Free Republic

Biden’s mask choices do seem sort of … weird. And convenient. And political. Sharyl Attkisson was good enough to do her ‘reporterly’ duties and point out Biden’s strange behavior with the mask: President Biden is wearing a mask outside. He walks up to press corps, takes down the mask, and talks to them. Please explain the purpose of the mask. 😶 — Sharyl Attkisson🕵️‍♂️ (@SharylAttkisson) October 2, 2021 She even said please. Of course, they won’t answer her because they don’t really know why the old guy does and doesn’t wear it. Like Brit Hume said: No one can, least...

A United States Marine corporal who served in Afghanistan during Operation Freedom Sentinel and Operation Southern Vigilance is facing dishonorable discharge for refusing to take the COVID-19 shots as required by the secretary of defense. Having been diagnosed with two heart conditions, arrhythmia and right bundle branch blockage, taking an experimental drug with unknown long-term side effects isn't a medical option for him, he says, especially since the shots have already been proven to cause blood clots and heart inflammation. However, he was informed that the only medical waiver he could receive was if he was diagnosed with congenital heart...

With winter ahead and a gas crunch in Europe, the demand picture appears promising. But demand destruction could be imminent as prices climb higher, some experts are warning. Higher energy prices will also fuel even higher inflation, which poses a significant threat to demand. The current energy market picture is looking good for oil bulls. International benchmark Brent crude passed the long-anticipated threshold of $80 per barrel on Tuesday, though it’s since slipped back down to trade at $78.47 as of Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. in London. West Texas Intermediate was trading at $74.73 per barrel around the same time....

Fourteen cities in Los Angeles county have issued no-confidence resolutions against District Attorney George Gascon, claiming his reforms went too far. Diamond Bar’s city council passed a no-confidence motion during its May 18 meeting, with some councilmembers wishing to address Gascon’s perceived leniency to horrific crimes throughout the county. “Gascon is making it less safe for our residents and businesses,” Diamond Bar Mayor Nancy Lyon told The Epoch Times. “He’s more concerned about the criminals than the victims. You can’t do special enhancements on things like hate crime, elder abuse, child physical abuse, trauma, [or] human trafficking.” Lyon added, “Even...

Rep. Carter intended to vote against the $1.9 billion bill, but his proxy vote, which could have sunk the bill, wasn't counted. California Republican Rep. Ken Calvert "forgot" to cast a proxy vote on behalf of Texas Republican Rep. John Carter that would have sunk the $1.9 billion post-Jan. 6 supplemental security spending bill, Just the News has learned. Carter's letter granting authority to cast his vote by proxy to Calvert was submitted to the House clerk and accepted. Carter successfully voted by proxy Thursday on "the motion to recommit" that preceded the final vote on the supplemental security bill....

Posh dinners at a cost of €490 euros per head as rest of Paris struggles under lockdown. Even as Parisians continue to struggle under lockdown, members of the French elite, potentially including government ministers, have been caught attending rulebreaking secret restaurants in the French capital. French TV channel M6 aired secretly recorded footage of clandestine dinners taking place at an “underground restaurant located in a beautiful part” of Paris. The clip shows guests at the restaurant without masks openly kissing each other and violating social distancing rules. There also appears to be no restrictions on the number of guests allowed....

the data on the Wuhan virus in no way matched the hysteria ... Whether "cases," hospitalizations, deaths, masks, lockdowns ... actual data reveal that our efforts to "slow the spread" have been largely useless and thus unnecessary. In other words, time has revealed the truth on the Wuhan virus. ... each of us is going to get exposed to the Wuhan virus, and our health outcome will be determined by how our Creator made us and what treatments are given to us. The rise in hospitalizations and deaths over the holidays, and the subsequent steep decline we've seen over the...

For about an hour on Good Friday afternoon, 25-year-old Noah Green, the perpetrator of a lethal attack on the nation's Capitol, found himself the day's designated white supremacist. Once the truth emerged that Green was, in fact, not only black, but also an ardent supporter of Nation of Islam honcho Louis Farrakhan, one could all but hear the sound of tweets being deleted across America. The late Mr. Green was in good company. Perhaps the most celebrated FOF, Friend of Farrakhan, was that guy who lived in Calypso Louie's Chicago neighborhood, Barack Obama. The fact that Obama participated in Farrakhan's...

Proponents of lockdowns have continuously touted lockdowns as the way to curb the virus. When faced with the obvious economic damage caused by the lockdown, they in turn do not take time to point out that we cannot sacrifice lives for the economy. However, more and more evidence shows that lockdowns do more than harm the economy. And in reality, recessions have a damaging effect on length and quality of life. A lot of evidence points to the health impacts of lockdowns especially on the mental health of young adults as well as children. And just recently a new study...

I have to ask, “What’s the point of having police and a judiciary?” when I read about this case from Chicago, a city world-renowned for the level of lethal criminality its residents endure . .. An accused serial burglar and thief has been sentenced to probation for a burglary in Lincoln Park last year — even though he was already on probation for two burglaries at the time of the alleged break-in. Jonathan Hernandez, 26, pleaded guilty to one count of theft in exchange for an 18-month probation sentence in the latest case, according to court records. He has been...

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., lambasted governors for locking down their states during the coronavirus pandemic. "You know, nobody ever intended that governors would be sort of czars or dictators in charge of the economy ... Governors around the country have imposed restrictions to varying degrees during the pandemic. In Paul's home state, Democrat Gov. Andy Beshear has implemented a mask mandate, limited private gathering sizes, and set minimal capacity for indoor small businesses such as gyms . .. New York Democrat Gov. Mario Cuomo ordered restaurants to again stop indoor dining in mid-December. California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday...

A doctor in Northern California has been fired from his job after he co-authored a letter that questioned the science behind his county’s lockdown order. Dr. Michael deBoisblanc was working as the trauma medical director for John Muir Health in Contra Costa County, California, until last Friday, after he questioned the scientific basis for again locking down citizens of the area. KNTV reported that deBoisblanc wrote a letter to the county health director and board of supervisors voicing his concern regarding the continued lockdown policies prior to his dismissal. The former medical director spoke from his own experience as a...

Just under 30% say they already feel comfortable foregoing one. Nearly 40% of voters say they'll be ready to stop wearing masks in public in three months or less, according to a new Just the News Daily Poll with Scott Rasmussen. Among the 39% of respondents who indicated as much, the largest share — 27% — said they were "already comfortable" doing so, while 5% said it would be "a month or so" before they felt that way and 7% said it would be "two to three months." A 53% majority of voters, meanwhile, said they'd feel comfortable discarding their...

Democrat leaders like Governors Gavin Newsom, Andrew CVuomo, Gretchen Whitmer, and J.B. Pritzker, Mayors Lauri Lightfoot and London Breed, and now Mecklenburg (Charlotte), North Carolina County Executive Dena Diorio, have all exposed themselves as outright hypocrites and elitists by telling ordinary people to obey restrictions on their personal freedoms while flaunting those same limitations themselves. It is as if some madness has gripped Democrat elected officials, compelling them to flaunt their contempt for those they are supposed to lead and their belief that they alone are capable of making rational decisions about which risks to take, while the ignorant sheep...

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger says he will not tolerate people living outside of Georgia voting in the Georgia elections. Election watchdog group True the Vote is working with the Georgia Republican Party to challenge the eligibility of more than 350,000 Georgia voters ahead of the state's two Senate runoff elections in January. Focusing on questions about voters who have filed change of address forms with the U.S. Postal Service, the group is encouraging Republicans in counties across the state to file voter challenges with their local election boards. In several counties, including Floyd, Athens-Clarke, Cobb and Gwinnett, complaints have...

Many employees at Howard University Hospital in Washington, D.C., have reservations about taking the COVID-19 vaccine, and CEO Anita Jenkins is trying to get workers to follow her lead by getting vaccinated, according to CNN. The hospital, a major healthcare provider for the Black community, received 725 doses of the Pfizer vaccine Dec. 15 and expects to receive a second shipment this week. As of Dec. 18, only about 600 of the hospital's 1,900 employees had signed up for the shots, according to Kaiser Health News. "There is a high level of mistrust and I get it," Ms. Jenkins told...

America’s energy sources, like booming oil and crumbling coal, have defied projections and historical precedents over the last decade. ... unexpectedly, ... In 2010, the U.S. Energy Information Administration projected that in 2019, the U.S. would be producing about six million barrels of oil a day. The reality? We're now producing 12 million barrels of oil a day. Meanwhile, EIA projected oil prices would be more than $100 a barrel. They're currently hovering around $60 a barrel. What’s happening: A pair of extraction methods — horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing — have unlocked far more oil and gas than experts...

While the climate strike and Greta Thunberg may have the limelight this week, the unwavering truth of climate and energy policy remains: people are unwilling to pay the costs associated with reducing carbon dioxide emissions. A recent poll from the Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation shows that support for reducing carbon dioxide emissions withers under the slightest bit of scrutiny. The poll shows people favor taxing the wealthy to pay for increasing electricity costs, which is pretty much par for the course on every issue, and raising taxes on energy, even if that leads to higher prices. ... when people are...

Michigan’s electric utilities gamble that the reliability of service won’t collapse. Consumers Energy would have to double the number of wind turbines currently operating in this state to replace the electricity produced by just one of the coal- and gas-fired power plants it intends to close as part of its plans to rely more on renewable sources. The problem, however, is that those additional turbines only spin about one-third of the time, leaving a big energy gap for the households and businesses that rely on the company for their electricity. .. regulated utilities and their vendors operate 1,107 industrial wind...

Wilmington, North Carolina renews deal with red light camera contractor that violated state engineering laws. The Wilmington, North Carolina City Council last week signed a red light camera contract renewal despite protests that the state had found the for-profit camera contractor in direct violation of the law. American Traffic Solutions (ATS, now known as Verra Mobility) was found to be practicing engineering without a license by the North Carolina Board of Examiners for Engineers and Surveyors last year. The company has yet to remedy the violation, according to the city traffic engineer. Todd Platzer, a local resident, raised the issue...