Free Republic

General Motors is out on Wednesday with surprising commentary on the ongoing semiconductor shortage: namely, the auto giant says that it is seeing a “better flow” of semiconductors. Additionally, GM says that “most of its assembly plants in North America are now back to running regular production,” according to a report by Reuters. A spokesperson from GM said: “In fact, the week of November 1 represented the first time since February that none of our North American assembly plants were idled due to the chip shortage.” Recall, at the end of October we asked whether or not the shortage may...

President Joe Biden spoke to the nation’s increasing rate of inflation amid global supply chain issues in an address at the Port of Baltimore on Nov. 10. An earlier Labor Department report shows that in the 12 months through October the consumer price index surged 6.2 percent, the largest year-on-year increase since November 1990. And the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are continuing to sort through a container logjam and long lines of ships waiting at anchor to dock. But Biden says his administration is “set to make significant progress” in addressing these issues. On Tuesday, the White...

In the 1950s grammar schools of the Golden State we kids substituted “Oh, California!” for Stephen Foster’s “Oh, Susanna!” The tune was the same, but the lyrics came from the pen of John Nichols just before he climbed aboard the bark Eliza in December 1848 at Salem, Massachusetts, for the voyage to California. I come from Salem City with my washbowl on my knee. I’m going to California the gold dust for to see. It rained all night the day I left, the weather it was dry. The sun so hot I froze to death, oh brother, don’t you cry....

"Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, Republican from Staten Island, is an honorable politician who represents the interests of her district. She’s a conservative who has a common-sense approach to the problems facing our city and nation. In short, she does not deserve the abuse of former President Donald Trump, who bashed Malliotakis and 12 other Republicans who voted for the infrastructure bill. Is the legislation perfect? Of course not. But as Washington spendapaloozas go, it has the chance to do some good, upgrading the subways and buses of New York City and breaking ground on the much-needed new rail tunnel under the...

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) decried the Biden Administration's border and migration policies, blaming the President for an influx of undocumented migrants.

The Hartford Institute for Religion Research has released a study giving the first glimpse of how U.S. congregations are navigating the COVID-19 pandemic, and data shows that congregational life is far from being “back to normal.” The study, Navigating the Pandemic: A First Look at Congregational Responses, includes 2,074 survey responses from 38 Christian denominational groups from mid-June to the end of August 2021, and is part of a larger project entitled Exploring the Pandemic Impact on Congregations. “These findings from the summer clearly show that the pandemic has had a profound impact across the religious spectrum, and that some...

The Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Elders and member of the Higher Committee of Human Fraternity, Dr. Sultan Al Remeithi has participated in the ‘The Culture of Encounter: The Future of Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue’ conference in the Italian Capital Rome. The conference is sponsored by the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University and La Civiltà Cattolica and marks the first anniversary of ‘Fratelli Tutti’, His Holiness Pope Francis' October 2020 encyclical. Dr. Al Remeithi said, “The collective Muslim mind is built on two very important bases, specifically designed for the purpose of...

The notoriously pro-LGBT prelate suggested that Catholics may need to ‘leave behind’ the Latin Mass in light of Traditionis custodes.CHICAGO (LifeSiteNews) – Cardinal Blase Cupich of the Archdiocese of Chicago strongly hinted at an upcoming crackdown on the Latin Mass in his diocese, suggesting in a recent article that Catholics may have to “leave behind” the traditional liturgy in light of Pope Francis’ motu proprio Traditionis custodes. Cupich discussed his plans to implement the motu proprio in an article last week for Pray Tell, the pro-LGBT blog of Collegeville Liturgical Press, which he said came in response to questions about...

the hours since news broke that eight people were killed and dozens more hospitalized after sustaining injuries amid mayhem at the Astroworld Festival in Houston on Nov. 5, the city’s paper of record has aggressively reported and written about the tragedy: how rapper Travis Scott kept performing for 37 minutes as a ‘mass casualty’ unfolded, whether the festival followed its own plan for mass casualty events, and how the whole thing unfolded.

Malala Yousafzai, Nobel Laureate and activist, married Asser Malik, a Pakistani Cricket Board official, in an intimate ceremony in the UK on Tuesday... Malala was 15 when she was shot in the head in 2012 in Pakistan by a member of the Taliban for defying a diktat banning girls from school. She was flown to the UK for treatment. In 2014, she won the Nobel Peace Prize at 17, becoming the youngest winner.

SNIP “Because of the strength of our economic recovery, American families have been able to buy more products. And – but guess what? They’re not going out to dinner and lunch, and going to local bars because of Covid. So what are they doing? They’re staying home and ordering online or buying product. Well, what more people with money buying product and less product to buy, what happens? The supply chain’s the reason. The answer is you guys, and I’ll get to that in a minute, but what happens? Prices go up,” the president said. “People have a little more...

In general, the bulletin continued, "threats include those posed by individuals and small groups engaged in violence, including domestic violent extremists and those inspired or motivated by foreign terrorists and other malign foreign influences. These actors continue to exploit online forums to influence and spread violent extremist narratives and promote violent activity."

A coalition of 10 states has filed a lawsuit aimed at stopping the Biden administration's mandate ordering health care workers at facilities that receive Medicare and Medicaid funding to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt is leading the charge on the lawsuit filed Wednesday, which states that the diktat recently issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services "imposes an unprecedented federal vaccine mandate on nearly every full-time employee, part-time employee, volunteer, and contractor working at a wide range of healthcare facilities receiving Medicaid or Medicare funding." "Unfortunately, with this latest mandate from the Biden...

The man had gone fishing on his property last week near Hope Vale, about five hours' drive from Cairns, and shooed away a bull from the riverbank so he could take over the spot. Then, the crocodile struck. "He described seeing the crocodile seconds before it lunged at him, knocking him over as he was about to cast his fishing rod," the department said in a statement. He grabbed onto the branch of a mangrove tree in a desperate attempt to stay out of the river as the crocodile's jaws wrapped around his boots. But he quickly lost the tug-of-war...

A proposed temporary moratorium on construction of large solar farms received support from residents at Monday’s Town Council meeting. Council president Lynn Griesemer and Councilor Patricia De Angelis co-sponsored the proposed moratorium. If approved later this year, the idea would amend current zoning bylaws, with a ban until May 2023 on “the permitting and approval of large-scale ground mounted solar photovoltaic installations.”

An attorney for the armorer on the set of “Rust” said that his client is being “framed” for the tragic death that occurred when Alec Baldwin shot the film’s cinematographer. The lawyer for Hannah Gutierrez-Reed insisted on Wednesday that “sabotage” and a “tampered” crime scene were evidence of the frame job for the shooting last month on the New Mexico film set. The statement came a day after Gutierrez-Reed met with Santa Fe County Deputy Sheriffs about the double shooting. The cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, was killed and director Joel Souza injured when Baldwin fired a “hot” prop gun that was...

The White House's official press release announcing the Build Back Better Act (BBB) pitches it as a "PLAN TO REBUILD THE MIDDLE CLASS." It rhapsodizes about "working families" squeezed by the economy, and reminds voters that "Biden promised to rebuild the backbone of the country -- the middle class." A cartoon illustrates the sort of person who would benefit from Biden's Build Back Better programs: "Linda," a white woman, who works at a manufacturing plant but struggles to raise her son, "Leo." One thing the White House's official press release did not mention is that almost all of the $2...

Substack’s mission statement depicts a journalistic dystopia that wouldn’t look out of place in a book by the platform’s latest recruit, Chuck Palahniuk. “The great journalistic totems of the last century are dying. News organisations – and other entities that masquerade as them – are turning to increasingly desperate measures for survival. And so we have content farms, clickbait, listicles, inane but viral debates over optical illusions, and a ‘fake news’ epidemic.” That was 2017 and the trends identified in that post are well embedded in modern culture, but Substack’s subsequent popularity has made clear that there is at least...

[Catholic Caucus] ‘Traditionis Custodes’ implemented in the Diocese of Rome, Latin Mass heavily restrictedThese new restrictions are only the latest development in a series of measures meant to drastically limit the celebration of the traditional Latin Mass in the Eternal City and throughout the universal Church. Church of Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini, RomeWed Nov 10, 2021 - 2:46 pm ESTWed Nov 10, 2021 - 2:58 pm EST ROME, Italy (LifeSiteNews) — The Vicar General for the Diocese of Rome has restricted the celebration of traditional Catholic liturgies in the diocese, including a ban on the traditional Easter Triduum previously celebrated...

Navarro reiterated his viewpoint that there is no way out of this situation during a Biden administration, stating, "(Not) until we put Fauci in jail and end him heading policy. We had this rolling (last) November. "I never imagined that the vaccine would be used as a weapon against workers. It's the stupidest damned thing I've ever heard. Pete Buttigieg is still staying home," Navarro added. Speaking further on the subject of Dr. Anthony Fauci, Navarro pointed out, "I didn't know him. I had to fight him all the way. It was the biggest lie of omission in American history,...