Free Republic

Young children — those younger than 5 — have been newly hospitalized with COVID-19 at higher rates than at any point in the pandemic, according to federal data. Health officials say the rising numbers among children are the result of the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, which is much more easily transmitted than earlier strains of the coronavirus. Rachel was emblematic of a common occurrence amid the latest surge: She hadn’t come in for COVID-19. She landed here because of another ailment, and then ended up testing positive. (There’s been no known transmission of COVID-19 between children and healthcare...

Computer whiz Danylo Kovzhun has taught his children to handle a pistol. Confectioner Roman Nabozhniak is training colleagues to run his business so he can focus on fighting Russians. Bar owner Vitaliy Kyrychenko keeps his gas tank full in case he needs to get out fast. Ukraine has struggled to maintain a sense of stability since it became an independent country in 1991, and has been at war since 2014. But with 100,000 Russian troops gathered nearby, threatening Europe’s biggest land war since the 1940s, people there say something feels different this time. “It became kind of normal to say,...

It used to be that 90% of the time, you accessed stuff only on your computer’s local network. Then in 1993 at the University of Illinois, Marc Andreessen developed Mosaic, the first internet browser, which allowed users to wander around the World Wide Web 90% of the time. He moved to Silicon Valley and founded Netscape. Mr. Andreessen is now a general partner at a top-decile venture-capital firm, better than 90% of its peers. Andreessen Horowitz recently raised $9 billion in new funds.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—As Russia continues to amass forces to invade Ukraine, sources say Ukrainians are feeling down about the whole situation. To help them deal with a very depressing week, White House Spokesperson Jen Psaki recommended Ukrainians just unwind with some kickboxing classes and margaritas to make themselves feel better. "Listen, I know this is a very sad time," said Psaki. "I want to encourage you to feel those emotions. Then go do some kickboxing, or maybe some hot yoga or pilates, and then drown your sorrows in tequila while at brunch with your girlfriends. Sometimes, that's all you can do!"

Whoopi Goldberg pulled no punches Monday as she went off on comedian Bill Maher for saying he no longer wanted to live in a "paranoid world" when it came to the coronavirus pandemic. "I don’t want to live in your paranoid world anymore, your masked paranoid world. You know, you go out, it’s silly now, you know, you mask, you have to have a card, you have to have a booster, they scan your head. Like you’re a cashier, and I’m a bunch of bananas. I’m not bananas. You are," Maher told a laughing audience during his show "Real Time...

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker joined abortion industry leaders Friday to celebrate the opening of a new call center that will encourage women to travel to Illinois to abort their unborn babies. Instead of addressing the underlying reasons why women seek abortions, including financial struggles, abuse, fear, social pressure and a lack of family support, the call center will help Planned Parenthood and the Hope Clinic for Women, an abortion facility in Granite City, sell more abortions. St. Louis Public Radio reports the purpose of the new call center, located in the Planned Parenthood abortion facility in Fairview Heights, is to...

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has requested an all-member briefing on the evolving situation in Ukraine, her office confirmed to The Hill, amid growing concerns of a Russian military incursion. Pelosi’s office didn’t immediately provide further details of the request, which was first reported by Punchbowl News.

L2 Final Insertion Burn will start at 2:00 PM ET - No live coverage I can find - Also - Scientists and engineers operating NASA's James Webb Space Telescope will answer questions about the mission's latest milestones in a NASA Science Live broadcast at 3 p.m. EST Monday, January 24, followed by a media teleconference at 4 p.m.

Liz Cheney, one of two GOP lawmakers on the House select committee investigating last year’s Capitol riot, slammed former House Speaker Newt Gingrich after he suggested that members of the panel could face legal consequences if Republicans take control of Congress in November’s midterm elections. “I think when you have a Republican Congress, this is all going to come crashing down,” Gingrich​, a Georgia Republican who served as speaker from 1995 to 1999, said on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.” University stands behind course on ‘how to overthrow the state’ Newt Gingrich trapped with wife in Italy during coronavirus lockdown...

Earlier today I ran into some pro-vaccine protesters and I asked how many boosters they would be willing to take “As many as it takes, because I’m not a selfish bastard — if it takes 10, I’ll take 10”(See 1 minute video below) https://twitter.com/RapidFire_Pod/status/1485416078750666756

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) blamed an “illegal gun” in the fatal shooting of NYPD officer Jason Rivera on Friday night. Rivera, 22, was shot and killed and a second officer, Wilbert More, 27, was shot and wounded, Breitbart News reported. The shooting suspect, Lashawn McNeil, 47, opened fire on Rivera and More as they approached him in a long hallway, CBS New York noted. McNeill was then shot twice by a third officer. On Saturday, Hochul tweeted, “Last night, a shot from an illegal gun took the life of a NYPD officer.”

A man in traditional Jewish garb was randomly slugged in Brooklyn over the weekend, authorities said. The 21-year-old victim — who was wearing Hasidic garments — was walking at Troy Avenue and Carroll Street in Crown Heights around 1:20 a.m. Saturday when the suspect approached him from across the street and socked him in the nose, cops said. The assailant didn’t say a word during the assault, police said. The victim was treated at the scene for his injury. The suspect — shown on video walking on the sidewalk past a yellow school bus for Beis Chaya Mushka, a girls’...

UK PM Boris Johnson reportedly had a birthday party during the lockdown. Wife helped organize the "surprise get-together," ITV reports. https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1485678992388730880

Artist's concept of the Radian One spaceplaneRadian Aerospace VIEW 7 IMAGES A new company has entered the commercial space race. Startup Radian Aerospace has emerged from stealth to announce it has secured US$27.5 million in seed funding to develop a single-stage to orbit (SSTO) spaceplane called Radian One, which is designed to lift and land horizontally. The commercial space field has been growing steadily in recent years, with contractors taking over ferrying crews to the International Space Station, launching huge constellations of satellites into orbit, and even sending private missions and tourists into space. In addition, there are plans to...

The stock market has never started a year falling as quickly as it is now. The S&P 500 has dropped 11% — heading into correction territory — in the first 16 trading days of 2022 in its worst-ever start to a year, according to Bloomberg data that goes back over nine decades. The downturn comes as traders brace for the Federal Reserve to tighten monetary policy and a surge in U.S. Treasury yields weighs on the outlook for stocks. A host of technical signals also suggest that more volatility may be coming up ahead. S&P 500's 11% drop in first...

Americans in the Midwest and South – which include some of the poorest states in the nation – are suffering a greater degree of inflation than the rest of the country.Abandoned switching locomotives sit parked on the grounds of the former U.S. Steel McDonald Works steel mill near Youngstown in Campbell, Ohio, U.S., on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2016.According to Bloomberg, small towns in the Midwest and South have seen consumer prices rising 9% or more – exceeding the ‘red-hot’ national average of 7%. Wisconsin has had the most small cities registering inflation, at an average of 8% last quarter. In...

Before there were #couplegoals, there was local actor Pierre Png who famously donated a part of his liver to his then-girlfriend Andrea De Cruz. In 2002, Andrea — a TV actress and host at the time — suffered liver failure after taking Slim 10 slimming pills and Pierre saved her with the donation. It was also the first liver transplant where the Ministry of Health allowed non-related living donors to donate. Cut to December 2021 when Pierre made an Instagram post saying that Andrea's health had taken "a turn for the worst" earlier in the year, but the couple later...

The Trump administration’s sanctions on Iran were working so well that the mullahs were unable to put together the money to pay Iran’s United Nations dues. Then Joe Biden stepped in and paid the debt. The decision of the Biden administration to arrange for the payment of Iran’s dues at the United Nations is being described to us as “a staggering act of appeasement.” That is the phrase used by our sometimes legwoman at the United Nations, Claudia Rosett. We had called her to see what she made of the news. Her tirade is probably still echoing down the telephone...

A decaying, 122-year-old Victorian marketed as "the worst house on the best block" of San Francisco has sold for nearly $2 million — an eye-catching price that the realtor said was the outcome of overbidding in an auction. A developer's $1.97 million cash offer for the 2,158-square-foot (200-square-meter) property in the Noe Valley neighborhood was finalized last week. On the social media page Zillow Gone Wild, some commenters marveled at the price while others questioned the value of a house with boarded-up windows, peeling paint and an unstable foundation. One commenter joked: "It actually has a parking space. No wonder...

"As state school officials and parents see a number of Ohio schools contracting with more diversity-related organizations that provide critical race theory and transgender courses for teachers—and pay for them with taxpayer funds—those who disagree with it want others to know they are fighting back. Some see it as so bad that they have pulled their kids out of the public school system. They prefer to home school them away from what they see as “unfathomable” and “terrifying” content being presented to their children. Among the groups in Ohio that have organized to monitor and protest what is being taught...