Free Republic

What is the Cochran Library? “The Cochrane Library contains high-quality, independent evidence to inform healthcare decision-making. It includes reliable evidence from Cochrane and other systematic reviews, clinical trials, and more. Cochrane reviews bring you the combined results of the world’s best medical research studies, and are recognized as the gold standard in evidence-based health care.” The Cochran Library has been reviewing the use of physical interventions to interrupt or reduce the spread of respiratory viruses since 2010. By physical interventions, they mean masks, shields, gowns, hand-washing, etc. This is not some short-term project, but a long-term, serious meta-analysis review. As...

The Swiss-German newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) reports that Joe Biden offered Russian President Vladimir Putin 20% of Ukraine in exchange for a peace treaty. The offer was made by CIA Director William Burns during a top-secret trip to Moscow in January. The White House is denying the specific “land for peace” offer was made but won’t deny some kind of peace offer wasn’t put forward. The story cited “high level German officials” as sources. Both Kyiv and Moscow reportedly rejected the proposal. The 20% offer of Ukraine’s territory is significant. It’s about the size of the disputed Donbas region...

“I hope we don’t find out that somehow this mRNA lingers in the body,” says Dr. Jordon Walker, a director of mRNA R&D at Pfizer, in a video secretly recorded by Project Veritas. Sorry, Dr. Walker. We’ve known definitively for over a year the mRNA does linger, in some cases for at least 60 days. The world class pathology group at Stanford University reported this in Cell on January 24, 2022 – ”Immune imprinting, breadth of variant recognition, and germinal center response in human SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination.” And the longer mRNA persists, the more highly toxic Spike protein it...

. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 517,000 for January, far higher than the 187,000 market estimate. . The unemployment rate fell to 3.4% versus the estimate for 3.6%. That is the lowest jobless level since May 1969. . Leisure and hospitality added 128,000 jobs to lead all sectors. Other significant gainers were professional and business services (82,000), government (74,000) and health care (58,000). The employment picture started off 2023 on a stunningly strong note, with nonfarm payrolls posting their strongest gain since July 2022. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 517,000 for January, above the Dow Jones estimate of 187,000 and December’s gain...

Over in the House, new Speaker Kevin McCarthy is busily kicking troublesome, scandal-plagued Democrats from high-profile committee assignments. McCarthy’s latest push came Thursday when in a party-line vote, the GOP ousted far-left Rep. Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee.

PM 4Liberty, if you want On/Off this listhttps://pluto.tv/live-tv/americas-voicehttps://americasvoice.news/Tune in via Roku/AppleTV/AmazonFire with the America’s Voice App https://americasvoice.appLIVE STREAM all Bannon shows & find past episodes here: https://rumble.com/c/BannonsWarRoom | https://americasvoice.news/playlists/the-war-room/

The new legislative session began a little later than expected this year, as an anti-establishment resistance looked to block what was initially expected an easy and predestined anointing of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as House speaker. Once the session began, several new bills, some of which really do not have any realistic chance of passing through the Democrat-controlled Senate, began to be reported by news outlets as evidence that conservative hardliners who opposed the eventual House speaker had gained some concessions from the mainstream or "establishment" GOP as a result of their calculated early-year theatrics.There should be no expectation that...

The city of Miami received mockery on Thursday after Mayor Francis Suarez unveiled a new police cruiser decorated with Africa-themed imagery to celebrate Black History Month. “This is a beautiful collaboration to commemorate Black history and Black History Month and the history of African Americans and our police department and our city,” Suarez said. “This is Black history.” Miami Police Chief Manuel Morales was also in attendance for the unveiling. Florida-based reporter Joshua Caballos claimed that the mayor’s office was not involved with the cruiser’s design. “I just spoke to Black police union (@mcpba1946) president Stanley Jean-Poix. He said Mayor...

Strange days indeed! Today’s jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statists (BLS) was stunning. 517k jobs added! Very strange since the ADP jobs added report on Febuary 1st was only 106k. THAT is a huge discrepancy (probably a seasonal adjustment in the BLS reporting). Average hourly earnings rose to 4.4% YoY. Too bad headline inflation is still roaring at 6.5%. So, the inflation tax is still overwhelming wage growth. The spread between the January jobs report (BLS) and the ADP jobs added report (ADP) is similar to the infamous jobs report that the Philly Fed “corrected” (orange circle). Here...

NEW DELHI (AP) — Utkarsh Saxena and Ananya Kotia’s love story began just like any other college romance. Except no one else knew about the gay couple’s relationship. It was 2008. Homosexuality was yet to gain a degree of acceptance in deeply conservative India, with many gay couples facing stigma and isolation. So Saxena and Kotia took their time, watching from a distance how people’s acceptance of homosexuality was changing. “We were actually quite scared about the consequences,” said Saxena, a public policy scholar at the University of Oxford. “We were very fragile and vulnerable, a young couple figuring out...

America may soon face one of two kinds of left-wing authoritarianism. One is the soft despotism of liberal technocracy. This authoritarianism wouldn’t overthrow the present structures of our society or upend the economy. In fact, it would have the support of the regime’s major institutions. It would seriously curb civil liberties, such as free speech and gun rights, and feel much less democratic. More people would be arrested over memes, but much would remain the same. Political life in America would look more like contemporary Western Europe. The other is a radical populism in the mold of Hugo Chavez, the...

Duke coach Kara Lawson said the teams played with a men's basketball for the first half of a loss to Florida State on Sunday. The 16th-ranked Blue Devils lost to the Seminoles 70-57 in Tallahassee, Florida -- the team's second Atlantic Coast Conference loss of the season. After her team beat Pittsburgh 53-44 on Thursday, Lawson ended her news conference by speaking animatedly about Sunday's game. "This would never happen in a men's game. This would never happen," she said. "It's embarrassing for our sport."

On Thursday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom,” Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) stated that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s approach to the debt ceiling is “most reasonable” and argued that spending reductions of 5-10% across the board should be explored. Manchin stated, [relevant remarks begin around 3:45] “Kevin and I had a nice conversation a couple of weeks ago. And I think he’s most reasonable taking the approach, can’t we at least recognize 31.5 trillion is unmanageable and we shouldn’t be passing on to our children and grandchildren, we’re writing checks they can’t cash. And I know the president’s...

MIAMI - Disturbing and alarming cell phone video captures the moment a 9-year-old girl is beaten by several older boys while riding on a bus from Coconut Palm K-8 Academy in Homestead. "Emotionally, I couldn't even last two minutes. I couldn't look at the video. Like any mother, I am destroyed. I fell to my knees and at that moment I said I have to do something," said Jenni, who is the mother of the young girl who was attacked. Jenni says her daughter was attacked while riding on the school bus Wednesday afternoon. Her 10-year-old son was also pummeled...

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis may be months away from publicly declaring his presidential intentions, but his potential rivals aren’t holding back. No fewer than a half dozen Republicans eyeing the White House have begun actively courting top political operatives in states like New Hampshire and Iowa, which traditionally host the opening presidential primary contests. At the same time, former President Donald Trump, the only announced candidate in the race, is launching regular attacks against DeSantis — and others — while locking down key staff and endorsements in early voting South Carolina. For now, DeSantis is...

The People's Republic of China confirmed Friday that the balloon craft floating over the northern United States is Chinese. "The airship is from China. It is a civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological, purposes," a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson confirmed Friday. "Affected by the Westerlies and with limited self-steering capability, the airship deviated far from its planned course." The spokesperson said China regrets the incident. The statement continued, "The Chinese side regrets the unintended entry of the airship into US airspace due to force majeure. The Chinese side will continue communicating with the US side and properly handle this...

The first task is to wipe off or cover up the Z, says Anatoly, 44, of the call sign infamously daubed on Russian hardware involved in the war in Ukraine. “We don’t want friendly fire later on.” Then the mechanics get to work. In a secret location in Ukraine, within a vast warehouse that could be mistaken for a tank graveyard, what was once Russian – Soviet, in many cases – is being turned Ukrainian. (snip) But for all the efforts of the Nato allies, it is Russia that is unwittingly, and yet by some margin, Ukraine’s biggest donor of...

(Daily readings from the USCCB)Herod feared John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man, and kept him in custody. When he heard him speak he was very much perplexed, yet he liked to listen to him. Mark 6:20Ideally, when the Gospel is preached and received by another, the effect is that the receiver is filled with joy, consolation and a desire to change. The Gospel is transforming for those who truly listen and respond with generosity. But what about those who do not respond with generosity? What effect does the Gospel have upon them? Our Gospel today gives...

The FBI is expanding.The bureau is reportedly planning to build a new headquarters which will be twice the size of the Pentagon.This raises a few obvious questions. Why do they need such a massive building? Are they increasing the size of their ranks to fill it? Should the American people be concerned about this?

Rising American rock stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson are killed when their chartered Beechcraft Bonanza plane crashes in Iowa a few minutes after takeoff from Mason City on a flight headed for Moorhead, Minnesota. Investigators blamed the crash on bad weather and pilot error. Holly and his band, the Crickets, had just scored a No. 1 hit with “That’ll Be the Day.”