Free Republic

Californians have contributed more to Republican Rep. Liz Cheney than donors from any other state, including her Wyoming home, as the outspoken Trump critic faces an increasingly perilous reelection bid. Many California donors, including Hollywood and Silicon Valley moguls, vehemently disagree with most of Cheney’s policies but applaud her fight against former President Trump’s false claim that he won the 2020 election. Cheney’s vote to impeach Trump after the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection and her prominent role as vice chair in televised House committee hearings into the attack have boosted her status nationally, even as they have hurt her in...

HONOLULU — Hawaii is receiving its final shipment of coal this week, which Gov. David Ige called a huge step forward in the state’s transition to clean energy. Coal is the cheapest but dirtiest source of power for Oahu. A law put in place a couple of years ago will finally shut down the island’s last coal burning power plant. ... “In its time, coal was an important resource for Hawai‘i and I’d like to thank the workers who have run our last remaining coal plant,” Ige said in a statement. “Renewable energy projects to replace coal are coming online...

The former chief editor of the Chinese Communist Party's state tabloid, the Global Times, suggested the country shoot down U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi for visiting Taiwan if her plane refuses to divert course. China's government has warned it will take "forceful measures" if Pelosi visits Taiwan after the Financial Times reported she would travel to the Chinese-claimed island nation next month. Hu Xijin, former chief editor of the Global Times, called Pelosi's planned visit an "invasion," and suggested shooting down the speaker's plane if U.S. fighter jets escort it to Taiwan.

July 30 2022 Saturday of week 17 in Ordinary time St. Elias Maronite church, Birmingham, Alabama Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green First readingJeremiah 26:11-16,24 ©'This man has spoken to us in the name of the Lord'The priests and prophets addressed the officials and all the people, ‘This man deserves to die, since he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears.’ Jeremiah, however, replied to the people as follows: ‘The Lord himself sent me to say all the things you have heard against this Temple and this city. So now amend your behaviour and actions,...

The White House says it is “not finishing” former President Donald Trump’s border wall after Homeland Security gave the go-ahead to complete unfinished sections of the barrier in Arizona. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre balked at the notion that President Biden is reversing course after vowing not to build “another foot” of the wall. “We are not finishing the wall,” Ms. Jean-Pierre said Friday. “We are cleaning up the mess that the prior administration made. We are trying to save lives.” More than 450 miles of barriers were built under Mr. Trump, and Homeland Security had plans for nearly...

It is unlikely Pelosi would back down now, although if she did, the US would need to take measures to not look weak, an Asia expert said A US news broadcaster on Thursday cited sources as saying that US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi departed for Asia yesterday, with a “tentative” itinerary for Taiwan. The trip’s official itinerary comprises Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore, NBC News said. The report also cited sources as saying that Pelosi’s Taiwan itinerary was only listed as “tentative,” and whether she would visit Taiwan is not clear. The report said that Pelosi has...

Hospital patients not getting their teeth brushed, or not brushing their teeth themselves, is believed to be a leading cause of hundreds of thousands of cases of pneumonia a year in patients who have not been put on a ventilator. A majority of cases are non-ventilator hospital-acquired pneumonia, or NVHAP, which kills up to 30% of those infected. Many cases of NVHAP could be avoided if hospital staffers more dutifully brushed the teeth of bedridden patients, according to a growing body of peer-reviewed research. NVHAP, a risk for virtually all hospital patients, is often caused by bacteria from the mouth...

A good summary of the votes on the bill. Use the link to see who voted for and against this gun-grabbing bill.

Short sleep duration is causally associated with an increased risk for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), according to a study.. Rui-Chen Gao and colleagues examined whether sleep disorders are causally associated with RA. Seven sleep-related traits were selected: short sleep duration, frequent insomnia, any insomnia, sleep duration, getting up, morningness (early-to-bed/up habit), and snoring and 27, 53, 57, 57, 70, 274, and 42 individual single-nucleotide polymorphisms were obtained for these traits as instrumental variables. Outcome variables were obtained from a public genome-wide association study, including 14,361 cases and 43,923 controls of European ancestry. A two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis using inverse variance...

How low can Joe Biden go in the Gallup Poll?... The Allentown School District here in Pennsylvania firing middle school teacher Jason Moorhead after he supported President Trump... President Trump throwing in a last minute endorsement in the Republican Primary for Governor in Michigan... In Washington DC the US House approving an "assault weapons ban"... Drama in Italian politics with calls for an urgent investigation into the notion that Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi's government was brought down by Russia... The COVID "booster shot" plan rolled out in the Netherlands... Dutch police arresting a man accused of dumping waste to...

Planet Earth has recorded its shortest day since scientists began using atomic clocks to measure the speed of its rotation. Earth’s time systems can prove fairly baffling for anyone who doesn’t have a PhD in Horology, as we learnt the hard way trying to figure out why the clocks were going forward as a child – only understanding that we were being dragged out of bed for school an hour earlier than the week before. But the plot thickens further still, as Earth is actually spinning faster than it used to and recently recorded a time that was the fastest...

A BILL To regulate assault weapons, to ensure that the right to keep and bear arms is not unlimited, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the “Assault Weapons Ban of 2022”.

A Florida socialist political group defended its relationship with Russia after the FBI alleged Kremlin agents teamed up with the organization in a "brazen" attempt to undermine US elections. Federal agents on Friday raided St. Petersburg's Uhuru House — the headquarters of the socialist pan-African political organization — in connection with the alleged election interference conspiracy, the Tampa Bay Times reported.

Assassin was apparently named "Sophie" and made the wrong choice.

In Stewart v. City and County of San Francisco, California, (ND CA, June 22, 2022), a California federal district court issued a preliminary injunction barring enforcement of a provision in the San Francisco Park Code requiring a permit for any religious event held in a public park involving 50 or more persons. The court found the provision to be a content-based restriction that triggers strict scrutiny, and concluded that it violates free speech and free exercise protections. However the court upheld a provision requiring a permit for events utilizing sound amplification equipment. Plaintiffs hold their weekly church services in public...

Speaking at celebrations this past weekend commemorating Russia's most important saint, the head of the Russian church stood against globalism, referring to global forces trying to destroy nationhood and Christianity, and not just in Russia. From the sermon: "Today Russia is a powerful state, and it is unlikely that anyone will try to deprive us of our freedom and independence by force of arms. But in our wicked age there are many other ways to crush people, to deprive them of their national consciousness, to deprive them of their faith, to deprive them of their patriotism.We know that many forces...

The Vatican has repeatedly condemned the moral evil of so-called emergency conception, which acts as an abortifacient.BATON ROUGE (LifeSiteNews) – The Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops (LCCB) has come out in favor of emergency contraception for cases of rape, despite the abortifacient nature of the measure and the Vatican’s insistence that it is morally impermissible. In recent comments to Louisiana newspaper The Advocate, Tom Costanza, executive director of the LCCB, which speaks on behalf the Louisiana Catholic bishops on matters of public policy, endorsed a new state law requiring hospitals to dispense emergency contraception to sexual assault victims. Act 513,...

The House passed legislation Friday to revive a ban on certain semi-automatic guns, the first vote of its kind in years and a direct response to the firearms often used in the crush of mass shootings ripping through communities nationwide. Once banned in the U.S., the high-powered firearms are now widely blamed as the weapon of choice among young men responsible for many of the most devastating mass shootings. But Congress allowed the restrictions first put in place in 1994 on the manufacture and sales of the weapons to expire a decade later, unable to muster the political support to...

The endorsement that has loomed over the Republican race for Michigan governor has come in. Tudor Dixon announced late Friday that former President Donald Trump endorsed her for governor. “It is a great honor to receive President Trump’s endorsement and have the strength of our campaign to defeat Gretchen Whitmer further affirmed by his support,” Dixon said in a statement released late Friday. In the last poll before the primary, Dixon was leading the other candidates, coming in at 19%. But it was a narrow lead, and more than 30% of Republican votes hadn’t decided who they were going with....

St. Louis, Mo., Jul 28, 2022 / 16:23 pm Speaking Thursday to a group of priests, bishops, deacons, consecrated persons, seminarians, and pastoral workers at the Cathedral Basilica of Notre-Dame de Québec, Pope Francis urged those present to model Christian joy and fraternity to those to whom they minister. “Christian joy is about the experience of a peace that remains in our hearts, even when we are pelted by trials and afflictions, for then we know that we are not alone, but accompanied by a God who is not indifferent to our lot. When seas are rough: The storm is...