Free Republic

We’ve failed again. It’s less than eight months into 2016 and the ominous day is already nearly upon us: Earth Overshoot Day, previously known as Ecological Debt Day, is a reminder of the enormous toll we take on the Earth. The day marks the juncture when humanity’s demand for ecological resources exceeds what the planet can replenish annually. In 2016, it falls on Monday, which means people have already consumed an entire year’s worth of the world’s resources ― and we still have four months to go until the year’s end. For the rest of 2016, we’ll be “living on...

China aims to lay off 5 to 6 million state workers over the next two to three years as part of efforts to curb industrial overcapacity and pollution. The move is being seen as Beijing's boldest retrenchment program in almost two decades. China's leadership, obsessed with maintaining stability and making sure redundancies do not lead to unrest, will spend nearly 150 billion yuan ($23 billion) to cover layoffs in just the coal and steel sectors in the next 2-3 years. [...] The hugely inefficient state sector employed around 37 million people in 2013, and accounts for about 40 percent of...

PRINCETON, Ore. - As it turns out there's a lot more to the story behind the Malheur Wildlife Refuge-a whole lot more-and this article is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. As you may or may not know, Intellihub reported on Jan. 4, that the Hammond's ranch and other ranch-lands surrounding the refuge sit atop a vast swath of precious metals, minerals, and uranium that's heavily desired by not only the federal government, but foreign entities as well. However, at the time of the article's publication the federal government's full motive to seize the land was not yet known...

Hello there, average American Christmas reveler. Things are looking good for the homestretch: You've got your tree all set, perhaps a few lights strung up around the yard to show the neighbors that life's good, and you're dealing with mild, but totally manageable anxiety about whether Amazon's going to pull through for you today or not. You've got a lot of good things on your plate. With all this #gratitude, it seems like an appropriate time for a quick reminder that beneath the veneer of holiday goodness, we're all still horrible, gluttonous people. Exhibit A: Your Christmas Lights. (via the...

WATKINS GLEN — The Finger Lakes March for Climate Justice will be at 1 p.m. Sunday in downtown Watkins Glen. The march will begin with a rally at the marina and then marchers will go through downtown south to the foot of Watkins Glen State Park and back. Speakers will include Cornell University climate scientist Robert Howarth, Tompkins County Legislator Martha Robertson, Renovus Solar CEO Joe Sliker, solar energy expert Suzanne Hunt of Yates County and biologist and climate activist Sandra Steingraber of Trumansburg. Steingraber and Howarth will travel to France for the Paris Climate Summit soon after Sunday’s march.

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders Tuesday night during the first round of Democratic debates said the mentally ill in this country need more support. The comment came in response to a question asked about mass shootings like the one that claimed 10 lives – including the shooter – and injured nine others earlier this month at a community college in Oregon.While Sanders didn’t lay out any specific plans, he did say that health insurance should be provided to all Americans regardless of income.One Yale researcher, who himself struggled with the urge to kill, created a resource for would-be killers going through...

Major Appointments by President Barack Obama and Members of His Administration: Adegbile, Debo: Attorney General for Civil Rights (not confirmed by the Senate) Alikhan, Arif: Assistant Secretary for the Office of Policy Development Becker, Craig: National Labor Relations Board Berwick, Donald: Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Biden, Joseph: Vice President Bloom, Ron: Senior Counselor to the President for Manufacturing Policy Brennan, John: Deputy National Security Advisor for Counterterrorism; CIA Director Brooks, Rosa: Undersecretary for Defense Policy Browner, Carol: Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change Burger, Anna: Economic Recovery Advisory Board Burwell, Sylvia Mathews:...

Russia formally staked its claim Tuesday to a large portion of the Arctic Ocean that includes the North Pole, even planting a flag on the floor of the ocean below the area to exercise its control. If the United Nations committee that arbitrates sea boundaries accepts Russia’s claim, the waters will be subject to Moscow’s oversight on economic matters, including fishing and oil and gas drilling, though Russia will not have full sovereignty. Under a 1982 United Nations convention, the Law of the Sea, a nation may claim an exclusive economic zone over the continental shelf abutting its shores. If...

It is an obvious truth we too often forget. At the Albert Einstein Memorial, on the grounds of the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C., an explanatory sign states a simple fact that refutes the argument President Barack Obama's science adviser once made for redistributing wealth and limiting human population so as to save the human race from a poverty he claimed must inevitably intensify as our numbers increase. "At Einstein's feet lies a circular sky map representing the planets, sun, moon, and stars, positioned as observed by astronomers from the U.S. Naval Observatory at noon on the day...

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release) — On Wednesday, U.S. Congresswoman Aumua Amata participated in a House Natural Resources, Subcommittee on Indian, Insular and Alaska Native Affairs hearing entitled: “Funding Priorities for and the United States’ Responsibilities concerning Indians, Alaska Natives, and Insular Areas in the President’s FY 2016 Budget Request for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Indian Health Service, Office of Insular Affairs, and Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians.” Amata, a Republican who serves as the vice chairwoman of the subcommittee, addressed Esther P. Kia’aina, the assistant secretary for insular areas, Department of the Interior on many of...

On June 13, the first bus of illegal immigrant minors, aged 12-17, arrived at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. The state of Oklahoma was given no formal notice, and no chance to object. After weeks of bad publicity, public outrage and political pressure, the Obama administration announced this week that the facility will close by Friday, Aug. 8. That’s good news for the people of Oklahoma and the men and women of Fort Sill, who will once again have the full use of their military base for the purpose it was designed for: housing and training soldiers. What the facility’s closure does...

A group dedicated to saving the planet by cutting runaway population increases is raising a new and shocking issue in Washington’s bitter fight over immigration reform: Most of the nation’s population growth is from immigrants, and they are consuming resources dangerously fast. According to Negative Population Growth Inc., 80 percent of the growth in U.S. population comes from immigration, legal, illegal and among American-born children of immigrants. “With increased population, we see a direct increase in the problems our nation faces on a daily basis: pollution, over-consumption, traffic gridlock, crowded schools and hospitals, overburdened social services, unemployment, crumbling infrastructure, urban

Water is the one natural resource required to sustain all life on the planet, making it already the most important commodity on Earth. Although it has been fought over, sold, diverted, dammed, claimed by governments and overseen by authorities, Wall Street has never really gotten its hands in it the way it has with, say, oil. Looking ahead into the next quarter century, clean drinkable water is expected to become more scarce as the human population grows and climate change shifts the shorelines and weather patterns. So the question is, Will this most precious commodity become a traded resource that...

Concerned that the City is an inhomogeneous hodgepodge with pockets of great wealth in some neighborhoods and squalor in others, newly appointed Housing Preservation and Development Commissar Vicki Been announced a plan to move 80,000 to 120,000 poorer families into middle class neighborhoods. “This way instead of having blight and filth in every direction they might look poorer families will be within easy walking distance of a better kept neighborhood,” Been boasted. “The crimes that plague poorer sections of our City would be more evenly dispersed throughout the whole City. Victims will come from a more broadly representative subset of...

After the recent Bundy Ranch episode by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Texans are becoming more concerned about the BLM’s focus on 90,000 acres along a 116 mile stretch of the Texas/Oklahoma boundary. The BLM is reviewing the possible federal takeover and ownership of privately-held lands which have been deeded property for generations of Texas landowners. Sid Miller, former Texas State Representative and Republican candidate for Texas Agriculture Commissioner, has since made the matter a campaign issue to Breitbart Texas. “In Texas,” Miller says, “the BLM is attempting a repeat of an action taken over 30 years ago...

army navy air force marines coastguard dod guard veteransgibill jobs Home Resources Military Buzz Military Spouses Directory of Employers Job Fairs Virtual Mall Charity Connection Advertising Blog GI Bill FAQs Featured Jobs Register here for SAT/ACT/LSAT Tests jobs loans schools scholarships virtual jobs register CAREERS FOR MILITARY VETERANS, VETERAN SCHOOLS, NEW GI BILL RESOURCES AND MILITARY LOANS Government jobs, up-to-date information on military schools, federal jobs, as well as military loans and detailed information on military pay charts. Our online directories of resources and information feature vital information on military education and benefits including the GI Bill, employment opportunities, the...

Recent Chinese diplomatic maneuvers in Central Asia, both bilateral and multilateral, show that Beijing’s strategy treats the region as a corridor for reaching resource bases in Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa. Central Asia is thus part of China’s broader blueprint of securing strategic resources and supplies to feed its developing economy (Z. Saipov, China Oil & Gas Monitor, Week 21, Issue 396, News Base, May 31, p. 3–4). Hu Jintao (L) and Islam Karimov Illustratively, Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu’s two-week official tour of Congo, Tanzania, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan on September 1–13 (English.sina.com, September 6) supports the premise that...

Groundwater is a life-sustaining resource that supplies water to billions of people, plays a central part in irrigated agriculture and influences the health of many ecosystemsMost assessments of global water resources have focused on surface water,, but unsustainable depletion of groundwater has recently been documented on both regional and global scales. It remains unclear how the rate of global groundwater depletion compares to the rate of natural renewal and the supply needed to support ecosystems. Here we define the groundwater footprint (the area required to sustain groundwater use and groundwater-dependent ecosystem services) and show that humans are overexploiting groundwater in...

Since returning to the state's top job for a second time in 2011, California Governor Jerry Brown has faced massive fiscal and functional problems. And he has not been shy about making bold moves to try to solve some of those problems. "Analysis paralysis is not why I came back," he said at a press conference in Sacramento Wednesday. "I want to get shit done." In this instance, the shit Brown hopes to get done is a $23 billion water delivery tunnel system that aims to help supply water to the state's Central Valley farms and the massive urban agglomerations...

– A rural Oregon man was sentenced Wednesday to 30 days in jail and over $1,500 in fines because he had three reservoirs on his property to collect and use rainwater. Gary Harrington of Eagle Point, Ore., says he plans to appeal his conviction in Jackson County (Ore.) Circuit Court on nine misdemeanor charges under a 1925 law for having what state water managers called “three illegal reservoirs” on his property – and for filling the reservoirs with rainwater and snow runoff. “The government is bullying,” Harrington told CNSNews.com in an interview Thursday. “They’ve just gotten to be big bullies...