Free Republic

A diesel truck owner's battle with the state of New Jersey is leading to the scrapyard. Mike Sebold initially received a letter from the state's Department of Environmental Protection after listing his modified 2008 Ram 2500 on Facebook Marketplace. Officials took issue with the pickup's deleted emissions equipment and, in turn, told Sebold his truck must be returned to stock or taken off the road. But after he decided to turn in his plates and keep it for off-road use, Sebold claims they've forced him to make an appointment with the crusher. Updated at 1:30 p.m. ET on 09/14/2022: Sebold...

The number of Americans aged 65 and older has increased to approximately 56 million, or 17 percent of the population, nearly double the 1960 level of 9 percent. The majority, about 55 percent, are women, and among those 85 years and older, nearly two-thirds are women. T Also importantly, by 2034, those older than 65 are expected to outnumber children for the first time in U.S. history. Although COVID-19 reduced life expectancies of older Americans by approximately a year, Americans at age 65 years in 2021 could expect to live an additional 18 years on average — about 17 years...

en. Ron Johnson (R) has pulled slightly ahead of Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes (D) as the two vie for the Wisconsin senator’s seat in November’s midterm elections, according to a poll from Marquette University Law School released Wednesday. The poll puts Johnson ahead of Barnes by just 1 percentage point. The incumbent garnered 49 percent support from likely voters, and his Democratic challenger garnered 48 percent support. The results are within the poll’s margin of error.

The Tajik side said in a statement that Kyrgyz border guards opened unprovoked gun and mortar fire on their outpost, killing one border guard and injuring another two, the RIA Novosti news agency reported. Kyrgyzstan did not immediately report any casualties. More than one-third of the two countries’ 1,000km (600-mile) border remains disputed. Both Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are allied with Russia and host Russian military bases, but fighting over border issues is frequent and last year almost resulted in an all-out war between the former Soviet republics. Russia called on its Central Asian allies to take urgent measures to bring...

Sept. 13 (UPI) -- Twitter shareholders voted Tuesday to approve a proposed $44 billion bid by Elon Musk to buy the company, even as Musk seeks to escape the deal. Twitter confirmed that a preliminary count showed that it had enough votes to approve the deal, according to The Verge. Musk initially attempted to buy the company but then sent a letter in July saying he was backing out of the deal. He argued that Twitter "has not complied with its contractual obligations" to provide accurate assessments of how many fake user accounts are on its system. The social media...

The New York Times has reported that nearly 100 current members of Congress have bought or sold stocks related to their work in office. One of those identified is Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota, who sits on the U.S. House Ethics Committee and the Financial Services Committee. The Times found that he has reported trades in 276 companies and has 34 possible conflicts of interest — one of the highest tallies among the 97 members of Congress listed. Phillips’ trading chiefly involved stocks and bonds “issued by more than two dozen banking companies,” according to the Times. Phillips, a Democrat,...

The illumination of the Eiffel Tour will end at 11:45 p.m., which is when the tower closes to visitors, starting Sept. 21, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said. The iconic landmark is usually lit until 1 a.m. Additionally, the lighting on the exterior facades of all municipal buildings and monuments, including borough town halls, will be turned off at 10 p.m. starting on the same date, she said. Other actions include postponing when the city turns on the heat in public buildings by a month and lowering the temperature in those buildings by 1 degree to 18 degrees Celsius (about 64...

One of the unions representing rail workers said Wednesday that its members rejected a proposed deal with rail carriers and voted to move forward with a strike that could have severe consequences for the U.S. economy. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers issued a statement saying that roughly 4,900 of its members turned down the tentative agreement with the National Carriers' Conference Committee (NCCC) representing railroads, but noted that they would hold off on striking for at least a few weeks while other unions continue their talks.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A teenage girl died of an apparent overdose at a Los Angeles high school and police on Wednesday were investigating three other possible overdoses of teens in the area where officials warned that dealers are selling counterfeit pills laced with deadly fentanyl. Officers were called to Bernstein High School in Hollywood Tuesday night after a man said his 15-year-old stepdaughter had overdosed on campus, LA police said. The girl and her 15-year-old friend had not come home from school in the afternoon and the man began driving around town looking for the pair. He found his...

Natural Gas up 9.56%

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday called up 75 members of the Illinois National Guard to help organize shelter, food and medical care for migrants arriving by bus from Texas. The Democratic governor signed an emergency declaration to speed up procurement of necessary supplies as well as seek National Guard help with logistics. Pritzker said buses arrive with little advance notice and that attempts to communicate with Texas colleagues go unheeded, which Pritzker says Abbott ordered. “To Gov. Greg Abbott: Now is the time to stop trying to sow the seeds of chaos, to put aside...

Joe Biden and the Democrats destroy everything they touch. The Biden Regime is looking to pay $80 per barrel to fill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Just two years ago the Democrats blocked President Trump from filling the Strategic Oil Reserves at $24 per barrel. The Democrats cost the US BILLIONS in potential profits, Bloomberg News reported.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ventured beyond the relative safety of Kyiv on Wednesday to visit the recently liberated city of Izyum, where he promised to drive Russian forces from all of Ukraine. “Our blue-yellow flag is already flying in de-occupied Izyum. And it will be so in every Ukrainian city and village,” he said on social media during the visit. “We are moving in only one direction — forward and towards victory.” A supply and logistic hub for Russian operations in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine, the retaking of Izyum represents a strategic win for Ukraine as well as...

You thought you turned the thermostat down. In the Texas late summer heat, it keeps getting warmer inside. No matter how much you fiddle with the temperature, you cannot control the climate in your house. When winter comes, those with “smart thermostats” could find themselves without the means to do the same. A combination of smart devices, utility control, unreliable “green” energy, and poor planning will mean a retread of Soviet-style shortages and rationing. For those who need the energy at the hottest and coldest times of the year, the effects will be critical. And as difficult as this summer...

President Biden on Wednesday got behind the wheels of pricey luxury vehicles at the Detroit Auto Show — just a day after drawing jeers for throwing an “inflation reduction” party despite worse-than-expected August data that showed US wages aren’t keeping up with surging prices. Biden revved a gas-guzzling Chevrolet Corvette Z06, which starts at $105,000, before sitting in the driver’s seat of an electric Chevrolet Silverado EV, which starts at $39,900, and checking out an electric Ford Mustang Mach-E, which goes for around $47,000. The president then drove around the showroom in an electric Cadillac Lyric, which starts near $63,000....

WASHINGTON — When John H. Durham was assigned by the Justice Department in 2019 to examine the origins of the investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign’s ties to Russia, President Donald J. Trump and his supporters expressed a belief that the inquiry would prove that a “ deep state” conspiracy including top Obama-era officials had worked to sabotage him. Now Mr. Durham appears to be winding down his three-year inquiry without anything close to the results Trump was seeking. The grand jury that Mr. Durham has recently used to hear evidence has expired, and while he could convene another, there...

Democrat John Fetterman holds a five-point lead over Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania’s race for U.S. Senate, according to a poll. The CBS/YouGov released Wednesday shows that 47 percent of registered voters back Oz, a celebrity doctor, while 52 percent support Fetterman, the state’s lieutenant governor. Another one percent remain undecided. The candidates evenly split the independent demographic, with both garnering 49 percent of the response, but Fetterman is doing better with Democrats than Oz is doing with Republicans. Of Democrat participants, 95 percent say they support Fetterman, and 87 percent of Republicans back Oz, who has former President...

Statement from our campaign below: pic.twitter.com/4298084QSC— Dr. Mehmet Oz (@DrOz) September 14, 2022

"Some transplant recipients are rejecting their new organ and scientists say the coronavirus vaccine may be to blame," WISH TV reports. VIDEO AT LINK.......... From WISH, "New study finds organ recipients rejecting transplant after receiving COVID vaccine": According to a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine, acute corneal allografts are being rejected by immunized patients who've undergone the procedure. Researchers say the underlying cause could be tied to a systemic inflammatory response elicited by the shot post-jab. The cornea is the outermost layer of a person’s eye. Corneal grafts are used to restore a damaged cornea. The...

Investigators from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s department executed a search warrant Wednesday morning at the Santa Monica home of County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl. The reason for the search was not immediately known. However, the Sheriff’s Department has been investigating the non-profit, Peace Over Violence, which is run by a close associate of Kuehl’s, Alene Tchekmedyian of the Los Angeles Times reports. The investigation involves allegations that the nonprofit was improperly awarded a series of contracts pushed by Kuehl’s office.