Free Republic

Many of those who opposed lockdowns for the pandemic, predicted that the policy — if normalised — could one day be taken advantage of by opportunistic political forces to deal with almost any crisis. It was, as Lord Sumption once suggested, a potential pathway to authoritarianism. “If we confer despotic powers on government to deal with perils, which are an ordinary feature of human existence, we will end up doing it most or all of the time,” he wrote in November 2021.Well, we are now facing just such a crisis. And there is a not insignificant chance that lockdowns might...

At a press conference in Israel, Biden admits that he was given a list of pre-approved reporters to call on… ignoring anyone who’s not on the list During one of his very rare press conferences, this time in Israel, Joe Biden reveals that his staff gave him a list of pre-approved reporters to call on. VIDEO AT LINK................... “Mr. President you want to call on the next question?” Joe Biden: “Umm, sure. I-i was given a list, here. Uh… Steve Holland of Reuters.” Notoriously incompetent, reclusive, and gaff-prone, Joe Biden’s staff has seemingly decided to preemptively perform damage control. By...

Annie England Noblin, a 40-year-old resident of rural Missouri, had never had a problem filling her monthly prescription for methotrexate until this week. …… It also happens to be one of the first medicines prescribed by doctors to treat rheumatoid arthritis

The majority of Americans do not think President Joe Biden or former President Donald Trump should run for reelection, according to polling released Tuesday. Forty-eight percent of voters in a Politico/Morning Consult survey say that Trump should definitely not run again in 2024, while a further 13 percent say he should probably not run. Meanwhile, 46% of voters say that Biden should definitely not run, while 18% say he probably should not run. The survey, which was conducted from July 8-10, comes in the wake of increasing discussion about the electability and popularity of the two presidents. According to recent...

Concerned that "unauthorized political speech constitutes a kind of pollution that erodes the foundations of democracy," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is seeking legislation that would introduce strict government regulation of what can be said about government policies in public forums. "Many of those, particularly on the political right, aren't really qualified to comment on what the government does," the Prime Minister asserted. "As a result voters can easily be misled by enemies of the state to oppose policies that are for their own good. I feel strongly that it is my responsibility as the elected leader of this country to...

The jobs report and minutes from the Federal Reserve’s June meeting were the economic highlights of the week, but they are, respectively, a lagging indicator and old news. This column instead digs into the auto market, where there is an underappreciated ticking time bomb. Lucky Lopez is a car dealer who has been in the business for about 20 years. In recent meetings with bankers, where he bids on repossessed vehicles before they go to auction, he has noticed some common characteristics of the defaulted loans. Most of the loans on recently repossessed cars originated during 2020 and 2021, whereas...

If you’ve always wanted to wander the streets with the Windows XP bliss wallpaper strapped to your back, now is your time. The famous blue sky and green hill are emblazoned on a mustard or black tee, available for $60. The nine-piece collection of T-shirts, hats, sweats, jackets, and pants is part of a collaboration between Supervsn founder Gavin Mathieu and Microsoft. It’s Microsoft’s first capsule collection of clothing and merchandise, and the software maker clearly wanted to create a trendy nerd vibe with its collaboration. Microsoft has been selling Xbox-branded clothing for years, and the company also sells a...

Twitter’s suppression of key facts of a viral, reported rape incident in Ohio completely upends the platform’s claims that it protects against “misinformation.” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reportedly confirmed to Fox News Digital July 13 that a person who allegedly raped a 10-year-old girl in Ohio, Gerson Fuentes, was a “Guatemalan illegal immigrant.” The girl reportedly later sought an abortion in another state. But in Twitter’s “trending” page item on the story, the platform instead characterized Fuentes simply as a “Columbus man” charged for “allegedly impregnating a 10-year old girl,” leaving the “illegal immigrant” part out entirely. The...

“When Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed Him. And a leper came to Him and bowed down before Him, and said, ‘Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean’” (Matthew 8:1–2). Several more striking features marked the leper who came to Jesus. The man came expectantly but not demandingly, therefore he approached the Lord with humility. It’s clear he wanted to be healed, but he did not explicitly ask Jesus for this miraculous favor. That was almost too much for the leper to presume, hence his statement, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make...

In the introduction to Psalm 9, David wrote that this song was for the death of a son. That’s pretty sad. We don’t know which son he was referencing. Maybe it was about the loss of his infant son with Bathsheba. Maybe it was Absalom’s murder. It could have even been for Jonathan after he was killed in battle. We don’t know exactly what David was thinking of when he titled this song; but when we read it, we can clearly see that God had done something miraculous in his life. Even though David said this song was about the...

You have to read this riveting thread, complete with videos. This is a definitive response to the latest Ray Epps puff piece from the New York Times. Start here: THREAD 1/x The New York Times puff piece on Ray Epps is hugely important. Ray Epps, the only person caught on repeatedly directing people into the Capitol is the only January 6 rioter the New York Times has written a puff piece forhttps://t.co/9VUUJbkVLz — Darren J. Beattie 🌐 (@DarrenJBeattie) July 14, 2022 Full thread is on ThreadReaderApp if you prefer to read it that way… https://twitter.com/DarrenJBeattie/status/1547396003690577921

In 2016, Spinraza became a game-changer for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) patients. It was the first FDA-approved treatment for the neurodegenerative disease, which is the leading genetic cause of infant death. The drug was conceived and developed by Professor Adrian Krainer. His lab has been investigating whether Spinraza could be improved. They discovered pairing Spinraza with a second FDA-approved drug called valproic acid (VPA) could be a new way to boost its therapeutic effects. One way to improve the effect of a drug is by increasing its dosage. But as with any drug, increasing the amount of Spinraza also increases...

The company which is Apple’s most important chip supplier, said it expects revenue to be between $19.8 billion and $20.6 billion in the third quarter, surging from $14.8 billion in the same period last year. However, TSMC CEO CC Wei said that some of the company’s capital expenditure would be “pushed out into 2023.” He cited “greater challenges in the supply chains” which is extending delivery times for some chipmaking equipment. The strong results and outlook but caution on spending highlights the careful path chipmakers are walking at a time of concern about rising prices and the impact on consumer...

A greater percentage of Americans believe former President Donald Trump should run again in 2024 than say the same of President Joe Biden, a Politico/Morning Consult survey released this week found.The survey asked respondents if they believe Trump should run for president in 2024. Thirty-five percent, overall, said he either “definitely” or “probably” should, while 61 percent said he either “definitely” or “probably” should not. However, the survey asked respondents the same of Biden and found that even fewer believe he should run for reelection in 2024.According to the survey, 28 percent believe Biden should either “definitely” or “probably” run...

US President Joe Biden held bilateral talks on Thursday (July 14) with Israeli officials.

Patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) treated with the drug rituximab had a significantly lower risk of relapse compared with MS patients receiving standard treatment. Rituximab is not approved as an MS drug, but has proven to be effective in smaller studies and is therefore largely prescribed "off label." The Phase 3 trial is a study involving patients who were newly diagnosed with the most common form of MS, relapsing-remitting MS. Patients were randomly given either rituximab (Mabthera) or standard dimethyl fumarate (Tecfidera) treatment. During the 24-month follow-up, the occurrence of relapses, i.e., a temporary deterioration of the disease state, was...

Joe Biden and Prime Minister Yair Lapid expressed a public disagreement over the best way to tackle the threat, with Lapid telling the American leader that “words will not stop them, Mr. President,” and urging him to “put a credible military threat on the table.” Biden said, “I continue to believe that diplomacy is the best way.” Minutes before, the two leaders signed a joint strategic declaration, in which the US vowed to use “all elements in its national power” to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. “The United States stresses that integral to this pledge is the commitment never...

“So, we’re proposing an exception that would allow Russia to export as long as the price doesn’t exceed a to-be-determined level. Otherwise, Russia faces a situation where it will be completely cut off from those critical services, and that’s likely to shut-in a substantial amount of Russian oil,” the official warned. She said the mechanism should be viewed as “mitigating the impact that the insurance and financial services ban would otherwise have.” “It will give Russia a way to continue exporting oil at a price I expect would be quite profitable for them relative to shutting it in,”

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, a Republican, said this week that his office will investigate the doctor who provided an abortion to a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio. In an interview with Fox News’ Jesse Watters this week, Rokita said his office will investigate Dr. Caitlin Bernard, an OB/GYN in Indianapolis who told the Indy Star in a story published on July 1 that she provided care to a 10-year-old patient who was six weeks and three days pregnant. Bernard was connected to the patient after receiving a call from a child abuse doctor in Ohio. Allegedly, Ohio’s pro-life laws...

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, a Republican, said this week that his office will investigate the doctor who provided an abortion to a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio. In an interview with Fox News’ Jesse Watters this week, Rokita said his office will investigate Dr. Caitlin Bernard, an OB/GYN in Indianapolis who told the Indy Star in a story published on July 1 that she provided care to a 10-year-old patient who was six weeks and three days pregnant. Bernard was connected to the patient after receiving a call from a child abuse doctor in Ohio. Allegedly, Ohio’s pro-life laws...