Free Republic

President Biden on Friday paid tribute to Oscar-winning actor Sidney Poitier after news of his death, recognizing him as a trailblazer who “changed the way America saw itself.” “With unflinching grandeur and poise — his singular warmth, depth, and stature on-screen — Sidney helped open the hearts of millions and changed the way America saw itself,” Biden said in a statement. “The son of tomato farmers in the Bahamas, Sidney became the first Black man to win the Academy Award for Best Actor — but the trail he blazed extended leaps and bounds beyond his background or profession. He blazed...

Have Democrats found the issue on which they can break what’s left of Senate traditions and parlay a 50-50 split into partisan domination? It’s far from clear that anything will be enough to move the two recalcitrant members of their caucus — Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., — to change their minds about voting to change the chamber’s rules that require a majority of 60 in order to invoke cloture and end filibusters. But if anything will do it, it might be the claim that passing their game-changing federal voting rights bill is the only way to...

CNN’s chief media correspondent Brian Stelter said Friday on “Newsroom” that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) begging for forgiveness from Tucker Carlson is evidence the Fox News host is the new Donald Trump. Stelter said, “Cruz folded like a paper airplane. I think what it shows is the Republican messaging about being tough on crime, which is something that’s gone back decades that Cruz was trying to lean into, has come up against this denial of the January 6 crime. So you have Tucker Carlson trying to take a position that what we saw with our own eyes didn’t really happen....

Kapuche lake is the world’s lowest glacier lake located at kaski district (NEPAL). Near From POKHARA.Impressive video of a high mountain avalanche. Skip to 1:00. Video Here.

New Mexico authorities on Thursday said they were working with police in New York state to obtain Alec Baldwin's cellphone after the actor failed to give up to despite a search warrant to seize it. The Santa Fe Sheriff's Office and New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney's Office are 'actively working' with the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department, New York, and Baldwin's lawyers to get any materials on the phone pertaining to their investigation, according to a press release. -snip- A lawyer for Baldwin did not respond to requests for comment as to why the actor has not yet handed over...

Right now, all eyes are on the Supreme Court as it hears arguments on the legality of President Joe Biden’s administration’s vaccine mandate for private businesses. The Justices began hearing arguments on Friday and some of the liberal judges shared some ridiculous thoughts on what they believed were facts regarding COVID-19, The Federalist reported. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) rolled out its emergency temporary standard demanding that private employers with 100 or more employees require vaccinations at the request of the Biden administration late last year. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary stay, however, preventing...

A warrant was issued for a Houston mother who stuffed her Covid-positive teenager in the trunk of her car to ‘prevent herself from getting exposed’ to the China virus. 42-year-old Sarah Beam was at a Covid testing site on January 3 when officials learned her teen child was in the trunk of the car. According to charging documents, Beam put her child in the trunk to prevent herself from being exposed to Covid. Beam is facing child endangerment charges. Fox News reported that Beam is a teacher at Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District and was placed on administrative leave. Fox 26...

By now you know — not from the TV networks, of course — that bloodthirsty Muslim terrorist Dzhokar A. Tsarnaev got a nice $1,400 welfare check from his fellow Democrats last June. COVID relief, they call it. Delivered right to his cell on Death Row at the Supermax in Florence, Colo. Nothing surprising about that, of course. The Joker, as he’s known, was born in a Third World hellhole and spent his entire life here on welfare after sneaking into the country with his grifting family claiming that they needed “asylum.” Tsarnaev used those hundreds of thousands of dollars in...

On Friday, the Supreme Court heard arguments about the constitutionality of President Joe Biden's Wuhan coronavirus vaccine mandates for private companies with more than 100 employees. In September 2021, Biden tasked OSHA with implementing and enforcing the mandates. In the time since, the administration has been sued by multiple parties. During questioning, liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor made a number of false statements about the vaccine's ability to prevent transmission of the virus. While it may protect against death or hospitalization, the vaccine does not prevent transmission. "They continue to work well for Delta, with regard to severe illness and death...

As a footnote to yesterday’s leftist jamboree about January 6, let’s note the signs and symbols that the left is waaaayyy overreaching with this. I hope they keep up with this narrative, as it is certain to alienate more and more Americans, even ones with little or no sympathy for Trump. (There are several surveys, in fact, finding a majority of the public regards the events of last January 6 to be a protest that got out of hand.)

Let's have some fun!

Park Superintendent Cam Sholly first raised concerns last September about wolves dying near the park borderTwenty of Yellowstone National Park's renowned gray wolves roamed from the park and were shot by hunters in recent months — the most killed by hunting in a single season since the predators were reintroduced to the region more than 25 years ago, according to park officials. Fifteen wolves were shot after roaming across the park's northern border into Montana, according to figures released to The Associated Press. Five more died in Idaho and Wyoming. Park officials said in a statement to AP that the...

Delivery times for chips jumped in December, signaling the semiconductor shortage is worsening into the new year, according to research by Susquehanna Financial Group. On average, lead times increased six days to approximately 25.8 weeks last month compared with November. This is the longest wait time since the firm began monitoring the data in 2017. As a refresher, lead time is the gap between when a semiconductor is ordered and delivered. An increase would suggest chip shortages are persisting, and declines would indicate easing. “The rate of lead time expansion has been choppy, but picked up again in December,” Susquehanna...

HOUSTON – A mother has been charged after her 13-year-old son was found in the trunk of her car at a Cy-Fair ISD drive-thru COVID testing site, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office confirmed. Sarah Beam has been charged with endangering a child. Cy-Fair ISD Police Department said a warrant has been issued for her arrest. According to court documents, on Jan. 3, Beam pulled into the drive-thru testing site located at 11355 Falcon Road in northwest Harris County, when a witness reported hearing something in the trunk. The witness said when Beam unlatched the trunk, the boy was found...

This is the smoking gun that proves Tennis Australia wrongly — and knowingly — told the world’s best tennis players, including Novak Djokovic, how they could play in the first grand slam of the year even though they knew the proper rules for players who were unvaccinated against Covid was not as clear cut. An information sheet, obtained by News Corp, was emailed by Tennis Australia to the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) early last month, then passed on to the world’s top players. The document shows that Tennis Australia informed players there was a two-step process to follow so...

President Biden said Friday that Americans will have to learn to live with COVID-19 long-term but that things will “be better” — despite CDC Director Rochelle Walensky warning that US coronavirus cases are poised to hit new record highs almost two years into the pandemic. Biden erroneously told reporters his team is in the process of acquiring “500,000” tests to fight the highly contagious Omicron variant, misstating the actual figure of 500 million.

"Mattress Mack," also known as Houston furniture store owner Jim McIngvale, has placed a $1.2 million bet on the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide (+125) to defeat the No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs in the College Football Playoff National Championship (Jan. 10, 8 p.m. ET on ESPN). Should he win the bet, placed through Caesars Sportsbook, McIngvale would win $1.5 million. Mattress Mack said Georgia (-3) being listed as an early favorite got his attention and created a promotion at his stores tied to Alabama.

Abstract Policy makers and mainstream news anchors have promised the public that the COVID-19 vaccine rollout worldwide would reduce symptoms, and thereby cases and deaths associated with COVID-19. While this vaccine rollout is still in progress, there is a large amount of public data available that permits an analysis of the effect of the vaccine rollout on COVID-19 related cases and deaths. Has this public policy treatment produced the desired effect? One manner to respond to this question can begin by implementing a Bayesian causal analysis comparing both pre- and post-treatment periods. This study analyzed publicly available COVID-19 data from...

Citigroup has told its workforce that employees who refuse to get vaccinated and don't have an exemption will be fired.Employees with the New York-based investment bank will be placed on unpaid leave if they don’t comply with the companywide mandate by Jan. 14, with their employment being terminated at the end of the month. Employees are allowed to apply for religious or medical exemptions.

Citigroup Inc. workers who refuse to comply with the company’s vaccine mandate by Jan. 14 will be fired, Bloomberg reports. They will be put on unpaid leave and released from employment at the end of January. Employees will be required to sign an agreement stating that they will not pursue legal action against Citigroup to receive year-end bonus payments. Some workers will still receive certain payments.