Free Republic

The Ukrainian military said Monday that it recaptured strategic gas and oil drilling platforms from Russia in the Black Sea and claimed gains in occupied areas near Bakhmut, a city in eastern Ukraine left in ruins after the war’s longest and deadliest fighting. The recapture of the so-called Boyko Towers platforms provides an energy source and takes back an asset that Russia seized in 2015 and used to launch helicopters, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense said. “Russia has been deprived of the ability to fully control the waters of the Black Sea, and this makes Ukraine many steps closer to regaining...

Former White House chief medical advisor Anthony Fauci said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that there were “a number of studies that show that masks actually do work” to stop the spread of COVID-19. Anchor Jon Karl said, “There’s a new study out that suggests that masks were actually not effective, at least not in a global sense, in containing the pandemic. What is your sense looking back at all of this? Did masks prove to be less effective than you anticipated?”

American truckers have issued a warning about the Biden administration's plans to reduce air pollution by cracking down on heavy-duty vehicle emissions, saying that President Biden's proposed policies will crush the supply chain and put the American food supply at risk. Under the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which aims to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides and other pollutants by enacting stringent new regulations on heavy-duty vehicles and machinery, businesses will be subjected to unattainable standards which will result in high inflation and put trucking companies out of business, American trucking officials warn. Mike Kucharski, vice president and co-owner of JKC...

U.S. gasoline prices are headed higher in the nation’s corn belt, and could rise by as much as $1 per gallon at some gas stations, the head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy warned on Thursday. GasBuddy’s Patric DeHaan implored the EPA to issue fuel waivers ASAP, as the wholesale price of gasoline spikes in Oklahoma, Missouri, South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Montana, and Kansas. “ALERT: #GasPrices will likely rise 25-75c/gal in OK, MO, SD, ND, NE, MN and KS over the next few days. Some stations may go up closer to $1/gal as the wholesale price of gasoline is spiking...

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Wednesday claimed that President Joe Biden left a Medal of Honor recipient’s ceremony early yesterday in order to “minimize his close contact with attendees.” Biden’s early departure from the ceremony puzzled viewers, as it is not typical for a president to do so. The Tuesday ceremony was to honor 81-year-old Army Captain Larry L. Taylor, a Vietnam veteran, for conspicuous gallantry while serving as a team leader of a helicopter light-fire team that rescued a patrol team surrounded by the enemy.

The White House announced Monday evening that Jill Biden has tested positive for COVID-19 while on vacation in Delaware and is “experiencing only mild symptoms.” Jill Biden is double-vaxxed and twice boosted. Jill previously tested positive in August 2022 and again that month in a rebound case after treatment with Paxlovid. Jill’s case comes as a new wave of COVID hysteria has started with the emergence of a new variant (Pirola). A follow-up statement by White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Joe Biden tested negative for COVID Monday evening. The Bidens were on vacation this weekend in Rehoboth, Delaware....

The Biden administration estimates that 97% of Americans ages 16 and over have some level of COVID-19 immunity through vaccination, previous infection or both. The number may sound promising – so why do people need another round of shots? Because that protection can fade in a matter of months, leaving individuals vulnerable to COVID-19 once again. “Immunity is stronger today than at any other point in the outbreak,” Mandy Cohen, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a recent video statement. “That means we're moving towards COVID-19 being a more manageable illness with less severe...

Health officials in California recently spoke about the possible return of mask mandates in the state amid a slight uptick in COVID-19 cases. On Thursday, officials with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health held a press conference to speak about a rise in new COVID-19 cases, saying that over the past week cases have doubled. During the press conference, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer was asked about the potential return to mask mandates and if the county would ever make them mandatory again. "'Ever' is not a word I'm comfortable with. There's...

Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo harshly criticized COVID-19 mask mandates and lockdowns, and urged people to consider "refusing to participate." "What do you call re-imposing mask policies that have been proven ineffective or restarting lockdowns that are known to cause harm? You don't call it sanity," Dr. Ladapo posted last week on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. "These terrible policies only work with your cooperation. How about refusing to participate…" Some schools and companies are implementing mask mandates amid a rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations, even though some peer-reviewed research has suggested that face coverings may cause...

COVID-19 isn’t quite done with the world yet. Small surges of cases in the U.S., as well as upticks in COVID-19 hospitalizations over the summer, and new variants that weren’t around even three months ago, remind us that SARS-CoV-2 is still a health threat for the coming fall and winter. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to make a decision about which strain to target in the updated vaccine, which the agency says will be available in mid-to-late September. The FDA will be considering recommendations by the panel of independent vaccine experts it convened in June, which...

Americans could be urged by officials to drink no more than two beers a week as part of strict new alcohol guidelines. Biden's health czar told DailyMail.com the USDA could revise its alcohol advice to match Canada's, where people are advised to have just two drinks per week. Dr George Koob — who admits enjoying a couple of glasses of Chardonnay a week — said he was watching Canada's 'big experiment' with interest. 'If there's health benefits, I think people will start to re-evaluate where we're at [in the US],' he told DailyMail.com. Current US recommendations say women can have...

A second American tested positive for the new highly-mutated BA.2.86 Covid variant that has been causing global alarm over its rapid transmission. The positive case was detected in an asymptomatic patient in Virginia who was tested August 10 after returning to the US from Japan. Scientists identified the case in a database that contains test samples from a small number of travelers entering the US. Independent experts told DailyMail.com they believe the new strain is spreading more widely and in more US states. The new variant, also spotted in Michigan last week, is causing concern because it stems from an...

An Atlanta college announced this week that it is reinstating its mask mandate for everyone on campus. Morris Brown College began classes just last week, but will require all students and employees to wear face masks. Officials say there have been no confirmed COVID-19 cases among its students, but they have received reports from other schools in the Atlanta University Center. The mask mandate is a precautionary move for the next 14 days. Morris Brown College will also not allow any parties or large student gatherings on campus during this time. Other precautionary measures include: temperature checks upon campus arrival,...

House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) demanded Thursday that the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) hand over all documents and communications in which then-Vice President Joe Biden used pseudonyms such as “Robert Peters,” “Robin Ware,” and “JRB Ware.” Comer listed the pseudonyms in a letter to NARA in which he demanded access to then-Vice President Joe Biden’s documents and communications regarding official duties that overlapped with his son’s activities in Ukraine. One email, which Comer says the committee has already seen, includes an attachment with the vice president’s schedule, indicating that he had spoken by phone to then-Ukrainian...

The Pentagon and FBI have notified some of the families of victims of the 9/11 attacks that suspected terrorist mastermind Kalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other defendants could be spared the death penalty under plea agreements being considered by the Biden administration. *** “The Office of the Chief Prosecutor has been negotiating and is considering entering into pre-trial agreements,” the letter informs families, adding that while no plea agreement “has been finalized, and may never be finalized, it is possible that a [pre-trial agreement] in this case would remove the possibility of the death penalty.” The Associated Press reports that...

Joe Biden was asked for comment on the rising death toll from the Maui fires as he smirked and shuffled along without answering questions. “Do you have a comment on the death toll?” a reporter Biden on the South Lawn. No response! Watch.....VIDEO AT LINK..................... As of Tuesday, at least 99 people are confirmed dead in Maui as a result of the fires. There are still 1000 people who are unaccounted for. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump slammed Joe Biden and the governor of Hawaii for their reaction to the Maui fires. “The sad thing is it should never have happened,...

The US military has been struggling to recruit new members for years. I have reported on this various times and noted that the computer predicts that a US draft may be approved on September 29, 2024. This date marks 51.6 years from the precise day that President Richard Nixon ended the draft on January 27, 1973. The US military is already discussing the prospect of a “limited draft.” They are seeking 160,000 eligible people from a population of 30 million. The all-volunteer force has reached a “breaking point,” as Military.com put it, and the most effective way to solve the...

Leadership like no other. Thank you President Trump, for responding to the Maui tragedy with respect and compassion. This was a perfect Presidential response. The people of Maui, I'm sure appreciate your kind and thoughtful words during this enormous tragedy.

The Bulwark, a site founded by ex-Republicans who hated Trump so much that they also jettisoned whatever conservatism they claimed to believe in, substacks its thinkpiece as, “The Media Still Doesn’t Get Biden Voters”, complaining that the media spends a great deal of time studying Trump voters, but not Biden voters. Reporters don’t do safaris to “Biden Country,” seeking to understand the voters who put him in the White House. While there are pieces explaining how, for example, black women in Georgia suburbs made a big difference in the 2020 election, there’s nothing approaching the ongoing coverage of white men...

President Biden has often made reference to his close relationship with Israel and Israeli leaders over the last half century as a way of proving his bona fides on matters relating to the Jewish state. The Obama administration had badly strained those relationships, but when Biden was elected in 2020, many hoped and some predicted that his would be an administration far friendlier to Israel. And on the surface it has been; the steady current of hostility that emanated from Obama’s White House has not been present in Biden’s. Still, more than halfway through the 46th president’s term, the facts...