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A draft law has been submitted to the Russian State Legislative Assembly (the Duma) to prohibited any information that promotes voluntary rejection of childbirth from spreading among the minors. The draft law has been posted in the chamber's legislative database on Wednesday. It was authored by deputies of the Parliament of Bashkiria and two members of the State Duma. In the explanatory note they point out that the "childfree" ideology based upon voluntary refusal to have children "runs counter to traditional family values and state policy of the Russian Federation". In this connection, the draft federal law proposes amendments to...

The state's $9.5 billion Better for Families program will provide checks of up to $1,050 to state residents to stem the rising costs of living.California's state government is plowing ahead with its plan of sending free money to people to mitigate the pain of inflation. On Tuesday, state Sen. Nancy Skinner (D–Berkeley) tweeted a reminder that in October, California residents who filed a tax return in 2020 should start seeing checks appear in their mailboxes courtesy of the Better for Families tax refund program. The rough sketches of the program were announced in late June as part of the budget...

The U.S. Army has released guidance for soldiers as they fight inflation, including a suggestion that they take advantage of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps. SNAP, a benefit for low-income Americans, is a program for which "service members and their families may be eligible," the guidance said, pointing soldiers and their families to the SNAP website and phone number. SNAP is one of several options discussed as part of the Army's Financial Readiness Program. "With inflation affecting everything from gas prices to groceries to rent, some Soldiers and their families are finding it harder...

VATICAN CITY — The Church of the Immaculate Blessed Virgin looks out onto the Mediterranean from Torvaianica, a beach town 20 miles from Rome that’s known more for its Mafia incursions, drugs and sex trafficking than its scenery. On a recent gray morning, after a celebration for the Assumption of Mary, a handful of middle-aged parish volunteers were at work cleaning up. The Rev. Andrea Conocchia, the pastor, showed up in sweatpants and a T-shirt reading “God is great and Jesus loves me,” a gift for his 25th anniversary of celebrating his first Mass. He apologized for his voice, still...

Senate Bill AB 587 will require social media companies to publicly post their policies regarding hate speech, disinformation, harassment, and extremism on their platforms, and report data on their enforcement of the policies. The newly signed legislation will also require platforms to file semiannual reports to the state’s attorney general’s office that will disclose their policies toward hate speech, extremism, and disinformation. The state’s attorney general’s office is also required “to make all terms of service reports submitted pursuant to those provisions available to the public in a searchable repository on its official internet website.” Last week, the state’s legislature...

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Share Tweet ... More Former President Trump is facing a new political quagmire as Senate Democrats open an investigation into allegations he pressured the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate his political opponents. Former U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman wrote in a new book that the Justice Department under Trump pushed his office to pursue criminal cases against former Secretary of State John Kerry and others viewed as political opponents of Trump. Democrats, who have been happy to elevate Trump and his conduct in the wake of an FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago estate, will look into the matter, Senate Judiciary...

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) signaled Wednesday that she could back a side deal between Democratic leaders and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) if it is included in a Senate bill funding the government, setting up a potential clash with liberals in the debate over climate change. “If the Senate passes a CR, we have to keep government open,” Pelosi told The Hill, referring to a continuing resolution — a stopgap funding measure to prevent a shutdown.

The billionaire founder of the outdoor fashion retailer Patagonia says he has given away his company to a charitable trust. Yvon Chouinard said that under a new ownership structure, any profit not reinvested in running the business would go to fighting climate change. This will amount to around $100bn ($86bn) a year, he claimed, depending on the health of the company. Patagonia sells hiking and other outdoor clothing in over 10 countries. Founded in 1973, its estimated revenue was $1.5bn this year, while Mr Chouinard's net worth is thought to be $1,2bn.

During a portion of an interview with CBS aired on Wednesday’s edition of “CBS Evening News,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen declined to say that inflation is near its peak and stated she doesn’t want to insert herself into forecasting things on a month-by-month basis, but she thinks it will “come down over time due to the actions” that are being taken by the Federal Reserve and that she hopes “to see substantial improvement over the coming year.” Yellen said, “Inflation remains a problem. It obviously is of tremendous concern to Americans.”

“All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast” (Proverbs 15:15).

Refugees from Venezuela and Colombia arrived this afternoon at Martha's Vineyard Airport and were later taken to the regional high school for food and water. Ray EwingA plane carrying approximately 48 migrants from Venezuela and Colombia landed unexpectedly at Martha’s Vineyard Airport Wednesday afternoon. Island officials and emergency management representatives were gathering to deal with the situation. “We’re immigrants,” said Eliase, who said he was from Venezuela. “We came here because of the situation in our country, for the economy, for work, for lots of things. I came here walking. We went through 10 different countries until we got to...

~ The FReeper Canteen Presents ~ ~ Remembering Our Troops!! ~ Marines Doing Marines Stuff! U.S. Marines with III Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF), ride in a combat rubber raiding craft during a helocasting masters course conducted by Expeditionary Operations Training Group (EOTG) at Camp Hansen, Okinawa, Japan, Sept. 7, 2022. Helocasting is an airborne technique used by small unit special operations forces to insert into hard to reach areas via bodies of water. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Pfc. Justin J. Marty) Canteen Mission StatementShowing support and boosting the morale ofour military and our allies' militaryand family members of...

Unvaccinated kids as young as age 5 will soon be unable to get a Happy Meal in Hong Kong—not inside a fast food joint, anyway.

China’s zero Covid policy is wreaking fresh havoc with its economy and daily life. Chengdu, a Southwestern metropolis of 21 million, has been largely locked down the past two weeks, in reaction to 1,800 reported infections. That’s just the biggest of 70 cities enduring some form of restriction lately. Xi Jinping’s government shows no sign of changing course. “Senior health officials continue parroting what Xi said a few months ago,” says Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations. “They don’t see any reason for shifting away.”

Ukraine recaptured the city of Izium on Saturday, giving hope that the tide might finally be turning decisively against the Russian invaders. Not only are Russian forces in retreat, Vladimir Putin is facing increased criticism at home. There is even evidence of the Kremlin engaging in damage control to manage the domestic narrative.Still, we should not allow ourselves to be carried away by Ukraine’s recent success. Russia still has cards to play.In the build-up to the escalation in the south around the Ukrainian city of Kherson, Russia redeployed much of its forces to that region. In the process of doing...

A congressional committee is calling on the U.S. Military Academy at West Point to remove the name of Confederate General Robert E. Lee from the academy, along with those of P.G.T. Beauregard, and William Hardee.

Becoming a new parent is an adjustment for both men and women. A dozen or so previous studies have shown that motherhood can change the structure of a person's brain, and yet fatherhood is comparatively overlooked. Skip advert Now, new international research has identified neurological changes amongst first-time fathers as well. The study is only small, but it suggests that the neural substrates of parenthood are not exclusive to mothers. Men, as it turns out, can also be impacted by their new role as a parent, albeit in a less pronounced and uniform way. On average, the researchers found new...

Democrat extremism in the wake of President Joe Biden’s “Dark MAGA” speech heated up some more on Wednesday when Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) issued a “call to arms” on the Senate floor while debating a national abortion ban. “When I hear my colleagues talking about how, you know, ‘it should be state rights’ or ‘government should not be telling us what to do,’ the word ‘hypocrites,’ it doesn’t even go far enough to call them out on what they’re doing,” said Hirono.

Democrat nominee for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, said the state should have been freeing criminals “all along” after it began releasing thousands of inmates during the Chinese coronavirus pandemic. As Gov. Tom Wolfe’s (D) office noted, the state released more than 8,300 prisoners, or nearly 20 percent of the inmate population, from March 2020 – October 2021 during the coronavirus pandemic. While speaking on a recently unearthed virtual call, which was published to YouTube by the group Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) in December 2020, Fetterman expressed that the state government “should have already been doing...