Free Republic

With three incumbents going down to defeat in primaries earlier this week, the total number of U.S. House retirements has grown to 58 current members. That's over 13% of the 435 seat chamber. The list includes 34 Democrats and 24 Republicans. 17 of those are seeking another office, while eight - five Republicans and three Democrats - lost renomination. The list of retirements will grow by at least two over the next couple of months. Democratic member vs. member primaries, caused by redistricting, will take place in MI-11 and NY-12.

Sun AR3038 Composite image of the Sun’s surface on 6/21/22. AR3038 can be seen in the upper right. Credit: NOAA’s Space Weather Forecast Office Sunspots are usually not a cause for concern, even if they double in size overnight and grow to be twice the size of the Earth itself. That’s exactly what happened with Active Region 3038 (AR3038), a sunspot that happens to be facing Earth and could emit some minor solar flares. While there’s no reason to worry, it does mean a potentially exciting event could happen – spectacular auroras. Although astrophysicists consistently point out that sunspots like...

If you’re a Hollywood elite facing the wrath of the diversity mob, a cool $4 million judiciously dispersed can buy you a lot of redemption. Friends creator Marta Kauffman has atoned for the sitcom’s lack of diversity by pledging $4 million to her alma mater, Brandeis University, to establish an endowed professorship in the school’s African and African American studies department. The result: glowing mainstream media coverage and social media feedback. In a mea culpa with the Los Angeles Times, Marta Kauffman prostrated herself before the diversity police, saying she is “embarrassed” by the lack of minority characters in Friends.

Just over six months ago, in December 2021, I asked the question that was on the tip of the tongue of everybody who follows the subject of the ongoing massive “green” transition to fossil-fuel-free energy. Actually, that’s a lie. The question I asked was not on the tip of the tongue of everybody who follows the subject, or even of most of the people who follow the subject, for reasons that to me are completely inexplicable. The question was : “Which Country Or U.S. State Will Be The First To Hit The Green Energy Wall?” The candidates that I nominated...

Liz Cheney is returning to Wyoming after a busy week of hearing public testimony before the House Jan. 6 committee to debate Republican primary challengers including Harriet Hageman, her Donald Trump-endorsed opponent. Cheney will likely draw criticism in Thursday’s televised debate for investigating the former president’s effort to overturn the 2020 election and his encouragement of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. While Cheney has taken a key role as one of just two Republicans on the House committee, she’s faced a backlash among Republicans in deep-red Wyoming. The state Republican Party last year censured her and...

The Bible In Paintings 2 ENCOURAGEMENT FOR APPRECIATING AND APPLYING GOD'S MESSAGE 2nd KINGS CHAPTERS 6-7, 13 Now the king of Aram was at war with Israel. Time and again Elisha warned the king, so that he was on his guard. This enraged the king of Aram. He summoned his officers and demanded of them, “Will you not tell me which of us is on the side of the king of Israel?” Said one of his officers, “Elisha tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom.” “Go, find out where he is,” the king...

A data breach at California's Department of Justice has exposed every state resident holding a permit to carry a concealed weapon, authorities learned this week. The breach exposed permit holders' names, addresses and license types, but no social security numbers or financial information were compromised, officials said in a press release. The Fresno County Sheriff's Office said it learned of the violation Tuesday from the California State Sheriff's Association after the state DOJ launched its "2022 Firearms Dashboard Portal." "This unauthorized release of personal information is unacceptable and falls far short of my expectations for this department," California Attorney General...

Underground pitchers. (Martin Dančák) We often think of plants as sedate, tranquil organisms that can't help but keep to themselves. But not all plants are harmless wallflowers. Carnivorous plants, as the name suggests, eat prey – mostly bugs, but also small animals, and other nutrient-rich matter. While the whole idea seems vaguely nightmarish at first, these "ecologically unique" plants need our protection just like any other threatened organism; and we're still finding examples of these carnivores we've never even noticed before. In the latest such discovery, scientists have now reported the identification of a previously unknown species of carnivorous plant,...

In early June, during an uptick in COVID-19 cases, Alameda County was the only Bay Area county to bring back an indoor mask mandate. At the time, county Health Officer Dr. Nicholas Moss said, “Putting our masks back on gives us the best opportunity to limit the impact of a prolonged wave on our communities.” But regional case data provides no discernible evidence that the rule, which was lifted June 25, succeeded at that goal.

(Translation) Over 550 flights were cancelled and almost 2,400 were delayed in the United States due to a lack of airline and airport personnel, mainly pilots, in the wake of high tourist demand following the lifting of pandemic restrictions. According to the FlightAware portal, 567 flights were cancelled in the nation yesterday, 500 on Tuesday, 800 on Monday, and 1,500 during the entire weekend, with the tendency possibly worsening for the July 4 Independence Day holiday. The EFE news agency indicated that, during the Memorial [Day] weekend that was celebrated on May 29 and is considered the unofficial beginning of...

Former Jan. 6 investigator and self-described "lifelong Republican" John Wood announced that he's running as an independent candidate for an open U.S. Senate seat in Missouri. “I am not looking to be a spoiler. I’m in this race to win it,” Wood told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Tuesday. “I think that there is a coalition of common-sense voters that can be put together.” Wood said he was running in part out of concern that former Gov. Eric Greitens would be the GOP nominee in the Republican-leaning state.

How odd that leftists are destroying the very customs and traditions whose loss will come back to haunt them when Democrats lose the Congress in November. Modern progressives assume moral and intellectual authority. Consequently, their supposedly superior ends naturally justify almost any means necessary to achieve them. Among the elite, the Democrats’ “blue-wall” states were once considered a testament to the wisdom of the Electoral College. When that wall crumbled in 2016 to Trump, the Electoral College suddenly was blasted as a relic of our anti-democratic founders. The nine-person Supreme Court was once beloved. On issues like abortion, school prayer,...

The sanctuary state of California will make history by becoming the first state in the nation to give food stamps to illegal aliens. This week, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced a budget deal with Democrat state legislators that includes providing food stamps, paid for by California’s taxpayers, to illegal aliens 55 and older — the first initiative of its kind in the United States.

The data shows that there were 4,082,478,000 barrels of crude oil produced in 2021, an amount that is greater than any time in American history, except 2020 and the peak in 2019. 2017: 3,415,257,000 Barrels of Crude Oil2018: 3,993,288,000 Barrels of Crude Oil2019: 4,485,635,000 Barrels of Crude Oil2020: 4,129,563,000 Barrels of Crude Oil2021: 4,082,478,000 Barrels of Crude Oil (https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/verify/united-states-produces-more-oil-than-any-other-country-fact-check-russia-impact-on-gas-prices/65-7814c6e2-5437-4201-b021-face477e5462) Despite this drop from 2019's peak, the levels of production in 2021 were unmatched globally. "The United States is the number one oil producer in the world," Weiner said. "We produce more oil and gas than any other country in the...

Two Republican candidates seeking a seat on the Illinois Supreme Court remained locked in a race too close to call following Tuesday’s primary. With 95% of the expected vote in, former Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran had a 1.5 percentage point lead over Lake County Circuit Judge Daniel Shanes. Whoever ultimately prevails will face Democratic primary winner Elizabeth “Liz” Rochford in November to fill the vacant seat left by the retirement of former Chicago Bears kicker Bob Thomas. The 2nd Judicial District has consistently elected Republican justices to the seat since the 1960s, but the Democratic-controlled legislature recently redrew the...

Republican Representative and vice chair of the House January 6 Committee Liz Cheney has received thunderous applause from a GOP crowd for saying Republicans needed to make a choice between supporting Donald Trump and the Constitution. Making a speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, on Wednesday, she reflected on the revelations from the committee hearings. A video of the moment has also gone viral, with over 180,000 views on Twitter.

MADRID (AP) — NATO was facing rebukes from Moscow and Beijing on Thursday after it declared Russia a “direct threat” and said China posed “serious challenges ” to global stability. The Western military alliance was wrapping up a summit in Madrid, where it issued a stark warning that the world has been plunged into a dangerous phase of big-power competition and myriad threats, from cyberattacks to climate change. NATO leaders also formally invited Finland and Sweden to join the alliance, after overcoming opposition from Turkey. If the Nordic nations’ accession is approved by the 30 member nations, it will give...

Plano-based First Guaranty Mortgage Corp. laid off the majority of its staff on Friday. The mortgage lender terminated 428 of its 565 employees who work for its Plano office, according to a notice the company provided to the Texas Workforce Commission. Some of those employees work remotely from out of state, according to the letter. The notice said the layoffs were caused by “significant operating losses and cash flow challenges due to unforeseen historical adverse market conditions for the mortgage lending industry, including unanticipated market volatility.” Additionally, the notice said recent efforts to obtain funding that could have prevented the...

IPray For The Peace of JerusalemGenesis 29Jacob Arrives in Paddan Aram 29 Then Jacob continued on his journey and came to the land of the eastern peoples. 2 There he saw a well in the open country, with three flocks of sheep lying near it because the flocks were watered from that well. The stone over the mouth of the well was large. 3 When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone away from the well’s mouth and water the sheep. Then they would return the stone to its place over the mouth of the...

Johnny Depp’s spokesperson just broke a lot of hearts. On June 7, Poptopic reported that the Walt Disney Co. was preparing a hefty deal of more than $300 million to plead for Depp’s return to the popular “Pirates of the Caribbean” film franchise. The little-known Australian pop culture website cited a “trusted source close to Disney.” Unfortunately for fans of Captain Jack Sparrow, the actor’s spokesperson has declared the report “false,” People magazine reported Tuesday. Poptopic’s report said Disney was drafting a $301 million offer, including “a sizable donation to a charity of Depp’s choice.” It said the actor would...