Free Republic

In our fight against a global pandemic, we need all the weapons we can get. Merck’s announcement that it’s developing an antiviral pill to treat COVID is therefore welcome news. If molnupiravir is as effective as the drug maker claims, this early treatment option should make a big difference.But in the hype over Merck’s new pill, we’re losing sight of the fact that we already have an effective, affordable treatment for COVID that is helping to control the pandemic in many regions of the world—ivermectin. I ask those urging the Food and Drug Administration to rush molnupiravir through the approval...

US ex-marine Steven Gern was fired from his job in Iraq and sent home after he uploaded a Facebook video supporting US President Donald Trump's temporary ban on citizens of seven countries entering the US. The ban was instituted to prevent potentially dangerous people from entering the country before there was an efficient way to vet them properly. Gern's video, which includes a description of what local Iraqis would do to any American they found, got 44 million views on Facebook. "So here I am, on my way out of here," Gern said in a YouTube video. "Obviously they didn't...

Good video at link about squad mates having to sign non-disclosure statements.Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl slept on his bed frame, and then the concrete floor, collected contact information, and talked about becoming a mercenary in what his squad mates now describe as behavior that laid the groundwork for his disappearance in Afghanistan nearly six years ago. "I asked him, 'Why are you sleeping on the frame of your bed?'" former Sgt. Matt Vierkant recalled in a recent interview with Fox News. "I was like well, that's weird. And then I remember coming back -- I don’t know if it was a...

Nigeria has drafted “hundreds of mercenaries from South Africa” in its fight against Boko Haram. South Africans have a long-standing reputation as being among the best mercenaries in the world, and have been present in one form or another in most African conflicts for the past two decades.

Hundreds of South African mercenaries and hired fighters of other nationalities are playing a decisive role in Nigeria’s military campaign against Boko Haram, operating attack helicopters, armored personnel carriers and fighting to retake towns and villages captured by the Islamist militant group, according to senior officials in the region.The Nigerian government has not acknowledged the presence of the mercenaries, but a senior government official in northern Nigeria said the South Africans — camped out in a remote portion of the airport in Maiduguri, the city at the heart of Boko Haram’s uprising — conduct most of their operations at night...

A Chinese immigrant who stole trade secrets from the Chicago Merc worth an estimated $50 million was spared prison Tuesday by a federal judge who cited his otherwise “exemplary life.” Chunlai Yang, 50, of Libertyville, was instead sentenced to just four years probation for stealing software that underpinned the CME Group’s Globex trading platform. Yang, who worked as a high-ranking programmer for the Merc from 2000 until his arrest in 2011, pleaded guilty in 2012 to the theft, admitting he was trying to create a similar product in China when he illegally downloaded more than 10,000 computer source code files....

The Michigan Education Association has dropped an unfair labor practices complaint against Grand Rapids Community College, and also dropped its request for suspension of an election to “decertify” a union local which represents college secretaries. The decertification vote was authorized when one-third of the nearly 100 members of the Grand Rapids Community College Education Support Professionals signed a petition requesting it. The MEA filed its complaint and request a few weeks later. Supporters of the election say time was of the essence because the local bargaining unit’s contract expires June 30 and contract negotiations are set to begin April 1....

These days, most people consider themselves lucky if a new car lasts 5 to 10 years. Make it to 100,000 miles in your vehicle, and the car company might make a commercial about you...

OTTAWA, August 14, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Critics say that the reasons to avoid using the HPV vaccine, Gardasil, continue to pile up in the form of thousands of instances of severe side effects, including numerous deaths. In response to the mounting evidence that the vaccine may not be safe for widespread use, the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) is slated to release a study in October that will attempt to determine the validity of these reports. Judicial Watch, a public interest group, has closely monitored Gardasil since it was released by creator Merck in 2006, periodically detailing statistics on the...

he Mercury News cut 50 jobs Friday through a combination of layoffs and buyouts, and named new business and editorial page editors to replace managers who accepted buyouts. Barbara J. Marshman, associate editor, will replace Stephen E. Wright as editorial page editor. She is the first woman to hold that job at the Mercury News. Deputy business editor Stephen R. Trousdale replaces Rebecca Salner as business editor. The appointments were announced by Editor David J. Butler. Fifteen newsroom employees and 19 employees from other parts of the paper were laid off Friday. Earlier in the week, 16 employees accepted buyout...

Sixty more newsroom positions – almost one in four -- are to be eliminated at the San Jose Mercury News this summer after a layoff moratorium negotiated with the local Newspaper Guild expires, Grade the News has learned. John Bowman, executive editor at the San Mateo County Times until last week, said the staff reductions were discussed at an April meeting he attended at the Mercury News along with top editors of MediaNews, which now owns every paid daily newspaper around the San Francisco Bay but the San Francisco Chronicle. The proposed cuts would affect 24% of the 250 member...

The San Jose Mercury News completed a round of layoffs Tuesday that trimmed its workforce by 35 employees in one of the first big moves under its new owner, MediaNews Group. The layoffs, which began Monday night, came just after the company reached a tentative agreement on a labor contract with its largest union, the San Jose Newspaper Guild, Monday morning. The last-minute deal, which followed a 20-hour negotiating session, reduced the number of job cuts by more than half. The newspaper had originally planned to cut 69 Guild jobs as part of a cost-cutting effort brought about by declining...

SAN JOSE The San Jose Mercury News plans to lay off as many as 101 employees over the next two months to cut costs and make up for declining advertising revenue, the paper said Friday. The company will eliminate 41 newsroom positions - or about 15 percent of its editorial staff - by Dec. 19, with the rest of the cuts coming from other departments including circulation, finance, marketing and human resources, said Dan Breeden, a Mercury News spokesman. The cuts, which officials say will be made mostly through layoffs, will sever about 8 percent of the paper's overall workforce....

I've heard that a new MRE component is being manufactured, but there seems to be limited information about it. Here's what I've found so far: Pocket Food (Includes a picture) And an older item that discusses the matter at: seabeecook The second article mentions GoodMark Foods Inc., which has been acquired by ConAgra. Anyway, I'm curious - has anyone come across such things? Who is the contractor that produces the components? How do they taste? Is there a viable (and legal) source? Yours for culinary excellence, Neutrino

NEW YORK While Wednesday's announcement that MediaNews Group plans to snap up four Knight Ridder papers puts to rest several months of uncertainty, Newspaper Guild leaders are calling the convoluted deal "bad news for newspaper workers, readers, advertisers, and for our communities." San Jose Newspaper Guild Executive Officer Luther Jackson called an emergency meeting scheduled at 6 p.m. local time tonight for San Jose members to "review the implications" of the pending transaction. A meeting for Monterey members will be announced separately. The guild wants to address many issues, including media concentration, but is also charging that Yucaipa Co. --...

Published: March 20, 2006 12:09 PM ET "Should Yahoo buy a newspaper?" That's how Blogma at Cnet.com kicked off an online discussion today, referencing a proposal by former San Jose Mercury News columnist Dan Gilmor on his own blog. That paper was among the 12 that McClatchy has put up for sale after securing them in the proposed purchase of Knight Ridder. Yahoo should buy the paper, along with some others in the chain, "to turn the Bay Area -- far and away the best place for this in America -- into a living laboratory of tomorrow's journalism," Gilmore wrote....

SAN JOSE, Calif. — When Dan Gillmor first arrived at The San Jose Mercury News in 1994, he recalled, he felt like he was in the "belly of the beast." Many staff members of The San Jose Mercury News belong to a union, giving the paper higher labor costs that may deter buyers. In his previous job, as a technology reporter for The Detroit Free Press — then one of the country's leading newspapers — he had trouble getting editors to understand how important the tech story was. Now he was at the center of the most vibrant part of...

Federal agents contend that a Pennsylvania man tried to work with al Qaeda in a plot to blow up the Alaska pipeline, another pipeline in Pennsylvania and a refinery in New Jersey, according to a published report. Michael Curtis Reynolds, 47, has not officially been charged with terrorism, but a prosecutor at a hearing said that Reynolds tried to "provide material aid to al Qaeda" and that the case "involves a federal offense of terrorism," The Philadelphia Inquirer reported in its Sunday editions. CBS News correspondent Randall Pinkston reports that a tip from Shannen Rossmiller - a judge from Conrad,...