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PARIS (AP) — France announced a staggering 332,252 daily virus cases Wednesday, smashing a string of recent records, as hospitals prepared drastic measures to brace for patient surges and the government strained to avoid a new lockdown. With Europe’s highest-ever single-day confirmed infection count, France is facing an omicron-driven surge that is dominating the race for April’s presidential election and increasingly disrupting workplaces, schools and public life... France’s weekly average of virus cases has doubled in the past 10 days...more than 72% of French ICU beds are now occupied by people with COVID-19. The surge has prompted authorities to allow...

There are few joys in life quite as fun as watching liberals attacking other liberals; when the head of the snake that is the progressive culture whips around and bites one of its own. It happens more often than you think – there’s always an activist professor who missed a memo and used an out of date term or said something recently declared unacceptable who is not fighting for their jobs, but every once in a while it gets higher profile, and therefore even more fun. Such is this case out of Hollywood. Helen Murren is a great actress, with...

Stewart Rhodes has insight into the role that Michael Flynn, Roger Stone, and Ali Alexander played in recruiting his militia group. Will he tell the Jan. 6 committee?Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers, has the power to burn some top right-wing personalities who pissed him off. It’s unclear if he’ll actually do it. Members of the Oath Keepers, the far-right militia group which featured prominently during last year’s attack on the U.S. Capitol, feel betrayed by the headliners of the protests that day—names like Michael Flynn, Roger Stone, and Ali Alexander. According to the Oath Keeper’s lawyer, those...

Chuck Schumer, the Inspector Clouseau of Senate Majority Leaders in comparison to Mitch McConnell’s Sherlock Holmes, has decided to try to strong-arm Joe Manchin and Kristin Sinema into dropping their opposition to killing the filibuster by making a big public show of it. Hey, that’s plan has worked great so far. I sure hope he succeeds – for once – for three reasons. Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett. As so often happens with the Dems, Napoleon’s injunction to never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake comes to mind. So does Br'er Rabbit’s plea to Br'er Fox not to...

Breaking News Plus (Analysis, Comment) I am now able to bring you something regarding the events in recent hours at the US Capitol... One killed by the Capitol Police 14-year Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt... One can see that the story of today is written in earlier stories published on this blog like the comments of incoming Utah Republican Governor Spencer Cox alluding to supporters of President Trump-opponents of coronavirus restrictions. They were protesting outside his inauguration... And then there's the story of confrontation at Oregon's State Capitol New Year's Day. A protest that was peaceful at its beginning descended...

McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — The federal government has placed a record number of migrants in the Alternatives to Detention program, which is a way to monitor asylum-seekers without having to incarcerate them, according to new data. The latest data shows there are 150,755 migrant families and single individuals currently being monitored .... ...TRAC reports that most migrants placed in ATD are assigned a SmartLINK app that connects to their cellphones and records their locations. The latest data received and analyzed by TRAC is from Dec. 18...

Proposals for reparations to the descendants of slaves have been impractical and unfair. The payers are not the guilty parties, the payees are not the victims, and there seems to be no sensible basis for calculating the debt. Here's a suggested plan that has a rational basis and that pulls reparations from existing resources with only modest damage to the national fisc. Those with an appetite for reparations are salivating at the prospect of serious attention in Congress. Earlier this year, Bill H.R. 40 , which would create a commission to study and recommend legislative action on reparations, was passed...

As time goes on, we are learning more and more about Covid 19 and the Covid 19 vaccines. To date the most important and surprising information about the vaccines is that they do not prevent the vaccinated from contracting or transmitting the virus. The irony is that the CDC, a government agency, readily admits this[i] but other sectors of the government are carrying on as if this vitally important new information did not exist at all. Take for example Biden's OSHA which, before it was temporarily halted by a Circuit Court ruling, ordered the unvaccinated but not the vaccinated employees...

The debate is over. After a year spent investigating claims of election fraud, the media has determined that any fraud in the 2020 election was too insignificant to have changed the outcome and Joe Biden legitimately won. Now we can get back to our normal lives, or whatever passes for normal now…except that’s fiction. In 44 BC, Roman Senators murdered Caesar, claiming they acted to protect the Republic. In fact, they simply sought power. Their coup d’état put the final nail in the coffin of a republic that had been dead in deed, if not name, for decades. Coup d’états...

The Mozilla Foundation, the entity that oversees the Mozilla Firefox internet browser, is now accepting donations in cryptocurrency. One of the browser's founders is not happy about it. The company tweeted on Dec. 31: "Dabble in @dogecoin? HODLing some #Bitcoin & Ethereum? We're using @BitPay to accept donations in #cryptocurrency." Jamie "jwz" Zawinski, who helped build the Mozilla Project that was released in 2002, tweeted in response that he's "here to say f.. you and f... this."... ...He wasn't the only one to level criticism at Mozilla's move on Twitter this week. Peter Linss, the founder of Gecko — the...

NEW YORK (AP) — For years, Sean Hannity has skirted ethical boundaries with his role on a television network with “news” in its name. Yet it’s never been as stark as now, with the committee investigating last year’s Capitol insurrection seeking his testimony. The Jan. 6 select committee has revealed a series of texts where Hannity privately advised former President Donald Trump before, during and after the assault, and is seeking his insight about what happened in those days. The popular Fox News Channel prime-time host hasn’t said what he will do, but he’s slammed the congressional probe as a...

January 6th, 2021 St. Mary's Cathedral and Basilica, seat of the Syro-Malabar diocese in Kochi, Kerala. Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White The readings shown here are for places where the Epiphany is celebrated on Sunday 2 January. First reading1 John 4:19-5:4 ©Anyone who loves God must also love his brotherWe are to love,because God loved us first.Anyone who says, ‘I love God’,and hates his brother,is a liar,since a man who does not love the brother that he can seecannot love God, whom he has never seen.So this is the commandment that he has given us,that anyone who loves God must...

President Joe Biden has pitched his foreign policy agenda to America under a handful of labels and themes. His administration promises to "build back better" both at home and abroad. During the campaign in 2020, his future national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, spoke frequently of a "foreign policy for the middle class." In language that harks back to the Cold War, Biden convened a 110-nation virtual "Summit of Democracies" this month, with the avowed aim of reasserting American leadership among ideologically aligned friends and partners.... ...Facing expansive global commitments, finite resources, and continued calls from foreign policy elites for American...

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that a discrimination complaint by a gay rights activist after a Christian bakery refused to make him a cake is inadmissible. The high-profile controversy first flared when Gareth Lee ordered a £36.50 ($50) cake from Ashers bakery in Belfast in May 2014. The cake, commissioned for a private function marking International Day Against Homophobia, featured Sesame Street puppets Bert and Ernie and was to be iced with the slogan 'Support Gay Marriage'. His order was accepted and he paid in full, but, two days later, the Christian owners of the company, Daniel...

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media. I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone: for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. ~ 1 Timothy 2:1-2 Religion Forum Threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate of any kind. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more.” (Hebrews 8:12)

it’s apparently difficult to find a therapist in Seattle. That’s the claim by Seattle’s wokest columnist, Naomi Ishisaka from the Seattle Times, where she serves as the assistant managing editor for diversity, inclusion and staff development. Borrowing from her own experiences and those of readers, Ishisaka says finding a therapist (especially one covered by one’s insurance) is a “soul crushing exercise.” But it’s not difficult for the reasons you might think. The complaint is that people can’t find therapists who identify in ways that meet their woke requirements. To be “culturally competent” in this context, a therapist must share identical...

A married Idaho booking deputy has been accused of duping a former Olympic speed skater into romance and making her the beneficiary of his will, then neglecting him as he died of mad cow disease. Marina Billings, 49, allegedly wheedled her way into Olympian Boris Leikin's life despite being married, then neglected Leikin and got him to sign over his assets to her before his death in July 2021 aged 68. Billings and her husband Robert Billings, 70, have both been charged with financial exploitation and abuse in relation to Leiken's death. Cops haven't accused them of murder, but say...

Three people ran a scheme to steal thousands of undelivered Amazon packages but were busted by cops after they dumped hundreds of boxes in Oklahoma, authorities said. One man accused in what the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office called a “massive Amazon theft ring” was apparently a third-party delivery driver for the company who may have loaded extra pallets on a truck, cops said. The stolen packages were taken to a home in Luther... some still wrapped on pallets, cops said..."...stored throughout the home in almost every room and filled the storm shelter..."

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Bond was set at $5 million for a man arrested and charged with the murder of an Illinois welfare worker who was stabbed to death while conducting a home visit Tuesday. Benjamin Reed, 32, was arrested on charges of first-degree murder, aggravated battery, and unlawful restraint for allegedly stabbing and killing 36-year-old Diedre Silas, a state Department of Children and Family Services investigator.... ...Silas was allegedly conducting a welfare check on at least one of the children living in the home when she was attacked... ...DCFS Director Marc Smith said...Staff members decide whether to go alone, in pairs, or summon...