Free Republic

In 2008, Californians voted on what they were told would be a modern transportation system — a sleek, high-speed rail line connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco in under three hours, financed in part by private investment, delivered at a defined cost, and built within a reasonable timeframe. Eighteen years later, all that has been delivered is one of the largest eminent domain land grabs in modern history. No serious person disputes that infrastructure requires land. But the power of eminent domain is not merely an administrative tool. It is among the most formidable powers government possesses: the authority to...

We live in a golden age that far surpasses all previous golden ages. Some call it the Industrial Revolution. Some say it is the digital revolution. This correspondent refers to it as the petroleum age.The cost of firearms and ammunition, in terms of labor, is near an all-time low. .22 Long Rifle cartridges can be had for under six cents a round, with free shipping, on the Internet. The all-time low, in constant dollars, would be about five cents per round, not including sales and seconds, from 1993 to 2006. Nominal prices are higher, but costs in labor are much...

The House on Wednesday batted down an effort from Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) to publicly release all reports on file with the House Ethics Committee on investigations into members of Congress regarding allegations of sexual harassment of staff or of a sexual relationship with a member of their staff.In a 357-65-1 vote, the chamber moved to refer the matter to the House Ethics Committee — a move that essentially kills the effort. Thirty-eight Republicans and 27 Democrats voted against referring the resolution to the panel. *** The resolution directs the Ethics Committee to make public, within 60 days after adoption,...

Iran’s Assembly of Experts is set to hold an emergency session on Thursday to formally announce Mojtaba Khamenei, a son of the late Supreme Leader, as the next leader, despite opposition from some members who warn against “hereditary leadership,” Iran International has learned.The meeting comes two days after Iran International reported that the Assembly of Experts had chosen Mojtaba Khamenei as the next Supreme Leader under pressure from the Revolutionary Guards.Two sources from the offices of Assembly of Experts representatives told Iran International that at least eight members will not attend the emergency session on Thursday in protest at what...

The team has endured a disastrous lead-up to the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, with a severe vibration plaguing its new AMR26. That has caused trouble with its Honda battery and severely limited the number of laps able to be completed in pre-season testing. Team principal Adrian Newey admitted earlier on Thursday that the issue is also having an impact on the drivers. Newey revealed Alonso feels he “can’t do more than 25 laps consecutively before he will risk permanent nerve damage to his hands”, while Stroll has a 15-lap threshold. The two drivers have subsequently given their perspectives of driving...

Gemini AI: Here is the latest "Kurd Update": 1. Iranian Preemptive Strikes This morning, the Iranian Intelligence Ministry and the IRGC confirmed they launched joint strikes against "separatist terrorist groups" in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). • The Toll: At least one member of an exiled Iranian Kurdish group was killed and several others were wounded. • Target Locations: Strikes specifically hit the headquarters of the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK) near Dekala and Komala party sites in the Zargwez area of Sulaymaniyah. • The Regime's Stance: Tehran claims these groups were preparing to infiltrate Iran "with the support of...

The National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion (originally known as Our Lady of Good Help), is the only formally approved Marian apparition site in the United States. Considering the site is near Green Bay, Wisconsin, I had at one time, in my profound ignorance, assumed that it must have something to do with the Packers various Super Bowl victories. But no. The site has nothing to do with Vince Lombardi, Brett Farve, or Aaron Rogers. It is much more closely associated with Our Lady, Star of the Sea, than Bart Starr. My general lack of knowledge about this shrine...

How Trump Derangement turned feminist icons into mullah defenders. For decades, the American Left’s loudest voices on women’s issues styled themselves as fearless guardians of peace and equality. They chained themselves to fences at nuclear bases, waved “No Nukes” signs during the Reagan years, and lectured the rest of us about the patriarchy while demanding the Equal Rights Amendment and unfettered abortion. Jane Fonda, the original celebrity activist, was at the forefront—Vietnam-era traitor turned fitness-video feminist turned Trump-hating scold. These women claimed moral high ground on nuclear proliferation and women’s rights. Then Donald Trump happened. The moment Trump descended the...

Israel’s military said it continued strikes in central Tehran, targeting infrastructure linked to Iran’s ballistic missile system. In a statement, the military said it hit storage facilities for missiles both above and below ground. One of the targets in Tehran was an underground site used by Iranian authorities to store ballistic missiles, it said. The military also said it destroyed storage centers for missiles intended to target aircraft.

Stalin Kicked The Bucket: Ray Anderson [1953] Old Joe kicked the bucket, he's long gone He won't worry us from now on He lived in a place they call Moscow His number came up and he had to go Yes, old Joe's dead and gone He stayed around too long And nobody now can save his hide 'Cause old Joe laid right down and died Old Joe won't worry us no more He killed the helpless by the score Now I hope he's satisfied Since old Joe's taken his last ride Yes, old Joe's dead and gone He stayed around...

Just an entertaining video. Enjoy

TALARICO: "Our trans community needs abortion care too." This is the guy the Democrats think is going to flip Texas blue.

Ragin' Cajun on X: "I am not a jingoist by any stretch of the word. Moreover, my daughter is on the USS Lincoln as we speak. I have skin in this game. I have read (and heard) a lot of BS about whether or not we should be in Iran. Let me be clear...I've been a SME on Iran for 25÷ years. I speak Persian Farsi, Dari, Balochi, and Tajik. I've been to Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and yes... Iran. There are few who know Iran as "intimately" as I do. The reasons for this war are nuanced and complicated, but...

One thing unites the three great powers: all stand in increasingly strained relations with Brussels and the leading capitals of the European Union. The European Union is steering purposefully toward the introduction of Eurobonds. At the preparatory EU summit at Alden Biesen Castle in Belgium, numerous signs suggest that the multi-billion-euro Draghi plan could soon be set in motion. At the same time, geopolitically, a possible Russian comeback is emerging as fresh trouble for Brussels. The ability to analyze mistakes and rationally weigh realistic courses of action belongs, in evolutionary terms, to our conditio humana. Experience teaches us: those who...

The global order is no fan of Iran. Atlantic writer and former National Endowment for Democracy board member Anne Applebaum has consistently named Iran, alongside Russia and China, as one of the three greatest autocracies threatening the world. Senator Chris Murphy, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a speaker at the Council on Foreign Relations, drew an explicit parallel during the 2022 Mahsa Amini massacres, declaring, “Just as we stood together with the people of Ukraine during their revolution of dignity, the United States must continue standing with the people of Iran.” One might think that these...

5 March 2026 Thursday of the 2nd week of Lent St Piran's Oratory in its excavated state, Perranporth, UK Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Violet. Year: A(II).First readingJeremiah 17:5-10A curse on the man who puts his trust in man and turns from the LordThe Lord says this:‘A curse on the man who puts his trust in man,who relies on things of flesh,whose heart turns from the Lord.He is like dry scrub in the wastelands:if good comes, he has no eyes for it,he settles in the parched places of the wilderness,a salt land, uninhabited.‘A blessing on the man who puts his...

Federal prosecutors in U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro's office are dropping a criminal probe into whether former President Joe Biden and his aides unlawfully used an autopen to issue pardons, a person briefed on the matter told CBS News. Two sources confirmed the existence of the probe, with one telling CBS News that the matter has since been closed because prosecutors were never able to find a legal hook to be able to pursue the matter further. CBS News has not determined precisely when the case ended.

The men in Zhongnanhai do not rattle easily. Decades of patient statecraft, a foreign policy built on studied ambiguity, and an economy engineered to absorb external shocks have granted Beijing’s leadership a remarkable tolerance for turbulence. Operation Epic Fury, the American-Israeli air campaign now dismantling Iran’s military architecture, has produced something unusual in the corridors of Chinese power: visible confusion. Xi Jinping is scrambling. The word is not used lightly. For a leader who has built his image on strategic composure and long-horizon thinking, the current moment is acutely dangerous. Not because China faces a direct military threat, but because...

A first-of-its-kind neighborhood is taking shape in Yuba County. California's first 3D-printed community is being built in Linda.The first home is already for sale and the second and third homes are being printed right now. "Five 3D-printed homes are going to be here," said Nan Lin, founder of 4Dify. The new neighborhood in Linda is being built one layer at a time with the latest in 3D printing technology from the company 4Dify. The 1000-square-foot home for sale was printed from the dirt up within 24 days. It's made up of mostly concrete. "We've done ballistic testing on these, shot...

It never fails. President Trump takes decisive action, and leftists everywhere call him “Hitler” and demand that he be removed from office. He snatches narco-terrorist dictator Nicolás Maduro from his Caracas compound in the middle of the night, and Democrats clutch their pearls and speak about the inviolability of Venezuelan sovereignty (while conveniently ignoring that over 3% of Venezuela’s population illegally entered the United States during Joe Biden’s puppet-presidency). He quarantines the waters around communist Cuba, and America’s growing collective of idiotic socialists blame Cuban poverty on American aggression (while conveniently ignoring that communism delivers abject poverty wherever it exists)....