Free Republic

"It means buckle your seatbelt Dorothy, because Kansas is going bye-bye."The linchpin that allows the world’s nefarious central banking model to be so effective is that the commonfolk - the plumber, the electrician, the teacher, the bartender, bus driver or barber - don’t understand it. Countless times, I have reminded my readers and listeners that the inflationary “machinery of night” blankets the most regressive tax possible upon the people who can least afford it, and does so in an extraordinarily convenient way for elites, politicians, central bankers and central planners whose titles and “jobs” hinge upon nobody questioning them and/or...

Four people are in custody after two officers were shot Wednesday afternoon in Ferguson, Missouri. The officers were shot while approaching a vehicle around 1 p.m. in an attempt to apprehend a homicide suspect, FOX 2 NOW reported. Gunshots rang out as the officers closed in on the vehicle.

[Catholic Caucus] The war on Mass “ad orientem”And so it begins.This just in from a reader…My bishop (Venice in Florida) has just (via a letter to his priests) forbidden the use of ad orientem in any Novus Ordo Masses with a congregation. He asserts that the Novus Ordo mandates versus populum and that any other interpretation is false. It would be interesting to see that letter, wouldn’t it.

Within moments of widespread media reports that Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer will retire when the current term ends this summer, the Washington parlor game of making a short list of judges President Joe Biden might consider to replace him began. ... There’s one major problem facing Biden’s prospects, though: he might not be able to win confirmation for the expected pick. [Snip] But the nuclear option can go into motion only if the Judiciary Committee reports the nomination to the floor, a procedural move that says whether a majority on the committee recommends the full Senate consider the pick....

Gov. Ron DeSantis is pushing a bill through the Florida legislature to put a stop to the modern pedagogy of making little girls cry because they're white. The bill, called "Stop the Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees Act (WOKE)," prohibits classroom instruction that contradicts these concepts: "No race is inherently superior to another race"; "An individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, does not bear responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex"; "An individual should not be made to feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form...

Thousands of Islamic State fighters have surrendered after almost a week of fighting at a prison in Syria. The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces announced Wednesday that they had re-taken control of the al-Sina’a prison in the northeastern Syrian town of Hasakah. .. The attack on al-Sina’a prison in Hasakah began with a series of car bombings at the prison complex, triggering a riot after some detainees overpowered guards. The prison is one of several across northeastern Syria, where thousands of captured ISIS fighters have been held since 2019, when coalition-led Kurdish forces captured the last major territory held by the...

ABC legal analyst Sunny Hostin said Wednesday on ABC’s “The View” that Spotify should “police” Joe Rogan’s podcast with a disclaimer. During the panel discussion on musician Neil Young asking Spotify to remove his music because of podcaster Joe Rogan COVID vaccine comments, Hostin said, “People always came down on Facebook, and they came down on Twitter, and they said they’re disseminating all this dangerous information. Don’t they have some accountability for it? It is their platform. It is their business. I want a good corporate citizen that has a policy. I’m not saying that Joe Rogan should be removed...

Moderna has started testing an omicron-specific booster shot in adults, the company announced Wednesday. The trial, which will include several hundred people at two dozen sites across the U.S., comes as companies and health officials grapple with a rise in cases linked to the omicron variant. Omicron has become the dominant strain in the U.S. since it first appeared in the country late last year, with the highly transmissible virus driving up cases and hospitalizations, though early data suggests it causes less severe disease.

Former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), now an MSNBC contributor, said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Deadline” that Senate Democrats are “anxious” to make the Republicans feel the pain they did during the 27-day process that confirmed Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Discussing a replacement for retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, Nicolle Wallace said, “What is your sense of how prepared the Senate is to run this through right now?”

The Canadian ‘Freedom Convoy’ of truckers, pushing back against COVID mandates, forced vaccinations and government regulations, began late last week and has gained incredible support from the public. It is very challenging to put the scale of this grassroots effort into an adequate context. The fundraiser for the effort now exceeds $5.5 million dollars and still climbing. It is now estimated that over 50,000 vehicles are participating in the convoy effort, and the Canadian Dept of Transportation is doing everything possible to stop, block and impede the assemblies. Every federal truck stop and DOT weigh station has been opened, and...

Una Voce International: Guide to taking part in the Synod Votive Mass of Our Lady, Oxford Oratory, EnglandCross-posted from the FIUV blog.Pope Francis has called on all members of the Church to contribute to a Synod to take place in Rome in 2023. Contributions are sought on where the Holy Spirit is guiding the Church.At the same time testimonials have been requested by the 'Mothers of Traditional Priests' who are walking from Paris to Rome to present their concerns to the Holy Father.Catholics attached to the Traditional liturgy should not allow their voices to be forgotten. Una Voce International...

On Monday, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin (R-Va.) announced that his office would be opening up an anonymous tip line for Virginia parents to report teachers and schools that they believed to be teaching curriculum that includes Critical Race Theory (CRT). As reported by The Daily Caller, Youngkin made the announcement during an interview on the John Fredericks Show, with Youngkin saying that parents “can send us an email at helpeducation@governor.virginia.gov.” “We’re asking for folks to send us reports and observations that will help us be aware of things like privileged bingo, be aware of their child being denied their rights...

Researchers sourcing VAERS data on Covid jabs found what appears to be a deadly political war being waged on red states. When viewing adverse reactions tied to specific batches of Covid vaccines, the analysts found highly toxic vaccine lots being channeled towards conservative areas. “Some red states are seeing 11-times more vaccine deaths than other states,” Greg Reese reports. “On average, red states are experiencing twice the amount of vaccine deaths and injuries than blue states.” One researcher concluded the reason for this discrepancy is that red states have been delivered double the amount of lethal batches that blue states...

A new analysis by David Geary at the University of Missouri and Gijsbert Stoet at the University of Essex in the United Kingdom finds career aspirations from nearly 500,000 adolescents shows consistent sex differences across 80 nations, suggesting biologically-influenced preferences can play a role in gender segregation in the workplace later in life. The researchers also found a tendency for larger differences to appear in gender-equal countries, such as Finland, Norway or Sweden. "Sex differences in career choices and outcomes are often blamed on social factors, such as stereotypes and bias," said Geary, Curators Distinguished Professor of Psychological Sciences in...

Explanation: Why is the sky near Antares and Rho Ophiuchi so dusty yet colorful? The colors result from a mixture of objects and processes. Fine dust -- illuminated from the front by starlight -- produces blue reflection nebulae. Gaseous clouds whose atoms are excited by ultraviolet starlight produce reddish emission nebulae. Backlit dust clouds block starlight and so appear dark. Antares, a red supergiant and one of the brighter stars in the night sky, lights up the yellow-red clouds on the lower right of the featured image. The Rho Ophiuchi star system lies at the center of the blue reflection...

An Afghan refugee recently admitted into the United States has been convicted of sexually abusing a three-year-old girl in Virginia, according to local news reports. Mohammed Tariq, a 24-year-old Afghan national who came to the U.S. following President Joe Biden’s botched withdrawal from the county, tried to argue through his interpreters that pedophilic behavior was acceptable in his culture. While being housed at Camp Upshur on Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, “United States Marines observed the defendant inappropriately touching the victim over her clothing, on her chest, genitals, and buttocks,” explained the Department of Justice. “The victim and Tariq...

Spotify is in the process of removing Neil Young’s catalog of music from its service after the artist published — then took down — an open letter with an ultimatum: Deal with the vaccine misinformation coming from Joe Rogan’s podcast, or lose Young’s music. Two days after the letter was published, Spotify is now in the process of removing Young’s music from the streaming service, a Spotify spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter. “We want all the world’s music and audio content to be available to Spotify users. With that comes great responsibility in balancing both safety for listeners and freedom...

A Washington, D.C., law firm hired by the University of Pittsburgh concluded that the institution’s research practices involving aborted children are “fully compliant with federal and state regulatory requirements.” The university hired the firm Hyman, Phelps & McNamara back in September after numerous reports raised concerns about how the institution procures aborted body parts and uses them for experimental purposes. Regardless of the investigation’s results, questions surrounding the university’s use of aborted body parts for experimentation remain. Incomplete Investigation Notably, the report revealed there was no investigation into the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), the source of the aborted...

“But He answered and said, ‘It is written . . . it is written . . . it is written . . .’” (Matthew 4:4, 7, 10). The Lord Jesus Christ is indeed our supreme example for how to resist temptation. Hebrews 4:15 reminds us, “We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin” (cf. 2:18). Our responsibility is to consider the many ways He was tempted, look to Him, and follow His example in turning away from sin. Jesus met...

On Tuesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Ingraham Angle,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) reacted to a video of the release of single adult migrants by stating that while Democrats “are still trying to shut down schools or insisting that kindergartners wear masks,” “tax dollars are supporting single, grown men crossing this border and being shipped wherever they want to go,” and that DHS data from December shows that the Biden administration is defying court orders to re-implement the Remain in Mexico policy. Cotton said, “Yeah, Laura, it’s criminally negligent. You have Democrats across the country who are still trying...