Free Republic

A new preprint study that raises concerns about the mRNA vaccines' effectiveness against Delta — particularly Pfizer's — has already grabbed the attention of top Biden administration officials. What they're saying: The study found the Pfizer vaccine was only 42% effective against infection in July, when the Delta variant was dominant. "If that's not a wakeup call, I don't know what is," a senior Biden official told Axios. Driving the news: The study, conducted by nference and the Mayo Clinic, compared the effectiveness of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines in the Mayo Clinic Health System over time from January to...

The mother of two brothers charged in the murder of a Chicago police officer has been arrested after scuffling with police and guards, kicking one of them, while trying to visit her son in the hospital, police said. Evalena Flores was arrested at Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn just before 8:30 a.m. Tuesday after she ran down a hall and confronted Chicago police officers and security guards posted outside the room of Emonte Morgan, Oak Lawn police said. Flores tried to push by them, demanding to see her son, and kicked one of the guards in the groin, police...

August 4, Colorado Republican Party chair Kristi Burton Brown told 75 of the party faithful that, “We live at a very pivotal point in time right now in Colorado,” and that, “2022 presents a perfect storm of opportunities for us to take back some control in this state if we don’t give up.” Democrats presently control both chambers of the state legislature and hold every statewide elective office except for one seat on the CU Board of Regents. She pointed to the ongoing process of redistricting of the state’s congressional and legislative districts by the two 12-member independent redistricting commissions,...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. budget deficit hit $2.54 trillion for the first 10 months of this budget year, fed by spending to support the country after the pandemic-induced recession. The figures keep the deficit on track to be second largest annual shortfall in U.S. history, behind only the most recent fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. Still, the Treasury Department reported Wednesday that the deficit through July is 9.5% lower than the same period a year ago. That reflected improving tax collections as the economy recovers, and the winding down of many of the emergency support programs enacted after...

In an interview with Estonia’s public broadcaster, Soomere advanced his vision for Estonia’s foreign policy, in which he praised Finland’s approach to its relations with Russia – which is commonly referred to as “Finlandization.” Finlandization is a policy whereby smaller nations submissively acquiesce to the dominance of larger and more aggressive neighbours. During the interview, Soomere warned that “it is essential to avoid demonizing our neighbor and partner” without naming the government of Vladimir Putin by name. Soomere continued by suggesting that “maybe I’m an idealist, but I think that the director of KAPO [Estonian Internal Security Service] has to...

Like COVID-19, Streptococcus pneumoniae spreads in droplets when we cough or sneeze. It is responsible for deadly pneumonia, meningitis, sepsis or blood poisoning, as well as inner ear infections that commonly cause deafness in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, S. pneumoniae was the leading cause of death by pneumonia globally. It accounted for more deaths than all other causes of pneumonia combined in 2016. This is despite the widespread use of antibacterial agents, vaccines and antibiotics, to protect against S. pneumoniae infections. Our current vaccines provide limited protection, working against only a fraction of all...

On Tuesday, the Senate voted to approve a historic $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill that—if signed into law—will have an effect on American transportation for decades to come. And thanks to section 24220 on page 1066 of the proposed bill, that transportation includes drunk driving. The stats on alcohol-impaired driving speak for themselves: Alcohol-impaired driving fatalities represent approximately 1⁄3 of all highway fatalities in the United States each year. In 2019, there were 10,142 alcohol-impaired driving fatalities in the United States involving drivers with a blood alcohol concentration level of 0.08 or higher, and 68 percent of the crashes that...

BREAKING: Mesa County forensic images show Dominion DELETED databases and logs after the election. I'm watching live while the crowd is digging through the forensic images turned over by the Mesa County Clerk. This shows the settings, configs, logs, databases, of the tabulation machines from before, during, and after the 2020 election. They just discovered in real time that the machines had Microsoft SQL server installed which contained databases for elections going back to 2019, and then on May 25 this year, ALL of those databases were deleted by someone from Dominion. This is another smoking gun.

Olympic gold medalist swimmer Katie Ledecky will be leaving Tokyo with two gold medals and two silvers, and reportedly a large tax bill. The swimmer has won a total of 10 Olympic medals since London 2012, making her the most decorated female swimmer in Olympic history and helping her get lucrative endorsement deals totaling more than $1 million, according to Bloomberg. While all Olympic medalists win money along with their hardware -- $37,500 for gold, $22,500 for silver and $15,000 for bronze – the Internal Revenue Service exempts athletes making less than $1 million in income from paying taxes on...

The CDC on Wednesday urged all pregnant or breastfeeding women to get vaccinated against Covid-19.In an effort to scare pregnant women, the CDC said data suggest expecting mothers face an “increased risk of severe illness from Covid-19.”“CDC recommends that pregnant people should be vaccinated against COVID-19, based on new evidence about the safety and effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines,” the CDC said. “COVID-19 vaccination is recommended for all people 12 years and older, including people who are pregnant, breastfeeding, or trying to get pregnant now or might become pregnant in the future.”The CDC said there is no evidence that the...

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized 2.8 tons of methamphetamine and fentanyl at a commercial border crossing in California. Officers found the deadly drugs in a shipment of plastic household items. CBP officers assigned to the Otay Mesa Commercial Facility on August 5 observed a tractor-trailer hauling a load of plastic household items approaching from Mexico. Following an initial interview, a CBP officer referred the driver, a Mexican national, to a secondary inspection station, according to information obtained from CBP officials this week. Additional officers carried out non-intrusive inspections utilizing an x-ray scan and found several anomalies inside the...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) on Wednesday endorsed Florida state Rep. Anthony Sabatini (R) in Florida’s 7th Congressional District race. “I am officially announcing my endorsement for Anthony Sabatini for Congress,” Paul wrote in a press release. “The man is a true patriot who loves our country and will be one of my greatest allies when he is elected to Congress.” “Anthony Sabatini is a bold leader in the state of Florida who isn’t afraid to fight for an America-First agenda, the Constitution, and liberty,” Paul continued, further outlining Sabatini’s accomplishments: Led the fight in Florida to back up my efforts...

Moments ago Mary from the National Republican Senate Committee (NRSC) just called and asked for a donation to help Senate Republicans help fight the Democrats and regain the majority. I could not believe my ears. I literally just finished posting here on FreeRepublic about the Republican Senators who handed Biden a bipartisan victory and thrust the final bankruptcy dagger into America with the infrastructure bill. I politely, but firmly, told Mary I was Trump supporter and it was an insult to receive this call immediately after Senate Republicans just finished collaborating with Democrats on passing the infrastructure bill. It was...

Biometrics in future of vaccine passports Any kind of document, especially a passport, needs to be built on a foundation that allows it to operate across borders and jurisdictions. Biometrics could be the easiest and fastest path to get started. It can add convenience and security, while identifying a person’s vaccination status easily. Modern biometric solutions have many different modalities at their disposal, from fingerprints and face to voice and iris recognition. The biometric modalities most likely to be used for vaccine passports, however, are anticipated to be face or voice recognition, as these can easily be performed on an...

It seems the Chicago police department's officers have more than one reason to turn their backs on Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the wokester freaks running that crime-plagued city. This Chicago Sun-Times story here is beyond appalling: Chicago police officers upset with Mayor Lori Lightfoot over her reform policies are also directing their anger at the Chicago Police Department's second-in-command. First Deputy Police Supt. Eric Carter infuriated officers gathered Saturday night at the Cook County medical examiner's office to give their slain colleague, Ella French, a final send-off. Ignoring a sacred ritual, Carter impatiently declared: "We don't have 20 minutes for...

A powerful video is going viral this week showing a fifth grade teacher from Virginia break down in tears resigning right on the spot, citing discrimination, and denouncing the school board’s “highly politicized agendas.” Teacher Resigns Over Politicized Agenda Laura Morris explained to the school board why the ‘equity trainings’ and political dogma gave her no choice but to resign. She also spoke out against teachers being asked to report on their colleagues if they criticized the teaching program.

* New research indicates the hard limit on human life is 150 years. * The main factor limiting our lifespan is a loss of the ability to bounce back after a setback, called "physiological resilience." * Even without major health issues, like cancer, your body will eventually run out of energy to help recover from even minor challenges. =========================================================================================== Even if you somehow manage to make it through decades of old age without a single major health issue—evading cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and so on—scientists say there's a ceiling on how long you can extend your life, throwing cold water...

Group warns in letter that lockdown laws violate fundamental rights.. Police in Switzerland have threatened to stop enforcing COVID-19 rules over fears that the measures are disproportionately undermining the fundamental rights of citizens. A group representing police officers in the Alpine country wrote a letter to the Swiss Federation of Police Officers (FSFP) warning of potential insubordination within the force over the enforcement of draconian laws. “If the measures were to conflict with the general opinion of the population, disproportionately limiting their fundamental rights, many police officers would no longer be willing to apply them,” the group wrote in the...

If inflation remains at the roughly 5 percent a year at which it is currently running and if pensioners continue to receive negligible interest returns on their savings, the purchasing power of their hard-earned savings will decline by close to 5 percent a year. Similarly, wage earners whose wages are not indexed to inflation, find that their wages are eroded year after year by inflation in much the same way as if the government had imposed a tax on their incomes. As if to underline this point, today’s inflation numbers revealed that over the last twelve months wages declined by...

After a historic year of homicides in the state of Wisconsin, state legislators are now proposing policies that are dangerous to youth, families, and our communities. In 2019 alone, there was one firearm related death every 15 hours in the state of Wisconsin 一 amounting to more than 600 deaths. To make matters worse, violent crime continued to rise in 2021. Both urban and rural communities have been impacted; 70% of the firearm-related deaths were caused by suicide. Despite the violence, Republican lawmakers are circulating legislation that aims to lower the age to conceal and carry a firearm to 18...