Free Republic

BERLIN (AP) — Fearing Russia might cut off natural gas supplies, the head of Germany’s regulatory agency for energy called on residents Saturday to save energy and to prepare for winter, when use increases. Federal Network Agency President Klaus Mueller urged house and apartment owners to have their gas boilers and radiators checked and adjusted to maximize their efficiency. “Maintenance can reduce gas consumption by 10% to 15% ,” he told Funke Mediengruppe, a German newspaper and magazine publisher. Mueller said residents and property owners need to use the 12 weeks before cold weather sets in to get ready. He...

The climate advocates who cheered President Joe Biden’s arrival at the White House last year are preparing to give up on Washington. Instead, environmentalists and many of their Democratic allies are starting to shift their focus to state capitals as the places to press for action on climate change - going back to a strategy that they employed with some success during the Trump era. The flight from D.C. is in large part a response to 18 months of frustration with major setbacks to Biden’s climate agenda, capped by Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling that hobbled the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority...

The plight of female basketball star Brittney Griner relating to her arrest on drug charges in Russia earlier this year is even more uncertain than ever. Yesterday in a court near Moscow, the legal prosecution of Ms. Griner finally began, with her trial kicking off in an abbreviated session. Prosecutors had intended to call on four witnesses, but only two showed up to give testimony. Cameras were not allowed in the courtroom, but footage of Griner entering the proceedings showed her sporting a white and black Jimi Hendrix t-shirt. Media reports after the court had adjourned explained that during her...

Presenting abortion as the ‘life-saving solution’ for women facing challenging pregnancies is a warped view of health care. The U.S. Supreme Court decision on Dobbs has sent abortion advocates and their allies in the media scurrying to strike fear into the hearts of women. One example from just before the ruling is a New York Times article titled “Poland Shows the Risks for Women When Abortion Is Banned.” The article’s false implication is that thousands of women in the United States could die of pregnancy complications because physicians will now have their hands tied from intervening in life-threatening situations. That’s...

The NYPD’s rank-and-file took another huge hit in June, as 523 cops are leaving the force, with 123 of those officers resigning — the most in a single month in at least a decade, according to staggering pension fund stats obtained by The Post. Of the total number of cops exiting, 400 are retiring, according to a police source. To date, 2,119 cops have left the job in 2022, with 1,472 retiring and 647 resigning, a 38% spike over the previous record of 1,535 for the first six months of 2020, the attrition numbers show. “The exodus has become a...

2 July 2022Saturday of week 13 in Ordinary Time San Bernardino Realino altar Church of Jesus, Lecce, Italy Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green.First readingAmos 9:11-15 ©I will restore the fortunes of my people IsraelIt is the Lord who speaks:‘That day I will re-erect the tottering hut of David,make good the gaps in it, restore its ruinsand rebuild it as it was in the days of old,so that they can conquer the remnant of Edomand all the nations that belonged to me.’It is the Lord who speaks, and he will carry this out.‘The days are coming now – it is the...

Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time Matthew 9:14–17 Friends, in today’s Gospel, people ask Jesus why he and his disciples do not fast when John and his disciples do. Jesus’ answer is wonderful: “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is still with them?” Could you imagine people fasting at a wedding banquet? It would be ridiculous! Jesus later says, “People do not put new wine into old wineskins.” The new wine is the Gospel. The receptacle for this wine must be conformed to it, not the other way around. To take in the Good News, we can’t...

Republican lawmakers called on the Biden administration to monitor Chinese influence in higher education better after a report detailed that a number of universities had reorganized cooperation agreements with the Chinese government. Earlier this month, the National Association of Scholars showed how a number of Chinese government-funded Confucius Institutes had reorganized and were still largely functional even as the universities claimed they had closed the centers. Under the Trump administration, the Chinese cultural centers had drawn significant scrutiny due to their ties to the Chinese Communist Party. The national security concerns voiced by government officials ultimately led most colleges to...

Russia's new 100 rouble banknote is impossible to withdraw from ATMs after Western firms that program cash machine quit the country following Ukraine invasion The Association of Russian Banks has asked for a six-month delay to rolling out the new 100 Rouble banknote as a new security feature is needed The Rzhev Memorial to the Soviet Soldier, a memorial to one of the bloodiest battles of the Second World War, is featured on the note to fuel patriotism The Western companies which install and update ATMs have pulled out of Russia Russia’s new 100 rouble banknotes are impossible to withdraw...

I'm in Oklahoma and appreciate the politics (Constitutional Carry; outlawed abortion) but don't like the weather. I've lived in Florida, Ohio, Alabama, North Carolina, Michigan, Indiana, Tennessee, Kentucky and California. I like the weather in Michigan and California but don't like the politics. I'd like milder summers and can handle cold winters. Long spring and fall weather is good. Retirement age and all, so good medicine is important. By the time we make the move (~2 to 3 years, likely) whatever adjustment the housing market will make will be done. Don't anticipate having to finance anything, etc. Also, I'm a...

A mosque in Berlin on Friday became the first in Germany to fly a rainbow flag in support of the LGBT community, ahead of two major gay pride events in the city this month. The Ibn Rushd-Goethe Mosque in the central Moabit neighbourhood unfurled the flag ahead of Friday prayers in front of a small crowd, including Berlin's culture senator Klaus Lederer. Many of those attending wore rainbow stickers that read "Love is Halal". The mosque, founded five years ago, is Germany's only self-described liberal mosque and allows men and women to pray together, as well as being open to...

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced on Tuesday that they had started conducting a phase 1 clinical trial of universal flu vaccination on healthy adult volunteers at the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.NIH is testing if this new flu vaccine is safe and if it creates an immune response.The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases ((NIAID) researchers created the potential vaccine known as BPL-1357. NIAID researcher Matthew J. Memoli, M.D. is in charge of the single-site experiment, which is open to 100 participants ages 18 to 55, according to the press release.“Influenza vaccines that can provide long-lasting...

The Russian navy appears to have accidentally blown up one of its own ships in the black sea in the latest blunder for Putin's forces. A landing craft is reported to have exploded when it hit a Russian sea mine near Mariupol. The crew is said to have survived the friendly-fire incident, but the reputation of Russia's naval commanders is not so unscathed. 'Near Mariupol, a landing craft of the Black Sea Fleet D-106 blew up on a mine,' said a Telegram channel related to the Russian navy. 'Waiting for a confirmation of this suicidal goodwill gesture,' said the Twitter...

Less than a year ago, a GOP Senate victory in deep blue Washington state would have been unthinkable. But now, Democrats are spending millions on advertising in several once-reliable Democratic strongholds, including Washington, as Republicans build national momentum and push for new Senate pickups. There’s a similar panic in Colorado, where Tuesday’s GOP Senate primary has also drawn millions of dollars in Democratic-funded ads to boost a far-right candidate, a massive last-ditch campaign to keep a moderate Republican off the ballot this fall. Washington’s Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, meanwhile, has spent more than $1 million on television ads in recent...

WHITE HOUSE, Saturday, June 28 -- 8 P.M. A DREARY RIDE. On Thursday evening at 7, I left Fair Oaks for the White House. The train had left the station at Savage's, early in the evening, so I turned my horse's head toward Bottom's Bridge, and concluded to ride the short distance of twenty miles. A battle had been fought on our right that day, but it was impossible to ascertain, at headquarters, any of the particulars. The supposition was that FITZJOHN PORTER was attempting to gain possession of a coveted hill on the south side of the Chickahominy, and...

WASHINGTON (AP) — When you groggily roll out of bed and make breakfast, the government edges up to your kitchen table, too. Unlike you, it’s perky. It’s an unseen force in your morning. The government makes sure you can see the nutrients in your cereal. It fusses over your toast, insisting that the flour it comes from has no more than 75 insect fragments and one rodent hair per 50 grams. That’s all before you leave home. The government is going to be hanging with you on and off, mostly on, until you turn off the lamp last thing at...

A detailed list of the destroyed and captured vehicles and equipment of both sides can be seen below. This list is constantly updated as additional footage becomes available

The White House is developing a research plan that would guide and set standards for how scientists study one of the more controversial ways of counteracting climate change: solar geoengineering. The basic idea is that we might be able to deliberately tweak the climate system in ways that release more heat into space, cooling an otherwise warming planet. The move, which has not been previously reported on, marks the first federally coordinated US effort of this kind. It could set the stage for more funding and research into the feasibility, benefits, and risks of such interventions. The effort may also...

I was having a conversation with a friend who is the Chief of Staff to an extremely Conservative Congressman. This is what I said: You know that the end game here with Trump is they want to arrest him, have him handcuffed in his pajamas on the lawn of Mar A Lago. And they want to do this before the midterms. I believe 100% this is what this whole Kangaroo Court is about and that is how much they hate him. They have broadcasting this is what they'll do by doing it to his closest allies. This is what my...

Wipe out! Crypto markets have slumped, adding to a decline that has wiped away some $2 trillion of market value and left market participants uneasy heading into the long Fourth of July weekend. Bitcoin has fallen below $20,000 as the US Dollar strengthens. At least Dogecoin is up today. Enjoy your expensive 4th of July weekend! As long as you don’t eat much due to expensive food prices or drive anywhere due to high gasoline prices. At least the Biden Administration is doing what The New World Order is making them do. Or The Liberal World Order. Biden looks like...