Free Republic

There is already an impressively widespread availability of SMART Health Cards in the U.S. More than 200 million Americans can now download, print or store their vaccination records as a QR code. When the QR code is pulled up, only the individual’s name, date of birth and vaccination information is visible. No other medical information or personal data is shared. This code is also digitally signed to ensure that the card was issued from a verified location and to prevent forgery. SMART Health Cards Ease Travel For individuals, the benefits of having access to personal digital vaccine record is three-fold....

Unlike the Pinto, you don’t have to get hit — or hit anything — for an electric car to burn. The things can, and have, caught fire when parked. Actually, “caught” is not the right word to describe what happens. Spontaneous combustion is better. That’s because of the nature and design of electric car batteries, which are not like the small 12-volt battery that starts the engine of a non-electric car. That battery is generally lead-acid, and fires are rare because a fire would require two things: a spark — as caused by jumper cables contacting the battery’s terminals —...

Britain’s Defence Secretary has described a Russian mobile crematorium for use in any future conflict as “chilling”. The Ministry of Defence have released footage of the vehicle, which was seen travelling behind the forces heading for Ukraine. Ben Wallace suggested that Russian forces invading Ukraine could use the incinerators to help disguise the number of casualties inflicted during any potential battle.

Viewed from Paris, London and Washington, the events unfolding in Ukraine may seem like a new Cold War taking shape in Europe. From the Baltic countries, it looks much worse. To Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians — particularly those old enough to have lived under Soviet control — Russia’s belligerence toward Ukraine has some worried that they could be the next target. The escalating tensions which preceded an attack Thursday brought back memories of mass deportations and oppression. “My grandparents were sent away to Siberia. My father was persecuted by the KGB. Now I live in a free democratic country, but...

As Russia began its drive into Ukraine on several fronts overnight, neoconservatives and right-liberals tried to lay the blame for the invasion at the feet of American nationalists and paleoconservatives. They’ve labeled restrainers Russian stooges, or variations of the term, and preemptively impugned them for what some already describe in terms of an impending Holocaust. Their deep well of historical analogies never ceases to impress. While the hawks would like you to believe that recent developme

Ian Miles Cheong, a Malaysian journalist, tweeted the lesson of Ukraine. He said, "Do you see what wokeness brings? Weakness. Biden’s administration was more concerned with pronouns than it was with maintaining world peace. Good job. Pat yourselves on the back. Diversity, equity and inclusivity is our strength. Tell your two moms about it." And that of course was the whole point of wokeness: to bring a mighty nation down. Glenn Reynolds opined, "Of course wokeness brings weakness. That’s why the left has been encouraging it in the West for decades, even as Russia and China have loudly eschewed it."...

It had been feared for years: a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. And now, it’s happening. Images of Russian tanks rolling into Ukraine were perhaps the most chilling that Fox News monitored through a long night during the opening round of the assault. The question remains: What is Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aim? If it is just to enlarge and solidify the pro-Russian eastern portion of the country that has been disputed for the last eight years that would be grim enough.

ASBURY PARK, NJ - New Jersey native Wendy Williams’ eponymous show will end this fall, show executives confirmed Tuesday. “The Wendy Williams Show” is set to be replaced with a new talk show, “Sherri,” hosted by former “The View” star Sherry Shepherd, producer Debmar-Mercury said. The new show will run during Williams’ time slots on Fox stations. The cancellation is due to Williams’ extended health-related absence, according to Debmar-Mercury. The Asbury Park woman, who is also a graduate of Ocean Township High School, had a breakthrough case of COVID-19 last September, ultimately delaying production on the 13th and most recent...

MOSCOW — Vladimir Lenin’s embalmed body has been on display in Red Square since 1924. Now another influential Vladi­mir has made clear that Lenin’s tomb isn’t going anywhere else. Russian President Vladimir Putin recently found time in his busy schedule — to compare Lenin’s polished granite mausoleum to the relics of saints on display in Orthodox monasteries. “The communists continued the tradition,” Putin said of Lenin’s preservation, “and did it competently, in accordance with the demands of those times.” “We must return to our historic roots,” he said, with “traditional values.” The remarks, made last month during an interview with...

Forty years ago the Soviet Union confronted China with more than 50 military divisions and its latest two-stage solid-fueled missile, the SS-20. The United States followed strategic thinking that it was engaged in “encircling” China. No more of this attitude is present in Russia, and we can look back to the Soviet Union with "nostalgia." China and Russia have become regional and world allies against the United States and its collective deterrence, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Commentary: Interior leadership and Biden on Climate Change security Henry Kissinger’s geopolitical strategy of keeping China apart from Russia has been discarded...

Legislation making its way through the Canadian Parliament would allow citizens to be taken to court and penalized if they are suspected of simply intending to post “hate speech” online. The proposed law encourages Canadians to report other Canadians to the authorities for intent to post hate speech online, and allows courts to punish Canadian citizens for things they haven’t done yet. Under the proposed law, provincial courts may add penalties that they consider “desirable to secure the good conduct of the defendant,” including having the defendant wear an electronic monitoring device, confining them to their home or place of...

A Ukrainian journalist, citing the country’s Interior Ministry, reported on Thursday that the country has distributed 10,000 automatic rifles to civilians since Russian leader Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale assault on Ukraine.

In my view, the most prominent feature of Russia’s decline has little to do with its struggling economy, runaway corruption, and poor governance; or even with its alarming demographic trends. It is about the process of re-Stalinization, which has dramatically defined and perpetrated the decay of Russian societal identity. Never before have such anti-Western, Great Power sentiments been as widespread in Russia as they are today. Despite his enormous crimes, for the majority of Russian people, Joseph Stalin represents the ultimate embodiment of these ideas. [1] Documentaries and feature films about Stalin and his era have flooded Russian screens. Bookstores...

David Smock, the longtime Agape Boarding School doctor in southwest Missouri, has been charged with four new child sex crimes, two of which involve an alleged second male victim. The four charges were filed Tuesday in Cedar County, according to an online court docket. Those new counts are in addition to the eight sex crimes filed in Cedar County against the Stockton doctor by the state Attorney General’s office in December. He also faces three similar charges in Greene County. All 15 counts against Smock are felonies. Smock, 57, was arrested in Arkansas in late December and has been held...

United Nations (United States) (AFP) – It was arguably the ultimate illustration of UN powerlessness: an emergency Security Council meeting designed to avoid war rendered redundant by Russia's invasion of Ukraine just minutes after the late-night session began. As UN chief Antonio Guterres and member state after member state on the 15-country council urged Vladimir Putin to step back from the brink, the Russian leader was already sending his troops across the border. The ambassadors of the United States, Britain, France and others reading pre-prepared speeches calling for Putin to pursue diplomacy seemed unaware of what journalists watching the proceedings...

Once again, Russian President Vladimir Putin has weighed in on the history of World War II. Speaking on Dec. 20 at an informal summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), he appeared to blame Poland for the outbreak of the war while downplaying if not altogether denying Soviet responsibility. “It was them,” he said, “who, while pursuing their mercenary and exorbitantly overgrown ambitions, laid their people, the Polish people, open to attack from Germany’s military machine, and, moreover, generally contributed to the beginning of the Second World War.” Putin’s remarks have triggered angry rebuttals. The Polish Foreign Ministry decried...

Experts in, and observers of, the Ukrainian crisis now universally agree that the life of President Volodymyr Zelensky is in danger and that he could be executed by Russian invaders soon. As Russian forces attacked infrastructure and headed for government buildings in Kiev Thursday morning, two prominent Ukrainians emailed Newsmax to voice concern for Zelenskyy. "They can try to kill or capture him," Dr. Violeta Moskalu, founding CEO of Global Ukraine, told us flatly.

Martell Williams and his attorney told reporters on Monday that the Waukegan teen was only let go after his sister produced a photo proving that he had an ironclad alibi for the time of shooting because he was taking part in a basketball game 20 miles away from the crime scene. 'I was scared. I just wanted to go home,' Williams said of his harrowing ordeal last week, reported CBS Chicago. Williams, flanked by his family and his attorney Kevin O'Conner, said that on February 16, he was sitting in class at Waukegan High School, where he is a freshman,...

Explanation: Beta Cygni is a single bright star to the naked eye. About 420 light-years away it marks the foot of the Northern Cross, famous asterism in the constellation Cygnus. But a view through the eyepiece of a small telescope will transform it into a beautiful double star, a treasure of the night sky in blue and gold. Beta Cygni is also known as Albireo, designated Albireo AB to indicate its two bright component stars. Their visually striking color difference is illustrated in this telescopic snapshot, along with their associated visible spectrum of starlight shown in insets to the right....

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