Free Republic

There are economic good times and economic bad times. When times get tough and money's tight, it's good to have Linux on your PC. 1. The OS and Apps Are Free 2. Your Current PC Will Run for Longer Running Linux means you can expect to use the computer for as long as you want. Rather than running into the artificial limitation of a company declaring your machine end of life and unsupported, you know you will receive free updates until your computer physically falls apart or becomes too underpowered to do what you need it to do. This makes...

A scientist who worked at a controversial research lab in China has claimed that COVID was a man-made virus that leaked from the facility, according to a report. Andrew Huff, who worked for a New York-based non-profit that studied viruses, said COVID leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China two-plus years ago and blamed authorities for the “biggest US intelligence failure since 9/11,” Britain’s The Sun reported Saturday. The lab has been at the center of fierce debates about the origins of COVID, with both Chinese government officials and lab personnel denying that the virus leaked from the...

In the Sunshine State, the voting is easy and the results are quick.The day after the 2020 general election, Florida governor Ron DeSantis crowed about his state’s performance. While vote-counting in other states was slow going and the results in several key races were still in doubt, Florida’s elections had seemingly gone off without a hitch. Of course, it wasn’t always that way. Two decades earlier, Florida had become the national poster child for mismanaged elections. In the razor-thin race between George W. Bush and Al Gore, images of Florida vote-counters with magnifying glasses eyeing so-called pregnant, dimpled, and hanging...

France has been given the green light to ban short haul domestic flights. The European Commission has approved the move which will abolish flights between cities that are linked by a train journey of less than 2.5 hours. The decision was announced on Friday. The changes are part of the country’s 2021 Climate Law. France is also cracking down on the use of private jets for short journeys in a bid to make transport greener and fairer for the population. Transport minister Clément Beaune said the country could no longer tolerate the super rich using private planes while the public...

Just a thought here as I think he was the last effective Speaker from the R party.

“A Shoot from the Stump of Jesse” (Isaiah 11:1-10) Maybe when you heard today’s Old Testament Reading, from Isaiah, you were thinking: “Shoot? Fruit? Root? What in the world is Isaiah talking about? And who is this Jesse fellow? And what could all this possibly have to do with me?” Well, it has everything to do with you, so let’s listen now as Isaiah tells us about “A Shoot from the Stump of Jesse.” Our text is the reading from Isaiah chapter 11. The prophet begins: “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse.” Who is this...

Every year on this, the Second Sunday of Advent and thus the second Sunday of the new liturgical year, the brash and burly figure of the Baptist bursts onto the liturgical stage, bellowing his characteristic charge, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” As we know, the First Sunday of Advent is always given to reflection on the Second Coming of Christ and the end of the world whereas the Second and Third Sundays always focuses on John the Baptist, one of the most pivotal yet underappreciated figures in salvation history. In the context of this liturgy, the...

China has started taking steps to ease its zero-Covid-19 policy, fuelling a mix of relief and worry as the public waits to see the health consequences, and impact on the medical system, of a full-blown exit. Researchers have analysed how many deaths the country could see if it pivots to a full reopening, with most pointing to the country’s relatively low vaccination rates and lack of herd immunity as some of its most vulnerable spots. As of Friday, China reported 5,233 Covid-19-related deaths and 331,952 cases with symptoms.

Being complimented by others is always a nice feeling. But not when it involves 'negging', and online personality Jade Rasif can attest to that. On The Daily Ketchup Podcast released on Monday (Nov 28), she shared an incident where she was on the receiving end of 'negging' by a man. That did not sit well with the 28-year-old. To the less acquainted, 'negging' means giving backhanded compliments to a person in an attempt to flirt with them. Just think back to secondary school crushes and how you tried to catch their attention. But some people simply don't grow up, according...

"Return my dowry": A husband's campaign to get a refund from his estranged wife for wedding expenses after their marriage lasted only 33 days trends in China. Weibo. A man in China who borrowed heavily to pay for his 510,000-yuan (S$98,000) wedding, which fell apart just 33 days later, has demanded his bride refund a substantial part of their marriage costs. The 25-year-old man, surnamed Hou, from Henan province in central China, trended on mainland social media after launching a one-man campaign late last month seeking the return of 140,000 yuan he spent on the wedding, reported Jimu News. The...

Explanation: Mars looks sharp in these two rooftop telescope views captured in late November from Singapore, planet Earth. At the time, Mars was about 82 million kilometers from Singapore and approaching its opposition, opposite the Sun in planet Earth's sky on December 8. Olympus Mons, largest of the volcanoes in the Tharsis Montes region (and largest known volcano in the Solar System), is near Mars' western limb. In both the images it's the whitish donut-shape at the upper right. The dark area visible near center is the Terra Sirenum region while the long dark peninsula closest to the planet's eastern...

All week, China has been rocked by protests against President Xi Jinping and the Communist Party’s extreme “zero-COVID” policies, which have forced many to stay at home for months, possibly leading to the deaths of 10 people trapped in an apartment building fire on Nov. 24. I asked friends in China — using encrypted apps that the Chinese surveillance state has declared illegal — to tell me why they are protesting the lockdowns. Here are four responses, minus the personal details that might get them arrested. 1. “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death!” “I am a software engineer from...

Legendary soccer star Pele has been transferred to an end-of-life care unit at a Brazilian hospital, according to reports. The 82-year-old Brazilian soccer star, known as the “King,” is being treated for colon cancer and was diagnosed with a respiratory infection after being hospitalized Tuesday for “a reassessment of chemotherapy treatment.” The cancer was detected last year, according to a statement from the Sao Paulo Hospital, the Folha de Sao Paulo reported.

After a total of ELEVEN Paul Pelosi assault stories appearing in the October 29 edition of Politico in which the alleged assailant, David DePape, was portrayed (with scant evidence) as a MAGA Republican for whom GOP officials were expected to apologize for, the sum total of these stories once the midterm elections were safely past dwindled to the extent that for the past couple of weeks, there has been no follow-up on the investigation of how this attack unfolded. What makes it more curious is that after their October 31 attack upon conservatives for questioning the official account of the...

Mainstream news reporters — in lockstep with Democratic strategists — rushed to social media to smear journalist Matt Taibbi as a “sad” “fraud” as he released his bombshell report on political censorship at Twitter. “Matt Taibbi…what sad, disgraceful downfall,” Daily Beast columnist and New York Times contributor Wajahat Ali posted. “Selling your soul for the richest white nationalist on Earth.” On Friday, billionaire Elon Musk — who vowed to give the social media giant a free-speech overhaul when he bought it last month — released to Taibbi a shocking collection of inside correspondence proving that Democrat insiders leaned on Twitter’s...

MKs from the Hadash faction of the Joint Arab List have condemned the elimination of a terrorist who stabbed a Border Police officer in Samaria on Friday. Reports from those on the ground said that the terrorist attempted to break into a vehicle, stabbed a soldier, and attempted to steal the firearm from an IDF commander, who fired towards him. Hadash MK Aida Touma-Sliman called the elimination an "execution," saying, "Executing someone with such ease is another war crime. The occupation sees every Palestinian as a legitimate target. This is the reality that the occupation has created - harming the...

Fox News just reported:U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-California, appeared to be the only Democrat who expressed concerns about the ramifications of Twitter’s decision to censor the Hunter Biden laptop story in 2020, according to his communications with the social media platform that were released Friday. Twitter owner Elon Musk released bombshell revelations Friday evening about what led the tech giant to suppress the Hunter Biden laptop story in the final weeks of the 2020 presidential election. Musk outsourced his findings to Substack journalist Matt Taibbi, who published a lengthy thread about what had transpired behind the scenes at Twitter.“Khanna was...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Representative Ilhan Omar arrived at the Capitol today proudly decked out head-to-toe in brand new "Yeezy" gear. "I love clothing that makes a statement, such as 'I want to push the Jews into the sea'," said Ms. Omar, showing off her new kicks. "When I looked deep into that mask and heard about Ye's love for Hitler - I realized I had finally found a man who really gets me. Well, besides my brother." After hearing Ye's declaration of hatred for the Jewish people, Ms. Omar immediately purchased an entire wardrobe of his clothing to show her...

U.S. — After the men's national team was dealt a crushing 1-3 loss by the Netherlands, the United States expressed deep relief to no longer have to go on pretending to like soccer. "Hoo-boy, I didn't think I could keep that up another day," said local man Aaron Bronson. "Thank God for the Dutch!" After twelve grueling days of trying to get excited about a ball mostly being passed backward, celebrations broke out across America as its World Cup run came to a close. "I know we only have to fake being soccer fans every four years, but it's been...

ZAPORIZHZHIA REGION, Ukraine — The path to a Ukrainian victory — or at least the most obvious path — will probably cut south, through the muddy and flat fields of the Zaporizhzhia region. Following Russia’s retreat from the city of Kherson — the only regional capital captured by Moscow since the start of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion — Ukrainian forces have limited options for their next big push to continue recapturing occupied territory and, ultimately, to expel the invaders. Much attention is now shifting here, to the southern front line less than 100 miles north of the Azov Sea,...