Free Republic

Phoenix – Former Congressman and Republican gubernatorial candidate Matt Salmon today announced the formation of his Economy and Workforce Coalition. This group of leaders across Arizona form the foundation of a coalition that will advise the campaign’s policy agenda on issues related to the education pipeline, workforce preparedness, and economic development. “I’m proud to welcome these forward-thinking leaders as the founding members of my Economy and Workforce Coalition. These men and women are the best and brightest when it comes to strengthening our state’s workforce and creating policies that form the foundation for our economic success for generations to come....

The Honorable Lloyd J. Austin III Secretary of Defense U.S. Department of Defense Washington, DC 20318-9999 Dear Secretary Austin, I write today to express my grave concerns about this administration's imposition of COVID vaccine mandates on the uniformed and civilian workforces, at the expense of readiness and morale. This haphazardly implemented and politically motivated vaccine mandate must be immediately suspended or risk irrevocable damage to our national security reminiscent of sequestration. At a time when our adversaries continue to increase their quantitative and qualitative advantage against our forces, we should seek to ensure that no policy, even unintentionally, hinders military...

A 60-day nationwide state of emergency has come into force in Ecuador. The measure was announced by President Guillermo Lasso on Monday evening in response to a wave of violent crime. Guillermo Lasso said police and the armed forces were being mobilised and their presence would be felt "with force" in the streets. Official figures suggest the number of murders in the first eight months of this year are double those in the same period last year. Speaking in a televised address, President Lasso said that under the emergency measures, the armed forces and police would carry out "arms checks,...

There’s a long-standing tradition among conservative pols and gabbers to compare every Democratic president to Jimmy Carter. It’s hardly surprising: Carter was the first and last sitting Democratic president since the 19th century to lose a general election. His presidency, moreover, led to a sort of Republican golden age with the landslide election (and 49-state reelection) of Ronald Reagan and the first Republican-controlled Senate since the early 1950s. It was natural for many pundits to compare the southern governor Bill Clinton and the foreign-policy novice Barack Obama to the 39th president, and Republicans, of course, loved to point to signs...

The CARES Act has created a moral dilemma for those Americans who value freedom. The pandemic has cost them their jobs, their savings, their businesses. And they blame a significant part of this loss on the government. But because they oppose government handouts, they worry that accepting CARES money would be a breach of integrity. At the Ayn Rand Institute, we are dedicated to philosophic principle. And because we are, we will take any relief money offered us. We will take it unapologetically, because the principle here is: justice. To see why, focus on a fact that everyone seems determined...

In an exclusive interview, Law Enforcement Today learned that L.A. County is mandating that employees register their vaccination status through Fulgent Genetics, an international technology company with ties to China, with a required consent to release their personal and genetic information to foreign nations. https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1449327351628709888/PxC4fEyK?format=jpg&name=small Hilda Solis, chairwoman of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, issued an executive order on Aug. 4 requiring the county’s 110,000 employees to provide proof of vaccination against COVID-19 . First responders, including the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department are being required to upload their medical records and personal information into a Fulgent app...

FBI agents are at the home of Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska, the agency confirmed Tuesday. The agents are conducting “court-authorized law enforcement activity” at Deripaska’s home in Washington, D.C., an FBI spokeswoman told CNBC. The spokeswoman did not provide additional details about the FBI presence. Multiple agents were seen restricting access to the property, NBC News reported.

If you’re in the market for a new home appliance and you want that purchase to be as environmentally friendly as possible, you might look for options that feature a label from Energy Star, a symbol backed by the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy specifically to promote energy-efficient products. Each year, Energy Star puts out a list of the Most Efficient appliances, those that the program says “save you money and protect the environment.” The list also features the “most efficient, pollution-reducing products.” Until now, that list might have included gas-powered appliances such as gas dryers, furnaces, and...

The U.S. Supreme Court has delivered two major rulings that are favorable to police officers. The nation’s highest court overruled two decisions and handed law enforcement big wins in a pair of cases over qualified immunity. Republicans overwhelmingly support qualified immunity, arguing that if it was taken away officers would be subject to lawsuits for nearly every difficult call they are faced with on the job. This would make it nearly impossible to recruit or retain good officers, they say. The justices reversed two federal appeals courts that allowed excessive force lawsuits to proceed against officers in separate cases in...

The defense attorney who represented George Zimmerman, who was acquitted in the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin, was accused this week of witness tampering in a juvenile rape case. Osceola County Sheriff Marcos López in a news conference said Hal Uhrig was arrested on Monday and faces charges including solicitation to commit perjury and witness tampering, according to ABC News. Uhrig was representing a man accused of raping a 9-year-old and allegedly coordinated a meeting between his client and the victim and her father.

The former Pennsylvania health secretary will be the sixth four-star admiral in the history of the health corps. A senior Biden health appointee who made history when she became the nation’s highest-ranking openly transgender official is also set to become its first openly transgender four-star officer, the administration announced on Tuesday. U.S. coronavirus cases tracker and map Rachel Levine, the U.S. assistant secretary for health, will be sworn in Tuesday as an admiral of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, a 6,000-person force that responds to health crises on behalf of the federal government, including administering coronavirus vaccines and...

A Rhode Island woman’s search for her relative’s displaced gravesite led to the discovery of nearly 1,000 people buried beneath a local highway and an unmarked mass grave containing hundreds of bodies. Both discoveries were connected to state institution cemeteries in Cranston, where more than 5,000 of Rhode Island’s poor, sick or mentally ill residents were buried between 1875 and 1953. ...worried her relative was buried beneath the state highway According to the R.I. Department of Transportation, tens of thousands of people drive on Route 37 every day. Malcolm said the plaque indicating where the mass grave is located was...

[Catholic Caucus] Cardinals Respond to Traditiones Custodes by Consecrating Priests in Immemorial Mass of All Ages Cardinal Müller ordained a monk from Le Barroux as a priest in the traditional rite.[katholisches] Two well-known cardinals have offered the priestly ordination in the Immemorial Mass of All Ages during these months. Cardinal George Pell consecrated two Benedictines from Nursia and Cardinal Gerhard Müller one Benedictine from Le Barroux. Both consecrations are a signal to want to defend the Rite and the communities associated with it against the motu proprio Traditionis Custodes. A new website also provides up-to-date information on the effects...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr_F_XQrukM

In the Star Trek Voyager series, the Jem'Hadar were an invincible military force which was genetically engineered to be dependent upon a special nutritional supplement. What if Bill Gates' confident assertion that he's not going to get Covid is based on his having access to a true, complete vaccine against Covid, along with other elites, which all the rest of the population only receives in a partial form that must be renewed every three months?

The passengers who did nothing while a homeless man raped a woman on a commuter train outside Philadelphia may have also recorded the vile attack on their cellphones instead of calling for help, authorities said. Surveillance footage showed Fiston Ngoy, 35, who has been charged with rape in Wednesday’s sickening attack aboard a Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority train, spent nearly 45 minutes harassing the woman and touched her breast at one point, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by the Philadelphia Inquirer. Police said the rape lasted about six minutes as other passengers looked on while holding their cellphones, but...

Over the last months, we have heard multiple cruise line executives mention the incredible popularity the companies are experiencing on bookings. It looks like those numbers are confirmed by a new survey conducted by U.S. News & World Report, so much so that the popularity of cruising is now surpassing pre-pandemic levels. It’s not just veteran cruisers that have shown their interest in going back to sea as soon as possible. According to the survey, many people who have never cruised before expressed interest in taking their first-ever cruise. In recent months the cruise industry has taken a leading role...

[Catholic Caucus] Athanasius Schneider Pontifical High Mass in Detroit There's no real theme to today's post, just some random smattering of thoughts I put together after returning from Detroit:Today the great Bishop Athanasius Schneider said Mass in Detroit as part of the Call to Holiness event put on by Assumption Grotto. If the name Assumption Grotto sounds familiar, this is the parish of traditional priest Fr. Eduard Perrone of the Archdiocese of Detroit. Some years ago Fr. Perrone was accused of sex abuse and suspended from ministry. Fr. Perrone fought back, however, and was successfully able to demonstrate that...

Apple is complying with the regime in China to remove Quran and Bible apps from its App Store there – the latest effort to suppress religious activity in the communist country. Apple Censorship reported in a tweet that the apps, Quran Majeed and Bible App by Olive Tree, had been taken down. Chinese officials claim the apps violate laws that prohibit the use of religious text or materials. A spokesperson from Olive Tree told the Washington Examiner, “We are currently reviewing the requirements to obtain the necessary permit with the hope that we can restore our app to China’s App...

On CNN's Don Lemon Tonight Monday, the host wanted to reflect on the life and career of Gen. Colin Powell, who died earlier in the day at 84. But first, Lemon took issue with multiple Fox News anchors who began raising questions about vaccines “literally minutes” after the news of Powell’s death broke. “Shame on them,” Lemon said. “I just found it to be disgusting. I cannot believe it happened. Every day I'm more surprised when that happens.” Lemon played examples of anchors on Fox News quickly turning the news of Powell’s passing into a discussion about vaccines and also...