Free Republic

I taught English Literature and Composition at Catholic schools from 1975 until I retired in 2017, including Honors and Advanced Placement. Since that time my hours were filled as a substitute teacher in Northwest Indiana, and I now work as a Jobs Coach for Special Education students in a large public high school. I take troops of students to workplace locations (Al’s Grocery, WINN Machines, LaPorte County Animal Shelter and show young men and women how to wash dishes for an elementary school) and teach them how to comport themselves in a workplace. My charges are mostly Autistic and Downs...

Republicans in the Arizona Legislature are now fighting to repeal an “emergency bill” that radically alters how the precinct committeemen will be selected in the state. The legislature voted in favor of RINO Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers’ HB2839 after President Trump released a statement supporting the “Precinct Strategy” organization enlisting America First Patriots to their local County Republican Party committees, positions which are too often left vacant. The new change will allow county supervisors in Arizona to appoint the political party precinct committee members instead of elections.

The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church said his country’s invasion of Ukraine was a divine mission in opposition to gay rights. According to a Monday report in the Moscow Times, Patriarch Kirill backed Russia’s “military operation” in Ukraine and called it a conflict over “which side of God humanity will be on.” He drew attention to Ukraine‘s gay-pride parades and pro-LGBT laws, and called them a “loyalty test” and an example of Ukraine’s attempting to refashion itself in the cultural image of NATO nations. “Pride parades are designed to demonstrate that sin is one variation of human behavior. That’s...

The average price for a gallon of gasoline in the U.S. hit a new record high of $4.104 on Monday, surpassing the previous record of $4.103 set in 2008 according to data from GasBuddy. "Americans have never seen gasoline prices this high, nor have we seen the pace of increases so fast and furious," GasBuddy head of petroleum analysis Patrick De Haan said in a statement announcing the news.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Monday said the American people stand to benefit from having more electric vehicles on the road but failed to elaborate on how they could become more affordable.

The Russian tanks and missiles besieging Ukraine also are threatening the food supply and livelihoods of people in Europe, Africa and Asia who rely on the vast, fertile farmlands of the Black Sea region — known as the “breadbasket of the world.” Ukrainian farmers have been forced to neglect their fields as millions flee, fight or try to stay alive. Ports are shut down that send wheat and other food staples worldwide to be made into bread, noodles and animal feed. And there are worries Russia, another agricultural powerhouse, could have its grain exports upended by Western sanctions. While there...

Dorothea Puente, a serial killer, is becoming known to a whole new generation — decades after being arrested and convicted in a notorious crime. Puente ran a boarding house in Sacramento in the 1980s. Police found seven bodies in her backyard in November 1988. With the outward portrayal of a sweet granny, she drugged and buried her tenants — and then collected their Social Security benefits. After the bodies were found, authorities searched in California and Mexico for a week. She was eventually found in Los Angeles, where she was being held. When Sacramento sister station KCRA found out, there...

"US president shelves scheme in Poland and Czech Republic, citing new intelligence on threat from Iran....Barack Obama has abandoned the controversial Pentagon plan to build a missile defence system in Europe that had long soured relations with Russia....Obama said the new approach would offer 'stronger, swifter and smarter' defence for the US and its allies."

The U.S. Supreme Court quietly announced Monday that it would not review Bill Cosby’s sexual assault case, leaving him a free man and ending a two-decade legal drama that shifted the cultural landscape, destroyed the groundbreaking Black actor’s reputation, and sent him to prison for several years late in life. The high court, without comment, declined to review a stunning decision out of Pennsylvania that released Cosby from prison in June over the word of a former prosecutor who said he had made a secret promise to Cosby’s lawyers that he would never be charged. A Cosby spokesperson expressed “sincere...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Milwaukee County district attorney will not file charges against two Democratic members of the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission, saying Monday there is not enough evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they committed any crimes. District Attorney John Chisholm, a Democrat, rejected calls from the Republican Racine County sheriff to prosecute five members of the commission — three Democrats and two Republicans — who voted not to send election deputies into nursing homes in 2020 to assist residents with voting. That action has been cited by Republican critics of how the election was run...

President Joe Biden will continue resettling Afghans in American communities at least through August even as the federal government admits that its vetting protocols failed to properly vet tens of thousands already resettled in the United States. A State Department official told Bloomberg News that Biden is looking to bring thousands more Afghans to the U.S. for resettlement over the next six months. Currently, there are some 100,000 Afghans who have sought entry to the U.S. but who remain in Afghanistan.

Gasoline prices are pushing even farther above $4 a gallon, the highest price that American motorists have faced since July 2008, as calls grow to ban imports of Russian oil. Prices at the pump were rising long before Russia invaded Ukraine and have spiraled faster since the start of the war. The U.S. national average for a gallon of gasoline has soared 45 cents a gallon in the past week and topped $4.06 on Monday, according to auto club AAA. “I am looking at the possibility of walking to work,” said Asiya Joseph, who had just paid $4.29 a gallon...

Mathew Hamilton, a native of Ireland, had immigrated to Winona Minnesota and was serving as the Night Watch, a special policeman at the depot of the Winona and St. Peter Railroad just north of Lake Winona on East Mark Street. It was December 2nd, 1874. The beginning of the 4th coldest December Minnesotan’s had ever experienced. The country was in the last few years of the Reconstruction Era following the American Civil War, and Republican President Ulysses S. Grant was fighting for the protection of African Americans in the South through the use of the Enforcement Act passed by Congress....

In some wars, a single figure can be a strategic factor. A Lincoln, a Clemenceau, a Roosevelt. Churchill. Ukrainian Pres. Volodymyr Zelensky’s performance in the war’s first week has vaulted him onto that list. But as well as the comedian-turned-actor-turned-president has done, he’s also now being hunted by Russian forces. And what happens to him will change the course of the conflict. Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin’s declared war aim is to “demilitarize” Ukraine, but he’s also likely looking to overthrow the Ukrainian government. Reportedly, Zelensky and his family are at the top of the Russian target list, and the Kremlin’s...

Buttigieg said electric buses will create better, high-paying jobs and clean up congestion on freeways. He also said federal funds have been set aside to train the "diesel workers of today" to build and maintain the electric transit buses of the future. "Clean transportation can bring significant cost savings for the American people as well," Buttigieg said. He added that $5 billion have been invested into building a nationwide electric vehicle charging network "so that people from rural, to suburban, to urban communities, can all benefit, from the gas savings of driving an (electric vehicle)." "Today is about how we...

Researchers trained an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm with 7,414 recordings of pig noises, gathered throughout the life stages of 411 pigs – including slaughter. The algorithm could potentially be used to build an app for pig farmers that detects whether the animals are happy just from the noise they're making. As already revealed in previous research, there are more high-frequency calls from pigs (such as screams and squeals) in negative situations. At the same time, low-frequency calls (such as barks and grunts) occurred both in situations where the pigs experienced positive or negative emotions. With an even more thorough analysis...

The first week in December 2018, the United States exported more oil than we imported, for the first time in nearly 70 years. This is known as energy independence. And it happened not because of the previous 50 years of dubious federal “energy programs” heavily regulating oil and gas, while promoting alternative energy, but despite them. This took place under then-President Donald Trump, who said, “The year 2019 marked the first time in 67 years that American annual gross energy exports exceeded gross energy imports.” “Then President Donald Trump took office and announced a radical departure from 50 years of...

CHEYENNE – U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., joined congressional candidate Harriet Hageman at a town hall here Monday morning. The two mainly focused on criticism of Dr. Anthony Fauci, and what they said were abuses of power by the federal government. Hageman spoke to a ballroom packed with supporters Monday morning at Little America Hotel and Resort in Cheyenne. The Goshen County native is running against current Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., for Wyoming’s lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Hageman's official campaign announcement came in September, just hours after an endorsement from former President Donald Trump. Paul endorsed...

Brian is criticized for not letting his own band members play the music. But he was influenced by Phil Specter and knew it could be better and much, much better it was. Ironically, Glen replaced him for 6 months when he just took a time out one year. Kudos to Brian for making it as great as it could be.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) doubled down on his call for Russian President Vladimir Putin to be assassinated in the wake of Moscow’s military invasion of Ukraine during a Monday interview with TMZ. INTERVIEWER: You’ve been courageous in calling out Putin when many people want to say it but haven’t said it. Have you been surprised by the feedback that you’ve gotten from it? SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM: Yeah. I think most Americans understand that Putin is a war criminal, and the sooner he’s gone, the better. The only way this ends in a sustainable fashion is for the Russian people to...