Free Republic

Data-driven weather forecasts help leaders know when to deploy resources to respond to hurricanes and individuals decide whether they need to bring an umbrella with them when they go out. Similarly, the CDC's new disease forecasting center aims to guide decisions about broad public health needs like developing vaccines or deploying antivirals, and helping individuals decide whether it's safe for them to go to the movie theater George and a small team of colleagues are faced with tackling a "critical need" to improve the government's "ability to forecast and model emerging health threats." "In short, we need to use data...

A wild video posted online over the weekend captured the moment a black police officer punched a Black Lives Matter protester at a rally in Pittsburgh. Seth Taylor, a three year member of the Wilkinsburg Police Department, was snapped punching a protester identified as Vuestro Merced after they intervened while officers were trying to detain another protester, according to Pittsburgh City Paper. Video published online shows officers trying to apprehend a woman who was backing away and shouting obscenities as Merced pushed toward them and grabbed at them. Taylor then swung at Merced, forcing them to the ground as muzzled...

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New York City Police are hunting a 22-year-old man who attacked two officers trying to arrest him in Manhattan after he allegedly raped four-year-old twins in Pennsylvania. Isaiah John Metz, 22 - also known as Decklyn McBride - of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, allegedly raped two four-year-old twins in Goldsboro, Pennsylvania, while on parole for assaulting an officer. Metz currently has 115 counts of sex-related charges against him in York County, including three counts of raping a child under 13, and 99 counts of sexual abuse involving picture and video, according to public records. Police received a tip that Metz was staying...

Alghabra says government decision is based on science and data Transport Minister Omar Alghabra is giving no indication his government plans to drop its masking requirement for air and train passengers in Canada in the near future. "We constantly consult our experts and whenever the advice we receive changes because the circumstances change, we will change our regulation," he said Tuesday. But for now, it is what it is" His comments came after a federal judge in Florida stuck down a Biden administration requirement that passengers wear face coverings on airliners and mass transit...

The man who went on an apparent drug-fueled rampage — attacking at least four innocent pedestrians on the Upper East Side — was just released from prison last month and has 14 prior arrests, according to authorities and public records. Lavon Davis, 32, of the Bronx, was hit with multiple assault charges, as well as strangulation and criminal possession of a controlled substance, in connection to his Monday morning spree that lasted about a half-hour, cops said. Davis targeted his first victim, a 65-year-old man, just after 8 a.m. at East 96th Street and Second Avenue — punching him in...

A man accused of raping 4-year-old twins in Pennsylvania attacked two officers who tracked him down to a Midtown homeless shelter Tuesday and then escaped, cops said. Suspected fiend Isaiah Metz, 22, was at the Antonio Olivieri Drop-In Center on West 30th Street near Eighth Avenue in Manhattan when an NYPD detective and an investigator from the city Department of Investigation – both part of the Regional Fugitive Task Force – showed up to arrest him about 4:15 a.m., police said. Metz fought the two officers – punching both in the head multiple times and biting the investigator on the...

A U.S. Army lieutenant colonel and combat physician has described how fellow medics in the Army were told not to enter records of COVID jab adverse reactions into official databases. “They either look the other way or they just say, ‘Well, I can’t do that. It doesn’t exist’,” said Dr. Peter Chambers, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army, Special Forces Green Beret, and combat physician. Chambers made the comments as part of the Truth For Health Foundation’s ninth online conference, which saw the announcement of the Foundation’s new global reporting system for COVID jab injuries. ... Dr. Chambers’ jab...

Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced a rally in Nebraska featuring Republican gubernatorial candidate Charles Herbster, whose campaign was shaken less than a week earlier after multiple women (falsely) accused him of groping or inappropriate touching. Herbster has denied the allegations. Aside from Trump, Herbster is the only person so far slated to speak at the rally in Greenwood, Nebraska, on April 29, less than two weeks before the primary election on May 10.

More than 200 state troopers will need to slim down by the end of the year or face disciplinary actions. The announcement comes under a controversial policy the Texas Department of Public Safety is enforcing to limit the size of officers' waistlines, according to the Dallas Morning News. The Dallas Morning News obtained documents that state men with waists over 40 inches and women over 35 inches have to track and share their weight loss efforts with DPS. For those who don't trim down by December, DPS can deny them promotions and overtime, as well as remove them from enforcement...

President Joe Biden, also known as “the Big Guy” to his scandal-plagued son Hunter, stumbled his way through a Tuesday afternoon address to make the incredible claim he doesn’t believe politicians should get rich in office. Watch: "The War in Ukraine is going to continue to take it toll on the world economy,” Biden said. “It’s going to take it his toll on energy, and it’s going to take its toll relative to food.” “When I was running for office, you heard it a thousand times from me, that we’re going build an economy me around you,” he continued. “I’m...

Meet the person with the least self-awareness in the world. ...

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published a concerning report that states that terrorists may have gotten their hands on some very deadly nerve agents stored away in stockpiles. The reports [see below] don’t explain when or how the alleged terrorists might have gotten ahold of the stockpiles but it certainly makes me wish that US borders were still secure. OSHA’s report reads; “Because of recent terrorist events, many workers have expressed concern about the possibility of a terrorist attack involving nerve agents. In 1995, twelve people were killed when the nerve agent sarin was released in the Tokyo subway...

Almost half of Democrats say they are “not at all worried” about President Joe Biden’s mass migration into Americans’ jobs and homes, according to a Gallup poll. Forty-four percent of Democrats say they are “not at all” worried about illegal immigration, according to the poll of 1,017 adults, which was taken March 1-18.

Black Lives Matter is dusting off its flags and signs and once again stopping traffic to honor the latest moron who chose to ignore the cops and got himself shot. Patrick Lyoya, a black man, was pulled over because the car he was driving had the wrong license plate, which is frequently indicative of a stolen car. Lyoya ignored over a dozen police commands, including one telling him to get back in his car, stop resisting, and drop the police officer’s taser, which he had wrestled away from a Grand Rapids, Mich., policeman. At one point, the police officer was...

A former Kremlin official and Gazprombank vice-president has been found dead in his elite £2 million Moscow apartment by his 26-year-old daughter, police have said. Alongside the body of multimillionaire Vladislav Avayev, 51, was his 'pregnant' wife Yelena, 47, and younger daughter Maria, 13. The bodies - all with gunshot wounds - were found by the couple's distraught adult daughter Anastasia, when she opened the apartment after failing to reach her family. Investigators said they are keeping an open mind on the 14th floor massacre, carried out 'with Avayev's pistol', and investigating any links to his work and personal life....

Boston police on Monday night arrested five juveniles for allegedly attacking a young woman in Downtown Crossing after objecting to her hairstyle and for allegedly punching, kicking, and spitting on responding officers, according to a police report. Officers were called to the intersection of Winter and Washington streets around 7 p.m. for an assault and battery in progress. A 911 caller indicated a group of 10 to 15 girls were attacking two females. The partially redacted report said officers noticed a group of about 20 teenagers in the area as an alleged victim approached them. The report said the woman...

Jon Stewart is struggling to gain traction on his new talk show, according to a report. “The Problem with Jon Stewart,” which launched on AppleTV+ in September, appears to be a flop, as it trails far behind its competitors on broadcast and cable TV, according to Bloomberg. The show’s first episode was seen by just 180,000 US homes in the first week it debuted last fall, measurement firm Samba TV said. That number dropped to 78% to 40,000 by its fifth episode, which aired in early March. Stewart’s comic rival John Oliver, meanwhile, pulled in viewership of 844,000 US homes...

Russia has suffered the loss of yet another senior officer after the captain of a large Black Sea landing ship was killed in the war in Ukraine. Captain Alexander Chirva died from wounds sustained in a battle with Ukrainian defenders, said the Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev. His death is just the latest in a string of high-profile deaths for the Russian military, coming on the heels of seven generals already killed in action since the war began. Ukraine claims a staggering 20,800 Russian troops have been lost overall. Chirva was a 3rd rank captain from a naval family who leaves behind...