Free Republic

Researchers Set The Record Straight Breaking with The New York Times’ typical propaganda, Parker-Pope actually goes on to cite research published in February 2021 in the Environmental Research journal: “To understand just how low the risk of outdoor transmission is, researchers in Italy used mathematical models to calculate the amount of time it would take for a person to become infected outdoors in Milan. They imagined a grim scenario in which 10% of the population was infected with the coronavirus. Their calculations showed that if a person avoided crowds, it would take, on average, 31.5 days of continuous outdoor exposure...

Edouard de Lamaze, president of the Observatoire du Patrimoine Religieux (Observatory of Religious Heritage) in Paris, is sounding the alarm about the rapid erosion of France’s cultural heritage. “One mosque is erected every 15 days in France,” he said recently, “while one Christian building is destroyed at the same pace. It creates a tipping point on the territory that should be taken into account.” Yes, it should be taken into account by anyone, Christian or non-Christian, who is concerned about the future of France. But it isn’t.According to the Catholic News Agency, “Lamaze’s appeal for increased awareness came after a...

The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) published findings of the Phase 2b clinical trial conducted in South Africa. NEJM is recognized as the world’s leading medical journal. Shabir Madhi, Professor of Vaccinology, co-author of the study, and the Director of the Vaccines & Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit (Wits VIDA), led the Novavax Covid-19 vaccine trial in South Africa. The published data provide additional detail of an initial analysis conducted in January, while more robust data from a complete analysis of the study was subsequently shared in March 2021. Publication of initial primary analysis highlights cross-protection by the Novavax...

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The World Health Organization is convening eleven "leading" figures in economics, health and development from around the world as the first members of the WHO Council on the Economics of Health For All. This is an extremely dangerous development. Remember the WHO played a lead role in advising globally on the lockdowns that occurred as a result of a virus, COVID-19, that is not a serious threat to over 99% of the population. Now they appear to want to expand their authoritarian reach with a group of "experts" that are extremely radical leftists. The chairwoman of the all-female group is...

Voting rights groups, Democrats and supervisors of elections across the state are taking issue with a controversial bill that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law Thursday morning. The law, which makes significant changes in how elections are run and how vote-by-mail ballots are submitted, has been characterized as “voter suppression” by critics. Republican lawmakers have championed the law, calling it a protective measure that keeps elections safe and secure. But Florida ran an election in 2020 that was praised for its quick results and smooth ballot-counting process. Manatee County saw record voter turnout in November, and Supervisor of Elections...

When the Biden presidency does something odd, it is impossible to read the event the same way the actions of previous presidents could be examined. We never know if a doddering mediocrity has once again misspoken or if some nameless handler is implementing a plan that is part of the transformation of America being foisted upon us with a bare majority in Congress. At least we know that yesterday's official Proclamation on National Day of Prayer was not a Biden verbal gaffe of the sort we are already well accustomed to. In its 470 words, not once did the word...

Friday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” co-host Mika Brzezinski reacted to Texas lawmakers passing a new state voting law to shore up election integrity. Florida and Georgia have recently passed and signed into law similar bills. Brzezinski described the Republicans who are still beholden to former President Donald Trump and his belief that the 2020 presidential election was stolen as “pathetic” and spineless. She added that the “big lie” being pushed by Republicans “could destabilize this country for administrations to come.”

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) is almost certainly going to be ousted as No. 3 House Republican next week, even though she voted with former President Donald Trump more often (93 percent) than her likely replacement, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) — as Stefanik's conservative critics point out. While Stefanik has morphed from Trump skeptic to enthusiastic booster, Cheney has transformed from one of those "hold-their-noses-and-deal-with-him" establishment Republicans into, finally, Sen. John McCain's political "heir," Susan B. Glasser writes in The New Yorker.After Trump tried to co-opt "the Big Lie" this week to refer to his false claims that he won the...

A small sign that cancel culture may have peaked, at least in book publishing, is worth noting. The president of Simon & Schuster, Jonathan Karp, has announced that his firm will ignore a petition from its staff (reportedly, 216 employees and thousands of sympathizers) demanding that plans to publish an autobiographical memoir by former V.P. Mike Pence be canceled.Thomas Lipscomb, a publishing industry veteran, takes note and celebrates the act of courage in the Asia Times:[T]he internal petition being circulated by Simon & Schuster employees is far more extensive. It is demanding categorical censorship irrespective of any underlying editorial merit....

Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) and German partner BioNTech SA have filed for a full approval for their COVID-19 vaccine, which is now authorized only for emergency use, the drugmakers said on Friday. A nod by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will make it the first approved COVID-19 shot and likely help ease hesitancy by raising confidence in the vaccine as an approval will be backed by longer-term data. It would also allow the companies to market the vaccine directly to people above 16 years of age as well as help corporations and government agencies mandate vaccinations. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was...

A federal grand jury has indicted the four former Minneapolis police officers involved in George Floyd’s arrest and death, accusing them of violating the Black man’s constitutional rights as he was restrained face-down on the pavement and gasping for air, according to indictments unsealed Friday.The three-count indictment names Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao. Specifically, Chauvin, Thao and Kueng are charged with violating Floyd’s right to be free from unreasonable seizure and excessive force.

Donald Trump is a major news figure but many media outlets and platforms have conspired to censor him and to censor certain information about him for political reasons. We will publish some of that difficult-to-find information here. - May 7, 2021 - Statement by Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States of America The Federal Election Commission in Washington, D.C., has totally dropped the phony case against me concerning payments to women relative to the 2016 Presidential Election. It was a case built on lies from Michael Cohen, a corrupt and convicted lawyer, a lawyer in fact who...

WASHINGTON (AP) - America’s employers added just 266,000 jobs last month, sharply lower than in March and a sign that some businesses are struggling to find enough workers as the economic recovery strengthens. With viral cases declining and states and localities easing restrictions, businesses have added jobs for four straight months, the Labor Department said Friday. Still, the unemployment rate ticked up to 6.1% from 6% in March.

The Federal Election Commission has dropped its inquiry into Donald Trump’s alleged payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels. The Commission is comprised of six members: three Republicans, two Democrats, and one independent. The case was decided with a 2-2 vote. Both Democrats voted that the case against Trump should proceed; two of the Republicans voted to drop the inquiry; the other Republican recused himself from the case, and the Independent did not vote. Thus, the case was dropped because there was no majority.

Under the Constitution, the federal government has no power over education, including arrangements that colleges make for student housing and expectations for their conduct on campus. Furthermore, the First Amendment protects religious institutions’ freedom to speak and operate according to their beliefs. Nevertheless, College of the Ozarks has just filed suit against President Biden and two bureaucrats in the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The reason for the suit is a directive issued by HUD that imposes a rule against housing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, a rule that the federal government intends...

The Tokyo Olympics is bringing the hammer down on protests at this Summer’s events. Protests have become a focal point for many athletic events but they will be banned at the Olympics. This includes kneeling during the National Anthem and wearing Black Lives Matter apparel. The International Olympic Committee wants the focus is to be on sports rather than protests. While divisive protests are banned, unifying messages such as “peace,” “respect,” “solidarity,” “inclusion,” and “equality” are acceptable.

Today appears to be the day you can mark in your calendars as the day that represents the Republican Party's complete and total surrender to Donald Trump. Whether it's the party's revolt against Liz Cheney in Washington, or the new voting restrictions they're celebrating in Florida and Texas, or the bizarre audit that's playing out of presidential results in the state of Arizona, the Republican Party has surrendered to a lie, as it surrenders to Trump. Let's not mince words, it means the American democracy is in really big trouble, more so today than it was yesterday. The number three...

Raffaele Esposito, the 19th century Neapolitan credited with inventing Italy’s most famous type of pizza, may be turning in his grave: Rome has a new vending machine which slides out freshly cooked pizzas in just three minutes. Buyers using the flaming red "Mr. Go Pizza" machine can choose from four different kinds of pizzas costing from 4.50 to 6 euros ($5.2-7.2). The machine kneads and tops the dough and customers can watch the pizza cook behind a small glass window. Reviews by customers on Thursday of the machine, one of the first in Rome, ranged from "acceptable if you're in...

Mayor Lori Lightfoot painted a picture of Chicago on Thursday that featured nothing but blue skies as far as the eye can see as the city recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic devastation the virus has caused. “I feel very optimistic” about Chicago’s recovery from COVID-19, Lightfoot said during a virtual conference for investors, bond buyers, financiers and developers with money to spend. The mayor said she remains determined to use this “once in generation” crisis to address the “exposed fault lines” now crisscrossing the city, which is set to reopen fully by July 4. But once the...