Free Republic

Owing to the latest wave of Mayor Adams’ magic COVID wand, unvaccinated Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving will be allowed to play home games at Atlantic and Flatbush. The ushers at the Barclays Center, on the other hand, and the guy who pours the beer and the ticket taker, they still have to get the jab or get fired. You have to hand it to Hizzoner. His exemption to the workplace vaccine mandate for super-rich athletes and entertainers at least codifies what we have known all along: COVID rules are for the dirty masses, not important people. Now that the...

Retired Army pilot and ex-Huntsville businessman Mike Durant -- surging in the polls in the Republican primary for Alabama’s U.S. Senate seat -- said he was “not surprised” when former President Donald Trump rescinded his endorsement Wednesday of Rep. Mo Brooks. Durant said Trump shared with him that he was “frustrated” with Brooks’ performance in the race after he met the ex-president Monday. “I’m not surprised, I was with the president on Monday and he shared with me personally how frustrated he was with him. I told him that I am the clear America first candidate in this race,” Durant...

A team of researchers has found a link between the use of antibiotics by middle-aged women and cognitive decline later in life. Prior research has suggested that there is a connection between gut microbiome health and mental health—communication between the gut and the central nervous system has been labeled the gut-brain axis. And some studies have shown an apparent link between problems in the gut and mental diseases, such as depression and schizophrenia. Prior research has also shown that antibiotics use can lead to serious disruptions in the microbiome. This is not surprising, since the microbiome is made up partly...

In the face of public opinion and the voice of former President Donald Trump, legislation in six states calling for an audit of 2020 election ballots, including three bills that would nullify the results, have stalled. “Seven bills seeking 2020 general elec­tion audits were filed in four states, Flor­ida, New Hamp­shire, South Caro­lina, and Tennessee. Only a New Hampshire measure proposing a review of one county’s 2020 results remains on the docket,” The Epoch Times reported on March 14. In alignment with corporate and Big Tech censorship policies, media reports on such efforts and on the forces opposing them have...

Explanation: Peculiar spiral galaxy Arp 78 is found within the boundaries of the head strong constellation Aries. Some 100 million light-years beyond the stars and nebulae of our Milky Way galaxy, the island universe is over 100,000 light-years across. Also known as NGC 772, it sports a prominent, outer spiral arm in this detailed cosmic portrait from the large Gemini North telescope near the summit of Maunakea, Hawaii, planet Earth. Tracking along sweeping dust lanes and lined with young blue star clusters, Arp 78's spiral arm is likely pumped-up by galactic-scale gravitational tidal interactions The close companion galaxy responsible is...

Russia and Ukraine exchanged 10 prisoners of war each on Thursday in what Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk called the first full-fledged swap of the month-old conflict. The exchange also freed 19 Ukrainian civilian sailors who were captured as their ship tried to take Ukrainian troops off of Snake Island in late February. Ukraine released 11 Russian civilian sailors as part of the deal, Vereshchuk said as she announced the transfer. The civilians had been rescued from a ship that sank near Odesa, she said. Russia's takeover of Snake Island, also known as Zmiinyi Island, was much-discussed in the...

ELGIN, Texas – It’s a tale of a twister that will one day be told to generations to come. If you didn’t know who 16-year-old Riley Leon was before today, you might recognize his infamous 2004 red Chevrolet Silverado. "I never expected it to happen to me," Riley told FOX 7. The teen was driving home from a job interview Monday on Highway 290 in Elgin, Texas, when an EF-2 tornado blew his truck onto its side and spun it around multiple times before getting flipped back upright onto its wheels. "I’m speechless," he said. "I'm speechless seeing how my...

It’s disappointing that, just like in 2017, President Trump lets Mitch McConnell manipulate him again. Every single negative TV ad against our campaign has come from McConnell and his allies. I wish President Trump wouldn’t fall for McConnell’s ploys, but, once again, he has… President Trump asked me to rescind the 2020 elections, immediately remove Joe Biden from the White House, immediately put President Trump back in the White House, and hold a new special election for the presidency. As a lawyer, I’ve repeatedly advised President Trump that January 6 was the final election contest verdict and neither the U.S....

The mayors of New York City and Chicago met Friday to exchange ideas on tackling crime, which continues to skyrocket in both cities - a trend that began during the worst days of the COVID pandemic and continues to dog both cities. New York's Eric Adams and Chicago's Lori Lightfoot, both Democrats, have in recent weeks sparred with their cities' top prosecutors and accused them of pushing for lenient policies that don't hold criminals accountable. Crime in NYC is up by over 45 percent compared to this time last year as Adams battles a growing crisis at Rikers Island -...

Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers decided against opening schools to girls above the sixth grade, reneging on a previous promise and opting to appease their hardline base at the expense of further alienating the international community. The unexpected decision, confirmed by a Taliban official Wednesday, came at the start of the new school year in Afghanistan. It is bound to disrupt Taliban efforts to win recognition from potential international donors, at a time when the country is mired in a worsening humanitarian crisis. ... women are not required to wear the all encompassing burqa. but must wear the traditional hijab, covering their...

A team reports that two drugs show promise in rejuvenating lung epithelial progenitor cells damaged by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In their study, the group identified certain proteins involved in epithelial generation for targeting with prostanoids and tested them under different scenarios. COPD is a disease of the lungs that develops when the immune system overreacts to conditions, such as smoke inhalation, and damages epithelial progenitor cells in the lungs. The job of epithelial progenitor cells is to produce new cells lining the lungs to keep them healthy. In their absence, patients experience shortness of breath and excess mucus...

Dr. Anthony Fauci, by not ruling out further COVID-19 restrictions over the disease's latest variant, is "misinterpreting the data," Sen. Rand Paul said Thursday on Newsmax. "If you look at the data right now, we have the lowest amount of people getting infected each day," the Kentucky Republican said on Newsmax's "National Report." "If you look at the data, we have the lowest amount of people in the intensive care unit. If you look at the data, we have the lowest amount of people dying since the pandemic began. So really, what we're seeing is the waning ebb of the...

Sounds like the Ukrainian Offensive on Kherson tonight is Confirmed. Ukrainian Forces are beginning a Large Scale Southern Offensive from the City of Mykolaiv and from the North involving Heavy Armor, Artillery and Air Assets towards the Russian Occupied City of Kherson and its Airport.

The U.S. breakeven 10 year (USGGBE10 Index) went above 3% for the first time EVER. Breakeven inflation is the difference between the nominal yield on a fixed-rate investment and the real yield (fixed spread) on an inflation-linked investment of similar maturity and credit quality. Way to go, Joe!

Two Republican governors vetoed legislation this week that would prohibit transgender girls from competing in girls’ sports. Gov. Spencer Cox of Utah and Gov. Eric Holcomb of Indiana felt it was more important to protect transgender people than the girls who would be victimized by boys competing as girls. A similar bill was vetoed by Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota in 2021. In addition to failing to protect girl athletes, they are double-crossing the people that voted them into office. The constituents of each state overwhelmingly support such legislation. It’s these types of betrayals that led Republican voters to...

In Philadelphia, the animal tranquilizer xylazine has infiltrated the opioid supply, and it's been linked to horrific wounds and amputations. Manisha Krishnan By Manisha Krishnan TORONTO, CA March 22, 2022, 7:00am Drug Users Are Losing Their Fingers and Toes After Shooting ‘Tranq Dope’ PHILADELPHIA — Bill’s hands are so disfigured that he can no longer fit gloves over them. About two months ago, his right ring finger was amputated. In a matter of weeks, he could lose the middle finger on his left hand, which was swollen with a large, maroon-colored sore covering the knuckle when VICE News met him...

Guests are permitted to bring food into Yankee Stadium for individual consumption. Items such as apples and oranges must be sliced or sectioned.

Sen. Rand Paul on Thursday added complications to the Senate’s final passage of a measure to suspend normal trade relations with Moscow, handing a blow to Democrats who had hoped to give President Biden more tough-on-Russia ammunition during his visit to Brussels to meet with European allies. The bill would revoke Russia’s permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) status, and is part of a broad trade action in coordination with the European Union and Group of Seven (G7) countries. The measure gives President Biden broader leeway to enact tariffs on products from the country and further weaken Russia’s economy in response...

Some of the world’s biggest oil traders expect oil prices to exceed $200 per barrel by the end of the year, the Financial Times reported, citing opinions shared at its Commodity Global Summit this week. “Wakey, wakey. We are not going back to normal business in a few months,” said Pierre Andurand, who has been super bullish on oil for a while. “I think we’re losing the Russian supply on the European side forever.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., announced Thursday that he will oppose President Biden's first U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, even after going into the confirmation process with an "open mind." "After studying the nominee’s record and watching her performance this week, I cannot and will not support Judge Jackson for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court," McConnell said from the Senate floor.