Free Republic

Russian dissident Alexei Navalny can add his name to the growing list of candidates who have been shafted by the Nobel Committee this year (many grumbled when the creators of the mRNA COVID jabs didn't win the medicine Nobel).The Nobel Committee announced Friday that the winners of this year's Nobel Peace Prize are a pair of journalists who challenged "authoritarian" regimes with their fearless reporting, the Committee said. The prize ultimately went to Maria Ressa, the editor and founder of the Rappler, an independent Philippines digital-media outlet that has persisted with critical coverage of 'strongman' President Rodrigo Duterte and his...

News AnalysisBeijing’s containment strategy is failing. Instead of abating, China’s financial strains are intensifying.Last month, when concerns first arose with the insolvency of the real estate giant Evergrande, Beijing held back from getting too involved. The nation’s leadership no doubt hoped that the financial waves would calm without much effort on their part.Now with the announcements of more failures and defaults, it is apparent that financial problems are deepening and becoming more widespread. Indeed, the news is beginning to resemble the beginnings of America’s 2008-09 financial crisis. Beijing cannot avoid acting for long.The latest news is disturbing. The first tentative...

Can you spell “soft bigotry of low expectations”?The never-ending battle over New York City’s advanced school programs continues. A top NYC school in June canceled plans to scrap accelerated math classes, following an outcry from enraged parents. Yet, after years of debate, city officials on Thursday announced they will eliminate an advanced program for four-year-olds before they enter kindergarten, claiming the program “further segregates students.”City officials say the new program will allow all kindergarteners to have access to accelerated learning.As reported by ABC7 in NYC, hapless Mayor Bill de Blasio claims the replacement program, named Brilliant NYC, will provide an...

The Peshtigo fire and Our Lady of Good Help THE GREAT AMERICAN APPARITION OF MARY TOOK PLACE IN WISCONSIN “I do hereby approve these apparitions as worthy of belief by the Christian faithful” (Bishop David Ricken, pictured above)Many Catholics are familiar with the great supernatural facts of Lourdes and Fatima, but not enough Catholics (especially in the United States) are aware that the Virgin Mary appeared to Adele Brise in 1859 in Champion, Wisconsin with a message that focused on the importance of the Sacraments, catechesis of the young, and the salvation of sinners. To underscore the importance of this...

...This week, India's government unveiled a compensation program that would provide 50,000 rupees (about $670) to the families of past and future Covid-19 victims. That's more than half of what most people in the country earn annually, according to the government's most recent estimate of income per capita for the 2019-2020 financial year. In theory, the program should help people like Srivastava. But experts believe the true death toll may be many times the official tally of 450,000 ... ...only 22% of all registered fatalities were given an official cause of death, certified by a doctor, according to community medicine...

A suicide bomb attack on worshippers at a Shiite mosque in the Afghan city of Kunduz killed at least 55 people on Friday (Oct 8), in the bloodiest assault since US forces left the country. Scores more victims from the minority community were wounded in the blast, which was claimed by the Islamic State group and appeared designed to further destabilise Afghanistan in the wake of the Taliban takeover. The extremist group, bitter rivals of the Taliban, has repeatedly targeted Shiites in a bid to stir up sectarian violence in Sunni-majority Afghanistan.

For the last year, we’ve noted a series of reports (read: here & here) of (supposedly retired) Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk stealth attack aircraft conducting combat training missions over the skies of California. The latest sighting of the world’s first stealth aircraft, which first debuted in the early 1980s and retired in 2008, after the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor stealth fighter aircraft was first fielded, was in mid-September at the Fresno Air National Guard Base, California. The US Air Force released a statement at the time stating “two F-117 Nighthawk aircraft” would be conducting “air combat training missions.” This is the...

Washington (CNN) Eleven Senate Republicans broke ranks Thursday evening to vote with all Democrats to overcome a filibuster so that the debt ceiling deal announced earlier in the day could move forward. Their votes allowed the Senate to clear the procedural hurdle and move toward increasing the debt ceiling. Here are the Republicans who voted with the Democrats: John Barrasso of Wyoming Roy Blunt of Missouri Susan Collins of Maine John Cornyn of Texas Mitch McConnell of Kentucky Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia Lisa Murkowski of Alaska Rob Portman of Ohio Mike Rounds of South Dakota Richard Shelby of...

Some say names are a blessing from one's parents, but it might just be the exact opposite for this Indonesian boy. A couple in Tuban Regency, Indonesia, have come to their wits' end as they struggle to legally register their son, whose name is too long to for the civil registry system. His full name: Rangga Madhipa Sutra Jiwa Cordosega Akre Askhala Mughal Ilkhanat Akbar Sahara Pi-Thariq Ziyad Syaifudin Quthuz Khoshala Sura Talenta. He simply goes by Cordo, according to Coconuts Jakarta. He was born in January 2019, but has yet to receive his official documents. The boy's father, Arif...

Can a limited-time only sandwich have a midlife crisis?Last week, Nirvana's Nevermind album celebrated its 30th anniversary, a milestone that left many fans feeling especially old. But today, McDonald's made an announcement that could leave those of a certain age feeling like they have one foot in the grave: Not only is the McRib coming back… it's celebrating its big 4-0. Yes, the iconic McRib was first launched in Kansas City, Kansas, forty year ago in 1981, a time when fast food limited-time only items still felt novel. To make '80s' kids feel even older, McDonald's goes so far as...

A university is encouraging students to stop using the words manmade, mastercopy and civilisation because it believes they have sexist or racist connotations. Sociology undergraduates at Aston University in Birmingham have been advised to find replacements for words that could be seen to reinforce prejudices. Offending words include immigrants, third world, tribe, civilised and, in some contexts, native, all because of their colonialist or racist overtones. Language deemed to be sexist includes one-man show, old masters, forefathers, seminal and masterful....

When it comes to how we see and prepare for SHTF, thinking in terms of real and probable rather than fictional and possible can make a big difference. Even though SHTF has many forms and levels and is in essence complex, random, diverse and unsystematic, some patterns and principles are common to the way things unfold when it hits the fan. With Toby and Selco’s Seven Pillars of Urban Preparedness as inspiration, I came up with a different list of the 15 dynamics and realities of collapses. 1 SHTF is nuanced and happens in stagesThinking about SHTF as an ON/OFF,...

This is why Joe Biden’s staffers mute his speeches or turn off the tv when he’s speaking. Joe Biden delivered remarks before signing proclamations to restore national parks and monuments Friday afternoon. Biden coughed as he attacked Trump and struggled to read his teleprompter. At one point Joe Biden veered off script and that’s when things went south. Biden recalled a bizarre story about a little girl with a teddy bear he encountered when he was on the campaign stump. “I gotta tell you a quick story,” Biden said with a smug look on his face. “When I was running...

Along with English, science, math and other graduation requirements, California high school students will have to take a course in ethnic studies to get a diploma starting in 2029-30. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill Friday that makes California among the first in the nation to list ethnic studies as a graduation requirement for all public high school students.

Here we go again! The ABC, CBS and NBC morning news shows protected President Joe Biden by censoring another horrible report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The BLS reported at 8:30 a.m. today that the U.S. economy added only 194,000 jobs in the month of September. The BLS figure completely dismantled predictions by economists surveyed by Refinitiv who were expecting a 500,000 increase. That means predictions were off by a whopping 306,000 jobs. CATO Director for Tax Policy Studies Chris Edwards told the MRC in response to the BLS report that “[l]arge and small businesses are surely worried...

Jack Posobiec @JackPosobiec ·33m BREAKING: Federal circuit court reinstates Texas heartbeat abortion ban 8:55PM • Oct 8, 2021

Leaders of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations called on US Senator Rand Paul to end his opposition to a measure funding Israel’s missile defense system, as the Kentucky Republican remained the main obstacle to the bill’s swift passage. “We are dismayed by a third delay in as many weeks of a vote in the US Senate by Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) to provide $1 billion to replenish Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system,” said Conference Chair Dianne Lob, CEO William Daroff and Vice Chair Malcolm Hoenlein on Friday. “This critical legislation passed the US House by...

The unprecedented challenge made by Poland's prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, to one of the European Union's core legal principles has seriously escalated his government's dispute with Brussels. And it has fuelled concerns that Poland is heading towards the door, described as "Polexit". France says such an exit is now a "de facto risk". Late on Friday the French and German foreign ministers rebuked Poland, saying EU membership relied upon "complete and unconditional adherence to common values and rules" and this was "not simply a moral commitment. It is also a legal commitment". The European Commission has warned it will use...

We have written about the National School Boards Association’s letter to Joe Biden asking for federal help against an alleged epidemic of violence against school boards, and about Attorney General Merrick Garland’s response to that request, a memo to the FBI dated just five days after the NSBA’s letter to Biden. When Garland’s masters say “jump,” he jumps.Glenn Reynolds weighs in at the New York Post:American parents are organizing to fight racist critical race theories being taught in their kids’ schools. Attorney General Merrick Garland, once touted as a moderate, has responded by asking the FBI to treat them as...

Poland summoned the Belarusian charge d'affaires on Friday, a foreign ministry spokesman said, after border guards accused the Belarusian side of shooting at Polish soldiers patrolling the frontier. Poland has imposed a state of emergency on the Belarusian border amid a surge in migrants from countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq trying to cross, in what Brussels and Warsaw say is a form of hybrid warfare designed to put pressure on the bloc over sanctions it imposed on Minsk.