Free Republic

Move over gas — there’s a new energy shortage in town. As Europe faces its worst energy crunch in decades amid the war in Ukraine, national capitals have been scrambling to shore up their gas reserves ahead of the winter. But another fuel could also soon be in short supply: coal. Although the highly polluting fuel has earned pariah status as the EU looks to slash emissions, consumption is on the rise as a number of countries, including Austria and the Netherlands, either switch old coal-fired plants back on or boost existing capacity to save on gas. The problem is...

President Joe Biden is set to announce Monday that the U.S. has killed Al Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri, after slamming President Donald Trump when he announced that the U.S. had taken out ISIS and Iranian terrorist leaders in 2019 and 2020.When Trump confirmed in October 2019 that U.S. special forces had found and killed ISIS founder and leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Biden did not offer simple congratulations, but said the operation had succeeded despite Trump’s “erratic” behaviorFormer Vice President Joe Biden, a leading 2020 White House hopeful, said on Monday that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in a...

On August 1, the Roman Martyrology (but not the General Calendar any longer) commemorates “the Holy Maccabees,” i.e., the heroic Jews who withstood assaults on their faith from within and without.I’ve never understood why the post-Conciliar reform of the Roman calendar (which needed to be done) eliminated all the Old Testament saints from observance. The Eastern Churches (both Catholic and Orthodox) have maintained those feasts. The move is particularly odd, given the strong effort at the Council to build bridges with our elder brethren in the faith, the Jews. Who were the “Maccabees”? The Hebrew word means “hammer” and is...

Is God a man, a woman, or a genderless force that cannot be identified by masculine or feminine traits? Society offers a range of ideas, but what do religious texts have to say about this immutable characteristic of God? Dennis Prager offers some insightful answers.

In the General/Chat forum, on a thread titled Q ~ Trust Trump's Plan ~ 07/28/22 Vol.415, Q Day 1835, grey_whiskers wrote:From a poster, roastytoasty , on tonight’s open thread on Instapundit:THIS is THE top story of the day:Wisconsin Supreme Court says:“If elections are conducted outside of the law, the people have not conferred their consent on the government. Such elections are unlawful, and their results are illegitimate.” — Justice Rebecca Grassl Bradley, writing for the Wisconsin Supreme Court majority in Teigen v. Wisconsin Elections CommissionThe article is at Issues and Insights. The screen containing the report is frozen. The...

An elementary school principal issued an apology Friday after promoting a book about a transgender child to students as young as five years old.Stacy DeCorsey, principal of Excelsior Elementary School in Excelsior, Minnesota, suggested kindergarten through second grade students read “Jack (Not Jackie),” a story about a young girl who realizes she prefers to act like a boy, according to a YouTube video. DeCorsey then issued an apology on Facebook for suggesting the book after it “struck a nerve in the community,” and since deleted the original video.“One of the books I spoke about specifically, which has struck a nerve...

Harrowing, well-told survival story with a twist.

FNC anchor Bret Baier said Monday on Fox News Channel’s “The Five” that President Joe Biden has had a “couple of good weeks” because the U.S. military killed Al Qaeda leader Ayman Al Zawahiri. ..... Snip..... Co-host Jesse Watters said, “Well, obviously a great win for the United States and a clear victory over terrorism. Politically for the president, we’ve just talked about it in the A-block, how the administration and some in the media have been framing this as the resurgence of the Biden presidency and a few things about to be passed in Congress. And now this big...

White House press briefing John Kirby is asked about if America and Joe Biden should or do support Taiwan being independent from China. "We don't support Taiwan independence."

This is one of those posts where the story is less about the incident and more about the fact that NBC News decided to pick it up and make it national news. That’s a thing you have to watch with media: not only the spin they put on stories, but which stories they choose to pursue and which they choose to ignore. We’re learning that chef Gordon Ramsey is facing backlash on TikTok (oh no!) for suggesting that a lamb looked “yummy.” Kalhan Rosenblatt reports: Celebrity Chef Gordon Ramsay is facing backlash on TikTok from some users after posting a...

Shi'ite Children In Houston, Texas Pledge To Be The Soldiers Of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei: Salute, Commander! We Make An Oath To Be Your Martyrs! On July 27, 2022, a video was posted to the IslamicTV YouTube channel of Shiite children in Houston, TX performing a song titled "Salute, Commander", which is an Iranian children's anthem pledging allegiance to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The video had been first posted by the Islamic Education Center of Houston, TX, on its Facebook and YouTube accounts, but these posts were later removed. The children performed the song in English and Farsi....

A would-be robber was critically injured after being shot by a store owner in Norco early Sunday in a dramatic incident that was captured on surveillance video. An employee who reached out to KTLA said the video shows a man armed with an assault-style rifle walk into the Norco Market at 816 Sixth Street around 2:45 a.m., point the weapon at the owner, and order him to put his “hands in the air.” Within just a few seconds, the owner steps behind a glass display and fires a shotgun at the suspect, who immediately runs out of the store screaming...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday declared a State of Emergency to combat the outbreak of Monkeypox in the Golden State. “California is working urgently across all levels of government to slow the spread of monkeypox, leveraging our robust testing, contact tracing and community partnerships strengthened during the pandemic to ensure that those most at risk are our focus for vaccines, treatment and outreach,” Gov. Newsom said in a statement. “We’ll continue to work with the federal government to secure more vaccines, raise awareness about reducing risk, and stand with the LGBTQ community fighting stigmatization.”

Asked by an Indigenous reporter why he did not use the word while in Canada, Pope Francis says it did not come to mindThe planned destruction of the families, languages, cultures and traditions of the Indigenous communities of Canada through the residential school system was "genocide," Pope Francis said. Asked by an Indigenous reporter why he did not use the word genocide while in Canada, the pope said, "I didn't use the word because it did not come to mind, but what I described was genocide." "And I condemned it," he said, during his inflight news conference on July 29...

On July 14, 2022, Al-Qaeda's official media outlet Al-Sahab released a video featuring an audio address by the organization's leader, Ayman Al-Zawahiri. The video is the sixth part in a series titled "Deal of the Century or Crusades Spanning Centuries," whose first part was released on September 11, 2020. The fifth part was released on June 14...

GEICO has closed all of its 38 California agent offices that sell auto and homeowners policies and other lines and has also ended the practice of selling insurance through telephone agents in the state. Three offices in Sacramento, one in Roseville, three in Fresno and one in Modesto were among offices that have closed in the last few days. The closures are resulting in more than 35 layoffs in the Sacramento area and hundreds statewide. The GEICO office in Roseville only opened in July 2021. GEICO put out a press release at the time saying it would meet the insurance...

“Black Lives Matter,” the racehorse which gained national attention for its demonstrative moniker, has died, according to its owners. The Hatley family, which became the first Black family to race quarter horses in Texas, revealed that its colt had mysteriously died following a routine veterinary procedure. The horse was admitted last week to an equestrian veterinary clinic in Texas, but when the Hatleys arrived to retrieve their prize-winning pet he was found unresponsive and lying still in a stall. We took our horse BLM an hour away for a VET for a short, simple procedure that will collect sperm for...

In Otto v. City of Boca Raton, Florida, (11th Cir., July 20, 2022), the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, by a vote of 7-4,, denied an en banc rehearing in a case in which a panel decision of the court struck down a conversion therapy ban. (See prior posting). Concurring and dissenting opinions spanning 110 pages accompanied the brief order denying review. Judge Grant, joined by Judges Branch and Lagoa filed an opinion concurring in the denial, saying in part: The perspective enforced by these local policies is extremely popular in many communities. And the speech barred by these...

On July 17, the celebration in memory of St. Serge of Radonezh, the famous early XV century icon of the Holy Trinity by St. Andrei Rublev (event of Gen.18:1-8) was transferred from the Tretiakov Art Gallery in Moscow to the Holy Trinity – St, Serge monastery. A special showcase for the icon was provided to protect it and secure its safety. After the celebrations was over, the icon was returned to the museum. – We are grateful to the Ministry of Culture and the Tretyakov Gallery for the permission to move the ancient icon. It can certainly be considered a...

This is likely to have an even greater effect than Bill Kristol’s endorsement of Terry McAuliffe. Rep. Liz Cheney, apparently a biologist, says that real men (not trans men?) put country over party and wear “I’m for Liz Cheney” T-shirts. One of those real men is actor and director Kevin Costner.