Free Republic

Stacey Abrams: a smut novelist, failed gubernatorial candidate, activist huckster and sometimes a smart politician who can at least read the electoral tea leaves when they’re glaringly transparent. Abrams has made a career out of selling the non-issue that voters in Georgia and across America are being disenfranchised by voting laws that are racist and biased against Democratic voters. Despite her limited success in transforming any voting laws, she has shown a remarkable ability to enrich her personal fortune by owning two homes worth $1.4 million. That’s not bad for someone who claims to represent the disenfranchised. You can argue...

It all started with a simple admission. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla joined Yahoo Finance’s Anjalee Khemlani to discuss vaccines, boosters, and Omicron. He admitted what we already know based on the results we’ve been seeing, but in doing so he opened up a can of worms. Here’s what he said, emphasis added: “So — and we know that the two doses of the vaccine offer very limited protection, if any. The three doses, with the booster, they offer reasonable protection against hospitalization and deaths — and, again, that’s, I think, very good — and less protection against the infection.” This...

This is like the Samuel Beckett play “Waiting For Godot.” Except we are waiting for Jerome Powell and The Federal Reserve to do something. December’s consumer price index (CPI) is out and its a doozy, though expected. The CPI year-over-year (YoY) rose 7% in December. If we exclude food and energy, CPI rose by 5.5% YoY. Thanks to Biden’s assault on the energy sector, energy prices are up nearly 50% YoY. REAL average hourly earnings YoY? It has crashed to -2.32%. And with 7% inflation, the Taylor Rule model suggests a Fed Funds Target rate of … 17.84%. Bear in...

Supply line troubles between Japan and North America rob fans of breakfast bliss. It was with great sadness that McDonald’s Japan suspended sales of medium and large-size orders of French fries in mid-December, but the nation’s spud supporters soldiered through the dark days thanks to the promise that this was only a temporary measure until the end of the year. Unfortunately, that ray of hope was extinguished a few days ago when McDonald’s announced that the fry rationing measures will continue until approximately the end of January as a result of the chain’s continuing potato shortage. Now comes more sad...

Boosters "not something that we can think should be repeated constantly" – European Medicines Agency" Marco Cavaleri ----------------------------------------------------------- Regulators in the European Union warned recently that receiving frequent COVID-19 booster shots could have an adverse affect on the immune system. According to the European Medicines Agency, receiving a booster every four months could ultimately weaken an individual's immune system. For that reason, the agency is recommending that countries space out booster campaigns and have them correspond with the onset of cold and flu season. The recommendation arrives as a number of countries contemplate offering residents another round of booster shots...

I have no positive spin to put on this, no spiritual sounding platitude to soften the blow. This is a loss, a terrible, tragic loss. And I believe God Himself grieves over it. Evil COVID has killed again. I first met Brad Kauffman in the mid-1980s while teaching at a Bible school on Long Island. He was just 17 and I was only 28, and he would sometimes babysit for our two daughters. Brad had a very tender heart and was a tremendously gifted worship leader, piano player, singer, and songwriter. And as the years went on, he would sometimes...

The Rays announced this evening that bullpen catcher Jean Ramirez has passed away at age 28. A late-round pick out of Illinois State in the 2016 draft, Ramirez played three seasons in Tampa Bay’s farm system before being released. Soon afterwards, however, the club rehired Ramirez for a new role as the bullpen catcher on the big league club, opening a door towards the coaching career Ramirez looked to establish. “He brought so much passion and energy each day to our clubhouse and bullpen, and his love for the Rays and baseball was evident to all. He had the biggest...

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It's been the "silver bullet" that so many have embraced. But what do we really know about monoclonal antibodies? Are they really better than the vaccines or are they just another experiment that's bound to go awry? ========================================= There’s an odd disconnect among many who are opposed to the Covid-19 “vaccines.” We generally pan the experimental drugs for a wide variety of reasons ranging from the clear health risks and lack of efficacy all the way to many conspiracy theories that the jabs are just tools for depopulation. Some are opposed for religious reasons. Others are opposed out of pure...

Remember how, after the fall of Kabul, we were promised Taliban 2.0? It was going to be a softer, gentler theocracy -- one which was going to include a multitude of voices in government and which definitely wouldn't be embracing terrorism like it did during its first tenure running the country of Afghanistan. Yes, well, about that: A report states the group, currently the de facto government of Afghanistan, has now threatened to send 2,000 suicide bombers to Washington, D.C. And yet, there's nary a peep out of President Joe Biden's administration. It's not that we couldn't have seen this...

Waiter, there’s a juxtaposition in my soup. I lead a busy life of failing tests and drinking worm poo, so it’s important to value every minute of the day. For example, I love a bowl of ramen and an ice cream cone as much as anyone, but who has the time these days? So I was pleased to learn that a ramen restaurant in the heart of Osaka offers spicy miso ramen with an cream cone on top, perfect for a young urban professional like myself. The restaurant is named Franken and is located near Honamachi Station in the northern...

Leading British and US scientists thought it was likely that Covid accidentally leaked from a laboratory but were concerned that further debate would harm science in China, emails show. An email from Sir Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, on February 2 2020 said that “a likely explanation” was that Covid had rapidly evolved from a Sars-like virus inside human tissue in a low-security lab. The email, to Dr Anthony Fauci and Dr Francis Collins of the US National Institutes of Health, went on to say that such evolution may have “accidentally created a virus primed for rapid transmission...

In late December, the Voice of America reported that Hong Kong's Dec. 19, 2021, election had "almost completely eliminated pro-democracy voices from the former British colony's Legislative Council" -- colloquially called the Legco. VOA's evidence: pro-Beijing candidates and their local allies took 89 of the council's 90 seats. I prefer the word "took," for in this faux election "won" is a propaganda deceit. In March 2021, the process of choosing Legco members changed. Chinese Communist Party selection replaced election. Seventy seats were "reserved for candidates picked by influential members of industry groups and by a committee of Beijing loyalists." That's...

One of the main reasons Sen. Joe Manchin said he could not vote for President Joe Biden's "Build Back Better" bill is his concern about inflation. Manchin is worried the bill would increase deficits and debt and fuel even more inflation, which is now rising faster than it has in 40 years. Manchin's concerns about inflation are confirmed by two recent studies. They show inflation costs the average U.S. household an incredible $5,000 a year.

BREAKING: Gov. Jim Justice has tested positive for the coronavirus. https://t.co/YjJw5NF73B — MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) January 12, 2022 CHARLESTON — Gov. Jim Justice has tested positive for the coronavirus. The Governor’s Office late Tuesday announced Justice opted to get tested after experiencing “the sudden onset of symptoms,” including congestion and coughing. Justice is fully vaccinated, and he has received a booster dose. He is experiencing mild symptoms and remains isolated at home. Justice said in a statement he was feeling “extremely unwell at this point.” “While I was surprised that my test results came back positive, I’m thankful to the Lord...

At a Senate hearing Tuesday titled "Domestic Terrorism Threat One Year After January 6," Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen explained why he created a new unit focused on domestic terrorism. "We have seen a growing threat from those who are motivated by racial animus, as well as those who ascribe to extremist anti-government and anti-authority ideologies," Olsen said. Olsen affirmed that the events that occurred on Jan. 6 are being investigated as acts of domestic terrorism. At the hearing, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, pointed out that 75% of domestic terrorism cases during the Summer 2020 riots were attributed to "anarchist...

Last January, newly elected resident Joe Biden pledged to fight racism and unify the nation. Instead, during his first year he's imposed a harsh agenda of racism in everything from distributing pandemic-relief aid to allocating scarce medicines for COVID patients. Racial favoritism is affecting every way Americans are treated by this administration. New guidance from Biden's Food and Drug Administration instructs states to reserve monoclonal antibody drugs for patients with medical risk factors such as obesity and kidney disease. But here's the catch: The FDA is also urging race and ethnicity to be considered risk factors, apart from medical condition....

Christianity is growing in Punjab, mirroring what states like Tamil Nadu experienced in the 1980s and 1990s. Small churches are springing up on the rooftops of many villages.Amritsar/Gurdaspur: Atop a roof in an obscure gully in Fatehgarh Churian, a Pentecostal church is in full swing. “Rabba rabba rabba rabba, pita parmeshwar teri aatma rahe… rabba rabba rabba rabba rabba…” a young boy raps into the mic, boosted to its maximum volume, adding to the trippy and eerie mood. The pastor places his hand on the heads of disciples as they shake violently. Some faint, others cry. But all are waiting...

A young man who looks like a teenager walks into a liquor store and pulls a bottle of cheap whiskey off a shelf. He puts it down at the checkout counter and pulls out his wallet. The clerk at the counter looks at him skeptically. "Can I see your ID?" he asks. "Yes," says the young man, who instantly takes his driver's license out of his wallet and hands it to the clerk. The driver's license indicates to the clerk that the customer in front of him had turned 21 two months ago. He sells him the cheap whiskey. Then...

The big front page story in the New York newspapers the past couple of days has been the fire on Sunday in an apartment building in The Bronx that has killed some 19 people so far — with as many as 30 more in the hospital with life-threatening injuries. This loss of life in a fire is the greatest in New York since a 1990 fire at a nightclub in The Bronx (which killed more than 80). So what kind of apartment building was this? Is there anything we should know about it? Look up the coverage in the New...