Free Republic

“We need a SWAT team approach for hotspots. The goal should be to isolate confirmed positives in hours, not days.”That is a harrowing line from a University of Illinois proposal to the Biden administration for an app that would integrate medical data, geolocation and motion-tracking to ban potentially contaminated citizens from accessing certain public locations and private businesses.The China-type mobile app would use a color-coding system to label Americans who are exposed or may have been exposed to COVID and restrict them from access, documents obtained by the Washington Free Beacon show.“A PowerPoint produced by the school suggests scaling up...

"I have not had a relationship with a 17-year-old. That is totally false," Gaetz said. Rep. Matt Gaetz says that the Justice Department has informed his lawyers that he is the subject of an investigation. According to Axios, the Florida Republican said that his lawyers were informed that "I was not a target but a subject of an investigation regarding sexual conduct with women." "I only know that it has to do with women," Gaetz said, according to the New York Times. "I have a suspicion that someone is trying to recategorize my generosity to ex-girlfriends as something more untoward."...

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem signed two executive orders (pdf) (pdf) Monday evening to limit participants in female sports to biological females. This comes after the state legislature failed to make proposed revisions to the bill that would have stopped transgender females from competing in girls and women’s sports. “Only girls should play girls’ sports. Given the legislature’s failure to accept my proposed revisions to HB 1217, I am immediately signing two executive orders to address this issue: one to protect fairness in K-12 athletics, and another to do so in college athletics,” wrote Noem on Monday. When HB 1217...

If so, the embarrassment will result only because the media and some prosecutors wildly inflated expectations. As violent and disturbing as the Capitol Hill riot was, only a small minority of the rioters took parts in specific, prosecutable assaults. The rest, Politico reports today, likely will get charged with misdemeanors … and never see the inside of a prison... That’s not to say that there won’t be some defendants facing serious prison time. Thanks to video, some of which got published by the participants themselves, investigators have identified individuals who took part in assaults on police officers and can charge...

Every member of the Continental Congress who had gathered that fateful day, August 2, 1776, to sign the Declaration of Independence automatically became a criminal, guilty of sedition against a tyrannical King George III. Signing was dangerous as it subjected the patriots to the whims of the King which included arrest and loss of property and wealth. Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration’s author, had outlined indictments against the King that justified the issuing of the Declaration of Independence and the subsequent rebellion: “He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and...

During his tenure as president, Donald Trump adopted a tough on illegal immigration policy—largely via executive orders—that drew the constant ire of his critics. Border patrol agents intercepted many who crossed the southern border illegally, including youths. Often authorities separated such children from their families and placed them in crowded detention centers—run by those who failed to “systematically hold facilities accountable,” according to a recent report. It was not one of America’s finest moments, and it was a strange move for Republicans who allege to support fiscal responsibility and pro-family values. Yet these immigration policies do not appear to be...

Last week, I noted that 83% of voters share my belief that America’s founding ideals are worth fighting for. On top of that, 85% think it’s accurate to describe America’s founding ideals as freedom, equality and self-governance. Seventy-three percent believe those ideals provide a good foundation for bringing people together and unifying the nation. Unfortunately, though, just 30% of voters say our nation is doing a good or an excellent job of living up to those ideals. Even worse, looking forward a generation or so, only a third of voters (33%) believe we’ll draw closer to living out those noble...

A team of researchers from Universidade de São Paulo, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul and Universitat Pompeu Fabra, has found evidence of a genetic Australasian influence in more parts of South America than just the Amazon. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group describes their study of a genomic dataset from multiple South American populations across the continent.Back in 2015, a team of researchers found what they described as an Australasian influence in native people living in the Amazon. They had found what they described as a Ypikuéra population signal—a genetic...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States on Monday offered a $10 million reward for information on a Hezbollah operative who was convicted last year in the assassination of Lebanon’s former prime minister Rafik Hariri. The State Department said the reward will be given to anyone who provides information preventing Salim Jamil Ayyash from planning or engaging in any attack against a U.S. citizen or American interests. Ayyash is a senior member of Hezbollah's Unit 121, an assassination squad that the department said reports to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah

....The Calabrian artist Andrea Grosso Ciponte has avoided making any specific comparisons between the present day and the stirring true story behind Freiheit!: The White Rose Graphic Novel. As a result the book itself is mercifully free of self-serious references to our own times. The narrative proceeds with a spare and haunting economy: siblings Hans and Sophie Scholl join forces with fellow university students in Hamburg, Freiburg, Berlin, and Vienna to undermine Hitler’s oppressive regime from within. They read forbidden books, gather beneath the moonlit trees of Munich’s English Garden, and—most famously—distribute six leaflets urging fellow dissenters to “dissociate yourselves...

Hours after the New York Times broke a story on the Justice Department investigating sex trafficking allegations against Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fl.), Gaetz appeared on Fox News’ Tucker to refute the claims.Asked about the story by Tucker Carlos, Gaetz says “It is a horrible allegation, and it is a lie.”Gaetz reiterated claims made on Twitter and elsewhere that the allegations stem from a former Justice Department official who was attempting to blackmail him. That official, who Gaetz named as “David McGee,” contacted Gaetz’s father, according to the Republican House member.Gaetz says his family went to the local FBI in Florida,...

Cardinal Burke floats ‘excommunication’ for Biden over his ‘aggressive’ abortion promotionThe Cardinal said that a politician who claims to be a Catholic and yet openly and aggressively promotes procured abortion is in the state of apostasy.March 30, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke said that pro-abortion Catholics in public life such as President Joe Biden, who “obstinately and publicly” deny truths of the faith and act against them, must not only be denied Holy Communion but must now face the charge of the “crime of apostasy” where the “canonical penalty” for the guilty is “excommunication.”“Such a person who claims...

The catastrophic impact of Vesuvius effectively froze the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in time, like insects trapped in amber. This has provided archaeologists with unique insights into the lives of those living in the shadow of the volcano thousands of years ago. The opportunity to actually walk around an ancient city, almost as it was, allows us to connect with our past in tangible ways.The scientific study of the remains of victims of Vesuvius are, however, not without controversy. Until very recently, the prevailing theory was that the heat and force of the pyroclastic flow pouring out of Vesuvius...

Our commentary last week seemed to have stirred a hornet’s nest, with a few things taken out of context. Some clarifications are in order.I am NOT an anti-vaxxer. I clearly stated that in areas outside of the current COVID-19 hotbed areas, mass vaccination should proceed as planned.What I suggested was that in Metro Manila and all areas included in the “bubble” with runaway (uncontrolled) transmission, it’s probably more prudent to suspend vaccination in young and healthy adults 20 to 40 years of age, and reserve whatever limited supply of vaccines we have at the moment for the vulnerable sector of...

A widening investigation into allegations of high-level corruption on the island of Malta, first levelled by murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, stretches to China and a $400 million investment into Europe by a Chinese state power company, Reuters has found. Caruana Galizia was murdered in October 2017 as she investigated a web of companies that she believed were funneling bribes to Maltese politicians. Now, Reuters and a consortium of journalists have traced two firms involved in that web to relatives of a senior Chinese executive for Accenture, the global consultancy firm. The executive, 43-year-old Chen Cheng from Shanghai, negotiated investments...

The UK Government has agreed a deal with pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) on the manufacture of up to 60 million doses of the Novavax coronavirus vaccine. The vaccine has one big advantage over the others currently being used. While the jabs from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna need to be kept at ultra-low temperatures, the Novavax jab is stable for up to three months in a normal fridge. However, the it has not yet been approved by the MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency). While trials did not study the effectiveness of the vaccine when separating the doses between the jab...

David McGee, an attorney with Beggs & Lane, is the man the Florida Republican named during an appearance Tuesday evening on Tucker Carlson's Fox News show in which he responded to reports that he is under federal investigation over a former relationship. McGee served for six years as the first assistant at the U.S. Attorney’s Office and for seven years as the lead attorney for a Justice Department's Organized Crime Task Force, according to his biography on the website of his law firm, which is based in Pensacola, Florida. (Cut) The New York Times reported Gaetz, 38, is being looked...

TOKYO—Japan and Indonesia pledged on Tuesday to tighten security ties and signed a deal to facilitate transfers of defense equipment and technology, as their near neighbor China expands its economic and military might. China’s territorial claims in the East and South China seas have become a priority issue in an increasingly testy Sino-U.S. relationship and also raise significant security concerns for Japan. “I think this is (a) historical first in bilateral relations between Japan and Indonesia,” Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto said, referring to the transfer pact. “We invite the Japanese side to participate in the modernization of Indonesia’s defense...

The United States on Tuesday joined more than a dozen other nations to express shared concerns about a World Health Organization study into the origins of the CCP virus, pointing to the report’s delay and lack of access to crucial data. “Together, we support a transparent and independent analysis and evaluation, free from interference and undue influence, of the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic,” reads the statement signed by the governments of Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Israel, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, South Korea, Slovenia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. “In this regard, we join in...

* Illegal migrants said they’re coming to the U.S. because of President Joe Biden, natural disasters and violence in their home countries. * A landowner where migrants frequently cross on their way to a processing facility said they tell him they’re here because Biden invited them. * Some of the migrants said they did not want to leave their countries but had to because of corruption and a lack of opportunity. RINCON VILLAGE, TEXAS—Illegal migrants are crossing through private land seeking asylum in the U.S. for a number of reasons including Joe Biden’s presidency and factors such as violence and...