Free Republic

10 Minute video of interest to those who enjoy maps and interesting tidbits

First Lady Jill Biden is tipped to visit Japan for the Tokyo Olympics on a solo trip in place of President Joe Biden, the Yomiuri Shimbun daily reported Sunday. ...... Snip...... This will not be first time the first lady has stepped out in place of her husband or played a part in his day-to-day political engagement with the public. As Breitbart News reported, during last year’s presidential campaign she visited the Twin Cities, making stops in St. Paul and speaking to supporters in Minneapolis in support of her husband’s bid for office. Drawing what one outlet described as “a...

The sad part is that Big Tech’s control over the free flow information is almost entirely illusory and based wholly on our submission to it. Much in the same manner that consumers become zealously brand-conscious, we have come to accept that Microsoft, Apple, Google, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have some innate value that makes them indispensable. We forget that Big Tech’s dominance has come about in just one generation and we can track a direct trajectory between the rise of Big Tech and the radical Left’s ascendancy.

Critical race theory (CRT) is now center stage in the culture war between left and right, emerging in recent months as one of the nation’s most contentious issues. On the surface, it may seem progressives are winning as CRT infects schools across America, but the fight against this racist indoctrination is really a winning issue for conservatives. According to CRT, racism is a social construction that pervades every aspect of American life, benefiting all White people (regardless of their socio-economic standing) at the expense of non-White people. Advocates of CRT believe the solution is to undo many of the cornerstones...

Abstract: Background: COVID-19 vaccines have had expedited reviews without sufficient safety data. We wanted to compare risks and benefits. Method: We calculated the number needed to vaccinate (NNTV) from a large Israeli field study to prevent one death. We accessed the Adverse Drug Reactions (ADR) database of the European Medicines Agency and of the Dutch National Register (lareb.nl) to extract the number of cases reporting severe side effects and the number of cases with fatal side effects. Result: The NNTV is between 200–700 to prevent one case of COVID-19 for the mRNA vaccine marketed by Pfizer, while the NNTV to...

The Pennsylvania Department of Health confirmed Friday that the universal face coverings mandate will be lifted statewide on Monday at 12:01 a.m. — ending a requirement that lasted 439 days. Gov. Tom Wolf’s goal of having 70% of Pennsylvanians fully vaccinated by the time the mandate ends didn’t go exactly as planned, with the numbers falling just short of the mark. As of Friday morning, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention vaccine tracker, 74.9% of Pennsylvanians age 18 and older have received a first dose and 59.4% are fully vaccinated. The dramatic rise and subsequent fall in...

[T]here were a number of interesting tidbits in the report [...] 1. "Our analysis of the data supports the construct that if and when individual UAP incidents are resolved they will fall into one of five potential explanatory categories: airborne clutter, natural atmospheric phenomena, USG or U.S. industry developmental programs, foreign adversary systems, and a catchall 'other' bin." OK, so there are five basic categories for UFOs according to the report: Random airborne, uh, stuff (like birds), weather phenomenons, defense prototypes -- either from the US or "foreign adversary systems" and then the "other bin." And, yes, I (and the...

WASHINGTON, Wednesday, June 26. GEN. SCOTT's PROGRAMME OF THE WAR. The reports which have gone forth that there has been a change in the plans of Gen. SCOTT -- that his purpose is now to commence active operations against the rebels -- are erroneous. From an authoritative source, I have learned the general outlines of his plan of the campaign, and am now able to state them with perfect definiteness. Unless something should transpire to hasten events, we are further than ever removed, from a battle. Gen. SCOTT has no purpose of risking a general engagement. The only conflicts between...

A Florida man accused of shooting a Daytona Beach police officer in the head was apprehended early Saturday morning following a multi-agency manhunt of nearly 500 officers. The suspect was reportedly captured on a wooded property in Georgia affiliated with a black nationalist paramilitary group.

The majority of the nation’s landlords are individual investors. They own about 23 million units in 17 million properties, according to the U.S. Census. More than 6 million renter households are behind on rent. The one-month extension of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s eviction moratorium was welcome news for tenants but another nail in the coffin for some struggling landlords. Groups representing landlords had been lobbying hard to end the moratorium and now warn even another month will put some of those landlords out of business. “Each passing month further escalates the risk of losing an ever-increasing amount...

Ree Drummond, also known as the star of Food Network’s The Pioneer Woman, lives on a ranch in the middle of Oklahoma. (snip) But how much land does her husband, Ladd Drummond, and his family actually own? The story of how Drummond met her husband sounds similar to the way most people in their 20s meet a new love: Over some drinks at a bar. (snip) The two talked for a while, but they didn’t end up meeting again for another four months, when he finally asked her on a date. She said yes, and they hit it off. At...

One of the best things about celebrating America’s Independence Day is spreading out a blanket under the stars and waiting for the “kabooms” that light up the night sky. Fireworks on the Fourth of July are a deep tradition in America, as small towns and big cities alike across the nation light off the celebratory explosives to commemorate the passage of the Declaration of Independence and our freedom from Britain. Unfortunately, last year, firework displays were canceled in many places around the country due to the rapidly spreading coronavirus. Thankfully, restrictions have started to lift in most states as more...

Why should young people have all the fun? They do their thing at all night raves and you don't hear too much about deaths. Just what do the old and infirm have to do to pass the time? The drug can be easily controlled and regulated. Get rid of any bad stuff going around.

VIDEOHere are a few random scenes of the Trump rally in Wellington OH revealing how YUUUUUUUUGE it was. At the five second mark you can see a couple of Port-a-Potties into which you could fit the entire crowd of any Sleepy Joe rally they could muster.Hopefully there will be another Trump rally at the BB&T Center in Sunrise FL because as you can see at the link below I was FIRST IN LINE at that rally in November 2019 due to a hack I accidentally discovered and will use again. That could make me the the FIRST person to ever...

EUGENE, Ore. -- For the past week, the national anthem has played one time per evening at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials. On Saturday, the song happened to start while outspoken activist Gwen Berry was standing on the podium after receiving her bronze medal in the hammer throw. While the music played, Berry placed her left hand on her hip and fidgeted. She took a quarter turn, so she was facing the stands, not the flag. Toward the end, she plucked up her black T-shirt with the words "Activist Athlete" emblazoned on the front, and draped it over...

“Then the king went off to his palace and spent the night fasting, and no entertainment was brought before him; and his sleep fled from him. Then the king arose with the dawn, at the break of day, and went in haste to the lions’ den. And when he had come near the den to Daniel, he cried out with a troubled voice. The king spoke and said to Daniel, ‘Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you constantly serve, been able to deliver you from the lions?’ Then Daniel spoke to the king, ‘O king, live...

Sometimes new data can shed light on an uncertain situation, especially in financial markets. Other times it simply adds to the confusion. Such was the case with the most recent U.S. employment report released June 4 for the month of May. The analyst world was glued to their news feeds, anxiously awaiting the latest report. The result was — bafflement. The report showed job gains of 559,000. That’s a strong number, but it was below expectations. The market was looking for 670,000 jobs or higher. While strong April gains were revised up slightly, the stronger March gains had earlier been...

THIRTEEN SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME:Mark 5:21–43 Friends, the centerpiece of today’s Gospel is Jesus healing the hemorrhaging woman. Having a flow of blood for twelve years meant that anyone with whom she came in contact would be considered unclean. She couldn’t, in any meaningful sense, participate in the ordinary life of her society. The woman touches Jesus—and how radical and dangerous an act this was, since it should have rendered him unclean. But so great is her faith that her touch, instead, renders her clean. Jesus effectively restores her to full participation in her community. But what is perhaps most...

A National Institutes of Health study has found that using marijuana might increase the risk of suicidal ideation and attempts to self harm, even among those with no history of depression. The study, titled "Associations of Suicidality Trends With Cannabis Use as a Function of Sex and Depression Status," was published in the journal of the American Medical Association on Tuesday. It involved face-to-face household interviews as part of the 2008-2019 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health conducted by researchers with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The National Institute on Drug Abuse sponsored the research as...

The European database of suspected drug reaction reports is EudraVigilance, which also tracks reports of injuries and deaths following the experimental COVID-19 “vaccines.”A subscriber from Europe recently emailed us and reminded us that this database maintained at EudraVigilance is only for countries in Europe who are part of the European Union (EU), which comprises 27 countries.The total number of countries in Europe is much higher, almost twice as many, numbering around 50, although there are some differences of opinion as to which countries are technically part of Europe.So as high as these numbers are, they do NOT reflect all of...