Free Republic

Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough is taking steps toward making gender transition surgery available to veterans through Veterans Affairs health-care coverage, according to a new report. A VA department spokesperson reportedly told CNN that McDonough plans to announce the move at a Pride event at the Orlando Vet Center in Florida on Saturday. “We are taking the first necessary steps to expand VA’s care to include gender confirmation surgery — thus allowing transgender vets to go through the full gender confirmation process with VA by their side,” McDonough is expected to say. The VA Health Benefits package currently covers mental-health...

An incredibly detailed image of the Moon was composed by an Indian teen, who captured 55,000 images—racking up over 186 gigabytes on his laptop in the process—for a pastiche of celestial proportions. Sixteen-year-old Prathamesh Jaju from Pune, Maharashtra, shared his HDR (high-dynamic range) image of a waning crescent moon on Instagram. He admitted that amassing so many photos for his most detailed and clearest picture to date put his technology to the test. “[It] almost killed my laptop with the processing,” he said. The amateur astrophotographer began the project by capturing multiple videos of different small sections of the Moon...

Antiviral pills have been able to provide treatment for viruses like HIV, influenza and more. The U.S. is now investing in a pill for COVID-19. The COVID-19 vaccine was a worldly effort that resulted in the fastest vaccine ever made. The shot put a door stop in the pandemic and allowed millions of people to feel safe and return to a sense of normalcy. Now that there’s a vaccine that drastically reduces the odds of contracting the disease, the U.S. government is interested in a pill that could treat COVID-19 infections. As reported by the New York Times, the U.S....

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), continues to spread worldwide. To date, over 177.13 million cases have been reported, and over 3.8 million have lost their lives. Finding effective treatments that can mitigate severe disease remains a crucial area of scientific research. Drug repurposing for COVID-19 helps scientists identify potential drugs to treat COVID-19 without going through the rigorous process of formulation, clinical trials, and gaining regulatory body approval. Many of the drugs used for COVID-19 today were initially developed for other pathogens. Early-stage trials from scientists at the University of Pennsylvania,...

George Soros: Godfather of Color Revelution and Global Chaos — When Soros says “racial equality,” he means something very different from what you or the average American means when they say it. What Soros deems “racial equality” might more accurately be called “racial revenge”... - Archetype Anti-Christ - Biden Administration Pulling Patriot Air Defense Batteries From Key Positions in the Middle East — According to the WSJ report “the Biden administration is sharply reducing the number of US antimissile systems in the Middle East in a major realignment of its military footprint there. - The Smell of ObamaStrategy for Countering...

In a step toward racial equity and ending housing discrimination, N.J. Gov. Phil Murphy on Friday signed the Fair Chance in Housing Act, barring landlords in New Jersey from asking about criminal history on housing applications. At the state’s first commemoration of Juneteenth as an official holiday, Murphy signed the historic “ban the box” bill (A1919), which advocates say is the most sweeping form of the law in the nation. … Under the law, landlords will only be able to ask about criminal records on applications if the prospective tenants are a registered sex offender or were convicted for making...

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden announced on Saturday that one of their German Shepherds, Champ, had died. Champ had been with the family for 13 years and passed away peacefully at home, a statement from the White House said. "Even as Champ’s strength waned in his last months, when we came into a room, he would immediately pull himself up, his tail always wagging, and nuzzle us for an ear scratch or a belly rub," the statement read. "Wherever we were, he wanted to be, and everything was instantly better when he was next to us." Champ,...

A 9-year-old student in Lakeville, Minnesota savaged the school board there for blatantly lying about not allowing Black Lives Matter posters on campus due to their political nature. “The other day I was walking down the hallway at Lakeview Elementary School to give a teacher a retiring gift. I looked up on to the wall and saw a BLM poster and an Amanda Gorman poster. In case you don’t know who that chick is, she’s some girl who did a poem for Biden’s so-called inauguration. I was so mad,” the child began in a video posted on social media.“I was...

After examining the DNA of 93 bodies recovered from archaeological sites around the southern Levant, the land of Canaan in the Bible, researchers have concluded that modern populations of the region are descendants of the ancient Canaanites. Most modern Jewish groups and the Arabic-speaking groups from the region show at least half of their ancestry as Canaanite. In the study, published in Cell, the researchers explain that they used existing DNA analysis of 20 individuals, from sites in Israel and Lebanon, and then added 73 more, taking DNA from the bones of individuals found at Tel Megiddo, Tel Abel Beth...

While our Constitution famously set up a government of divided powers, the powers within each branch are not absolute. Each is subject to various checks from the others. Congress is responsible for lawmaking, but the president has a qualified veto over congressional bills. It is not absolute, for congress may override on two-thirds majority vote. As a theoretical check on the judiciary, scotus is subject to Article III congressionally determined “exceptions . . . and regulations.” Scotus has developed a habit of going far beyond its duty to adjudicate between parties and protect the constitutionality of law. Instead, it often...

SHOW LOW, Ariz. - Seven people have been critically injured after being run over by a truck in Show Low, officials confirmed Saturday morning. Police say a black Ford truck had hit multiple bicyclists in front of the Horne Auto Collision Center during the city's Bike the Bluff road race. Paramedics transported six people to a local hospital. Four of them are in critical condition, and the other two are critically injured but are in stable condition, police said. One other bicyclist was airlifted to a hospital in the Phoenix metro area for treatment.

One killed, 3 injured in Georgia shooting after man argued about putting on a mask; Over 2,000 airline mayhem incidents, mostly over being required to wear masks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCrB9SJQpww

California is adopting former Donald Trump's plan to thin out the state's 33 million acres of forests with controlled burns and raking the woodland floor - after state officials essentially laughed off the former president's idea a few years ago. Trump had suggested in 2018 that the Golden State start sweeping its forest floors of debris that often aids in the spread of wildfires. But by Aug. 2020, at the peak of the state's wildfire season, his suggestion became an ultimatum when he withheld wildfire financial aid on the basis of California's failure to clear its forests of dead trees,...

TRURO, Mass. — A no swimming order has been lifted at Head of the Meadow Beach after a confirmed shark sighting forced officials to close the water temporarily late Saturday morning, the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy says. The order was issued by Cape Cod National Seashore officials, according to an alert from the conservancy's "Sharktivity" app that was sent shortly after 10:45 a.m. Saturday. Beach-only activities were still permitted during the no swimming order, which has since been lifted. According to Cape Cod National Seashore officials, sharks have bitten people three times in the waters off Truro and Wellfleet. One...

In a major scientific leap, University of Queensland researchers have created a quantum microscope that can reveal biological structures that would otherwise be impossible to see. This paves the way for applications in biotechnology, and could extend far beyond this into areas ranging from navigation to medical imaging. The microscope is powered by the science of quantum entanglement, an effect Einstein described as “spooky interactions at a distance.” Quantum Microscope Up Close UQ’s quantum microscope, ready to zero in on previously impossible-to-see biology. Credit: The University of Queensland Professor Warwick Bowen, from UQ’s Quantum Optics Lab and the ARC Centre...

Eric Clapton has revealed that his polarizing views on the coronavirus pandemic have strained his personal relationships. “I’ve tried to reach out to fellow musicians,” the famed guitarist explained during an interview with YouTube channel Oracle Films. “I just don’t hear from them anymore. My phone doesn’t ring very often. I don’t get that many texts and emails any more. It’s quite noticeable.” Clapton vocally challenged the U.K.’s COVID-related lockdown laws, even going so far as to release a single alongside Van Morrison condemning his government’s actions.

Rep. Ted Lieu went on a rant this weekend against the Catholic Church calling U.S. bishops "hypocrites" and "nakedly partisan" for seeking to update Communion guidance that could rebuke politicians like President Biden and Speaker Nancy Pelosi for supporting abortion policies. The Catholic California Democrat called out several Republicans, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Attorney General William Barr, for seemingly violating the beliefs of the Catholic Church, but not being threatened with Communion denial like pro-choice Democrats. Lieu said such hypocrisy could doom church membership. Lieu then dared the church to deny him Communion for his political...

The US military said the drills were carried out in order to improve the interoperability of the alliance’s forces with their African partners. However, American media reports suggested earlier that the Pentagon is mulling sending special forces trainers to at least one African state to help fight terrorists. Joint exercises between NATO and countries in northern and western Africa that took place over the past two weeks have now come to an end. The military drill, called "African Lion", saw 7,000 troops from the African states of Morocco, Tunisia, and Senegal, as well as from several NATO countries – the...

Dr. Anthony Fauci denied that he deliberately suppressed the idea that the coronavirus could have leaked from the Wuhan lab that was experimenting on ways to enhance a bat virus to make it a more deadly pathogen that could be used to infect humans. “I would say my actions were more intuitively driven than consciously deliberate,” he contended. “If the Wuhan lab leak was revealed as the source of the pandemic I felt it would do irreparable harm to the scientific community. So, I came out strongly in favor of the natural mutation theory.” Fauci went on to point out...

Researcher: Vatican, US bishops uninterested in my moral alternative to COVID jabJune 18, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — Over the past year, as COVID vaccines have been developed and rolled out, and with all of those on the current market being connected in one way or another to abortion, Catholics are very concerned. A pro-life Catholic researcher is now creating an ethical and moral alternative to these stem cell lines, but he’s received no interest or support from U.S. bishops or the Vatican.In this latest episode of The John-Henry Westen Show, I speak with Dr. Alan Moy, the CEO of Cellular Engineering...