Free Republic

It was a solar experiment that seemed ingenious in its simplicity: fill a road with photovoltaic panels and let them passively soak up the rays as cars drive harmlessly above. The idea has been tried a few times, notably in rural France in 2016 with what was christened the "Wattway." Three years later, even the most optimistic supporters have deemed the Wattway a failure.

Sharia UK: Police hunting for man who made a rude joke to a Muslim AUG 17, 2019 4:00 PM BY ROBERT SPENCER Note Tell MAMA’s headline: they claim that this man made a “racist slur” against a Muslim. What race is Islam again? In reality, there are Muslims, and Islamic jihadis, of all races. But TellMAMA wants to intimidate Britons into believing that anyone who makes a rude quip to a Muslim is a racist, and thus deserving to have the book thrown at him. But that’s all this was: a quip. Say anything you want: the guy was rude,...

The British Museum tries to counter an ugly truth long captured in Western art. ... Objectively speaking, the “Slave Market” painting in question portrays a reality that has played out countless times over the centuries: African and Middle Eastern Muslims have long targeted European women—so much so as to have enslaved millions of them over the centuries. The Muslim demand for, in the words of one historian, “white-complexioned blondes, with straight hair and blue eyes,” traces back to the prophet of Islam, Muhammad, who enticed his followers to wage jihad against neighboring Byzantium by citing its blonde (“yellow”) women awaiting...

RUSH: So, I ran across this piece and I want to share it with you because when I was reading this piece, it caused a bunch of lights to go off. One of the things that I’ve been trying to figure out, even though those of you who listen will think I have it figured out, to me there’s always more than what I understand on most things. Even though I think I may have something figured out, there’s still more to learn about it. And this opposition to Trump, it’s so irrational. It’s so obsessive that it puzzles me....

A relic hunter dubbed ‘Indiana Bones’ has lifted the lid on a macabre collection of 400-year-old jewel-encrusted skeletons unearthed in churches across Europe. Art historian Paul Koudounaris hunted down and photographed dozens of gruesome skeletons in some of the world’s most secretive religious establishments.

A case involving a Belfast bakery, that refused to make a cake with a pro-same-sex marriage slogan for a customer, has been referred to the European Court of Human Rights. Ashers Baking was found guilty of discrimination in 2015 for refusing to make a cake for Gareth Lee. Mr. Lee requested a cake with the words “Support Gay Marriage” iced on top, but the owners of the bakery refused due to their Christian beliefs. The bakery has said its objection was to the message on the cake, not the customer. Mr. Lee’s legal bid in Europe’s highest court will argue...

WASHINGTON—President Trump made his name on the world’s most famous island. Now he wants to buy the world’s biggest. The idea of the U.S. purchasing Greenland has captured the former real-estate developer’s imagination, according to people familiar with the deliberations, who said Mr. Trump has, with varying degrees of seriousness, repeatedly expressed interest in buying the ice-covered autonomous Danish territory between the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans. In meetings, at dinners and in passing conversations, Mr. Trump has asked advisers whether the U.S. can acquire Greenland, listened with interest when they discuss its abundant resources and geopolitical importance, and, according...

In his book, “The Reason for God,” Tim Keller argues that Christianity is the only truly global religion. Indeed, within a few generations of Christ, the Christian faith had spread across much of the known world—from India to North Africa to furthest reaches of the Roman Empire and into the barbarian lands of Northern Europe. Yet up until a hundred years or so ago, for all kinds of historical and sociological reasons, Christianity became a predominantly Western religion. The missionary efforts of the last hundred years began to change that, and now Pew Research predicts that Africa will be the...

I would not miss this one if I were you: all the recent events in Russia and elsewhere that are leading inexorably to the war against Israel and its miraculous end. Some very insightful comments from Amir about Trump and his political genius and strength. Also some prescient news and warnings about the war against Christianity. It is closer than you think. Can't even summarize, there is so much here. Just watch it and be blessed and joyful.

ITALIAN deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini has delivered a withering put-down to Richard Gere after the movie star urged the Italian government to stop "demonising” migrants - telling him to “take them back to your Hollywood villas”. The leader of Italy’s far-right Lega party, now preparing for a snap election, was speaking after Gere visited Spanish charity boat the Open Arms ship in a show of support on Friday, before joining a news conference on the Italian island of Lampedusa to call for the 160 migrants stuck on the boat to be allowed to disembark. However, Mr Salvini, who this...

U.S. mortgage rates may be low, but they're likely even more attractive to homebuyers in Denmark. Danish 20-year fixed-rate mortgage loans just hit a new low: Zero.

For the first time in history, Spain is no longer a majority Catholic country For the first time in its history, Spain now has more atheists, agnostics, and non-believers than it does practicing Catholics, according to a new report by the Research Center of Spanish Sociology (CIS).While a third of Spaniards reported being Catholic, only 22.7 percent of them said that they attend mass and go to confession regularly. In Catalonia, just 10.9 percent of believers reported regularly attending mass and going to confession, while in Rojia, south of Basque country, about 40 percent of people are still practicing...

(Bloomberg) -- Coca-Cola Co.’s billboards depicting heterosexual and same-sex couples were greeted by a wave of vitriol in Hungary, touching on a theme which conservative governments in the east of the European Union have increasingly focused on. The pictures feature couples with the hashtag #loveislove, timed for Budapest’s popular Sziget Festival, a week-long music event that carries the theme of “Love Revolution” this year. News websites close to the ruling Fidesz party, including PestiSracok and 888.hu, attacked the Coca-Cola campaign saying it promotes same-sex love over heterosexuality. Fidesz lawmaker Istvan Boldog called for a boycott of Coke products in a...

Nigerian Cardinal Says Stop Encouraging Africans to Migrate ROME — Cardinal Francis Arinze has urged Europeans to cease encouraging Africans to migrate to Europe, insisting that people are better off in their home countries. In an interview with the Catholic Herald last week, the 86-year-old Cardinal Arinze, once considered a top candidate for the papacy, said that when countries lose their young people to migration, they lose the people who can best build their nation’s future.“So the countries in Europe and America can sometimes help best, not by encouraging the young people to come to Europe as if they looked...

European civilisation is imbued with notions of Christian morality and the values of the Enlightenment. It is diverse, organic, syncretic and all-encompassing. After centuries of internecine warfare, the continent finally came to recognise that this religio-cultural homogeneity offered a foundation for peace and prosperity, and so expressions of Christian democracy began to develop which drew together the fractious and heterogeneous strands of national allegiance to forge a new progressive identity for the modern era. But that identity has been hijacked by an aggressive, coercive, supra-national secularism of categorical imperatives which gnaw at the threads of Europe’s carefully-woven patchwork of civilisations....

The “Nordic Paradise” that was Sweden until a few decades ago, has become a virtual nightmare with the influx of thousands of migrants from the Middle East, most of them unwilling to assimilate. The homogeneous society that was once Sweden, with low crime, and strong work ethics, has turned into a multicultural society, replete with crime, social instability, and declining productivity. For the many believers in the workability of social democracy, Sweden was a model of success and admiration. While personal taxes were high, the state provided its citizens with a lavish social welfare system and cradle-to-grave social services....

An African migrant has been arrested on murder charges in Germany after allegedly pushing a mother and her 8-year-old from a station platform in front of a moving train, killing the child in the process, according to reports.The incident took place around 10 am on Monday morning at Frankfurt’s central railway station.Horrified witnesses allegedly saw the African randomly target the woman and her son, pushing them off platform 7 in front of an InterCity Express train, according to German tabloid Bild.

SOMMA VESUVIANA, ITALY–When 19-year-old Finnegan Elder and 18-year-old Gabe Natale Hjorth were first met by two undercover police officers with Italy’s military Carabiniere police force on a dark street near the Vatican in Rome, they thought they were about to get jumped. According to a 14-page document from the investigating judge, which was reviewed by The Daily Beast, the two Americans had earlier approached Sergio Brugiatelli, a layabout who can always be found on Piazza Mastei in Rome's Trastevere district, for cocaine. Brugiatelli pointed them to a pusher. The Americans allegedly thought they were buying cocaine, but when their €100...

Like every country in the European Union (EU), Hungary is struggling with a population shortfall due largely to low childbearing rates. Their national fertility rate is currently at 1.49 children per woman, below the EU average of 1.59. Replacement-level fertility requires a rate of around 2.1. The United States’s fertility rate most recently hit a long-term low of 1.7, and has generally not seen birth rates better than replacement level since the 1970s.Hungary already has a labor shortage. Their people are moving abroad in search of higher-paying jobs. Yet someone has to work and pay taxes to fund Hungary’s...

A Russian-led project to bring a new gas pipeline to Europe has taken the European Union to court to challenge new rules it says are meant to stall the project. Nord Stream 2 — a new undersea gas pipeline being built by Russia’s energy firm Gazprom and backed by five European energy companies — said on Friday it had asked the Court of Justice of the European Union to annul an EU gas directive, which dictates the pipes cannot be directly owned by a gas supplier.The owner of the pipeline is Russia's energy firm Gazprom, who will also be its...