Free Republic

On the menu today: The cover piece in the newest issue of National Review has Ron DeSantis fans grumbling that it’s far too early for such a gloomy assessment of his campaign because not a single vote has been cast yet. Fine, but to believe that DeSantis has a shot of winning Iowa, we need to believe that his support is at least 15 percentage points higher than his highest numbers in recent polling and that Donald Trump’s support is at least 15 percentage points lower than his lowest numbers in recent polling. (If you simply take DeSantis’s best number...

Windfarm opponents are claiming a major victory after Hérault court ruled that the turbines must be demolished as they were built without the correct permission The court ordered that the 93m turbines at Bernagues in the Grands Causses in Hérault must be demolished, even if the owners launch an appeal. They started producing power in 2016 but the next year the Conseil d’Etat, France’s highest administrative court, rejected the planning permission. Rabbits and rodents are drawn to the recently dug sites and this is a fatal attraction for eagles, which fly at the same height as the turbine blades. The...

HONOLULU (AP) — The house made famous in the "Magnum P.I." TV series has been scheduled for demolition. Hawaii News Now reported Tuesday that a demolition permit was issued last week because the building is in disrepair. The 8,900 square-foot (827-square-meter) Waimanalo mansion was purchased for $8.7 million in 2015 by Marty Nemolitsbitt.

It was for years the focus of the abortion wars in the South. The non-descript red brick building in Birmingham once housed the most notorious abortion business in Alabama. In a final post script to decades of pro-life efforts, it was razed to the ground the weekend by new owners who have other – better – plans for the property. Operated by the “Abortion Queen” Diane Derzis, New Woman All Women was a poorly-maintained abortion facility that became well known for shoddy practices and deceptive tactics that kept it operating well beyond its legal ability to do so. A coalition...

NEWTOWN, Conn. — The Connecticut home of the man who carried out the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary school has been demolished, Newtown officials said Tuesday. The 2-acre lot where the 3,100-square-foot house once stood in a leafy, suburban neighborhood will be left as open space under a plan approved by town officials. Several neighbors had asked for the building to be taken down, describing it as a constant reminder of the tragedy. Among them, Dave Ackart said in a letter: “Not only is the property a constant reminder of the evil that resided there – those of us...

The IDF demolished overnight Monday the homes of the two main suspects in the kidnapping and killing of three young Israelis, witnesses told AFP. The witnesses said the houses of Marwan Kawasmeh and Amar Abu-Eisha in Hevron were blown up, in what a human rights group said was the first punitive demolition since Israel halted the practice in 2005. Kawasmeh and Abu-Eisha were identified by Israel last week as the two terrorists who kidnapped Eyal Yifrah, Gilad Sha’ar and Naftali Frenkel, whose bodies were discovered earlier on Monday. Both Kawasmeh and Abu-Eisha have been arrested numerous times and are well...

Residents of a demolished outpost in Judea say that the IDF facilitated Arab looting of their belongings Sunday. According to residents of Mitzpe Avichai, near Kiryat Arba, trucks sent by the IDF's Civil Administration took belongings from the site and dumped them in a landfill where Arabs were apparently waiting to cart them away. The residents of the outpost were evicted from it one month ago, in nighttime raid. They took only what they could carry, leaving behind most of their equipment and belongings – including refrigerators, beds, solar thermal collectors and cabinets. There are conflicting versions regarding what happened...

<p>TRIPOLI, Libya -- The euphoria that followed the rebels' triumphant march in Tripoli gave way to confusion and wariness Monday, as Moammar Gadhafi remained at large, his son Seif al-Islam made a surprise appearance at a hotel with foreign journalists and pockets of loyalist forces stubbornly resisted rebel efforts to take control of the capital.</p>

Supporters of a Greek Orthodox church destroyed on Sept. 11 say officials willing to speak out about a planned community center and mosque near ground zero have been silent on efforts to get the church rebuilt. But the World Trade Center site's owner says a deal to help rebuild St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church was offered and rejected, after years of negotiations, over money and other issues. Though the projects are not related, supporters - including George Pataki, New York's governor at the time of the Sept. 11 attacks - have questioned why public officials have not addressed St. Nicholas'...

This building in Basrah, once used by Saddam Hussein as an interrogation facility, is being demolished to make way for a new Iraqi Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) facility. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. BASRAH — A building once used by Saddam Hussein as an interrogation facility is being demolished to make way for a new Iraqi Explosive Ordnance Disposal office. According to Ken Bright, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Gulf Region South project engineer, the community as a whole is happy about the demolition and new construction because the facility held bad memories. “To quote the...

TIKRIT, Iraq (Army News Service, Dec. 5, 2005) – Iraqi and U.S. forces captured more than 50 suspected terrorists in operations in northern and central Iraq Dec. 1, 2. Captured in Kirkuk During operations Dec. 2, a large group of suspected terrorists were captured by 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 4th Iraqi Army Division northwest of Kirkuk. The Soldiers were conducting a routine patrol near an abandoned bunker when they observed 15 men digging around the bunker searching for weapons. The patrol detained the men for questioning. Ar Ruashid raid success Nine suspected terrorists were detained in Ar Ruashid Friday afternoon...

3m homes 'should be demolished' to cut global warming By Charles Clover (Filed: 30/05/2005) Some 3.2 million homes must be demolished over the next 45 years to fulfil the Government's aspirations for tackling global warming, academics have warned. The report, by researchers at Oxford University's Environmental Change Institute and Heriot Watt University, is bound to re-ignite the controversy caused by the proposed demolition of 400,000 homes in the Midlands and the North. Households account for around 30 per cent of Britain's total energy use and the researchers conclude there is a "desperate need" for a clear strategy for housing stock...