Free Republic

Planning a trip for the latter two weeks in September. It will be a tour. Going to Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto. I understand they are very strict on OTC and prescription drugs and must get permission to carry some of my Rx meds. Also....any recommendations on manners, foods, customs, money would be helpful! Also, need to find out about visa requirements. Only going for 10 days - 2 weeks.

It’s not every day you find a government document calling for Cato Institute employees to be charged with treason, but as a new article in The Dispatch details, here we are: "In March 2020, a maritime shipping advisory panel offered a simple suggestion to the government: Charge all past and current members of two libertarian think tanks with treason. "It is certainly not the first time a bunch of libertarians angered members of a bureaucratic panel. But this backlash stemmed from criticism of the Jones Act, a century‐​old law that imposes requirements for shipping between American ports." Haley Byrd Wilt’s...

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that their recommendations for masking had been “crystal clear.” Walensky said, “I think we have so many more tools now than we did a year ago. We have so many things that work against SARS‑CoV‑2, and it’s what causes COVID regardless of the variants we have seen before. I do think that getting a lot of immunity right now will be critically important. Masking up right now, we have 80% of our cases of our counties that are still in higher substantial risk...

I get calls from state and federal officials all the time asking about how I would handle the pandemic. So I thought I'd make a substack article that they could all read and implement. OK, I was kidding about getting calls from public officials. It was a joke. No public official is going to call me asking for advice. They all get their orders from up top.But if I ever did get a call, here are some changes I would recommend. NOTE: This is not a complete list. Nor have a spent time refining it. It is just a collection...

A communique sent by my very large healthcare insurance plan presented a list of recommended vaccines for each age group. There was no mention of CoVid vaccines on the page.

Anyone trying to keep up with the current state of medical knowledge and recommendations regarding the COVID pandemic is bound to be confused. The data are conflicting, garbled, and inconclusive. The recommendations are constantly changing, haphazard, arbitrary, and inconsistent. Making sense of COVID information requires more than simply studying data or following recommendations. It is useful to consider what the recommendations say about the data. For example, the recommendation that people who have been vaccinated against COVID should receive booster shots suggests that health officials believe that the protection provided by the vaccines is not long-lasting. It is not necessary...

Sen. Ted Cruz ripped the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wednesday, saying the agency had “destroyed their credibility” with their “absurd” recommendation that vaccinated people wear masks indoors in areas of “substantial” or “high” coronavirus transmission. “That’s not science. That’s politics. It’s pure politics,” the Texas Republican told Fox News’ “Hannity”. “You know what? Yesterday, vaccines worked. Today, they still work, but as a political matter, the Democrats decided they want to control your lives, they want everyone to wear a mask, and my view is real simple: We shouldn’t have federal government mandates on COVID.

Having been cancelled last year, my work conference is back on again. I've never been to Tennessee other than to drive through it on the way to elsewhere (or fly over it) I know many areas can be a no-go zone due to urban danger. Any recommendations? I'll be traveling with my work group down there and probably not with hubby as he will most likely stay up here to continue working on a gut rehab (rental property)

The Christmas season is here, which means the clock’s a-ticking to find the perfect gifts for your loved ones. Here are 29 books that our friends at The Heritage Foundation think you and your family will enjoy.

OK, the wife and I are planning a week long vacation in early October. We're flying into Orlando, spending a few days there and then heading eastward and then north along the Atlantic Coast. I don't think we'll go much further than Saint Augustine. Yeah, there's the obvious places to go - like Kennedy Space Center. Saint Augustine looks very interesting too. There's a few national parks I wanna check out along the way too. I'd even settle more good recommendations that are even a bit inland from the coast. I'm up for anything in the way of recommendations -...

II. Recommendations For these reasons, and as more fully described in previous chapters, we recommend the following: 1. The Department and the FBI consider developing practice guidance that would assist investigators and prosecutors in identifying the general risks with and alternatives to permitting a witness to attend a voluntary interview of another witness, in particular when the witness is serving as counsel for the other witness. 2. The Department consider making explicit that, except in situations where the law requires or permits disclosure, an investigating agency cannot publicly announce its recommended charging decision prior to consulting with the Attorney General,...

Hello, all. I'm no stranger to shooting. I hunted for small game, growing up, I qualified, in the Army, as an "Expert" rifleman, and I occasionally take the family out shooting now. Though I was an Expert in the Army, that shooting was limited to 300 yards, and since I was in the Signal Corps, I really only shot once per year to retain my qualification. I've recently become interested in long range shooting. I've been looking at optics that would lend themselves to that pursuit. I know that brands like Leupold and Nightforce are the heavy-hitters in this arena,...

Got any recommendations on hearing aids. Got a couple VA issued Starkey's that only last three daze on a battery load and had a wiz bang option to adjust by phone and had that feature programmed out. So much texting going on everywhere I kept getting programmed out! I feel my ear canals are blocking the true worth of a aid and most krapp being said out loud is worthless any how. I have a couple Siemens that are dogs at my own expense and have seen some new "light" transmitted ears that look interesting but I think a home...

In the first week of public comments on a federal proposal to encourage male circumcision in the U.S., most people are telling Uncle Sam to leave the foreskins alone. “His body, his choice” and “Foreskin is not a birth defect” are among the hundreds of negative comments in the Federal Register against a proposed policy by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to advise that males of all ages be circumcised for health reasons. The strongest objections were for infant circumcision, since it is a “human rights” violation for a male to permanently lose a piece of his body...

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has accepted all 29 recommendations in a report into a deadly attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya. The report found that systemic failures at the state department led to insufficient security at the consulate. But it found no individual official ignored their duties, and the review has not suggested disciplinary action. The 11 September attack saw Ambassador Christopher Stevens, as well as three other Americans, killed.

President Obama's jobs council is recommending a series of job-creating proposals with a distinct Republican flavor — just the latest economic message to emerge as Obama prepares for his contest with the eventual Republican nominee. Obama's jobs council is calling for an overhaul of the corporate tax structure, expansion of domestic petroleum drilling and a raft of reforms to federal regulation. As first reported by Reuters, the new corporate tax rates should sink to "internationally competitive levels," the report says, as well as an "all-in strategy" to cut reliance on foreign fuels by promoting domestic sources. This is just the...

I thought it might be useful to have a thread for game recommendations. Thread suggestions: While popular games like Halo 3, Super Mario Galaxy, and Metal Gear Solid 4 deserve every bit of attention they've received, I can't think of a gamer that doesn't know of their existence. Let's focus on the hidden gems and lesser known games. Let's not get into system wars. The Wii, 360, PS3, PC and Mac all have their own must-have games. If you're a hardcore gamer, odds are good that you own all of these platforms anyway, so please keep your stoney, ninthing, and...

Member of the Texas Sunset Commission today recommended 'radical' changes in the administration of the Texas Department of Transportation, including placing the troubled and controversial agency into a four year legislative 'receivership' and abolishing the Texas Transportation Commission, which runs TexDOT, and appointment of a Transportation Commissioner who would be answerable to the Legislature, 1200 WOAI news reports. But Sunset Commission member Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon (D-San Antonio) suggested going one step further. "What I am hearing form the public is that they are wanting to see an elected commissioner," she said to loud applause from the TexDOT opponents who...

Baby Milk Recommendations Changed 2% Milk OK for Weaned Babies at Risk of Becoming Overweight By Daniel J. DeNoon WebMD Health NewsReviewed by Brunilda Nazario, MDJuly 11, 2008 -- There's been a major change in baby nutrition advice, but it's gone nearly unnoticed. This week, the American Academy of Pediatrics changed its recommendation that weaned babies be fed whole milk until they're 2 years old.

SAN ANTONIO -- It's official. Texas Department Of Transportation really does need to be more accountable, responsive and transparent. We could all guess what the Sunset Commission finally recognized: TxDOT is out of control and needs to take radical measures to restore trust. Of course, TxDOT promises to do better, but we'll believe it when we see it. They may be so far gone that the only way to fix TxDOT's mess is to disband them altogether and start over. With a Trans-Texas Corridor and toll roads in play, as well as grossly miscalculated budgets, TxDOT needs more oversight now...