Free Republic

EXCLUSIVE: The head of the Republican Study Committee (RSC) has called on Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to launch an investigation into whether Russia secretly funded U.S. green groups that advocate against domestic oil and gas production. Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., led a letter to Yellen Friday that cites a 2015 Washington Free Beacon report that suggested the California-based Sea Change Foundation may allegedly be a conduit for Russian oil interests in funneling money to groups like the League of Conservation Voters (LCV), the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Sierra Club and the Center for American Progress.

BERLIN (Reuters) -Fifteen climate activists glued themselves to the asphalt of motorways in Germany, causing rush hour traffic jams on Monday, in the latest protests demanding a law against food waste and cuts in greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. A total of 252 protesters have taken part in a series of road blockades over the past two weeks, 69 of them fusing themselves to the asphalt to make it harder to remove them, according to German climate activist group “Last Generation”. A Reuters video showed frustrated motorists held up on the capital Berlin’s main A100 motorway on Monday getting out...

Germany’s incoming government, led by the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), were pressed to clarify their foreign policy priorities at a press conference on Tuesday. Having officially signed a three-party coalition agreement, Chancellor-designate Olaf Scholz and the rest of his Cabinet members are expected to take office on Wednesday after a vote and swearing-in ceremony in the German parliament. Scholz put Europe in focus as he fielded questions on Russia, China and the United States alongside Greens co-leader and incoming vice chancellor Robert Habeck as well as Free Democrat (FDP) chief and incoming Finance Minister Christian Lindner. Strengthening the European Union...

The first Woman Prime Minister in Swedish History lasted less than one day, she resigned about 12 hours after becoming Prime Minister....Her coalition partner quit after her budget was defeated in Parliament. The budget that passed included the Anti-Immigrant Far Right Party (according to the BBC), the Green Party refused to go along with a budget that included the Far Right....

With coal demand increasing across the planet, the supply tightness has seen European coal prices follow the global appreciation trend. The recent allure of coal also showcases the deficiencies of the carbon pricing mechanism. The current coal demand surge should force the European Union to reconsider its position on coal. As European gas prices have continued their surge throughout the past couple of weeks, the role and importance of coal has sparked a new wave of discussion across the continent. ... Europe’s coal exports have been hovering around the 12 million tons per month mark for three months already, moving...

Two transgender women won seats in the German parliament following Sunday’s federal elections. Tessa Ganserer, 44, of Nuremberg in southeastern Bavaria and Nyke Slawik, 27, of North Rhine-Westphalia are both members of the Greens. The party finished third in the election. It recorded its best-ever result with 14.8% of the vote and is set to play an important role in forming the next coalition government. […] Homosexuality was decriminalized in 1969 in Germany and in 2017, gay marriage was legalized. However, a 40-year old law known as the Transsexuals Act makes it possible to only change one’s name and gender...

European coal prices have hit a 13-year high as coal supply to Europe remains constrained and utilities fire up more coal power plants amid surging natural gas prices. The price of coal for delivery next year to the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) hub has risen by 2.6 percent to $137 per metric ton, ... The prices are at their highest since 2008 as more coal is added to Europe’s electricity output these days amid record-high gas prices, and as supply and stockpiles are scrambling to meet demand. “Stock levels across Europe are low, and as on the gas market, coal supply from...

BERLIN — Millions of Germans will head to the polls in a federal election on Sunday that will determine who will succeed Angela Merkel after 16 years as Germany's chancellor. According to the latest polls, Germany's center-left Social Democratic Party is narrowly ahead of Merkel's center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian partner, the Christian Social Union. They're closely followed by the Greens, the far-right Alternative for Germany and the libertarian Free Democratic Party, all holding onto double-digit poll numbers going into Sunday's election. Josef Janning, a senior associate fellow with the German Council on Foreign Relations, says the...

The removal of a portrait of Winston Churchill from the New Zealand parliament building has sparked fury with opposition leader Judith Collins saying she was “disgusted” by the move – but prime minister Jacinda Ardern insisted she “didn’t care”. Collins, who leads the National Party in New Zealand tweeted an image of Britain’s wartime leader being pulled from its position, reportedly called for by the parliament’s Art Committee, chaired by Green MP Dr Elizabeth Kerekere. “Sir Winston Churchill, the greatest anti-fascist leader of the 20th century is removed from the walls of Parliament because the Greens don’t like him,” tweeted...

The left exploits the Green Revolution to further its ecological agenda of destroying the present economic system. Its special target has long been Big Oil, which plays a dominant role in the global economy. Bolstered by the support of Big Media, Green activists are trying hard to bring the present system down. The Greens’ relentless war on oil and gas usually involves a battle of data and reports. For decades, the left has presented the inconvenient truth of dire hockey-stick-graph predictions that are constantly pushed back when doomsday fails to arrive. The oil companies defend themselves by pointing to their...

Construction of Europe’s Biggest Mosque (in France) Highlights Turkey’s Expansionist AimsThe project, undertaken by the radical Muslim organization Millî Gorüs in the French city of Strasbourg, headquarters of the Council of Europe, has generated concern up to the highest spheres of French politics. Political and Symbolic StakesPARIS — A national scandal erupted in France after the municipal council of Strasbourg (located in the northeastern region of Alsace) voted March 22 to grant 2.5-million euros in funding to the construction of a mosque led by Islamist movement Millî Görüş.By virtue of the 1918 Concordat, the Alsace-Moselle region is not subjected...

A $48-million contract awarded March 23 to AECOM to study impacts of widening 34 miles of the most rural southern part of the 117.2-mile New Jersey Turnpike has upset state environmental activists who say the project conflicts with the state's push to combat climate change; officials say construction remains at least five years off. The contract is the latest step in the overall $1.1-billion turnpike expansion plan outlined last year that focuses on addin a third lane in each direction to the section stretch between exits 1 and 4 through Camden County. But it also renewed criticism from advocates who...

These thoughts reflect the writer's concern about the worsening political and social conditions in Germany, a nation whose importance — for America, Europe, and the world — should require no laboring to a readership of politically sophisticated Americans. What's happening today in Germany is deeply disturbing. And it's not for the reason casual American observers, including many conservatives, might think based on information derived from the mainstream English-language media. Contrary to these purveyors of globalist, multi-cultural propaganda, the reason for growing unease about Germany is not the presence in the German parliament (Bundestag), and persistent electoral strength, of "Die Alternative...

A new poll carried out in the wake of a far-right scandal in Thuringia has shown impressive gains in support for the Left party and a significant tumble for Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) in the eastern state. The poll was conducted by infratest dimap and commissioned by the public broadcaster MDR. The CDU in has been accused of colluding with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in Thuringia to get a conservative candidate elected state premier, despite the fact that his party — the laissez-faire Free Democrats (FDP) — barely cleared the 5% hurdle to get into Thuringia’s...

The woman who was widely seen as German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s chosen successor will not lead her crisis-racked CDU party into upcoming elections, a party source told AFP on Monday. Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, known as AKK, took over from Merkel as CDU chairwoman and presumed shoo-in for chancellor in 2018 but “has now said she will not be a candidate for the chancellery”, the source said. She made the surprise announcement after telling a crunch CDU meeting that the center-right party had “an unresolved relationship” with the far-right AfD party and the far left. It comes after an election debacle in...

Despite its cool Green parties and ambitious wind and solar agendas, Europe remains by far the world’s largest importer of oil and natural gas. Oil output in the North Sea and off the coast of Norway is declining, and the European Union is quietly looking for fossil fuel energy anywhere it can find it. Europe itself is naturally rich in fossil fuels. It likely has more reserves of shale gas than the United States, currently the world’s largest producer of both oil and natural gas. Yet in most European countries, horizontal drilling and fracking to extract gas and oil are...

State transportation officials want to do something about traffic and safety on Interstate 94 between downtown Minneapolis and Interstate 694, as well as state Highway 252 between I-694 and Highway 610. Minnesota Department of Transportation is considering converting a stretch of highway into a freeway and putting MnPASS lanes on I-94 and 252. But some are raising concerns about what the proposed changes might mean for residents of north Minneapolis who live along the I-94 corridor. Alex Burns is chair of the Sierra Club North Star Chapter's land use and transportation team. He said that more traffic on I-94 will...

Greta Thunberg apologized Saturday after saying that politicians should be put "against the wall” after some critics alleged that the teen climate activist was advocating for violence against officials. “Yesterday I said we must hold our leaders accountable and unfortunately said “put them against the wall”. That’s Swenglish: “att ställa någon mot väggen” (to put someone against the wall) means to hold someone accountable,” Thunberg tweeted. “That’s what happens when you improvise speeches in a second language. But of course I apologise if anyone misunderstood this. I can not enough express the fact that I - as well as the...

Live Updates: U.K. Votes in General Election Britain’s voters head to the polls to choose their next government on Thursday in a deeply divided moment for the country that has left the outcome unpredictable. RIGHT NOW Voting has begun in the British general election, the second since the country’s landmark Brexit referendum.

Polls just closed in Atlantic Canada. Post results here.