Free Republic

From the very beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya has been on the front lines of analyzing, studying, and even personally fighting the pandemic. In this wide-ranging interview, Dr. Bhattacharya takes us through how it started, how it spread throughout the world, the efficacy of lockdowns, the development and distribution of the vaccines, and the rise of the Delta variant. He delves into what we got right, what we got wrong, and what we got really wrong. Finally, Dr. Bhattacharya looks to the future and how we will learn to live with COVID rather than trying to extinguish...

Hate to admit that I dont know.

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) — A man in Ridgecrest was arrested on Saturday after he shot at two teens for throwing water balloons, according to the Ridgecrest Police Department. On Dec. 4, around 10:50 PM officers with RPD were called to the Ridgecrest Regional Hospital regarding victims of a shooting. When officers arrived they learned the two male victims, 18 and 17 years of age, were driving around in a pick-up truck with water balloons. The two teens were driving around the town when they came upon the suspect, 63-year-old Mark Shell, who was asleep in his pick-up truck which...

CHICAGO (CBS) – 21 juveniles were arrested after large crowds gathered near Millennium Park Saturday evening, according to police. Around 9 p.m., the large crowd of young people showed up near Michigan and Washington. Police was on crowd control after a fight broke out in the large group. During the gathering, a 15-year-old boy was shot in the arm after bumping into another teen – leading to a dispute to where the offender pulled out a handgun and shot the victim in the arm. The boy was taken to Lurie Children’s Hospital in good condition. Earlier, a CTA bus driver,...

[Catholic Caucus] The ‘mercy’ of Amoris Laetitia has evil consequences for the Church: open letter to Pope FrancisWith the pontiff's novel doctrines, 'the architecture of the sacraments is broken.' YAMOUSSOUKRO, Ivory Coast (LifeSiteNews) — The following is a letter by an African priest known to LifeSiteNews who prefers to use the nom-de-plume Fr. Jesusmary Missigbètò. His first open letter to Pope Francis regarding Amoris Laetitia can be found here. SECOND OPEN LETTER TO POPE FRANCIS, CARDINALS AND BISHOPS Yamoussoukro (City of Peace); Ivory CoastDecember 8, 2021Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin MaryDear Father, Dear Elders in the Catholic...

If you have a smartphone, you probably use its front-facing camera for selfies and the occasional video call. Perhaps, if you’re lucky, you’ll shoot the next viral TikTok masterpiece. You might use your next smartphone’s front camera for the same things, but there’s a chance that camera won’t completely turn off once you’re done with it. This week, chipmaker Qualcomm revealed its latest Snapdragon processor, which will power many of the high-end Android smartphones you’ll see in stores in 2022, including models from Motorola, Sony, OnePlus. And a new feature built into that chip could allow smartphone makers to keep...

With rumors swirling about discontent and disarray in the office of Vice President Kamala Harris, and amid announcements from top-level staffers that they are jumping ship, one team member took to social media to assure the world that he, at least, is doing fine. But David Gins, Deputy Director for Operations for the vice president, succeeded not in quelling concerns about working for Harris, but in sparking thoughts that he posted what looked like a hostage photo. “Hi. My name is David Gins. I work for Vice President Harris on behalf of the American people as Deputy Director for Operations...

When Chad Sabora started working in harm reduction, he worked out of his car on the streets of St. Louis, Mo. Sabora's beat-up sedan was a familiar sight in neighborhoods frequented by people who use drugs. Sabora, an attorney and former prosecutor in Chicago, had been in recovery for years and experienced addiction firsthand. Based on decades of research and his own experience, he knew sterile syringes prevented infectious disease transmission, naloxone saves lives by reversing overdoses, and that a well-timed pep-talk or caring gesture could profoundly help someone in the throes of addiction. He took a boots-on-the ground approach...

US politicians should stop calling for a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics to avoid hurting bilateral ties and China will take "countermeasures" if necessary, China's foreign ministry said on Monday (Dec 6). The Biden administration is expected to announce this week that US government officials will not attend the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, CNN reported on Sunday. More from AsiaOne Read the condensed version of this story, and other top stories with NewsLite. Those calling for a boycott are "grandstanding" and should stop "so as not to affect the dialogue and cooperation between China and the United States...

New details have emerged about the days and hours leading up to a deadly shooting at a Michigan high school. Officials said on the day of the shooting, the parents of suspect Ethan Crumbley, came to the school to meet with teachers about multiple behavioral problems the 15-year-old had. According to Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard, two separate teachers brought up concerns over Crumbley’s behavior in the classroom. This occured once on Monday and again on Tuesday, which was the day of the massacre. “We have since learned that the schools did have contact with the student the day before...

The world over, people feel lied to, unheard, and pushed aside. They no longer have any faith in their leaders. They’re lashing out against their governments and health officials, in some cases by rejecting the COVID-19 vaccine. Populism, a political expression of this mistrust, is correlated with vaccine hesitancy. In a 2019 study, Jonathan Kennedy, a sociologist at Queen Mary University of London, found a significant association between the percentage of people who voted for populist parties within a country and the percent who believe vaccines are not important or effective. Past research has similarly found that populists around the...

Future pandemics could be even more lethal than COVID-19 so the lessons learned from the outbreak must not be squandered and the world should ensure it is prepared for the next viral onslaught, one of the creators of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine said. The coronavirus has killed 5.26 million people across the world, according to Johns Hopkins University, wiped out trillions of dollars in economic output and turned life upside down for billions of people. "The truth is, the next one could be worse. It could be more contagious, or more lethal, or both," Sarah Gilbert said in the Richard Dimbleby...

[H/T Bratch]As Mark Twain famously noted: history may not always repeat, but it rhymes. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has taken the leading elements of a dark time in history and now openly advocates for their repetition. Can these people not hear themselves? This is madness.Mrs. von der Leyen’s husband is Heiko von der Leyen, the Director of the US biotech company Orgenesis which specializes in medical research to include cell and gene therapies. Mr. Heiko von der Leyen organizes the scientific experiments, and then his wife Ursula advocates for forced vaccinations for all citizens within the European...

A predictive model of a polarized group, similar to the current U.S. Senate, demonstrates that when an outside threat—like war or a pandemic—fails to unite the group, the divide may be irreversible through democratic means. Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences as part of a Dynamics of Political Polarization Special Feature, the model identifies such atypical behavior among the political elite as a powerful symptom of dangerously high levels of polarization. "We see this very disturbing pattern in which a shock brings people a little bit closer initially, but if polarization is too extreme, eventually the...

JOHANNESBURG — Some South Africa hospital wards are jammed with patients infected with the omicron coronavirus variant as President Cyril Ramaphosa urged South Africans on Monday to get vaccinated. In the past week, cases have reached more than 16,000, up dramatically from 2,300 last Monday, according to South Africa's National Institute for Communicable Diseases. The NICD says the increase in cases in such a short period of time is “unprecedented” in the trajectory of the pandemic, now in its fourth phase in the country. “Unfortunately, we’re seeing a more than doubling of hospital admissions each day,” said Ian Sanne, an...

PALM BEACH, Fla., Dec. 06, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Trump Media & Technology Group (‘TMTG’) today announced that Congressman Devin G. Nunes has been selected to join the Company as Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Nunes is currently a sitting U.S. House Representative, representing California’s 22nd congressional district, and formerly the Chair of the House Intelligence Committee. Mr. Nunes will be leaving the U.S. House of Representatives and will begin his new role as Chief Executive Officer of TMTG in January 2022.

KINGSPORT, Tenn. - Matthew Hawn checked his phone to see if the wait was finally over. It had been five months since he was fired for teaching about White privilege at a high school in rural Tennessee. Two months since he had fought to regain his job at an emotional three-day hearing, becoming a symbol of the acrimonious debate over the way race, racism and history should be taught in America's schools. A lifelong resident of Kingsport, Hawn was well aware his liberal views made him an outlier in his overwhelmingly White, mostly conservative community. But that had never mattered...

Nashville police arrested a woman on Thursday (Nov. 2) accused of carrying a handgun on the East Nashville Magnet School’s campus, the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department reported. Barquita Williams was released from police custody on $1,000 bond. According to the police, the incident stemmed from a physical fight in the school building between two female students at dismissal time. They had argued with each other earlier in the day. As they fought in a stairwell of the school, several other students jumped into the brawl. Meanwhile, parents were waiting outside to pick up their kids as the students scuffled inside...

Three women were robbed and at times assaulted in separate incidents over the course of 25 minutes in Chicago’s Lakeview, police said Friday. The startling string of Thursday incidents comes on the heels of a four-robbery pattern in the neighborhoods of Lakeview and Lincoln Park, according to CWB Chicago, which was the first to report the news. Robberies citywide are up 8% for the last 28-day period, which ended on November 28, according to department crime statistics. The first incident on Thursday happened around 5:10 p.m. local time in North Southport Avenue and West Byron Street, where the victim was...