Free Republic

Virtual learning could be a reality again for some college students in the state. Connecticut College in New London is dealing with a COVID outbreak and revised how it is operating. As of Thursday afternoon, Connecticut College reported 107 students and one staff member who tested positive for COVID-19. ... “We are aware that the recent cases are connected through friend groups. And some are also linked by two events; at a local bar and a social gathering," said Mary Day, of the Ledge Light Health District. Many students said they hoped remote learning was in the past. However, it’s...

Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said Thursday that those in the military who decline the COVID vaccination “will be given an opportunity to talk to both medical providers as well as their own chain of command so that they can fully understand the decision that they are making,” but he stopped short of saying that they won’t be given a dishonorable discharge. “I had a COVID question. The House is considering some legislation right now that would prohibit dishonorable discharge for any troop who declines a COVID vaccine. I'm not going to ask you to comment on the legislation, but...

President Joe Biden on Thursday is announcing sweeping new federal vaccine requirements affecting as many as 100 million Americans in an all-out effort to increase COVID-19 vaccinations and curb the surging delta variant that is killing thousands each week and jeopardizing the nation’s economic recovery. The expansive rules mandate that all employers with more than 100 workers require them to be vaccinated or test for the virus weekly, affecting about 80 million Americans.

Video at link.

CBS is launching a reality TV show called "The Activist," in which contestants will compete in ways "to bring meaningful change" to various health, education and environmental causes. Six competitors will go head-to-head in "missions, media stunts, digital campaigns and community events aimed at garnering the attention of the world’s most powerful decision-makers, demanding action, now," CBS announced Thursday. R&B pop star Usher is poised to host the five-episode series when it premieres on Oct. 22, and "Dancing With the Stars" alum Julianne Hough and actor Priyanka Chopra Jonas will serve as co-hosts.

Former President Barack Obama’s once-longtime doctor said the medical records Joe Biden’s campaign disclosed are concerning and incomplete. “He’s not a healthy guy,” Dr. David Scheiner, who was Obama's personal physician for 22 years before he became president, concluded after reading the records . “He’s not in bad shape for his age, but I wouldn't say he’s in outstanding health. Could I guarantee he won't have issues for the next four years? He has a lot of issues that are just sort of sitting there.” A three-page letter from Biden’s physician concluded the former vice president is a “healthy, vigorous,...

ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida's new "anti-riot" law, championed by Florida lawmakers as a way to prevent violent protests, violates First Amendment rights. That's according to a federal judge, who blocked HB 1 Thursday. Chief Federal District Judge Mark Walker said the groups who brought the lawsuit demonstrated that the law chilled protest activities since it was enacted, because "the challenged law's confusing definition of 'riot' fails to give their members sufficient notice of what is prohibited or when they could be subject to arrest, such that their members do not wish to participate in future protests or have ceased organizing...

PENSACOLA, Fla. -- The death of 15-year-old Victoria Ramirez raises questions about COVID safety in schools. There is no way to tell whether Victoria Ramirez contracted the virus at Booker T. Washington High School. Channel 3 spoke to parents in front of Booker T. Washington High School Wednesday afternoon seen picking up their children. On their minds was the death of 15-year-old student Victoria Ramirez who died from COVID-19. One parent told us that she feels the school is overpopulated. As of Wednesday, 388 students in the last 14 days have tested positive in Escambia County schools. 986 students are...

The Justice Department is suing Texas over the state's new controversial restrictions on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced on Thursday. Garland called the Texas law "clearly unconstitutional," and said it included an "unprecedented scheme" to insulate the state of Texas from responsibility for the law. … "The United States has the authority and responsibility to ensure that Texas cannot evade its obligations under the Constitution and deprive individuals of their constitutional rights by adopting a statutory scheme designed specifically to evade traditional mechanisms of federal judicial review," the lawsuit reads. "The federal government therefore...

Crossed a Line. What is going on here? I support the right of anyone to get vaccinated or not. I support free speech and free thought. However... Though I was not looking, in less than one day I have seen THREE posts by non-noob Freepers who are fully supporting Orwellian Australian tactics, and/or gleefully wishing death on those Freepers who have chosen to wait on the vaccine or chosen therapeutics, etc. If this was twitter, I would not be so distressed and surprised. But this is Free Republic where the main page Front center headline is: Welcome to Free Republic!...

President Joe Biden will announce sweeping new vaccine mandates designed to ramp up pressure on the unvaccinated, putting in place additional mandates for federal workers, large employers, and health care providers and calling for the private sector to do the same. Biden expected to ask the Department of Labor to put out a rule requiring any employer with more than 100 employees have a vaccine requirement or testing requirement in place

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Kentucky National Guard members are headed to Louisville to help hospitals trying to deal with a surge of COVID-19 patients. ... "We'll be providing non-clinical logistics and administrative support so that staff can focus more on patient care," said Brig. Gen. Bryan Howay of the Kentucky National Guard. "Our mission is geared toward assisting these hospitals through this current surge." Between 10-30 guardsmen will be added to each hospital in support.

An official federal government tally missed nearly 16,000 COVID-19 nursing home deaths that occurred during the early months of the pandemic, according to new research published Thursday. Those missing numbers account for 14 percent of all nursing home deaths in 2020, the study found. Across the 20 states with available data, the study, led by Harvard researcher Karen Shen and published in the JAMA Network Open, found that 44 percent of all COVID-19 cases and 40 percent of COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes counted by state health departments went unreported in the federal data.

Sen. Rand Paul has called for Dr. Anthony Fauci to be fired and even jailed, claiming he broke the law by lying to Congress. The Kentucky Republican said leaked documents that emerged on Tuesday reveal that the National Institutes of Health funded coronavirus research in Wuhan, China. Fauci claimed on May 11 the NIH hadn't funded coronavirus research at the lab. Paul said Fauci's lying is a felony punishable by five years in jail and told Fox News he has referred Fauci's lies to the Department of Justice. "It’s a felony punishable by five years in jail. We’ve referred it...

FIRST ON FOX: Members of the National Archives' task force on racism have recommended removing the "charters of freedom" description for America’s founding documents, such as the Constitution, arguing that it did not initially grant freedom for all individuals. Approximately 800 National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) employees from across the country attended a town hall meeting of the Archives’ Task Force on Racism on May 11, according to FOIA documents obtained by America Rising and shared with Fox News. During the presentation, a museum subgroup recommended that NARA "retire" the term "charters of freedom" as descriptors for the U.S....

A major study has found that convalescent plasma does not reduce the risk of intubation or death for COVID-19 patients. However, the study also revealed that the antibody profile in the blood of people who have had the virus is extremely variable and this may modify the response to the treatment. "It has been thought that the blood plasma of COVID-19 survivors would help those seriously ill from the virus but, unfortunately, it does not," said Donald Arnold, co-principal investigator of the study, hematologist and professor of medicine at McMaster University. "We are cautioning against using convalescent plasma to treat...

George, Nancy, and Alex

A large study at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden has found a link between ADHD and dementia across generations. The study, published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, shows that parents and grandparents of individuals with ADHD were at higher risk of dementia than those with children and grandchildren without ADHD. “The findings suggest that there are common genetic and/or environmental contributions to the association between ADHD and dementia. Now we need further studies to understand the underlying mechanisms,” says the study’s first author Le Zhang, PhD student at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at...

Suzy Kies, the co-chair of the Indigenous peoples' commission of the Liberal Party, has resigned from the position after her claim to Indigenous ancestry was called into question. The story came following controversy over a book-burning project at a francophone Ontario school board in which Kies was involved. The event, which was carried out by the Conseil scolair e catholique Providence in 2019, has resurfaced during the election campaign and has attracted condemnation by federal leaders. The event was meant to promote reconciliation by burning and disposing of books the school board deemed to contain outdated and inappropriate depictions of...

Most people who develop lung cancer have a history of smoking. However, in up to a quarter of all cases, the patient has never lit up in their life. A large new study on these so-called never smokers has now identified three unique subtypes of lung cancer that seem to arise with no apparent environmental trigger – such as smoke, asbestos, or air pollution. "What we're seeing is that there are different subtypes of lung cancer in never smokers that have distinct molecular characteristics and evolutionary processes," explains epidemiologist Maria Teresa Landi from the United States' National Institute of Health....