Free Republic

House Ways and Means Committee Ranking Republican Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania believes he and four colleagues aren’t getting copies of monthly nursing home data because state and federal officials have something to hide. “I don’t know how many times you have to send letters and make requests for data and get no response at all,” Kelly told The Epoch Times in a March 31 interview. “Usually when you ask a question and they don’t give you an answer, it’s because they don’t want to give you an answer. “And the reason probably they don’t want to give you an answer...

All three nations have invested heavily into having large and proficient tank forces. ere's What You Need to Remember: However, one should keep in mind the actual performance of the Type 99’s armor, gun and electronic systems is not certain, particularly as the vehicle has not been exported, whereas both the M1 and T-90 have been used in action by multiple operators. Beijing likes to keep the details of its technology close, and also has an incentive to talk up the capabilities of its hardware. China has a lot of tanks. Like, eight to nine thousand of them. Who else...

Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced Thursday that the entire province will be under an “emergency shutdown” for at least four weeks starting Saturday due to surging COVID-19 cases. The shutdown will go into effect on April 3 at 12.01 a.m. “We are facing a serious situation and drastic measures are required to contain the rapid spread of the virus, especially the new variants of concern,” Ford said. “I know pulling the emergency brake will be difficult on many people across the province, but we must try and prevent more people from getting infected and overwhelming our hospitals.” The government says...

Originally published 11/12/20. Updated 1/21/21. Earlier this year, Democrats Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Osoff changed the balance of power in the U.S. Senate with their run-off election victories. But with a 50/50 split, Chuck Schumer’s position as Majority Leader sits on a knife’s edge, and most states will be going back to the polls in 2022—including, once again, Georgia. Warnock holds the seat vacated by former Sen. Johnny Isakson, whose term was set to expire next year. Additional seats currently held by 21 Republican and 12 Democratic Senators will up for grabs, and three of those Republican Senators are...

Joe Biden has moments of lucidity and moments of confusion. He has to be in bed by 7 pm and doesn't get to the office before 9 am. He is clearly cognitively impaired. There has been a lot of focus on that and it is in order but we're sort of forgotten something along the way. Biden is a galactic liar and he is a nasty person. Oh, I know he put on the nice old grandpa schtick during the campaign but under that phony veneer he's a prick and a lying prick at that. His smears of late bring...

Delta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian issued a company-wide memo blasting the newly passed voter ID laws in Georgia. Bastian said the bill is “unacceptable” and does not match Delta’s values. The new law requires a photo ID to obtain an absentee ballot. Democrats say this is racist. Bastian agrees. Bastian seemed to forget every passenger boarding a Delta plane shows an ID.

Throughout the 20th-century record sleeves regularly served as canvases for some of the world's most famous artists. From Andy Warhol's electric yellow banana on the cover of The Velvet Underground & Nico's 1967's debut album, to the custom-sprayed Banksy street art that fronted Blur's 2003 "Think Tank," art has long been used to round out the listening experience. A new book, "Art Sleeves," explores some of the most influential, groundbreaking and controversial covers from the past forty years. "This is not a 'history of album art' type book," said the book's author, DJ and arts writer DB Burkeman over email....

A 29-year-old man has been charged with first-degree murder for the fatal road-rage shooting of a Manheim woman while she and her husband were headed to the beach last week for vacation, authorities announced Thursday. Dejywan R. Floyd was driving down Interstate 95 in Lumberton, North Carolina, around 11:40 a.m. March 25 when Ryan and Julie Eberly’s GMC Yukon came close to Floyd’s Chevrolet Malibu as they merged lanes, according to the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office. Authorities said Floyd pulled alongside the Yukon’s passenger side and fired several shots through the window, then got off the highway at an upcoming...

When my friend, a massage therapist, learned I was pregnant last winter, he gifted me a stunning large, clear piece of quartz he had bought during a recent crystal-foraging trip to Brazil. I welcomed the gift and the positive protective energy my friend said he could feel with his hands. I even placed it on the dinner table the night of my induction. It couldn’t hurt, could it? Although the market for diamonds has seen a decline during the pandemic, “near-gemstones” (crystals and minerals) have maintained their appeal among consumers, making it a $1 billion business. Even classy art giants...

Even people at establishment conservative rags such as the National Review recognize what Trumpism actually is. Michael Brendan Dougherty was correct in observing that Trumpisim “is a populist-nationalist politics.” He added some salients points about Trumpism: “[Trumpism] It is populist because it preaches political doctrines largely rejected by the incumbent political class: an America-first foreign policy, revision of the aims of our trade policy, and a halt to mass migration. It is a nationalist project whose ultimate aim is to restore the democratic link between the citizenry and government — a link that has been threatened by a class of...

The Georgia state House passed an amendment Wednesday that would strip Delta Air Lines of a multimillion-dollar tax break after the company blasted the state’s new election laws. Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed into law last week a bill overhauling his state’s election procedures designed to increase security and address issues that surrounded the 2020 election. Delta initially supported key measures of the legislation after it was signed, then backtracked days later amid calls for boycotts pushed by left-wing publications. Delta CEO Ed Bastian said the new election law “does not match Delta’s values.” Republicans in the state House,...

To All Office Employees: Effective Tuesday, April 20, the Company’s office locations will return to full capacity operations, effectively ending remote work in connection with the Pandemic. An e-mail was sent to you and all employees on March 17 and a subsequent e-mail reminder on Monday, March 22, regarding the Company’s requirement that all employees receive a COVID vaccination. As a reminder, we stated that all employees must be vaccinated as an ongoing condition of employment. So, you must be vaccinated as soon as possible. As a further reminder, please communicate your progress toward being vaccinated to in Human Resources....

Florida’s Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner, Nikki Fried (D), used an appearance on MSNBC to criticize Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) for his COVID response; Fried is rumored to be preparing to challenge DeSantis for his reelection bid in 2022. Fried accused DeSantis of “going off on a rampage” earlier this week, when he vowed to sign an executive order banning the use of vaccine passports. The Biden administration is planning to spearhead the implementation of vaccine passports to require individuals to show proof of vaccination in order to attend public events, travel, and reenter normal life. “It’s completely unacceptable for...

Commercializing Christian holidays is, unfortunately, all too common. What was once a day of celebration marking a significant development in church history turns into a secular day for drinking, collecting candy, or getting a new Xbox. April Fools' Day is no exception. The world celebrates this day by pranking each other, making fake announcements on the internet, and other such tomfoolery. But we Christians know the true meaning of the holiday, as we somberly recall the brutal martyrdom of St. April O'Fool in 723 A.D. Born in Ireland in 673, O'Fool lived a somewhat unlucky life, as he was constantly...

The entire video has been analyzed by George Parry, a former chief of the police Brutality/Misconduct Unit of the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office from 1978 to 1983. It was at that point Officer Chauvin begins to kneel on Mr. Floyd’s neck, which Mr. Parry says, “is entirely consistent with what is taught” at the Minneapolis police department academy. The video shows Mr. Chauvin’s knee going up each time Floyd attempted to raise his head, indicating, says Mr. Parry, that Mr. Chauvin “was not using brute force.” When officers noticed Floyd deteriorating “they placed another call for an ambulance” with a...

The Five Universal Laws of Human Stupidity We underestimate the stupid, and we do so at our own peril. Law 1: Always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation. No matter how many idiots you suspect yourself surrounded by, Cipolla wrote, you are invariably lowballing the total. This problem is compounded by biased assumptions that certain people are intelligent based on superficial factors like their job, education level, or other traits we believe to be exclusive of stupidity. They aren’t. Which takes us to: Law 2: The probability that a certain person be stupid is independent...

A video on social media appears to show an attack on an Asian couple in Tacoma and police are calling it a hate crime. Investigators are using the footage of that assault to track down the people responsible. One major obstacle is that investigators are still trying to identify who the Asian couple is because so far no one has come forward to say they were attacked. The video shows an older couple walking through a neighborhood when two teenage boys or young adults rushed up to them. A third teenager recorded the attack, in which an older man is...

AFRICA is set to become the new frontline in the war against ISIS, experts have warned in the wake of the Mozambique bloodbath. An attack on foreign contractors attempting to flee the town of Palma after coming under attack has left at least 50 people dead with Brit Phil Mawer among those missing. Gunmen opened fire on 17 vehicles carrying workers building a complex for French oil giant Total trying to flee a hotel and break through their lines SAS troops have deployed to Mozambique to hunt for Mr Mawer, who is in his 50s and from Somerset, and they...

SINCE PRESIDENT JOE Biden on March 11 directed that states make every adult eligible for a coronavirus vaccine by May 1, many states have ramped up their vaccine rollouts; moving up dates and announcing new eligibility to meet the president's timeline. But vaccine rollouts vary by state. Alaska was the first state to announce and implement eligibility for all adults on March 9. Mississippi has since followed suit, with all individuals 16 and older becoming eligible on March 16. Among other states that have recently made all adults eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine, West Virginia opened up eligibility to all...

"In a Class of Her Own" is the Chinese version of the Korean "Sungkyunkwan Scandal." This video shows when Wenxi's scholar roommate sees Wenxi dressed as a girl and becomes tormented after that by continually imagining the roommate he thinks is a boy, as an attractive girl. Another video for the same Chinese drama, streaming off my website, shows Wenxi feels the same way about the scholar.In a Class of her Own - Night Song - Jane Olivor