Free Republic

Nearly 2000 doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine were spoiled at a Boston-area VA facility after a cleaning contractor accidentally loosened a plug for a freezer, according to a report. The shots were discovered by staff at the VA Boston Pharmacy on Tuesday. At least 1,900 doses were compromised, Kyle Toto, a spokesman for the VA Boston Healthcare System, told the Boston Globe. “The plug was found loose after a contractor accidentally removed it while cleaning,” Toto said. ... Moderna COVID-19 vaccines — as well as doses developed by rival Pfizer-BioNTech — must be stored at very low temperatures, between negative...

As the nation celebrates the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Bill Russell invoked the civil rights icon Monday in a plea for action in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The NBA legend tweeted a message quoting King in a call for accountability for President Trump for his role in inciting his supporters to march on the Capitol before they ransacked the building in an assault that claimed five lives. Russell framed his message as a matter of “good vs. evil” and quoted a passage from a sermon King delivered in New York...

Famed Boston Red Sox pitcher-turned-conservative commentator Curt Schilling said Tuesday that American International Group (AIG) had cancelled his insurance plan due to his "social media profile." "We will be just fine, but wanted to let Americans know that @AIGinsurance canceled our insurance due to my 'Social Media profile,'" Schilling said on Twitter. Schilling shared a screenshot purportedly showing an AIG employee telling him that while they appreciate that he's been a "long time AIG client since 2004" "it was a management decision that was made collectively between underwriting and marketing teams that could not be overturned."

BOSTON — President-elect Joe Biden will select Boston Mayor Marty Walsh as his labor secretary, according to a source familiar with the decision, choosing a former union worker who shares his Irish American background and working-class roots. Walsh, 53, has served as the Democratic mayor of Boston since 2014. When he took the oath of office for his second term as Boston's chief executive in 2018, Biden presided over the inauguration. His selection was confirmed by a person familiar with the decision who spoke on condition of anonymity.

A statue of Abraham Lincoln with a freed slave appearing to kneel at his feet - optics that drew objections amid a national reckoning with racial injustice - has been removed from its perch in downtown Boston. Workers removed the Emancipation Memorial, also known as the Emancipation Group and the Freedman’s Memorial, early Tuesday from a park just off Boston Common where it had stood since 1879. City officials had agreed in late June to take down the memorial after complaints and a bitter debate over the design. Mayor Marty Walsh acknowledged at the time that the statue made residents...

"It shouldn't take mayors and governors begging the federal government for help. Congress and the sitting administration needs to do their job. The American people need help right now."

A Biogen medical conference in late February led to between 205,000 to 300,000 COVID-19 infections from February to November of this year, according to a study in the peer-reviewed journal Science by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.... ...In the four counties that comprise the Boston region, 51,000 - about half - of the cases of COVID-19 until the beginning of November had genetic markers that linked the cases to the conference, according to the report. The virus also spread from the conference to other states at the beginning of...

A Boston University professor tweeted Saturday that the term “legal vote” is “functionally racist.” “The term ‘legal vote’ is as fictionally fraught and functionally racist as the terms ‘illegal alien’ and ‘race neutral’ and ‘welfare queen’ and ‘handouts’ and ‘super predator’ and ‘crackbaby’ and ‘personal responsibility’ and ‘post racial,’” Ibram X. Kendi tweeted.

Neil Heywood death: Bo Xilai's son 'escorted from his home near Harvard university by US officials' The son of the Chinese power couple embroiled in the scandal over British businessman Neil Heywood's death was escorted from his home by US officials, as experts said he could obtain asylum in America. By Raf Sanchez, Boston, Jon Swaine in Washington and Matthew Holehouse 10:00PM BST 13 Apr 2012 Bo Guagua, the Harrow- and Oxford-educated son of Bo Xilai, was slipped out of his luxury flat near Harvard University late on Thursday night, in a pre-arranged pick-up by law-enforcement officers. Wearing a dark...

ED: October 27, 2020 at 5:14 a.m. | UPDATED: October 27, 2020 at 8:16 a.m. The 2020 presidential election is about what people don’t want as much as what they actually do want. For the left, getting Donald Trump out of office tops the wish list. It’s been that way since the day after the 2016 election. For them, everything the president has done is bad, every move sinister, and every policy one more nail in the progressive coffin. To be fair, Trump hasn’t done himself any favors with his incessant Tweets, revolving door cabinet and mixed messaging on the...

The Boston Herald formally endorsed President Trump for reelection one week from Election Day, describing Joe Biden’s (D) platform as “a risky love letter to social justice warriors and those who believe capitalism is the root of all evil.” In a Tuesday endorsement penned by the editorial staff, the Herald recognized that the left’s devotion has been, solely, to remove Trump from office — an objective it has held since 2016. While Biden “allegedly offers a return to ‘normalcy,’” the Herald asked, “But, what’s normal in 2020?” “Biden’s platform is a risky love letter to social justice warriors and those...

Ultra-creepy technology that George Orwell could not have imagined in his most terrifying nightmares is invading government-school classrooms — and children's minds — all around the world. While many of the Big Brother innovations are coming out of Communist China, they are making their way into American schools quickly as well. Parents, beware. In a video report by the Wall Street Journal on artificial intelligence in Communist Chinese schools, children in a communist indoctrination camp masquerading as a school are shown wearing bands around their heads. The devices feature colored lights on the front that indicate for the “teacher” whether...

I didn’t think the Democrats were planning to dismantle the First Amendment and end free speech until after they won the election next month. But their plans have changed, obviously. Which means that this treasure trove of Hunter Biden emails (leavened with some amateur porn and photos of Hunter passed out next to his crack pipe) must really be a “bombshell.” How big is this scandal if Big Tech has to try to shut down all transmission of the damning stories about the favored candidate of both Silicon Valley and Communist China (but I repeat myself)? It’s so criminal that...

BOSTON (AP) — There’s the windup, the pitch — and the vote. Election officials in Boston are expected to approve Fenway Park as an early voting venue when they meet Thursday, after Red Sox owner John Henry offered the storied ballpark for voters hesitant to cast ballots indoors. City officials toured the park and have said it meets their guidelines. If formally cleared as a venue, Bostonians could vote at Fenway on Oct. 17 and 18.

The Black Futures Lab, a venture of Black Lives Matter founder Alicia Garza, is sponsored by the Chinese Progressive Association (CPA), an organization that works with China’s communist government to push its agenda in the United States, according to an investigation by the Heritage Foundation’s Mike Gonzalez. Gonzalez discovered that the Black Futures Lab donation page explicitly states they are “a fiscally sponsored project of the Chinese Progressive Association,” explaining where donations to Black Futures Lab are funneled.

BOSTON — A woman was killed in an accident involving an elevator in Boston Monday evening. Emergency crews flooded the area outside the building at 1140 Commonwealth Avenue shortly after 5 p.m. on Monday. At the scene, authorities told Boston 25 News that they had been responding to reports of a woman trapped. On Tuesday evening, nearly 24 hours since the accident, officials identified the victim as 38-year-old Carrie O’Connor. Her cause of death has been ruled as traumatic asphyxia, and officials confirmed it was accidental. O’Connor was employed at Boston University, located just down the road from the accident...

WCVB Reporter Stabbed While Reporting In Boston The local news channel told The Boston Globe reporter Ted Wayman was stabbed Sunday night in Copley Square. By Mike Carraggi, Patch Staff Verified Patch Staff Badge Sep 8, 2020 8:03 am ET | Updated Sep 8, 2020 8:11 am ET Ted Wayman was stabbed Sunday night in Boston while reporting on a story. Ted Wayman was stabbed Sunday night in Boston while reporting on a story. (Jenna Fisher/Patch) A WCVB reporter was stabbed while working Sunday night in Copley Square, the local news channel told The Boston Globe. Ted Wayman is recovering...

A recount could be looming in the 4th Congressional District race between two Democrats as more uncounted ballots surfaced on Thursday. Officials in Newton, Wellesley and Franklin on Thursday restarted counting primary ballots after Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin filed a court order to authorize local poll workers to continue counting ballots that were received on time and had not been tallied by the end of Tuesday night. In Franklin, poll workers Thursday evening were counting about 3,000 uncounted ballots — much more than the previously estimated 600 uncounted ballots, according to a spokeswoman for the Secretary of the...

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman is the latest journalist to mockingly downplay the violence that has plagued some American cities. Krugman on Wednesday shared observations he made during his run in New York City. “I went for a belated NYC run this morning, and am sorry to report that I saw very few black-clad anarchists. Also, the city is not yet in flames,” the economist wrote on Twitter. “The political question of the day is whether Trump can win politically by hammering on a nonexistent crisis of order in America’s cities. You would think not, but I’m not 100%...

A Boston priest has apologized for a social media post in which he described himself as “pro-choice” and endorsed former vice president Joe Biden. The post, made Sunday, received widespread media attention and prompted a statement from Cardinal Sean O’Malley. “Please accept my apology for the confusion and upset caused by the Facebook post concerning the presidential election and expectant women carrying their children to birth,” wrote Monsignor Paul Garrity, pastor of the Lexington Catholic Community parish, on Facebook the evening of August 27. In his original Aug. 23 Facebook post titled “I AM PRO-LIFE AND SUPPORT JOE BIDEN,” Msgr....