Free Republic

Microsoft will acquire Activision Blizzard, the developer behind Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Candy Crush, for $68.7 billion. This deal, which is the most expensive acquisition in Microsoft’s history, will make Microsoft the third-largest game company by revenue behind Tencent and Sony. But more importantly, it will kick off Microsoft’s venture into the metaverse.

“The last star will slowly cool and fade away. With its passing, the universe will become once more a void, without light or life or meaning.” So warned the physicist Brian Cox in the recent BBC series Universe. The fading of that last star will only be the beginning of an infinitely long, dark epoch. All matter will eventually be consumed by monstrous black holes, which in their turn will evaporate away into the dimmest glimmers of light. Space will expand ever outwards until even that dim light becomes too spread out to interact. Activity will cease. Or will it?...

The statue of Teddy Roosevelt has been removed from the Natural History Museum in New York City. Left-wing activists said the statue was racist.

In this Sunday’s Gospel passage of the wedding feast at Cana, there is a theological portrait of both Mother Mary and prayer. Let’s look at the Gospel along five lines:I. The place that Mary has – The text says, There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding.A fascinating thing about these opening verses is that Mary almost seems to dominate the scene; the presence of Jesus is mentioned only secondarily. St. Thomas Aquinas notes that at Cana, Mary acts as the “go-between” in...

VIDEOPssst! Senator Murphy. Guess who was obsessing about "WHO COUNTS THE VOTES" in a big way? Hint? It was someone in a Senate hallway and a member of your own party. Yes, Joe Biden. And yet you conveniently overlooked that while castigating President Donald Trump during debate about federalizing elections in the states.

As President Biden completes his first year in office, he finds himself in trouble with a stalled agenda and low poll numbers. But this wasn't always the case. Back in March, Biden hosted a meeting with historians at the White House. For two-plus hours, they discussed big ideas, including how Biden could and should push through historic legislation to change America — the kind of legislation that comes around once in a generation, if not a lifetime. They also discussed Franklin Delano Roosevelt, with Biden at one point reportedly saying, "I'm no FDR, but ... " At the time, Biden...

January 20, 2022 Thursday of week 2 in Ordinary Time Saint Fabian Catholic Church – Bridgeview, Illinois Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green.First reading1 Samuel 18:6-9,19:1-7 ©Saul's envy and Jonathan's loyal friendshipOn their way back, as David was returning after killing the Philistine, the women came out to meet King Saul from all the towns of Israel, singing and dancing to the sound of tambourine and lyre and cries of joy; and as they danced the women sang:‘Saul has killed his thousands,and David his tens of thousands.’Saul was very angry; the incident was not to his liking. ‘They have given David...

The former White House physician Ronny Jackson reacted to Joe Biden displaying more brain freeze during his second press conference in office Wednesday, demanding that the president immediately undergo a cognitive test. Biden essentially ignored a question from a reporter about why so many Americans believe he is in cognitive decline, replying “I have no idea.” He answered it truthfully. https://t.co/qWF70nRD3C — Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) January 19, 2022 Just minutes after that Biden displayed more bizarre brain freeze and painful loss of his train of thought. This clip is painful to watch. Biden freezes up and loses his train...

Any mask is better than no mask. But loosely woven cloth masks provide the least amount of protection and Americans in some cases might want to opt for higher quality masks like KN95 and N95 respirators, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wrote Friday in updated online guidance. In light of the new guidance, Main Line Health says it is no longer allowing cloth masks to be worn by employees or visitors in any of its locations or administrative areas.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett drew the ire of abortion advocates with a comment during oral arguments for the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case in December. The case, to be decided this year, may spell the end of Roe v. Wade and its policy of abortion-on-demand. Recent responses from abortion proponents show how blind they are to the compelling realities of abortion alternatives. Barrett, an adoptive mother herself, asked if a woman who lacks access to abortion is freed from forced parenthood when she leaves her baby at a safe location for adoption. Barrett’s comment was...

If President Biden’s press conference Wednesday was supposed to inspire confidence, it failed — horribly. Even though he spent most of it clearly calling on reporters from a list of “safe” questioners provided by his staff, he stumbled and bumbled and all too often made no sense at all. Plus, he repeated his bizarre “whisper shout” gimmick to emphasize certain points — when what it actually emphasizes is his age. On that note, he kept walking down memory lane, reminiscing about how “in my day” cable news was like that, the Republican Party was like this, and so on. He’s...

Children whose parents are in the military have “privilege,” according to Fairfax County Public Schools curriculum leaked this week. According to curriculum materials obtained by The Daily Wire and confirmed by a school official on Tuesday, the Virginia county’s curriculum includes a game of “privilege” bingo, where participants are given points by “identifying your privilege.” Among the points of privilege listed are “white,” “Christian,” “cisgender,” “feel safe around police officers,” and “military kid.” Several parents complained to school officials over the controversial game, noting that military children are frequently moved away from friends, may not see their service-member parents for...

“The bedrock of the American republic is that elections must be free, fair, accurate, and trusted.” So states Mollie Hemingway in her important book, Rigged: How the Media, Big Tech, and the Democrats Seized Our Elections(2021)I spoke with Mollie on the radio when her book came out. She told our audience, “I found after 2020 the way that you weren’t allowed to talk about [the election] to be completely suspicious. We all lived through it. It was the weirdest election of our lifetime---but then you weren’t allowed to notice that in any way.” Nothing to see here---move along. In order...

Biden gives Putin permission to invade Psaki immediately attempted damage control… https://t.co/OQY3M66Snh — Jen Psaki (@PressSec) January 19, 2022 Ukraine officials stunned by the statement… CNN: Kyiv officials “shocked” and “stunned” by Biden’s statement on a potential Russian invasion. Great work, Mr. President. — Abe Greenwald (@AbeGreenwald) January 19, 2022 Even CNN was stunned VIDEOS AT LINK............................

A pair of Republicans want Ohio to join a national effort to amend the U.S. Constitution with term limits for members of Congress and a balanced federal budget. "It’s time for the states to step up," Rep. Riordan McClain, R-Upper Sandusky, said. His proposal, House Joint Resolution 1, would submit Ohio's official application for a Convention of States to create new amendments in three specific areas: A balanced budget, term limits and reducing the jurisdiction of the federal government. "Congress has had plenty of time to act on the subject items that we’ve laid out," McClain said. "But they've shown...

A unit of China’s Sinopec Group will hold a LNG auction on the Shanghai Petroleum and Gas Exchange (SHPGX) on Nov. 14, the exchange said on Friday, without revealing the volume on offer. Potential buyers are invited to submit bids to Sinopec’s Guangxi gas sales subsidiary from 0900–1130 Beijing time (0100–0330 GMT) and 1330–1500 (0530–0700 GMT) on that day, the SHPGX said in a statement on its website. The auction comes on the eve of China’s peak winter heating season, which gets under way in mid-November, and amid warnings of severe gas shortages in the coming months. This winter, millions...

Good morning everyone. I drank a Coca Cola after church services this past Sunday at our get together and it tasted funny. I was wondering if my encounter with Covid some months ago had affected my taste. Then, wifey bought some coke yesterday and it tasted the same as it did Sunday. It doesn't taste like Coke used to taste. Anyone else notice the change? Other things taste normal to me so was wondering what is going on with Coca Cola. Anyone know if they changed the formula? Is it now Biden Cola?

An antitrust proposal scheduled for markup in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday would arbitrarily choose which American businesses are subject to stringent new laws and massive fines unless lawmakers fix the bill’s serious flaws. The bill, S.2992, the bipartisan American Innovation and Choice Online Act, is aimed at imposing new parameters on ‘Big Tech’ business practices. But it uses flawed metrics to attack certain businesses and favor others. If the legislation’s cosponsors – Sens. Klobuchar, Grassley, Durbin, Graham, Blumenthal, Kennedy, Booker, Hirono, and Hawley – are serious about addressing consumer concerns, rather than simply penalizing popular businesses, they should...

Big Tech’s push to censor speech and content has reached a new level in weirdness. Microsoft, which controls 89 percent of the productivity software market, has slipped into its operating system a bizarre spellchecker which notifies users when they are using words outside of the ‘approved’ language of the far-left radicals.Microsoft’s spellchecker flags words that might be offensive in the following ways:Age biasCultural biasEthnic slursGender biasGender specific languageRacial biasSexual orientation biasAccording to the tech writers at Gizmodo examples include changing “blacklist” and “whitelist” to “accepted” or “allowed list,” and swapping the gender-specific “postman” with “postal worker.” Similarly, “humanity” or “humankind”...

WASHINGTON, Sunday, Jan. 19. The Potter Committee, appointed by the House to investigate the fidelity, of clerks and other employes of the Government about Washington, have suspended their labors and are preparing their report. It will be very long, and must create much excitement in the country, as the Committee have some to the conclusion that at least five hundred persons employed in the Departments here are disloyal to the Government, and would rejoice to see JEFF. DAVIS in possession of Washington. The report will be very severe upon Mr. SMITH, Secretary of the Interior, showing that JACOB THOMPSON's old...