Free Republic

Smoldering tensions over the Jan. 6 Capitol attack exploded Wednesday in a partisan battle over who should sit on the special committee investigating the deadly siege — a clash of wills that spurred Republicans to end their participation in the investigation before it began. The fight started just after noon when Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said she would reject two of the five Republican nominees to the panel, Reps. Jim Banks (Ind.) and Jim Jordan (Ohio). Both are among the most staunch defenders of former President Trump and deny his role in instigating the attack, and Pelosi — fueled by...

BEIJING, July 22 (Reuters) - China rejected on Thursday a World Health Organization (WHO) plan for a second phase of an investigation into the origin of the coronavirus, which includes the hypothesis it could have escaped from a Chinese laboratory, a top health official said. The WHO this month proposed a second phase of studies into the origins of the coronavirus in China, including audits of laboratories and markets in the city of Wuhan, calling for transparency from authorities. "We will not accept such an origins-tracing plan as it, in some aspects, disregards common sense and defies science," Zeng Yixin,...

Iran earned nearly $ 1,377 billion in oil sales during the forty years after the anti-monarchy revolution. About $700 billion was earned during Ahmadinejad’s presidency. However, when Ahmadinejad’s eight-year term ended, he left nothing but a ruined, bankrupt, and devastating economy. In addition to the theft and looting of a nation’s assets through those around him and corrupt ministers of his cabinet, Ahmadinejad spent the country’s income to fund the Revolutionary Guards, internal repression, exporting terrorism abroad, and Iran’s missile and nuclear programs. There was no benefit for the Iranians from the windfall during the Ahmadinejad era. When Rouhani came...

As renewable forms of power like wind and solar continue to gain prominence, there will be a need for creative solutions when it comes to storing energy from sources that are intermittent by nature. One potential solution is known as a molten salt battery, which offers advantages that lithium batteries do not, but have their share of kinks to iron out, too. Scientists at Sandia National Laboratories have come up with a new design that addresses a number of these shortcomings, and demonstrated a working molten salt battery that can be constructed far more cheaply, while storing more energy, than...

The rain is formed using drone technology that gives clouds an electric shock to 'cajole them' into clumping together and producing precipitation The UAE is one of the most arid countries on Earth and the technique helps to increase its meagre annual rainfall Video shows it is working with monsoon-like downpours across the country

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- The highly-contagious Delta variant is pushing back the state's timeline to reach herd immunity, according to doctors at UCSF. "I think it's going to get worse before it gets better," said UCSF Epidemiologist Dr. George Rutherford. Dr. Bob Wachter, the chair of UCSF's Department of Medicine, tweeted out Tuesday the "#Delta variant has changed what it'll take to reach herd immunity" - adding we need more vaccinations and mask-wearing. Rutherford predicts the state won't reach herd immunity for at least several months as case rates and hospitalizations are climbing rapidly across California. "I'm guessing we have...

During his Wednesday night CNN town hall, President Joe Biden talked about a “push to eliminate” 9mm pistols that have an ammunition capacity beyond that of which the left approves. Biden said, “The idea you need a weapon that can have the ability to fire 20, 30, 40, 50, 120 shots from that weapon, whether it’s a 9mm pistol or whether it’s a rifle, is ridiculous. I’m continuing to push to eliminate the sale of those things.”

On this date in 1794, three women of the Noailles family were guillotined in Paris. The grandmother, mother and sister of Adrienne Noailles all shed their blue blood on the scaffold (grandpa, with impeccable timing, had died of natural causes the previous summer) for their aristocratic stock — the eldest had been Marie Antoinette‘s etiquette tutor. They are noteworthy of themselves because their courageous Catholic confessor, one Abbe Carrichon, made good a promise to accompany them to the very shadow of the blade to give them absolution and left to us in a description of these pious ladies’ nerve-wracking journey...

A Hawaii woman employed by the Department of Defense pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to removing classified material, which were discovered in her hotel room during a dinner party in which two foreign nationals were present, while temporarily assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Manila, Philippines. Asia Lavarello, 31, pleaded guilty to one count of knowingly removing classified information concerning U.S. national defense or foreign relations and retaining it at an unauthorized location, the Justice Department said. ... ...A search of her workplace at the Indo-Pacific Command revealed a notebook in her desk containing handwritten notes of meetings she...

Across the U.S., 57.3% of nursing home staff are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 compared to 80.2% of residents •Lagging vaccination rates among workers are being linked to breakthrough infections and deaths among seniors •At one facility in Grand Junction, Colorado, 16 fully vaccinated residents were infected and four died •In Indiana, seven residents died from COVID-19 at a facility where less than half the staff - 44% - was fully vaccinated •Fully vaccinated older adults are still at a higher risk of infection than the general population because they have weaker immune systems •Some policy experts are urging the government...

The flag is racist. Then National Anthem is offensive. The word “patriot” is a code word used by hate groups. Loving America is Hate Speech. This is the toxic rhetoric pushed by the far left. They hate America and don’t even hide it anymore. Why hide it?

Unless there is provision made for all people to attend, I reserve the right to cancel the show.”.. Eric Clapton wants nothing to do with vaccine passports — and that includes at his own concerts. Responding to an announcement from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson that anyone wanting to enter nightclubs or other crowded venues will have to show proof of COVID vaccination beginning in September, the legendary rock star issued a statement Wednesday. “Following the PM’s announcement on Monday the 19th of July 2021, I feel honour bound to make an announcement of my own: I wish to say...

NEWS John McAfee’s widow releases suicide note she believes is fake By Yaron Steinbuch July 14, 2021 | 10:48am The widow of John McAfee has reportedly released the tech tycoon’s supposed suicide note, in which he described himself as a “parasite” whose “future does not exist” — but she cast doubt about its authenticity. A preliminary coroner’s report has confirmed the initial determination by local authorities that the eccentric antivirus software creator hanged himself in a Barcelona prison. McAfee’s family, which has questioned whether he killed himself, has requested a second, independent autopsy. Sources have said that the 75-year-old had...

Joe Biden gave a special shoutout to his KKK buddy and Kleagle Robert Byrd during his CNN town hall tonight. Senator Robert Byrd was a top Democrat in the US Senate for decades. Joe Biden: “When I got to the United States Senate at a time when we had guys like Jim Eastland, and Strom Thurmond, and Robert F. Byrd and a whole range of people who were very, very, very, very, very, very conservative on race, to say the least.”

President Biden on Wednesday spoke to a half-empty auditorium while doing a live CNN “town hall” event in Ohio.

A central Chinese city has been devastated by floods amid record rain.In Zhengzhou city, streets have turned into rivers, underground tunnels have become submerged, and floodwaters have crept to the second floor of buildings in some areas. Widespread power outages have interrupted hospital surgeries and left some patients without life support.The official death toll as of July 20 was 25, a dozen of them from a subway that flooded, with seven missing, regime officials announced on July 21. But residents of the city of 12 million told The Epoch Times they believe the number to be far higher.A resident surnamed...

It may not seem like a massive development in terms of dealing with the scope of everything that’s been talked about here today, but it will equip law enforcement to see more things through to charges in this country.” —RCMP Cpl. Anthony Statham.. An Internet censorship bill will be useful in prosecuting bloggers and Facebook subscribers, an RCMP specialist said Monday night. Bill C-36 will “see more things through to charges,” a webinar was told. “Law enforcement has to have the ability to use the law effectively,” said Cpl. Anthony Statham of RCMP’s British Columbia Hate Crimes Team. Statham complained...

A sudden jump in the post-COVID-19 vaccination death reports is not correct and was the result of an “error,” according to a U.S. health agency.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday said a passive reporting system it runs with the Food and Drug Administration had received 12,313 reports of death among those who received a COVID-19 vaccine.That was a sharp increase from the previous number of reports, 6,079.The jump would have effectively doubled the percentage of post-vaccination death reports, from 0.0018 percent to 0.0036 percent.But a CDC spokeswoman told The Epoch Times the number the agency has...

Voters in Oregon’s Harney County will be asked in November to decide on a “Greater Idaho” proposal, potentially allowing the county and several others in Oregon to join the neighboring state, according to a group that has collected signatures in support of the initiative.Citizens for Greater Idaho’s website said on July 19 that the group has obtained enough signatures.The group said the proposal would “extend Idaho’s jurisdiction over rural, conservative counties of eastern and southern Oregon” and are also “intended to put pressure on the state legislatures of Oregon and Idaho to negotiate an interstate compact to relocate their common...

At least 800 people in Uganda have been given fake coronavirus vaccines — some injected with water — in a scam authorities say involved "unscrupulous" doctors and health workers. Key points: Two medical workers allegedly involved in the scam have been arrested and police are trying to find another doctor Tests indicated the fake vaccines were not dangerous Victims paid between $34 and $163 for each shot The counterfeit jabs were administered over May and June during a deadly surge of the coronavirus in the East African nation, when new infections soared to record highs of about 1,700 cases per...