Free Republic

Our Pandemic Response: Fear Trumps LibertyThe next emergency—and it will come—will provide justification for stripping American citizens of even more of their rights and liberties.Most Americans may not realize it, but we have been subjects of a vast sociological experiment over the past year. The last year may not have been intended as an experiment but it has illustrated some unpleasant truths about what Americans have become as a people, most importantly, that the citizens of a country who once proudly proclaimed the motto, “don’t tread on me” have been willing to endure a great deal of treading. The experiment...

The crisis at the border continues to accelerate, as CBS News reported Tuesday that there are now more than 13,000 unaccompanied migrant children being held in prison like cells by US authorities. The report notes that many more are being turned back every day, and that there are now so many trying to cross the border that the US is on track this year to encounter more illegal immigration than in the past TWENTY YEARS. The kids are being held in squalid conditions, sleeping on concrete floors without any sunlight for up to five days, according to the report, well...

THE ANTICHRIST (the first beast) On April 21, 2009 I posted an article with this paragraph: “In the past I indicated to some of my friends that Obama is probably not the antichrist! But when I began to realize that abortion is one of the greatest sins, and that Obama promotes abortion as his highest (sly and hidden, by stealth) priority, I began to reconsider especially after I discovered how many Hebrew scholars indicate how Jesus would have pronounced Luke 10:18 in Aramaic: “And I saw Satan as Baraq U Bam-Maw.” DID JESUS GIVE US AN INDICATION IN THIS VERSE...

Anticipated federal policy changes to oil and gas leasing and permitting on federal lands “could shift oil production, prompting a realignment of Permian Basin activity between Texas and New Mexico,” a new report by the Dallas Fed says. The Permian Basin is the world’s largest shale oil and gas field, located in the Dallas Fed’s Eleventh District service area, straddling the Texas-New Mexican borders. On the New Mexico side, half of the oil and gas produced in the Permian Basin occurs on federal land. On average, even during the state’s shutdown in 2020, the state produced 1 million barrels of...

It contended that such an increase in prices at the pump could lead the national average to rise to $2.65 to $2.75 per gallon—the highest prices seen since 2019 and the highest seasonal prices in more than five years. More than forty states are already seeing gas prices higher than last year, with half seeing double-digit increases. “The quicker the affected refineries are able to come back online, the better, and perhaps less painful for motorists than if they remain out of service for even longer,” Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said in a statement, adding...

A Minnesota farmer whose crop was badly damaged by a hail storm ended up having the harvest rescued by a company that turned the damaged peppers into a special hot sauce. Dana Jokela, owner of Sogn Farm in Cannon Falls, said the pepper crop was destroyed by a hail storm right before the planned harvest, and it looked like a total loss. Jokela said one of the farm's clients, Cry Baby Craig's Hot Sauce, offered to step in and rescue the damaged fruits. "They all took whatever peppers could be used, a lot of scratch and dent," Jokela told KCCO-TV....

Hidden in Plain Sight Ever read something more times than you can count and still not have it totally sink in? Consider this: Luke {12:40} Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not. [Jesus is the speaker.] Matthew {24:36-39} But of that day and hour knoweth no [man,] no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noe [were,] so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and...

I'M TAKING A BRIEF BREAK I'm taking a couple of weeks away from posting. After nine months of ten-hour days immersed in this joyful journey, I am coming up for air. Having now completed the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit is suggesting this is a good time to gather myself for the homestretch. The Gospels will be the most intensive portion of all, so He—and you—don't want me to burn out midway through. See you soon!Dan . . OLD TESTAMENT REVIEW, Part 3: KINGS thru 2ND MALACHI TO HELP US TIE EVERYTHING TOGETHER &GRASP THE "BIG PICTURE" MORE FIRMLY,...

Joe Biden on Tuesday had a message for migrants considering crossing into the United States: 'Don't come over.' The president's team is struggling to cope with a surge of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, in what is shaping up, along with the fight against COVID, to be one of the biggest challenges of his first 100 days. His Homeland Security Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, said on Tuesday that the country was on track to see the highest number of arrivals across the southern border in 20 years.

They may not be black or holes. Some astronomers believe there is a massive planet, far beyond the orbit of Neptune, orbiting the sun — but after years of searching, scientists have not found this theoretical world, which they've dubbed "Planet Nine." This has spurred theorists to consider a radical hypothesis: Perhaps Planet Nine is not a planet but rather a small black hole that might be detectable from the theoretical radiation emitted from its edge, so-called Hawking radiation. For centuries, astronomers have used variations in planetary orbits to predict the existence of new planets. When a planet's orbit doesn't...

American children 14 years and younger are more likely to be murdered than to die because of COVID-19, according to data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On Jan. 12, the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics published its final report on the death data for the United States in 2018. It revealed that an evil, long-standing trend was continuing in this country. In 2018, according to Table 6 in the report, 269 American children who were less than 1 year old died as victims of homicide. The same table showed that 353 children between the ages...

The State of California has begun to reopen slowly from coronavirus shutdowns as more counties moved this week from the most-restrictive “purple” tier into the “red” tier, allowing restaurants, gyms, and schools to reopen, albeit at limited capacity.

Democrat President Joe Biden made numerous false claims during excerpts of an ABC News interview that aired on Tuesday evening about the border crisis that is unfolding under his watch. During the interview, host George Stephanopoulos pressed Biden about the historic crisis, which Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas confirmed this week is projected to hit the highest-level ever recorded by DHS. When asked about the thousands of unaccompanied minors who are flooding the southern border, Biden responded, “Do you repeat what Trump did, take them from their mothers, move them away, but hold them in cells, etc.? We’re...

March 17 2021 Wednesday of the 4th week of Lent (optional commemoration of Saint Patrick, Bishop, Missionary)Altar, St. Patrick Cathedral, New York CityReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Violet.First readingIsaiah 49:8-15 ©On the day of salvation I will help youThus says the Lord:At the favourable time I will answer you,on the day of salvation I will help you.(I have formed you and have appointed youas covenant of the people.)I will restore the landand assign you the estates that lie waste.I will say to the prisoners, ‘Come out’,to those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’On every roadway they will graze,and each bare height...

Boulder, Colorado really, really wants to be California If you live in Colorado and own guns, chances are quite good that you already have a snide nickname for Boulder, Colorado (I like “Boulderfornia” myself) because the city has developed a real antipathy to the Second Amendment. This is in pretty striking contrast to the rest of the state, which has historically been very gun-friendly. However, the folks who are abandoning California for Colorado to escape high taxes and crime rates are changing the demographics as well as some of the attitudes. Today, however, the anti-gun takeover of Boulder has been...

I finished Dickens’ “Dombey and Son” as part of a group read on the Goodreads site. I found the novel a classic. I blew ahead of the schedule of the group read as I could not put the novel down. As I am wont to do, I enjoy seeing adaptations of the 19th century novels I read. I found this French adaptation from 2007 free for Amazon Prime members. Of course, the dialogue is in French so I followed via the subtitles. The adaptation is broken up into two parts with a little over a 3 hour run time. As...

<p>In a sparkling silver dress, the homecoming queen at J.M. Tate High School in Cantonment, Fla., stood on the football field on a brisk evening in late October to accept her crown.</p><p>But among the students, whispers had already begun spreading about her victory. The homecoming queen had bragged for years about abusing the access her mother had to student records as an assistant principal in the same school system, witnesses later told investigators.</p>

James Bradley McCloughan watched as President Donald Trump placed the Medal of Honor around his father's neck, commemorating a series of selfless, heroic acts that saved the lives of fellow soldiers during the Vietnam War, As the president read the citation during the July 2017 ceremony, the son — a Michigan state policeman — heard for the first time the story of his father's bravery under fire. "It's something that you just don't bring up for two reasons," medal recipient James Charles McCloughan explained in an interview Thursday. "No. 1, you don't want to go there. You've been through it....

A year after “15 days to flatten the curve” began our lockdowns, we have enough data to answer the classic question about lockdowns: cui bono? (who benefits?) The answer is: as an individual, Jeff Bezos. His stock in Amazon, the single biggest beneficiary of lockdowns, is worth billions of dollars more than before the lockdown. As a group: educated professionals, able to work from home via Zoom and other internet-based services and able to afford home delivery. The Ace of Spades pungently summarizes: The general lockdowns weren't general lockdowns. As a friend said, we didn't have a lockdown, we had...

Last week, the Wall Street Journal broke what should be viewed as the top media story of the past decade… at least. In a story headlined Trump Call to Georgia Lead Investigator Reveals New Details, the Wall Street Journal published a verbatim transcript of a telephone call between President Trump and the chief election fraud investigator for the office of the Georgia secretary of state, Frances Watson. The alleged contents of this conversation had been part of the national conversation ever since January 9 when Washington Post reporter Amy Gardner published a story claiming, based on a single anonymous source,...