numbers are better than New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, Michigan, Illinois, or any other deep blue state. Yes, Florida has less death and hospitalizations, AND the people of Florida kept their businesses open; kept their jobs; the kids all went to school; people kept on living their normal lives. My friends own restaurants in...

Turkey’s currency tumbled 9% on Monday, putting it on course for its biggest single-day selloff since 2018, following the abrupt ouster of the central bank governor last week. The lira fell to as low as 8.280 a dollar from 7.219, before regaining some ground to trade at about 7.9312 a dollar, according to FactSet. Turkey’s stocks also plunged. The turmoil comes after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday unexpectedly fired Naci Agbal, the central bank governor who had repeatedly raised interest rates in an effort to tame inflation since his appointment in November. Foreign investors say the move renewed concerns...

It's 2021, and we finally don't have to worry quite so much about our spacecraft getting lost in interstellar space. Using the positions and shifting light of stars, both near and far, astronomer Coryn A.L. Bailer-Jones has demonstrated the feasibility of autonomous, on-the-fly navigation for spacecraft traveling far beyond the Solar System. Interstellar space navigation may not seem like an immediate problem. However, already in the last decade human-made instruments have entered interstellar space, as first Voyager 1 (in 2012) and Voyager 2 (in 2018) crossed the Solar System boundary known as the heliopause. It's only a matter of time...

Update (0910ET): Well that didn't take long. Chinese authorities have already retaliated to the EU sanctions... and threatens more (emphasis ours)On March 22, the European Union imposed unilateral sanctions on relevant individuals and entities in China based on lies and false information under the pretext of the so-called human rights issue in Xinjiang.The European side ignored facts, turned black and white, grossly interfered in China's internal affairs, flagrantly violated international law and the basic norms of international relations, and seriously damaged China-EU relations. China firmly opposes and strongly condemns this. The Chinese government is unwavering in its determination to defend...

Why did Christ die in his early thirties rather than as an older man? This would have permitted Him more time to teach and to set forth His Church. St. Thomas Aquinas answered the question in the following way:Christ willed to suffer while yet young, for three reasons. First of all, to commend the more His love by giving up His life for us when He was in His most perfect state of life. Secondly, because it was not becoming for Him to show any decay of nature nor to be subject to disease …. Thirdly, that by dying...

Racism under the banner of anti-racism. Hate under the banner of love. Intolerance under the banner of tolerance. Exclusion in the name of inclusion. Canceling the goodness of Dr. Seuss while extolling the grunge and grind of Cardi B. If you often find yourself scratching your head wondering how in the world we got here, look no further than your local schools. Consider this week’s winner of the “Orwell is Laughing Award” as reported by Chris Rufo of the Discovery Institute. Mr. Rufo breaks the story as follows: “Scoop: California’s proposed ‘ethnic studies’ curriculum calls for the ‘decolonization’ of American...

(President Trump's Operation Warp Speed Update) Total Vaccine Doses Delivered: 156,734,555 (4,253,900 J&J) Administered: 124,481,412 (2,298,614 J&J) People Vaccinated, At Least One Dose: 81,415,769 Fully Vaccinated: 44,141,228

Israel has fully vaccinated more than half its population, getting shots in arms at a pace that is far ahead of any other nation. So what has it done for Israel’s economy? The question is a vital one, as world leaders have staked the recovery on the notion that vaccines will help bring back jobs and restart the global economy. This comes as Israel continues to make significant progress in its vaccination campaign. The country has fully vaccinated 50.2% of its population, according to Bloomberg, and given at least one dose to 57.1%.

During a hastily organized official safety review last week, Emer Cooke, the head of the EMA, insisted that the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine far outweigh its risks. However, when it came time to address the 30 or so cases of sometimes-deadly rare blood clots that prompted dozens of countries to halt the jab, the scientist acknowledged that the cases were genuine, but that the agency "doesn't have enough evidence to establish a definitive link." As it turns out, the review (which was followed the next day by a mirror WHO review that arrived at virtually all the same conclusions)...

Houston has a race and criminal justice problem. There is an enormous racial disparity of Black criminals and Black crime victims versus White criminals and White crime victims. While the Black population of Houston, according to 2019 estimates, is about 22 percent, Black crime victims are about 44 percent of all crime victims, according to the Houston Police Department data of Race of Violent Victims for 2019. Furthermore, Blacks make up 61.5 percent of offenders of Reported Violent Crimes in 2019. Strangely, or perhaps not so strangely, there is a lack of righteous indignation from the well financed - to...

AstraZeneca released data from its US trial on Monday morning showing the jab is 79% effective at preventing COVID, while researchers insisted they saw no signs of patients exhibiting rare blood clots like those seen in a few dozen cases in Europe (cases that inspired local health authorities in two dozen countries to halt approval of the jab).Still, a recent survey shows the halts caused confidence in the jab to crater across Europe. And as COVID cases continue to accelerate due, in part, to the growing presence of several increasingly contagious COVID variants. This prompted France, Italy and others to...

Former President Donald Trump endorsed GOP Rep. Jody Hice for Georgia Secretary of State on Monday, after attacking incumbent Republican Brad Raffensperger for overseeing his loss in the state last year. “Unlike the current Georgia Secretary of State, Jody leads out front with integrity,” said Trump. I have 100% confidence in Jody to fight for Free, Fair, and Secure Elections in Georgia, in line with our beloved U.S. Constitution. Jody will stop the Fraud and get honesty into our Elections!” Raffensperger oversaw three ballot counts confirming Joe Biden’s victory over Trump in Georgia, the first for a Democratic presidential candidate...

While Islam has receded from the public mind, Islamic ambitions remain intact. President Biden is poised to facilitate those objectives by reviving the Iran nuclear deal.The chaos of the 2020 election and its aftermath deflected national attention from the standing threat of political Islam. Fanning amnesia is the hallucinogenic drumbeat from Christian churches—Vatican in the lead—about “the religion of peace.”But while Islam has receded from the public mind, Islamic ambitions remain intact. President Biden is poised to facilitate those objectives by reviving the Iran nuclear deal.Pope Francis’ March visit to Iraq’s Grand Ayatollah al Sistani in the name of “co-existence”...

If you think that cancel culture and social media deplatforming have gotten out of hand, you should know that those are only two examples of many strategies that the fascist left deploys to enforce its political orthodoxy. Another such strategy, currently sweeping the country, takes coercive suppression of dissent to a whole new level. The model here comes straight out of the old Soviet Union’s playbook: use control over institutions to demand a continuous series of expressions of loyalty to the orthodoxy, and then to destroy the livelihood and career of anyone who refuses to comply. This latest strategy, which...

Among the multiple allegations of sexual harassment against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, one of the more bizarre is that of Valerie Bauman, who claims that, when she was a 25-year-old reporter, then-attorney general Cuomo “made unwavering eye contact” with her during a press conference. After that, things got even worse: “He took my hand, entered my personal space and looked into my eyes as he announced, ‘Hello, I’m Andrew Cuomo.’” But the horrors that Ms. Bauman had to experience did not end there. Later, when covering the attorney general’s office, Cuomo “would sometimes pick up the phone himself,” and...