Free Republic

City ordered to cut power after dispatcher at Northern California Power Agency misunderstood directive from grid operatorWhen the city of Palo Alto shut off power to about 1,700 customers in the Midtown, Old Palo Alto and Industrial Park neighborhoods on Tuesday afternoon, utilities officials believed they were following an urgent order to conserve power from a state agency that oversees independent utility operators. Now, however, it appears that the power outage was premature, unnecessary and based on a dispatcher's misunderstanding. The outage, which came in the midst of a sweltering heat wave, hit Palo Alto customers at about 6:30 p.m....

Former President Donald Trump’s longtime ally Steve Bannon surrendered Thursday to face state money laundering and conspiracy charges in New York alleging he duped donors who gave money to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. Bannon is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday afternoon. Prosecutors say that while Bannon promised donors all the money they gave would go to building the wall, he was involved in funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars to two other people involved in the scheme. The indictment didn't identify those people by name, but the details match those of Brian Kolfage and Andrew Badolato, who...

It was announced on Thursday that the 96-year-old monarch was placed under medical supervision after her doctors expressed concern. Senior members of the royal family have traveled to Scotland's Balmoral Castle to be by her side. A Buckingham Palace statement read: "Following further evaluation this morning, The Queen's doctors are concerned for Her Majesty's health and have recommended she remain under medical supervision. The Queen remains comfortable and at Balmoral."

Electric Cars Are Not ‘Zero-Emission Vehicles’While praising California’s decision to ban the sale of new gasoline-powered cars by 2035, Governor Gavin Newsom declared that this will require “100% of new car sales in California to be zero-emission vehicles” like “electric cars.” In reality, electric cars emit substantial amounts of pollutants and may be more harmful to the environment than conventional cars.Toxic PollutionThe notion that electric vehicles are “zero-emission” is rooted in a deceptive narrative that ignores all pollutants which don’t come out of a tailpipe. Assessing the environmental impacts of energy technologies requires measuring all forms of pollution they emit...

A Florida man survived for three days in a swamp after an alligator ripped off his arm while he was attempting to swim in the lake - a move he admits was 'not the smartest decision a Florida boy can make.' 'I look over and there's a gator on my right-hand side,' he told 10 Tampa Bay. 'She got my forearm so I grabbed her like this, she was trying to roll by.' Merda said he was dragged underwater three times, but he fought back, and eventually, the alligator left - with his arm. 'Bones poking out, muscles, if I...

New York Times economics columnist Paul Krugman apparently tried to strong-arm struggling American workers into believing that they have been ignorant of an ongoing “Biden Boom." Krugman’s latest op-ed of pro-Biden drivel didn’t make much of an argument. “[W]hile the Biden boom was and is real, has it been good for U.S. workers? Ask many American workers, and they’d probably answer in the negative,” Krugman wrote. “After all, hasn’t inflation eaten up all their wage gains and then some?” But Krugman then took a nutty shift into pure condescension: “Bidenomics has been good for American workers, whether they know it...

FEAST OF THE NATIVITY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY MATTHEW 1:1–16, 18–23 Friends, today we celebrate the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. And our Gospel declares that she will be the Mother of Jesus, who would be “God with us.” Mary is a rich and multivalent symbolic figure in all of the Gospels. In Luke’s infancy narrative, she emerges as the spokesperson for ancient Israel, speaking, in her Magnificat, in the words and cadences of Hannah. In Matthew’s Christmas account, she is compelled to go into exile in Egypt and is then called back to her...

Russia has given up on rebuilding bridges destroyed by Ukraine in the Kherson counteroffensive, a Kremlin-installed leader of the occupied southern region said on Tuesday. Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Russian-appointed military-civilian regional administration, told Russian state-owned news agency Tass that it does not make sense for Russia to restore the Antonovsky Bridge, which has been targeted for weeks by Ukraine. "So far, no one is restoring the Antonovsky Bridge, because there is no point, there is no expediency," he said. Stremousov said that the key bridge, as well as a bridge in Nova Kakhovka, are completely closed at...

Republican Gubernatorial nominee in Arizona, Kari Lake, compared President Joe Biden to a “Sith Lord” from Star Wars following his speech Thursday, wherein he called MAGA Republicans a “threat” to America. Lake hosted a “Faith and Family Fest “ rally at Paloma Community Church in Mesa, Arizona, on Saturday, where she was joined by the Grand Canyon State’s GOP nominee for U.S. Senate, Blake Masters. She slammed Biden for his speech and also pledged to “purge” Arizona schools of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and “gender-identity nonsense.” .@KariLake: “When I am your Governor, Arizona will purge every single bit of this...

A 30-year-old woman has been arrested on the Spanish island of Tenerife for allegedly faking her own kidnapping four times to extort her mother. The woman allegedly sent her mother a video earlier this week that showed her blindfolded and smeared with blood. In the clip shared by the Civil Guard, a man is also seen behind her with a knife. “Mommy. They’ve kidnapped me,” the woman sobs. “You can’t say anything to the police. If you do, they’ll kill me.” She goes on to say how her captors beat her and deprived her of food. According to a statement...

An organization of judges from the 50 states has told the U.S. Supreme Court that its members want to have a say in redistricting maps that are assembled when state populations change, or shift, and representatives are allocated to the people. The Washington Examiner reports that the Conference of Chief Justices, the top judges in all of the states, filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the pending case from North Carolina. That case charges that it is the state legislatures, not courts, that have the final say over congressional district lines. The judges argue that's not right, that they should be...

WASHINGTON (FOX 5 DC) - D.C. is declaring a public emergency and creating a new office to provide services for migrants being bused into the District from border states such as Texas, Mayor Muriel Bowser announced Thursday. The public emergency will direct the Director of the Department of Human Services to provide temporary services and supports to migrants arriving from southern border states. It also authorizes the City Administrator and agency directors to establish new programs and expand or modify existing programs in response to the emergency. The new office will be called the Office of Migrant Services and $10...

For the time ever, Xcel Energy locked the smart thermostats of thousands of Colorado customers on Tuesday because of what it called an energy emergency. Xcel started a program six years ago, called the AC Rewards program, in which customers get rebates in exchange for allowing Xcel to adjust their thermostat on the hottest summer days to ease strain on the electrical grid. Participating customers need to sign up for the program, and about 22,200 have done that in Colorado. Tuesday was the first time that Xcel locked those thermostats, a company spokesperson said. The grid experienced an energy emergency...

The United States ambassador to United Nations says there's evidence that hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have been interrogated and forcibly deported to Russian filtration camps, in what she's calling "a series of horrors." The accusation by Linda Thomas-Greenfield — dismissed as fantasy by Russia — came during a United Nations Security Council meeting late Wednesday. This comes as Secretary of State Antony Blinken makes an unannounced trip to Ukraine Thursday— his second visit to Kiev since the war began six months ago.

Ukraine’s military advanced as much as 30 miles in the country’s east and liberated more than 20 villages and towns, a senior commander said, in a rapid thrust aimed at cutting Russian supply routes. Brig. Gen. Oleksiy Hromov, a senior officer on Ukraine’s General Staff, gave the first official confirmation of the gains of an offensive launched Tuesday to the east of Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv.

Let's make sure this movie "My Son Hunter" has the highest stars on IMDB. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15481952/

Ban on fracking to be lifted as part of Liz Truss's energy plan Fracking was banned in England in 2019 after new research raised fresh fears over the risk of earthquakes. Protesters are worried about contamination of drinking water and earthquakes Liz Truss has announced the ban on fracking will be lifted as part of plans to accelerate the UK's domestic energy supply. The prime minister said lifting the moratorium, brought in by the Conservatives, will enable developers to seek planning permission for fracking and get gas flowing in as soon as six months. Ms Truss said she was "setting...

"During The Queen's reign, she has tried to maintain the commonwealth by speaking with various leaders from different countries. She tried to smooth out the conflict between African nations and Margaret Thatcher's government. Watch Elizabeth: Our Queen and see The Queen's relationship with Margaret Thatcher and how the Falklands war affected it."

Follow our coverage of MailOnline's live blog as the Queen's close family head to Balmoral where she remains under medical supervision: Jacob Thorburn Host commentator 16:53 Crowds gather outside Buckingham Palace Crowds are now braving the wet weather to gather outside Buckingham Palace as they anxiously await an update on the Queen's condition. People react as they gather outside Buckingham Palace, central London, on September 8, 2022. - Fears grew on September 8, 2022 for Queen Elizabeth II after Buckingham Palace said her doctors were "concerned" for her health and recommended that she remain under medical supervision. The 96-year-old head...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s request for more than $47 billion in emergency funding to help Ukraine and tackle COVID-19, monkeypox and natural disasters is encountering deep skepticism from Senate Republicans, signaling a showdown ahead. The early resistance on the size and scope of the spending request points to the fraught negotiations to come as Congress labors to pass a stopgap spending bill that would keep the federal government running past Oct. 1 or risk a federal shutdown. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday that while Ukraine aid “is obviously a priority,” he downplayed the need for other...