Free Republic

Although Gerald R. Ford was never elected as vice president or president and served for only two-and-a-half years, didn’t get the United States involved in many foreign adventures, and inconsistently muddled through in combating the stagflation created by his two predecessors, he was a far more critical president than one who merely filled in during the second term of the disgraced Richard Nixon, who had appointed him vice president and then resigned. Ford was so consequential because of one decision: his unconditional and blanket pardon of Nixon to prevent his likely indictment and possible conviction for crimes he committed in...

By all accounts, the risk of another winter surge of COVID-19 in the U.S. is high. And this time coronavirus is on the prowl alongside two pals — influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). In some areas, hospitals are already overwhelmed. Just how severe this “tripledemic” is going to be is unclear. But what is very clear is that a pandemic-weary public isn’t taking the threat seriously enough. Shockingly, neither is government. Biden administration officials have expressed concerns for months, but there’s been no loud alarm bells, so far. That includes at a White House briefing on Tuesday where officials...

New York City’s “overcrowded” homeless shelters are filled, now housing 6,700 border crossers who have arrived in recent weeks on migrant buses sent from Texas by Gov. Greg Abbott (R). For months, Abbott has sent buses filled with border crossers to New York City, which prides itself as the nation’s largest sanctuary jurisdiction for illegal aliens.

It is one thing for tungsten-filled gold bars to appear in the UK, or in Germany: after all out of sight, and across the Atlantic, certainly must mean out of mind, and out of the safe. However, when a 10 ounce 999.9 gold bar bearing the stamp of the reputable Swiss Produits Artistiques Métaux Précieux (PAMP, with owner MTP) and a serial number (serial #038892, likely rehypothecated in at least 10 gold ETFs across the world but that's a different story), mysteriously emerges in the heart of the world's jewerly district located on 47th street in Manhattan, things get real...

The previous two articles focused on Biblical associations with the topic of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. In the first article, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit was demonstrated to be non-miraculous representation of the Christian’s obedience to God’s will and not a literal indwelling. In the second, it was demonstrated a literal indwelling is not what the term “gift of the Holy Spirit” means. Rather the term “gift” in conjunction with the Holy Spirit focuses on the miraculous imparted by the laying on of the hands of the apostles which is in opposition to a non-miraculous indwelling. This...

Ancient hill's holes to be filled Silbury Hill dates back to the Neolithic period Plans to stabilise the ancient Silbury Hill mound in Wiltshire have been unveiled by English Heritage. The man-made monument, believed to date to the Neolithic period, developed a hole at the top five years ago after the collapse of infilling in a shaft. There are proposals to remove an inadequate backfill from this and other cavities and replace it with chalk. English Heritage said it would preserve the long-term stability of the hill while minimising further damage. Surveys have confirmed that the overall structure is stable,...

The state Legislature has loaned --snip-- Shelley eight non-civil service positions over the last 22 months, giving Shelley as many as 14 political appointees at one time. Combined with extra employees he gained through legislative changes and an administrative maneuver he arranged, the loaned legislative workers gave Shelley seven times the political staff allocated to the secretary of state's office before he was elected to the post in 2002. The so-called "exempt" positions are especially coveted because the elected official can hire and fire them without regard to civil service rules. At various times, records show, Shelley "borrowed" six positions...

Slain soldier spoke of his deathHe was filled with foreboding on recent visit home, family says.By YONIKA WILLISTribune Staff Writer Joyce Adcock, of rural Goshen, reflects Monday on the life of her son, Staff Sgt. Marvin Lee Trost III, who was killed in Iraq early Sunday morning when an individual explosive device struck his vehicle.Tribune photo/JIM RIDER Trost Staff Sgt. Marvin Lee Trost III, seen here with his wife and children in a photo provided by his family, was killed in Iraq Sunday when an individual explosive device struck his vehicle. His wife, Sherry, sons Levin, 3; and Gabriel, 3...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

Baby's first word filled Stone Age Papa with pride By David Derbyshire, Science Correspondent (Filed: 22/07/2004) One of the first words to be uttered by Stone Age babies was probably "papa", according to scientists trying to piece together the origins of human language. Researchers believe the word may have been passed down through the generations from a "proto-language" spoken 50,000 years ago. However, other linguists have argued that "papa", "dada" and "mama" are common in many languages simply because they are the first noises made by babbling babies. A new French study has found that the word "papa" is used...

Doctors' germ-filled ties 'are as deadly as Typhoid Mary' By Roger Highfield Science Editor (Filed: 25/05/2004) Ties worn by hospital doctors to impress their patients harbour a hidden danger: almost half of them seethe with potentially harmful bacteria, according to a survey published yesterday. In an announcement sure to please proponents of "dress-down Friday", the tie was depicted as the sartorial equivalent of "Typhoid Mary" - a cook who infected 47 people in 1907 - at the 104th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in New Orleans. While a tie helps to make a doctor look professional, the...

<p>SACRAMENTO – Tax reformers challenged Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday to eliminate corporate loopholes in Prop. 13 that they say have cost the state billions since 1978.</p> <p>"There is a hole at the heart of our tax system crying out for reform," said Lenny Goldberg of the California Tax Reform Association, a nonprofit backed by labor and teachers. "There was never any promise to large corporations that they wouldn't be reassessed under Prop. 13, and there's no reason for not doing it."</p>