Free Republic

When it comes to making news and dropping press releases, there are certain rules regarding the days of the week they’re dropped. Big economic or policy news that governments or companies want everyone talking about for the whole week are dropped Monday or Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday are for “quick hit” releases that should be in the news cycle for a day or two before fading away. As for Friday, that’s when you drop things you want to be forgotten about over the weekend. On Friday, Joe Biden signed an executive order that is getting infuriatingly little press and next...

The evidence that we are in the midst of a ska revival is plentiful. ­Indie-punk phenomenon Jeff Rosenstock managed a critical hit with “Ska Dream,” a reimagining of his 2020 album “No Dream.” The genre thrives online, where the Ska Tune Network has more than 200,000 subscribers and ska cover versions rake in the views, including a version of Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy” by Los Angeles band the Interrupters that has 5 million and counting. This year sees the release of two major books, one a 400-page oral history of American ska and the other a spirited defense of the...

On June 23, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) met to discuss ongoing reports of myocarditis in young people, particularly young men, after the second dose of mRNA vaccines.In light of these recent reports, the committee was charged with weighing potential harms and benefits associated with second doses of mRNA vaccines.Despite the importance and gravity of the topic, and the high level at which this discussion was taking place, the presentation given to the committee for the purpose of weighing those harms and benefits was fundamentally flawed.While misleading statements and...

The United States has launched what it says are defensive airstrikes against Iran-backed militias along the Iraq-Syria border. Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said the 'precision' strikes had been launched on Sunday evening. Two targets were attacked in Syria, with a third also bombed in Iraq. Kirby added that multiple Iran-backed milita groups including Kata'ib Hezbollah (KH) and Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada (KSS) had been targeted. Kirby said the targets had been chosen because they had previously launched drone strikes against US personnel and bases in Iraq. It is unclear if anyone was injured or killed in those strikes. President Biden...

After nearly two years of being closed to the public, Castro Adobe State Historic Park will once again invite people to come learn about an important part of California history.After nearly two years of being closed to the public, Castro Adobe State Historic Park will once again invite people to come learn about an important part of California history. Located on a hill off of Larkin Valley Road and overlooking the Pajaro Valley, Castro Adobe’s main draw is a historic, two-story hacienda built between 1848-49 by Juan Jose Castro, son of Jose Joaquin Castro (an original member of the Juan...

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) deleted COVID-19 gene sequences that may have proven valuable to detecting earlier the probability the SARS-CoV-2 virus originated at the Wuhan lab. The deleted gene sequences were recently discovered in a Google cloud database by a virologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. The finding was revealed in an academic paper awaiting peer-review, authored by Dr. Jesse D. Bloom. “The origin and early spread of SARS-CoV-2 remains shrouded in mystery,” Bloom writes. “Here I identify a data set containing SARS-CoV-2 sequences from early in the Wuhan epidemic that has been deleted...

FORREST CITY, Ark. (WREG) – It wasn’t COVID-19, but a questionable fashion choice that kept a Forrest City, Arkansas, woman from visiting her grandmother. Jayla Williams shared a video on her Facebook page of her grandmother refusing to let her in her house after she showed up wearing jeans ripped across her thighs. “She gets out of the car, and when she steps around the car, she was looking naked,” said grandmother Maedean Wilson-Brewer. Williams said her grandmother likes to joke around, but this time, she knew she was serious, and so she pulled out her phone and started recording...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—After Catholic bishops stirred bitter controversy this week by asking people to repent of murder, Father Brian Shannon has offered President Biden a tasty compromise: replacing the Eucharist with a ‘Nilla wafer. “While as Catholics we must object to unifying the body, soul and divinity of Christ to someone who is unrepentant in their support of murder, we fully support President Biden’s right to enjoy a vanilla wafer,” said Father Shannon. “Now can a vanilla wafer undergo transubstantiation? Really getting into the metaphysical weeds here, but to be safe we’ll leave them off the altar until Joe comes up...

CHICAGO - Tensions became heated Friday evening when Newsmax reporter William Kelly asked Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot about violent crime in the city. According to data, more than 300 people have been shot and killed in Chicago this year. More than 1,500 have been shot and wounded. When Kelly pressed Lightfoot on the apparent surge in violent crime, the mayor said he had his facts wrong. (snip) On Monday, Mayor Lightfoot – who promised to reduce Chicago’s bloody street violence – said this month has been less violent than last year in June. "We are seeing a downward trajectory, where...

In recent years, China has made massive inroads to secure valuable assets within Africa. Since the start of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013, Chinese profits have quadrupled from Africa alone. In 2017 for instance, Chinese projects in Africa from the BRI brought in an estimated of $51 billion dollars in revenues. There is no mistaking that Africa is a key component in China’s economic ambitions. k The amount of labor and capital migrating to China has also seen a spike in recent years. It was reported in 2018 that over 200,000 Chinese workers migrated to Africa, bringing...

Explanation: What drives auroras on Saturn? To help find out, scientists have sorted through hundreds of infrared images of Saturn taken by the Cassini spacecraft for other purposes, trying to find enough aurora images to correlate changes and make movies. Once made, some movies clearly show that Saturnian auroras can change not only with the angle of the Sun, but also as the planet rotates. Furthermore, some auroral changes appear related to waves in Saturn's magnetosphere likely caused by Saturn's moons. Pictured here, a false-colored image taken in 2007 shows Saturn in three bands of infrared light. The rings reflect...

What is likely to happen with the "Still Standing"half of the condo building is probably a no win situation for the owners. The first option is a worst case scenario. The second option is after all the debris is cleared, engineers and inspectors can look for the inevitable wear and tear in the concrete supports. But does this mean they will have to dig out the entire base of the condo, maybe even close to the bedrock? Do you think anyone would want to take part of digging that hole if it comes to that? Maybe some of you out...

For years, we have been discussing the decline of journalism values with the rise of open bias in the media. Now, a newly released report from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford has found something that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. The United States ranked dead last in media trust among 49 countries with just 29% saying that they trusted the media. The most tragic aspect is that it does not matter. The media has embraced the advocacy journalism and anyone questioning that trend risks instant cancellation. The result is a type...

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthytorucehd Democrats after thousands of police officers resigned from their departments amid a soaring crime wave. The New York Times reported: “New York City saw 2,600 officers retire in 2020 compared with 1,509 the year before."

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Diabetics are at heightened risk for COVID-19 complications, it's known. But the connection might run in two directions: COVID-19 may itself kick off or exacerbate diabetes. A new study shows that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, selectively attacks the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin, the critical hormone that regulates our circulating blood-sugar levels. The loss of these pancreatic cells, known as beta cells, is the defining feature of type 1 diabetes, understood to be triggered when the body's immune system, for unknown reasons, launches an unprovoked attack on those cells.

Antifa militants attacked police in Portland, Oregon, after news broke of a deadly police shooting — forcing the department to quickly announce that it was a “white male” to prevent riots, according to police and reports. At least 50 protesters, most dressed all in black and carrying anti-fascist signs, gathered at a Motel 6 late Thursday where police shot a suicidal man who charged at them with a screwdriver, The Oregonian said. The mob “began yelling, throwing items at officers, and attempting to interfere with the investigation,” Portland Police Bureau said in a release, with videos showing many chanting the...

Colorado police on Friday explained how a heroic bystander who had just shot and killed a cop-hating gunman was himself fatally struck by a responding officer. Johnny Hurley, 40, was shopping in downtown Arvada, a Denver suburb, when he heard Ronald Troyke ambush and murder Officer Gordon Beesley, who was responding to a call Monday afternoon, officials said. Troyke, 59, then returned to his truck to grab an AR-15, and was holding it when Hurley — who was carrying a concealed weapon — confronted him and shot him dead, Police Chief Link Strate said in a video clip posted Friday....

...drawing comparisons to the Pixar flick “Up” in which a balloon salesman clings stubbornly to his house as skyscrapers spring up around it. Orlando Capote told CBS4 News in Miami that his father bought the humble single-family home in 1989, after escaping Cuba and working double jobs to achieve his American dream. “The house is my soul,” said Capote. “So what good is it to sell your soul for all the money in the world?” Capote’s father died in 2005. He then lost his mother last year, who asked before she died that the son not sell the “family treasure.”...

It’s time to “reimagine the Rotunda”. That is the conclusion reached in a report released by the National Archives’ task force on racism. The National Archives Rotunda is an example of structural racism and the Founding Fathers are portrayed too positively. Who knew that the Rotunda is in need of safe spaces and trigger warnings? The Rotunda of the National Archives displays the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence. The National Archives holds permanent records created by the U.S. Congress, U.S. Supreme Court, Federal District Courts in the District of Columbia, and Select Federal Agencies. It...