Free Republic

When President Biden declares the United States’ “independence” from the covid-19 pandemic on July 4, he should give credit where it’s due: former president Donald Trump and the Trump administration program that made it possible, Operation Warp Speed — which gave us the world’s most effective coronavirus vaccines in record time. In March 2020, life as we knew it abruptly stopped — no church, no family gatherings, no restaurants, no movies, no offices, no sports … and nowhere to go. The pandemic has been devastating. Too many died, and even more fell ill. Within two weeks after a pandemic was...

The Una Voce Federation has taken out an advert in the mass-circulation Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica, appearing today, Sunday 4th July.The English text is as following (for other languages see here):Living the faith, living the future:The Extraordinary Form of the Roman RiteDeclaration of the International Federation Una VoceThe International Federation Una Voce (FIUV), founded in 1965, brings together associations of the lay faithful attached to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman rite (the Traditional Latin Mass).In 2007, the Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum recognised the vitality of the traditional liturgy, the freedom of priests to celebrate it, and of the...

The US overtook New Zealand in June to become the best place to be during a global pandemic.The latest ranking includes "reopening progress" as a factor, which helped the US rise 13 spots to number one.Several European countries are also in the top 10 thanks to effective vaccination rollouts that have allowed the region to open up to tourists.Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.As vaccination rates go up and masks come off, the US is now the best place to be during the pandemic, according to Bloomberg's monthly Covid Resilience Ranking.The index ranks 53 major economies each month on how...

President Biden appeared to check his notes after being confronted by the press on whether Russia was behind a recent ransomware attack while he was shopping inside a store in Traverse City, Michigan, on Saturday. "With the most recent hack by the Russians, would you say that this means – " a reporter is heard asking about the attack that targeted Miami-based IT software management company Kaseya, before Biden interrupts her to say that they "don't know" yet if it was the Russians.

In 1981, doctors in New York and Los Angeles saw healthy young men sicken and die within months, their immune systems apparently destroyed.The deaths set off a frantic search for the culprit. By 1983 virologists had identified a novel pathogen they would call Human Immunodeficiency Virus.Over the next decade, scientists learned much more about HIV, which early on had a fatality rate close to 100 percent, worse even than Ebola or smallpox. Ultimately they tamed it - perhaps the greatest success for scientific and medical research in the late 20th century.But the political story of AIDS is much trickier. Scientists...

Democratic Congressman André Carson of Indiana said Sunday that he wants Congress to conduct hearings on purported sightings of UFOs in the wake of a Pentagon report examining the so-called "unidentified aerial phenomena" (UAPs). In an interview with "Face the Nation," Carson, who chairs the subcommittee on counterintelligence and counterproliferation on the House Intelligence Committee, said it is his "hope" there will be a "series of hearings," including one that is public, in the "very near future." "The report is inconclusive. What we do know is that ... there have been nearly 150 sightings. Eighty of those sightings have been...

Lieutenant Colonel Allen West announced his candidacy to become Governor of Texas this morning in a 7-minute video that detailed his history, celebrated the heroes of the Texas Revolution, and using comparisons to the Alamo, urged Texans to join him on the “right” side of the “line in the stand” with their vote. “Now it is our time, it is our time to stand up and honor those words of Texas, Our Texas, and to secure the future for our children and our grandchildren, to make sure the growth, the opportunity, and the prosperity, the economic success that you see...

We hear a lot about Critical Race Theory and how America is a systemically racist country. Everything is all about skin color and which group — oppressor or oppressed — you belong to. I hesitate to write this article because to even broach the topic of race these days or to offer an honest critique runs the risk of being labeled a racist and being canceled. We see constant examples of real racism, largely against White people. The evidence is indisputable. Along with the racism comes a colossal double-standard, which should be enough to make your blood boil. In America...

U.S.—According to reports, millions of Americans will be attending 4th of July celebrations today, many of which will feature problematic displays of the American flag and extreme levels of patriotism. "Latest government intelligence says that people who feel proud to live in America are more likely to be insurrectionist Trump supporters or colorblind racists," said Facebook content moderator and CCP party member Xiu Zhao. "We want people to realize they are putting themselves in danger by attending these hotbeds of extremist activity." Facebook will be sending notifications to any user found to have attended a patriotic parade, fireworks show, or...

MOSCOW (AP) — Ukraine’s defense minister is under pressure from members of the government over the decision to have female military cadets wear pumps with heels in an important parade. “The purpose of any military parade is to demonstrate the military ability of the army. There should be no room for stereotypes and sexism,” said a joint statement from three Cabinet members, including Minister of Veterans Affairs Yulia Laputina. The statement followed last week’s announcement about the footwear in the parade planned for Aug. 24, the 30th anniversary of Ukraine’s declaration of independence from the Soviet Union. It noted that...

Montenegro is a tiny nation Balkan nation across the Adriatic Sea from Italy, nestled between Serbia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Kosovo, Albania, and Croatia, and with a population roughly the size of Vermont’s. It’s in deep trouble because a past government, using a $1 billion loan from a Chinese state bank, entered into a deal with a Chinese state-owned construction company to build a 270-mile-long highway. Now, with only 25-miles extending from nowhere to nowhere built, the debt is coming due and Montenegro has no money with which to pay it. Montenegro’s troubles are waking Europe to the way China has inveigled...

Top infectious disease official Dr. Anthony Fauci on Sunday issued an impassioned warning about the danger of a divided vaccine rollout as a new poll highlighted how hesitancy around the shot has become deeply tied to party affiliation. Senate Help Committee Holds Hearing On Safely Going Back To Work And School During Pandemic KEY FACTS Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Fauci, who served as President Biden’s chief science officer, deemed it “frustrating” and “tragic” that inoculation rates aren’t higher in the U.S. when the vaccine is so widely available. He said it is particularly “terrible” from the perspective of...

So you're at a 4th of July cookout when all your friends and family start discussing Facebook's Orwellian alert about being exposed to extremism - when it dawns on you that everyone you know has received this alert except for you! Are you the person Facebook is warning everyone about? Did you become radicalized, and not even know it? Here are seven helpful clues to look for to know if you've become a dangerous extremist on Facebook: 1. You don't immediately start shrieking in terror whenever you see an American Flag: The American Flag is one of the most extreme...

Fed up with work stress, Guo Jianlong quit a newspaper job in Beijing and moved to China’s mountain southwest to “lie flat.” Guo joined a small but visible handful of Chinese urban professionals who are rattling the ruling Communist Party by rejecting grueling careers for a “low-desire life.” That is clashing with the party’s message of success and consumerism as its celebrates the 100th anniversary of its founding. Guo, 44, became a freelance writer in Dali, a town in Yunnan province known for its traditional architecture and picturesque scenery. He married a woman he met there. “Work was OK, but...

The 4th of July used to be considered an important national holiday in the Philippines. Not because it was the United States’ birthday, but because it was Philippine Independence Day in 1946. Seventy five years ago, the Philippines was recognized as an independent, sovereign country by the United States, which withdrew its authority over the archipelago as colonizer. PRE-INDEPENDENCE HISTORY OF THE PHILIPPINES The road to July 4, 1946 was long and tenuous. The Philippines had been a Spanish colony since 1565, and since that time numerous revolts broke out challenging Spanish rule. These revolts were disunited, however, until the...

In Wakefield, Massachusetts, an armed group that apparently believes it is not subject to the laws of the United States engaged in an hours-long standoff with police in the early hours of Saturday morning. On its Twitter account, The Associated Press reported that nine suspects were taken into custody after the incident, which closed down Interstate 95 — the major north-south artery for the entire East Coast — in both directions on the Fourth of July holiday weekend. No member of the group — carrying long guns and clad in military fatigues — was wounded in the standoff. July 4,...

POINTS Pope Francis was hospitalized in Rome for what the Vatican said was scheduled surgery for an abnormal narrowing of his large intestine. The Argentina-born Roman Catholic pontiff is 84 years old. The announcement that Francis was entering the hospital came just hours after the pope made a public appearance before crowds in St. Peter’s Square.

Humans have used chaga for thousands of years. But its popularity is shining new light on forest medicinals. Black Gold. The Diamond of the Forest. The Mushroom of Immortality. Hearing the chaga fungus referred to by its many nicknames, it's easy to imagine sparkling gemstones and tendrils of precious metals hanging from trees. Instead, chaga protrudes parasitically on the trunk of the boreal birch; bulbous, black and more reminiscent of bark than fungi. But a fungus it is. And a powerful – or at the very least, powerfully popular – one at that. While people in Russia and parts of...

It’s no secret that fireworks can cause some serious air pollution, in the United States as well as in other countries where holiday displays are common, like China and India. But not everyone is equally at risk from the noxious particles that suffuse the sky during our pyrotechnic light shows. In California, for example, vulnerable populations are more exposed to fireworks pollution on the Fourth of July.

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R) said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that Republicans who were not getting vaccinated for coronavirus are playing “the death lottery.”Guest anchor Martha Raddatz said, “Let’s go back to who is not getting vaccinated. Statistics show it’s poverty, race and you look at the map, it’s a lot of red states.”Justice said, “Well, there’s some truth to that and everything. Because the red states probably have a lot of people that, you know, are very, very conservative in their thinking, and they think, ‘Well, I don’t have to do that.’ But they’re not thinking right.”He...