Free Republic

The latest example of why people shouldn't blindly follow 'the science...as decreed by bureaucrats', arrived Friday, when Bloomberg reported that a study undertaken by the British government to justify forcing children to wear masks in schools has forced them to admit that the evidence for the efficacy of face masks stopping the spread of COVID-19 in schools is "not conclusive."Data from the Department of Education stated that whilst not conclusive, there are now a number of scientific studies which consider the association between COVID-19 and the use of face coverings specifically in education.The study cited by the department didn’t provide...

With her husband Alan, Marilyn Bergman crafted some of the most memorable songs of the last century, including "The Way We Were"Marilyn Bergman, the Oscar-winning lyricist who teamed with husband Alan Bergman on “The Way We Were,” “How Do You Keep the Music Playing?” and hundreds of other songs, died at her Los Angeles home Saturday. She was 93. She died of respiratory failure not related to COVID-19, according to a representative, Jason Lee. Her husband was at her bedside when she died. The Bergmans, who married in 1958, were among the most enduring, successful and productive songwriting partnerships, specializing...

University of Pennsylvania transgender swimmer Lia Thomas won the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle and finished in fifth place in the 100-yard freestyle during the school’s tri-meet with Yale and Dartmouth. Thomas finished about two seconds ahead of her opponents with a time of 1:48.73 in the 200 freestyle. She missed out on setting an NCAA record held by Olympian Missy Franklin, who finished the event in 1:39.10 in 2015. Thomas wasn’t as dominant as she was at the Zippy Invitational at Akron last month.

The Drudge Report made its name by making life hell for Democrats in the White House. But over the past several months, the website, named after its infamous and enigmatic founder MATT DRUDGE, has continued the surprising trend that emerged during the 2020 presidential campaign: Taking a relatively muted editorial stance on JOE BIDEN. Readers who visited Drudge on the morning of Dec. 10, found a patriotic graphic of Biden splashed against an American flag leading the site. Headlines on that day touted the “lowest jobless claims in 50 years,” “Biden delivering fastest recovery in history?” and quotes from CNBC...

Here's just the latest example of why forcing health-care workers to get vaccines and boosters - like the State of New York is still doing - is an untenable policy at best, and a stepping stone to disaster at worse.Bloomberg reports that a chain of nursing homes in Iowa has just been forced into bankruptcy, placing even more strain on the creaking local health-care system, due to "crippling" staff shortages.Court documents reflect how the company, QHC Facilities LLC, which hosts a total of 750 beds across its 8 nursing homes and two assisted living facilities, has been devastated by the...

Unsuspecting skiers taking the chair-lift at a North Carolina mountain resort received the coldest of showers after another skier bowled over a buried water hydrant, shooting a geyser of freezing water more than 50 feet into the air. A harrowing video captured one skier at Beech Mountain ski resort getting battered by the powerful blast of frigid water for nearly a minute on Friday. The nonstop spray buffeted the suspended skier and the person was seen dangling from the chair-lift before finally getting to safety. The incident started after a skier knocked over a hydrant used for snow-making near the...

NEW YORK—Chinese state media Xinhua is running digital billboards in one of the world’s most coveted ad spaces to promote goods from Xinjiang amid rising global outcry over the regime’s campaign of repression in the region.In New York City’s Times Square just before Christmas, a giant screen measuring about 64 feet high and 40 feet wide repeatedly played a video by Xinhua, depicting Shihezi, one of the largest cities in Xinjiang, as a thriving “green” city.The 30-second video touted Shihezi as an “epitome” of China’s green development efforts, with “sweet fruits, intoxicating wines, a green city image, and a happy...

Back on March 25, 2020, at the start of the COVID pandemic, then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order that required nursing homes to accept COVID-positive patients. This was despite it being known — even at that point — that seniors were the most vulnerable population. After that order, thousands died in the nursing homes in New York. Cuomo later tried to cover that up, by changing the way that the deaths were counted, as I reported in May of 2020. Once the numbers started getting attention, suddenly, the way New York was counting the deaths changed. They...

"I really want to *iss them off, we will continue to do so"- French President Emmanuel Macron Speaks About The Unvaccinated In Newspaper Interview As the new strict vaccine passport that only allows for vaccination or recovery fronm COVID in order to be valid moved through France's National Assembly this week, President Macron minced no words whe asked about the unvaccinated by "Le Parisien". A snap poll showed 53 percent of the French shocked by Macron's comment. A snap poll showed 53 percent of the French shocked by Macron's comment. Regardless the vaccine passport passed the National Assembly 214-93 with...

Joe Biden and the Democrats need to give up the ghost on Build Back Better already. But the Democrats just don’t seem to be able to quit it. I guess the bottom line is that they don’t have much to promote themselves for re-election with, as we go into the midterms. They don’t have much that they can pitch to their base that they’ve done that’s positive. Not that BBB would be positive, but the leftist base would like it.But if the last word from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) wasn’t enough on Tuesday saying it’s not happening, now there’s more.On...

The governor of Tennessee says the University of Memphis is canceling a program that offered financial incentives to professors for infusing "social justice" into their courses. Gov. Bill Lee (R., Tenn.) contacted the public university immediately after learning about the new program, first reported on by the Washington Free Beacon, which offered faculty $3,000 to redesign their curricula to align with the university's "diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice" commitments. The governor said the program will not be carried out. "The University of Memphis informed my office that the initiative will not move forward," Lee told the Free Beacon. "We...

Suleimani's daughter introduces: 'Death to America but not to the American smartphone'. A picture that resonates among her father's 'lovers' in the background of the second anniversary of his assassination by the United Statespic.twitter.com/c9et2fL0YP— roi kais • روعي كايس • רועי קייס (@kaisos1987) January 3, 2022

A systematic review scrutinized 21 supposed treatments for hangovers.Not that I don't love my go-to hangover meal — a fried chicken sandwich — but I'm also under no illusion that it will do what I really want it to do: literally cure my hangover. On the worst of mornings, the elusive hangover cure might seem like medicine's holy grail. And as you grasp your head, you may wonder if a cure exists and you simply haven't yet stumbled upon it. But take nauseous comfort in this: New research out of the United Kingdom found no convincing evidence that any of...

As the Supreme Court debated federal authority to impose a vaccine requirement on workers, the nine justices could not help but reveal their varying sentiments about the depth of America's Covid-19 pandemic and the value of vaccines. "We know that the best way to prevent spread is for people to get vaccinated," Justice Elena Kagan said, "and to prevent dangerous illness and death is for people to get vaccinated. That is by far the best. The second best is to wear masks." That view was not universally shared. Justice Clarence Thomas, a conservative, took a different tack than liberal Kagan...

The omicron variant and a heavy winter storm have temporarily reduced staffing in Philadelphia public schools, leading more than 40 to switch to remote learning starting Monday. At least 46 public schools in the Philadelphia School District will be "100%" remote from Jan. 10 to Jan. 14, the superintendent of Philadelphia's school district, William Hite, said in a statement released on Friday.

Sooner or later COVID will wane and probably become endemic — that is, part of life, like the flu. And with that, the newfound power of public-health technocrats would wane. They know this, and it does not make them happy. So, advocacy has commenced to establish a “new normal” — gosh, I hate that term — that would not restore society simply to a state of accepting respiratory illness as a part of life, but rather, keep us continually obsessed with the presence and prevention of illness. Toward this end, bioethicist Ezekiel Emanuel and two co-authors wrote three advocacy columns...

You knew this fight was coming. Omicron is everywhere. It’s highly contagious. At this point, everyone is going to get it eventually. It’s not something that should cause embarrassment or shame. That feeling is only present because liberals decided to inject their moral superiority complex into this mess. The red states were the idiots. The rural folks were the morons who got COVID, not us. The elites took every word Fauci said as gospel. They wore 16 masks at a time. They wore moon suits. And the liberal Northeast is teeming with COVID. We’re breaking COVID records daily. Everyone is...

Places with highest daily reported cases per capita Seven-day average of daily new reported cases per 100,000 residents

Has anyone else been experiencing a pet food shortage? I see the shelves at pet stores and pet supply stores have empty spaces, especially for kitten food. I used to be able to find Purina ProPlan kitten food with no problem, but lately I can only find a couple of flavors--of course, the ones my kitten is not particularly fond of. I also tried Chewy and Amazon, and their selection of PPP kitten food also consists of only a couple of flavors. Let's go Brandon!

The Vikings are expected to move on from head coach Mike Zimmer this week, league sources said, though longtime general manager Rick Spielman is likely to remain with the organization. Zimmer has been in Minnesota since 2014 and quickly helped turn the franchise around, though he is 7-9 for the second straight year. With one game to play this season, their playoff hopes are gone.