Free Republic

Last week, Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) suffered a stroke and underwent brain surgery. He is currently hospitalized in Albuquerque. He is expected to return to the U.S. Senate in four to six weeks, assuming there are no further medical complications. However, during his absence, Democrats no longer have a majority in the Senate—Republicans have a 50-49 majority. This means that until Luján returns, a united GOP can block the Democrats’ agenda and there’s nothing the Democrats could do about it. This is actually a big deal. In addition to blocking the Democrats’ legislative agenda, Luján’s absence could potentially impact...

ROUND 4 OF THE '50S TOURNAMENT OF CHART-TOPPERS II COMMENCES! ROUND 4 – SWEET 16 Votes due: Sunday, Feb 13 @ 12:00 pm Eastern. 16 songs, 8 pairs, 8 winners! Vote for your favorite in each pair listed. (You may abstain from any pairs, but please don't overdo it!) Any ties will be broken via Billboard annual ranking, then back to Round 1 ranking (seed), then Round 1 point total, then Round 1 vote count. Past Rounds: Rounds 1A and 1B: 1A, 1B Round 2: 2 Round 3: 3

Germany, as we well know with its Russian gas capers, is a highly industrialized society in need of a lot of energy. Fine and dandy. But how they get it presents increasingly bad options. They got rid of their nuclear power in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdown after a big earthquake in Japan, (despite Germany not being in a quake zone), driving themselves to dependency on foreign suppliers. That's presented problems for them what with Russia filling that role, so their other recourse has been the one Joe Biden is touting for America: Green energy -- like...

How would you feel about paying $5 each month for the ability to lock and unlock your car from a distance through an app? What about a $25-per-month charge for advanced cruise control or $10 to access heated seats? What if those charges continued long after your car was paid off? As vehicles become increasingly connected to the internet, car companies aim to rake in billions by having customers pay monthly or annual subscriptions to access certain features. Not content with the relatively low-margin business of building and selling cars, automakers are eager to pull down Silicon Valley-style profits. But...

LEBANON COUNTY, Pa. — After a series of videos were released on social media accusing a Lebanon County restaurant of acting as a conduit to coordinate distribution of Ivermectin, an alternative, non-FDA approved treatment for COVID-19, officials have confirmed they are investigating the allegations. Taste of Sicily, owned by Christine Mason's mother, Silvana Drill, and operated by restaurant manager Mike Magano, have used their Facebook page throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to pronounce their views, and to show that they wouldn't abide by some of the COVID-19 restrictions Gov. Tom Wolf put into place for restaurants during 2020. Drill told FOX43...

A substitute teacher in California berated a 13-year-old student for wearing a pro-police mask, claiming the face covering was the new version of the Confederate flag, video shows. Lucas Lillar was wearing the mask featuring a thin blue line in support of law enforcement when he was confronted by the educator last Monday in his math class at Lyman Gilmore Middle School in Grass Valley, Fox News reported. “That’s not the American flag, that’s the new Confederacy flag,” the teacher could be heard saying in the video.

Let’s see how The Federal Reserve will handles its bloated balance sheet, particularly with a midterm election around the corner. What a difference 25 years makes. Worried that inflation was about to turn higher, the Federal Reserve in February 1994 began raising interest rates, taking the federal funds rate from 3% to 6% a year later. As it turned out, those worries were unfounded: The U.S. consumer price index barely budged, finishing the year at 2.7%, right where it had started. Some central banks say that rate hikes are coming, but their extraordinary reluctance to deal with actual inflation means...

This is part 1 of an exclusive Fringe Finance interview with shipping analyst (and friend of mine) J Mintzmyer, where we discuss the state of the supply chain in the country, the developments with Canadian truckers, logistics, the effects of Covid and what shipping names he likes for 2022. J is a renowned maritime shipping analyst and investor who directs the Value Investor’s Edge (“VIE”) research platform on Seeking Alpha. You can follow him on Twitter @mintzmyer. J is a frequent speaker at industry conferences, is regularly quoted in trade journals, and hosts a popular podcast featuring shipping industry executives....

"Shut up.", she explains. https://imgur.com/nRxFdqx For reference, pls view the definitive snapshot from the Pelosi/Gulch Family Album (link just above), showing Nancy along with her (much better-looking) sister Almira. What a nightmare that this beautiful country should be saddled with such a decrepit husk of a human in high office. What a nightmare she should also be demented to the point she thinks she can issue advice on proper decorum/deference toward the Chinese Communist Party. God help us. WHO ARE YOU that elected her, and keep her in office. I shudder to think I walk among lice like you. Recall...

Finland’s men’s ice hockey coach has accused China of not respecting a player’s human rights at the Winter Olympics as forward ​​Marko Anttila remains in isolation 18 days after testing positive for COVID-19. Jukka Jalonen took aim at the conditions the 6-foot-8, 230-pound Finnish player is under while in isolation, which he said has taken a toll on Anttila, both physically and mentally. "He's a professional athlete and he would like to participate in team practices and games in the near future," Jalonen told media during a zoom call, via CBC News. "He's not getting great food and he's a...

GoFundMe’s suspension of millions to support protesting truckers in Canada shocked many, particularly when the company initially announced its intention to distribute the money to other charities. It was less of a surprise for those of us who have criticized the company for years over its use of the platform to target and block funds for conservative and libertarian causes. Indeed, the company has revised an old practice known as the “Nag’s Head light” in luring the unsuspecting into what has become a liberal lockbox on funds.

Beijing (CNN)Making her Olympic debut for Team China, California-born figure skater Zhu Yi was eager to prove herself to the Chinese public. Instead, the 19-year-old is facing a firestorm on Chinese social media after she fell flat on the ice and finished last in the women's short program team event Sunday. On Weibo, China's Twitter-like platform, the hashtag "Zhu Yi has fallen" gained 200 million views in just a few hours. Many questioned why Zhu, an American-born skater, was picked to represent China at the expense of an athlete born in the country. "This is such a disgrace," said a...

The Lord God, the Giver of Good Gifts. Every good and perfect gift comes down from God; God sent down His only begotten Son that whosoever believes on Him, will not perish but have everlasting life. When God becomes a Father to us, He wants us to enjoy abundant life! God wants us to come to Him with our needs, in fact, we are to come boldly to the Throne of Grace (grace=free and undeserved, unearned favor) to find mercy and help in a time of need. Too often people live like they are temper-tantrum throwing children, demanding their sinful...

ST. LOUIS — Anheuser-Busch will debut its first zero-carb beer this week. The brewery needs it to be a winner. Bud Light Next is a pale champagne in color, fizzy like seltzer, just 80 calories, and a world of hope for A-B. The company is counting on it to bring back younger drinkers who have flocked to seltzers and spirits, and, perhaps, lead the world’s largest brewer out of a tough decade. Revenues are flat. Market share is crumbling. Now it’s trying again. And Anheuser-Busch is pulling out all the stops to make it work: The new beer is rolling...

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) criticized the Republican National Committee's (RNC) apparent characterization of the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as “legitimate political discourse” in a resolution to formally censure Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.). The RNC on Friday voted to censure both lawmakers, with the resolution saying that they have been engaged in the “persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse” by participating in the House select panel investigating the insurrection at the Capitol. The two were also censured for their past criticism of former President Trump. “What happened on January 6,...

This whopping beast gives a whole new meaning to catch of the day. A Mississippi hunter has caught and killed an 80-year-old, 905lb alligator that measures 13feet 4inches in length at a lake in southern Florida. But even this monster - an 80-year-old who was known to feast on livestock venturing too near to its lake - isn't the largest caught in Florida. The record for the longest alligator caught goes to a 14ft 3.5inch beast caught in Lake Washington in Brevard County and the heaviest was a 1,043lb one in Orange Lake in Alachua County The hunt for the...

Joe Rogan and Spotify aren’t in trouble for spreading false information. They’re in trouble for embarrassing the media and government officials who themselves pushed false information. he Left has a word for misinformation that turns out to be true. They call it, “misinformation.” Over and over again, the tech giants, cheered on by power-drunk government officials, have censored and deplatformed people who have contradicted the official narrative regarding COVID and heavy-handed public health measures that restrict freedom with dubious health benefits. Tellingly, the demands to censor Joe Rogan rarely identify the supposed “misinformation” he peddled. Even more tellingly, the censors...

Crowdfunding platform GoFundMe, which is now caught up in controversy over its nixing of a fundraiser for the Canadian trucker protests, once promoted an appeal for the 2020 Seattle Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (CHOP.) The platform on Friday announced that it had frozen the convoy’s official campaign, offering a justification that there was violence connected to the Freedom Convoy and the protest had turned into an occupation. The truckers are protesting Canada's vaccine mandates. "We now have evidence from law enforcement that the previously peaceful demonstration has become an occupation, with police reports of violence and other unlawful activity," a...

The Bartlett Warehouse fire seems to be a records storage facility owned by TD Ameritrade Inc. The retail community finds it incredibly suspicious since the incident occurred after the SEC announced 60 hedge funds were to undergo investigations for manipulative short selling. The address of the Bartlett Warehouse fire can be traced through SEC reports below. The warehouse caught fire on Thursday morning, February 3rd. Officials say the warehouse was stacked floor to ceiling with boxes of documents which further fueled the fire, via ABC7 Chicago. The Bartlett Fire Chief anticipates the fire to be a multi-day event. The cause...

I didn’t see a lot of prophetic news that I wanted to write about early this week, so here is my understanding of a famous Pre-Trib Rapture passage (I Thess. 4:13-5:9). I have omitted the Chapter divisions because they were not in the original texts. I have capitalized some of the pronouns because the verses are a contrast between believers and unbelievers; the saved and the lost. “But I would not have YOU to be ignorant, BRETHREN, concerning them which are asleep, that YE sorrow not, even as others which have no hope” (I Thess. 4:13). God doesn’t want YOU,...