Free Republic

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ (R-FL) staff members said Thursday he is set to approve an “anti-riot” bill that will impose more severe criminal penalties on violent protesters after it is finalized. The governor unveiled the proposal in September and advocated for its passage while protests devolved into violence and looting “This legislation strikes the appropriate balance of safeguarding every Floridian’s constitutional right to peacefully assemble while ensuring that those who hide behind peaceful protest to cause violence in our communities will be punished,” his office said. “Further, this legislation ensures that no community in the state engages in defunding of their...

Liberty University is suing Jerry Falwell Jr. The school is seeking millions in damages after an acrimonious breakup with its former leader last yearLiberty University has filed a civil lawsuit against its former leader, Jerry Falwell Jr., seeking tens of millions in damages after the two parted ways acrimoniously last year. The complaint, filed Thursday in Lynchburg Circuit Court, alleges Falwell crafted a “well-resourced exit strategy” from his role as president and chancellor in the form of a lucrative 2019 employment agreement while withholding damaging information from the evangelical school about a personal scandal that would explode into public view...

Paleontologists Stunning Conclusion: 2.5 Billion T. Rexes Roamed North America Over the Cretaceous Period TOPICS:DinosaursEvolutionPaleontologyPopularTyrannosaurus RexUC BerkeleyBy University of California - Berkeley April 15, 2021Analysis of what’s known about the dinosaur leads to conclusion there were 2.5 billion over time.How many Tyrannosaurus rexes roamed North America during the Cretaceous period?That’s a question Charles Marshall pestered his paleontologist colleagues with for years until he finally teamed up with his students to find an answer.What the team found, to be published this week in the journal Science, is that about 20,000 adult T. rexes probably lived at any one time, give or...

A White Yale professor has been branded racist, compared to Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin and told to resign from her role as a councilwoman because she interrupted a black colleague and told him how to address her during a virtual meeting. Dr. Valerie Horsley is a councilwoman in the town of Hamden, Connecticut. She was taking part in a virtual meeting with councilman Justin Farmer and other local officials on April 5. They were discussing an ice rink in the town and Farmer asked the town's Director of Finance a question about the financing of it.

How to spot them They have a dark, metallic body that is darker on top than the bottom. A characteristic smooth milky, white band called the clitellum completely encircles the worm's body, unlike other earthworms with a pink, raised band. When handled, these worms will "jump" and thrash wildly. They move quickly in a snakelike manner and can shed their tails when threatened. Management There are currently no viable control measures for jumping worms. Removing adult jumping worms to decrease the number of egg casings produced is the best control available at this time. Adults placed in plastic bags and...

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Friday said Joe Biden is “proud” of UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield after she trashed the United States and called America’s founding documents and principles racist. Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the National Action Network that if America is going to join the UN’s Human Rights Council, we must acknowledge our own failures.

The Oversight Board said more than 9,000 people weighed in on the ban. Facebook‘s Oversight Board is delaying its much-anticipated decision regarding former President Donald Trump‘s indefinite ban from the platform. Following the riots at the Capitol in January and posts the former president made about it on Facebook, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced it would ban Trump from the platforms indefinitely. That decision was referred to the Facebook Oversight Board, which is an independent group that weighs in on content moderation. In January, the Oversight Board opened up public comments ahead of its decision, and on Friday, the board said...

The recent death of a woman in Australia is "likely linked" to AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine, Australia's Vaccine Safety Investigation Group said Friday. The group said Friday that the 48-year-old woman experienced a low platelet count and died of thrombosis four days after receiving AstraZeneca's vaccine on April 8. The woman is the third Australian to be diagnosed with an extensive thromboembolic event and thrombocytopenia after receiving AstraZeneca's vaccine. Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration said the other two patients are recovering well in the hospital. Officials said the review of the case was complicated because of the woman's underlying medical conditions, including...

Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran is asking public school districts across the state to drop mask mandates for the upcoming school year, saying that it has no impact whether or not students and teachers wear masks on campus. “We ask that districts, which currently are implementing a mandated face-covering policy, revise their policy to be voluntary for the 2021-2022 school year,” Corcoran wrote in an April 14 letter sent to district superintendents. In Florida, the decision on mask mandates during the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic are made by individual school district boards. Neither Corcoran nor Gov. Ron DeSantis...

NATIONAL NEWS FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Israeli military says Palestinian militants fired a rocket from Gaza into the country’s south. The rocket Friday was the second such incident in 24 hours. Israel said neither event caused damage or injuries. Earlier Friday, Israeli aircraft hit three facilities operated by Hamas, the militant group ruling Gaza, in response to the first rocket attack. Israel’s targets included weapons manufacturing and smuggling sites. The rocket from Gaza Thursday night broke weeks of relative cross-border calm. There were no reports of damage or casualties from either attack from...

‘Beautiful Things: A Memoir’ didn’t crack the top 10 hardcover nonfiction books Hunter Biden’s new memoir sold less than 11,000 copies in its first week despite heavy promotion from CNN, CBS News and ABC’s "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" "Beautiful Things: A Memoir" sold 10,638 copies last week, according to Publishers Weekly. The book finished behind 11 other hardcover nonfiction books. Amanda Gorman’s "The Hill We Climb: An Inaugural Poem for the Country," sold 42,318 copies to finish atop the list. Fox News host Shannon Bream’s new book, "The Women of the Bible Speak: The Wisdom of 16 Women and Their Lessons...

Danuta Skowronski was poring over Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine data on a Friday night in mid-December when she had an "aha!" moment. The epidemiology lead at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control realized she could actually "correct" the data Pfizer had submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on the effectiveness of just one dose of its vaccine. In clinical trials, Pfizer couldn't accurately determine the efficacy of a single shot because participants had already received their second dose after three weeks, and there was no comparative one-dose study done. Pfizer reported an efficacy of 52 per cent for one...

Chris Lambert created a podcast about the 1996 disappearance of college freshman Kristin Smart and it's taken over his life.Chris Lambert would like to get back to making music but he can’t seem to stop chasing a ghost that has haunted him for nearly 25 years. A billboard on the side of the road on California's Central Coast led him on a detour three years ago from his career as a singer-songwriter and recording engineer. He created a podcast about the 1996 disappearance of college freshman Kristin Smart and it's taken over his life. "I can't step away from it...

The Senate's top foreign policy Democrat on Friday blasted the White House for maintaining former President Trump's refugee cap, a move that flies in the face of Democrats who have lobbied for a raise in refugee numbers. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) released a letter he'd sent to President Biden earlier in the day warning Biden of the repercussions of not raising the refugee cap, which had been set at 15,000 by Trump.

KIM Jong-un has ordered his nuclear missiles to be "combat ready" so they an be fired at any time, reports say. According to a high-ranking source, officials in charge of North Korea's rockets have been told to be ready to execute orders "at any time." Kim Jong-un has ordered for his nuke rockets to be 'ready for combat' 6 Kim Jong-un has ordered for his nuke rockets to be 'ready for combat'Credit: KNCA Reports say North Korea could test fire a short range missiles in the coming days 6 Reports say North Korea could test fire a short range missiles...

CBS News is facing heat over a video the network shared on Twitter Thursday that critics say crops out a critical part of body camera footage showing the police chase that led to 13-year-old Adam Toledo's death in Chicago last month. Extremely graphic footage shows a Chicago police officer pulling up to a location on the city's West Side on March 29 and immediately encountering two people, one of whom appears to be Toledo, running away from the area. Toledo stops for a moment before he turns toward the officer, at which point the cop tells him to, "Show me...

Brandon Scott Hole, 19, was identified as the alleged shooter of the FedEx warehouse in Indianapolis. The alleged gunman's family warned authorities about his potential for violence before the mass shooting, according to CNN. The shooter pulled the weapon out of his trunk and allegedly started shooting for up to two minutes during a FedEx night shift change, witnesses claimed. Employee Jeremiah Miller told WISH that he watched the mass shooting unfold inside the warehouse, saying: "I saw a man with a submachine gun of some sort, an automatic rifle, and he was firing in the open. "I immediately ducked...

The Fed-Ex shooter from Indiana was identified as 19-year-old Brandon Scott Hole, he killed at least eight people and injured several more. What is really interesting that at the time of the press conference where the authorities didn't reveal his identity the special agent in charge of the Indianapolis field office, Paul Keenan, told NBC News the suspect's home was being searched by the FBI. Many left asking how come they don't know his identity but they are searching his house. 13News has exclusive video as federal agents searched the Indianapolis home of the suspect in the FedEx facility mass...

This is hilarious! A MUST SEE for all dog and hockey fans. https://www.facebook.com/diane.ustrud/videos/4204627889588688

The clock is ticking for regulators looking into covid vaccine side effects. But their task is made harder by America’s fragmented data systems. The future of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson covid vaccine remains in limbo after an advisory panel recommended taking a deeper look into reports of rare—and sometimes fatal—side effects. The US Centers for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration advised suspension of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine on Tuesday, after reports that six people who had received a dose developed rare blood clots in the brain, combined with another disorder that actually inhibits clotting. One...