Free Republic

Bats have often been the subject of disdain, especially now that they may be somewhat responsible for the COVID-19 issue. It seems as if they may finally be catching a break, thanks to a viral video on Reddit. It shows them upside down, and they look like they are ready for a party. The video was taken by Das Kraftfuttermischwerk of some bats gyrating to music on a lighted floor. The sway of the bats appears to mimic the dance moves you might see at a goth club. Of course, it isn’t all cutesy, especially when you look closer and...

The financial news site accidentally reported that Russia had invaded Ukraine Friday afternoon with a headline on its homepage. “Live: Russia invades Ukraine,” read a jarring headline on Bloomberg’s homepage at around 4 p.m. It stayed up for about 30 minutes, according to Olga Lautman, a Russian analyst who posted the message on social media. Users who clicked on the eye-popping story — which comes as Russian troops mass on the Ukrainian border and US officials warn of a potential invasion — were shown an error page. “I went on the site and saw the breaking news but knew it...

A former staffer for the Washington football team now called the Commanders accused her boss of using “Jewish slurs” and other forms of verbal harassment during her time with the organization. “I was called Jewish slurs that refer to a non-Jewish woman that you are sexualizing,” Emily Applegate said Thursday during testimony to the US House of Representatives Oversight Committee, which is probing allegations of harassment and misconduct within the NFL franchise. “A slur which I will not repeat a rabbi described as ‘simply indefensible, condescending, racist, and misogynistic.'” Applegate did not name her boss in the testimony, but The...

Police detained some 55 protesters outside parliament when they broke up a 'convoy' demonstration that had blocked traffic for several hours in pursuit of demands including cheaper petrol and the resignation of the government. Police began towing vehicles parked on Mannerheimintie when the protesters did not disperse when instructed to do so just after midnight. Two of the detainees were taken in on suspicion of obstructing an official carrying out his duties, and police tweeted that one of their tow trucks had its tyres punctured with a sharp implement. The group's demands included the removal of all covid-related restrictions, even...

OTTAWA, Ontario – “Do I look like a white supremacist?” a protester identifying himself as Daz asked Breitbart News jokingly on Wednesday, pointing to his dark skin, when asked about news media narratives of “white supremacy” among supporters of the Freedom Convoy. Assorted news media outlets have characterized the ongoing demonstration in downtown Ottawa as motivated by “white supremacy.” Leftist Prime Minister Justin Trudeau derided trucker protesters and their fellow demonstrators as “conspiracy theorist” wearers of “tinfoil hats.” He also denigrated Canadian citizens opposing his policies and ideology as members of “anti-vaxxer mobs” who are “racist,” “misogynistic,” and “don’t believe...

The pro-life movement is at a crossroads and making great progress towards the goal of eliminating abortion. Texas is leading the nation with a law called the Heartbeat Bill that has made its way to the United States Supreme Court. Pro-lifers need to take this moment to fight has hard as the left in supporting state laws that don’t allow abortions when a fetal heartbeat can be detected. This issue is too important to wait. When Texas passed the new law, the Courts did not comply with the left’s push to block the law. This law that has saved Texas...

President Biden reacted to surging crime numbers by pushing more gun control Thursday, and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) responded by tweeting that “Joe Biden’s crime crisis” cannot be blamed on the Second Amendment. Biden spoke about cannons, “illegal guns,” “ghost guns,” “gun crime,” and “gun violence,” among other things. He compared gun manufacturers to cigarette makers, seeking to open up gun makers to lawsuits, and described a Glock handgun as a “weapon of war.” He pressed for background checks and pledged a crackdown on “rogue gun dealers.” Biden then suggested the Second Amendment is not “absolute.” Stefanik responded to Biden...

BEIRUT, Lebanon — For a man who sought to disappear, the leader of the Islamic State seemed to have done everything right. He hid out far from where his enemies expected. He never left the house, relying on trusted couriers to communicate with his far-flung underlings. He was the group’s only leader to never issue a video or voice address, for fear it would make him easier to track. Most of his most fervent followers would not have recognized him on the street. But American commandos came for him anyway, and on Thursday, the leader, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, blew...

Difficulties in obtaining semiconductor chips will prompt Ford Motor to temporarily halt or scale back auto production at eight plants in North America, the company said Friday, according to reports. The announcement by the major U.S. automaker – set to take effect next week -- continued a series of supply-chain setbacks that have affected the nation’s economy in recent months. Ford had warned Thursday that a lack of chip availability would likely hurt production in the company’s current financial quarter, Reuters reported.

The following is an excerpt from the podcast with Makary discussing "group think" in medicine and Covid natural immunity. A huge problem in medicine, it's what we call the establishment, or now known as what we call "group think" in medicine. Look, many of us have been up against the establishment our entire careers, if you look at the 300 or so research articles I have put out there, most have been trying to challenge the dogma that we have in medicine around this paternalism. What you are describing is paternalism - 'oh, they are too stupid - they can't...

As you know, Whoopi Goldberg was suspended from "The View" for two weeks for making a remark about the Holocaust. She asserted that the Holocaust was not about race, but rather a simple matter of man's inhumanity to man. She, along with the acerbic lefties on The View, sees herself as more intelligent than everyone in the world: When Whoopi Goldberg, the intellectual genius and authority on all aspects of the world, said that the Holocaust was not about race, she proved that not only is she a comedian, but a joke too. When the backlash from her remarks erupted,...

Former President Donald Trump shot back at his former Vice President Mike Pence on Friday after Pence said that Trump was “wrong” in claiming he had the ability as vice president to overturn the 2020 election, calling the notion of one man electing the president “un-American.” In a fiery statement Friday night, Trump criticized Pence and his “unwitting advisors,” calling the former vice president “an automatic conveyor belt” for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for refusing to intervene in Biden’s election.

“Nobody cares about what’s happening to the Uyghurs, OK?” Golden State Warriors' minority owner and billionaire investor Chamath Palihapitiya told his co-host, Jason Calacanis, on their Jan. 15 "All-in" podcast. “You bring it up because you really care, and I think it’s nice that you really care. The rest of us don’t care.”The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom stated in its 2021 annual report how the Uyghurs, a Turkic ethnic minority group native to the Xinjiang (pronounced shin·jaang) province of western China, have faced increasing persecution from the government along with other religious minorities such as Christians, Tibetan Buddhists...

The wokest of all U.S. national sports teams just got a little less woke. U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT) head coach Vlatko Andonovski has called up a roster that features youth and players the team will rely on in the future. It does not, however, feature noted USWNT anthem-protester Megan Rapinoe.

Crews in Morocco raced to rescue a 5-year-old boy that's been trapped in a well more than 100 feet deep since Tuesday. The scene has been playing out on multiple livestream videos watched across the globe via platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

On Thursday, 16 members of the Penn Women’s Swimming Team sent a letter to the University of Pennsylvania and the Ivy League asking them to refrain from suing the NCAA over its new Athlete Inclusion Policies that would bar Lia Thomas, formerly known as Will Thomas, from participating in the NCAA championships in March. They stated, “We have been told that if we spoke out against her inclusion into women’s competitions, that we would be removed from the team or that we would never get a job offer.” “The group, organized by three-time Olympic gold medalist Nancy Hogshead-Makar, sent the...

There is good news from the federal courts on the First Amendment’s guarantee of the right of every American to express and practice their religious faith (or lack thereof), but things look much worse in the executive branch. Let’s look at the good news first: Mat Staver’s Liberty Counsel won an important step forward in forcing the Department of Defense to stop blatantly discriminating against members of the U.S. military seeking religious exemptions from submitting to the COVID-19 vaccine shot. U.S. District Court Judge Steven Merryday granted temporary restraining order sought by Liberty Counsel on behalf of a Lt. Colonel...

Two studies discussed how the Omega-3 Index relates to red blood cell (RBC) distribution width (a measure of cellular integrity) and explored the relationship between the Omega-3 Index and a balanced immune system. Both studies observed benefits associated with higher blood omega-3 levels (EPA+DHA) in healthy people. RBC cell deformability (i.e., ability to change shape) increases with Omega-3 Index. "We used the RBC distribution width (RDW) because it is a standard way of assessing RBC size heterogeneity, which is related to proper cell membrane deformability," said Michael McBurney, Ph.D. "Although RDW is used clinically to diagnose anemia, it has recently...

As the First World War came to an end, the U.S. federal government passed the 18th Amendment banning the sale and consumption of alcohol. Seeing this as a permanent and irreversible victory, anti-alcohol campaigners were not slow to identify a new target…nicotine. The Women’s Christian Temperance Union financed a book entitled Nicotine Next and temperance preacher Billy Sunday declared that “Prohibition is won, now for tobacco”. History shows Prohibition was a disaster for the United States. After 13 years of unnecessary social upheaval, economic damage, and bloodshed, the 18th Amendment was finally repealed to the relief and delight of public...

The town supervisors of two rural towns on the border of New York’s Erie County are fed up with oppressive COVID-19 restrictions and are looking into how they might secede from Erie County and be annexed by neighboring Wyoming County.Marilla Town Supervisor Earl Gingerich Jr. explained why his town wants to become part of Wyoming County: “We feel we fit better because we are more rural and agricultural.”Gingerich has been repeatedly at odds with Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, a Democrat, who has imposed draconian COVID restrictions in the county, such as indoor mask mandates.“It’s come to the forefront due...