Free Republic

Vice President Kamala Harris further raised the alarm of Russian President Vladimir Putin invading Ukraine, using the word “war” on Sunday for the first time during her visit in Munich. “I mean, listen, guys, we’re talking about the potential for war in Europe,” she told reporters after a series of meetings with world leaders in Europe. “I mean, let’s really take a moment to understand the significance of what we’re talking about.” Harris took the lead for the Biden administration at the Munich Security Conference in Germany and delivered a speech vowing to stand with Europe against Russian aggression in...

U.S. military pilot Gail S. Halvorsen - known as the 'Candy Bomber' for his candy airdrops during the Berlin airlift after World War II ended - has died aged 101. Halvorsen died Wednesday following a brief illness in his home state of Utah, surrounded by most of his children, James Stewart, the director of the Gail S. Halvorsen Aviation Education Foundation, said Thursday. Colonel Gail Seymour 'Hal' Halvorsen is best known as the 'Berlin Candy Bomber' or 'Uncle Wiggly Wings' and gained fame for dropping candy to German children during the Berlin airlift from 1948 to 1949. Halvorsen was beloved...

One person was killed and five were wounded in a shooting at a park in Portland, authorities said. The Portland police bureau said officers responded to a report of shots fired at Normandale Park on Saturday at about 8pm. Officers found one woman dead and two men and three other women were taken to hospital, police said. Their conditions were not immediately known. Police did not immediately name anyone involved in the shooting. Social media flyers showed there was a planned march for Amir Locke, a Black man who was fatally shot by police in Minneapolis, the same time the...

A leading environmental lawmaker from Torrance has proposed a bill that would create a state fund to support and retrain thousands of oil industry workers as California tries to phase out fossil fuel production. The idea of guiding California’s 112,000 oil industry workers out of their current field and into other careers is often referred to as “just transition,” and is considered by policy researchers a necessary step to counter job losses as the state strives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But even with a Democratic supermajority in the state Legislature, such a proposal faces an uphill battle because it’s...

Members of sports team families and business leaders are among those pouring their personal fortunes into campaigns for office in 2022, making an early impact on primary contests for key midterm races. In Ohio alone, four self-funding candidates have already combined to contribute nearly $30 million to their US Senate campaigns. Mike Gibbons, a Cleveland-based businessman who made his fortune in real estate and investment banking, has loaned his campaign over $11 million. Matt Dolan, a state senator whose family owns the Cleveland Guardians baseball team, has directly contributed about $8 million to his campaign, and loaned it $2.5 million...

Does anyone have any experience in getting help for a seriously disturbed friend or relative? In this case, the seriously disturbed person is our nephew, aged 38, and we're really beginning to worry about what is going to happen to him in the not-too-distant future. He dropped out of high school in the 9th or 10th grade. I don't think he's ever read a book. He cannot hold a job: there is almost NO chance of that. In fact, I'd guess he's never held a job more than a month or two, tops. I once caught him bringing marijuana into...

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hio Sen. Rob Portman’s (R ) endorsement of Republican Senate candidate Jane Timken could alter the dynamics of the state’s crowded GOP primary and give Timken a needed boost. Portman, who is retiring next year, on Wednesday offered Timken the race’s most high-profile endorsement to date. Timken will likely get access to the senator’s vast donor network and campaign apparatus in the state, where Portman is popular. Timken’s campaign said it raised $250,000 in the 24 hours after Portman endorsed her. “This is the most significant thing that has happened in the Senate race. Period. End of discussion,” said one...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Rhode Island’s Senate president wants to require the state to be powered completely by renewable energy by 2030. Democratic Senate President Dominick Ruggerio introduced legislation this week. The Senate approved his similar legislation last year, but it stalled in the House. Former Gov. Gina Raimondo signed an executive order in 2020 setting a goal for the electric grid to operate with 100% renewable energy by 2030. Ruggerio’s bill would write that goal into law, accelerate current plans and outline the path forward. “Rhode Islanders are already feeling the effects of climate change and the risks facing...

He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends. Proverbs 17:9 (King James Version) We are all Canadians now. This is no longer a civil war between the elites of America and the people it is now between the Worldwide Communist Party and the people. You can tell the elites want their dictatorial power and are exercising it against the truckers in Canada who symbolize all the free-thinking people of the four corners of the globe. Trudeau Castro has turned out just like his father. A tin pot dictator drunk with power expecting...

Ottawa's mayor says any vehicles seized during the police crackdown on the occupation of the downtown should be sold to cover costs incurred by the city. "We actually have the ability to confiscate those vehicles and sell them," Mayor Jim Watson said Saturday. "And I want to see them sold. I don't want the return to these people who've been causing such frustration and angst in our community." The mayor told CBC News that Ottawa has that power due to the Emergencies Act, which was invoked by the federal government last week. Watson said he's been pleased by the level...

A Las Vegas gas station clerk shot a customer who refused to wear a mask when he tried to pay for chips, police said. The customer walked into the Terrible Herbst Convenience Store on Feb. 6 without a mask on, and a worker inside asked him to put one on or leave, Las Vegas police said in a case report. He brought three bags of chips up to the counter, but the clerk refused to ring him up, police said. The man then walked out of the convenience store with the snacks in hand without paying, police said, and the...

One of Arizona’s tiniest owls may regain federal protections by the end of the year as climate change, habitat loss and invasive species threaten its future. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the agency that manages threatened and endangered species, submitted a proposal in December to classify the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, more than a decade after similar protections were revoked. Climate change is expected to turn most of the bird's habitat hotter and drier and in turn, affect prey availability and vegetation cover that the birds require for nesting, predator avoidance, and...

It looks like the New York Times is at it again. In recent years, America’s least-reliable news source has developed a strange view of Britain — or at least since the Brexit vote in 2016. In the NYT’s world, the UK is a desolate place, where locals huddle round trash can fires on the streets of London, gnawing on legs of mutton and cavorting in swamps during the summer, ever fearful of the despot prime minister, Boris Johnson. Just last month the paper’s international edition ran a front-page comment piece claiming the country would “sleepwalk into tyranny” thanks to our...

From the 18th of this month through the 25th, national leaders are meeting in Munich in an apparent effort to deescalate the situation in Ukraine. The administration has pulled together its putative allies to forestall what it claims is an imminent threat by Russia to invade Ukraine. In fact, it discouraged (apparently unsuccessfully) Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky from attending on the ground that war could start any minute and his absence from Ukraine would be taken as flight. Heading the U.S. delegation is Vice-President Kamala Harris, which hardly comforts me. She threatens severe economic sanctions against Russia if they invade....

So yeah, I really do need to try to keep ahead of the flood of memes and the rest, or it will become unmanageable. So here’s an extra helping, for readers who set their Saturday morning schedule by TWiP. Now, should the slogan be “Go, Canada!”, or “D’oh, Canada?”

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Sacramento City Unified School District announced Saturday it doesn't have the resources to impose its looming COVID-19 vaccine mandate, which was supposed to take effect in just a few days. An email to parents from the district obtained by KCRA 3 says in-person learning will continue "until further notice" after the district said it didn't have enough resources to meet its mandate.

(Reuters) - Donald Trump's new social media venture, Truth Social, appears set to launch in Apple's App Store on Monday, according to posts from an executive on a test version viewed by Reuters, potentially marking the return of the former president to social media on the U.S. Presidents Day holiday. The launch would restore Trump's presence on social media more than a year after he was banned from Twitter Inc, Facebook and Alphabet Inc's YouTube.

Alice in Chains members Jerry Cantrell, Sean Kinney, Mike Inez and William DuVall have sold their catalogs with the band to Round Hill Music, a rep for the company has confirmed. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but sources tell Variety the deal was for $50 million. The Round Hill deal does not encompass copyrights belonging to the estates of original singer Layne Staley or original bassist Mike Starr, who passed away in 2002 and 2011, respectively; on Monday their respective estates announced they had sold their music rights to Primary Wave. Round Hill will receive a 100% interest...

Rutgers University professor Joye C. Anestis says there was an unprecedented surge in firearm purchases in New Jersey and across the nation in 2020. New research from the university's Gun Violence Research Center of New Jersey now gives us some insight into why people buy guns. The proliferation of gun violence in the United States — amplified by this winter’s tragedy in Oxford, Michigan, and the anniversary of Sandy Hook — has led yet again to calls to action for legislation to regulate firearm purchasing. And while legislation, which focuses on who can purchase a firearm, is a vital component...