Free Republic

A probe into a $400 million border wall contract found that there was no undue influence when it was awarded to a North Dakota-based firm, according to audit results released Monday by the Pentagon's inspector general. Tommy Fisher, the president of Fisher Sand and Gravel Co., made multiple appearances on Fox News to campaign for the job ahead of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' decision to give his firm the contract, the Associated Press reported. Building a wall along Mexico's shared border with the U.S. was a top campaign platform and administration priority for former President Donald Trump. Trump...

This article translates a teacher’s responses to questions about life in Iran today.Greetings. My name is Saman A. I have taught high school math for 25 years in a city south of Tehran. I hope my words shed light on how poorly teachers fare in Iran. Before the 1979 revolution, most teachers, especially primary school teachers, were economically part of Iran’s lower-middle-class, although high school teachers were slightly better situated. Still, teachers’ salaries could make ends meet and one job would cover their monthly expenses. Teachers were highly respected and the job was seen as a privilege. After the revolution,...

Get ready for Covid boosters EVERY winter: NHS boss Amanda Pritchard reveals health service is preparing for having to roll out annual programme alongside flu jabs Amanda Pritchard said the NHS is putting plans in place for yearly booster jabs JCVI recommended booster programme should be extended to all over-40s Ms Pritchard urged people to take up vaccination invitations 'as soon as possible' Amanda Pritchard said the NHS is already putting plans in place should it be required to deliver a yearly vaccine campaign +5 Amanda Pritchard said the NHS is already putting plans in place should it be required...

Democrats lost more than a governorship in this month’s election, which cemented the party’s status as a persistent loser in state legislative elections. The headline story in Virginia was the defeat of former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe by Republican businessman Glenn Youngkin, but Republicans also gained control of the House of Delegates, the lower chamber of the Virginia legislature. With that victory, Republicans control 62 of the nation’s 98 partisan legislative chambers compared to 36 for the Democrats. (Nebraska has a unicameral legislature that is nominally nonpartisan.)

Members of an online movement infected with pandemic conspiracies are shifting their focus - and are increasingly peddling falsehoods about climate change. Matthew is convinced that shadowy forces lie behind two of the biggest news stories of our time, and that he's not being told the truth. "This whole campaign of fear and propaganda is an attempt to try and drive some agenda," he says. "It doesn't matter whether it's climate change or a virus or something else." **SNIP** His immersion in this conspiratorial world has coloured his outlook and affected his relationships. He's speaking to me on a video...

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas admitted Tuesday that Vice President Kamala Harris has not been “directly” involved in his department’s key policy decisions during her nearly eight months tackling the “root causes” of illegal immigration for the Biden administration. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) recalled that President Biden had called Harris the “most qualified person” to stem the flow of migrants coming to the US-Mexico border from Central America and elsewhere when he tapped her for the role in March.... ...CNN reported over the weekend that some Harris allies believe the White House is laying the way for Transportation Secretary Pete...

Just 28% of voters approve of the job Vice President Kamala Harris is doing, according to a recent poll from USA Today and Suffolk University. In comparison, President Biden’s approval rating is now 41%, and former Vice President Dick Cheney’s was 13% when he left office in 2009. Also, “exasperation and dysfunction” is how President Biden’s team views Vice President Kamala Harris’ team, reports CNN, and the feelings are apparently mutual. Over the summer, Politico quoted a source who described Harris’ office as “not a healthy environment” and rife with dissent. “Vice presidential ratings tend to follow presidents’ approval ratings....

Daniel Goldman, the former federal prosecutor who served as counsel to House Democrats in the first impeachment investigation of former President Donald Trump, announced Tuesday he will run for New York attorney general. His announcement came in a two-minute video in which he cast himself as a public servant with a deep commitment to civil rights and equal justice. Goldman told ABC News he decided to run because "democracy is under attack" and hoped to use the "broad authority" of the New York Attorney General's Office to fight back. "It started with Trump and now continues with Trumpism," Goldman said...

Brigham and Women's Hospital will test the safety and efficacy of a nasal vaccine aimed at preventing and slowing Alzheimer's disease, the Boston hospital announced Tuesday. The start of the small, Phase I clinical trial comes after nearly 20 years of research led by Howard L. Weiner, MD, co-director of the Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases at the hospital. The trial will include 16 participants between the ages of 60 and 85, all with early symptomatic Alzheimer's but otherwise generally healthy. They will receive two doses of the vaccine one week apart, the hospital said in a press release....

The nation's top infectious disease expert says he believes the definition of being 'fully vaccinated' against COVID-19 in the U.S. could change to include booster shots. Currently, any American who has received both shots of the two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines, or one shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, is considered fully vaccinated. But Dr Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said this may need to change to include extra doses. 'In my opinion, boosters are ultimately going to become a part of the standard regimen and not just a bonus,' he...

Two Democratic Virginia delegates requested recounts in their districts' races on Tuesday as the party holds on to the possibility of a 50-50 split in the legislative chamber. Dels. Martha Mugler (D) and Alex Askew (D), who both represent districts in the Hampton Roads area, announced on Tuesday that they were seeking recounts in their races. The Associated Press has yet to call the contests; however, in the 91st District, Mugler trails Republican A.C. Cordoza by only 94 votes, while Askew is behind Republican Karen Greenhalgh by 127 votes in the 85th District. Democrats cited reporting errors in requesting the...

A Navajo who studies the use of cigarettes, e-cigarettes, and chewing tobacco by Native Americans commented on the Navajo Nation’s permanent ban on the sale of tobacco, a product first cultivated by Native Americans but was “colonized” by white farmers. “I think it’s just really educating our communities about what the industry – I keep saying the industry because it’s really them that has put these products in the hands of our young people,” Patricia Nez Henderson said in an interview with taxpayer-funded National Public Radio’s (NPR) Weekend Edition Sunday. They colonized a product that was sacred, right?” “And the...

Hundreds of people in Egypt have been stung by scorpions in recent days and hospitals are stocking anti-venom to treat them, due to bad weather that's forced the creatures from their normal habitats and closer to humans. Government officials said more than 500 people have been stung over the past three days in southern Egypt. The governor of Aswan detailed the injuries in a Facebook post a few days ago. The inclement weather has included dust storms, heavy rains, hail and flooding. It has displaced the scorpions in their natural environments. The bad weather has also damaged mud-brick houses, uprooted...

A California couple was sentenced to prison for illegally obtaining more than $20 million in COVID-19 relief funds — but authorities need to catch them first. Richard Ayvazyan, 43, was sentenced to 17 years behind bars and his wife, 37-year-old Marietta Terabelian, received a six-year sentence in federal prison on Monday for conspiracy, bank fraud and money laundering, according to the Department of Justice. The two are on the run from authorities and were sentenced in absentia.

Salignostics completes clinical trials of revolutionary SaliStick home test kit for pregnancy, based on its technology for detecting Covid-19.Peeing on a stick will soon be as obsolete as the “rabbit test” thanks to SaliStick, a revolutionary saliva-based rapid pregnancy test kit. The product has successfully completed clinical trials and thousands of analytical trials in Israel and is expected to receive the European Union’s CE Mark soon. Approval by the US FDA could come next year. SaliStick was developed by Jerusalem-based Salignostics based on its proprietary saliva-based hormone detection technology used in the company’s SaliCov rapid antigen saliva test kit to...

“A reproof entereth more into a wise man than an hundred stripes into a fool” (Proverbs 17:10).

The jury in Kyle Rittenhouse's murder trial asked for extra copies of jury instructions, including pages that offer instructions on self-defense, CNN reported. *** SNIP *** The charges include first-degree reckless homicide, first-degree intentional homicide, attempted first-degree intentional homicide, and two counts of reckless endangerment. Rittenhouse, now 18-years-old, pleaded not guilty to all of the charges, claiming self-defense in all three cases. The judge gave the jury 11 additional copies of pages 1-6 of the jury instructions, according to CNN. Of those six pages, two outline self-defense instructions, CNN reported. One page focuses on "crimes requiring intent to kill" and...

Twitter, Facebook deemed defendant guilty immediately after Wisconsin shooting Social media platforms rendered a verdict on Kyle Rittenhouse long before he went to trial, suppressing claims that he was innocent and blocking users from searching for details of the case. Immediately after the anti-police riots that thrust Rittenhouse into the national spotlight, social media companies began to block users who expressed support for the Illinois teen. Twitter suspended the accounts of users who called Rittenhouse innocent, including the defendant's own lawyer. Facebook said it "designated this shooting as a mass murder and … removed the shooter’s accounts from Facebook and...

(CNN)The horse patrol incident in Del Rio, Texas, that drew swift condemnation from senior Biden administration officials will not be investigated by the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general, the department announced Tuesday. US Customs and Border Protection had referred the incident -- where Border Patrol agents on horseback aggressively confronted migrants -- to the watchdog, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Instead, CBP's Office of Professional Responsibility is now investigating the incident, the department said, adding that the office has reviewed videos and photographs and interviewed witnesses, employees and CBP leadership....

"Friendsgiving" seems to be the buzz word amongst the liberal crowd these days. Sheesh, a local News 5 anchor, when doing a story about this kept saying "Thanksgiving".