Free Republic

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., doubled down on his opposition to Ukraine joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), saying it would be an extremely provocative action toward the "pariah nation" of Russia. Fox News Digital asked the senator on Thursday about his prediction on if or when Russia will invade, to which he responded that no one knows, but that it would be a "great downside" for "pariah nation" Russia. "I think nobody knows, I'm still hopeful that they won't invade. I think there's a great downside for Russia. They are already somewhat of a pariah nation, but I think...

US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy announced Friday that he has tested positive for Covid-19. Murthy wrote in a long thread on Twitter that his wife and 5-year-old son were also positive for the virus and had mild symptoms. His 4-year-old daughter, who was the first in his family to test positive, is “doing ok” and has an improving fever days after he announced that she has the virus, he added. In announcing his diagnosis, Murthy spoke to the millions of Americans who have also tested positive for Covid-19, saying that he recognizes the emotions that may come with contracting...

Boris Johnson's top scientific advisers fear next week's bonfire of the remaining Covid rules could leave Britain battling a variant that kills up to a third of people it infects. With the Prime Minister set to unveil his 'living with Covid' strategy on Monday, SAGE has raised alarm about the prospect of a new mutant strain emerging. Documents released today from the panel's last meeting, just a day after the PM revealed he intended to scrap all the leftover curbs in England, warned that any sudden change to the rules carries the potential to accelerate the pandemic and trigger a...

The legend of Eileen Gu continues to grow in China. Gu, the American-born freestyle skier now competing for China, had already won a gold and a silver medal. Friday morning, under an ice-blue sky and in surprisingly warm temperatures of 12 degrees Fahrenheit, Gu dropped into the halfpipe for her third and final event of the Games. Two runs later, she’d captured her second gold of the Olympics, and her stature in China had grown immeasurably. In China, Gu is the face of these Games, her image and likeness appearing on billboards, in commercials, and on the omnipresent official Beijing...

New Cases: As of February 16, 2022, the 7-day moving average of daily new cases (121,665) decreased 43.0% from a week ago. New Hospitalizations: The current 7-day daily average for February 9–February 15, 2022, was 8,642. This is a 28.8% decrease from the prior weekly report. Deaths: The current 7-day moving average of new deaths (2,021) has decreased 14.5% compared with the previous weekly report. Variants: Omicron is estimated to be approximately 100% of new cases. The BA.2 sub-lineage has slowed its proportional growth, up 3.9% over the last week, compared to 3.6% the week before. Test Positivity Rate: The...

ro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine's breakaway regions ordered the evacuation of civilians to Russia Friday, accusing Ukraine of planning a large military offensive against the two self-declared republics. The restive eastern part of the country has witnessed the worst shelling in years over the last two days. Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said Friday that shelling of Ukrainian territory from areas controlled by separatists had risen dramatically in the past day. Each side accuses the other of heavy shelling of civilian areas. Ukrainian authorities say there were 60 breaches of the ceasefire Thursday, many of them by heavy weapons. The...

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Arizona seized a large load of 110 pounds of fentanyl and 880 pounds of methamphetamine being smuggled into Arizona in a motor home. CBP officers assigned to the Lukeville Port of Entry on Monday observed a Roadmaster Class A motor home approaching from Mexico for entry into the United States. During an initial inspection, a narcotics detection K-9 alerted to a scent it is trained to detect, according to information provided by CBP officials in Arizona. The officers then conducted a physical search and found 129 packages filled with drugs hidden in the...

Switzerland announced this week that it is lifting nearly all coronavirus restrictions in the country as infection rates in the country steadily decline. The Federal Council, the seven-member Swiss executive branch, said as of Thursday, masks and COVID-19 vaccination passes will no longer be required to enter shops, restaurants, cultural venues and other public settings and events. The requirement to wear masks in workplaces and a work-from-home recommendation will also end, as will capacity limits on large-scale gatherings.

An Uber driver begged for her life and pleaded that she had four children before a Penn Hills man fatally shot her, according to a transcript of dashcam video. Allegheny County police on Wednesday night charged Calvin Crew, 22, with killing of 38-year-old Christi Spicuzza, who was found dead in Monroeville this weekend. Mr. Crew is charged with criminal homicide, robbery and tampering with evidence. In a criminal complaint, police described how Mr. Crew allegedly used his girlfriend's phone to order an Uber and held a gun to Ms. Spicuzza’s head as she begged him to reconsider. On a video...

A dramatic – and potentially lucrative – scenario may now be unfolding in the markets for one of the most overlooked natural resources on the planet. This essential commodity – helium – is used to drive innovation for many of the world’s biggest tech companies...and it is needed to help manufacture everything from medical equipment to computer chips. Yet despite its critical importance – and growing demand – a potentially crippling lack of supply has put us on the brink of a critical shortage. This supply-demand imbalance has triggered a fast-moving growth opportunity for any exploration and development company that...

The problems surrounding the demise of Crystal Cruises are becoming clearer by the day. And through it all, the financial issues could hit those who booked cruises onboard the Crystal ships harder than the company had initially forecasted. According to the former CEO for Crystal Cruises, Jack Anderson, the company owes more than 100 million in outstanding deposits. This should pose no problem for those who paid by credit card for upcoming cruises. Those with FCC’s, which are now worthless, and those that paid cash for a cruise, will likely never see their money. Genting Hong Kong Abandons Crystal Cruises...

Elektra and its three moons. (ESO/Berdeu et al., Yang et al.) ====================================================================================== An asteroid discovered in the 19th century has just been identified as the most crowded we've ever found. It's called 130 Elektra, or just Elektra for short, and astronomers have just discovered that it has not one, nor two, but three smaller satellite companions, or moons. That not only makes it the most numerous asteroid system known to date, but demonstrates how we might find other faint, hard-to-see asteroid moons in the future. "Elektra is the first quadruple system ever detected," wrote a team of astronomers led by...

Excerpt:SNIPNow, Scrase has acknowledged that his repeated, what he called “offhand,” assertions were groundless. Two deaths were not caused by ivermectin, a long-used generic drug that was emerging as a covid treatment. Instead, he said that the pair died because they “actually just delayed their care with covid.” That is a big difference.Scrase backpedaled on December 1 in a little-noticed online press briefing and only after we pressed his agency to provide evidence for its claims of so-called “ivermectin deaths.” Officials had repeatedly said they were awaiting a toxicology report on the cattleman’s death. Yet we learned that the report...

If the truth hurts your narrative, you must censor it. But what if your own information harms your own narrative? Well, then you stop publishing it. For the past few months, Scotland has been publishing age-stratified case rates by vaccination status in a very well broken-down chart every Wednesday afternoon, similar to the way the U.K. published the data every Thursday. The common thread observed from these trends was that the unvaccinated had the lowest case rate, the double-vaccinated had even higher death and hospitalization rates, and the triple-jabbed gradually had increasingly higher case rates, which clearly doesn’t portend good...

The bail fund that freed a Louisville Black Lives Matter activist charged with trying to murder a Jewish mayoral candidate is backed by Democratic fundraising juggernaut ActBlue, a progressive political group affiliated with the "Squad," and a liberal nonprofit funded by George Soros. The Louisville Community Bail Fund, an affiliate of the city's Black Lives Matter chapter, posted $100,000 bail to spring Quintez Brown from jail following his arrest on charges of trying to assassinate Jewish Democratic mayoral hopeful Craig Greenberg. The bail fund has an active page on ActBlue, the political fundraising platform used universally by Democratic candidates across...

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Senior U.S. officials pivoted Thursday from warning of the threat that Russia could soon invade Ukraine to the firm expectation the invasion is about to begin.What they're saying: “If Russia doesn’t invade, we will be relieved that Russia changed course and proved our predictions wrong," Secretary of State Tony Blinken said today. But both he and President Biden made quite clear that they believe Vladimir Putin has chosen war, and Blinken went so far as to present the playbook the U.S. expects Putin to follow.First, Blinken told the UN Security Council, Putin will need a pretext. That could involve a...

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Question: Does adding ivermectin, an inexpensive and widely available antiparasitic drug, to the standard of care reduce the risk of severe disease in patients with COVID-19 and comorbidities?Findings: In this open-label randomized clinical trial of high-risk patients with COVID-19 in Malaysia, a 5-day course of oral ivermectin administered during the first week of illness did not reduce the risk of developing severe disease compared with standard of care alone.Meaning: The study findings do not support the use of ivermectin for patients with COVID-19.

For those keeping abreast of the news, we have seen the ongoing saga of the Canadian truckers take some interesting turns. The Canadian government has stepped up its repressive measures by arresting protestors, freezing the bank accounts of their supporters, and even threatening to kill their pets and take away their kids. Yet - this hasn’t really had the desired effect. Instead of scaring people, it seems to be galvanising many in support of the truckers. Supporters are forming human chains to protect truckers from arrest. People still continue to donate to their GiveSendGo despite dire threats of the theft...