Free Republic

THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION During my second month of night school, our professor gave a pop quiz. I was a conscientious student and had breezed through the questions, until I read the last one: "What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?" Obviously this was some kind of joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times. She was tall, dark-haired and in her 50s, but how would I know her name? I handed in my paper leaving the last question blank. Before class ended, one student asked if the last question would count on...

State governments spent more money in the last fiscal year than ever before, bolstered by federal funds meant to help avert an economic catastrophe as businesses shuttered to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Total state spending topped $2.6 trillion in Fiscal Year 2021, up 16.2 percent from the previous year, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers.

New York State has declared a state of emergency over the Omicron coronavirus variant, despite the fact that 100 percent of New York’s sampled cases in the last two weeks were the Delta variant of the virus. “We continue to see warning signs of spikes in COVID this winter, and while the new Omicron variant has yet to be detected in New York State, it’s coming,” Hochul said in a tweet on Friday.

STUTTGART, Germany — Poland has urged NATO to send reinforcements east over concerns about Russia’s military buildup near Ukraine, which is expected to be the focus of high-level alliance talks in Latvia next week that will include U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. President Andrzej Duda said Thursday at NATO headquarters in Brussels that a beefed up military presence along NATO’s eastern flank is needed given concerns over Russian’s intentions in the region. “This cautiousness and vigilance from NATO, which is responsible for the military security of the allies, is necessary,” Duda told reporters after a meeting with NATO Secretary-General...

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Friday, broke its murder record with 501 murders, surpassing the record of 500 homicides set in 1990. According to local Philadelphia station ABC 6, the last murder occurred around 9 pm in the 7100 block of Ardleigh Street in East Mount Airy, bringing the total to 501. Police say a man in his 30s was shot five times and rushed to the hospital. He was later pronounced dead. So far, no arrests have been made.

Are you at the end of your rope, weary, cast down, about to give up? I challenge you to answer the following questions with a simple yes or no: • Does the Word of God promise to supply all your needs? • Did Jesus say he would never leave you but would be with you to the end? • Did he say he would keep you from falling and present you faultless before the Father’s throne? • Did he promise you all the seed you need to spread the gospel? • Is he more willing to give than you are...

“Making the most of your time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:16). Evil days call for good behavior. The days we live in are certainly full of evil. Read any newspaper, and you’ll know what I mean. Can you imagine how it breaks God’s heart to create a perfect world, filled with every good thing, and then see it become as corrupt, debauched, and vile as it is today? Can you imagine how it must be for God to watch Christians who, in the midst of this evil world, are given opportunities to do good, yet bypass them without...

Explanation: Big, beautiful spiral galaxy M101 is one of the last entries in Charles Messier's famous catalog, but definitely not one of the least. About 170,000 light-years across, this galaxy is enormous, almost twice the size of our own Milky Way. M101 was also one of the original spiral nebulae observed by Lord Rosse's large 19th century telescope, the Leviathan of Parsontown. Assembled from 51 exposures recorded by the Hubble Space Telescope in the 20th and 21st centuries, with additional data from ground based telescopes, this mosaic spans about 40,000 light-years across the central region of M101 in one of...

Guess what’s actually causing the crisis? Hint: it rhymes with “vaccine schmandate.” Alex Berenson 10 hr ago 574 273 Now this is a lie so brazen even Andrew Cuomo might hesitate to tell it. New York’s new and unimproved governor, Kathy Hochul, last seen telling you to Get Vaxxed For Jesus (I kid you not), has now declared a “state of emergency” that will allow Health Department bureaucrats to block “non-urgent” medical procedures at hospitals. Because who needs a colonoscopy, anyway? Hochul says the Xi - I mean Omicron, definitely not Xi! - variant is behind the emergency.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in a statement that the country's borders would be closed to all foreigners due to concerns about the omicron variant and that Israeli citizens coming into the country would have to quarantine, regardless of their vaccination status. The statement, issued on Saturday, said that beginning at midnight between Sunday and Monday, the country’s borders would be closed to international travelers for two weeks pending approval from the government, Reuters reported.

The man was in the wheel well area when the flight arrived from Guatemala City, Guatemala, at 10:06 a.m., officials said. News outlets reported that Flight 1182 was met by law enforcement due to a security issue. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers took the man into custody, the agency said in a news release. Medics took the man to a hospital for a medical assessment.

President Joe Biden’s approval rating is now underwater by double digits, over 10 months into his presidency, Friday’s RealClearPolitics’ average shows. RCP’s average of polls, which includes Rasmussen Reports, Economist/YouGov, NPR/PBS/Marist, Reuters/Ipsos, Fox News, Politico/Morning Consult, Quinnipiac, ABC News/Washington Post, Gallup, Monmouth, Federalist/Susquehanna, USA Today/Suffolk, Emerson, and CNN, currently shows Biden’s approval rating sitting at 41.6 percent. A majority, 53.1 percent disapprove of Biden’s job performance, giving him a net negative of 11.5 percent.

Covid skeptics across the country are speaking out about many irregularities with the so-called “Omicron Variant.” It came out of nowhere at a very convenient time with Big Pharma apparently already prepared to use it to print more money and force more jabs onto people. It’s being touted as potentially more infectious and virulent than previous variants. All the while, we still have nothing but authoritarian responses to its sudden emergence. U.S. Representative Ronnie Jackson (R-TX) has a better name for it than “Omicron”: “Here comes the MEV – the Midterm Election Variant! They NEED a reason to push unsolicited...

Democrats now assert their bailout of multiemployer union pension plans in March's American Rescue Plan Act was deeply flawed and are demanding the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) rescue multiemployer union pension plans from the act's botched rescue. Democrats' admission this bailout will cost much more than advertised should raise concerns about the real costs of the third massive bill they are rushing to enact this year with new social spending schemes. The American Rescue Plan Act provided an $86 billion "taxpayer bailout" to some multiemployer union pension plans, according to the Congressional Budget Office, but not enough to make...

(CNSNews.com) - President and Mrs. Biden attended a "friendsgiving" celebration at Fort Bragg on Monday evening, giving brief remarks before the meal was served. First lady Jill Biden spoke first, then introduced her husband, who joked, "I'm Jill Biden's husband Joe Biden, as you can see. I continue to follow her." (Indeed he does follow her. At the conclusion of Joe's remarks, he wondered "where am I supposed to go?" looking to his wife for direction. More on that below.) Evidently at a loss without prepared remarks, Biden told the troops about his wife -- and Valentine's Day. The anecdote...

All Israelis required to quarantine for at least 3 days, undergo 2 PCR tests after return to Israel. Those returning from "red" countries will be quarantined in hotels. Israel's Coronavirus Cabinet on Saturday night approved the restrictions recommended by Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz). During the meeting, the staff of experts presented its position, according to which the COVID-19 vaccinations are more important than ever, in order to prevent severe illness. In accordance with this, the Cabinet members call on Israeli citizens who have not yet received their booster dose to do so as...

Just a heads up on a new (to me) scam. Got a robo-call today allegedly from Amazon. Something about suspicious activity on my account. Ok, I pushed the button to talk to a real person. A guy comes on the line and asks if I was purchasing an iPhone 11. I of course said no. (I'm an Android guy) He said fine, the purchase would be denied. (this is a key part of the scam) I had him on speaker phone and went to my Amazon account. There was no record of an iPhone purchase. Now he claimed they had...

The Ukrainian president called on Vladimir Putin to publicly deny that he was preparing an invasion yesterday, saying Russia was sending “very dangerous signals”. President Zelensky, 43, also made the extraordinary claim that he believed a coup attempt was being planned for December 1 in Ukraine, with the involvement of Russian citizens and the country’s richest man. The remarks came amid continuing concerns in the West over the alleged build-up of almost 100,000 Russian troops on Ukraine’s borders. Moscow warned that suggestions of an invasion plan were “a provocation”. President Zelensky told journalists in Kiev: “We believe that very dangerous...

Frantic parents with children in their arms fled in every direction during a Black Friday shooting at a packed mall in Washington, witnesses said. Kobe Marsh was inside Panera Bread at Tacoma Mall with a friend when they heard a loud bang, which they quickly realized was gunfire around 7:08 p.m., the Sun reported Saturday.

And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall be thy name: And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord: and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed. And he put the wood in order,...