Free Republic

Austrian Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said Friday that the country will go into a national lockdown to contain a fourth wave of coronavirus cases. Schallenberg said the lockdown will start Monday and initially last for 10 days. Most stores will close, and cultural events will be canceled. He initially said all students would have to go back into homeschooling. Wolfgang Mueckstein, the country’s health minister, later said that schools would remain open for those who needed to go there but all parents were asked to keep their children at home if possible. Starting on Feb. 1, the country will also make...

It’s election time again. You think we are kidding. We are not. Results of this month’s election are not yet certified, but it’s already time for another one. King County Elections sent out more than 76,000 ballots on Wednesday, to voters in Seattle City Council District 3, who must decide whether Councilmember Kshama Sawant should remain in office or be recalled. Only voters in District 3 - made up of Capitol Hill, the Central District, First Hill, Madison Park, Little Saigon International District, Madrona, Mount Baker, North Beacon Hill and South Lake Union - can vote in the recall. The...

Checkouts for the Lucy instruments were successfully completed on November 8, and all instruments are working normally...Lucy's Solar Array Anomaly Response Team has made progress searching for the cause of the solar array's incomplete deployment...The test data and findings suggest the lanyard may not have wound on the spool as intended.

Catherine Austin Fitts brings together both an explanation of the pieces as they are fitting together and how to navigate the system. The collapse of the two party sytems and the over taking by those with a central banking background and the roll of taxation heading our way. Control Systems: *vaccine passport *CBDC (digital currency) *Universal Basic Income *and the development of the Smart Grid (think Branden's electrical grid in the infrastructure bill and his bbb bill) She discussed needing to pick a side. Slavery or Freedom. We are now at the fork in the road and it is time...

"Ultimately the mRNA vaccines are an example for that 'cell and gene therapy' . I always like to say, if we had surveyed two years ago in the public; would you be willing to take gene or cell therapy and inject it into your body, we would have probably had a 95% refusal rate.. " https://twitter.com/EliseiNicole/status/1456631946642141184

It is irresponsible to reduce our energy reserves just to score political points — but that is what the Democrats want to do. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve, created following the oil crisis of the 1970s, exists to supply Americans during a war or other emergency. Democrats are now calling for oil to be released from the reserve to help reduce high gas prices that they themselves have created. This is not an emergency unless you believe that the loss of Democrat seats in the 2022 midterm election constitutes an emergency. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve currently holds 638 million barrels, approximately...

FOUR days of deliberations ? This is an open and shut case. What is going on, please? I'm starting to feel the worst for Kyle. Maybe they "got" to the jury. Jury intimidation is a real thing. There is no way they should be taking this long! ACQUIT!

Axios says there's a "reckoning" in the media over coverage of the Steele dossier after the partisan oppo document's primary source was charged with lying to the FBI. "It's one of the most egregious journalistic errors in modern history," writes Sara Fischer, "and the media's response to its own mistakes has so far been tepid." Tepid is a nice way of putting it. While the Washington Post "corrected" some of its discredited reporting on the dossier, removing portions of reporting connecting former President Donald Trump to Russia, there has been virtually no other accountability. And, really, it's become modus operandi...

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) told his colleagues this week top party donors were "furious" with the number of Republicans — including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell — who voted for the bipartisan infrastructure bill, two sources familiar with his remarks tell Axios' Alayna Treene. Why it matters: Scott chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which relies on donors to help it elect candidates — and re-elect incumbents. The criticism highlighted how toxic the vote has become for the 19 Senate and 13 House Republicans who joined with Democrats to pass it. McConnell is already being lambasted by former President Trump...

A reporter thought he’d nailed DeSantis with a clever “gotcha” question about government action on vaccine mandates but DeSantis nailed him instead. Media types have two modes when asking politicians questions. If they’re Democrats, the questions are softballs about ice cream and the things they’ll do to save the world. If they’re Republicans, the questions are meant to highlight the politicians’ cruelty, hypocrisy, or stupidity. One journalist, though, learned that when that Republican politician is Ron DeSantis, asking a gotcha question about conservative governance is a way to bring a rain of fire down on the journalist’s head. SBIP Both...

'When you enter the shop of a gunsmith, what the heck do you expect to see?' asks Kotanko family lawyer Hearing about Rodger being near guns wasn't unusual — he was a world-renowned gunsmith, known as one of the best in Canada and someone local police officers trusted to fix their firearms, according to people who knew him.... ...But hearing his brother was hurt had Jeffrey rushing to Rodger's home on Port Ryerse Road. By the time he arrived, Rodger was already dead — shot in his workshop next to his home, according to friends and family, and then taken...

After taking on Big Bird over his Covid-19 vaccination, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is going after the Library of Congress for abandoning the use of the term “illegal alien” as a subject heading for organizing materials. The Library of Congress confirmed Thursday that it will change the subject headings “aliens” to “noncitizens” and “illegal aliens” to “noncitizens” and “illegal immigration.” The headings are used to catalog materials at the library in Washington. Cruz protested the changes in a letter dated Wednesday and posted on his website. Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., also signed the letter. The library had originally sought to...

And the worst part? It's already been tried. "Far too many can't afford to be banked & end up paying MORE in fees to check cashing places. So ... and I called upon the USPS to provide basic $ services, like cashing, wiring or an ATM w/o fees. The program also provides revenue for the USPS." —Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez At first, I thought this was a joke — some recycled Elizabeth Warren humor injected into an otherwise boring and predictable news cycle a few months ago. But apparently, AOC and other notables like New York senator Kirsten Gillibrand are quite serious...

Now you see him, now you don't. [5 min video]

Bowing to intense political pressure, Oklahoma's Kevin Stitt, the Republican governor of one of the nation's reddest states, commuted on Thursday the death sentence of convicted murderer Julius Jones. Stitt's commutation of Jones, who was convicted for a first-degree carjacking murder in one of the most reliably pro-death penalty states, is but the latest troubling data pointing toward the possible ultimate abolition of the death penalty in America. In 2020, former President Donald Trump directed then-Attorney General William Barr to resume federal executions after a 17-year hiatus. From July 2020 through January 2021, the Trump-led Department of Justice oversaw 13...

After the Army came out with their disasterous "woke" Army recruit commercial of Emma has 2 moms... Still find it astounding the Army thought that was a good commerical. Anyhow, the Marines have put out their latest recruit commercial. This commercial is a lot better, and appeals to all in my view. See it below. https://youtu.be/IfVnhxZpv98

It is possible that the jury will return a verdict before the weekend; however, a hung jury is also a possibility, and the judge could also declare a mistrial — perhaps with prejudice, barring the charges from being brought again — after the prosecution was accused of violating Rittenhouse’s Fifth Amendment rights during cross-examination.

A new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report claims the 2019 relocation of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) headquarters out West undermined the agency. “BLM lacks reasonable assurance the agency will have the workforce necessary to achieve its goals in managing millions of acres of public lands,” their report concluded. Predictably, media outlets like the Washington Post suggested the Trump-era policy was rooted in racism. In September, Biden’s Interior Department announced it would transfer most operations back to the nation’s capital—despite opposition from Western governors and local stakeholders. Why was BLM HQ originally moved out West, and was the decision rooted...

On August 25, 2020, Kyle Rittenhouse shot three people who attacked him, during the riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin, killing two, in claimed self-defense. There is no question he was attacked. It is all on video. As of this writing, the jury is in deliberations. We should know the results soon.One result was reached before the jury was given their final instructions. The weapons possession charge against Kyle Rittenhouse was dismissed by Judge Schroeder. This author has written the charge should never have been made. There were reasons to keep the charge. It served several political purposes.Dismissing the weapons charge is...

BREAKING: Further evidence of the #KyleRittenhouseTrial DA suborning perjury, adding to a plethora of prosecutorial misconduct. The Khindri brothers, BOTH Sal & Sam, were present at car source earlier in the day, with Kyle, Dominick, and Nick. The DA knew this footage existed. NEW: In addition to video, a second source confirmed this information as per the post below. It was posted 8/25/2020, & the prosecution put them on the stand knowing they were lying about speaking to #KyleRittenhouse earlier. The state knew they were lying and suborned perjury