Free Republic

COVID-19 certainly didn't take a vacation this summer. Virus levels in the US have been on the rise for weeks, but it's hard to know exactly how widely it's spreading. Federal data suggests that the current increases have stayed far below earlier peaks and notable surges. But judging by word of mouth among family, friends and coworkers, it can seem like everyone knows someone who's sick with COVID-19 right now. "We have several folks down with COVID, unfortunately," one health-focused nonprofit told CNN when seeking comment for this story. Rates of severe disease may be staying at relatively low levels,...

Around a quarter of high school students identify as gay, bisexual or have a more fluid sexuality, official data suggests. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's biannual youth report found that just 75.5 percent of 14 to 18-year-olds said they were heterosexual in 2021 - a new low. The remainder said they were either bisexual (12.1 percent), gay or lesbian (3.2 percent), 'other' (3.9 percent) or said they 'questioned' their sexuality (5.2 percent).

Dr. Anthony Fauci suggested Sunday that those who remain unvaccinated should not be able to work or attend in-person school until they choose to receive a vaccination against Covid-19. Fauci, a White House coronavirus advisor, appeared on CBS's "Face the Nation" to discuss the ongoing pandemic with anchor Margaret Brennan. At one point, Brennan brought up President Joe Biden's intention, stated last month but not yet implemented, to use OSHA to force employers with more than 100 employees to ensure their workers are either vaccinated or receive a weekly negative Covid test. "Was this a stunt?" Brennan asked. "Are you...

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) on Monday suggested that the state should consider slowing down the Big Apple’s reopening, placing him once again at odds with embattled New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D). Earlier this March, Cuomo issued a directive allowing for New York City indoor dining capacity to be expanded to 50 percent. On Monday, the city’s gym classes were allowed to reopen at a 33 percent capacity.

“Keeping the white menace under control.” A post that appeared on the subreddit for the Seattle ‘CHAZ’ autonomous zone that has been taken over by left-wing extremists suggests rounding up all the white people and organizing them into forced work brigades.That’s right. Some of the very same people protesting against racism and slavery want to enslave people based on their skin color.So progressive!The discussion appears to be focused around identifying potential ‘white supremacists’ who are trying to infiltrate CHAZ, a 6 block area of downtown Seattle occupied by Antifa and BLM supporters after the police force fled their precinct.The area now...

Amid tensions between the United States and Washington over a pending nuclear agreement with Iran, former U.S. diplomat Dennis Ross on Tuesday offered creative ways to reconcile those differences. Ross, who spoke at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in Tel Aviv and was quoted by the Defense News website, suggested that transparent "anytime, anywhere" inspections on Iranian facilities must be put in place. Different, more stringent protocols based on the number of operating centrifuges Iran possesses must be applied, he added. "You have to ensure that you can verify that a program that has a thousand or two...

Global emissions of carbon dioxide may be showing the first signs of a "permanent slowdown" in the rate of increase. According to a new report, emissions in 2012 increased at less than half the average over the past decade. Key factors included the shift to shale gas for energy in the US while China increased its use of hydropower by 23%. However the use of cheap coal continues to be an issue, with UK consumption up by almost a quarter. The report on trends in global emissions has been produced annually by the Netherlands Environment Assessment Agency and the European...

In urging Congress to extend jobless benefits, President Obama went beyond short-term aid and called on the country to rethink how it looks at unemployment, recognizing the long-term devastating costs of having so many unproductive people on its hands for long periods. Specifically, Obama endorsed a work-sharing plan embraced in Europe that averts layoffs by spreading the pain among co-workers, as well as a more controversial bridge-to-work idea that puts people who are on unemployment benefits into training or temporary work that would set them on a path toward regular jobs. The president also proposed, as part of his $447-billion...

A top aide to Iowa Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin supplied an answer last year to a thorny question a friendly witness would face the next day at a pivotal hearing on for-profit colleges, raising questions of witness tampering, an email obtained by The Daily Caller shows. As Harkin prepares for another event on the same subject at 2:00 p.m. today, the email raises fresh concerns about the senator’s committee conduct after he recently faced accusations from Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigators that he pressured them on an error-ridden report unveiled at the very same hearing. That Senate Health, Education, Labor...

Every weekday afternoon, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews imparts his over 30 years of Washington, D.C. wisdom on his viewers. And on Thursday afternoon, he offered them a doozy. In a segment about the possibility that Minnesota Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann could win the 2012 nomination, Matthews wasn’t convinced the way the so-called boys’ club operates would allow that to happen. “Well, I think if the president’s down to 44 percent the way he is right now, they have to have that meeting — the white boys’ club or whatever they call those governors that meets somewhere in Birmingham. And don’t they,...

We’re five months removed from Comedy Central host Jon Stewart’s “Rally to Restore Sanity,” but with an upcoming appearance for “Special Report” host Bret Baier on “The Daily Show,” Fox News Channel’s Charles Krauthammer had a suggestion for his colleague. On the FoxNews.com airing of “Special Report Online” from Wednesday night, Krauthammer wanted Baier to point out that Stewart’s October 2010 rally in Washington, D.C. had unseated conservative rallies of that nature in terms a lack of racial diversity. “You know whenever there’s a gathering of Republicans or conservatives, the press always makes a point of saying how white the...

The moon's interior may harbor 100 times more water than previous estimates, according to a new study that took a fresh look at samples of moon rocks collected by Apollo astronauts nearly 40 years ago. The researchers determined that the lunar water likely originated early in the moon's formation history, suggesting that it is, in fact, native to the moon. Scientists at the Carnegie Institution's Geophysical Laboratory, and other colleagues, said it's likely that the water was preserved from the hot magma that was present when the moon began to form – some 4.5 billion years ago.

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama suggested Wednesday that a new value-added tax on Americans is still on the table, seeming to show more openness to the idea than his aides have expressed in recent days. Before deciding what revenue options are best for dealing with the deficit and the economy, Obama said in an interview with CNBC, "I want to get a better picture of what our options are."

CHICAGO - President-elect Barack Obama announced support Sunday for a short-term government bailout of the nation's carmakers that is tied to industry restructuring. He also accused auto executives of a persistent "head-in-the sand approach" to long-festering problems. Obama said Congress was doing "the exact right thing" in drafting legislation that "holds the auto industry's feet to the fire" at the same time it tries to prevent its demise. In an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" and later at a news conference, Obama at one point suggested some executives should lose their jobs.

PARIS (AFP) - Outgoing Prime Minister Tony Blair suggested Tuesday that French Socialists needed to move away from traditional ideology to gain election success after their third successive presidential defeat. In an interview broadcast simultaneously on satellite news channel France 24 and France 2 television, Blair was asked why he seemed more popular with the right-wing on the other side of the Channel than left wingers. Blair, who reformed the Labour Party from an unelectable left-wing party to a business-friendly, progressive outfit, said left-right divisions still had their place, but stressed that modern politics was also about "right and wrong"....

NEW YORK - The New York Times' ombudsman said the newspaper should review reporter Judith Miller's journalism practices to address "clear issues of trust and credibility" in her role in the CIA leak investigation. Miller's attorney called the newspaper's recent criticism of her "shameless." Times Public Editor Byron Calame also said the paper should consider updating its ethics guidelines on using anonymous sources and quoted publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. as saying "there are new limits" on what Miller can do in the future. Calame wrote in a Sunday column that the Times and Miller's Oct. 16 accounts of the reporting...

WASHINGTON - A presidential panel says tax breaks that promote homeownership and encourage businesses to give workers health insurance should be changed to help more middle income families. "Clearly, under present law, the higher income folks benefit the most from those two aspects of the tax code," former Sen. Connie Mack, chairman of the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform, said Tuesday. Decisions on specific changes to recommend could be made next week as the nine-member panel wraps up its work, Mack said. The commission plans to issue a final report on Nov. 1. At the White House, presidential...

WASHINGTON - A private commission trying to restore public confidence in national elections recommended on Monday requiring a free photo ID for voters, drawing opposition from Democrats and some voting rights activists. Critics suggested that having to acquire the ID cards in order to vote could be an obstacle for minorities, the poor and older Americans and might intimidate some people. "We believe such a requirement would constitute nothing less than a 21st century poll tax," said a letter from Reps. John Conyers, D-Mich., and John Lewis, D-Ga. Poll taxes were once used in some states to prevent black citizens...

BATON ROUGE, United States (AFP) - Civil Rights leader Jesse Jackson fired off a fierce attack on President George W. Bush over Hurricane Katrina and claimed black people were being locked out of top relief roles. Jackson raised the sensitive issue of race, simmering below the surface in New Orleans, even before the hurricane tragedy, pointing out that many of those trapped in the city by the storm were poor and black. "There is a historical indifference to the pain of poor people, and black people ... we seem to adjust more easily to black pain." Jackson spoke after leading...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Investigators of the U.N. oil-for-food program said Tuesday they are "urgently reviewing" new information that suggests U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan may have known more about a contract that was awarded to the company that employed his son. The December 1998 memo from Michael Wilson, then a vice president of Cotecna Inspections S.A., mentions brief discussions with Annan "and his entourage" during a summit in Paris in 1998. "We could count on their support," the memo said. If accurate, the memo could contradict a major finding of the Independent Inquiry Committee - that there wasn't enough evidence...