Free Republic

A petition urging Google to allow its staff to use their chosen names on their identification badges — among other calls to improve workplace culture for contracted employees — is swiftly gaining traction after Phares Lee, a transgender man employed by G4S in a contracted security position for Google, said he asked to have his deadname removed from his own badge and was repeatedly denied. Spearheaded by the Alphabet Workers Union on Tuesday, the petition titled “Drop the Deadnames” now has 700 signatures, many of which are from individuals employed by Google. (A deadname refers to the name a transgender...

During America's first-ever national lockdown, thousands of unelected bureaucrats, as well as federal and state governments, assumed enormous powers not usually accorded to them. They picked and chose which businesses could stay open without much rationale. They sent the infected into nursing homes occupied by the weak and vulnerable. Their rules for prosecuting those who violated social distancing, sheltering in place, mask wearing or violent protesting often hinged on political grounds. Their spending measures on "infrastructure" and "health care" were excuses to lard up redistributive entitlements. Conservatives moaned that left-wing agendas were at work beneath the pretenses of saving us...

It’s safe to say that Democrats and their fawning, suck up protectors in the media are getting anxious at the lack of accomplishments from the White House. The filibuster still stands. The Supreme Court remains unpacked. D.C. is not a state. Their attempt to take over elections has stalled. After playing a clip of Joe Biden lashing out at moderate Senators Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema, 11th Hour host Brian Williams panicked. Talking to Democratic MSNBC analyst (and former Senator Claire McCaskill), Williams fretted, “Put less classily, lot of people would like to see him start throwing punches, kicking ass...

So far, nobody has done a better job of putting it all together. As analysts pore through the thousands of pages of Fauci emails released under FOIA, we are getting a better handle on his efforts to prevent exposure of his own role in funding gain of function research in the Wuhan lab where it appears COVID 19 was invented, and from which it leaked. Moreover, the emails expose Fauci’s efforts to shape media coverage, his correspondence with billionaires Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, and his early acknowledgement that masks were useless in protecting a wearer from infection. So far,...

PAWTUCKET, R.I. (WPRI) — Free donuts, and even free marijuana have been offered to those who show proof of getting vaccinated against COVID-19 in the United States. Last weekend, Francesco’s Pizza in Providence gave away a free slice to those who showed a COVID-19 vaccination card. Frank Schiavone, who opened the pizza shop in October — the height of the pandemic — said Sunday’s event was a way to “mix business in trying to do something good.” He gave away hundreds of slices. Local incentives continue next week in an effort to get younger Rhode Islanders vaccinated. The City of...

Copenhagen (AFP) - Denmark already has one of Europe's harshest stances on immigration, but the wealthy Scandinavian country is set to adopt legislation on Thursday enabling it to open asylum centres outside Europe where applicants would be sent to live. The latest move by Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen's Social Democratic anti-immigration government is aimed at deterring migrants from coming to Denmark at all. In practice, asylum seekers would have to submit an application in person at the Danish border and then be flown to an asylum centre outside Europe while their application is being processed. The proposal is expected to...

Everyone grew up with someone who obnoxiously would recount everything you’d just gone through, to the people who were, like they weren’t – “Did you see that chick who started talking to you?” Yeah, I was talking to her. “My God, she just walked right up and started talking to you!” For some reason, Facebook thinks commercials feature people like this is a good way to get Congress to allow them to rewrite Internet regulations. If you’ve watched cable TV at all in the last month you’ve seen one of those stupid ads from Facebook calling for new Internet regulations....

U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-North Bergen) isn’t sure there’s any room left for moderates in the Republican Party. The senator lamented the party’s rightward shift during and after President Donald Trump’s lone term in office. “The nation cannot move forward with a Republican party that is absolutely controlled by Trump, not because of him as the person but because of what he believes in,” Menendez said Wednesday. “When you cannot get Republican members to get an independent commission to investigate the insurrection of Jan. 6, which they lived through and which their comments immediately after called for such an effort.”

Vaccination rates across the country have plateaued as more states expand eligibility to all residents. To get more people to roll up their sleeves, incentives ranging from free beer to signing bonuses are being offered by cities, states and local businesses. The average daily rate of vaccination has been on the decline for about two weeks. More than 20 states are not ordering all available doses of the vaccine as interest slows. Just last week, Philadelphia nearly lost 1,000 doses that were set to expire. So far, just 40% of the adult population in the United States is vaccinated, and...

Honoring BLM Marxists and their message of hate is indefensible. Seeing those giant "Black Lives Matter" flags being unfurled at embassies around the world last week was another "surely this can't be happening" moment for Americans watching the federal government's steady embrace of evil. It was as if Heinrich Himmler had risen from the grave to lead the Democratic Party in ordering the draping of Schutzstaffel (SS) flags over the entrances to civic buildings of conquered territories. Except all those embassies and consulates are on American soil, so the revolting reality was that the Marxist paramilitary "brownshirts" of BLM had...

Another factor has been the disappearance of the moderate Republican guardrails. In past legislative sessions, Bush-style Republicans, including the former speaker of the House, Joe Straus of San Antonio, blocked many bills put forth by the far right, including killing a so-called bathroom bill in 2017 that would have restricted which bathroom transgender people can use in public buildings and schools. Straus and many of his moderate allies are gone now from the Legislature, replaced in large part by pro-Trump Republicans who have taken to criticizing Gov. Greg Abbott for not being conservative enough. The state’s Republican leadership thrived in...

A growing number of doctors and front-line healthcare workers are turning to climate activism to urge global leaders to declare climate change a public health emergency. Doctors and health workers, some clad in white coats and brandishing placards, marched to the headquarters of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Geneva on Saturday to demand that health authorities and governments prioritise climate change to avert a global health crisis. Underscoring the progressive nature of their platform, the protesters also called for the creation of citizen assemblies to steer strategic health decisions. Their demands were listed in a petition, signed by more...

Twenty twenty-one is the year for canceling back. Canceling back, as I practice the art, is not about retribution. It is about either strengthening or eliminating connections by asserting the highest truth I can perceive and requiring my viewpoints based on that truth to be respected in the relationship. My views on the questions of the day, such as the significance of race, are based on efforts to integrate unchanging truth given by God with the knowledge given by man. My views are considered transgressive by dominant mainstream America. I had largely accepted keeping my beliefs, including those about race,...

Louisiana may soon offer incentives to residents who are willing to get vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to boost the state’s dismal vaccination rate. Gov. John Bel Edwards said his administration is discussing sweetening the pot for people who take the vaccine, but he wouldn’t go into details about what type of incentive might be in the works. “I would expect that pretty soon you’re going to hear that we are going to offer some things that make people — more people — take advantage of the opportunity to be vaccinated, but we haven’t made a decision as to what...

House Agriculture Chairman David Scott objected Wednesday to President Joe Biden’s proposal to change the capital gains taxation on inherited property, signaling growing opposition among farm-state Democrats to a change Biden hoped would help to fund sweeping domestic spending proposals. Scott, D-Ga., in a statement called the proposal to tax capital gains at the time of a person's death “untenable” and said exemptions that would allow farmers and ranchers to delay tax payments on intergenerational land transfers are inadequate. “Any increase in inheritance tax for those taking over farm land is untenable and will further strain a farm economy that...

Our democracy is in peril, according to unbiased experts of expertise who really want Joe Manchin to roll-over on the filibuster. We have to pass the Perpetual Democrat Control Act now, or it’s curtains for our democracy, exclaim said experts passionately, with tears and teeth gnashing. Experts, of course, are never wrong, except when they are, which is pretty much all the time. Greg Sargent of the WaPo opined about the terrible terrors these experts fear in a column titled, “A frantic warning from 100 leading experts: Our democracy is in grave danger.” Whoa, a whole 100! And you know...

Who are the people behind the international anti-Covid-vaccine movement and why are they doing it? This journey inside the astonishing world of the anti-vaxxers finds out.

Appearing Wednesday on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Human Rights Campaign president Alphonso David announced the organization will sue the state of Florida after Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed legislation designed to protect women’s sports. YouTube LinkA transcript is as follows: MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Let’s talk about a lawsuit. State of Florida. What’s going on? ALPHONSO DAVID: Yesterday, Governor DeSantis signed a bill into law that would ban transgender female athletes from participating in sports consistent with their gender identity. Now, you would ask, “why is he doing this?” He’s doing this for political gain. All of the medical associations, American Medical Association,...

TOPEKA — Gov. Laura Kelly announced Tuesday that Kansans could win prizes if they get a COVID-19 vaccine or test. “The Race to End COVID-19” will raffle off prizes June 4 and 5 at the Kansas Speedway. Participants can enter the raffle by getting a COVID-19 saliva test or the vaccine administered by the University of Kansas Health System or the state health department. Kelly called on all unvaccinated Kansans to attend the event or get vaccinated elsewhere to enter. “It is critical to our state’s continued pandemic recovery efforts that every Kansan gets vaccinated,” Kelly said. “The Race to...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas is now offering incentives for people to get the COVID-19 vaccine to try and get the vaccination rate up. The state is offering you a chance to win a million dollars with a scratch-off ticket or a $21 gift card to Arkansas Game and Fish that will cover your hunting and fishing licenses for a year. "This totals $2 million that we are devoting to this incentive plan," Gov. Hutchinson said. Gov. Hutchinson is hopeful this will increase the vaccine rate, which is low compared to the national average. The Arkansas Department of Health said...