Free Republic

Nearly 630,000 abortions cost the United States roughly $6.9 trillion in 2019 alone, according to a report released this week by Republicans on the Joint Economic Committee (JEC). The committee released the report in response to claims by U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and other economists that restricting abortion would negatively effect the economy by diminishing labor market outcomes of women.

Wasn't there some discussion about budesonide helping people who have contracted COVID-19? We have some friends who have COVID-19 even though they took all the shots. I have recommended they get Equate Budesoniade Nasal Spray to help them get over it. My hubby and I took the first shot and then became suspicious and have not taken any more...thank goodness! We are taking our Vit D 5,000 units, and if we get a sniffle, spray a time of the Budesonide Nasal Spray, and we have not had a problem at all (both of us are in our 80's). We don't...

Former President Donald Trump on Friday offered his first public comments since the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol began to reveal the extent of his attempts to remain in power. The committee has presented harrowing video footage and searing testimony, including accounts from Trump's close associates and members of his family. Trump called the hours of testimony — in over three days of hearings so far — "a complete and total lie." He spent much of his speech blasting the committee's efforts as politically motivated, and insisting he'd done nothing wrong.

The measure would place exemptions on recreational weapons used for hunting as well as ammunition. The law would not retroactively apply to tens of millions of AR-15s that are estimated to be circulating around the United States. In an attempt to define what would be taxed, the bill says it would apply to “semiautomatic assault weapon[s],” which are semiautomatic rifles that have the capacity to use a magazine that isn’t a fixed magazine, a pistol grip, a forward grip, and a folding, telescoping, or detachable stock. Other items that fall under that definition include a semiautomatic rifle with a barrel...

From the FReeper Canteen...Happy Father’s Day 2022!!

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced that Monica Mendez of of Port Lavaca pleaded guilty to 26 felony charges, including three counts of illegal voting, seven counts of assisting a voter to submit a ballot by mail, eight counts of unlawful possession of a mail ballot and eight counts of election fraud. The charges stemmed from a 2018 water board election in the small town of Bloomington, about 130 miles south of Houston, according to the Victoria (Texas) Advocate.

Days after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, staffers at Men as Peacemakers, a Minnesota group that works with students to break down gender stereotypes and reduce violence, checked in with participants to see how they were feeling. The students, who were mostly white, mirroring the state’s demographics, talked about lockdown drills they had practiced in school, but their responses were not very emotional, said Serrano Robinson, the group's youth restorative program coordinator. The mass shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 24 that left 19 children and two teachers dead “sadly seemed kind of normal” to them, he said....

Median rents in the US crossed the $2000 mark this past month for the first time ever, while rental markets surged 15% – 20% in a single year depending on the region. This is yet another trend which supports the position that official CPI is inaccurate and overall inflation is actually much higher than the central bank and the Biden White House reports. The latest CPI print indicates an “official” inflation rate of 8.6%, while REAL inflation is closer to 17% according to pre-1990s calculations. The continued denial of real inflation rates is causing confusion among Americans who are facing...

A federal waiver that made school breakfasts and lunches free to students regardless of their family’s income is set to expire June 30, eliminating a benefit that has helped millions of schoolchildren at a time when they need it more than ever, anti-hunger advocates say. The free school meals program began in March 2020 when Congress authorized the U.S. Department of Agriculture to issue dozens of child nutrition waivers, including ones that expanded summer food programs, to provide a lifeline during the pandemic.

In its latest Values and Beliefs survey, Gallup found that belief in God in the U.S. has fallen to 81%, a new low, and that liberals, young people, and Democrats are the "least likely to believe in God." According to Gallup, in 2013-17, 87% of American adults said they believed in God. In 2022, however, that percentage had fallen to 81%, a decline of six percentage points. Among 18-29 year olds, belief in God fell 10 points, from 78% to 68%. For unmarried Americans, belief fell 8 percentage points (85% to 77%). For Democrats, belief in God fell from 84%...

Explanation: Supergiant star Gamma Cygni is at the center of the Northern Cross. Near the plane of our Milky Way galaxy, that famous asterism flies high in northern summer night skies in the constellation Cygnus the Swan. Known by the proper name Sadr, Gamma Cygni also lies just below center in this telescopic skyscape, with colors mapped from both broadband and narrowband image data. The field of view spans about 3 degrees (six Full Moons) on the sky and includes emission nebula IC 1318 and open star cluster NGC 6910. Filling the upper part of the frame and shaped like...

HARRISON, MI — Shortly before dawn one May morning, a mentally ill man walked into a Clare County home, proclaiming himself as Satan to its residents. The tense and frightening situation turned tragic when the homeowner fatally shot the intruder. A month on, prosecutors have ruled the shooting a justifiable case of self-defense and are declining to issue charges against the shooter. Clare County Prosecutor Michelle J. Ambrozaitis announced on Wednesday, June 15, that she was not charging the homeowner who fatally shot 48-year-old Kevin M. Lighthall on May 5. In her statement, Ambrozaitis provided additional details of the incident...

In past columns, we have discussed how Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe seems intent upon running through the entire criminal code in declaring clear evidence of every federal crime by former President Donald Trump and/or his family. Just for the purposes of keeping score, Tribe declared evidence supporting criminal charges of witness tampering, obstruction of justice, criminal election violations, Logan Act violations, extortion, espionage, and treason by Trump or his family. He has now added attempted murder in an interview on CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront.” In addition to declaring former President Donald Trump clearly guilty of the attempt to murder...

Newly-appointed Director of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) Jeff Olivet visited Houston on April 28 to tout the Bayou City’s “success” in reducing homelessness by 62 percent. On the eve of his trip, he emailed homeless advocates about the city’s efforts, “Houston’s great. We’re not sure if it’s replicable.” The question should be, is it sustainable? Since the Obama administration, the federal government’s approach to reduce homelessness has been based on a simple concept: The homeless are homeless because they don’t have homes. Give them a home and — regardless of underlying addiction or mental illness —...

The head of the World Health Organisation privately believes the Covid pandemic started following a leak from a Chinese laboratory, a senior Government source claims. While publicly the group maintains that ‘all hypotheses remain on the table’ about the origins of Covid, the source said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organisation (WHO), had recently confided to a senior European politician that the most likely explanation was a catastrophic accident at a laboratory in Wuhan, where infections first spread during late 2019.

Officials in Otero County, New Mexico, voted to certify primary election results on Friday in compliance with a state Supreme Court order after refusing to do so, citing concerns about voting machines. In a 2-1 vote, the Republican-led commission certified the county's results from its June 7 primary. One of the commissioners, Vickie Marquardt, said she voted to certify over fears of criminal charges and possible jail time. “The New Mexico Supreme Court, the Democrat-controlled state legislature and the Democrat-controlled Secretary of State and the Attorney General will not allow us to withhold approval pending investigation. Instead, they are railroading...

Disney’s upcoming adventure film “Strange World” will feature a gay teen romance — the first in an animated feature produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. The refreshing nod to inclusivity comes as “Lightyear,” the much-anticipated “Toy Story” spinoff, was reportedly banned in 14 countries over a brief same-sex kiss.

But the U.S. hasn’t provided nearly enough launchers to blunt the Russian equipment advantage. Ohio Republican Rob Portman, who is co-chairman of the Senate Ukraine caucus, on the Senate floor this week offered a blunt assessment of the facts on the ground: Brutal fighting continues in Severodonetsk, where the Russians are making grinding progress, and the Luhansk region could fall within weeks if the Ukrainians can’t get longer-range artillery. “Because the Russians have more artillery than the Ukrainians and their weapons have longer ranges,” the Senator explained, “the Russian forces concentrate massive firepower on Ukrainian positions at distances, which the...

A MAN is refusing to pay vet bills and expenses after his unneutered dog impregnated another pet.Taking to Reddit, the man asked if he was in the wrong for not contributing towards the bills. His post has received almost 14,000 upvotes and 1,500 comments. The man, known as u/aitapuppy_power, explained that he lives on his family's farm and has always had livestock guard dogs to ward off predators, reports The Mirror. His post read: "I have two, they are very well trained and socialised, but I don't allow dogs I don't know on the farm unless I'm there the entire...

You weren’t planning to see it anyway and you are right to avoid it. This film is a Pedomouse spectacular. Lightyear is a product of Reimagine Tomorrow. The lesbian kiss was the least of it. The entire film is centered around the lesbian relationship. In fact the lesbians get pregnant. So, forget about awkward questions from your seven year old about two women in love. Pedomouse wants you to have discussions about how two women can get each other knocked up. That is the family conversation Disney/Pixar is pushing with Lightyear. Then there are the values this film is pushing...