Free Republic

Norway’s revenues from oil and gas production hit a record high this year and are showing no signs of slowing down Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre believes that a total end to oil exploration and production would harm the transition to renewable alternatives in a world still so reliant on oil and gas. He stated, "If we were to say from one day to the other that we close down production from the Norwegian shelf, I believe that would put a stop to an industrial transition that is needed to succeed in the momentum towards net zero . ....

Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas dismissed the new COVID-19 Omicron strain as Democrats' bid to 'cheat' in the upcoming 2022 midterm elections in a controversial tweet he posted Saturday. 'Here comes the MEV - the Midterm Election Variant! They NEED a reason to push unsolicited nationwide mail-in ballots,' wrote the lawmaker who served as the personal doctor to Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump. 'Democrats will do anything to CHEAT during an election - but we're not going to let them!'

Nowhere is the wait for repairs in city public housing more desperate than at the Castle Hill Houses in The Bronx — the number of open work orders for residents there has ballooned to more than 11,000 in recent months. The repair request backlog at the sprawling four-block NYCHA development has grown by more than 26 percent over the last year as NYCHA failed to keep up with deteriorating conditions in the complex’s 2,000 apartments. It’s the biggest backlog for any single development across the entire system of public housing in the Big Apple, which has more than 280 complexes,...

The Salvation Army has withdrawn its controversial "Let's Talk About ... Racism" guide following criticism and donor backlash over the text that asked white supporters of the charity group to deliver "sincere" apologies for their race and the past sins of the Church. As a result of some of the guide's more extreme positions becoming public, donors and supporters across the country have been rescinding their support of the organization. In a statement titled "The Salvation Army's Response to False Claims on the Topic of Racism," the 156-year-old organization denies that the purpose of the guide or subsequent discussions revolving...

Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday urged every New Yorker to again wear masks in all indoor public places as city health officials prepared for the imminent arrival of the Omicron variant. “It’s time to remind people and double down and say, ‘Even if you started to move away from masks before, we’re telling you to get those masks back on now,’ ” de Blasio said at a remote press briefing from City Hall. City Health Commissioner David Chokshi said the advisory covers even fully vaccinated people and those who have had the virus. “Today I’m issuing a commissioner’s advisory...

President Biden on Monday met with 10 CEOs from major retailers and grocers to discuss the holiday shopping season, touting the success of last week's Black Friday sales. “Consumer spending has recovered to where it was headed before the pandemic. Early estimates are that Black Friday sales were up nearly a third since last year and in-store sales were up by even more than that,” Biden said. Eight CEOs sat at the table with Biden, including Best Buy's Corie Barry, Samsung's KS Choi and Kroger's Rodney McMullen, with others joining virtually. Brian Deese, director of the National Economic Council, and...

Another of grandfather Jack Bell's stories. This one is about a 1902 gunfight grandfather was in at the bottom of a mine. Later on he was, at various times, a game warden, Deputy Sheriff of Gunnison County, Colorado and Deputy Sheriff of Verdi, Nevada. The quotes in the story come from testimonials put out to get people to buy stock in his 1906 Jack Bell Gold Mining Company when he started a gold rush in Buckskin, Nevada.

Patients who survived COVID-19 have such strong natural immunity that their chance of reinfection or serious side effects is minimal, according to a new study published in The New England Journal of Medicine. The study conducted by researchers in Qatar reviewed global databases for 353,000 coronavirus patients who were infected between Feb. 28, 2020 and April 28, 2021. The researchers excluded about 87,500 people who were vaccinated, and found of the remaining population only 1,304 got reinfected, with none requiring ICU hospitalization. “Reinfections had 90% lower odds of resulting in hospitalization or death than primary infections,”the researchers said. “…Reinfections were...

Minimum dose interval for booster jabs to be halved from 6 months to 3 months and all adults to be offered booster Covid vaccine, Health Secretary Sajid Javid confirms https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1465346793793802253

Men need to “shut up and listen” to women if they want to address toxic masculinity, actor Benedict Cumberbatch has said. In a new interview with Sky News following the release of Power Of The Dog, in which Cumberbatch plays a wealthy ranch owner in 1920s Montana, US, he said there is currently not enough recognition of the advantages men have over women in society today. “There is not enough recognition of abuse, there’s not enough recognition of disadvantages,” he said.

Are you thinking about buying a gun? Ew. What's wrong with you? Gross! Just... ew. Guns are very problematic, and so are the people who use them. You don't need one. Here's why. #1) You can always count on the police to protect you: That's just a fact. Police are proven 100% effective at protecting innocent people! #2) There's no evidence to suggest the government would ever overstep and try to take away your rights: A government has literally never done this. Don't be so paranoid! #3) Guns make journalists wet their pants: If you live near a journalist and...

Judge Matthew Schelp of the Eastern District of Missouri issued an injunction halting President Joe Biden's Wuhan coronavirus vaccine mandate for Medicare and Medicaid workers in ten states Monday, citing a lack of approval from Congress. "The mandate requires nearly every employee, volunteer, and third-party contractor working at fifteen catogires of healthcare facilities to be vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2 (“COVID”) and to have received at least a first dose of the vaccine prior to December 6, 2021," court documents show. "Congress did not grant CMS authority to mandate the vaccine. Plaintiffs are likely to succeed in their argument that Congress has...

Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado had a tense phone call with Rep. Ilhan Omar on Monday that centered around Boebert's recent controversial remarks about the Minnesota Democrat. The phone call ended with Omar hanging up after both congresswomen demanded each other issue public apologies for past remarks, Boebert said in an Instagram video Monday. Boebert said she organized the call with Omar because she "wanted to let her know directly that I had reflected on my previous remarks." "Now as a strong, Christian woman who values faith deeply, I never want anything I say to offend someone's religion. So...

The Indian Bar Association is reporting that murder charges have been filed in India’s High Court against two billionaires responsible for the AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, Covishield, for the murder of a 23-year-old man who was injected with the shot. The two named defendants are Bill Gates, and Adar Poonawalla, the CEO of Serum Institute of India (SII), reportedly the world’s largest vaccine maker. According to corporate news sources, Adar Poonawalla’s company produces not only the COVID-19 vaccine Covishield, but also over 50% of the world’s vaccines that are injected into babies. The unnamed defendants are “other Government officials and leaders...

Buckle up, everyone, we’re about to have a Thanksgiving ride! The title speaks for itself. Call it a seasonal family comedy drama with action elements and a totally unpredictable ending. Introverts may take it as a horror movie, thanks to the four walls without a possibility to exit and a bunch of people throwing ‘what are you doing with your life’-sorta questions at you. For those who are introducing their partners to the family, it may feel like a romantic movie until an uncle makes an inappropriate comment. But for the most part it’s a wild cooking show with special...

Longtime friend and producer James Golden also spoke to current events, and how Rush Limbaugh impacted the media landscape foreverLate conservative icon Rush Limbaugh's longtime friend and producer James Golden – known best to listeners as call screener "Bo Snerdley" – remembered the legacy of Limbaugh and shared how the host changed the media landscape forever.As he wrote in his new book "Rush on the Radio," Golden told of how he and Limbaugh crossed paths in New York City prior to their lasting friendship and work together.

Much of it was sparked by the deja vu of a dreaded 5pm emergency Saturday evening press conference – like the one that saw the government unfathomably ‘cancel Christmas’ for millions of us last year thanks to Delta – where the fear and hysteria of a new Covid scariant was expertly whipped up.But this time Boris Johnson, Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance were not the Three Wise Men, they were the Three Clueless Blokes.None of them has any idea if the Omicron variant is more transmissible or – crucially – if it evades the vaccines.In fact, so far there is...

White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci insists that Republicans are actually criticizing science when they criticize him, but Sen. Rand Paul disagrees with the doctor’s political diagnosis. The Kentucky Republican denounced Dr. Fauci for declaring “I represent science” in a Sunday interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “The absolute hubris of someone claiming THEY represent science,” tweeted Mr. Paul, who is also a medical doctor. “It’s astounding and alarming that a public health bureaucrat would even think to claim such a thing, especially one who has worked so hard to ignore the science of natural immunity.” In the interview,...

President Biden on Monday repeatedly mispronounced Omicron as he claimed he was on top of the potentially more contagious COVID-19 variant—before wishing reporters a “Merry Christmas” a month early. “It’s called the Omni-cron,” Biden mangled the name during a speech in the White House Roosevelt Room, incorrectly uttering the Greek letter used to name the new variant. “Travel restrictions can slow the speed of Omnicron. We cannot prevent it. But here’s what it does: It gives us time,” said Biden, who on Friday ordered travel restrictions on South Africa and seven neighboring countries. “We’ve moved forward in the face of...

Contents from Hunter Biden’s laptop reveal China’s scheme Contents from Hunter Biden’s laptop reveal China’s scheme to buy Joe Biden’s influence. Seemingly the only major media company digging into and uncovering the scandal surrounding Hunter Biden’s laptop is the New York Post. The investigative journalist who has done most of the digging is Miranda Devine, and she has a forthcoming book detailing her findings regarding the Biden family’s corrupt business dealings with China titled Laptop from Hell. For one thing, Devine pulls back the curtain on Hunter Biden’s work to peddle his family connection to Joe Biden to the tune...