Free Republic

Sen. Joe Manchin has yanked his proposal for a $1.8 trillion compromise on President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan off the table, according to reports — potentially the final nail in the coffin of the Democratic Party’s signature social-spending agenda. The West Virginia Democrat’s about-face was reported Saturday by the Washington Post, citing three unnamed sources with knowledge of the matter.

Whatever the technological promise or pitfalls of electric vehicles, the real challenge lies in getting consumers eager to buy them. And that’s proven to be at least as difficult as making batteries last and building out a comprehensive charging infrastructure. A new report from the big-time, grownup pants Deloitte consulting firm indicates just how big an undertaking that is proving to be. Deloitte’s touchingly named “2022 Global Automotive Consumer Study” goes into granular detail about the buyer expectations that will drive the automotive market in the coming years. It’s all based on a survey of 26,000 consumers in 25 countries....

Public Health Officer Matt Willis and Deputy Public Health Officer Dr. Lisa Santora speak out on requirements to get boosted. The evidence doesn't matter and no questions will be tolerated.Steve Kirsch2 hr ago Here is synopsis of Marin Health meeting from 2 nights ago (from a parent).Basically, the public health officers do whatever the hell they want, they refuse to answer questions from the audience, and none of this is based on solid science, and nobody can stop them. Welcome to 2022. Coming to your town soon (if not already).Matt Willis presented charts and graphs. One was very interesting but...

Who knew that historians were such drama queens? We do now. Although it never has been a secret that historians run in left wing circles their rank partisanship has never been on such glaring display. Michael Beschloss says Americans may have to choose between democracy and tyranny! Not only that, but he claims not all Americans believe in democracy! Jon Meacham: “What you saw a year ago today was the worst instincts of both human nature and American politics. And it’s either a step on the way to the abyss or it is a call to arms figuratively for citizens...

A letter penned by a young Army sergeant in Germany to his mother in Woburn was lost in the mail for 76 years until finally being delivered last month. On Dec. 6, 1945, 22-year-old Sgt. John Gonsalves wrote to his mother, sending his well wishes and hopes of returning home soon.

Alec Baldwin has said any suggestion that he is not complying with a search warrant for his phone is a “lie” and feels the only way the death of Halyna Hutchins can be honoured is to “find out the truth”. Authorities in the US issued a warrant in December for the actor’s mobile phone to be seized and searched, as part of the ongoing investigation into the death of Hutchins. It is believed there may be evidence on the phone relevant to the incident in which a prop gun went off, fatally injuring the 42-year-old cinematographer on the Rust film...

Many of the military conflicts around the world exist in nations that do not have the capacity to make sophisticated weapons. Most of these are in Africa and the Middle East. These include conflicts in Nigeria and Ethiopia. Largest conflicts involving regime change. This includes Iraq. In the case of Iraq, American forces left behind weapons that can still be used. There are countries that believe they need protection against possible conflict, many of which spend hundreds of millions of dollars on weapons. Saudi Arabia and Turkey are good examples. Several nations provide most of these weapons. The United States...

Guards admitting for light sentence of community service that they falsified records of night of "suicide"

Russia responded angrily to a comment by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Kazakhstan might have a hard time getting rid of Russian troops, saying he should reflect instead on U.S. military meddling around the world. This is reported by Reuters. Blinken challenged Russia's justification for sending forces into Kazakhstan after days of violent unrest in the Central Asian country. "One lesson of recent history is that once Russians are in your house, it's sometimes very difficult to get them to leave," Blinken said. Russia's foreign ministry called Blinken's remark "typically offensive" and accused him of joking about tragic...

A senior U.S. official says the United States is open to discussions with Russia on curtailing possible future deployments of offensive missiles in Ukraine and putting limits on U.S. and NATO military exercises in Eastern Europe as part of strategic talks to begin next week. Y MATTHEW LEE, AP Diplomatic Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is open to discussions with Russia on curtailing possible future deployments of offensive missiles in Ukraine and putting limits on U.S. and NATO military exercises in Eastern Europe as part of strategic talks to begin next week, a senior Biden administration official said...

MTG and Gaetz and others were contesting electoral empanelment of states with suspect voting practices, when riot interrupted and upset their effort. Clips montage of Ray Eps in action on 1/6. Justice and FIB are stonewalling requests for info on agents and provocateurs.

Much needed humor.

Megyn Kelly this week laid into bureaucrat “prophet” Dr. Anthony Fauci for “lying” to the American public regarding protocols and realities on all things COVID-related, citing flip-flops on quarantine timelines, cloth masks, and vaccine protection. “The truth is that ’10 days’ [for quarantining] was a made-up standard from the beginning,” Kelly said on her show, referring to the recent change from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to cut back the ten-day quarantine frame to five days, so long as you don’t have symptoms. “As was the six-feet distancing rule,” Kelly continued, “as was the cloth mask rule,...

A recent report from U-Haul revealed migration to southern states has continued and Texas was the top destination for those moving. “California and Illinois ranked as the states with the greatest one-way net loss of U-Haul trucks, and most of that traffic appears to have gone to Texas and Florida,” Fox Business reported on Friday.

Martin Walsh from Conservative Brief reports, Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis mocked Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for visiting Florida amid what he called “draconian policies” in her home state of New York.

DES MOINES (KWWL) - Iowa OSHA, the body that regulates workplace safety in our state, has said it will not enforce the federal vaccine mandate, regardless of what the Supreme Court decides. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Friday regarding the Emergency Temporary Standard for all employers with over 100 employees to either be vaccinated or do regular COVID-19 testing. President Biden announced the plan in September but it has been slow to take hold due to several legal challenges.

New coronavirus strain was identified in Cyprus as stated tonight in the Cypriot media by the professor of the Department of Biological Sciences of the University of Cyprus, Dr. Leontios Kostrikis. The Professor according to what the website broadcast sigmalive.com, claims it is a mutation Deltacron identified in 25 cases and it appears that the strains have a genetic background of mutation Delta. “We found a large number of variants identified only in Omicron with differences in other strains because its genome has 30 different variants. From these the 10 variants of Omicron were identified in the incidents we identified...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Two-time champion Alysa Liu withdrew from the U.S. Figure Skating Championships after testing positive for COVID-19 on Friday, less than a day after a third-place finish in the short program put her in position to make the Olympic team. The 16-year-old Liu is at least the fifth competitor to test positive for the virus in the run-up and during nationals, and the third that was expected to make the team for the Beijing Games. The pairs tandem of Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier dropped out the day before the start of competition when he returned a positive...

Unschooled beyond fourth grade in the Bahamas, sent to America by his parents at 14 to save him from a life of crime, shot in the leg at 16 during a 1943 race riot in Harlem, Poitier worked hard jobs as a menial laborer and an Army hospital orderly before he happened to spot an audition notice for the Negro Ensemble Theater. He was dismissed by the NET due to a thick accent and halting reading skills — and thereupon began the process of willing himself into becoming the most important American black pop culture figure of the 20th century....

Blue states currently lead the U.S. in the daily average of coronavirus cases per capita, according to Saturday’s data. According to the New York Times’ coronavirus tracker, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Washington, DC, lead the U.S. in the daily average of coronavirus cases per capita. Rhode Island currently stands at 413 per 100,000, followed by New York with 362 and New Jersey with 351.