Free Republic

Conventional wisdom heading into this year was that Republicans would benefit mightily from the decennial congressional line-drawing process, carving up districts and creating a decidedly friendly national map. But as states rush to finish their House maps in advance of the rapidly approaching 2022 primary season, a new storyline has emerged: Democrats could well break even or possibly gain an advantage when all of the new lines are finished across the country.

Embattled Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg reversed a pair of his most controversial policies in writing on Friday with a new memo calling for commercial robberies committed with knives to once again be prosecuted as felonies. Bragg’s memo to staff also said that holding up a store or other business with a firearm “will be charged as a felony, whether or not the gun is operable, loaded, or a realistic imitation.” “The default in gun cases is a felony prosecution,” Bragg wrote. The moves followed widespread outrage at the soft-on-crime directives that Bragg issued to Manhattan prosecutors in a stunning...

Joe Biden may not be playing with a full deck but his has plenty of race cards, from saying in the 2020 presidential campaign that if you didn’t support him you ain’t black to pledging to put the first black female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court despite hypocritically preventing that racist Republican, President George W. Bush, from doing so. Bush had nominated Judge Janice Rogers Brown in 2003 to a seat on the U,S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, long considered a prime source of potential nominees to the Supreme Court. Brown, a daughter of...

During the late Middle Ages jousting and sacking and pillaging were the normal activities of the day. 1346 was just a normal year and Europe was involved in another of its perpetual wars with the English invading France and others taking up sides. It was the year after Botticelli was born and right in the heart of the careers of Donatello and Titan. There was however one event in 1346 that makes it stand out like no other year in human history. It was the year the Black Death started. The Black Death was a bubonic plague that struck Europe,...

Larry Elder takes the opportunity this Black History Month to investigate certain myths surrounding Black history and why some people think Black History Month is not necessary.

Daredevil Peter Salzmann and BMW create first wingsuit powered by an electric motor VIDEO AT LINK.................. Friday Special

LONDON — There is a realistic possibility of large waves of COVID-19 infection in the future in Britain and such waves might even be considered likely, epidemiologists who model the COVID-19 pandemic to inform government advice have said. The Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling, Operational sub-group (SPI-M-O) said the emergence of new viral variants was the biggest unknown factor in the medium-to-long term, along with waning population immunity and changes in mixing patterns. “Large future waves of infection that need active management to prevent detrimental pressure on the health and care sector are, at least, a realistic possibility (high...

Alarm! US 30-year mortgage rates are up 100 basis points and climbing since January 4, 2021. Most of the increase has occurred since the turn of the year into 2022. According to the Bankrate 30-year mortgage rate index, the 30-year rate is up 57 basis points just since December 31, 2021 as the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield rises. Bear in mind that the REAL 30-year mortgage rate is now -3.2%. Get it while you can!! Given today’s surprise jobs report, The Fed now has a green light to raise rates. To quote Van Morrison and Them, “Here Comes The Night”...

NEW YORK (AP) — Michael Avenatti was convicted Friday of charges he cheated the porn actor Stormy Daniels out of nearly $300,000 she was supposed to get for writing a book about an alleged tryst with former president Donald Trump. Avenatti stared straight ahead as the verdict was read. It was another crushing defeat for the California lawyer, who has faced a host of legal problems after briefly rising to fame as one of Trump’s leading antagonists on cable news early in the Republican’s administration. Avenatti dumped his lawyers and decided to represent himself shortly after the trial began, setting...

Courtesy of Bel Brands USA With its distinctive red wax packaging, Babybel — which first launched in its mini form in 1977 — conjures up fond memories of opening up tiny cheese presents for a quick childhood snack. But though nostalgia may draw adults to the brand, Babybel is hoping a modern twist will inspire a new generation of fans: Babybel Plant-Based. Launched in the United Kingdom in January, a plant-based version of the classic Babybel cheese snack is slated to arrive on this side of the pond next month, according to Bel Brands USA. The company, which owns other...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The military investigation into the deadly attack during the Afghanistan evacuation has concluded that a suicide bomber, carrying 20 pounds of explosives packed with ball bearings, acted alone, and that the deaths of more than 170 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members were not preventable. The blast at Abbey Gate outside the Kabul airport on Aug. 26 killed 11 U.S. Marines, a sailor and a soldier, who were screening the thousands of Afghans frantically trying to get onto one of the crowded flights leaving the country after the Taliban takeover. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for...

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was confronted with a new Johns Hopkins comprehensive study that shows “lockdowns” were a comprehensive failure worldwide.When asked about the irrefutable evidence that the lockdowns caused massive damage, but delivered no tangible benefits, Psaki went into full spin-mode.“We’ve not been pro-lockdown — most of the lockdowns actually happened under the previous President,” Psaki claimed.The study in question is a thorough review done by Johns Hopkins university. Its results are damning.“What does the evidence tell us about the effects of lockdowns on mortality?” We provide a firm answer to this question: The evidence fails to...

The top two sales were British, but after that, American motorcycles dominated more than at any time in the last decade. It appears that the pandemic has catalyzed a rise in prices in general, but for American bikes in particular.Mecum VIEW 74 IMAGES Upon reading last year’s report on this auction (due to Covid-19 the traditional Mecum Las Vegas auction was run in April/May instead of January) in 2021, it would have been easy to take the text, change a few dates and republish, at least for the topline information. Dig a bit deeper though, and there are all sorts...

If you're looking for a hit of '90s nostalgia, here are 12 of the most popular websites from the naughty nineties still up and running today. From its humble beginnings at CERN, the World Wide Web has indeed come a long way since it was first invented by the respected British scientist, Tim Berners-Lee in 1989. From plain-looking text-only websites to slow internet speeds and unreliable connections, the World Wide Web has survived and evolved into so much more, so much that we're now at the cusp of Web3. In this article, we'll go down memory lane to the historic...

Keeping with China’s “zero tolerance” approach to the pandemic, the 2022 Beijing Olympics will likely be remembered for its unprecedented security measures. However, this year’s Winter Games will also be cemented in history for its record number of openly LGBTQ competitors. At least 35 of this year’s Olympic athletes are openly lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer, more than double the amount of queer competitors from the 2018 winter competition in PyeongChang, South Korea. The queer competitors will be venturing to China’s capital from 14 countries, including Western superpowers such as the United States and France, and former Soviet republic...

Fox News host Tucker Carlson recently highlighted the failures of Baltimore's education system and how students, who are overwhelmingly black, are falling behind in critical education skills while having to contend with the city's high crime rate. In response to the segment, the Baltimore Sun Editorial Board and the mayor called Carlson a racist.

Venezuela is moving troops to the border with Colombia with technical assistance from Russia and Iran, Colombia's defense minister Diego Molano said on Thursday, calling the possible deployment "foreign interference." Molano, citing intelligence sources, said troop movements were registered in Venezuela opposite Colombia's Arauca province, the scene of fierce fighting between guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN) and FARC dissidents for control of the drugs trade.

90 Day Fiance alum Geoffrey Paschel received an 18-year prison sentence without the chance of parole on Thursday in a Knoxville, Tennessee court, in connection with his conviction of aggravated kidnapping, domestic assault and interference with emergency calls. Paschel, 44, was found guilty of the multiple charges last October in connection with a June 9, 2019 incident with his former fiancée Kristen Wilson, US Weekly reported. In the incident, Wilson told Knox County Sheriff's Office deputies that Paschel had attacked her, grabbed her neck and struck her head into a wall multiple times. Wilson told authorities that Paschel had thrown...

Back in the 1960s and 70s when the legal debate over abortion was heating up, evangelical Protestants were, to put it as mildly as possible, AWOL...major leaders, publications, and organizations of American evangelicalism forty years ago either openly declared their support for legal abortion, or defended the permissibly of killing the unborn. In 1968, just five years before Roe v. Wade, Christianity Today held a symposium of evangelical leaders to determine “the conservative or evangelical position within Protestantism” on “the control of human reproduction.” In their joint statement, they concluded that “the performance of an induced abortion” is necessary and...

As the Super Bowl approaches, a chicken wing frenzy is also on the horizon. As someone who doesn’t give a flying chicken wing about football, I consider the platters of food synonymous with the Super Bowl to be its only saving grace. But when your eyes meet that tray of wings, what do you prefer to pluck from the pile? There are the drumettes (already winning with a cute name like that), the flats, or the option to go boneless. Some people would take death over a “wing” without a bone, especially on Super Bowl Sunday, when wings are most...