Free Republic

Many of my conservative friends — quite a few of them GOP donors and campaign strategists and media people I must admit — greeted the news of Herschel Walker’s defeat in the Georgia Senate with a shrug.What difference did it make really? What difference could it make?It was not indifference to Herschel Walker as a candidate, per se, so much as indifference to the GOP having a majority in the Senate.

Pfizer Inc and its German partner, BioNTech SE, fired back at Moderna Inc on Monday in a patent lawsuit over their rival COVID-19 vaccines, seeking dismissal of the lawsuit in Boston federal court and an order that Moderna's patents are invalid and not infringed. Moderna first sued Pfizer in August, accusing the company of violating its rights in three patents related to innovations that Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Moderna said it pioneered before the COVID-19 pandemic. Moderna has also filed a related lawsuit against Pfizer and BioNTech in Germany. All three companies are also embroiled in U.S. patent disputes with other companies...

The US labor force participation rate fell for a third straight month in November, underscoring businesses’ ongoing struggle to find enough workers. The share of Americans either working or actively looking for a job fell to 62.1%, according to government data released Friday. The rate had risen to 62.4% in August, matching a post-pandemic high reached in March, but remains significantly below where it was before the pandemic. “We got no help from the participation rate, which continues to move in the wrong direction and will keep competition for labor high until the economy inevitably rolls over sometime next year,”...

The world's largest active volcano has erupted in Hawaii for the first time in nearly four decades, officials said. Mauna Loa erupted at 11:30 p.m. local time Sunday (4:30 a.m. ET Monday), the U.S. Geological Survey said. It was the first eruption since 1984, according to its Hawaii Volcano Observatory daily update. The eruption began in Moku‘āweoweo, the summit caldera of Mauna Loa, inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, the agency said, as it upgraded the volcano's alert level from an "advisory" to a "warning." "At this time, lava flows are contained within the summit area and are not threatening downslope...

Jane Fonda has said she won’t “be around for much longer” in a frank discussion about death. The 84-year-old announced in September that she had been diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma and has now admitted that she’s “not afraid” of the great beyond as she expressed how important it is for celebrities with a platform to talk about urgent causes that they care about.

Candace Owens, who had faced criticism for not offering a condemnation of Kanye West’s antisemitic comments, finally addressed the issue on Tuesday, describing statements by the rapper, who she is friends with, as antisemitic, according to JNS. .....

Millions of Americans are currently working two or more jobs in order to make ends meet, as global inflation and corporations jacking up prices have sent prices of food, gas, housing, health insurance and other necessities soaring in the past year. Cashe Lewis, 31, of Denver, Colorado works two jobs and is currently trying to find a third job to cover the recent $200 monthly rent increase to her apartment. She works days as a barista at Starbucks, but claims it’s been difficult to get enough hours even with taking extra shifts whenever she can due to scheduling cuts as...

With an estimated surface area of over 600,000 square miles, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) is the largest plastic accumulation zone in the world.Located halfway between Hawaii and California, the GPGP is estimated to contain a whopping 2.41 million tonnes of plastic – and is continuing to grow.

China told state-owned natural gas importers like Sinopec and CNOOC to halt LNG sales to Europe, per Bloomberg. The order to halt resales comes as Beijing looks to protect domestic gas supplies for the winter. China has been a crucial supplier of gas to Europe as the region faces a Russia-driven energy crisis. Beijing has reportedly told state-owned natural gas importers to halt resales of cargoes to buyers in Europe and Asia, to make sure China has enough supply for domestic needs this winter. The National Development and Reform Commission has spoken to Chinese energy giants PetroChina, Sinopec and CNOOC...

Woman says her husband was degraded by having photos taken by health-care staffA family on Newfoundland's Baie Verte Peninsula wants answers and accountability for what happened to their loved one in hospital, after Central Health told the family someone on staff took pictures of his genitals. Rick Barker, 64, has Huntington's disease, and his condition now requires 24-hour care in a long-term care facility — in Barker's case, the long-term care unit at the Baie Verte Peninsula Health Centre in Baie Verte. Bernice Barker said her son received a call from the regional health authority in mid-September informing the family...

Celebrity rapper Kanye West, who has recently renamed himself and now appears as "Ye", threatened to go "death con 3 on the Jews" in an apparent antisemitic Twitter rant. Ye followed this up by claiming that he can't be antisemitic "because black people are actually Jew." "You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda," continued Ye. The Black Israelites cult, with a large following in the Israeli city of Dimona, as well as black supremacists consider themselves the "true" descendants of the Biblical Israelites. Based on Ye's statements, some have suggested the...

Peek's sister Cona Turner says the family have chosen not to explain what happened to the former Wendy's worker, for fear of distressing him.She is now advocating for her brother and wants answers as to why he was fired without notice.'I'm out here because I need to be his voice for the way he was treated,' Cona Turner, Peek's sister said. 'He don't understand and we can't tell him he was terminated. We have not told him and we won't tell him.'

Four suspects were arrested and accused of looting after Hurricane Ian wrecked Floridians’ homes and communities. “Omar Mejia Ortiz, 33, and Valerie Celeste Salcedo Mena, 26, were arrested, along with 20-year-olds Brandon Mauricio Araya and Steve Eduardo Sanchez Araya.

TOKYO -- The Japanese government and the Bank of Japan have intervened to buy the yen and sell dollars for the first time in about 24 years after the currency weakened on indications that the central bank would stick to its ultraloose monetary policy. The intervention on Thursday was confirmed by Masato Kanda, Japan's vice finance minister for international affairs. It followed a slide in the yen after BOJ Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda made bearish remarks that indicated he had no intention to raise rates any time soon. Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki later said that the BOJ intervened to calm volatility...

Markets across Asia were left reeling after the US Federal Reserve on Tuesday (Sept 20) announced another sharp 75 basis point increase to its key rate, further fuelling the rise of the US dollar against regional currencies as the world’s largest economy tries to rein in runaway inflation – even at the risk of triggering a recession. The Fed projected that to achieve its goal of bringing inflation down to 2 per cent, it would have to continue to aggressively raise its rate to the 4.25-4.5 per cent range – up from the current 3-3.25 per cent band – by...

The Reserve Bank’s role in shoring up Australia’s economy during the Covid pandemic has seen it post an accounting loss for the 2021-22 year of almost $37bn, leaving it with negative equity, the bank’s deputy governor, Michele Bullock, has revealed. At a speech in Sydney on Wednesday, Bullock said accounting methods used by the central bank had to adjust for the reduced value of billions of dollars of government debt the RBA had bought to support economic activity during the lockdowns. For the 2021-22 year, that left valuation losses of $44.9bn which, after deducting for $8.2bn in underlying earnings, left...

On Wednesday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said he was shocked by Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) blocking his school safety bill. Sen. Chris Murphy blocked the bill with just two words: "I object." And then he walked out of the chamber. (video)

Pakistan's interior minis­ter is warning that outspoken critics of the current government could find their biometric identity cards blocked, leaving them without access to their bank accounts. Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan also claimed that "hecklers" who bother government officials could have their passports blocked and even be arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) using Pakistan's national ID system, according to Newsweek Pakistan. His threat is aimed at supporters of former Prime Minister Imrah Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Party, and it came after some of those supporters harassed a member of the new government who was eating...

Sgt E Miller, US Army Rangers, Past tour of duty, Highlands of Vietnam.

Former HBO Max executives say the streaming service has been left with few people of color to oversee its diverse slate of programming as Warner Bros. Discovery continues its ongoing corporate reshuffling."What are they going to do with this disproportionate amount of people of color that were let go? They need to replace them in some capacity. Or do they not care? That’s what we’ve been told, that they just don’t care.”