Free Republic

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. - This oceanside enclave is a lot like the rest of coastal California: Its signature pier juts into the Pacific as waves big enough to make surfers salivate break beyond miles of white sand. But when it comes to politics, this city of 200,000 south of Los Angeles loudly defies the blue-state stereotypes. Lately, the beach town has become a battleground, its council chambers a coliseum for culture warriors. The conservatives who now control city government have pursued policies that position Huntington Beach as the ideological counterweight to the state’s liberal leaders. In the past year alone,...

Problems with vote-counting machines at some polling locations in Maricopa County, home to more than half of Arizona’s voters, became grist for prominent right-wing voices who deny the legitimacy of the 2020 election to claim without evidence that Tuesday’s vote was also fraudulent. Tabulators at about a quarter of the 223 voting locations in the county experienced problems, county officials said. Elections officials were fixing the problems and advised voters to either wait for tabulators to come back online, go to another voting location or to drop ballots in secure slots. Ballots dropped in the slots are counted either at...

The corporate media wrote off Trump’s warning as a knee-jerk reaction and aversion to green energy — but he was right.For years, Europe has depended on Russia for more than 40 percent of its natural gas imports as well as a large portion of its oil and solid fuels. Now that Russia is embroiled in war and facing sanctions from multiple nations, it has tightened its supply to the European Union. As a result, Europeans are struggling with an energy crisis that is forcing millions to dim their lights and ration hot water. One Washington Post article soberly announced, “Europe...

BERLIN - The main natural gas pipeline between Russia and Germany shut down for scheduled maintenance Monday, raising concerns that Moscow could use the repairs as a pretext for a longer shutdown as it wields energy supplies as leverage in the Ukraine war.European ministers warned that it was unclear whether Moscow would turn the taps on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline back on after the 10 days of scheduled work. Germany's economy minister, Robert Habeck, said Berlin was concerned about a "nightmare scenario" this winter if Russia decides against doing so."Everything is possible, everything can happen," he told Deutschlandfunk radio...