Free Republic

Dr Ben Carson is a fine mine, with integrity. However Carson goes left on these issues: Allow semi-autos only in remote rural areas. Says that conservatives that won’t talk about gun control have an “infantile attitude.” For “socio-economic Affirmative Action.” Supports raising the minimum wage. Want “stiff tariffs” to limit trade. Deportation of any illegals is “moral low ground.” A pathway to citizenship is “the only humane and reasonable thing to do.” Wants a c r a z y 30% Ethanol Standard. Implies climate change is one justification for that 30% ethanol standard.

Socci: "Populism of Pope on immigration is in contrast with traditional wisdom of the Catholic Church." [Note: this article does not deal with war refugees, but with those most affecting Italy at the moment, economic migrants.] The devastating populism of Pope Bergoglio on immigration is in contrast with the wisdom of the Catholic Church Antonio Socci Libero August 30, 2015 The Catholic Church and the “Bergoglio Party” are at odds also on the immigration question. Bergoglio states that there are masses of people, who, because of hunger, have the absolute and unmitigated right to emigrate to our Countries. However, if...

A new book, The Rigging of a Vatican Synod?: An Investigation into Alleged Manipulation at the Extraordinary Synod on the Family, will shed much light on allegations that the Extraordinary Synod, held in Rome last October, was subject to manipulation. The book has been written by highly respected Vatican journalist Edward Pentin and carries the endorsement of Wilfrid Fox Cardinal Napier, Archbishop of Durban. Cardinal Napier is one of the fifteen members of the permanent council of cardinals and bishops overseeing the Synod of Bishops, he attended the Extraordinary Synod and was a member of the committee that drafted the...

Here's a little parlor exercise readers can conduct with their friends who think that high-tech CEOs are the innovative saints of the universe. The game would be to take the first three paragraphs of Michael Liedtke's Associated Press report on the collusion settlement to which that industry's major players just acquiesced, and revise it to reflect a different industry far less favored by the press. Then accurately point out the following: "There is no way this industry would gotten as much sympathy from the press as the AP gave these high-tech titans." After the jump, readers will see how I...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has a new target in the revived cold war with Washington — the U.S. dollar. The website Russia Today* reported Tuesday that Mr. Putin has drafted a bill to block the use of both the American greenback and the euro in trade between the bloc of countries that used to be part of the Soviet Union, including Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. The measure “would help expand the use of national currencies in foreign trade payments and financial services and thus create preconditions for greater liquidity of domestic currency markets,” the Kremlin said in a...

Sarah Palin knows the position she wants in a Donald Trump administration: Energy secretary. "I think a lot about the Department of Energy, because energy is my baby: oil and gas and minerals, those things that God has dumped on this part of the Earth for mankind's use instead of us relying on unfriendly foreign nations," she told CNN's Jake Tapper in an interview that aired Sunday on "State of the Union." But Palin, the GOP's 2008 vice presidential nominee, might be the first potential cabinet member to openly speak about dissolving their office.

<p>Look forward to joining @JakeTapper on @CNNSotu this Sunday from Alaska! We'll discuss what @POTUS missed during his visit to the "Last Frontier"!</p>

WASHINGTON (CNN) —Sarah Palin knows the position she wants in a Donald Trump administration: Energy secretary. "I think a lot about the Department of Energy, because energy is my baby: oil and gas and minerals, those things that God has dumped on this part of the Earth for mankind's use instead of us relying on unfriendly foreign nations," she told CNN's Jake Tapper in an interview that aired Sunday on "State of the Union." But Palin, the GOP's 2008 vice presidential nominee, might be the first potential cabinet member to openly speak about dissolving their office.

For 50 years, California has led the nation in passing environmental standards to protect its beaches, restore wildlife and reduce smog. But as the final days of this year's legislative session in Sacramento loom, a controversial bill that would require the state to reduce petroleum use by motor vehicles at least 50 percent by 2030 is causing people in the Capitol and around the state to ask: "Is that even possible?" Yet lost in the debate are two key facts: The state will get halfway to that goal even if it does nothing. That's because of federal rules put into...

A little late to the party: Somewhere in the murky mists of a future, which is fast becoming the present, Obama the Ice Man, Cometh. Polar bears will no longer be stranded on ice floes because the American government is sending the U.S. Coast Guard to the rescue in their very own icebreakers In fighting off Russia, which planted its flag under the Arctic sea bed back in 2007, the Obama administration is set to remove 3,000 troops from Alaska but will be building ice breakers ready to hit the water in 2020. Take that, Vladimir Putin, if the kind...

The global extent and distribution of forest trees is central to our understanding of the terrestrial biosphere. We provide the first spatially continuous map of forest tree density at a global scale. This map reveals that the global number of trees is approximately 3.04 trillion, an order of magnitude higher than the previous estimate. Of these trees, approximately 1.39 trillion exist in tropical and subtropical forests, with 0.74 trillion in boreal regions and 0.61 trillion in temperate regions. Biome-level trends in tree density demonstrate the importance of climate and topography in controlling local tree densities at finer scales, as well...

Every so often you will see articles warning that some species is going extinct. And usually it's not really a species -- you never hear about "leopards" going extinct, usually it's "purple dotted left handed bisexual Nepalese leopards" or some subvariety.  We are assured they are going extinct because fewer have been seen recently. But the Earth is so big, how can we really be sure that some subspecies is going extinct just because we see fewer of them? After all, only three percent of the land mass of the Earth is urbanized. Animals could easily be hidden in...

It seems that scientists were a little off in calculating the number of trees on the planet. You remember trees: they turn CO2 into oxygen and water. In fact, if you buy a “carbon credit,” you are paying to plant trees to buy an indulgence for your private jet travel -- just like Al Gore and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. supposedly do. Well, all those calculations of doom over purported CO2-caused global warming may be a little more unsettled. The Wall Street Journal reports:

There are just over three trillion trees in the world, a figure that dwarfs previous estimates, according to the most comprehensive census yet of global forestation. Using satellite imagery as well as ground-based measurements from around the world, a team led by researchers at Yale University created the first globally comprehensive map of tree density. Their findings were published in the journal Nature on Wednesday. A previous study that drew on satellite imagery estimated that the total number of trees was around 400 billion. The new estimate of 3.04 trillion is multiple times that number, bringing the ratio of trees...

BEIJING (Reuters) - President Xi Jinping announced on Thursday he would cut troop levels by 300,000 as China held its biggest display of military might in a parade to commemorate victory over Japan in World War Two, an event shunned by most Western leaders. China's confidence in its armed forces and growing military assertiveness, especially in the disputed South China Sea, has rattled the region and drawn criticism from Washington. Xi, speaking on a rostrum overlooking Beijing's Tiananmen Square before the parade began, said China would cut by 13 percent one of the world's biggest militaries, currently 2.3-million strong. He...

Opec oil output fell in August from the highest monthly level in recent history, a Reuters survey found on Wednesday, as disruptions to flows on Iraq's northern pipeline halted supply growth from the group's second-largest producer. Largely stable output from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries indicated they are not wavering in their focus on defending market share instead of prices. Opec supply fell in August to 31.71mn barrels per day (bpd) from a revised 31.88mn bpd in July, according to the survey, based on shipping data and information from sources at...

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Thursday he would talk to Russian President Vladimir Putin about what could be done to stabilize world oil markets and prices. Maduro made the comments as the two men, both leaders of major oil producing countries, began talks in Beijing, after attending a military parade to mark 70 years since the end of World War Two in Asia. "We can talk about what we can do to stabilize oil market and stabilize prices, what would allow us to overcome the current conditions," Maduro told Putin at the start of the meeting.

(CNSNews.com) – A group of House Democrats labeling themselves the Safe Climate Caucus held a press conference today to warn that if Congress does not address global warming, the country could face dire consequences, including detrimental effects to California wines and an end to Vermont skiing. One Democratic representative even worried that global warming could destroy the state of Maryland. “If we do nothing about what is happening, it will destroy our economy, it will destroy our state, and it will have a broad impact not just here in this country but around the world,” Maryland Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.)...

During a congressional hearing with EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, Democratic Congresswoman Donna Edwards (Maryland), claimed Congress has no authority to question the EPA's data and techniques. [video]

The global map of tree density at the square-kilometer pixel scale. Credit: Crowther, et al A new Yale-led study estimates that there are more than 3 trillion trees on Earth, about seven and a half times more than some previous estimates. But the total number of trees has plummeted by roughly 46 percent since the start of human civilization, the study estimates. Using a combination of satellite imagery, forest inventories, and supercomputer technologies, the international team of researchers was able to map tree populations worldwide at the square-kilometer level. Their results, published in the journal Nature, provide the most comprehensive...