Free Republic

February of 2022 was the third highest February for gun sales since the National Instant background Check System (NICS) started in 1998. It was the fourth-highest number of NICS checks done during the month of February. Only 46 percent of the National Instant background Check System checks were for carry permits and carry permit rechecks in February of 2022. In February of 2021, the carry permits and permit rechecks were about 60 percent of total NICS checks.Lines are from 2021. Bars are in 2022. The change seems related to the implementation of a reformed FOID card system in Illinois. Public...

It adds insult to injury that we not only have to suffer from leftists' stupid decisions, but also will never, ever hear an apology for their bad effects. The Ukraine crisis is providing another great benefit to Biden: now it's okay to talk about inflation. Do you remember the scene in one of the early Seinfeld episodes when Jerry tries to get a dry cleaner to admit that they made a mistake in shrinking a shirt to "hand puppet" size? That's the feeling you get when you witness the press flacks of the Biden regime smarmily try to palm off...

The West made a mistake by promising Ukraine NATO membership, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said. “I am ready to admit that we made a number of mistakes and that we lost the possibility of Russia’s rapprochement with the West," he said in an interview with LCI TV channel."There are moments that we could do better, there are things that we proposed and then could not implement, such as, for example, the promise that Ukraine and Georgia will become part of NATO.""I think it's a mistake to make promises that you...

Reflecting on last week’s Ash Wednesday Masses it is possible to observe an unusual and puzzling sight. On this day, almost every priest looks out into a congregation that is barely recognizable. To be sure there are many familiar faces of those who regularly attend. But almost half (!) or more of the congregation is populated by faces unknown. Have tour busses unloaded their riders from distant lands? Is this the holiday season where many are here visiting family? No, this is Ash Wednesday, a most peculiar day. Even days before, the phones start ringing and rather urgent voices on...

What's the story on this new twist to the war in Ukraine? On Thursday, March 9, the U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs stated that there was biological research taking place in the Ukraine. Then, in a follow-up question by Sen. Marco Rubio, she stated emphatically that if any biological material from that lab were used in an act of biological warfare, it would surely come from Russia. While there is a distinction between biological research and biological warfare research, the very fact that the answer and follow-up question alluded to using material from that lab in a biological...

Top officials in Bowser's administration disclosed in a June 16 email thread that the mayor wanted to requisition $3 million from the American Rescue Plan stimulus package for the city's "streetscapes & beautification" account for use toward the BLM Plaza project in the 2022 fiscal year, which runs October 2021 through September 2022. "In the coming months, an additional $3 million investment will create a more cohesive public space around the monument by reconstructing nearby sidewalks, installing commemorative works, and adding new benches, lighting, signage, and street trees," Bowser said in the press release. A prominent Boston-based BLM leader with...

March 13th 2022 Saturday of the first week of Lent Holy Cross Catholic church, Plano, Texas Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: violet First readingDeuteronomy 26:16-19 ©You will be a people consecrated to the LordMoses said to the people: ‘The Lord your God today commands you to observe these laws and customs; you must keep and observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. ‘You have today made this declaration about the Lord: that he will be your God, but only if you follow his ways, keep his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and listen to his voice. And...

Talks to 'revive the Iran nuclear deal' paused Friday after Russia upended negotiations with a sudden demand for a decrease in sanctions. Russia, which is serving as a negotiator on behalf of Iran, brought talks to a standstill this week by tying the outcome of the talks to sanctions Moscow is facing. The top EU negotiator offered no timeline for when the talks, which have been taking place in Vienna, would restart. The Obama administration brokered the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in 2015. The accord reduced sanctions against Iran in exchange for the country reducing its stockpile of enriched...

I was cancelled from giving a speech at a conference at the Montessori Education Center of the Rockies, because of an article I wrote published by American Thinker criticizing some major Montessori organizations for supporting the social justice movement and implementing its positions. In the cancellation letter I received, I was told that they have plans to expand diversity, equity, and inclusion training for all their instructors every year, and have asked their instructors to integrate those principles into their content area. The following is the reply I sent to them: It is clear that I was discriminated against for...

As European Union leaders wrapped their two-day summit in Versailles, France, on Friday, they did so without reaching consensus on one key issue: 'when' to end the bloc’s outsize energy dependence on Russia. ....after two days of intense discussions regarding both the future of Ukraine and to bloc’s own dependence on Russia, leaders failed to settle on a firm date as to when. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen suggested the bloc commit to 2027 as a firm deadline for ending the imports. Instead, members slow-walked the decision even further, asking Brussels on Friday to put forward a proposal...

"Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do." "And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it. And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them. For as the lightning,...

Former Obama adviser Steven Rattner slammed the administration for trying to pin record-high inflation on Vladimir Putin saying President Biden needs to “own it.” The President has desperately tried to wash his hands of the inflation crisis and has found a very convenient excuse in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Rick Santelli, considered by some to be the ‘Father of the Tea Party,’ also shredded President Biden for trying to politicize the inflation crisis. “Nothing, Joe, nothing has been more politicized than inflation,” Santelli railed. “Just let’s harken back to all the things we’ve been through. First it was transitory,...

Pray For The Peace of JerusalemHebrews 1315 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. 16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased._______________________________________________________God Bless America.ML/LTOS

WCHUAGW PAMM BHYHU OH THREUNFHT DUNC EIH NXERATH. AD PH DWMEHU WBT MNRH NXU DUHHTNCR, AE PAMM OH OHGWXRH PH THREUNFHT NXURHMYHR. - WOUWIWC MABGNMB

Peter Hitchens on Russia's dark future & the West's war hysteria | The Colin Brazier Podcast | Ep 3 Podcast...

Biden announces U.S. will move to revoke Russia's "most favored nation" trade status UPDATED ON: MARCH 11, 2022 / 12:44 PM / CBS NEWS President Biden announced Friday that the U.S., European Union and G7 countries are moving to revoke Russia's "most favored nation" trade status over its invasion of Ukraine. The U.S. will also take steps to ban the import of Russian seafood, diamonds and vodka, he said. "Each of our nations is going to take steps to deny most favored nation status to Russia," he announced. "A most-favored-nation status designation means two countries have agreed to trade with...

Inept' Russian tactics baffle military experts: Tank commanders allowed Ukrainians to ambush them by driving straight up a main road as analysts say they've lost enough armoured vehicles to equip the ENTIRE German army Military experts said they are baffled by Russian military tactics after a tank column was ambushed yesterday Ukrainian forces surprised the column - that included some 30 tanks and support units - with artillery strikes The tanks were forced to retreat after missiles rained down from above, destroyed a number of vehicles The full scale of losses suffered by Putin's armies are unknown, but Ukraine has...

With many in Congress urging a u-turn from President Biden's extraordinarily costly energy policy, the Administration has opted for seeking foreign sources to diminish the impact of boycotting Russian petroleum supplies. The heaviest efforts are focused on Venezuela and Iran as the favored options. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla) lambasted the idea of looking to Venezuela as a solution to America's energy needs, pointing out that "relying on the cruel dictatorship running that country is a mistake. First, Venezuela is ideologically aligned with Russia. The notion that any negotiations with them could produce an acceptable resolution is far-fetched. Even if a...

A former small-town Pennsylvania police chief has been convicted of raping a child in a case that has languished for years after the victim first came forward in 2012. The victim of former Weissport police chief Brent Robert Getz, 30, said that he began abusing her when she was six years old and he was 16. She said it happened hundreds of times, several times a week, until she was 11. The girl first told her elementary school substitute teacher that Gregory E. Wagner Jr., 31, had raped her. That abuse began when she was four and Wagner was 14....

A bill that would abolish the need for a background check or a license to carry a gun in public passed the Georgia House on Friday, moving a step closer to the 'constitutional carry' that Gov. Brian Kemp and other Republicans have promised to deliver in an election year. House Bill 1358 passed 94-57, moving to the Senate for more debate. The Senate passed a similar measure last month. Republicans said it was needed to allow people to more easily protect themselves from crime, citing civil unrest seen in some 2020 protests over racial injustice in Atlanta.