Free Republic

The Joe Rogan saga has had its ups and downs but despite it all, the company with the rights to the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Spotify, has not only decided to not cancel Rogan, but it’s also speaking out against cancel culture as a thing that hinders forward societal progress.When last we left off, Rogan had issued an apology after a video was released showing Rogan using the “n-word” on multiple occasions. The video gave no context as to why he had used the words, though people familiar with the podcast were aware that Rogan had never used the word...

Australia's political leaders have formally apologised to all those who have experienced sexual harassment, sexual assault or bullying while working in federal parliament. The statements, made in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, were the first recommendation of an independent review conducted last year into the workplace culture within parliamentary offices. The review was sparked by former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins's rape allegations. It found there was a "boys club" culture of "bullying, sexual harassment and sexual assault", and that one in three staff working across parliamentary offices had experienced sexual harassment. It was one of a number...

After several days of bad news on the redistricting front, including a bad decision in North Carolina for the GOP-drawn map there, a big win has been delivered to Republicans. The US Supreme Court has ruled 5-4 to halt a lower court order in Alabama that it must redraw its previously passed Congressional map.That means a 6-1 Republican to Democrat map will now go into effect in 2022, and given the makeup of the Supreme Court, there’s no reason to believe it gets struck down at any point past that.BREAKING: By a 5–4 vote, with Roberts joining the liberals in...

New Zealand's Freedom Convoy has arrived in the capital city of Wellington. This is early video of the convoy's arrival in the city where it's now Wednesday afternoon. The nation's national anthem was played at the beginning of the rally today. This was one of the early speeches outside New Zealand's Parliament today. TV One New Zealand acknowledging a large crowd in the center of the capital city but reporting little else until late in the day. The "New Zealand Herald" is describing a crowd of several thousand in the city center of a capital of a country where some...

On the first day that Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin took office on Jan. 15, one of the first executive orders he signed was one allowing parents to opt their children out of mask mandates. Now, this is obviously in the best interests of both the parents and the children in Virginia.But that didn’t stop people who seem to want to be hidebound to masks from objecting. The order has faced multiple challenges including from a group of parents in Chesapeake, Virginia. They claimed that Youngkin was bound by state law to mandate masks.Now the decision from the Virginia Supreme Court...

Even as the White House claims that Joe Biden is not soft on crime, it has been reported that his administration has the potential to give nearly $200 million to a Soros-linked group to help criminal illegals escape punishment. Federal budget watchdog Open the Books revealed that Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services awarded a $164 million contract to left-wing advocacy organization Vera Institute of Justice to fund lawyers for illegal aliens and undocumented minors, according to Just the News. The award started as a $158 million contract in 2021, but this year HHS added an additional $6 million...

The Taliban took back Afghanistan in the late summer of 2021, shortly after the Americans withdrew, tired and weary and broke after nearly 20 years of fighting. They seized control of the country in the broad and particular sense: setting up command in the presidential palace in Kabul and targeting the individuals who criticized the new government. By December 2021, regular Afghans and the members of the Afghan press who had expressed critical views of their new rulers had “been subjected to months of intimidation and fear.” The Biden Administration has adopted these same tactics, calling for their critics to...

Someone made a comment about Antarctic islands being named after Covid variants a ways back, but while I was poking around on Google Earth the other day I noticed a pattern on the ocean floor by a certain family name near Alexander Island. Take a look and let me know what you think these divots/hills might be. Appears to be a 14 x 14 grid on the ocean floor, every 6 miles(??).

The newly minted president of George Washington University said he was "personally offended" by art posted around the college's campus condemning China's human rights abuses. "Please know that I am personally offended by the posters. I treasure the opportunity to work with talented people from all over the world, including China," George Washington University President Mark Wrighton wrote in an email. "I, too, am saddened by this terrible event and we will undertake an effort to determine who is responsible." A screenshot of the email was posted to Twitter by the artist behind the posters, known only as Badiucao. He...

Selenium—a mineral found in many foods—could reverse the cognitive impact of stroke and boost learning and memory in aging brains, according to University of Queensland research. Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) lead researcher Dr. Tara Walker said studies on the impact of exercise on the aging brain found levels of a protein key to transporting selenium in the blood were elevated by physical activity. "We've known for the last 20 years that exercise can create new neurons in the brain, but we didn't really understand how," Dr. Walker said. The research team investigated whether dietary selenium supplements could replicate the effects...

Raytheon Technologies (NYSE:RTX) -2.8% post-market following a Bloomberg report that three senior executives in its missiles division - the CFO, VP of contracts and general counsel - have left the company, citing an internal email. Raytheon faces a U.S. Department of Justice probe into cost reporting and other financial issues involving defense contracts at the missiles division dating back several years, but the Bloomberg report does not specifically say that the departures are related. Raytheon said on its Q4 earnings conference call last month that it had made progress in its internal investigation into the matter, but that it had...

Places with highest daily reported cases per capita Seven-day average of daily new reported cases per 100,000 residents

The Senate may consider about a dozen judicial and other nomination votes this week. The House is in session this week but out the week that begins with Valentine’s Day, so they may vote on a continuing resolution to extend funding beyond the current expiration on February 18, perhaps into March. “It will probably be a short-term CR and it will be this coming week to give us a little more time,” Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said Sunday.Reconciliation bill – Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) made a joint appearance with Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) on CNN’s State of the Union,...

Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) said Monday on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” that the Justice Department was not pursuing former President Donald Trump as “vigorously” as they should be for his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Guest host Ali Velshi said, “When you make the point, and you made it before that, it isn’t your job. It is not your role to do certain things and that the committee by nature of the type of thing it is does not have the ability to prosecute criminally, and that the Justice Department should be. What’s your sense of —...

This week, Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen imposed new Covid restrictions that require all adults in the country to be fully vaccinated and boosted or risk being fined. The new authoritarian law runs through January 31st, 2024, and will go into effect next month. Beginning on March 15th, law enforcement authorities will begin checking people’s vaccine status by conducting random traffic stops, and spot checks, in order to find dissenters. Anyone caught violating the mandate can be fined “up to four times a year,” with the penalty increasing with each violation. An individual’s first offense will result in a...

And so we near the end of the Great Pandemic Hoax of 2019-22, an unprecedented and breathtaking power grab by governments around the world to seize powers far beyond their constitutional allotments and to transform a relatively minor flu virus — however originated and for what ill purposes — into a weapon of mass economic and emotional destruction whose effects will be felt for years and decades to come. It has been a textbook example of tyranny. Consider it a warning shot, though, because while Covid may finally have been exposed for the non-apocalyptic event it always was, such tyranny...

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich on Monday issued a legal opinion that determines that the ongoing crisis at the southern border is an "invasion" under the Constitution – a move he says gives the state the power to take additional measures to defend itself. In the opinion, Brnovich says that the definition of "invasion" contained under the U.S. Constitution is not limited to hostile foreign states, and can include "hostile non-state actors." "The violence and lawlessness at the border caused by transnational cartels and gangs satisfies the definition of an ‘invasion’ under the U.S. Constitution, and Arizona therefore has the...

Former Georgia state Rep. Vernon Jones (R) announced Monday he's dropping out of the race for Georgia governor, saying he will instead run for Congress, after former President Donald Trump reportedly offered to endorse Jones if he abandoned his bid for governor.

Patrick Byrne describes the 4 hr oval meeting he had with PJDT, Flynn, Guiliani, Cippilone, Meadows et al on the day after the election to discuss how to proceed. 1.5hr