Free Republic

Thirteen Catholic lawmakers in the U.S. Senate voted Monday in favor of a failed attempt to pass a sweeping new abortion law that threatened to override states’ pro-life laws and remove restrictions on abortion up to the point of birth, in some cases. Their support of the defeated bill, called the Women’s Health Protection Act, placed them sharply at odds with the clear teaching of their Catholic faith, which strictly prohibits abortion and condemns efforts to promote it. Church leaders and Catholic pro-life advocates were quick to criticize the senators’ votes after the measure was defeated on Feb. 28. “Catholics...

In 2015-2016, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights connected Azov with war crimes, including mass looting, unlawful detention and torture. Since Yanukovych’s ouster, the US and its allies have ensured that the Ukrainian regime, particularly its far-right paramilitaries, remain a significant and threatening force. Billions of dollars have been spent supporting the government and supplying and training its armed forces. In April 2015, nearly 300 members of the US 173rd Airborne Brigade were sent to Ukraine to train Ukrainian soldiers, including members of the Azov Battalion. They were joined by British, Canadian and Polish soldiers...

LARGO, Fla. (WFLA) — A Clearwater woman was allegedly caught stealing from a Largo Walmart Saturday, according to the Largo Police Department. An affidavit said loss prevention officers at the Walmart on Roosevelt Boulevard confronted Amanda Spree Mears, 35, as she tried to leave the store. Police said Mears tried to hide a “Plus One” massager in her purse and walk out with it. When confronted, Mears ran away into some trees nearby but was caught by the officers, according to the affidavit.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The U.S. Pacific Northwest was in the throes of a record-shattering heat wave last summer when a woman in her 70s was wheeled into an emergency room with symptoms of a life-threatening heat stroke. Desperate to cool her, Dr. Alexander St. John grabbed a body bag, filled it with ice from the hospital kitchen and zipped the woman inside. Within minutes, her body temperature dropped and her symptoms improved. The sweltering stretch across the normally cool region offers a glimpse of the types of extreme weather events that will accelerate in North America within 30 years...

The Rev. James S. Dunlop jdunlop@lss-elca.org Bishop March 1, 2022 George Herbert, hymnwriter, died 1633 Dear Siblings in Christ, As we begin the season of Lent, I give thanks to God for the rapidly declining number of new daily COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths and for the ways in which we have been church together. In many ways, the past few years have felt like an extended season in the desert journey. We have voluntarily, and even involuntarily at times, done without many things that are important to us. I would like to personally thank you for undertaking the variety...

The United States imports nearly 600,000 barrels of oil a day from Russia—an amount that could have been made up for by the more than 800,000 barrels of oil the Keystone XL pipeline is capable of delivering each day if the Biden administration hadn’t stood in the way. As Vladimir Putin conducts his evil and unprovoked attack on Ukraine, now more than ever, we must cut off our energy dependence on Russia while turning up our energy production here at home. Over the last decade and half, hard work and strategic policies set the United States on the course to...

Even unvaccinated Californians got the green light to shed masks as the state further loosened its stringent COVID-19 rules this week.CALIFORNIA — Unvaccinated Californians will no longer be required to mask up in indoor public settings, state officials announced Monday. The move marked one of the first attempts to shed sweeping restrictions for unvaccinated residents.California lifted its indoor mask mandate on Feb. 16 but did not include unvaccinated people. The state had some of the strictest pandemic rules in the nation, but Monday's announcement revoked one of the last mask requirements left in the state.Ultimately, officials maintained on Monday that...

1. INTRODUCTION Reference is made to the Request for Comments and Advice submitted 04 February 2021 regarding Pfizer/BioNTech’s proposal for the clinical and post-authorization safety data package for the Biologics License Application (BLA) for our investigational COVID-19 Vaccine (BNT162b2). Further reference is made to the Agency’s 09 March 2021 response to this request, and specifically, the following request from the Agency.

1 March 1953: Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin suffers a stroke and collapses; he dies four days later. (Source)

US lawmakers across the aisle are pressuring President Biden to halt US imports of Russian oil and gas – with Republicans (and moderate Democrat Joe Manchin) pushing for an expansion of domestic production, and Democrats pitching it as a perfect opportunity to accelerate investments into renewable energy. The former of course could be accomplished by reopening the Keystone pipeline and uncapping closed shale projects, while the latter would require trillions in taxpayer dollars to maybe accomplish within the next decade. Meanwhile, America purchased over 600,000 barrels per day of Russian crude last year – up 24% from a year prior...

For the first time in two years, children are walking back into classrooms mask-free. For too long, policymakers and public perception have associated success with the absence of COVID. But COVID is still present, so what is driving this sudden change of policy? Children have suffered a great deal from the pandemic lockdowns and have not been made a priority to regain normalcy as information evolved. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic many restrictions, such as mask-wearing in schools, were quickly enforced through desperation to slow the transmission despite negligible data proving benefit. But there were a lot of...

On Tuesday, March 1, 2022, the Ohio House Government Oversight Committee voted 8-5 to pass Senate Bill 215 on Constitutional Carry. The bill now moves to the House floor for a vote. If it clears the House, it would then go back to the Senate floor for Concurrence, then on to the Governor for his signature. We are at a historic moment in Ohio legislative history. This is the closest we've ever been to passing a bill to make the licensing process optional for concealed carry of a firearm. Bills have been presented in former legislative sessions, but have not...

The Stampede of the Green Lemmings They are leaders in the Stampede of the Green Lemmings.Solar energy has a huge problem. Even on sunny days almost nothing is generated to meet the demand peaks around breakfast time and dinner time - the solar energy union only works a six-hour day, goes on strike with little warning, and takes quite a few sickies.So, for at least 18 hours of every day, electricity must come from somewhere else. Then around noon, the millions of solar panels pour out far more electricity than is needed, causing electrical and financial chaos in the...

Texas is the first test of former president Donald Trump’s endorsement power in the 2022 midterm cycle. Trump is backing at least 30 candidates in the conservative state, many of them Republican incumbents who are likely to prevail anyway. Gov. Greg Abbott, who is seeking a third term and has the former president’s endorsement, is likely to triumph, though it’s possible another Trump-backed candidate, scandal-plagued Attorney General Ken Paxton, could be pushed into a May 24 runoff with George P. Bush and other candidates. A third statewide Republican with Trump’s blessing, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, also seems likely to win...

Moscow is a proud city, but the harsh realities of Putin's war are steadily coming home here. On a multitude of fronts – from the economic to the political – the blowback from Russia's military adventures hundreds of miles away in Ukraine are now being felt in this sprawling capital of almost 12million people. -snip- Well-educated and westernised Russians are often the most worried about the immediate future – and they have the most to lose in hard currency savings, foreign holidays, cars and clothes. Long queues have formed outside banks and in currency-exchange booths, as the value of the...

Every time he mumbles or flubs a line take a shot.

Vote here https://justthenews.com/government/white-house/you-vote-will-you-watch-bidens-state-union-address But will you be watching tonight? Here's your chance to weigh in: Will you watch Biden's State of the Union address? Yes 4% (119 votes) No 93% (2941 votes) Not sure 3% (90 votes)

When I watched Vladimir Putin, with what the Russians so graphically call his “tin eyes,” justify his invasion of Ukraine, I thought, as did many others, that he looked a little deranged. Denazification, indeed! Had he failed to appreciate that Ukraine, not noted throughout its history for its philo-Semitism, had elected a Jewish president, and that by a large majority, thereby suggesting a major cultural shift in the country? It then occurred to me that Putin looked rather puffy in the face, and I wondered whether he could be taking steroids. These drugs are noted for their numerous side effects,...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., suggested Tuesday that Americans are uninformed about President Biden's agenda and what he has worked to do in the White House, but concluded that those who call the United States home are "blessed" to have him as president. Asked for a reasoning behind Biden's "decline" in polling on certain issues, including COVID-19 and inflation, Pelosi told MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell that she believes the president's work is misunderstood and that his State of the Union address will be "very important" because it will provide him an opportunity to talk about it. Noting that "people still...

Chelsea Football Club owner, Roman Abramovich is reported to have been effectively barred from living in Britain ever again. This comes after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine was also confirmed on Thursday, 24 February. The Russian billionaire has not been seen at Stanford Bridge, Chelsea’s home as well as his home He withdrew his application for a British Tier 1 investor visa in 2018, after reported delays in his application following criticism of Russian oligarchs in the wake of the Salisbury poisonings. The Daily Mail reports that Abramovich has business connections to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He has, however, denied...