Free Republic

New biometric ID cards have rolled out across Europe this week as EU members states update their national credentials in line with regulations requiring eID, while new biometric passports are launching in Dominica and proving popular in Ukraine. The regulation for EU and EEA countries applied from 2 August for national ID card and residence permits. Many countries opened up applications for the new cards that same day. The cards have a QR code containing the citizen number and have chips embedded containing biometric details such as two fingerprints. The harmonized cards serve as travel documents within the EU meaning...

@SenatorTimScott Having lived in some of the poorest parts of South Carolina, I can tell you first-hand that the one thing no one living in the communities where I grew up is asking for is defunding the police. Clip ...

The Bishops of the Church in Wales have made it clear that any Christian teaching, counselling or prayer which implies preference towards “heterosexual norms”, or which is not positive towards homosexual practice and gay or transgender identity, should be included in a legal ban. The UK government has already committed to “ban conversion therapy”; the definitions of the practice and the scope of the ban is due for public consultation in September and debate in Parliament soon after that. In a letter responding to a query from the Chair of the Evangelical Fellowship of the Church in Wales about their...

Two hundred miles north of the border, Sheriff Roy Boyd of Goliad County, Texas, has placed warning signs at his county line, written in Spanish. “Warning! Drug and human traffickers: Turn around, do not enter Goliad County,” the sign reads. “Go around. Otherwise, we are going to hunt you down and put you in Goliad County jail.” He says they work. When the signs are up, cartel activity decreases, and when the Texas Department of Transport removes the signs, cartel activity picks up again. “When the signs are in place we notice that we do not have fresh activity at...

FR CANTEEN MISSION STATEMENT Showing support and boosting the morale of our military and our allied military and the family members of the above.Honoring those who have served before. FReeper Canteen Come on in, we're open Need a place just to hang out? This is it. It's casual FRiday here at the Canteen. Pull up a seat, put your feet up and relax. We serve coffee, tea, conversation and music. Our AWESOME military, our AWESOME allies, and their families are welcomed and honored here. Birthday wishes for all of the August babies.No worries in the FReeper Canteen Just Hangin'...

A judge agreed Tuesday to allow the church to reopen so long as a COVID safety plan is posted inside the building.WATERLOO, Ontario, July 29, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — A Christian church in Canada, whose doors were locked by health officials for breaking COVID rules, is facing $85,000 in new fines, but a judge agreed Tuesday to allow them to open so long as they post a COVID safety “plan” inside their building. “The other elders owe $7,500 each, and the church itself owes $35,000. The judge will review the Ministry of the Attorney General’s legal costs and then order us...

SAO PAULO, Aug 4 – Visitors lie with their feet in the air, sit on the glass floor and walk to the edge of a transparent box as they pose for photos in a new sky deck on the 42nd level of Sao Paulo’s tallest building, the Mirante do Vale. Called the Sampa Sky, the dizzying lookout officially opens on Sunday, but some people got a sneak peek on Wednesday. “I think it’s beautiful, I love it. It was something that was missing in Sao Paulo,” said Sylvia Barreto, who admitted she was a little scared when she stepped out...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is taking shots at Republican colleagues who are backing a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, accusing them of being “complicit” in advancing President Biden’s massive spending agenda and falling into a Democratic trap. “I don’t think Republicans should be complicit in the ticking inflation bomb we’re facing,” he said. Cruz on Thursday urged fellow Senate Republicans to step back from the bill, which he warned would exacerbate inflation. “This bill is a mistake. It continues spending trillions of dollars we don’t have and it is the gateway drug to the Democrats’ reckless tax-and-spend bill next week,...

Anti-drunk driving technology may become standard on all cars in the next few years under one of the provisions baked into the $1 trillion federal infrastructure bill. The 2,702-page bill under negotiation also includes a provision that would require manufacturers to equip new vehicles with an alert system to let drivers know that kids or other passengers have been left in the backseat after the engine has been turned off. The new technologies would target alcohol-related car crashes and increasing incidents of kids dying in hot cars. The bill defines the preventative technology for impaired driving as anything that could...

Mensah-Stock is only the second female wrestler from Team USA to win gold in the sport since it was added to the Summer Games in 2004. Helen Maroulis earned gold in 2016 in the 53-kg class. It’s the second wrestling medal in Tokyo for Team USA women, following Adeline Gray’s silver-medal performance in the 76-kg class. According to the Associated Press, Mensah-Stock said she was proud to wrestle Oborududu, a Black African woman, for the final. (Oborududu’s performance in the match gave her a spot in the record books too—her silver medal made her the first Nigerian athlete to medal...

Eric Clapton was visibly intoxicated onstage at a concert in Birmingham on Aug. 5, 1976. But the message he spoke at the mike was clear. As he advocated his support for Enoch Powell, a controversial right-wing British politician well-known for his anti-immigration views, the guitarist took things even further, asking the audience if there were any foreigners present. “I don’t want you here, in the room or in my country,” Clapton said. “Listen to me, man! I think we should vote for Enoch Powell. Enoch’s our man. I think Enoch’s right, I think we should send them all back." His...

On Tuesday, The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg published an essay by Juliette Kayyem, a former Obama Homeland Security official, arguing for unvaccinated people to be placed on the No Fly List. “Unvaccinated People Belong On The No-Fly List,” the headline read. "While flying, vaccinated people should no longer carry the burden for unvaccinated people. The White House has rejected a nationwide vaccine mandate—a sweeping suggestion that the Biden administration could not easily enact if it wanted to—but a no-fly list for unvaccinated adults is an obvious step that the federal government should take. It will help limit the risk of...

Note: this article has been updated to include a response from WellSpan. A Philadelphia law firm said Thursday it filed a lawsuit on behalf of a 72-year-old man who died after staff apparently lost track of him in the emergency room at WellSpan York Hospital. Terry Lynn Odoms, who arrived by ambulance and was put in a wheelchair, was a Marine Corps and Vietnam veteran, according to lawyer Matt Casey, who is representing Odoms’ family. “A decorated veteran who fought for our country was abandoned and left to suffer and die by a health system that knew it wasn’t adequately...

A dozen NFL seasons packed with All-Pro roughhousing, easy celebrity and lots of laughs would be a fulsome career for any man. That was just Alex Karras’ opening act. Karras was a natural in front of the camera, whether crumpling quarterbacks on a muddy field in Detroit or spilling locker-room secrets across the desk from Johnny Carson on “The Tonight Show.” After his final season in 1970, he didn’t stay benched for long. Karras put that tough-guy image and excellent timing to good use, launching a second career that introduced him to a new generation. He was a part-time pro...

Senate Republicans are about to hand President Biden a huge political victory by voting for a historic $1 trillion infrastructure package that the president can then tout as fulfilling a campaign pledge to restore bipartisanship in Washington. GOP senators and aides predict as many as 20 Republicans — twice the number needed to avoid a filibuster — could vote for the legislation, which would provide the most funding in decades for roads, airports, railroads, drinking water and other priorities.“I think everybody pretty much knows what they’re going to do. I think some people are trying to get to yes,” said...

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said Tuesday it’s “very hard” to mandate people be vaccinated against COVID-19 to travel domestically because the shots aren’t yet fully approved. The Atlanta-based carrier has no plans to require that passengers of domestic flights be vaccinated, he told CNBC. “It’s very difficult for us to come in and mandate a vaccine that isn’t even federally approved yet. The authorization hasn’t been final yet, so stay tuned,” Bastian reportedly said.

PIERRE, S.D. - Gov. Kristi Noem and Rep. Dusty Johnson played host to former US Speaker of the House John Boehner Saturday in Rapid City.The event was a fundraising event for Johnson, who is running for re-election in 2022, and will face a primary opponent in State Rep. Taffy Howard (R- Rapid City).The event took place in part at Delmonico, a restaurant in the downtown area of Rapid City. Sources familiar with the situation told Dakota News Now/KOTA Territory that members of the event moved to Deadwood later on in the evening.Boehner, who served as US Speaker of the House...

Over the last year, teachers and administrators nationwide have weaponized K-12 education, injecting progressive politics into classrooms, and indoctrinating students with novel social justice dogma, including theories that call for racialized curriculums and reverse discrimination to achieve racial equity. Mainstream media outlets and left-wing commentators have accused conservatives of demonizing critical race theory, and turning an obscure academic theory into a rightwing “bogeyman.” But there sure are a lot of examples of it turning up in schools across the country, from big city Democratic strongholds to suburban districts in red America. The following are summaries of just a small number...

Scientists are worried the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), a "critical aquatic conveyer belt" that drives currents in the Atlantic Ocean, is at risk of near-complete collapse due to climate change, The Washington Post reports.A shutdown of the crucial circulation system could "bring extreme cold to Europe and parts of North America, raise sea levels along the U.S. East Coast, and disrupt seasonal monsoons that provide water to much of the world," the Post reports. The effects, in short, would be devastating."The mere possibility that the AMOC tipping point is close should be enough for us to take countermeasures," warns...

Sen. Rand Paul: My colleagues are hypocrites on infrastructure. It's not paid for. Rumble...