Free Republic

A Virginia couple in their 40s who refused pleas from their family to get the COVID-19 vaccine because they read misinformation online passed away from the disease within two weeks of each other, leaving behind five children and an infant grandson. High school sweethearts Kevin, 48, and Misty Mitchem, 46, regretted not taking the vaccine just before they died, according to their bereaved loved ones. Misty Mitchem, a medical transcriptionist by trade, declined to get the shot even though she had diabetes. 'He called me up [from the hospital] and said, "Mom, I love you and I wish that I’d...

Several Republican attorneys general have said that President Joe Biden’s federal mandate for COVID-19 vaccinations hasn’t yet come into effect for private businesses, adding that if it is ordered, they will file lawsuits against it.Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, a Republican, noted that the White House only last week submitted the text of its emergency rule regarding vaccinations to the Office of Management and Budget, meaning it hasn’t gone into effect.But, Knudsen noted that “no such rule or regulation is currently in effect,” adding (pdf) that there has been a “great deal of confusion” over Biden’s announcement last month.“Further, my...

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor issued a bulletin on Oct. 1 to prepare for compensating federal employees, under the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA), who have been injured by COVID-19 shots after President Joe Biden’s executive order mandating it.The bulletin, number 22-01, appears to be a first of its kind as FECA has never been used to compensate employees for injuries from vaccines, according to the bulletin itself.“The FECA does not generally authorize provision of preventive measures such as vaccines and inoculations,” the bulletin states. However, for the COVID-19 jabs it provides “employees impacted by this mandate who...

California parents and teachers who oppose school vaccine mandates are planning a statewide walkout Monday, according to reports. News about the planned protest has spread on social media, with organizers suggesting that parents pull their children out of school and that teachers and staff who support the protest stay home. California became the first state to mandate vaccinations or coronavirus testing for eligible children to attend in-person classes at public and private schools after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the requirement Oct. 1. Students who don’t comply will be required to do an independent study. There are medical and personal belief...

For decades, Cobb County, Ga., a suburb of Atlanta, boasted one of the most influential Republican Party chapters in the state, propelling the careers of well-known lawmakers like former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Sen. Johnny Isakson. However, in recent years, what was once a solidly Republican suburban bastion has morphed into a politically-competitive jurisdiction where Democrats have been ascendant over the last decade — which culminated in President Joe Biden's countywide victory in the 2020 election, along with the locality backing Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff in their respective races earlier this year. In the wake of...

An Austin-based political action committee has sent out “RINO alerts” calling for Republican members to hold local party chair Lee Lester accountable by “demanding that he stops attacking his own party or you’ll vote him out” in response to the Harrison County GOP executive committee’s decision to censure State Rep. Chris Paddie. The request has been sent in the form of political mailers by Project Red Tex. The treasurer of the PAC is listed as Cabell Hobbs; Shannon Oleary is listed as assistant treasurer. The “RINO alerts” were not only sent in reference to Lester, but also with regard to...

he White House is touting the drop in jobless claims as a "sign of progress" after belatedly ending the bonus $300 federal unemployment payments as Republicans — citing the benefits' disincentivizing effects — had long urged.The enhanced jobless payments were continued through President Biden's $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. Many Republican governors attributed the (labor shortage) in the economy, particularly in restaurants and (retail stores), to the added benefit on top of state jobless payments. (26 states) to voluntarily end the federal benefits over the summer in advance of the Sept. 6 end date in the American Rescue Plan Act.

Service members from all five branches of the U.S. military, federal employees, and federal civilian contractors have joined in a class-action (Pentagon Faces Class Action Lawsuit Over Vaccine Mandates on Military, Federal Employees and Contractors)The 24 plaintiffs “face a deadline under the Federal COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate to receive a COVID-19 vaccine that violates their sincerely held religious beliefs, and have been refused any religious exemption or accommodation,” according to Liberty Counsel, the Christian legal firm that filed the lawsuit.

No way in hell you are going to put a wok on an electric stove.”That was Steven Lee, a San Francisco official and restaurant investor, as quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle last year after the city’s Board of Supervisors voted to outlaw natural gas in new buildings.Nevertheless, they persisted. Per the Sierra Club, the quickening campaign to phase out natural gas recently notched its 50th city-level win in California alone. (Take a bow, Encinitas!) No. 50, as with some others, has “situational exemptions” for restaurants and the like, but the overall push to compel an all-electric design for homes...

Now, a new program in Washington state, where Mohamed lives, could soon put him back to work. In May, Washington governor Jay Inslee signed a law granting internationally-trained medical graduates the opportunity to obtain two-year medical licenses to work as doctors, with the possibility of renewal. Participants can forgo residencies—one of the most arduous steps in becoming a doctor—but must meet certain other requirements, including English proficiency, passing all three steps of the USMLE, and working under the supervision of a fully-licensed doctor.

Bill Kristol, editor of the anti-Trump conservative site The Bulwark, said on Sunday that Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was entitled to call Fox News host Tucker Carlson a "repulsive bigot" for his remarks about Buttigieg taking paternity leave. Carlson had mocked the secretary for taking paternity leave and sniped that the secretary was "trying to figure out how to breastfeed." "I'm not going to apologize to Tucker Carlson or anyone else for taking care of my premature newborn infant twins," Buttigieg said in responding to Carlson's comments during an appearance Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union."

A growing number of U.S. Navy SEALs who are seeking a religious exemption to the Defense Department's COVID-19 vaccine mandate are being threatened and, in some cases, harassed into submission, Fox News has learned. A series of new directives by the Navy are promising severe punishment, including demotions, pay cuts and a ban on travel for SEALs, and other Navy service members, who do not comply with the vaccine mandate. For some SEALs who are in the process of seeking a religious exemption to the mandate, the process is nearly impossible to successfully complete to get a waiver, Fox News...

Department will seek to monitor vital signs, “psychosocial information." The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is seeking proposals for a new system that will allow it to track the biometric data of its workers in order to monitor their physical and mental well-being. DHS said in a call for proposals this week that it is looking to “find innovative technological solutions that will improve the overall health and wellness of those consistently placed in high-stress and dangerous conditions” under DHS employment. “DHS is seeking capabilities that not only promote intervention action when necessary, but preemptively and in real-time optimize DHS...

It isn't surprising that people are getting fed up with their political partners. There is sufficient divergence of opinion on how to handle most national problems that we are unable to reach a consensus. We have trouble finding even solutions that make both sides equally unhappy. Separation is not the answer. This is a matter of separating the country based on beliefs about what the driving factors of solutions should be. Even for a country founded on an idea, this is not practical. The most obvious problem is the sheer logistics of separating into two groups. Considering that states, cities,...

<p>A judge in New York City has blocked a father’s right to see his three-year-old daughter unless he agrees to take the COVID-19 vaccine.</p><p>Yes, really.</p><p>In early September, Evan Schein, an attorney acting on behalf of the mother in the couple’s divorce case (the family has not been named), raised concerns about the father’s vaccination status, leading high profile judge Judge Matthew Cooper to suspend his visitation rights until he received the jab.</p>

President Joe Biden spoke at the 40th Annual National Peace Officers’ Memorial Service on Saturday, using the occasion to push gun control, police reform, and the narrative that the January 6 protests were an “insurrection” and a fundamental threat to democracy. The president spoke on the steps of Capitol Hill, praising the Capitol Police who defended the building during the January 6 protests. “Here, nine months ago, your brothers and sisters thwarted an unconstitutional and fundamentally un-American attack on our nation’s values and our votes,” Biden said. “Because of you, Democracy survived.”

Nearly 10,000 winners of the FY 2020 Diversity Visa Program, better known as the visa lottery, who were frustrated by their failure to obtain consular interviews to process their U.S. immigrant visas on time, won a court battle this week. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled on Wednesday that the U.S. Department of State, which administers the immigration program, must process 9,905 visas that were allocated in the DV-2020 lottery. U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta ordered the Department to “commence processing the 9,905 DV-2020 visas as soon as is feasible and to conclude such processing...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Framed by the Capitol, President Joe Biden paid tribute Saturday to fallen law enforcement officers and honored those who fought off the Jan. 6 insurrection at that very site by declaring “because of you, democracy survived.” Biden spoke at the 40th Annual National Peace Officers’ Memorial Service to remember the 491 law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty in 2019 and 2020. Standing where the violent mob tried to block his own ascension to the presidency, Biden singled out the 150 officers who were injured and the five who died in the attack’s aftermath....

Embattled Loudoun County, Virginia, School Board member Beth Barts, who was the subject of a recall petition, announced Friday that she will resign from her position in November. “This was not an easy decision or a decision made in haste. After much thought and careful consideration, it is the right decision for me and my family,” Barts (said) in a (statement) on Facebook. “Please accept this letter as my formal resignation from the Loudoun County School Board effective November 2, 2021.”

Biden's Secretary of Transportation — former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg — is under fire this week for his absence during an escalating supply chain crisis that threatens to leave American stores filled with little more than empty shelves ahead of the busy holiday shopping season. As Katie explained earlier on the supply chain problems, "the situation has reached crisis levels as 250,000 shipping containers remain offshore" waiting to be offloaded at the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach while "Americans across the country are experiencing shortages" that are expected to become more widespread. "It turns out,"...