Free Republic

The refusal of prison workers to take the vaccine threatens to undermine efforts to control the pandemic both inside and outside of prisons, according to public health experts A Florida correctional officer polled his colleagues earlier this year in a private Facebook group: “Will you take the COVID-19 vaccine if offered?” The answer from more than half: “Hell no.” Only 40 of the 475 respondents said yes. In Massachusetts, more than half the people employed by the Department of Correction declined to be immunized. A statewide survey in California showed that half of all correction employees will wait to be...

A fire swept through a sprawling Rohingya refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, Monday, killing at least five people, destroying homes and endangering the lives of tens of thousands of refugees, camp officials said. The fire destroyed at least 3,000 shelters as it tore through the camp, Rashedul Islam, an official in charge of Kutupalong refugee camp, said Tuesday. Fire services, Bangladesh's Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner, and rescue and response teams remained at the scene on Monday evening, where they continued to try to control the fire and prevent its further spread, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said late...

The alleged gunman charged with slaughtering 10 people at a Colorado supermarket bought an assault rifle a week prior to the shooting — and was caught “playing” with it by a family member, according to new court documents. Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa purchased a Ruger AR-556 pistol on March 16 — six days before going on a deadly rampage at the King Soopers in Boulder, according to an affidavit unsealed Tuesday. His sister-in-law, whose name is redacted, told investigators that she saw Alissa, 21, “playing with a gun she thought looked like a ‘machine gun'” in the days prior to...

Another recent incident of anti-Asian American harassment seems to have flown under the national media's radar, so let's cover it here. The Miami New Times reported Friday on a woman of Chinese descent riding a public bus in Miami-Dade County. She saw a fellow commuter talking without a mask and asked him to put one on. It set him off on a racist rant. He became aggressive, and the woman began to record him with her phone. In the video, the man states, "Mind your goddamn business, Chinese lady. Ugly ass c----," using a slur for Asian people. He later...

Biden administration remains intent on restarting aid to Palestinians The Biden administration privately confirmed to Congress last week that the Palestinian Authority has continued to use international aid money to reward terrorists but said the finding won't impact its plans to restart funding. In a non-public State Department report obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, the administration said the Palestinians spent at least $151 million in 2019 on its "pay-to-slay" program, in which international aid dollars are spent to support imprisoned terrorists and their families. Financial statements further indicate that at least $191 million was spent on "deceased Palestinians referred...

This isn’t an overreaction to Gates’ latest foray into the news cycle. It’s an observation based on a long pattern of statements and behavior by the founder of Microsoft and one of the richest men who has ever lived which, were any of us normal people guilty of them, would result in our being institutionalized. Bill Gates is crazy. And he’s dangerous, because he’s willing to put untold sums of money toward making the insane things he believes a reality – and all of those insane things hurt people. The most recent idiocy? Impossible Burgers for all the white people....

A Staten Island woman accused of trafficking guns, including a pistol used in the murder of a pregnant woman, broke down and cried when her lawyer told her she was being released on bond. Gina Santoro, 54, was arraigned in Brooklyn Federal Court Monday for allegedly working as an arms dealer for her ex-con boyfriend, Phillip Moreno. The 46-year-old Moreno is accused of fatally shooting Alafia Rodriguez, 46, and his pregnant partner Ana DeSousa, 33, in the couple’s Mariners Harbor home last May. Another woman in the house at the time, Erica Johnson, 43, was shot multiple times but survived....

According to a leaked email from a federal government agency, language is seemingly being used to elevate Kamala Harris in all official correspondence. The leaked email from Outspoken came from a high-ranking White House communications team member.

A Maryland lawmaker has unveiled legislation that seeks to ban employers from terminating workers who refuse to receive COVID-19 vaccinations. The bill, sponsored by Democratic Delegate Nick Charles, would prevent businesses from putting forth a vaccine mandate. It also aims to protect companies from being sued by employees who become infected by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, and previously refused to be vaccinated. “Prohibiting an employer from terminating an employee solely on the basis of the employee’s refusal to receive a vaccination against COVID-19,” a summary of the bill states. If signed into law, the bill would be effective...

An unidentified 24-year-old woman died in South Beach after a pair of spring breakers raped her drugged body, left her for dead, then partied on with her credit cards, cops believe. North Carolinians Evoire Collier, 21, and Dorian Taylor, 24, are suspected of providing a “green pill” that led to the death of a Pennsylvania woman in her Miami Beach hotel room on Thursday, according to the Miami Herald. They were arrested Sunday.

Every statewide partisan officeholder in South Dakota is a Republican. The GOP controls the state House 62-8 and the Senate 32-3 — the largest majorities ever. Yet they can't seem to ban castration of minors or prevent men in female sports as part of the loony transgender agenda. What gives? They are plagued by the same business lobby preventing every other GOP supermajority state from protecting its historic cultural conservatism.

GENEVA — A top World Health Organization expert on the coronavirus pandemic said Monday the weekly global count of deaths from COVID-19 is rising again, a “worrying sign” after about six weeks of declines. Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead on COVID-19 at the UN health agency, said the growth followed a fifth straight week of confirmed cases increasing worldwide. She said the number of reported cases went up up in four of the WHO’s six regions, though there were significant variations within each region.

You might remember the corrupt Baltimore prosecutor Marilyn Mosby who attempted to make a national name for herself in the prosecution of the “Baltimore Six”; six police officers she charged in the death of Freddie Gray back in 2015. As Baltimore burned amid political fuel driven by Black Lives Matter, Mosby was the lead narrative engineer who attempted to frame the six police officers for the death of Gray until her fraudulent charges collapsed in the first two officer trials which resulted in acquittal. According to recent media reports Marilyn Mosby and her husband, Nick Mosby, the Baltimore city counsel...

For salty snack lovers, March 23 is a day you may not want to miss — it’s National Chip and Dip Day. There’s much to celebrate about this perfect pairing. Not only are the two snack items delicious when served together; chips and dip are also an easy-to-prepare appetizer, snack and even a meal when no one else is around. (It’s OK; we’ve all done it.) In the early days, chips usually referred to potato chips, but these days chips can be made of tortillas, beans, corn, pita or any number of vegetables. Their partner in caloric crime — the...

Former President Barack Obama on Tuesday called for stricter gun laws following the mass shooting in Colorado, bemoaning what he called a national tolerance for "these kinds of random, senseless acts." Obama said in a statement that he and former first lady Michelle Obama are grieving with the families of the victims of Monday's massacre in Boulder, but also said they "are also feeling a deep, familiar outrage" for these types of tragedies. The statement by the former president came shortly before President Joe Biden publicly commented on the shooting, which took place at grocery store and left 10 dead,...

The organization behind the so-far successful effort to recall Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom is now facing charges of racism for language used on its website and on social media, including calling the coronavirus — which originated in Wuhan, China — the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) virus.

President Biden on Tuesday called on Congress to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and to close loopholes in the background check system after a gunman killed 10 people at a grocery store in Boulder, Colo. “I don’t need to wait another minute let alone an hour to take common sense steps that will save lives in the future and to urge my colleagues in the House and Senate to act,” Biden said in remarks at the White House Tuesday afternoon. Biden called on the Senate to “immediately pass” two House-passed bills that would expand background checks for firearm sales....

Shaving company Harry’s appears to have taken the complaints of a Twitter user with only two followers seriously when shaving off its professional relationship with a conservative personality. A Twitter account named Avi Das (@flyingsodacan1) — created in December 2020 — trigger-tweeted at Harry’s whining about its sponsorship of The Daily Wire host Michael Knowles. The account bleated, “@harrys is sponsoring Michael Knowles. The same @michaeljknowles who is spreading homophobic and transphobic content. He had Joesph [sic] Nicolosi jr as a guest on his show and equates being trans to having schizophrenia. It is wrong that Harry’s or anyone sponsors...

While the U.S.’ response to the coronavirus pandemic has been met with criticism both domestically and internationally, the U.S. has fared better than Europe when it comes to vaccine distribution. While Israel decided to buy enough vaccine doses relative to its population and has created an electronic medical-record system and the United Kingdom has also done well in distributing the vaccine, the U.S. is outpacing members of the European Union. Former President Donald Trump launched Operation Warp Speed (OWS) which has led to three vaccines getting emergency use authorization and more than 44 million Americans being vaccinated. While the U.S....

Gov. Tom Wolf on Monday announced a major clean energy initiative that he said will produce nearly 50% of the state government’s electricity through new solar energy arrays. Wolf said Pennsylvania PULSE (Project to Utilize Light and Solar Energy) will go into operation Jan. 1, 2023. According to the governor, the project is the largest solar commitment by any government in the U.S. announced to date. Solar arrays will be built in seven locations in six counties: York, Juniata, Columbia, Montour, Northumberland and Snyder. The total 191-megawatt project is expected to deliver 361,000 megawatt hours of electricity per year. "This...