Free Republic

The amount of planet-warming carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere has hit a new record, as humanity struggles to rein in emissions of greenhouse gasses from burning fossil fuels. The new record comes as tens of millions of people are grappling with extreme weather in the United States. Much of the western U.S. is experiencing the first major heat wave of the year, which is driving temperatures 20 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than what is normal for June. In the Southwest, temperatures are lingering well above 100 degrees. Such extreme, prolonged heat is directly related to human-caused climate change,...

... In one example, a mural was displayed in the factory from 2005 to 2021 as a memorial for Confederate leaders using General Mills mascots, like the Cocoa Puffs cuckoo bird portraying the president of the confederacy, Jefferson Davis, and the Honey Nut Cheerios bee depicting General Stonewall Jackson, the lawsuit said. ...

The aging American president facing a re-election campaign came to the Normandy coast of France to pay tribute to the daring Army Rangers who scaled the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc, offer a paean to democracy for which they sacrificed and perhaps even wrap himself a little bit in their reflected glory. That was 1984, and the president was Ronald Reagan, who delivered an ode to heroism and patriotism that would become one of the most iconic moments of his presidency. Forty years later, another aging president facing re-election plans to return to the same spot Friday to honor the...

Bailey Anne, the newly crowned Miss Maryland USA, joined DC News Now on Wednesday. She is the first trans woman to hold the coveted title, along with being the first Asian-American and military officer’s wife to represent the state. Anne told morning anchor Cory James her history-making win was her first pageant. She said the moment she learned she won was a “whirlwind because I knew it was bigger than me. I knew that it was going to mean a lot for all the LGBTQ kids out there who might feel like they don’t belong in a box – like...

To the surprise of absolutely nobody, The Late Show host Stephen Colbert returned on Monday night from a week’s break to noisily approve Donald Trump’s convictions last week on 34 felony counts in New York City. Colbert stood and watched his in-studio audience chant of “Lock him up” as he scarcely concealed his undiluted glee at the judicial outcome dispensed in a Manhattan court. Colbert began his monologue by addressing various details of the conviction, noting Trump won’t be sentenced until July 11 as he repeated the Democrat talking point labelling Trump as a “convicted felon.”

Robert De Niro will no longer be honored at the National Association of Broadcasters award ceremony following his anti-Trump rant outside the former president's criminal trial. The Oscar-winning actor, 80, was set to be handed the group's Leadership Foundation's Service to America Award next week. But the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has rescinded the award after De Niro hit out at Donald Trump in a press conference in support of Joe Biden outside Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday.

Government scientists have shown that they can filter the precious metal from the state's shale gas wastewater: pulling tons of lithium per day, with little left behind. They concluded that Pennsylvania alone could produce nearly half of the total US demand for lithium — starting in the first year — supplying this key compound that's needed to power everything from smartphones to electric vehicles to solar panels. A project on this scale could make Pennsylvania a rust-belt Saudi Arabia, ending US dependence on lithium from China, which now controls 90 percent of the market. People compare it to the Gold...

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis used a highly derogatory term towards the LGBT community as he reiterated in a closed-door meeting with Italian bishops that gay people should not be allowed to become priests, Italian media reported on Monday. La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera, Italy's largest circulation dailies, both quoted the pope as saying seminaries, or priesthood colleges, are already too full of "frociaggine", a vulgar Italian term roughly translating as "faggottness". The Vatican did not respond to a request for comment. La Repubblica attributed its story to several unspecified sources, while Corriere said it was backed up...

The Apprentice left the Cannes Film Festival empty-handed, with no announcement of a U.S. distribution deal following former President Donald Trump’s threat of a lawsuit and cease-and-desist demand against the filmmakers. In addition, the movie failed to win any prizes at Saturday’s closing ceremony, despite some movie pundits predicting that actor Sebastian Stan would be rewarded for his portrayal of Trump.While a buyer could materialize in the weeks ahead, the road to U.S. distribution looks uncertain as streamers and specialty theatrical labels would have to weigh the possibility of a messy and protracted legal fight. Box-office prospects also appear dim,...

Ewe-turnOn Saturday, the Australian government announced plans to ban its live sheep export trade by 2028, a move praised by animal rights groups but condemned by farmers who were “shocked” at the 4-year timeline, even as the government offered a ~$71M package to help impacted businesses make the transition.Farmers in neighboring New Zealand, renowned for its shearling natives, will have taken notice.Indeed, NZ’s own sheep population continues to dwindle, with new data released by Stats NZ in early May revealing that the nation’s total number of sheep fell by 3% to ~24M for the year ended June 2023. That’s roughly...

<p>Kimberly Helmus still gets chills thinking about her first rage ritual.</p><p>Two-and-a-half years ago after her divorce, the cybersecurity engineer embarked on a retreat to Scotland with Mia Banducci − an author and self-described "Spiritual Fairy Godmother," better known online as Mia Magik.</p>

"There is no nice metaphorical way to deal with the rising wave of fascism," director Ali Abbasi said when asked why he wanted to make the film about the former president's rise to power in 1980s America. "I think it's time to make movies relevant. It's time to make movies political again."One of the most anticipated moments of the 77th Cannes Film Festival finally arrived Monday night with the world premiere of the Donald Trump drama The Apprentice, starring Sebastian Stan as a young version of the real estate mogul in his pre-MAGA days. Only Francis Ford Coppola’s wildly ambitious...

The Kansas City Chiefs kicker was mocked by Pearl Jam's front man at a Vegas show after the pro athlete's Benedictine College's commencement speech went viral last week.Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder and an order of nuns at Benedictine College can be added to the growing list of those denouncing the divisive commencement speech given by Kansas Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker at Benedictine College last week. At a sold-out Las Vegas Pearl Jam concert on Saturday at the MGM Grand, Vedder joined Butker naysayers — including the National Football League — in denouncing the speech where Butker condemned abortion, euthanasia,...

"NONE OF THE QUESTIONS OR ANSWERS WERE EDITED. This was part of a social experiment, where I dressed up as a radical woke feminist and asked college students different provocative questions. This video was filmed at Georgia State University and Kennesaw State University Campuses during my last visit to Atlanta."

If Donald Trump wins a second term in the White House in November, NATO may fall apart, a recent wargame found. As a presidential candidate, Trump has threatened to quit NATO unless European allies contribute more, and should he carry it out Europe may decide to go it alone on defense, the game suggests. "A US policy of frustrating NATO has the potential to cause the alliance to collapse, with the EU as a candidate for eventually replacing NATO's ultimate function — defending Europe from Russia," wrote Finley Grimble, the British defense expert who designed and ran the game. The...

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The Vodou faithful sing, their voices rising above the gunfire erupting miles away as frantic drumbeats drown out their troubles. They pause to swig rum out of small brown bottles, twirling in unison as they sing in Haitian Creole: “We don’t care if they hate us, because they can’t bury us.” Shunned publicly by politicians and intellectuals for centuries, Vodou is transforming into a more powerful and accepted religion across Haiti, where its believers were once persecuted. Increasingly, they seek solace and protection from violent gangs that have killed, raped and kidnapped thousands in recent years....

Bronx politicians are ripping Gov. Kathy Hochul after she asserted that some black children in the borough don’t know what the word “computer” means.Hochul, speaking at an on-stage forum in California Monday, stuck her foot in her mouth while trying to explain how she wants to create a diverse workforce in new areas like artificial intelligence.“Right now we have, you know, young black kids growing up in the Bronx who don’t even know what the word ‘computer’ is,” Gov. Kathy Hochul blabbered into a microphone Monday. ***snip*** I misspoke and I regret it,” Hochul later told the Post in a...

Transgender college runner Sadie Schreiner won three women's events at the Liberty League championship meet (Division III) on Saturday.Schreiner of the Rochester Institute of Technology won the 400 meters with a time of 55.07 and the 200 meters at 24.14.Both times would have been last in the men's races at the meet, but they were school records in the women's category, according to the site that lists the results of the meet.The 200-meter time is now a Liberty League conference women's record (beating Schreiner's own previous record of 24.50 set earlier this season). Schreiner was also the anchor leg of...

... It was the third papal meeting for Laura, 57, a saucy Paraguayan sex worker who, in her realest moments, described herself as “una travesti,” outdated Spanish slang for “a transgender woman.” She lived by a code: Tough girls don’t cry. But the first time Pope Francis had blessed her, she couldn’t suppress her tears. On their second meeting, they chatted over lunch. He came to know her well enough to ask about her health. On top of her longtime HIV, she’d had a recent cancer diagnosis. During treatment, the church sourced her a comfortable hotel room in the shadow...

Elon Musk has warned that anti-Semitism could spread across the entire political left as young leftists who openly express anti-Semitic views grow older. “The young on the left are obviously already openly anti-Semitic. As they grow in seniority, this will become the entire left,” Mr. Musk wrote in response to a post on his social media platform X on April 30 from a Columbia University’s Jewish professor who was barred from the campus last week.