Free Republic

Hours after Microsoft Corp. pledged to eliminate its carbon emissions within a decade earlier this month, the company was forced to fire up fossil fuel generators to power its corporate campus in Fargo, N.D. The software giant ran the diesel-burning machines for about five hours to keep the lights and heat on for 1,600 employees. It is one of about 100 big companies in the Fargo region ordered to do so by the local electric cooperative, which faced high demand for power. Microsoft receives a significant discount on its electricity rates in exchange for using backup power a few times...

55 years ago today was Sir Winston's funeral. He was the greatest leader of the 20th Century. He stood alone against Hitlerism. He saved the free world alone, holding out for months until other allies joined the struggle. Note the honor guard keeping watch over his casket, their chins tucked deep into their chests, their eyes sorrowful and downcast. Sir Winston was a commoner. He was half American. Note the marching sailors escorting his casket from Westminster to Saint Paul's That was never allowed for the funeral of a commoner. This was the first state funeral for a commoner in...

Does legalized marijuana prevent people from turning towards more dangerous drugs, like opioids, to manage pain and withdrawal? Or does marijuana continue to act as a "gateway" drug, even after obtaining it no longer requires someone to enter into a shady underworld? The CDC just released its summation of 2018 deaths due to drug overdoses. (THIS IS FOR ALL OVERDOSES, NOT MARIJUANA OVERDOSES; I'm looking at how marijuana relates to overdoses from other drugs!) When I saw that death rates from drug overdoses (largely due to opioids, but with cocaine and other drugs playing an increasing role) had declined for...

[Catholic Caucus] ‘I Don’t Remember’: Which Prelates Knew About Sex Abuse? Vatican report must address many names in light of Viganò, Sipe revelations In October 2018, just months after Abp. Carlo Maria Viganò accused Pope Francis of covering up for ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the Vatican reported that the pope commissioned a study of the Vatican archival files on McCarrick "in order to ascertain all the relevant facts — to place them in their historical context and to evaluate them objectively." Now, more than 14 months later, the results of the long-awaited investigation have yet to be disclosed. Many people are asking,...

President Trump’s impeachment defense team expects a Friday cliffhanger when senators vote on whether to call witnesses in Trump’s trial. If Democrats find four Republicans to vote for witnesses, the trial could stretch until March. If they fail, Trump likely would be quickly acquitted. Trump confidant Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) told the New York Post he doesn’t believe there will be clarity on the outcome until “Friday of this week.”

No two athletes of color have been more in the news this past week than the amiable, biracial Kansas Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the Los Angeles Lakers basketball great Kobe Bryant, who died in a helicopter crash Sunday. What the two shared was an independence of spirit that has apparently made leftists uneasy. In both cases, this spirit manifested itself after the 2013 trial of George Zimmerman for the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. Said Mahomes at the time, "This case was an absolute horrible tragedy, however there was no criminal activity that occurred." While alive, Kobe Bryant caught...

The Document Foundation announced today the general availability of the LibreOffice 6.4 open-source and cross-platform office suite for all supported platforms.LibreOffice 6.4 has been development during the past five months, but the final release is now available to download for GNU/Linux, macOS, and Windows systems. This is a major release that introduces several new features, multiple performance improvements, especially when working with presentations and spreadsheets, as well as better compatibility with Microsoft Office documents. “LibreOffice 6.4 is the first new release available in 2020. During the year, the community will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the best free office suite...

"I've covered a lot of campaigns but I've never seen a candidate predict his own death or say so clearly, 'I may not make it to the end of my first term,'" Carlson said on the Wednesday edition of Tucker Carlson Tonight. "It's disturbing at that moment."

Bernie Sanders is a survivor, but can he survive the orchestrated media onslaught that seems determined to bring him down? At 78, Sanders has survived a heart attack, and the loathing of the Democratic Party establishment and its compliant media wing. He survived that recent vicious and shameful CNN takedown accusing him of sexism for allegedly saying a woman couldn't be elected president. Sanders denied it. CNN didn't much care. Now his supporters are being shamed as dangerous and angry by other media and also as tools of President Donald Trump. But guess what? It's all backfiring. Sanders is surging,...

The Facts:By comparing traits of psychopaths, as determined by experts, to those of people in corporate or political positions of power, we can see a clear link. Reflect On:Psychopaths feel no remorse, guilt or empathy for their actions. When we look at the many inhumane acts that are currently taking place on our planet, it begs the following question with judgement aside: Are psychopaths running our world? Editors Note: We felt this was important to discuss, not from a place of judgement and fear but one of observation so we can ask important questions as to whether or not we...

In two seconds, this guy proved that he should never be allowed to handle a weapon.   A media personality for Vice News recently broke one of the essential rules of gun safety: never let a gun barrel face anything that you are not willing to destroy. While doing a piece on “smart guns”, the reporter pointed a weapon at his own cameraman and pulled the trigger. While the “smart gun” worked as it was intended to, that had to be one of the most flagrantly dangerous manners to handle and treat a firearm, and further exposed the ignorance of...

Six thousand people on board a cruise ship in Italy have been barred from disembarking, after a Chinese passenger developed symptoms of coronavirus. The 54-year-old and her travelling companion are being held in isolation on the ship while tests are carried out. -excerpt- The Costa Smeralda cruise ship has docked in the port of Civitavecchia, north of Rome. The woman who is receiving treatment had reportedly flown from Hong Kong to join the cruise, and broke out in a fever while on board. The ship has taken on medical experts from Rome's Spallanzani hospital, which specialises in infectious diseases. Initial...

The homeless problem in San Francisco is out of control. Also, the poop problem is huge. San Francisco residents reported more than 30,000 cases of poop to authorities in 2019, city records show. What was once a hub for newcomers is leaving a bad taste in the mouths of its former residents as more and more citizens of the San Francisco Bay Area are jumping ship at a record-breaking pace. This is what happens when one party has been in control for TOO many years. Also, their ‘diversity’ appointments are not doing the city any favors. Another official in feces-ridden...

The tedium of the impeachment trial has at least allowed me to catch up on my reading. Apparently, there was a peaceful gun rights rally in Virginia last week that had the media in a panic. Today, I will explain how their hysteria about the gun rally is directly related to their hysteria about the Russians throwing the 2016 election with Facebook ads -- or, as MSNBC's Brian Williams put it, using Facebook, Instagram and Twitter "to turn Americans against one another, psychological and information warfare, that didn't stop with the election." First, the moral panic on guns: “Virginia's capital...

Even in our era of politics without precedent, few things are as inexplicable as the Democratic Party's decision to take increasingly extreme positions on abortion while so much of the country moves in a different direction. The March for Life, held annually in Washington, D.C., around the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, is one visible example of the country's mood on the U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. The number of participants in the march continues to grow each year. Last week's March for Life was notable not only for its size (no official numbers are available, but video footage...

Failed presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris used her occasion to ask a written question during the Senate impeachment trial on Wednesday to feature the old Access Hollywood video of President Donald Trump. “President Nixon said, quote, ‘When the president does it that means that it is not illegal.’ End quote. Before he was elected, President Trump said, quote, ‘When you’re a star they let you do it, you can do anything,’ end quote,” the Harris note read.

I'm afraid that many are missing the massive significance of this peace deal reveal.  The fact that the Palestinian Authority has already rejected the deal was to be expected.  As a matter of fact, Abbas had "pre-rejected" the deal.  Ever since U.S. recognition of Israel's right to Jerusalem, Abbas has said any American peace plan would be dead on arrival.  That's a given—from the Palestinian side.  Here are some of the key reasons the reveal is a game-changer: 1. The international community has attempted to negotiate a settlement since 1949.  Since that time, the basis for every agreement has...

Hillary Clinton has now twice snubbed a process server attempting to deliver the defamation lawsuit filed against her by Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard, according to Gabbard’s attorney. “I find it rather unbelievable that Hillary Clinton is so intimidated by Tulsi Gabbard that she won’t accept service of process,” the congresswoman’s attorney, Brian Dunne, told The Post. “But I guess here we are.” Dunne said their process server first attempted to effect service at Clinton’s house in Chappaqua on Tuesday afternoon — but was turned away by Secret Service agents. The agents directed the server to Clinton’s lawyer, David Kendall,...

ATHENS/MADRID - With sorrow, some support for Brexit and even hope of a return, Europeans from across the EU’s 27 remaining members bade farewell to the United Kingdom on the eve of its historic departure. The United Kingdom leaves the European Union an hour before midnight on Friday, casting off into an uncertain future that also challenges Europe’s post-World War Two project of forging unity from the ruins of conflict. “Farewell, bye bye my love!” said Rudolf Stockey, speaking to Reuters in German. From across Europe, EU citizens wished the United Kingdom the best after 47 years of membership. Some...

If you or one of your children are heading off to get a degree from Yale, you’ve missed out on the last chance to enroll in their course called “Introduction to Art History: Renaissance to the Present” because this semester is the last time it will be offered. It’s not that the course wasn’t popular. It was always full. Unfortunately, the curriculum was simply too full of the work of straight, white, European men. Katherine Timpf at National Review has the details. According to an article in the Yale Daily News, “Introduction to Art History: Renaissance to the Present”...