Free Republic

Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN on Monday Americans should stay away from large gatherings for New Year's Eve even if people are fully vaccinated with boosters because they would not know if others are fully vaccinated for COVID-19. "I do wonder we are approaching New Year’s Eve at the end of this week, a lot of people have got events and gatherings planned, and I know you said it’s OK to be with friends and family if you’re vaccinated and boosted, but what is your advice to people about larger settings for New Year’s parties?" CNN's Kaitlan Collins asked. "Kaitlan,...

Sugar may actually be healthy for some Greenland residents, a study finds. Researchers from the University of Copenhagen found that up to three percent of Greenlanders may have a rare genetic mutation that allows their body to process sugar in a way that is healthy. Since many people in Greenland come from gene pools that have consumed little sugar at all for centuries, their body has adjusted to consume sugar in a different way. Those who have the mutation are less likely to become obese, or suffer from a wide range of health problems generally tied to being overweight. 'Adult...

FEAST OF SAINT JOHN, APOSTLE AND EVANGELIST JOHN 20:1A, 2-8 Friends, today we celebrate the feast of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist. St. John is, of course, a spiritual master, but he is a literary master as well. We can see his skill throughout his Gospel, but perhaps especially in the stories dealing with the resurrected Jesus. We can find them in the twentieth and twenty-first chapters of his Gospel. Our passage for today is from chapter twenty, and it contains, in short compass, the whole of Christianity, if we have the eyes to see it. “On the first...

Gabriel Weinberg’s DuckDuckGo is taking aim at the desktop browser market, betting that default privacy-centric settings will provide safer alternatives to Google’s Chrome and Microsoft’s Chromium-based Edge browsers. The upstart search engine company says it is building a desktop browser from scratch with the same privacy-enhancing defaults that makes the DuckDuckGo search engine popular with privacy advocates. Weinberg, who co-founded DuckDuckGo in 2008 and expanded beyond search into email protection and mobile app tracking, said the new desktop browser will attempt to make things simple for confused web surfers. "No complicated settings, no misleading warnings, no 'levels' of privacy protection...

At 4' 9" 97lbs, Richard J. Flaherty achieved the impossible by becoming a Green Beret Captain and a Vietnam vet war hero. Known as the smallest man to ever serve in the U.S. military, Flaherty earned the Silver Star, 2 Bronze Stars & 2 Purple

New details have emerged about “Dallas Buyers Club” filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallée’s unexpected passing. The 58-year-old director is believed to have died from a heart attack at his cabin outside Quebec City over Christmas, sources told Deadline. The “Big Little Lies” filmmaker was prepping to host guests over the weekend, sources said, adding that it is likely he died Dec. 25 and was found the following morning. Vallée was a health enthusiast, who abstained from drinking, worked out constantly and practiced Wim Hof’s extreme breathing methods, which involve holding one’s breath for long periods of time, often in frigid environments. Tributes...

NASCAR driver Brandon Brown says affiliation with the "Let's go Brandon" chant is costing him marketing opportunities. Brandon Brown, the NASCAR driver who unintentionally sparked the “Let’s go Brandon” phenomenon, says he is having sponsorship struggles as a result of the chant. In October, Brown was being interviewed by Kelli Stavast on NBC after he won a race at Talladega. The crowd was chanting “F–k Joe Biden,” and Stavast talked about how they were chanting “Let’s go Brandon!” The phrase quickly became a rallying cry among conservatives who believe President Biden gets treated with kid gloves by the media, and...

Chinese companies have long been toxic places to work. Tech companies have long practiced the presenteeism of ‘996’ – working from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. for 6 days a week without overtime pay. Famous founders Jack Ma and Richard Liu have lauded 996, mistakenly equating long hours with strong work ethic. What’s worse, this standard has now seeped into most other sectors in China. In January, a delivery worker of E.le.ma (餓了麼) set himself on fire after the company did not pay him 5000 yuan that they owed him for two weeks. Delivery workers across the country have staged...

WILSON, N.C. (WTVD) -- The man accused of murdering 5-year-old Cannon Hinnant in his front yard in 2020 has officially been indicted. Investigators said Darius Sessoms, 25, shot and killed Hinnant on August 9, 2020 in Wilson, North Carolina. The young boy was on his bike not far from his own front door when he was fatally shot. I just don't understand why he did it," a neighbor said at the time. "How can you walk up to a little boy, point blank, and put a gun to his head and just shoot him? How could anyone do that?" On...

Amy Schneider's phenomenal run on Jeopardy! continues to break records, as she has now become the highest-earning woman in the show's entire history. On Friday night, the engineering manager secured her 18th consecutive victory and increased her total earnings to $706,800, leaving her just one win away from equalling the 19-game streaks of Jason Zuffranieri and David Madden. The Ohio native's successful week also meant that she had leapfrogged Larissa Kelly to become the top-earning woman contestant in the show's history. In regular season earnings, Schneider now sits in fourth place, behind Ken Jennings ($2,520,700, 74 games), James Holzhauer ($2,462,216,...

Video from the deadly Los Angeles police shooting that killed an assault suspect and a 14-year-old bystander at a Burlington store on Thursday shows the suspect beating a woman with a bike lock before a group of officers finds him and one opens fire with a rifle. “She’s bleeding! She’s bleeding!” the officer screams of the victim as she crawls out of an aisle of home goods. “Hold up! Hold up!” screams another officer, just before the first fires three rounds at the suspect, who is standing at the opposite end of the aisle. Daniel Elena-Lopez, 24, crumples to the...

My video interview with Pastor Tom Hughes (412 Church/Hope for our Times)

~The FReeper Canteen Presents~ Road Trip: Whiteman Air Force Base, MissouriThe 509th Bomb Wing is part of Air Force Global Strike Command and is the host wing at Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo. The Bomb Wing and its fleet of B-2 Spirit bombers serve as part of the Air Force's conventional and strategic combat force. The Bomb Wing can project U.S airpower anywhere around the world from home station and employ a wide range of precision-guided munitions.Thunderbolt IIs have Night Vision Imaging Systems, or NVIS, goggle compatible single-seat cockpits forward of their wings and a large bubble canopy which...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) - Greene County investigators say a doctor wanted for sex crimes while at Agape Boarding School in Cedar County is on the run. Investigators say a warrant was issued for the arrest of Dr. David Smock, 56. Smock faces charges of second-degree statutory sodomy, third-degree child molestation of a child less than 14 years of age, and enticement or attempted enticement of a child less than 15 years of age. The investigation dates back to 2020. Agape is a Christian-based boarding school near Stockton. Investigators say Smock became a ‘father figure’ for the juvenile while at Agape....

The new leader of the free world is...Vladimir Putin???The New York Times reported, "President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia said on Thursday that he had no plans to impose fines or criminally prosecute people hesitant to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, even though Russia has one of the lowest vaccination levels in Europe."About 56% of the country’s population is inoculated against the virus, and the government has not introduced vaccine mandates. Mr. Putin said at his year-end news conference that such mandates would be counterproductive."Russia is now freer than America.Everyone knows the vaccines and the boosters are not the answer.Zero...

African countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo are struggling with an influx of hospitalizations as the omicron-driven 4th wave of the global pandemic environment hammers the country, which boasts one of the world's lowest vaccination rates. But Congo isn't alone; over the weekend, American media reported that, after nearly two years of seeing surprisingly low COVID levels, sub-Saharan Africa is finally seeing a big enough wave of infections to pose a serious threat to its health-care system.Experts in the US are projecting that the latest COVID wave will worsen before it gets better, according to the following chart from...

[Catholic Caucus] “Very Instructive Paradoxes”: Fr. Laurent-Marie Pocquet du Haut Jussé, SJM Paix Liturgique (Letter n°840 of December 24) opened its columns to Reverend Fr. Laurent-Marie Pocquet du Haut Jussé, former superior of the Servants of Jesus and Mary (SJM), who gives us an enlightening testimony. English translation for Rorate Caeli.The responses made by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, as well as the liturgical crisis provoked by the motu proprio Traditionis custodes, bring to light a certain number of very instructive paradoxes for pastors, theologians, and canonists.Moral paradox: Since 1988 the Church has...

Opinion: Unvaccinated Carson Wentz would ruin Colts' incredible season if he contracts COVID (Can only be linked to by FR rules)

On October 22, 2020, then-candidate Joe Biden vowed to "shut down the virus, not the country."14 months later, now-President Biden just admitted that there's no 'federal solution' to the pandemic, and that it's up to individual states to do what he promised."Look, there is no federal solution," he said during a call with state governors. "This gets solved at state level … and that ultimately gets down to where the rubber meets the road, and that’s where the patient is in need of help — or preventing the need for help.""My message to the governors is simple: if you need...

A high-flying realtor who worked for Coldwell Banker and Berkshire Hathaway in California has been revealed as the 'Delta Karen' who was arrested by the FBI for attacking an 80-year-old passenger on a plane after he removed his face mask to eat - while she was herself maskless. Patricia Cornwall, a real estate agent previously based in Los Angeles, who in the 1990s was - according to TikLeak - a member of the Raiderettes cheerleaders for the then-LA-based NFL team, was identified as the unruly passenger on the Thursday flight from Tampa to Atlanta when the altercation took place. Cornwall...