Free Republic

Dr. Rachel Levine is no stranger to derision due to her gender identity. A transgender woman, Levine, Pennsylvania’s Health Secretary, in many ways has reflected back undercurrents of transphobic tendencies in this country. The transgender community has historically fended off personal assails, attacks on its civil rights, and the troubling rates of homicide of transgender or gender non-conforming people. Levine, perhaps unwittingly at times, has served as a role model for the transgender community in Pennsylvania, negotiating hostile attacks even as she tended to the life and death issues of the coronavirus pandemic. That is one of the main reasons...

President-elect Joe Biden has tapped Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine as his nominee for assistant secretary of health – and she’d be the first openly transgender federal official to be confirmed by the US Senate. “Dr. Rachel Levine will bring the steady leadership and essential expertise we need to get people through this pandemic – no matter their zip code, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability – and meet the public health needs of our country in this critical moment and beyond,” Biden said in a statement. “She is a historic and deeply qualified choice to help lead...

President-elect Joe Biden has tapped Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine to be his assistant secretary of health, leaving her poised to become the first transgender federal official to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. A pediatrician and former Pennsylvania physician general, Levine was appointed to her current post by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf in 2017, making her one of the few transgender people serving in elected or appointed positions nationwide. She won past confirmation by the Republican-majority Pennsylvania Senate and has emerged as the public face of the state's response to the coronavirus pandemic. “Dr. Rachel Levine will bring the...

The feds are investigating whether a Pennsylvania woman who was seen on video taking part in the US Capitol riots stole a laptop or hard drive from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office and planned to sell it to the Russians, officials said. The FBI is seeking Riley June Williams on charges including entering a restricted building, disrupting the orderly conduct of government and engaging in disorderly or disruptive conduct.

MOUNT POCONO, Pa. (AP) — At least four people were injured Monday in a string of shootings that prompted a shelter-in-place order for some residents north of Mount Pocono, authorities said. Mount Pocono Borough Mayor Michael Penn posted on Facebook that there were four or five crime scenes Monday night and “multiple police forces at this time in the Coolbaugh/Tobyhanna areas.”

The feds are investigating whether a Pennsylvania woman who was seen on video taking part in the US Capitol riots stole a laptop or hard drive from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office and planned to sell it to the Russians, officials said. The FBI is seeking Riley June Williams on charges including entering a restricted building, disrupting the orderly conduct of government and engaging in disorderly or disruptive conduct.

Biden's minimum wage push faces uphill battle with GOP President-elect Joe Biden and incoming first lady Jill Biden volunteered at a hunger relief organization in Philadelphia on Monday to mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The Bidens helped pack food boxes at Philabundance, the largest hunger relief organization in Philadelphia, as part of a national day of service two days before Biden will be sworn in as the next president.

A Philadelphia man has been charged with murder in connection to the shooting death of Milan Loncar, a 25-year-old Temple University graduate who was killed while walking his dog in Brewerytown on Wednesday night. Philadelphia police announced the arrest of 20-year-old Josephus Davis on Sunday. ---SNIP--- According to Philadelphia police inspector Derrick Wood, Davis has two open felony cases and is still on the streets because his bail was reduced. “This male was on the street with two open felony cases because his bail was reduced from 200k to 12k,” Wood wrote in a tweet. “This is ridiculous and another...

315 years ago, on January 17th, 1706, Benjamin Franklin came into our world. He would go on to do amazing things, things which it is not my intent to spend another 50000 words re-telling. What I wanted to do instead was invite you and invite everybody to celebrate his life and legacy, and take the time to get to know him a little better on a more personal level. This can be done. There is a fantastic free open source public domain audiobook of Franklin's autobiography which you can download here, it is well put together and is a great...

DuckDuckGo is proving privacy matters. The Paoli, PA-based Google search alternative, which prides itself on its privacy policy, hit 102,251,307 total queries on Monday, the first time it has exceeded the 100 million mark.In November 2019, DuckDuckGo reached the 50 million searches per day milestone. So it took a little more than a year to hit the 100 million mark.

The Department of Justice on Friday announced it closed an investigation into ballots that were discarded in Pennsylvania. “After a thorough investigation conducted by the FBI and prosecutors from my office, we have determined that there is insufficient evidence to prove criminal intent on the part of the person who discarded the ballots,” acting U.S. Attorney Bruce Brandler said in a statement. “Therefore, no criminal charges will be filed and the matter is closed.” Brandler recently replaced David Freed, the former U.S. attorney who last year revealed nine military absentee ballots had been tossed in Luzerne County. Freed resigned on...

At least 10 state health departments in the United States have detected the highly contagious B.1.1.7 variant of COVD-19, the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, according to a new report. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in an update on Jan. 15, said that a “more highly transmissible variant of SARS-CoV-2, B.1.1.7, has been detected in 10 U.S. states.” SARS-CoV-2 is another name for the coronavirus that is believed to have emerged in Wuhan, China, in late 2019. Health officials warned that models have shown the B.1.1.7 strain of the virus has the...

Philadelphia police will be stationed near historic landmarks and government buildings in the city around Inauguration Day, ready to address any violence that may occur following last week’s violent pro-Trump insurrection in the nation’s capital. Other police officers will be on call in the event of civil unrest or violence, Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said at a Thursday briefing. “At this particular point in time, we do not have any credible or specific threats to Philadelphia, however, this is a fluid situation,” she said.

Video: Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman: "This idea that saying that Pennsylvania was 'rigged' or that we were 'trying to steal the election' -- that's a lie. And you do not have the right, that is not protected speech."

In 2020, the city of Philadelphia exceeded its highest number of homicides since 1990, with the official total being 499. To put this into a national perspective, consider that Houston had almost 100 fewer murders than Philadelphia despite having 782,000 more people. And New York had 37 fewer murders than Philadelphia despite having 6,861,000 more people. While these types of chilling statistics have normally been met with an immediate change in law enforcement policies and criminal justice leadership, the mayor, police commissioner, district attorney, and media establishment in Philadelphia seem more concerned with controlling the narrative than making communities safer....

Pennsylvania reported 6,047 new COVID-19 infections on Friday, a hopeful sign the state won’t see a repeat of the December surge that brought twice that number of new infections daily. The state reported 215 deaths — a relatively high figure but, since people usually die weeks after being infected, one that’s likely a delayed result of the earlier surge. As of Friday morning, 4,848 people were hospitalized with COVID-19, another downward trend and well below the December peak when more than 6,300 were hospitalized. Still, state health officials this week continued to stress the need to wear face masks, avoid...

Gun sales in Pennsylvania have hit an all-time high. In new numbers released by Pennsylvania State Police on Wednesday, more than 420,000 firearm background checks were processed between October 1 and the end of the year. The highest total previously was 406,151, set in the third quarter of 2020. During the last quarter of 2019, 272,901 firearm background checks were processed.

The retired firefighter who appears to be the man caught on camera throwing a fire extinguisher that hit at least three officers at the Capitol during a riot was arrested Thursday, officials said. Robert Sanford, of Chester, Pa., faces three federal felony charges including assaulting a police officer, the Wall Street Journal reported. Video footage of the incident shows the man hurling a fire extinguisher officers attempting to control a mob outside of the west side of the Capitol. The FBI has been pursuing charges against dozens of suspects in the riots, many of whom were identified through photos and...

Mayor Jim Kenney is asking the public to help identify whether any of the 30,000 City of Philadelphia employees participated in the violent and unlawful breach of the U.S. Capitol last week. Hundreds of people stormed the building as Congress was preparing to certify President-elect Biden’s win. It has since come to light that several Republican officials, white supremacists, off-duty police, and military members from across the country were part of the insurrectionist mob, with more names revealed by the day. “I fully support the rights of all citizens — including our city employees — to exercise their First Amendment...

Andrew Cuomo — Fredo the Elder — crawled out of the cave where he spends his days pulling wings off of flies and smelts participation trophies for his handling of the pandemic in his state to remind us that he is perhaps the worst governor in America. I only said “perhaps” because who knows what Gavin Newsom will do this week? ... he has led what might be the most botched vaccine rollout in the country. Originally he had set strict rules about who would have priority to receive the vaccine, and threatened to levy fines of up to $1...