Free Republic

Recommendations for a temporary mask mandate were rejected by university curators Tuesday morning. UM System President Mun Choi asked curators to enact a two-week masking requirement in classrooms, labs, offices and public buildings when attendance was required and social distancing was not possible. The board voted 3-6 against the recommendation. When the first recommendation failed, he asked for a policy to require masks only in classrooms and labs, with masks strongly encouraged in other indoor spaces, applied during the same two-week period. That recommendation also failed, by a vote of 2-7.

Researchers have long wondered what created this "superbubble." Now, a new study suggests that at least 15 powerful star explosions inflated this cosmic bubble. Astronomers in the 1970s first discovered the gigantic void, known as the Local Bubble, after realizing that no stars had formed inside the blob for around 14 million years. The only stars inside the bubble either existed before the bubble emerged or formed outside the void and are now passing through; the sun is one such trespasser. This setup had suggested that several supernovas were responsible for this void. Those stellar explosions, the researchers said, would...

January’s Beige Book was once again headlined by the utterly useless comment that “economic activity across the United States expanded at a modest pace in the final weeks of 2021” that has come to reflect the snoozy name of the report. And while we saw recurring and familiar themes mentioned over and over, including supply chain issues and labor shortages, the report noted some signs of easing inflation perhaps as a result of Omicron (which was mentioned no less than 44 times) began to hit activity. That said, there were few big picture surprises, with the report noting that growth...

“Failure is not an option for the democracy of America,” the New York Democrat said at a Tuesday press conference with other Senate Democrats. “We’re running out of time.” Schumer has repeatedly vowed in recent days to pass voting rights legislation, and if it is blocked by Republicans as expected, to consider a change in the Senate’s current filibuster rules. The evenly divided Senate requires 60 votes for legislation to advance, and Democrats have talked about a carve-out for voting rights, a talking filibuster or some other kind of revision short of entirely killing the filibuster. But Schumer also faced...

Today, I heard two local, small town radio DJs going on about rate hikes coming down the pike, and I thought wow here we are again with rate-hike-hysteria. Eight years ago I posted an article, Interest Rates Cannot Rise, Here’s Why In that article I depicted my model, forecasting that interest rates would not and could not rise. Now remember 2014 was the peak messaging period by the Fed and Wall Street gearing up for “rate normalization”. So to go on record stating that rate normalization was impossible, was a risky move. In fact, a friend, who is a friend...

The Pfizer COVID shot has done “more harm than good,” according to research released by the Canadian COVID Care Alliance (CCCA).A CCCA-produced video and an accompanying 50-page PDF presentation provides a deep dive into data released by Pfizer concerning the development and testing of their COVID shots.The report by the CCCA is heavily cited, and all citations are available for the reader or viewer in the PDF, which can be found here.At the outset of the presentation, the CCCA video quantifies and contextualizes Pfizer’s claims about the risk reduction. As the vaccines were being unveiled to the public, Pfizer said...

At a speech in Georgia yesterday, President Biden charged all U.S. Senators with deciding “where they stand, not just for the moment, but for the ages.” The Senate filibuster, which Biden defended passionately in 2005 and again last year, is now apparently a neo-segregationist atrocity because it stands in the way of the president’s legislative agenda. Biden wants federal power to veto election laws in certain states, because he is on the right side of history. Of course this means if you oppose him, you are on the wrong side. “At consequential moments in history, they present a choice,” he...

former girlfriend of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) testified before a federal grand jury on Wednesday as part of a sex crimes investigation into the congressman, according to NBC News. The House Republican is reportedly being investigated for several possible crimes, including obstruction of justice, the sex trafficking of a minor and violating the Mann Act, a federal law barring the transportation of prostitutes between states or countries, legal sources familiar with the investigation told the network.

My husband forwarded this to me. This is real.

Although President Joe Biden’s policies on ending the coronavirus pandemic and fixing supply chain problems are failing, the media are blaming American workers for empty shelves in grocery stores. “Empty shelves have returned at supermarkets as grocery employees call out sick and truckloads of food arrive late,” CNBC said in a report that said nothing about Biden’s policies or Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s responsibilities.

In a sharply divided country, Americans agree on this: the bigger danger to the United States comes from within. Seventy-six percent say they think political instability within the country is a bigger danger to the United States compared to the 19 percent who think other countries that are adversaries of the United States are the bigger danger, according to a Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pea-ack) University national poll of adults released today. Democrats say 83 - 13 percent, independents say 78 - 19 percent, and Republicans say 66 - 29 percent that political instability in the U.S. is the bigger danger. A majority...

The CEO of America's largest bank has threatened to dismiss about 450 of its New York City-based employees who have not been vaccinated against the coronavirus. JPMorgan chairman and chief executive Jamie Dimon said this week that employees working at the company's Manhattan headquarters cannot come to the office if they have not received their jabs, adding those who remain unvaccinated will not have the option to work remotely indefinitely. 'To go to the office you have to be vaxxed and if you aren't going to get vaxxed you won't be able to work in that office,' Dimon, who has...

Representative Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Stephanie Ruhle Reports” that he believed the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021 riot on the U.S. Capitol would “get the right narrative” so future generations would not think what happened was “legit.” Kinzinger said, “All we want is answers. It’s not like, you know, there’s anything nefarious here besides let’s find out what the truth is, and we will. I’m convinced that the January 6th committee will get the truth.”

being an old yankee, this is a tip for those who are going to experience this storm and do not live in areas where they always get snow

SOURCE — DAILY SIGNAL A tiny administrative agency in DC announced a new policy Tuesday that will likely serve as a model for a whole-of-government push to assemble lists of Americans who object on religious grounds to a COVID vaccine. The Pretrial Services Agency for the District of Columbia—a federal independent entity that assists officers in the District of Columbia courts in formulating release recommendations and providing supervision and services to defendants awaiting trial—announced a new records system that will store the names and “personal religious information” of all employees who make “religious accommodation requests for religious exception from the...

Could a third time be the charm for Hillary Clinton? That’s the case made by two prominent Democrats who claim a “perfect storm” of President Biden’s plummeting job approval ratings, Vice President Kamala Harris’ own unpopularity and the commander-in-chief’s advanced age could provide an opening for the former first lady and secretary of state. ​ “She is already in an advantageous position to become the 2024 Democratic nominee,” political consultant Doug Schoen and former Manhattan Borough President Andrew Stein write in Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal of the 74-year-old Clinton. “She is an experienced national figure who is younger than Mr....

Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Antonio Brown is feeling a bit remorseful over his sideline meltdown at MetLife Stadium during the team’s Week 17 matchup against the New York Jets. Brown was heading to a dinner with Kanye West at a popular West Hollywood restaurant on Monday night when he told TMZ Sports that undressing on the sideline before throwing the rest of his gear into the stands was probably not the best idea. "It probably wasn't necessary or professional," he said as he signed autographs and stopped for pictures on the way into dinner. Antonio Brown wipes his...

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN (WABC) -- Police are searching for two suspects involved in a violent attack in Midtown. Surveillance video released by the NYPD shows the brawl on Broadway. It happened on Friday, January 7 at 8:35 p.m. Police say it started when the 41-year-old victim was entering a CVS and a woman asked him for money. He declined and when he left the store, he was confronted by the woman and a man. The man threw a liquid in his face and knocked him to the ground. Police say the attacker stabbed him two times in the back before stealing...

General Question - Can anyone site Covid breakthrough cases with un-vaccinated people with natural immunity from prior infection?

On Wednesday's CNN New Day, co-host John Berman was beside himself with joy as he repeatedly suggested that Donald Trump accused Florida Governor Ron DeSantis of being "gutless." Meanwhile, signs of significant Democratic losses in the upcoming midterm elections were ignored. Berman's unbridled glee came during a segment during which he played a clip of Trump calling some politicians "gutless" for declining to say whether they've had a booster shot. That was followed by a clip of DeSantis being rather careful with his response to a forthright question from Maria Bartiromo as to whether he's had the booster. After CNN...