Free Republic

Pa. Gov. Tom Wolf chose Memorial Day to lay to rest the last of his COVID-19 restaurant and bar restrictions, with a return to full capacity. But beleaguered restaurant owners said it will be a long time before their industry returns to anything close to 100 percent, following the coronavirus pandemic that made dining and drinking in pubic unthinkable to many. Wolf did the battered industry no favors in selecting a holiday known for backyard barbecues, not crowded bars, to do away with the last of his capacity restrictions. Still, most restaurant owners and managers interviewed Monday by PennLive said...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Vice President Kamala Harris visited The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Memorial Day to pay her respects, and also to remind the fallen soldier to enjoy the long weekend. As the military band played, Kamala somberly placed the wreath in its spot. Suddenly, she blurted out: "Hey you! Whoever you are! ENJOY THE LONG WEEKEND! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!" Onlookers watched in stunned amazement as Kamala walked back to her limousine, cackling loudly the whole time. A nearby crowd of journalists cheered and clapped while jumping up and down as they watched the Vice President...

Naomi Osaka will not play in this year's French Open. After winning her fourth Grand Slam title at this year's Australian Open, Osaka announced her withdrawal from the second Grand Slam of the season on Monday. In a statement shared on social media, Osaka explained that she would be skipping the clay-court tournament to protect her mental well-being. "I think now the best thing for the tournament, the other players and my well-being is that I withdraw so that everyone can get back to focusing on the tennis going on in Paris," Osaka said in the statement. "I never wanted...

GUANGZHOU: A neighbourhood in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou has been locked down as officials rush to quell an uptick in cases in the area. Home to nearly 15 million people, the industrial hub north of Hong Kong has reported 20 new cases of COVID-19 in the past week. A notice by the Guangzhou municipal health bureau issued on Saturday (May 29) identified five streets in Liwan district in the city centre as "high-risk areas" and ordered residents to stay indoors until door-to-door testing is completed. Markets, schools and entertainment venues in the area were shut. The city government...

It may seem surprising to American readers, but one of the most vibrant human rights movements around the world today is “gay reparations,” or policies intended to make amends for the legacy of systemic discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. In the last decade alone, Canada, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Spain, and the United Kingdom have embraced gay reparations.

Tennis star Naomi Osaka said Monday she is withdrawing from the French Open after refusing to speak to the media at the grand slam. The four-time major winner posted a statement on Twitter saying she was pulling out so that "everyone can get back to focusing on the tennis going on in Paris," adding that she would "take some time away from the court." Osaka revealed she had "suffered long bouts of depression" since winning her first Grand Slam title in 2018. Last Wednesday, citing mental health reasons, Osaka posted on social media she would not participate in any news...

A “slimy” and “creepy” high-ranking FBI agent groped three of his female subordinates, made inappropriate sexual comments in the workplace and regularly drank on the job, according to documents obtained by The Post. The unidentified G-man, who worked as a supervisory assistant special agent in charge, was investigated by the Department of Justice Inspector General’s Office, which substantiated three allegations of unwanted sexual touching and the illegal boozing, according to the documents, which were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. Details about when and where the conduct took place were redacted, but the records show the allegations were...

Footage showed people fleeing from the scene as sirens were overhead inside of the mall. Some people claimed to have been evacuated from a movie theatre inside the mall. Police confirmed that there was a "shooting incident" at the mall and that officers were at the scene. They confirmed that one person is in custody following the shooting and that no victims have yet been located.

Video by a Filipino Saluting the USA Military and Memorial Day.

I remember my family going to an Up With People concert when I was very young. This particular video UWP performance was from 1965. It'd be nice if Donald Trump could work something like this into his rallies starting next month. The songs are patriotic, spirit-filled and very inspiring! It'd even be way too cool to get together some of the original cast members too! Links to the complete list of songs (all in monotone...sorry about that) here: https://archive.org/details/lp_pace-magazine-presents-up-with-people-the_up-with-people-charles-woodard-effie-galle

Last week Tablet published Professor Patrick Henry’s remembrance of Roddie Edmonds, the former Army master sergeant who saved the Jews in his ranks from plans the Nazis had in store for them as prisoners of war. Professor Henry takes the title of his column from Edmonds’s memorable assertion to the unhappy Nazi commandant of the prison camp: “We are all Jews here.” It is a moving and inspirational story. In anticipation of the holiday today, Professor Henry writes: “On Memorial Day 2021, 76 years after the liberation of Auschwitz, let’s remember the heroics of Master Sgt. Roddie Edmonds, the fifth...

Washington – U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is making a new push to ensure that the transformation of Interstate 81 in Syracuse doesn’t leave behind some of the city’s most disadvantaged residents. Gillibrand, D-N.Y., introduced a bill today in Congress that would require at least 50% of the workers on the $2 billion construction project to be hired locally from Syracuse. The chronically unemployed, ex-offenders, veterans, and others who face barriers to employment would be given priority when it comes to filling hundreds of jobs for the five-year project, one of the largest in Syracuse’s history. At least a third of...

Joe Biden has always had a plagiarism problem. Now, he can’t stop stealing the words of one of history’s greatest monsters: Chinese Communist dictator Mao Tse-tung. Over the last year, Biden has repeatedly quoted the same phrase in numerous contexts without crediting Mao — and the legacy media have had nothing to say about it. The most recent example of Biden’s Mao jones came at the 140th commencement of the U.S. Coast Guard on May 19, moments after botching a quotation he stole from Ronald Reagan. While alternating between boring and insulting the graduates, Biden told the graduates: We need...

Some conservatives seem unmoved by Big Tech’s threat to free speech and the free flow of information. They say: let the market work. But that, perhaps, is the essence of the problem. The tech companies didn’t achieve their monopoly positions in a free market. The U.S. government created a legal and regulatory environment that gave tech companies a massive advantage over their non-tech competitors. All of them received Section 230 protection, and Amazon had the extra benefits of tax-free internet sales, subsidized distribution through the post office, and exemption from liability for counterfeit and/or harmful products...

Two people were killed and more than 20 were wounded Sunday in the Miami area after three gunman opened fire into a crowd with handguns and rifles outside a concert at a billiards hall. The Miami-Dade Police Department said in a news release: The subjects' SUV approached the front of the business, three subjects exited the vehicle and began shooting indiscriminately into the crowd. The subjects entered the SUV and fled the scene. Two people died at the scene and Miami-Dade Fire Rescue rushed eight others to the hospital. The remaining twelve injured transported themselves to local hospitals. At least...

The number of reported adverse events following COVID vaccines continues to climb, according to data released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The data comes directly from reports submitted to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). VAERS is the primary government-funded system for reporting adverse vaccine reactions in the U.S. Reports submitted to VAERS require further investigation before a causal relationship can be confirmed. Every Friday, VAERS makes public all vaccine injury reports received as of a specified date, usually about a week prior to the release date. Today’s data show that between Dec. 14,...

In a line that was one where you had to rewind the show a few times to make sure it was real, MSNBC regular and Princeton professor Eddie Glaude Jr. appeared on Monday's Morning Joe and, in trying to explain Americans' relatively positive mood nowadays, got off this laugh line: "We cannot underestimate the importance of competence...Competence is actually at the helm."Seriously? Try this thought experiment, if you dare: Imagine Joe Biden at the helm of the Ship of State. Estimated time to capsizing -- over/under 30 seconds! Get the rest of the story and view the video here.

Some things are so predictable. For instance, take Black Lives Matter. This is their "about us" statement#BlackLivesMatter was founded in 2013 in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer. Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, Inc. is a global organization in the US, UK, and Canada, whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes. By combating and countering acts of violence, creating space for Black imagination and innovation, and centering Black joy, we are winning immediate improvements in our lives. It's also very...

“It’s the Blue’s Clues' And You Pride Parade, and we need you to sing along as the ‘Families Go Marching’ proudly!” the Nickelodeon show’s broadcaster instructs viewers as the segment opens. “Hi Blue, look at all these families. It’s time for a pride parade,” a cartoon version of RuPaul's Drag Race star Nina West says in the video, which was shared on social media. The singer, who is holding a microphone with a raised fist icon, then points to a parade of animals, one of which has a family with “two mommies … [who] love each other so proudly.” Other...

After my article on COVID-19 vaccines and pregnancy, I hear those of you trying to conceive saying, “What about me? Where’s my data?” We have some data supporting the safety of COVID-19 for fertility, but it is not as copious as data on pregnancy. Fertility data is hard to gather because so many variables affect a couple’s ability to conceive. A well-designed study to assess a vaccine’s effects specifically on conception rates would require a large number of participants and time (and thus funding). However, we have two strong reasons for believing the COVID-19 vaccines will not affect fertility: (1)...