Free Republic

Taylor Swift’s return to No. 1 on Billboard’s 2020 Money Makers list is one of the few unsurprising results of a ranking that holds many surprises. A year with little touring resulted in many of rock and country music’s regular road warriors giving up their spots to artists with strong 2020 streaming and physical sales performances — many of them hip-hop acts.It’s also no surprise that the dearth of live revenue led to a precipitous decline in the paychecks of music’s top earners, who collectively took home $387 million in 2020, down from $969 million in 2019. Even Swift, that...

....Indeed, here in blue Rhode Island, parents are seeing red. They have had enough and they are rising up to defend their parental rights by organizing their own local groups and challenging school officials. And it’s not just about radical race theories – it’s a revolt against the entire pervasive “woke” agenda. Parents are further outraged at the many non-science-based and over-bearing Covid-19 protocols and mandates, the gender-equity agenda, as well as at the over-sexualization of their children in public schools. In one example, the RI Department of Health illegally declared that high school students aged 16-18 were “emancipated” from...

An unhinged leftist confronted Fox News host Tucker Carlson at a fly fishing shop in Livingston, Montana on Friday. “You are the worst human being known to mankind. I want you to know that,” Dan Bailey, a fishing guide said as he got in Tucker Carlson’s face. Tucker kept his cool but stood his ground. “Settle down, son,” Tucker said as he walked away in an effort to deescalate, but the man followed him around and continued to argue. The original video was posted to Dan Bailey’s Instagram account and he claimed Tucker Carlson killed people with vaccine misinformation. “This...

It wasn’t exactly the trial scene between Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men, but it was pretty dramatic stuff. Sen. Rand Paul has been taking repeated shots at Fauci over the funding of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and specifically the gain-of-function research it performed using bat coronaviruses. In a May appearance before a Senate committee, Fauci denied that NIAID, the National Institutes of Health agency Fauci leads, had funded gain-of-function research. That was a highly questionable contention. Technically you could perhaps make it seeing as though the funding of the Wuhan lab came from Dr....

A court in London has ruled that a Christian street preacher who was fined and prosecuted by the police for evangelizing during lockdown did not break regulations or do anything illegal. The London Magistrates Court ruled that Joshua Sutcliffe, 31, is “not guilty” as he “was outside and that he had a reasonable excuse as he was traveling to his place of work, as a worship leader,” said Christian Legal Centre, which supported the preacher, in a statement released Friday. Sutcliffe was detained and surrounded by four police officers as he was preaching and handing out leaflets in North London’s...

The mammoth scandal surrounding a 2019 energy bailout appeared to creep closer on Thursday to the administration of Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine. FirstEnergy said in a deferred prosecution agreement that the man DeWine appointed to lead the Public Utility Commission of Ohio took a $4.3 million payment and then acted on behalf of the Akron-based power company instead of as the state’s top regulator. That man, Sam Randazzo, has resigned. But FirstEnergy also helped control a 501(c)(4) “dark-money” group started by a senior DeWine aide while he was still a FirstEnergy lobbyist, the agreement showed. The company passed a torrent...

Jackie Mason, the sometimes-controversial standup comedian who unapologetically embraced Jewish themes and political incorrectness, achieving a national profile through a series of successful one-man shows on Broadway without substantial work in film or television, died Saturday in Manhattan. He was 93. The New York Times said his death was confirmed by his friend Raoul Felder. Mason was one of the last of the Borscht Belt comedians, and he married that sensibility to strong views on racial and ethnic politics. He also recurred on “The Simpsons” as the voice of Rabbi Hyman Krustofsky, the father of Krusty the Clown, winning his...

Lightfoot, speaking during a press availability on Thursday afternoon, said that city officials are exploring different ways to invest in communities, and said that Chicago will focus on the city’s West Side, which has been ravaged by gun violence. “It’s obvious: we cannot arrest our way out of this problem,” she said. “Fundamentally, if you look at the West Side and you look at the problems, the opioid addiction that is really harming so many individuals, families and communities, the investments we have to make in human capital and the investments we have to make in infrastructure, those are why...

On this date in 1794, revolutionary firebrand Thomas Paine got a date with the guillotine when the public prosecutor Antoine-Quentin Fouquier-Tinville put his name on the list for the next batch of heads. Paine — “Mad Tom” to foes of his fire-eating opposition to despotic church and crown — is best-known for his part in the American Revolution; his pamphlet “Common Sense” made an incendiary and influential case for revolution. More so than any other high-profile compatriot in the cause of American independence, Paine took to heart the age’s revolutionary spirit, the fine principles of solidarity, the zeal to put...

A new study suggests that drinking too much coffee can shrink your brain and increase your risk of dementia or stroke. Well, crap. “High coffee consumption is associated with smaller total brain volumes and an increased risk of dementia,” claim researchers from the Australian Centre for Precision Health at the University of South Australia. Just how much coffee is too much? According to the study, “Those who drank more than six cups of coffee a day had a 53 per cent increased risk of dementia.” I guess this is somewhat comforting. I drink quite a bit of coffee daily—I’m drinking...

CHICAGO - The Iowa man accused of bringing guns and ammunition into a downtown Chicago hotel over the Fourth of July weekend bonded out of jail Wednesday, and then proposed to a woman. What is strange is there were reports that 32-year-old Keegan Casteel is already married. Casteel walked out of the Cook County Jail around 5:30 p.m. after a judge set his bond at $10,000 – meaning he only had to pay $1,000 for freedom. He was still wearing the same t-shirt as his booking photo and walked past reporters straight to a waiting SUV with Iowa plates. FOX...

Since COVID-19 arrived, anyone brave enough to go against the preferred narrative has risked their livelihood, career, and even their personal safety. Dr. Scott Atlas, who served on President Trump’s task force and disagreed with Dr. Anthony Fauci, had to hire private security. Stanford University investigated Atlas and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya for their dissenting recommendations.Now, the Biden administration is threatening to punish people who publish COVID-19 “misinformation,” which they define as anything Dr. Fauci disagrees with (today). This column would turn into a novel if it recounted all the times that man has changed his mind or made an appeal...

Delivering a speech on election integrity in the battleground state of Arizona amid a forensic audit, former President Donald Trump told supporters Democrats cannot "win elections without cheating; there's no way." Trump picked up his rebuke of the mail-in ballot boxes that were disproportionately used in Democrat strongholds throughout the country in the 2020 presidential election under the guise of COVID-19, and in many cases not approved by the state legislatures. Trump outlined many of the audit allegations of examples of election fraud, or at least irregularities that require answers and information from Maricopa County, Arizona. Trump said the Democrats...

Meet Fenix, who has Cerebellar Hypoplasia, but it doesn't stop him from having fun. Video: 3 minutes & 15 seconds

In a recent survey published by the American Medical Association, 96 percent of practicing physicians have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Among all surveyed physicians, there was no significant difference in the various demographic groups including primary care versus specialties, region, gender, age, and race. Some health systems have required COVID-19 vaccination for all employees amid efforts to end this pandemic as quickly as possible.... ...This survey was offered to physicians between June 3 and June 8, 2021, through a WebMD platform. Of the 301 participants, 150 were primary care specialties....

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem Psalm 119פ Pe 129 Your statutes are wonderful; therefore I obey them. 130 The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple. 131 I open my mouth and pant, longing for your commands. 132 Turn to me and have mercy on me, as you always do to those who love your name. 133 Direct my footsteps according to your word; let no sin rule over me. 134 Redeem me from human oppression, that I may obey your precepts. 135 Make your face shine on your servant and teach me your...

This afternoon, 27 campers celebrated the end of an activity-filled week at the SVMH Asthma Day Camp. The end of camp festivities included a multitude of outdoor games including wiffleball, followed by a graduation ceremony where each camper had the opportunity to cross the stage and receive a certificate . The ceremony closed with the kids performing the camp song and reciting their Asthma Pledge for their families.

I cited the judgment of Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin in “Fallacious Fauci strikes again.” In my post I relied on Rogin’s brief tweets. Today Rogin expands on his judgment in the column “What the fight between Anthony Fauci and Rand Paul is really about.” Here is the heart of his analysis of the issue between Fauci and Paul: Both men were playing to the cameras, but many scientists think Paul actually does know what he’s talking about. One of them is Rutgers University microbiologist and biosafety expert Richard Ebright, whom Paul quoted as saying this research “matches, indeed epitomizes...

“And in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance . . .” (2 Peter 1:6). Personal self-control demonstrates the certainty of your salvation. In Peter’s day, the word translated “self-control” was used to describe athletes. The successful ones abstained from sexual activity and an unhealthy diet for the sake of disciplined training exercises. You practice personal self-control when you control your desires and don’t allow them to control you. Let me share some practical tips that have helped me with self-control. 1. Start small. For example, begin by cleaning your bedroom or office, then extend that discipline to the...

You know the story. A young man took his portion of his father’s inheritance and squandered it on riotous living. He ended up broken, ruined in health and spirit. At his lowest point, he decided to return to his father. Scripture tells us, “He arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him” (Luke 15:20, NKJV). Note that nothing hindered this father’s forgiveness of his son. There was nothing this boy had to do, not even confess...