Free Republic

The trajectory of trans-Pacific spot rates brings to mind the retail-trader catchphrase “to the moon.” Carriers implemented general rate increases (GRIs) on June 1. Spot rates rose. They enacted more GRIs on Tuesday. Rates jumped again. Another wave of GRIs is set for July 1. Add fallout from China port congestion to the mix, and it’s a recipe for rates to keep climbing. “Despite record highs, rate levels continue to sharply increase,” said Lars Jensen, CEO of consultancy Vespucci Maritime. Past predictions on spot rates have been repeatedly proved wrong — and far too conservative. Last September, carriers met with...

Explanation: Nights grow shorter and days grow longer as the summer solstice approaches in the north. Usually seen at high latitudes in summer months, noctilucent or night shining clouds begin to make their appearance. Drifting near the edge of space about 80 kilometers above the Earth's surface, these icy clouds were still reflecting the sunlight on June 14. Though the Sun was below the horizon as seen north of Forrest, Manitoba, Canada, they were caught in a single exposure of a near midnight twilight sky. Multiple exposures of the foreground track the lower altitude flash of fireflies, another fleeting apparition...

Massachusetts state officials recently announced the launch of the “voluntary” MassNotify app, which monitors the spread of COVID-19 in the state. The only problem is the app appears to be installing itself on residents’ and their kids’ smartphones, unbeknownst to users, and without their consent. The news creates a disturbing new dimension to privacy laws and even private property concerns as hundreds of users have reported their Android phones have had the app surreptitiously installed, without their prior knowledge. “Thank you MA/Google for silently installing #MassNotify on my phone without consent. But I have a request: Can you also silently...

When the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to make Juneteenth a federal holiday, a day after the Senate rushed the measure through unanimously, 14 House members, all Republicans, voted against the proposal. President Biden signed the measure into law on Thursday afternoon. In anticipation of President Joe Biden signing a law that made Juneteenth a federal holiday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi participated in an awkward singing of “Lift Every Voice And Sing,” with Black politicians to celebrate the occasion on Thursday. Video below: Twitter LinkHere’s the moment where she s looking at everyone else to see what word...

On July 4, 1776, the United States of America declared themselves free and independent states, commencing a long journey to give the world a shining example of a nation in which limited government existed solely to secure the liberty of its individual citizens. This journey took a long time to accomplish. First, a War of Independence, then an economic retooling of the nation, then a long fight to find some way to eliminate the inhuman way that one class of Americans – the slaves - were treated under the law. Some call slavery “the original sin” of the American republic....

On Wednesday, Mexico revealed that it had received 34 pre-Columbian artifacts that were owned by two German citizens. The two citizens, who were not identified but who live in western Germany, contacted the Mexican Embassy in Germany about returning the objects that had been owned by their families. The objects were handed over to the embassy in May. Over the past few years, conversations around repatriation in Germany have reached a fever pitch. Though those discussions have largely focused on returning objects to Africa, they also spurred people in the country to begin sending back artifacts to other parts of...

The president and first lady Jill Biden released a joint statement that the 13-year-old German Shepherd "passed away peacefully at home." President Biden posted in a statement on Twitter: "He was our constant, cherished companion during the last 13 years and was adored by the entire Biden family. Even as Champ's strength waned in his last months, when we came into a room, he would immediately pull himself up, his tail always wagging, and nuzzle us for an ear scratch or a belly rub. "He loved nothing more than curling up at our feet in front of a fire at...

A European collector has bought a 17th century copy of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa painting for 2.9 million euros ($3.4 million), a record for a Mona Lisa reproduction, in an auction at Christie's in Paris on Friday. Known as the "Hekking Mona Lisa," after its owner who unsuccessfully argued that a copy he had bought in the 1950s was the real thing, is one of many reproductions of the original, which hangs in the Paris Louvre museum. "This is madness, this is an absolute record for a Mona Lisa reproduction," a Christie's spokeswoman said. She said there had been...

Antifa activists brought chaos as they descended Friday on the annual Western Conservative Summit in Denver, drawn by favorite targets such as Oregon journalist Andy Ngo and Rep. Lauren Boebert, Colorado Republican. Videos posted by Mr. Ngo and the Blaze’s Elijah Schaffer showed multiple altercations, including a brawl between a man who confronted dozens of protesters outside the Hyatt Regency Denver, site of the two-day conference hosted by the Centennial Institute. Protesters, some with bullhorns, harassed people entering and exiting the hotel. Activists blocked traffic, prompting one driver to jump out of her car and accuse them of throwing a...

A rise in the number of trauma cases, organ transplants and elective surgeries requiring blood products over recent months have depleted the nation's blood inventory, causing the American Red Cross to appeal to Americans for immediate action. Hospitals are responding to an atypically high number of traumas and emergency room visits. Compared to 2019, the Red Cross has seen red cell demand from hospitals with trauma centers climb by 10% in 2021. Between 20-40% of trauma deaths that occur after hospital admission involve massive hemorrhaging. In such circumstances, doctors may need hundreds of blood products, depending on the severity of...

Every time I place Communion in someone's hand or tongue, it is an act of faith -- on my part and on that of the communicant. I say the words, "the body of Christ," to which the response is "Amen," meaning "it is true" or "let it be so" -- not always said with certainty but, often, with hope. This revered sacrament of Communion is meant to signify what the word means: with oneness, with unity. The contentious debate of this week's American Catholic bishops' meeting threatens to have this sacrament become a symbol of division and a political and...

The stories in the mainstream media this past week about the broadening campaign to ban critical race theory in public schools have been fascinating — and particularly in how they describe what CRT is. Here’s the ’s benign summary of CRT: “recent reexaminations of the role that slavery and segregation have played in American history and the attempts to redress those historical offenses.” NBC News calls it the “academic study of racism’s pervasive impact.” NPR calls CRT: “teaching about the effects of racism.” The New York Times calls it, with a straight face, “classroom discussion of race, racism” and goes...

One of California’s most critical hydroelectric plants is at risk of closing for the first time in five decades as water levels continue to sink. A megadrought and scorching heat, both worsened by La Nina weather effects, have depleted some of the water supply at Northern California’s Lake Oroville. The lake’s current water levels are hoovering around 700 feet above sea level, but if 640 feet is breached, then officials “will likely be forced to close the Edward Hyatt Power Plant for the first time since it opened in 1967,” California Energy Commission spokesperson Lindsay Buckley told CNN. The lake’s...

I mentioned in my last piece that the standard (mis)interpretation of Oedipus Rex—that Oedipus got what he deserved thanks to a moral shortcoming he couldn't or wouldn't correct—traces back to an earlier misinterpretation of Aristotle's comments on tragedy. That provides a nice segue, because what Aristotle actually says in his Poetics (and his Politics) provides further insight into our current problems. What Aristotle actually points out in Chapter 13 of Poetics is that great tragedies revolve around hamartia (ἁμαρτία) inherent in, or committed by, a protagonist. All this Greek word refers to is error. It does not necessarily imply moral...

Why are white people sending unsolicited donations to their black friends - or forking it over to total strangers? The phenomenon may have begun as satire, but like so many jokes in 2020, “mini-reparations” have become reality. With race relations in the US front and center ever since last month’s police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, some people are taking the matter of reparations for slavery into their own hands. Guilty white people sending unsolicited cash donations to their black acquaintances – or eagerly responding to calls for cash from random social media accounts purporting to be needy black...

The Black Hole of Organizational DysfunctionDystopia Note: When this book was prepared, the terms Dystopia and Utopia were widely used to describe the two complementary but opposite categories of the social system. As progress continued, we evolved away from those popular, but vaguely-defined terms. When you encounter “dystopia,” think organizational dysfunction. When you encounter “Utopia,” think happy prosperity. General Remarks Book 1 of the Pilgrimage to Utopia (P2U), “Philosophy,” presented the purpose of the pilgrimage. It is assumed the reason you’re here is that you are interested in joining one. Following along with the derivation of the paradigm of the...

It’s a late-breaking case of electoral bondage. Zack Weiner, 26, a City Council candidate running in Manhattan, has found his campaign tied up after video of him enjoying a sadomasochism session found its way onto Twitter.

A Taco Bell employee has been filmed jumping into a kitchen sink on his last day of work, in a video watched nearly 19 million times on TikTok. The clip shows TikTok user Steven, who uses the handle @undeaddot, standing on a small stepladder next to a large sink filled to the brim with water and suds, in the kitchen of a Taco Bell restaurant in West Virginia. Steven jumps into the air and cannonballs into the sink, sending water gushing to the floor. He is completely submerged in the water for a few seconds until his head bobs up...

Let’s admit it: Of all the ways that the son of a U.S. president might cash in on his family connection, we had never thought of having the presidential scion declare himself to be an artist, selling his artwork for sums of five or six figures–and maybe even more. Yet Hunter Biden, son of you-know-who, has thought of it and is moving fast to snag some big money. A June 14 report in Artnet had the scoop on Hunter’s ambitions and seemed to repay the scoop with a flatteringly aspirational headline: “We Spoke to Hunter Biden About His New Life...

The Pentagon’s top brass have insisted the U.S. military will conduct operations launched from outside the country if needed, but they’ve offered few details on logistics such as where those troops would be based. The lack of specifics came into focus Friday when the Afghan government's chief peace envoy warned that the Taliban will not have an interest in reaching a peace agreement with Kabul after American and NATO forces depart. The remarks come amid reports that the Taliban are quickly reclaiming territory they had lost during the 20-year conflict, putting more pressure on the Biden administration to spell out...