Free Republic

Perhaps President’s Ronald Reagan’s most famous and influential speeches was his “Berlin Wall speech” at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany 34 years ago today on June 12, 1987. It was in this speech (at about 12:00 in the video above) that Reagan made his famous and history-changing demand “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” That statement and speech helped changed the course of history, and there’s even an entire Wikipedia entry for “Tear down this wall” (in addition to an extensive page for Berlin Wall). According to the Wikipedia entry, “The speech was also a source of considerable controversy...

The Italian government said on Friday it was restricting the use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to people over the age of 60, after a teenager who had received the shot died from a rare form of blood clotting. Camilla Canepa died on Thursday aged 18 after being given the vaccine on May 25, triggering a media and political outcry over the Anglo-Swedish company's shot being used for adults of all ages despite previously-raised medical concerns. "AstraZeneca will only be used for people over 60," the country's special COVID commissioner Francesco Figliuolo told reporters. People under the age of 60...

Vacation Bible School has been a beloved summer pastime for children across America for generations. Boys and girls look forward to a week of Bible stories, interactive songs, arts and crafts and of course, Hydrox cookies and fruit punch. What’s not to love about VBS? Honestly, the only people who could be remotely offended by Vacation Bible School would be a bunch of godless, heathen atheists. And that brings me to an incident that occurred at Fort Sill in Oklahoma. Military leaders ordered soldiers to remove a banner promoting Vacation Bible School at the base’s Frontier Chapel. The banner, which...

Pfizer enrolled 144 children in the first phase of the trial. The next phase of the study aims to enroll up to 4,500 children at more than 90 clinical sites in the U.S., Finland, Poland and Spain, the company said. Children ages 5 to 11 will receive a 10 microgram dose level, while those under 5 and down to 6 months will receive a 3 microgram dose level. The shots will continue to be given on a two-dose schedule spaced 21 days apart. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has given an emergency use authorization to Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine in...

CANTON, Ohio (WOIO) - The whistleblower who alerted school officials about the alleged actions of Canton McKinley High School coaches said he was unfairly punished. It’s been over a week since the vote that rocked the high school football program. Seven Canton McKinley football coaches, including Head Coach Marcus Wattley, were fired after a punishment, last month, involving a player. The coaches were let go from their coaching positions after a unanimous vote by the Canton City Board of Education last Thursday. Besides Wattley, the other coaches canned include Cade Brodie, Tyler Thatcher, Romero Harris, Frank McLeod, Zachary Sweat, and...

SARASOTA, Fla. (WFLA) – A Florida man is recovering after surviving an alligator attack over the weekend. Jeffrey Heim was diving in the Myakka River on Sunday looking for megalodon teeth when he was attacked from behind by an alligator. “I thought it was a boat it hit me so fast or it felt like it was so fast,” the 25-year-old said. He told our sister station WFLA he wasn’t in the water for very long when the attack happened. He thinks the alligator was about 9 feet long and possibly a female. It’s currently alligator mating season in Florida....

President Joe Biden said on the fifth anniversary of a mass shooting at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando that he will sign a bill naming the site as a national memorial. The deadliest attack on the LGBTQ community in U.S. history left 49 people dead and 53 people wounded as “Latin Night” was being celebrated at the club. Biden said in a statement Saturday that he has “stayed in touch with families of the victims and with the survivors who have turned their pain into purpose" and described the club as “hallowed ground.” The president emphasized that the country must...

After 15 months of suffering and sacrifice, Mayor Lori Lightfoot celebrated Friday’s reopening of the Chicago and Illinois economies as the liberation day that it was. On a gorgeous summer-like day, Lightfoot held a celebratory news conference, complete with a grab bag of giveaways aimed at luring Chicagoans off their couches and away from their home offices. Twelve hundred free, one-day passes to Lollapalooza. Hundreds of $250 gift cards redeemable at over 4,000 Chicago restaurants and retailers. A hip-hop version of the “Protect Chicago” music series for vaccinated Chicagoans. The pep rally of a news conference was held outside Gibson’s...

FROM Honey Ryder to Pussy Galore, Bond girls are as iconic as 007 himself - and Britt Ekland remains a fan favourite. Now the Swedish star is back in the news after admitting she "destroyed her looks" with lip fillers in her 50s. Britt, now 78, starred as Mary Goodnight in The Man With the Golden Gun, opposite Roger Moore and went on to a career that spanned five decades, as well as a string of high profile romances. But what happened to rest of James Bond's numerous bedfellows. Here, we look at what the stunning Bond girls did next.

Huma Abedin, Hillary Clinton’s close aide and the estranged wife of former Rep. Anthony Weiner, will release a memoir this November, the Associated Press reports. Both/And: A Life in Many Worlds will tell Abedin’s story of her upbringing as an American Muslim and her close friendship and work with Clinton. “Writing this book gave me the opportunity to reflect on my own life—from the nurturing family I was privileged to be born into, to working for one of the most compelling leaders of our time,” said Abedin. In a statement, the publisher said the book will include a “candid and...

Vice President Kamala Harris dropped in at the Capitol Pride Walk And Rally in Washington, D.C., on Saturday. The state of play: Harris and second gentleman, Doug Emhoff, joined the crowd, who welcomed them with cheers, according to press reports. The visit had not been on the vice president's public schedule. The big picture: Pride celebrations are taking place across the country this weekend, a year after many similar events were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. What they're saying: “We need to make sure that our transgender community and our youth are all protected. We need, still, protections around...

In 2014, Dudley Lamming was reading a study out of Australia that looked at how mice responded to dozens of controlled diets when one thing caught his attention: The mice fed the least amount of protein were the healthiest. Since then, Lamming and graduate students in his laboratory have been trying to answer the question the Australian study raised: Why would low-protein diets make animals healthier? Richardson tested a diet in mice that contained just one-third the normal amount of BCAAs. It wasn't a calorie-restricted diet; the animals could eat as much as they wanted. Male mice who ate the...

Image Mug Shot of Otis Brown, from Lee County Sheriff’s Office, cropped and scaled by Dean Weingarten U.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)- On May 31st, 2021, at about 6 p.m. at 3101 N. Miami Avenue, it has been reported that Otis Brown, a career criminal, attempted to commit an armed robbery of two men as they were walking their dog outside of the Midtown Mall.The temperature at 6 p.m. was 82 degrees with an ENE breeze of 13 mph with humidity of 72%. Sunset would not be until 8:07. Looking at the images from Google maps, there is graffiti in the neighborhood.One of...

AUSTIN, TX—Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed an executive order today donating the city of Austin and all its citizens to California. A move long in the making, the order gives all million citizens back to California, since most of them came from there anyway. "I hereby declare Austin and all the hippy yuppie Democrats in this God-forsaken town are now citizens of California," Abbott said at the signing to loud cheering and applause. "Good riddance, and may God have mercy on your souls. Texas don't want you, and I sure as heck don't want you." "This is long overdue." Many...

A man visiting from Texas was arrested for an alleged hate crime in Okaloosa County. Deputies say beachgoers witnessed 54-year-old Wade Anton in an argument with an Asian family at the park. Anton reportedly told the family to “go back where they came from” and made racial slurs. The family told the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office (OCSO) that Anton went around the park railing and started punching one man in the face. The man tells OCSO he pulled a gun to protect himself and the scene de-escalated. Anton told deputies the argument stemmed from the woman’s children petting his dogs...

You’ll want to hold on tight with both hands when shooting any of these revolvers or semi-auto pistolsHandguns are generally considered to be low in power and high in portability. They were originally thought of, and still are, as self-defense tools for close-quarters combat. But the handgun has evolved over the years. Handguns today aren’t just concealed-carry firearms made to fend off bad guys. They’re also used for hunting the largest and most dangerous game in the world. We’re not talking about specialized single shots and bolt-action handguns either; we’re talking about semi-automatics and revolvers. The power of some of...

Joe Biden sat down with French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday at the G7 summit in Cornwall, England. Emmanuel Macron clearly had the upper hand in the conversation and demanded cooperation from the United States. In a sign of weakness, Joe Biden nodded in agreement as Macron told him the US’s role in world. “What we need is cooperation. I think it’s great to have a US President who is part of the club and you are willing to cooperate and I think what you demonstrated is that leadership is partnership,” Macron said as Biden nodded in agreement. Pathetic. VIDEO:...

<p>A company representative said about 98.5% of the millions of rounds of ammo stolen earlier this week were .22 caliber, which is seldom used by Mexican drug cartels.</p><p>The .22 rounds are used mainly in rifles for target practice or extremely small game. Mexican cartels prefer larger, high-velocity ammunition for AK-47 and AR-15 rifles or 9 mm weapons.</p>

The Congressional Black Caucus has determined that newly elected Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) cannot be a member because he is not a Democrat. Caucus Chair Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH) questioned Donald's blackness, alleging that "the fact that he is a Republican and a Trump supporter argues that he is not authentically black. As President Biden has pointed out on several occasions 'if you're a Republican, you ain't black." Donalds objected to "the implication that all blacks must think alike when it comes to politics. Historically, it has been Democrats that have played the bigger role in suppressing the voices and...

The 45th president is enjoying a run of belated validation on a series of controversial issues, including: the Covid lab-leak theory, Russian bounties, Lafayette Park police tactics, hydroxychloroquine, and his words to a Georgia election investigator.“I have been proven right (once again),” former President Donald Trump declared this week in claiming vindication for advancing the COVID-19 “lab-leak” theory, for which he was roundly jeered last year. Whether or not the lab-leak theory turns out to be correct remains to be seen. But the new respect with which the theory is being treated is just one of several high-profile vindications the...