Free Republic

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, directed by Dr. Anthony Fauci, is conducting research involving the creation of a more severe strain of monkeypox in an effort to help develop better vaccines for humans, the organization said. The virus will be given to mice in order to track its progress, and help scientists understand what needs to be done to ensure humans are better protected depending on how certain genes act. Creating the new hybrid strain of monkeypox involves extracting genes from the clade 1 variant of the virus, which kills one in ten people it infects, and...

Sen. Ted Cruz hadn’t been an official contender for the presidency of the United States for 12 hours before the questions started coming, even in the warm and welcoming cradle of a primetime interview before what should be the friendliest of conservative audiences. “You were born in Calgary, in Canada,” FOX News host Sean Hannity asked him, glancing into the camera for an apologetic chuckle. “Is there a birth certificate issue?” It’s a question that’s lurked around the edges of Cruz’s political profile ever since the junior senator gained enough notoriety to be mentioned as a presidential candidate. Google searches...

Members of the United States Marines have officially begun a training operation in Taiwan to help boost its military's combat readiness, the island's navy confirmed Monday. Amphibious training exercises led by a group of visiting Marine Raiders were described as "routine" by Taiwan's Naval Command. It marked the first public acknowledgement of American troops in Taiwan since Washington and Taipei ended formal diplomatic ties in 1979. The Raiders are believed to have arrived in Taiwan as early as October 26, but observed two weeks of quarantine as part of the island's measures to contain COVID-19. The U.S. Marines are the...

Nancy Pelosi has gone off the deep end and questioned the legitimacy of enforcing laws that she disagrees with.  Anarchy beckons when the top lawmaker in the House of Representatives, third in line for the presidency, takes the position that there is no point in enforcing legal verdicts that are the product of due process.  Ryan Saavedra of the Daily Wire has the story: Speaking at an event in Elmhurst, New York, Pelosi attacked President Donald Trump over the raids from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers that were scheduled to happen over the weekend but were delayed after...

Creating the infrastructure needed to push the crypto-currency to fruition If bitcoin transactions were less cumbersome, the digital currency could potentially become the premier international currency of the world. But as it stands, using cash or credit for everyday purchases is much more practical. Xapo, the bitcoin wallet and storage service, seeks to reshape this paradigm using a debit card that taps directly into a user’s bitcoin storage and is accepted anywhere in the world where MasterCard is. The Xapo debit card works similarly to a bank issued debit card, performing transactions in real time; when a user purchases a...

Supreme Court on Friday agreed to consider whether a suspect's refusal to answer police questions prior to being arrested and read his rights can be introduced as evidence of guilt at his subsequent murder trial. Without comment, the court agreed to hear the appeal of Genovevo Salinas, who was convicted of murder and sentenced to 20 years in prison for the December 1992 deaths of two brothers in Houston.

Israeli scientists have cultivated a cannabis plant that doesn't get people stoned in a development that may help those smoking marijuana for medical purposes, a newspaper said on Wednesday. According to the Maariv daily, the new cannabis looks, smells and even tastes the same, but does not induce any of the feelings normally associated with smoking marijuana that are brought on by the substance THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol. "It has the same scent, shape and taste as the original plant -- it's all the same -- but the numbing sensation that users are accustomed to has disappeared," said Tzahi Klein, head...

The Boston Celtics is a professional basketball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, playing in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team is owned by Wycliffe Grousbeck and coached by Doc Rivers, with Danny Ainge as the President of Basketball Operations. Founded in 1946, their 17 NBA Championships are the most for any NBA franchise. The Celtics' greatest domination came from 1957 to 1969, with 11 championships in 13 years, and eight in a row, the longest consecutive championship winning streak of any North American professional sports team. They currently play their home...

With the first day complete tonight in a state-mandated recount in the contest for U.S. Senate between Republican incumbent Norm Coleman and Democratic challenger Al Franken, Coleman’s lead shrank by nearly 20 percent. Based on a Star Tribune analysis of partial recount numbers released this evening by the Secretary of State’s Office, Coleman lost a net of 41 votes and now holds a 174-vote advantage. He started the day up by 215. These new numbers come after the state has recounted 18 percent of the ballots. They come from 27 percent of the state’s precincts. At this point, Coleman has...

(Do you want a president who injects poison into his skull for vanity?) (Islam-Founded by Evil, and thriving on death. Just like the modern democrats.) (The Democrats Have Reached Rock Bottom and requested a JACK-HAMMER) (Do not remove this tag under penalty of law.) (Even if the voices aren't real... they still have some pretty good ideas.) (Half Thai, Half American, 95% Conservative, 100% Insane) (Life without challenge dulls the soul.) (run from a knife, close on a gun) ("I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!" -- Jacobim Mugatu, 'Zoolander') ("Would you mind not shooting at the thermonuclear weapons?" --...

Snip-"I have been as fast as around 35 mph on a flat stretch of road. On one particular hill, it's almost crawling at the top. Yet if I get a good run down the hill which precedes it, I can maintain more of a momentum -- memories of riding a bike as a child!... Snip-This is definitely a city car. It doesn't replace a "normal" car; we have a second car which we use for longer journeys or when going out with friends.Snip-The range on a single charge is supposed to be 40 miles but I think that's only in...

U.S. import prices rose by a more-than-expected 2.8 percent in March as petroleum prices jumped 9.1 percent, a Labor Department report showed Friday. U.S. export prices rose 1.5 percent during the month, also more than expected and the largest monthly gain on record, as prices for farm and food products continued to rise. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast a 2 percent rise in import prices in March after a 0.2 percent gain in February. They also forecast a 0.5 percent rise in export prices after a previously reported 0.9 percent gain in February, which the Labor Department revised to...

Nita and Ken Eaton hit the stores last month, as they do every Christmas, to find just the right gifts for the youngsters on their shopping list. The carefully chosen presents weren't for their youngsters but for their nieces and nephews. The Eatons are part of a small but growing segment of American couples who have chosen not to have children. "We spend a lot of time thinking about what we're going to get our nieces and nephews for Christmas. We want to get them something meaningful," said Nita Eaton, 38. The Eatons, married for five years, never had the...

The question is: "Is Kerry sticking his bony, well-manicured, girly, index finger in the chest of the Marine pictured here?" The answer is "No." After optimizing the pic with Photoshop and Image Optimizer, what looks like Kerry's finger is actually the top piece of a wooden frame that holds a mirror and is attached to the window. There is another mirror just like it behind the Marine, to the right of his elbow.

<p>To put that into perspective, the most powerful production-car audio I know of is the $230,000+ 2003 Aston Martin Vanquish's 1,200-watt system. Irving carries $80,000 worth of audio alone, in a vehicle that is worth, admittedly, slightly less than the Maybach. Must be fun to ride down Main Street with the windows rolled down, right?</p>