Free Republic

Drag Queen Story Hour executive director Jonathan Hamilt said that gun control is needed to protect kids. "You know, 19 students just got shot in Texas, and Texas legislation wants to ban minors from going to drag shows. It makes zero sense. It's a sad, sorry excuse... [for] the lack of gun control, and that's the real issue," Hamilt said, according to the Independent. A school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, last month left 19 children and two teachers dead. "Drag queens aren't going into schools to shoot kids... when did we decide that it's appropriate to teach kids how to...

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - The stage is nearly set for incumbent DFL Gov. Tim Walz to take on Republican challenger Dr. Scott Jensen in the Minnesota governor's race this fall. Former Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek declined to force a GOP primary against Jensen. Stanek didn't come to the Secretary of State's office before the 5 p.m. Tuesday filing deadline, then released a statement that he would return to law enforcement consulting. Both Jensen and Walz now face only token opposition in their respective primaries. That's just how the two parties wanted it, said Larry Jacobs, a University...

Until recently, the Hindu caste system was not an issue in the United States. Now, as a result of mass immigration from South Asia, this cultural hierarchy has been imported into our country and we have to deal with it. In 1916, B.R. Ambedkar, the father of India’s constitution and himself a Dalit, wrote: “If Hindus migrate to other regions on earth, Indian caste would become a world problem.” Now, it's happening.

Smithfield Foods Inc., the largest pork processor in the U.S. by volume, is closing an 1,800-person plant in California and shrinking the size of its hog herd in the region, saying the cost of doing business in the state wasn’t worth it. Smithfield, owned by Hong Kong-based pork conglomerate WH Group Ltd., said Friday that it would close the plant in Vernon, Calif., just outside of Los Angeles, in early 2023, citing higher taxes, utility costs and labor costs in the state compared with other areas where it operates. The decision to close the plant comes as food suppliers are...

Alarm! The CPI news on Friday was so awful that it changed the bond market’s view of Fed trajectory, and the weakest sector broke. In bond jargon, MBS went “no-bid.” No buyers for MBS. Then a few posted prices beyond borrower demand, not wanting to buy except at penalty prices. (Courtesy of Cherry Creek Mortgage) Despite what Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said, Friday’s inflation report demonstrated that inflation is no longer transitory. And with that realization, there was a dearth of bidders for Agency Mortgage-backed Securities (Agency MBS) on Friday. As a result, agency MBS 2.5% dropped to under...

Joe Biden’s repeated use of the phrase “Putin’s price hikes” is intended to shift responsibility for inflation away from his own policy and assign blame to Russia. Biden is essentially pretending that Vladimir Putin has control over White House energy policy, in order to protect his administration from the American people realizing all of the economic pain they feel is being done purposefully. Putin didn’t price hike anything. The cause of the current spike in global oil prices was created, in the largest part, by the western sanctions against Russia; not the action of Russia itself. Factually, massive global inflation...

The report cited "nearly 50 Democratic officials" and "disappointed voters" who are "alarmed about Republicans’ rising strength and extraordinarily pessimistic about an immediate path forward" under the Biden administration. There is "low enthusiasm" from Biden’s base and worry from party officials about the president’s "leadership, his age and his capability to take the fight to former President Donald J. Trump a second time," the Times wrote. It quoted Steve Simeonidis, a Democratic National Committee member from Florida, who said, "To say our country was on the right track would flagrantly depart from reality," and urged him to announce he wouldn't...

President Biden blamed the war in Ukraine for rapidly escalating the price of oil and gas, while speaking to reporters Saturday. A reporter in the press pool following Biden asked the president for his thoughts about the nationwide average price of gas exceeding $5 per gallon. Biden deferred blame to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. "It's outrageous what the war in Ukraine is causing," Biden began. The president then proceeded to emphasize the government's decision to tap into U.S. oil reserves.

Serhii Haidai, the head of the Luhansk Oblast Military Administration, has reported that the Russians have withdrawn the remaining Buryat troops from Sievierodonetsk because they are significantly weaker than the Ukrainian troops. Quote: "They’re dropping like flies. The Ruscists have withdrawn the remaining Buryats from Sievierodonetsk because they can’t withstand the fights with the Ukrainian defenders.

Memorial of Saint Barnabas, Apostle Matthew 5:33-37 Friends, in today’s Gospel, the Lord teaches his way about oaths and vows. Although Jesus prohibited oath-taking, the tradition of the Church has allowed oaths “made for grave and right reasons,” for example, in court. But the Church has traditionally employed vows to sustain the commitments of priests and religious so that they may, as the Catechism puts it, “conform themselves more fully to the obedient Christ.” For example, vows have sustained the holiness of many women religious who have become saints, including St. Katharine Drexel, a philanthropist who shows us what justice...

SEOUL -- South Korean industrial giants like SK and Samsung are stepping up operations in nuclear power, zeroing in on small, easier-to-build reactors, as the country pivots back to nuclear energy under a new president. SK announced in May a wide-ranging partnership with Bill Gates-founded startup TerraPower with a focus on small reactors, spanning technology development and commercialization. With energy company SK Innovation taking on a central role, SK seeks to harness the group's expertise in each step, from development to installation to operation. TerraPower plans to build a midsize next-generation demonstration reactor, slated to come online around 2028, in...

The news hit the headlines when it happened in San Francisco, back in 2015. Kate Steinle, 32, was shot to death as she walked along the waterfront on July 4, with her father and a family friend. The cold-bloodedness of the senseless crime shook the city and the nation as well. The police quickly had a suspect and, in fact, the gun used in the crime. That man is Jose Inez Garcia Zarate. At that time, he was in this country illegally and had already been deported five times, but continued to return. At the time of the shooting, he...

“We’re going to strengthen the oversight of the VA’s activities so veterans get the care they deserve,” Biden stated. “

Good Bear link

“This Is the Catholic Faith” (Athanasian Creed) Did you know that we Lutherans are catholic? We are! In fact, you just said so. You did, just now when we all confessed the Athanasian Creed. Don’t worry. I’ll explain. And so our theme on this Holy Trinity Sunday: “This Is the Catholic Faith.” Yes, it’s Trinity Sunday, that one Sunday of the year when we haul out that big, long creed with the funny name and say it in church. But at least I let you sit down for this one! This creed is called the Athanasian Creed. It’s named after...

Russian president Vladimir Putin has his bodyguards collect his excrement while on foreign trips in a bid to stop people gathering information about his health. A report has revealed that Putin's Federal Protection Service members are 'responsible for collecting his bodily waste' in special packets which are kept inside a dedicated briefcase until they return to Russia. Putin's health has been the centre of much speculation especially in recent months with the catastrophic Russian invasion of Ukraine, as instructed by the leader, including suggestions that he is suffering with cancer, dementia and even Parkinson's disease. And this latest revelation is...

Ronald Stein makes excellent points in his column titled “Is it ethical to purchase a lithium battery powered EV?” The lower image is just one lithium supply mine where entire mountains are eliminated. Each mine usually consists of thirty-five to forty humongous 797 Caterpillar haul trucks along with hundreds of other large equipment. Each 797 uses around half a million gallons of diesel a year. So, with an inventory of just thirty-five the haul trucks alone are using 17.5 million gallons of fuel a year for just one lithium site. *** Today, a typical EV battery weighs one thousand pounds....

James Hartley Fri, June 10, 2022, 6:44 PM The 15-year-old girl who was taken from a Dallas Mavericks game in April and later found in an Oklahoma City hotel being prostituted had a passing interaction with a man suspected of being involved during the second quarter, according to a news release from the attorney representing the girl and her family. During the second quarter of the Mavericks game at American Airlines Center in Dallas, the girl got up to go to the bathroom, according to the release. Surveillance video provided to the attorney with Fortenberry Firm PLLC showed the girl...

[Catholic Caucus] The Key to Restoring Catholic OrthodoxyIt is well known that the “Spirit of Vatican II” changed the Catholic landscape, undermining the orthodoxy that resulted in the pre-Vatican II golden age of Catholicism. What is not well known among Catholics is this: For the past five decades instruction in most if not all of our Catholic seminaries and universities has been undermining the faith, in particular that of our seminarians. It casts doubt on the evangelists — including eyewitness-apostles Matthew and John — as writers of the Gospels, attributing them instead to unknown individuals writing a generation later. Superior...

By endorsing Katie Britt in the Alabama Runoff (and turning his back on Mo Brooks) after endorsing Mitt Romney, John McCain, Paul Ryan, Denver Riggleman, Mehmet Oz and Vernon Jones (and the Marxist Bernie Bro Joe Kent), none of us owe Trump any loyalty at all. It’s worse. Trump has become a stooge for the RINO scumbag Establishment. And there are no bigger swamp scumbags than the crew behind Katie Britt. And neither do voters. His candidate for Georgia Governor got a pathetic 22% against a man Trump labeled as Satan. No one knows what he stands for anymore. At...