Free Republic

Elon Musk drew wrath this week for a nine-minute, 35-mile flight from San Jose to San Francisco — but it didn’t have to be this way. The trip was tracked and exposed by @ElonJet, a Twitter account run by Jack Sweeney, a 20-year-old IT major at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. “If he let me fly with him on his jet, record it and talk about it — and maybe not even pay me the $50,000 [previously asked for] — I would take it down,” Sweeney said of Musk. “That is still up for discussion.” Sweeney’s high-profile hobby...

An ex-intel official and MSNBC pundit who falsely claimed Hunter Biden’s laptop could be Russian disinformation has been appointed to a White House board that offers the president national intelligence advice. The appointment of Jeremy Bash, a former CIA chief of staff during the Obama presidency, to the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, was announced Friday by the Biden administration. Bash clinched the new role despite signing onto a letter along with 50 other former intelligence officials prior to the 2020 election that casted doubt on The Post’s expose of Hunter Biden’s laptop, insisting the computer’s contents “has the classic earmarks...

First, Joe Biden and Congressional Democrats successfully passed student loan “cancelation” legislation, ridiculously and purposely misnomered, “student debt forgiveness.” Next up, rent “cancelation”? As pandemic eviction moratoriums expire and rent payment relief programs end across the U.S., about 8.5 million people are behind on rent as of the end of August, according to Census Bureau data.Of those 8.5 million renters, nearly four million say they are somewhat or very likely to be evicted over the next two months. Hence, can demands for rent cancellation be the next big Democrat wealth-redistribution scam, demanded by people who have been programmed to believe...

Dapagliflozin reduces the risks of death and cardiovascular events in patients with heart failure regardless of ejection fraction, according to research. This pre-specified patient-level meta-analysis combined the DAPA-HF and DELIVER trials of the SGLT2 inhibitor dapagliflozin in patients with heart failure. DAPA-HF enrolled patients with reduced ejection fraction (40% or less) and DELIVER enrolled patients with mildly reduced and preserved ejection fraction (above 40%). Both trials randomly allocated participants to dapagliflozin 10 mg once daily or placebo. The first aim of this analysis was to examine the effect of dapagliflozin on a number of secondary outcomes that each trial alone...

Coast Guard Academy cadets seeking religious exemption from the military's COVID-19 vaccine mandate were ordered to vacate the campus within 24 hours of receiving notification of final military adjudication of their cases and given no further details regarding their future in the service. Much like the West Point cadets whose appeals of religious accommodation requests (RAR) for exemption were denied, the Coast Guard cadets were afforded barely any time to adjust to the final military adjudication of their cases... After being ordered to leave within 24 hours of being notified that their disenrollment appeals were denied, the seven unvaccinated Coast...

It looks like the increased Congressional pressure on the bias at the FBI may be bearing fruit.According to the Washington Times, a senior FBI official who whistleblowers had pointed to in terms of the biased handling of the case in regard to Hunter Biden’s laptop is reportedly out of a job.The information came from two former FBI officials familiar with the situation.Mr. Thibault was seen exiting the bureau’s elevator on Friday. He was escorted by two or three “headquarters-looking types,” according to eyewitness accounts provided to one of the former officials.It’s not clear if he resigned on his own or...

Ukrainian accounts on social media are chattering excitedly this morning about activity in Kherson, the southern province that Russia has occupied since the start of the war. Ukraine’s government spent the last month warning that a counteroffensive to liberate the province was coming. Very soon. Any time now. Could be tomorrow! Could be the next hour! Tick tock.Time is not on Russia’s side in this war, as they’re running out of men and munitions and are unwilling to risk the political backlash that would come if they instituted a national draft. But time isn’t on Ukraine’s side either. Winter is...

After more than two decades of cultivating crops, we'd understand if Evelyn Eng-Lim would prefer to take a step back to enjoy the fruits of her labour. But the 78-year-old organic farmer at Green Circle Eco-Farm tells AsiaOne that she's not slowing down if she can help it, even despite her hearing difficulties. She usually starts her work day at 7am by supervising her workers at the fields, an all-important task. "There was once I told my workers to cut a tree that was towering over the lady's finger we had planted below," she recalls. "When I went to check...

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said Sunday she is “very worried” the Federal Reserve’s moves to fight inflation will “tip the economy into recession,” after Fed Chair Jerome Powell warned economic growth will slow as the central bank tries to combat inflation by raising interest rates. Key Facts During a Sunday appearance on CNN’s State of the Union, Warren said hiking interest rates could put Americans out of work and won’t “deal directly” with some of the root causes of inflation, including the war in Ukraine, supply chain snags and Covid-19. Warren’s comments were in response to a speech Powell gave...

I saw this video on Twitter last week. It shows employees at one of China’s largest tech companies, Tencent, running out of their building after someone inside tested positive for COVID. The employees knew that unless they escape the building very quickly, they will be locked down inside for days.How not to #antivirusVideo took inside head quarter building of #騰訊. (#Tencent ,a world-wide #Chinese IT company)Employee was found receive positive result in virus test.The others was rushing out under the anxiety of lockdown by government.#China #COVID19 #ZeroCovid https://t.co/6CxYS836bD— 過勞死X文香P (@Shimizusoul) August 23, 2022This sort of thing continues happening in China...

A prank between friends turned into a tragedy after a 16-year-old boy died in a fire in Malaysia on Sunday (Aug 28). The incident happened at an abandoned toilet some 30 km northwest of Kuala Lumpur at Bandar Puncak Alam, Malaysian news outlet Berita Harian reported. More from AsiaOne Read the condensed version of this story, and other top stories with NewsLite. Speaking to the Star, Selangor Fire and Rescue Department director Norazam Khamis said that Damin Kansol was asleep on a sofa in front of a toilet while two of his friends were playing mobile games inside. One of...

Gibraltar finally joined the official list of British cities on Monday (Aug 29), after 180 years in which its status, granted by Queen Victoria, had been overlooked due to an administrative error. The British overseas territory bid to become a city earlier this year as part of the celebrations for Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee, but research in the National Archives established it had in fact been granted city status in 1842. "It is excellent to see official recognition given to the City of Gibraltar, a huge accolade to its rich history and dynamism," British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in...

JACKSON HOLE, Wyoming (AP) — When Diane Swonk first attended the Federal Reserve’s annual economic conference in Jackson Hole in the late 1990s, there was a happy hour for women who attended the event. It barely filled a single table. Now, the “Women at Jackson Hole” happy hour draws dozens of female economists and high-level decision-makers, from the United States and overseas. “I’m just glad that now there’s a line for the ladies’ room,” said Swonk, a longtime Fed watcher who is chief economist for the accounting giant KPMG. It’s not just at Jackson Hole but also in the Fed’s...

The news of the week concerns the Biden-Regime’s $10,000/student (or in some cases, $20,000/student) loan write-off, being portrayed as a debt forgiveness. It’s not. Today, let’s consider some of the basics that the debate has forgotten – basics that involve not only the schools, the banks, and the students, but the taxpayers, the economy, and civilization itself. Advance warning: this is going to be a long one; it's a big topic. MORAL HAZARD Think of the famous concept of the “butterfly effect” – the idea that every action might be a cause of other, possibly unanticipated results down the line....

In television, there's often a strange, inherent tension between the fans who watch shows and the executives who oversee them. The former want good stories, compellingly told, that make sense and, when the time is right, come to a satisfying conclusion. The latter want to make money, which often means extending shows for as long as possible and sometimes even leaving things unresolved at the end because that lack of resolution keeps people guessing and can help the shows have a long life in syndication. Often, the executives win, but when the fans do, they have the final episode of...

BREAKING: Alex Jones claims Trump called him & his team reached out to him after he set an ultimatum. Trump is proud of the shot, Trump is the vaccine man & Trump wants people to stop questioning it. Interesting! What do you think…?Trump wants people to stop questioning the COVID-19 Vaccines

August 29 is a National Day of Commemoration in El Salvador, honoring the execution on this date in 1865 of the country’s beloved ex-president Gerardo Barrios. Today, you’ll find Barrios (English Wikipedia entry | Spanish) entombed adjacent Francisco Morazan, an apt deposition for both those great statesmen of Central American union. Barrios was just old enough — he enlisted at age 14 — to have served in Morazan’s army of the United Provinces of Central America, the abbreviated political expression of a wonderful vision for Spain’s former possessions. “This magnificent location between the two great oceans,” Bolivar once enthused of...

Conservative pundit and Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro blamed former President Donald Trump for Republicans losing momentum ahead of the midterms. …. In a Twitter thread on Tuesday, Shapiro blasted Republicans who put the focus on Trump despite his unpopularity with independents, who are a crucial electoral demographic. Shapiro said that the problem for Republicans is not just the Supreme Court overturning the landmark abortion decision Roe v. Wade. ….. [Little Ben] : “ This means that when Trump is attacked, Republicans immediately return to making him the centerpiece of the conversation – and this harms them electorally, as every...

Vaccine hesitancy remains a public health challenge that cuts across the country as the COVID-19 pandemic drags on, but Republican voters and Black people are among the most hesitant to get the shot, according to a new Portland State University study. Arun Pallathadka, a Ph.D. student in PSU's Earth, Environment and Society's program, and Heejun Chang, professor of geography, conducted a spatial analysis of vaccination data at the county level across the U.S. to identify the social, ecological and technological factors impacting vaccine rates. Among the findings: -Vaccine hesitancy is strong in many Republican counties across the U.S., especially in...

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media. I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone: for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. ~ 1 Timothy 2:1-2 Religion Forum Threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate of any kind.