Free Republic

.....Everything we see in China, we’re starting to see here in the West. Australia, Austria, and even the US have imposed or attempted to impose mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations. Government officials openly pressure banks not to give loans to disfavored businesses, like oil companies. Parents who protest what their kids are learning in government schools are labeled domestic terrorists. Lacie’s experience is already becoming a reality for almost a fifth of the world’s population. It didn’t end well for her. If we’re not vigilant, it won’t end well for us.

There is nothing stranger in American history than the up-and-down reputation of Ulysses S. Grant. Grant, who was born April 27, 1822, was the commanding general who ended the Civil War. He managed the great campaigns that captured Vicksburg and Richmond, saved Chattanooga, and compelled the surrender of Robert E. Lee and the main Confederate field army, and did it so well that President Abraham Lincoln apologized for not showing him enough confidence. Grant’s “Personal Memoirs,” published after he died in 1885, are a landmark of 19th-century American prose. Grant may be a greater example even than Lincoln of the...

(snip)And it’s easy to slip into the mindset that since Twitter is obviously such an important utility for public discourse, Musk owes us all something. And while we’re all grateful for and hopeful about his recent moves, it’d be foolhardy to relinquish the ground we’ve made on other platforms.As a result of long-standing censorship, conservatives have built a number of companies – some with more efficacy than others – which deserve our support despite Twitter’s potential turn towards freedom.(snip)

An EgyptAir flight that crashed en route to Cairo, killing all 66 people on board, was brought down by a pilot who had a cigarette in the cockpit and started a fire, a new report found. EgyptAir flight MS804 was traveling on May 19, 2016, from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport to Cairo International Airport when it fell out of the sky between the Greek island of Crete and northern Egypt. France’s Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) has since concluded that pilot Mohamed Said Shoukair’s mid-air smoke break led to a fire onboard the Airbus...

New research suggests that disease-causing amoebas that live on organic leafy vegetables can shelter human pathogens like Pseudomonas, Salmonella, and Helicobacter and are a potential risk to public health. Foodborne illness from consuming contaminated fresh produce is common and can have serious effects on human health, especially when eaten raw. During growth, harvest, transportation and further processing and handling, fresh produce can be contaminated with pathogens from human or animal sources, through contact with soil, irrigation water, air, rain, insects, and during industrial produce-washing. Vegetables can become contaminated with certain protozoa (single-celled organisms) such as free-living amoebae (FLA), that feed...

An outrageous video of a man in a Costco has gone viral for all the wrong reasons. In an Instagram video shared by @millennial_republicans, a masked man in a Costco was holding up pepper spray towards unmasked employees demanding they stay away from him. During a verbal exchange with an employee, who was handling himself with a stunning amount of grace and class for the situation, the masked man shoved him! Yes, the masked man was so scared of maskless people getting close that he decided to make physical contact! (video at link). That maskless dude is a complete...

Illustration of an asteroid. (NASA/JPL/Caltech) A gigantic "potentially hazardous" asteroid that may be twice the size of the Empire State Building is set to zoom past Earth Thursday (April 28), according to NASA. The asteroid, named 418135 (2008 AG33), has an estimated diameter between 1,150 and 2,560 feet (350 to 780 meters) and will break into Earth's orbit at a blistering 23,300 mph (37,400 km/h). Thankfully, the asteroid is expected to skim past our planet without any risk of impact. At its closest point, the asteroid – traveling at more than 30 times the speed of sound – will come...

Associate professor Mazhar Ali and his research group at TU Delft have discovered one-way superconductivity without magnetic fields, something that was thought to be impossible ever since its discovery in 1911 – up till now. The discovery, published in Nature, makes use of 2D quantum materials and paves the way towards superconducting computing. Superconductors can make electronics hundreds of times faster, all with zero energy loss. Ali: “If the 20th century was the century of semi-conductors, the 21st can become the century of the superconductor.” During the 20th century many scientists, including Nobel Prize winners, have puzzled over the nature...

New research has identified the third day of hospitalization as a tipping point in the progression of disease among symptomatic patients admitted for COVID-19 pneumonia. An overactive immune response to the SARS-CoV-2 virus can cause COVID-19 pneumonia with severe complications. …Blood samples were taken at days 1, 3, 5, and 7 of hospitalization and levels of three host proteins that play vital roles in the COVID-19 immune response were measured: interferon-γ induced protein 10(IP-10), C-reactive protein (CRP) and tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL). In general, TRAIL levels increased over time, while CRP and IP-10 fell in all patients. On...

The United Nations secretary-general travelled to Moscow on Tuesday to meet with Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The Ukraine crisis was the central focus of discussions. Russia has not turned away from negotiations with Ukraine and continues to hope that a lasting peace agreement can be reached, President Vladimir Putin has said. "Notwithstanding the fact that the military operation is underway, we still hope that we will be able to reach agreements on the diplomatic track as well. We are holding talks, we are not giving up on them", Putin said, speaking to UN...

House Democrats intend to move in the coming weeks to pass legislation designed to rein in skyrocketing gas prices, the head of the House Democratic Caucus said Wednesday. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) did not commit his support for a federal gas tax holiday, which has divided Democrats on and off of Capitol Hill.

The Trump-obsessed comedian Jimmy Kimmel thought he caught the former president in a “got heem” moment last night when trying to make fun of the former president’s Truth Social app. It aged horribly. A review of the Apple App Store found that Truth Social has taken the No. 1 “Free App” spot, with Twitter down to No. 2. The China-controlled TikTok, another competitor, sits at No. 5. The development comes just hours before Kimmel claimed Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s landmark purchase of Twitter put Trump in a very tough spot as a competitor in the social media market on the...

[SAN FRANCISCO – Apr. 26, 2022] Project Veritas released newly leaked audio today that captures Twitter leadership addressing staff over concerns relating to Elon Musk’s takeover of the company. In a company-wide call that lasted around 45 minutes, Twitter employees questioned board member, Bret Taylor, and CEO, Parag Agrawal, about the company’s direction and Musk’s motives for buying the social media platform. Taylor kicked off the meeting recognizing that many on the staff were shocked by how quickly the Twitter-Musk negotiations unfolded. “I also just want to acknowledge all the emotions of today. It is an emotional day. I want...

Adam Schiff was knee-deep in the Trump Russia collusion sham. He was involved way back in July 2016. John Durham just confirmed it. John Durham released some documents yesterday related to the Trump – Russia collusion sham created by the Hillary Clinton gang. We reported on this earlier. There is much in this latest release but one item, in particular, is that Adam Schiff was involved in this lie from the beginning. Redstate reports: Durham also derides the claim that Fusion was hired for legal work — calling that a “novel” way to cover up opposition research and the derogatory...

Amid rumours about his poor health, a video showing Vladimir Putin's shaking hand as he greeted Belarus's leader resurfaced this week. The clip, which was filmed just before Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February, showed him gripping a chair and pressing his hand to his chest to stop it shaking as he greeted Alexander Lukashenko. It fueled further speculation of the state of his health after footage and images appeared to show his bloated face and slouching posture. But the scenes of Putin's apparent struggles are reminiscent of a clip that showed Adolf Hitler's own failing health as Germany faced...

"At first, I hoped to sell it to someone to make some money," Nidal Abu Eid, the farmer, told The New Arab, "but an archaeologist told me that it was of great archaeological value.""At first, I hoped to sell it to someone to make some money," Nidal Abu Eid, the farmer, told The New Arab, "but an archaeologist told me that it was of great archaeological value." Staff at the ministry concluded that the head belonged to a statue of Anat, the goddess of love, beauty and war in Canaanite mythology, Rida said. The statue will go on display at...

Levi Strauss & Co. president and CEO Chip Bergh has made advocating progressive politics a corporate priority, stating that business leaders “have a responsibility” to create change. But weaponizing Levi’s for political purposes has come at the expense of those employees who hold opinions different from his own, reports have revealed. Many of the progressive policies championed by the company, once an iconic brand of rugged individualism, are out of step with many of its consumers. Bergh, for example, working with the liberal group Everytown for Gun Safety, led the charge for stricter gun control in the United States. Levi’s...

Lauren Bernett, a former standout at South Fayette High School in Pennsylvania and a current star for the James Madison softball team, has passed away the school said Tuesday. She was 20. No cause of death has been given.

Food prices are continuing to rise at an alarming rate. The 8.8% year-over-year increase (March 2022 compared with March 2021) is the largest in more than 40 years. Over the past seven months, each month’s year-over-year food price increase has been above 4% and each successive month has been higher than the previous month (starting at 4.6% in September and reaching 8.8% in March). This upswing in food prices is being reflected across multiple food categories, from fresh fruit (10.1%) to fish and seafood (10.9%). Skyrocketing food prices are regressive and particularly damaging to low-income Americans, as they spend a...

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement on Wednesday. She said they were continuing to work with international partners to get access to alternative sources of natural gas and noted that a “coordinated EU response” was in the process of being crafted. The development comes as Gazprom alleged in a memo that Poland and Bulgaria were refusing to use Russian rubles to pay for natural gas, as Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded, consequently forcing Gazprom to shut off access of fuel to the two countries, The U.S. and others are seeking to isolate Russia economically...