Free Republic

President-elect Trump is headed for a battle over the debt limit with conservative lawmakers who are demanding steep cuts to federal spending that will significantly complicate Trump’s ability to pass his agenda next year. Thirty-eight House Republicans sent a warning to Trump last week by rejecting his demand to extend the nation’s borrowing authority for two years, casting doubt on Trump’s influence over GOP conservatives. Conservatives now say Trump will need to agree to deep cuts in spending if he wants their support for raising the debt limit in 2025. “We’re about 33 percent overdrawn. We bring in about $4.8...

This is a live thread of launch of SpaceX Starship test flight #6.

The CDC has just announced a second shot for elders and the immunocompromised people – but when's the best time? Yes, older Americans should get yet another COVID shot — but if you have already gotten the latest version, there’s no rush. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week said that people 65 and older or who are immunocompromised need a second dose of the new vaccine released in September. But you should wait six months after the first dose. This means next March is the earliest you’d be eligible. Why is the CDC promoting two doses when...

Explanation: What if a rocket could return to its launch tower -- and be caught? This happened for the first time 10 days ago, after a SpaceX Starship rocket blasted off from its pad in Boca Chica, Texas, USA. Starship then split, as planned, with its upper stage landing in the Pacific Ocean. The big difference was the lower stage, Super Heavy Booster 12, was caught by its launch tower about 7 minutes later. Catching a rocket for reuse is a new and innovative way to help reduce the cost of rocket flight by making rockets more easily reusable. Starship...

There follows a letter from Dr. Angus Dalgleish, Professor of Oncology at St George’s University of London, to Dr. Kamran Abbasi, the Editor in Chief of the BMJ. It was written in support of a colleague’s plea to Dr. Abbasi that the BMJ make valid informed consent for Covid vaccination a priority topic. Dear Kamran Abbasi, Covid no longer needs a vaccine programme given the average age of death of Covid in the U.K. is 82 and from all other causes is 81 and falling. The link with clots, myocarditis, heart attacks and strokes is now well accepted, as is...

A California doctor has tragically died “suddenly” after suffering a stroke at just 32 years old. Dr. Maddie Giegold’s tragic sudden death came just five days before completing her residency. According to reports, the young doctor was “fully vaccinated” for Covid and received an mRNA “booster” shot shortly before she died. “I’ve never really met anyone else like her, she’s incredibly goofy,” said friend Hannah Trautner. Trautner said Giegold would do anything to make people laugh and inevitably become her friend. Those closest to Maddie say she loved cats, trail running, and sunflowers, and was described as being very active....

In China Space Pioneer was performing a static fire test of the Booster for their Tianlong 3 rocket, a design which is a close copy of SpaceX's Falcon 9. Due to an engineering failure the rocket broke free of the test stand, flew under power for about 30 seconds before crashing back to Earth in a spectacular fireball.

London -- A team of scientists from the world’s leading universities have developed a new all-in-one vaccine that they hope can protect humans against a broad range of coronaviruses, including ones that are yet to emerge. The research published in ‘Nature Nanotechnology’ on Monday is based on a new approach to vaccine development called “proactive vaccinology”, where scientists build a vaccine before the disease-causing pathogen even emerges, which has shown promising results in mice. The study by the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge in the UK and Caltech in the US says the vaccine works by training the body’s immune...

March 14 Starship • Orbital Flight Test 3 (OFT-3)Launch time: 7:00 a.m. CDT (8:00 a.m. EDT, 1200 UTC) for 110-min. windowLaunch site: Starbase, Boca Chica Beach, Texas A SpaceX Super Heavy booster and Starship vehicle will make a third fully-integrated test flight during a 110-minute launch window.The plan is for the Starship to achieve near-orbital before reentering the atmosphere and splashing down in the Indian Ocean.The Super Heavy booster will target a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.

I have previously reported on my concern about the rise in stable cancer relapses that I have witnessed in my melanoma clinic. None of these patients of mine presented with the classic prodrome of relapse that I had always noticed previously, such as severe depression due to bereavement, divorce or bankruptcy. Indeed the only thing I found they had in common was to have had a recent booster mRNA covid vaccine. I phoned around my colleagues not only in the UK but also in Australia to check their experience. In no case did they deny such a link. Indeed, they...

“I would say I’m your pretty average healthy 23-year-old,” she said, adding that she works out and eats well. “I’m on my feet 12, 13 hours a day at work, so I want to make sure that I’m in shape for that.” “One checked her carotid, one her femoral (arteries), and she did not have a pulse,” instructor Lisa Davenport said, adding that the nurses began CPR and issued a dreaded “code blue” for an emergency team. “What was really stressful about the situation was that we never had a real code blue in the center. We train for them...

SpaceX Lands All 3 Falcon Heavy Boosters for the First Time

Despite health authorities' continued push for people to stay up to date on boosters, public interest appears to be waning. A recent study reveals why... Most Americans eligible for a COVID-19 bivalent booster chose not to get it, and researchers say they now know why. Previous research found that over 80 percent of Americans eligible for the booster decided against it. A new survey administered between February 13 and March 29 of nearly 2,200 Arizona respondents, averaging 53 years old, revealed why those who chose to forgo the booster did so in the fall of 2022. Those who shied away...

We've heard repeatedly from the White House that they "encourage" Americans to get yet another COVID booster, which the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved earlier this month. President Joe Biden received his own, last week, or so we've been told. While the president has received previous doses in public during press conferences, that wasn't the case this time. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre took a question during Monday's press briefing about such a decision for the president to have his COVID booster and flu vaccine out of the public eye. "Isn’t this a time when, you know, given...

COVID-19 has found itself quickly back in the news and just in time for the 2024 presidential election. The Biden administration, from White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has been hyping the matter. President Joe Biden has called for Congress to fund yet another booster, and mask mandates have come back to movie studios, colleges and universities, and even elementary schools. When First Lady Jill Biden tested positive for COVID earlier this month, the president was supposed to be following masking requirements, in accordance with his own CDC. At least, that's...

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' hand-picked surgeon general has warned against getting the new COVID-19 booster vaccine that is expected to receive approval in the coming days. The state's Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo made the claims at a press conference on Thursday, saying there was no evidence to support getting the shot and that there are 'red flags' about its safety. The updated shots, which target an Omicron subvariant named XBB.1.5, are awaiting FDA approval on standards for safety, effectiveness and quality, and must then receive CDC sign-off, which could come as early as Tuesday. 'Listen inside to what makes sense,...

Here we go again— the Biden Administration has plans to roll out a new COVID-19 vaccine this fall, requiring Americans to get another jab. Despite declaring earlier this year that COVID is no longer a threat, President Joe Biden said his administration will "likely" recommend that all Americans receive the updated booster, including children. Over the weekend, the president told reporters that he plans to ask Congress for additional funds to develop a new vaccine, adding that he may force everyone to take it whether they previously received the initial vaccine. "Yes, I can," Biden said. "I signed off this...

All Americans will be urged by the Biden administration to get a coronavirus booster shot this autumn ahead of what it claims is a new wave of infections, a White House official said Sunday. Reuters reports the official said while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports an increase in infections and hospital admissions from the virus, overall levels remain low, however caution is urged. Moderna and other coronavirus vaccine makers Novavax, Pfizer and German partner BioNTech SE have all reportedly created versions of their shots ready and aimed at the XBB.1.5 subvariant. Dr. Anthony Fauci said Americans may...

Model and actress Katerina Pavelek, 41, received her Covid-19 booster shot over a year ago. Like most people, Pavelek thought the jab would improve her immune system – instead, it did the opposite, and she suffered heavily as a result. Pavelek was diagnosed with an incurable chronic neurological illness known as myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), a long-term illness with a wide range of symptoms that affects daily activities. At times, this condition may confine people to their beds. ME/CFS can worsen if individuals with this illness overwork themselves. The model was also suspected to have respiratory ALS, a neurodegenerative...

People “up to date” with their COVID-19 vaccinations are more likely to get infected, according to a new study. Vaccinated people who received one of the updated bivalent vaccines had a higher risk of becoming infected when compared to people who had not—a group that included both vaccinated and unvaccinated people—researchers with the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio found. The higher risk held even after adjusting for factors such as age and job location. “This study highlights the challenges of counting on protection from a vaccine when the effectiveness of the vaccine decreases over time as new variants emerge that are...