Free Republic

President Joe Biden announced Friday he will lift travel restrictions on eight African countries on December 31, attributing the decision to the fact that restricting international travel will not greatly affect the Wuhan coronavirus Omicron variant’s spread in the United States. While Biden imposed the omicron-related travel restrictions in late November after criticizing former President Trump as racist for doing so in 2020, Biden will reportedly retract the flight restrictions nearly one month later.

t's common to feel some sense of apprehension when walking into a gym for the first time, or taking up any new form of sport or exercise. It might even be easy to think that you're too old to learn a new skill or discipline. But Barbara Rawlings, a.k.a. "Corki," is proof that this isn't the case. At the age of 86, she just celebrated her first full year as a regular at The Strength Co. gym, where she lifts weights three times a week.The Strength Co. owner Grant Broggi, a family friend, suggested Corki visit his gym after she...

NFL's chief medical officer Allen Sills on Thursday said that symptomatic players are driving the spread of COVID-19 in the league. He told ESPN that asymptomatic players are not responsible for the transmission of the disease from what he has observed this season.

Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's (R) recently donated 25 tiny homes to homeless veterans in Los Angeles. Schwarzenegger donated $250,000 to the nonprofit Village for Vets, which went towards purchasing 25 tiny homes for retired service members who had previously been homeless, according to Fox 11 Los Angeles. ADVERTISING

In my first piece on the Omicron variant last week, I cautioned against overreaction or panic while laying out three key questions: (1) Is the new variant more contagious than previous ones? (2) Is it more virulent, causing more severe outcomes? (3) Do our vaccines offer protection against hospitalization or death against Omicron? There were some initial indications that at least on the latter two questions, the answers were looking favorable. Where do things stand now? Most experts continue to say it's too early to tell, as information continues to be gathered and reviewed. But it is starting to look...

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot has asked the Supreme Court to respond to former President Donald Trump’s request that the justices block the National Archives from releasing his White House records by mid-January, according to a report. The panel filed an expedited request late Thursday, hours after Trump’s lawyers appealed to the high court to overturn lower court rulings and shield about 700 pages of documents the committee is seeking, CNN reported.

A 16-time convicted felon has received probation after being charged with stealing purses from a 74-year-old cancer patient and a nurse at Northwestern Memorial Hospital as the COVID pandemic swept into the city last year. Prosecutors initially charged Darryl Berry, 59, with multiple counts of theft and identity theft for the crimes that allegedly took place in April and June 2020. Berry was arrested at Northwestern after hospital security recognized him on the premises in August last year. In the first theft, while the hospital had limited staffing and few visitors due to the COVID pandemic, Berry entered the hospital...

Omicron has increased in California from a single infection three weeks ago to up to 70 percent of reported cases across the state, figures released Thursday reveal. AP reports omicron is present in 50-70 percent of new coronavirus cases in California, the state which has the largest population in the U.S.

U.S. 5th Fleet ships seized approximately 1,400 AK-47 assault rifles and 226,600 rounds of ammunition from a stateless fishing vessel during a flag verification boarding in accordance with customary international law in the North Arabian Sea, Dec. 20. U.S. Navy patrol coastal ships USS Tempest (PC 2) and USS Typhoon (PC 5) found the weapons during a search conducted by embarked U.S. Coast Guard personnel. The illicit weapons and ammunition were later transported to guided-missile destroyer USS O’Kane (DDG 77) where they await final disposition. The stateless vessel was assessed to have originated in Iran and transited international waters along...

a low-profile, solo conman scored one of the biggest thefts of the year Wednesday when he walked out of the Apple store with an estimated $70,000 in merchandise. A source said the thief, posing as a FedEx driver, knocked on the store’s service door on Lower Michigan Avenue, and an employee gave him a cartload of outgoing packages. All totaled, about $70,000 worth of iPhones, MacBooks, iPads, and other products were taken, according to a report.

ST. JOHNS, N.F., Monday, Dec. 23. The R.M. steamship Persia, Capt. JUDKINS, from England, with troops, bound to Quebec, passed Cape Race at 5 P.M. to-day. Her advices are to the 15th inst. The Australasian, also bound to Quebec with troops, was about 20 miles astern when the Persia passed the Cape. The Persia was boarded by the news yacht. No regularly compiled summary of her news was procured, but a few papers were obtained, from which the news is compiled. The Persia sailed from Liverpool on the 15th. She has 1,100 troops on board, and is bound for River...

Kamala Harris has sought the counsel of twice-failed presidential aspirant Hillary Clinton on the best way to reverse diving approval ratings while at the same navigating the travails of public life, according to a report Thursday. The vice president has also concluded she would get better treatment in the media if she were white and male like all of her predecessors, telling her allies her current travails are manifestly unfair, according to the piece in the New York Times.

What is behind the papal strangulation of the old Mass? By Fr Christopher Basden, Parish Priest of Ramsgate, England. Since the Pope’s recent brutal and unmerciful constriction of the traditional Latin Mass, many have been shocked by its unusual severity and questioned what motivates it. Liberal Catholic friends respond that it lacks the inclusivity that a broad Church demands. Friends from beyond the confines of Catholicism scratch their heads; this is the classic Roman ritual which for 1 ½ millennia was the inspiration of countless works of music, literature and art. One of the loveliest personal memories I have...

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has suggested that “Getting jabbed… not just for ourselves” but for others as well is “the teaching of Jesus Christ” in a Covid-heavy Christmas message. “After two years of this pandemic, I can’t say that we’re through it,” Prime Minister Johnson began, somewhat less than optimistically given the circumstances.

Had there been newspapers in the Roman Empire 2,000 years ago, some of the headlines might have been:"GRAIN SHIPS DOCK""PIRATE SHIPS SUNK BY SIXTH FLEET""STUDENTS CLASH WITH POLICE, ROMAN RIOTS END"Such headlines would look very much like the headlines in our newspapers today. After all, the world of the New Testament was a world very much like ours. There were wars, sickness, poverty, slavery, misery, and injustice. There were people who struggled to keep on living. They were living by habit, long after they had lost any sense of purpose, meaning, or goal. It was a world very similar to...

Two banks on Market Street were robbed within about 10 minutes of each other Thursday morning, according to Philadelphia police. At 11 a.m., authorities say a man robbed the Santander Bank at 11th and Market streets. Police said that he went into the bank, went up to the counter and gave a demand note to the teller before stealing cash. ---SNIP--- Nine blocks away, at 11:10 a.m., police say the Wells Fargo at 20th and Market streets was hit.

Before Daunte Wright was shot and killed by Minnesota police officer Kim Potter, he terrorized his local neighborhood for several years, leaving victims and their families with a lifetime's worth of trauma and suffering.

I thought the vaccine needed to be transported at super cold temperatures. I remember that was a reason why this was considered such a complex operation. Now it seems like they are shipped the same as commercial samples. Has something changed or are the stringent shipping requirements still in place?

December 24, 1968: Apollo 8 Genesis Reading and Earthrise"We are now approaching lunar sunrise, and for all the people back on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message that we would like to send to you."Apollo 8 Christmas Eve Broadcast - Genesis Reading (1968)Apollo 8 Genesis readingEarthrise is a photograph of Earth and some of the Moon's surface that was taken from lunar orbit by astronaut William Anders on December 24, 1968, during the Apollo 8 mission.Earthrise

A state of emergency declaration in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district has been approved by the city’s board of supervisors. Mayor London Breed proposed the declaration last week, which allows the city to waive certain laws in an effort to more quickly address the drug use and homelessness in the Tenderloin, according to the city. Some actions officials said they are planning are opening a temporary site where people with substance use issues can receive behavioral health services and get off the street. The emergency declaration allows the city to bypass some contract and zoning rules to get this site set...