Free Republic

Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said Friday that he thinks the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States could be over by January, transitioning to a lower-level “endemic” presence. “I think the bottom line though is that these mandates that are going to be put in place by Jan. 4 really are coming on the tail end of this pandemic,” Gottlieb said on CNBC, referring to President Biden’s deadline for a vaccine or test mandate for businesses with at least 100 employees. “By Jan. 4 this pandemic may well be over at least as it relates to the...

As the Delta variant became the dominant strain of coronavirus across the United States, all three COVID-19 vaccines available to Americans lost some of their protective power, with vaccine efficacy among a large group of veterans dropping between 35% and 85%, according to a new study. Researchers who scoured the records of nearly 800,000 U.S. veterans found that in early March, just as the Delta variant was gaining a toehold across American communities, the three vaccines were roughly equal in their ability to prevent infections. But over the next six months, that changed dramatically. By the end of September, Moderna’s...

Derek Carr said Henry Ruggs III needs to be loved right now and needs to know he has people in his corner. "And if no one else will do it, I'll do it," the Las Vegas quarterback said Wednesday. Raiders interim coach Rich Bisaccia said it's important to keep the focus on the fact 23-year-old Tina O. Tintor was killed Tuesday morning in a fiery crash caused by Ruggs, the 22-year-old receiver who was cut by the team Tuesday night. "We want to express our sincere condolences to the victim's family," Bisaccia said from a prepared statement. "We're deeply saddened...

An approximately 300 million-year-old fossil skeleton discovered at Canyonlands National Park in Utah could be the first of its kind, researchers say. © Adam Marsh/National Park Service The fossil discovery at Canyonlands National Park was a rare intact skeleton. The exact species and classification have yet to be determined, but the fossil is a tetrapod -- meaning animal with four legs -- and could be an early ancestor of either reptiles or mammals. Paleontologists have determined the fossil could be anywhere from 295 million to 305 million years old, between the Pennsylvanian and the Permian geologic time periods.

Thousands of intelligence officers could soon face dismissal for failing to comply with the U.S. government’s vaccine mandate, leading some Republican lawmakers to raise concerns about removing employees from agencies critical to national security. Several intelligence agencies had at least 20% of their workforce unvaccinated as of late October, said U.S. Rep. Chris Stewart, a Utah Republican who is a member of the House Intelligence Committee. CIA Director William Burns disclosed publicly last week that 97% of the agency’s officers have been vaccinated. The National Reconnaissance Office, which operates U.S. spy satellites, has more than 90% of its workforce vaccinated....

@ColumbiaBugle Powerful Story From January 6th Political Prisoner Retired Navy Lieutenant Commander Thomas Caldwell About His Time In Solitary Confinement "It was hell." "In the middle of the night or the middle of the day you could hear screams." Clip...

Colin Powell, the retired four-star general who served as the nation’s first black secretary of state and devoted decades of his life to public service, is being laid to rest Friday during a private funeral at the Washington National Cathedral. The service began at noon local time and is hosting President Biden and first lady Jill Biden in addition to two former presidents, Barack Obama and George W. Bush, and their wives, Michelle Obama and Laura Bush. Former President Donald Trump is not expected to attend.

Left-wing actress Alyssa Milano, appearing on a podcast for People magazine, lamented giving birth because she “wasn’t in control.” She said there were too many people involved and she didn’t enjoy “the fact that lots of people had access to my vagina.” “After going through therapy after giving birth to Milo and remembering that one moment of feeling like I was being held down and had things being done to me that I didn’t want, to me, was very reminiscent of being sexually assaulted,” the 48-year-old Who’s the Boss star said.

The lucrative $50,000-per-year journalist tax break that Democrats have tucked within President Biden’s multi-trillion dollar social welfare bill is estimated to cost taxpayers more than $1.6 billion over the next decade. A new analysis of the legislation by the Joint Committee on Taxation, a special congressional panel made up of 10 senior lawmakers from both chambers of Congress, found that taxpayers would be on the hook for more than $1.6 billion if the tax credit becomes law. The credit would allow “local news” outlets to receive a quarterly tax credit, “equal to 50%” of a journalist’s wages up to a...

Rudy Giuliani, who served as Former President Trump's personal attorney, said during a deposition in mid-August that he “didn’t have the time” to look into whether reports of election fraud were credible, CNN, which obtained deposition tapes, reported Friday. Giuliani is being sued by Dominion Voting Systems after he and other defendants connected to the former president repeatedly made claims, without evidence, that the 2020 election was rigged by Dominion Voting Systems in favor of Joe Biden. “We had a report that the heads of Dominion and Smartmatic, somewhere in the mid-tweens, you know 2013, 2014, whatever, went down to...

Delaware Hillbillies

Source: Haley Nelson/Pittsburgh Post-GazettePeople are unhappy with current delays in our nation’s supply chain, but a man now sitting in a West Virginia jail could have made things a whole lot worse. Nathaniel Blayn Becker is charged in connection with three explosive devices placed aboard towboats and barges operating on the Ohio River around the Ohio-West Virginia border. Disabling even one of these vessels would have caused inevitable delays and stoppage of water traffic along the Ohio River. And the shock of such a terroristic action would have caused inevitable chaos throughout American waterways and ports. But Becker’s alleged criminal...

On Monday, CNN host Chris Cuomo brought the lowest ratings his primetime show Cuomo Prime Time, a measly fraction of that brought in by Fox News' competing show in the same time slot. Cuomo Prime Time brought in 605,000 total viewers, and just 126,000 viewers in the key age demographic of 25-54, according to data from Nielsen Media Research. In comparison, the Fox News 9pm counterpart Hannity with Sean Hannity brought in a whopping 2,694,000 viewers, with 330,000 viewers aged 25-54. Between the hours of 4 and 11 pm on Monday, Fox News shows outperformed both CNN and MSNBC in...

From increased wildfire and flooding to new requirements for equipment and training, climate change impacts all Defense Department activities. This demands new missions and alters the operational environment. A wide range of activities are addressed in the DOD Climate Adaptation Plan. Much of this is not new; the DOD has been working to address climate change for over a decade, and many projects have been undertaken during that time. A recently released Companion Document to the CAP showcases a selection of these projects. The DOD has been integrating climate information into everyday decisions, ranging from the 2014 Climate Change Adaptation...

Microsoft’s virtual conference Ignite 2021 was all about hybrid work, metaverse and the cloud, but it opened with “land acknowledgments” to local native tribes and featured speakers describing their race and preferred pronouns. ... Before any of that could happen, however, senior program manager Allison Weins had a ritual to perform. “We need to acknowledge that the land where the Microsoft campus is situated was is traditionally occupied by the Sammamish, Duwamish, Snoqualmie, Suquamish, Muckleshoot, Snohomish, Tulalip, and other coast Salish people since time immemorial,” Weins said, “a people who are still continuing to honor and bring to light their...

A rough estimate of the price tag is $1 billion the first year. Days after it was dropped from the House version of the budget bill, a tax credit to help pay the salaries of local journalists is back in. The measure still needs to win inclusion in the Senate’s version and survive any further reduction of the $1.75 trillion target total. Still, the move represents a big improvement in prospects for the subsidy. Steven Waldman, president and co-founder of Report for America, and Dean Ridings, CEO of industry association America’s Newspapers, both credited the turnaround to publishers and owners...

ATLANTA (AP) — The son of R&B legend Gladys Knight has been sentenced to serve two years in prison for failing to withhold payroll taxes for the restaurants that bore his mother’s name, federal prosecutors in Atlanta said. Shanga Hankerson opened his first restaurant, Gladys Knight’s Chicken and Waffles, in Atlanta in 1997. Over the next several years, he opened at least three more locations in Georgia and Washington, D.C. Hankerson, 45, “willfully disregarded his tax obligations for many years,” Acting U.S. Attorney Kurt Erskine said in a news release. During his sentencing Wednesday, Hankerson, who pleaded guilty in July,...

The landlords who rent retail space at a high-end shopping center in Malibu, California have decided enough is enough with Jerry Seinfeld, Jay Leno, and other Porsche enthusiasts meeting up in their parking lot. Reportedly, a friend of the famous comedians, who are both huge gearheads, say they’re being treated like the “MS-13 of Malibu” as the landlords have called in the police to clear the car enthusiasts. Even if you try to be respectful when meeting with other friends who have cool cars, some people view you as outlaws wanting to burn down the entire town. Seinfeld, Leno, and...

Democrat Terry McAuliffe's hopes of returning as governor of Virginia were dashed Tuesday when Glenn Youngkin became the first Republican to win statewide office in the commonwealth since 2009. Youngkin's victory comes as President Joe Biden's approval ratings have sagged and Democrats have struggled to deliver a clear message. Addressing the election only briefly during a press conference Wednesday, Biden attempted to cast the situation in a positive light. However, his remarks weren't entirely accurate. McAuliffe's vote totals Asked about the results in Virginia, Biden suggested that when compared to past Democratic candidates McAuliffe actually did well, despite his loss....

The remains were found in a remote part of the cave that suggests the body had been placed there on purpose, said Professor Guy Berger. JOHANNESBURG — The fossil remains of an early hominid child who died almost 250,000 years ago have been discovered in a cave in South Africa by a team of international and South African researchers. The team announced the discovery of a partial skull and teeth of a Homo naledi child who died when it was approximately four to six years old. The remains were found in a remote part of the cave that suggests the...