Free Republic

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin on Monday pushed back on several politically sensitive positions his party leaders are taking at a crucial time for President Joe Biden’s domestic agenda. The West Virginia Democrat, who holds a pivotal vote in the 50-50 Senate, indicated to CNN that he disagrees with the strategy top Democrats are pursuing in the standoff with Republicans over raising the national debt limit. Manchin said that Democrats “shouldn’t rule out anything,” including a budget process that Democratic leaders have made clear they will not employ. Speaking to reporters, Manchin also would not commit to the new timeline set...

An international panel of experts from four renowned diabetes research centers, including UT Southwestern Medical Center, has reviewed current literature and is recommending a pivotal change in treatment of Type 2 diabetes to focus on obesity first and glucose control second. The researchers state that dropping 15% or more of body weight can have a disease-modifying effect in Type 2 diabetes, an outcome that is unattainable by any other glucose-lowering intervention. The new focus would require updating current treatment guidelines and providing significant provider education, they note. The panel's recommendations are published in The Lancet and were presented at the...

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- The estate of Henrietta Lacks sued a biotechnology company on Monday, accusing it of selling cells that doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital took from the Black woman in 1951 without her knowledge or consent as part of “a racially unjust medical system." Tissue taken from the woman's tumor before she died of cervical cancer became the first human cells to be successfully cloned. Reproduced infinitely ever since, HeLa cells have become a cornerstone of modern medicine, enabling countless scientific and medical innovations, including the development of the polio vaccine, genetic mapping and even COVID-19 vaccines. Lacks’...

In a violent, decaying New York City torn by financial collapse and a surging crime wave, an underworld economy of illegal, debauchery-ridden nightclubs linked by a web of taxicabs is thriving. But there is trouble in this dark paradise. Renny, a young fashion photographer moving drugs through the taxi network for the party circuit, is forced to step up his game to a dangerous degree by his boss, Reza, the local frontman for an international crime syndicate that's looking to take over the city. Renny is soon in the cross-hairs of his boss and Detective Sixto Santiago, who is part...

Tesla CEO Elon Musk believes that electrifying personal transportation will require electricity generating capacity to double. And while ramping up output might feel daunting for anyone worried about the transition to electric vehicles, investors—and U.S. consumers turning on the lights—shouldn’t worry. “If we shift all transport to electric than electricity demand approximately doubles…this is going to create a lot of challenges with the grid,” said Musk on Wednesday at CodeCon, a conference held at the Waldorf Astoria in Beverly Hills, Calif. Now, Musk is no fool: He has built several entities worth tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars....

~The FReeper Canteen Presents~ Road Trip: Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans, LouisianaNaval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans is a base of the United States military located in Belle Chasse, unincorporated Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, United States. NAS JRB New Orleans is home to a Navy Reserve strike fighter squadron and a fleet logistics support squadron, the 159th Fighter Wing (159 FW) of the Louisiana Air National Guard, Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans, a detachment of a Marine Corps Reserve light helicopter attack squadron, as well as other US Navy & US Army activities.As home...

Hollywood crews have voted overwhelmingly in favor of waging a strike if their union cannot agree to a new contract, setting the stage for an extraordinary showdown with the major studios. The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees said 52,706 members or nearly 99% of those who cast ballots voted in favor of a strike authorization. The turnout was unusually high, with 90% of eligible union members participating in the vote, IATSE said. Union members representing some 60,000 film and TV workers have been casting their votes since Friday to authorize their leaders to call a strike if they can't...

In a new letter, the former Papal Nuncio to the United States condemned vaccine mandates for priests and called upon the faithful for assistance.ROME, Italy (LifeSiteNews) — Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has asked Catholics to support cancelled priests by taking them into their own homes. In a new letter, released Sunday, the archbishop suggested the deeply personal measure as a way to ensure that the priests are able to say Mass for the faithful and that the faithful receive their “spiritual assistance.” “The Catholic faithful [should] open their homes to priests persecuted by the tyranny of the bishops allied to...

"Let's go, Brandon!"

Hunter Biden and the Muslim Brotherhood Only a Biden could bring Communist China and the Brotherhood together. Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism. While Vice President Joe Biden was in the White House, his son Hunter was allegedly trying to cut a huge deal with a $2 million payment and a possible 5% success fee as high as $750 million. All it would take was bringing together Communist China and the Muslim Brotherhood. And who but a Biden could pull that off?

The document was approved by the Synodal Way in a 168 to 28, vote with five abstentions; sixty-nine of the Synodal Assembly members are German bishops.The “Synodal Way,” a conference consisting of German bishops, priests, religious, and laity, on Friday approved a draft document that appears to undermine Catholic doctrine on fundamental points of sexual morality, offering a defense of homosexual relationships, “self-stimulating sexuality,” contraception, and civil divorce and remarriage. The document, titled “Living in Successful Relationships – Living Love in Sexuality and Partnership,” is described by Vatican News as giving “a clear rejection to so-called conversion therapies for homosexuals”...

"We call on each state to decertify its electors where it has been shown the elections were certified prematurely and inaccurately."92 state legislators from all across America have issued a demand letter calling for a 50 state-wide 2020 election audit and decertification following the explosive Arizona audit that revealed how “our representative republic suffered a corrupted 2020 election.”After the comprehensive Arizona audit of Maricopa County was completed, Arizona Senator Wendy Rogers unveiled what she called the “new Declaration of Independence” in which 41 state legislators across America called for a 50-state wide 2020 election audit, and should those audits suggest...

In this Sunday's Angelus address, Pope Francis names a temptation and offers an exhortation to Christian communities.“May God preserve us from the mentality of the ‘nest’, that which consists of guarding oneself jealously in the small group of those who consider themselves good,” begged Pope Francis on the occasion of the Angelus pronounced from the window of the Apostolic Palace, September 26, 2021. The Argentinian pontiff has invited Catholics not to consider holding “the exclusivity of Jesus.” Before a large crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis warned Christians against “the temptation to closedness.” Commenting on an episode of...

Pfizer Scientists: ‘Your [COVID] Antibodies Are Better Than The [Pfizer] Vaccination.' #ExposePfizer

The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will hear arguments in a critical abortion case on Dec. 1. In the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a challenge to Mississippi’s law restricting most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, the court will decide the question of whether all state abortion bans pre-viability are unconstitutional. “Viability” is the court’s legal standard from 1973, regarded as the point at which an unborn child can survive outside the womb. The court on Monday announced the date of oral arguments in the Dobbs case, scheduled for Dec. 1. Both the state of...

The world's top commodity trading houses are being told by brokers and exchanges to deposit hundreds of millions of dollars in extra funds to cover their exposure to soaring gas prices, seven sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. Glencore, Gunvor, Trafigura and Vitol are among the commodity merchants facing what are known as margin calls on their financial positions in natural gas markets, the sources said. The calls are forcing the traders to tie up more capital. Some, particularly smaller firms, are having to increase borrowing, leaving them with less cash to trade with and potentially hurting...

The U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland is directing the FBI to investigate violent threats against school officials and teachers for backlash to the overtly racist Critical Race Theory being taught in public schools across the nation.On Monday, the attorney general released a memo: “Justice Department Addresses Violent Threats Against School Officials and Teachers.” It provided details on the DOJ’s operations.“Citing an increase in harassment, intimidation and threats of violence against school board members, teachers and workers in our nation’s public schools, today Attorney General Merrick B. Garland directed the FBI and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices to meet in the next 30...

During this time of rampant COVID-19 infection, there are a lot of opinions and commentaries hitting the journals regarding treatment for patients. The problem is that the experimental studies that need to be done to determine effective treatments are currently underway and we will have to wait weeks or months for the results. In the intervening period, we are left with expert opinions about how to move forward. This is especially concerning for those with comorbid conditions that put them at greater risk of contracting COVID-19 or who may experience a more severe disease if they become infected. A recent...

You can have a holly, jolly Christmas with your relatives after all, Dr. Anthony Fauci now says. President Biden’s chief medical adviser offered a second opinion Monday of his own humbug diagnosis after saying a day earlier it was “too soon” to tell whether Americans should gather with their loved ones for the holidays. “I will be spending Christmas with my family,” Fauci told CNN. “I encourage people, particularly the vaccinated people who are protected, to have a good, normal Christmas with your family.” On Sunday, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) chief was asked by CBS...

The news that Casey DeSantis, the wife of Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, had been diagnosed with breast cancer was met by an outpouring of sympathy from Democrats and Republicans alike — but was also greeted with sick jubilation and mockery from the darker corners of social media. Democratic Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, who is running to unseat DeSantis in next year’s gubernatorial election, tweeted: “Our hearts are with Florida’s First Lady Casey DeSantis and her family. We are all praying for you!” After repeating the message in Spanish, Fried fired off a preemptive warning to would-be trolls.