Free Republic

Taliban insurgents tightened their grip on captured Afghan territory on Tuesday, now controlling 65 per cent of the country, as US President Joe Biden urged the nation's leaders to fight for their homeland. Pul-e-Khumri, capital of the northern province of Baghlan, fell to the Taliban on Tuesday evening, according to residents who reported Afghan security forces retreating towards the Kelagi desert, home to a large Afghan army base. Pul-e-Khumri became the seventh regional capital to come under the control of the militants in about a week. "Afghan leaders have to come together," Biden told reporters at the White House, saying...

Deuteronomy chapter 6 opens with an incredibly important prayer that Moses taught the Israelites. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5, ESV). Moses had been leading the nation in the wilderness for 40 years by this point. He’d seen the burning bush, then God sent him to the Israelite elders to declare, “The great I Am is here. God is going to move mightily, and your 400 years of captivity and slavery is...

“‘Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth’” (Matthew 6:19). The believer is to use his possessions unselfishly. Some years ago I happened to have contact with two quite wealthy men during the same week. One was a former professor at a major university who through a series of investments made possibly a hundred million dollars. In the process, however, he lost his family, his happiness, and his peace of mind and had aged far beyond his years. The other man, a pastor, also made some investments and acquired great wealth but was not preoccupied with his investments. Because...

We are a democratic republic. Have been since 1789. What should be more important — the freedom to put forward your point of view or someone deciding if that opinion is true or not? That is the crossroads where we find ourselves today. For anyone who claims to be a conservative, this should not be a tough choice. Any way you slice it, freedom beats the truth police every time. To be sure, it would be great if what we absorbed from the multitude of available platforms — mainstream media, avowed opinionated media, social media, etc. — were able to...

Polling aggregator FiveThirtyEight has been updating the president’s popularity rating based on regular polling. Mr Biden has seen his approval rating stay lower than that of former president Barack Obama, and well below John F Kennedy and Jimmy Carter at the same point in their terms. And Americans are concerned about a range of factors, with the coronavirus pandemic, economy and vaccination rates key elements in their confidence in the president. The USA has seen the biggest jump in inflation in more than a decade, with rates at 5.4 percent over a year. There has also been a shortage of...

Scientists from Germany and Belgium have recently described the immunogenicity of a plant-based virus-like particle vaccine against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The vaccine induces robust antibody and T cell responses for at least 6 months. Moreover, the vaccine demonstrates potent neutralizing efficacy against the B.1.1.7, B.1.351, and P1 variants of SARS-CoV-2. The study is currently available on the medRxiv* preprint server. ...In the current study, the scientists have described the robustness and durability of immune responses induced by an AS03-adjuvanted, plant-based virus-like particle vaccine containing full-length spike protein of wildtype SARS-CoV-2 as an immunogen.... ... the magnitude...

The outcry has begun to impeach Joe Biden. He should be. Dan Bongino is noteworthy in making the call. And not for “light and transient causes,” to borrow from the Declaration of Independence. Not to stage show trials, like Pelosi, Schumer, and other Democrats did to Donald Trump. If the United States had a recall referendum provision – as otherwise dysfunctional California does -- canvassers would secure signatures to hold a Biden recall vote in record time, no doubt. In just about seven months in office, Biden is surpassing what it took James Buchanan and Jimmy Carter – two of...

California’s besieged governor, Gavin Newsom, went on a whiny self-pitying recall rage rant during an interview by the Sacramento Bee editorial board. The contrast in attitude to Larry Elder’s appearance before the same group link below) was startling. It is obvious that the horrid prospect of being tossed out of office via recall is getting under his skin which accounts for his over-the-top bitterness.

Researchers have identified two sugar-binding proteins that impede the viral entry of circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants. The team, spearheaded by researchers at IMBA—Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences—may have found the "Achilles' heel" of the virus, with potential for pan-variant therapeutic interventions. The findings are now published in the EMBO Journal. ...The importance of the S protein for the survival and spread of the virus dictates the presence of a camouflage mechanism. Hence, the virus uses so-called glycosylation as a cloaking mechanism to form a sugar coat at specific sites of the Spike protein in order to...

Never Trump Bible Teacher Beth Moore ripped into unvaccinated Christians in a series of unhinged tweets on Tuesday. “For all our Jesus-talk, where on the ever loving earth is our Jesus-walk,” Mrs. Moore asked. “If you are not a Christian, I’m not talking to you. But if you are, Jesus wasn’t playing when he called us to a whole different ethic from the world.” Mrs. Moore developed a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome over the past four years and most recently earned accolades from leftists when she left the Southern Baptist Convention. “We’re not loud mouth boasters,” she screamed...

(Reuters) - Dire warnings about climate change are a call to action for investors who put their money into helping the environment. But the news also heightens a debate about how to make these strategies effective, financial executives said. A U.N climate report on Monday found that global warming is dangerously close to spiraling out of control. Even the most severe carbon emission cuts are unlikely to prevent global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial temperatures by 2040, a level that many scientists believe must be achieved to avert catastrophic climate change. Green investing has attracted a flood of...

In this month's edition of "let's kill the Constitution," we have the CDC's eviction moratorium as the next demonstration that no one in our government feels compelled to comply with the Constitution anymore. In Alabama Association of Realtors v. Department of Health and Human Services, the Supreme Court upheld the CDC eviction moratorium and did so in a manner that vastly expanded the Court's power and authority. The moratorium required that property-owners allow others to squat on their property, without compensation, for over a year. It was clearly a violation of constitutionally protected property rights. It restricted what property-owners could...

@kgosztola The first hearing before the UK High Court of Justice in the US government's appeal in WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's extradition case will start shortly. I'm remotely observing. Thread for updates on the "preliminary" appeal hearing. This Assange appeal hearing is not the main appeal hearing. That will come later. Today's hearing is on the two grounds for appeal that the High Court of Justice declined to grant the US government. Prosecutors will try to persuade the High Court they were wrong. This hearing for the US will be focused on discrediting Professor Michael Kopelman, an experienced neuropsychiatrist who...

The Biden administration is reportedly preparing for a worst-case scenario that would see the resurgent Taliban seize Afghanistan’s capital city—Kabul—within just 30 days. The ferocity of the Taliban’s nationwide offensive in recent weeks has shocked U.S. and Afghan officials, with the group taking control of eight of the 34 provincial capitals within the past week. Initially, U.S. intelligence assessed that Kabul could fall within six to 12 months of a U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, but that has reportedly been scaled back dramatically. According to The Washington Post, U.S. military officials now fear that Kabul could fall within 90 days—and some...

The Holy Scriptures are one of the two great foundations of the faith and here is what our church holds and teaches concerning it. The word of God is not contained in the Bible alone, it is to be found in tradition as well. The Sacred Scriptures are the written word of God who is the author of the Old and New Testaments containing nothing but perfect truth in faith and morals. But God’s word is not contained only in them, there is an unwritten word of God also, which we call apostolic tradition. We receive the one and other...

A man charged in assisting the chemical spraying of the Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick on Jan. 6 had been ordered released from jail pending trial, with a trio of appeals court judges ruling the district court "clearly erred" in keeping him jailed. George Tanios of West Virginia was accused of coordinating with Julian Khater of Pennsylvania, who sprayed three officers, including Sicknick, with a chemical spray during the storming of the Capitol grounds. Tanios did not spray any officers and has not been accused of doing so, but he has been held since March by a magistrate judge and...

GHP Management Corp. and several other companies owned by developer Geoffrey Palmer are suing the City of Los Angeles for $100 million over its eviction moratorium, saying the policy has resulted in massive losses to the firm. The suit further alleges that the plaintiffs cannot find help from banks, who will not refinance mortgages on properties that fall under the city’s eviction moratorium. The Biden administration and Democrats in state and local governments have cast such moratoria as measures to protect the poor, but they could hurt the poor in the long run by making it less likely that developers...

U.S. Customs and Border Protection confirmed on Tuesday another Border Patrol agent was shot at by someone on the Mexican side of the border while they were patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border in the El Paso Sector. While the agent or their vehicle were not hit, this marks the second time in less than a week an agent came under fire in El Paso... ...In July, cartels in Juarez, Mexico, the border town south of El Paso, put up banners facing the United States warning U.S. law enforcement to stop messing with their operations because "bullets also can cross the river...

The day after an attack on a prayer event in Portland, Oregon, a big crowd of Christians gathered in the same location to sing and worship God. Sean Feucht, a volunteer worship leader at Bethel Church, led the gathering, CBN News reported Monday.... Feucht on Monday shared a portion of the video showing the initial incident but included footage of the large crowd of Christians gathered to worship... Ngô reported that Antifa members were watching the event but did not not attempt to confront the group because they were outnumbered... ..' but the antifa are following some of the Christian...

**SNIP** The resignation could be an attempt to stave off impeachment by the state Assembly, which vowed to move forward quickly after James' report. But it's unclear if the assembly will now drop its impeachment plans, which would allow Cuomo to run for office again if he chooses. A growing number of Democrats had called for Cuomo to be convicted and barred from running again. Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou, a sexual assault survivor, said the chamber should still move forward with impeachment. Some political observers believe that Cuomo is trying to keep his hopes for a fourth term alive by stepping...