Free Republic

After enduring multiple days of freezing temperatures and Texans dripping faucets to prevent frozen pipes from bursting, cities across the state warned residents that water levels are dangerously low and may be unsafe to drink. They’re telling Texans to boil tap water for drinking, cooking, brushing their teeth, and making ice — as residents have been struggling to maintain power and heat while an unprecedented winter storm whips across the state. While activities such as showering and doing laundry are safe, cities underwater boil notices are asking people to conserve water if at all possible. Approximately 590 public water systems...

TEXAS POWER CRISIS THREAD: Once it was clear that the polar vortex would engulf the entire state of Texas @GovAbbott declared an emergency and asked President Biden for an EPA waiver to allow power generation facilities to operate at full capacity until the emergency passed. 2/ Biden's EPA refused Governor Abbott's request and instead offered to allow certain power generation facilities a waiver if they raised the prices they charged to Texans to more than $1,500/MWh resulting in massive statewide power outages and a failure of the grid. (Letter at below thread) 3/ The truth is that the federal government...

CINCINNATI, Ohio (AP) — Customs authorities in Ohio say they intercepted a shipment of cereal earlier this month with a special frosting — cocaine. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Cincinnati reported finding 44 pounds of cocaine-coated corn flakes that had been shipped from South America to a Hong Kong home. More at link

Rush Limbaugh / Al Gore 1992 Nightline debate part 1

Rush Limbaugh 1993 The David Letterman show

We have been clobbered by cancer here at SteynOnline. Our peerless film columnist Kathy Shadily died last month, to be followed this month by Rush Limbaugh. Kathy was a Rush listener, and I in turn occasionally quoted her aperçus on Rush's show. To mark her passing, we've picked out a few Kathy classics from her movie columns over the years. This one was hugely popular with readers - a film from 1999, Galaxy Quest:In a just world, O.J. Simpson would currently be serving the 24th year of a double life sentence; Ronald Reagan would have been president during America's bicentennial...

CHICAGO — The city has unveiled the dozens of monuments it has flagged as potentially problematic — and it’s asking for residents’ feedback on what to do with them. The city launched its Chicago Monuments Project website on Wednesday. It lists 41 monuments from around Chicago that were identified as needing “further review,” including famous pieces like the Illinois Centennial Monument at the heart of Logan Square and statues of Christopher Columbus and Abraham Lincoln. The city did not say what will happen to the artwork it has flagged after residents weigh in, though. The monuments that appear on the...

Democrats set aside $50 million for "family planning." As of now, the Hyde Amendment is in place, which bars taxpayer funds from being used for abortion. This, however, could set the stage for the repeal of the Hyde Amendment down the road. If this bill is passed and Congress later repeals Hyde, money that was funded in this relief bill could theoretically be used for abortion. Although higher education has teetered because of the virus, Howard University is the only higher education facility that would be given money to recoup funds lost during the pandemic. Gallaudet University is listed in...

Whiskey purists will likely try and demean you if you drink anything on the rocks or with a little water. They want you to sip it straight, unchilled. That’s patently ridiculous. Yes, some whiskeys are crafted to be taken neat. But even the super svelte whiskeys out there will likely bloom in the glass with a few drops of water or a single rock. Moreover, a good bourbon on ice can actually lead to a whole new set of flavors. Which is some cool chemistry, when you think about it. What happens is twofold. One, the bourbon materially changes when...

ROME— Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Cardinal Robert Sarah as head of the Vatican’s office for liturgy, removing an outspoken conservative and possible future pope from the ranks of Vatican leadership. The Holy See Press Office announced Saturday that Cardinal Sarah had stepped down. No successor has been named. The cardinal submitted his resignation as required by church law when he turned 75 on June 15 of last year. But the pope frequently lets cardinals serve two or three years past that age, though not past 80. Last June, the cardinal wrote on Twitter: “For my part, I am...

Prayers up for continuing progress and success!! FR is funded solely by contributions made by the liberty loving patriots who love and use it. We are beholden to no political party. No advertisers, no outsiders, no sugar daddies, no corporate string pullers. Definitely no government subsidies or tax breaks. No 501c or other IRS non-profit status. This means no commercial ads. No annoying pop-ups. No ad tracking. No mail campaigns. No spam. No third-parties -- not even the IRS -- trying to control what we do or say. We are self-funded, fiercely independent and enjoy our freedom to speak plainly...

...Rep. Glenn Grothman, a Wisconsin Republican, introduced this month the Smarter Plan for Immigrant Welfare bill to expand guidelines for eligibility for any kind of welfare or government assistance. Since 1996, when the last major welfare legislation was passed, only immigrants who have green cards, or legal permanent residents, were allowed to request assistance. The Trump administration had proposed a plan to update existing rules so that the government would have the ability to block immigrants who apply for green cards on the basis that they may rely on federal assistance and would be a "public charge" to the government....

I’m writing from Texas, so I’ll try to finish this column before the electricity goes out. As you may have heard, we’ve had an unusually powerful winter storm down here and, in spite of the fact that every third household has a four-wheel-drive super-duty pickup truck, Texas has come to a standstill. When a little bit of ice settled on the freeway, a half a dozen people lost their lives in the ensuing 135-car pileup.

Columbia professor: I do heroin regularly for ‘work-life balance’ Carl Hart is a Columbia University professor of psychology and neuroscience. He chairs the psych department and has a fondness for heroin – not only as a subject of scholarly pursuit but also as a substance for personal use. At 54, the married father of three has snorted small amounts of heroin for as many as 10 days in a row and enjoyed it mightily – even if, as he recalls in his new book “Drug Use for Grown-ups: Chasing Liberty in the Land of Fear” (Penguin Press), he’s experienced mild...

How could this happen in a state that is the nation’s biggest energy producer and home to several of the world’s biggest energy companies? The disaster can be traced to mistakes by Texas’ leadership and faults created by decades of opposition to more regulations and preparation.

OUR WASHINGTON DISPATCHES. WASHINGTON, Wednesday, Feb. 20. THE PEACE CONFERENCE. In the Peace Conference to-day. JAMES C. SMITH, of New-York, made a strong speech against compromise. Several members say it was one of the best speeches yet made. He took nearly the same ground as that assumed by Mr. FIELD. The debate took place upon the proposition to incorporate a provision for a National Convention as an alternative clause in the pending proposition for adjustment of the national difficulties. An attempt will be made to-morrow morning to force a Vote. The result is doubtful. A proposition may then be made...

They both walked into a concealed carry class without knowing each other, but now, Wanetta Joseph and Tyrone Russell say they’re both survivors. Joseph and Russell say they heard a lot of shots. “It was a lot it was a lot like you could tell it was a gunfight. It was a gunfight, that’s all I knew,” the pair said. The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office says an active shooter walked into the Jefferson Gun Outlet Saturday afternoon and started firing. Three people including the shooter were killed. Two others were injured. Joseph and Russell say they were upstairs in a...

SACRAMENTO - A group of Democratic state lawmakers introduced legislation Friday to create a single-payer health care system to cover all Californians, immediately defining the biggest health policy debate of the year and putting enormous political pressure on Gov. Gavin Newsom. The Democratic governor faces the increasingly likely prospect of a Republican-driven recall election later this year. The single-payer bill adds to his political peril from the left if he doesn’t express support, and from the right if he does. State Assembly member Ash Kalra, author of AB 1400, said the coronavirus pandemic has exposed a broken health care system...

Since the Justice Department launched its nationwide manhunt to track down and arrest anyone involved with the Capitol breach on January 6, hundreds of perpetrators have been arrested. Most face misdemeanor charges for trespassing or disorderly conduct, but dozens are in jail and denied bond for the thoughtcrime of believing the 2020 presidential election wasn’t on the up-and-up. The acting U.S. attorney general overseeing the investigation promises to apprehend hundreds more, however, it’s been two weeks since authorities have arrested anyone in connection to the probe.