Free Republic

Not only do Mangroves keep shorelines safer from storm winds and waves, and help with flooding but they also help prevent erosion and keep the waters they grow in clear. In Miami, where waterfront real estate and views are king, there’s a battle over this tree and it’s pissing a lot of people off.

It's been a "Twilight Zone" of a political week, from James Taylor singing "Fire and Rain" to cheer the Inflation Reduction Act to our Beto O'Rourke in New York looking for money to the Democrats in full "Daydream Believer" mode to pursue their climate change agenda. It's hard to take these folks seriously. James Taylor's song was about anguish, as I recall — exactly how the stock market felt that day. Beto keeps trailing in the polls so maybe he was looking for a job at MSNBC conveniently headquartered there. And who can follow them on climate change anymore? I...

Recently, the Arizona Mirror revealed that the Republican Party in Arizona is urging Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell to financially support U.S. Senate candidate Blake Masters. Masters, who secured a coveted endorsement from President Trump, triumphed in the primaries based on that seal of approval.In the beginning, Masters was trailing his Democrat rival, incumbent Sen. Mark Kelly, by a significant margin of 12 points.But matters have recently swung in Masters's favor, and a recent Emerson College poll has Kelly leading Masters by just two percentage points. Since the margin of error is around two points, this could be regarded as...

Most Democrats believe that there are “tens of millions” of “dangerous MAGA Republicans,” a Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll released in September found. The survey followed President Biden’s angry speech in which he demonized millions of Americans, deeming “MAGA Republicans” a great threat to the very “foundations of our republic.” The poll asked voters, “Do you think there are tens of millions of dangerous MAGA Republicans backing violence and trying to overthrow the constitution or is that a gross exaggeration and distortion?”

Justin Trudeau has faced intense backlash after a clip emerged of him singing Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody after a dinner just two days before Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral. The Prime Minister of Canada was filmed singing Freddie Mercury's iconic song during an impromptu session at Corinthia Hotel, London, during the official period of mourning just days before Her Majesty's state funeral. Canada's premier, 50, arrived in England following the Queen Elizabeth's death to join world leaders at her monumental funeral on Monday morning. Wearing a casual maroon t-shirt, Trudeau was seen standing over a piano during an ad lib singalong...

“The pattern for all who serve God, famous or obscure, respected or ignored, is that death is the door to glory” Video: https://youtu.be/SeDq1_4p6r4

OAKLAND - There are few sights more poignant than empty classrooms that should be full, playground basketball courts with no games, a "School Crossing" sign where there is no longer a school. Just breeze-block walls and nearly 100 years of history. Parker Elementary School, in the words of the Oakland Unified School District, was "unsustainable," no longer a place that drew enough children from a viable surrounding neighborhood to fill its now-dim classrooms and a dark gymnasium that had doubled as the school cafeteria. So it was shuttered last spring.

A report by the Philadelphia Inquirer indicated “nearly eight people on average were shot every day” in Democrat-run Philadelphia between Memorial Day 2022 and Labor Day 2022. The Inquirer notes, “Last year, more than 560 people were killed in homicides — the overwhelming majority by guns — and another 1,800 were wounded by bullets. It was the city’s most violent year ever. This year’s pace has been worse.”

WASHINGTON – Mazars USA, the longtime accounting firm for former President Donald Trump that cut ties with him and his family business this year, has begun turning over documents related to his financial dealings to Congress. After a yearslong legal fight, the House Oversight Committee has received a first trove of documents from the firm, which recently entered into a legal settlement agreeing to produce a range of financial documents from several years before Trump took office and during his early presidency. Mazars said in February it could no longer stand behind a decade of annual financial statements it had...

What is already known about this topic? Although risk for monkeypox transmission to health care personnel (HCP) is thought to be low, CDC recommends that HCP wear personal protective equipment (PPE) consisting of gown, gloves, eye protection, and an N95 (or higher-level) respirator while caring for patients with suspected or confirmed monkeypox. What is added by this report? Among 313 Colorado HCP exposed to patients with monkeypox, recommended PPE use and receipt of postexposure prophylaxis vaccination was low. HCP were assessed for risk and actively monitored for 21 days when indicated; none acquired monkeypox. What are the implications for public...

Wisconsin Senate candidate Mandela Barnes believes it is “foolish” to think the United States’ wealth was “justly earned,” a resurfaced video from 2021 revealed. “I didn’t even get to the point about Critical Race Theory,” Barnes said in a video released by WKOW ABC over the weekend. “That’s something else too. You know, it would be foolish to assume that the wealth of America was earned justly.” The 2021 event, held by the Portage Area Chamber of Commerce, was advertised as a question and answer session to discuss “issues of racism and systemic racism as they affect rural communities.” “Things...

As Democrats voice growing confidence about their midterm election prospects, two trends suggest that the party’s newfound sense of optimism may be misguided. Taken together, unrelenting inflation and the potential for a 2020-like polling error that overestimates Democrats’ strength could indicate that the Democratic Party is in a more fragile position than most in the media are currently acknowledging or appreciating. Earlier in the year, a red-wave midterm election — on par with 1994, when Republicans gained 54 U.S. House seats and flipped control of both houses of Congress — seemed almost inevitable.

Students at Swedish junior and senior high schools have thrown up something of an anomaly to the assumption that young people vote left-wing after swinging significantly to the right in support of conservative parties in a national mock school election. The voters of tomorrow appear to be increasingly more right-leaning than the general population, with preliminary reports showing 27 percent voted for the center-right Moderates, 21 percent supported the right-wing Sweden Democrats, and just 16 percent backed the left-wing Social Democrats.

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell said he prayed for Sens. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) and Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) to win their 2021 runoffs so people would more readily believe claims of election fraud. Lindell made the remark while speaking to a crowd at former President Trump’s Youngstown, Ohio, rally on Saturday, according to a clip posted online by Mediaite. “All of a sudden, I started praying,” said Lindell. “I go, ‘God, please let them take both of these senators.’ ” Lindell on Saturday said Democrats would have been “smart” to win only one of the two Georgia seats, because some Republicans may...

This is the wild tale of Michele Long Spears, initially the apparent loser who wound up winning an election by overcoming a “glitch” in the voting machines. IMO this is a highly under-reported story. After the contentious election in 2018 in a race that Stacey Abrams claimed was mismanaged, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger ordered the purchase of new voting machines from Dominion, and they came with a caveat. Cybersecurity experts and election integrity activists warn that the new machines suffer from many of the same problems as the old ones, including being vulnerable to hacking, and advocate for...

According to prosecutors, Ryan Sawyer Mays was a young, arrogant sailor angry about being assigned to deck duty after failing to become a Navy SEAL — and he made the Navy pay in a big way. But the prosecution has presented no physical evidence proving that Mays, 21, set the USS Bonhomme Richard on fire, a fact defense lawyers plan to highlight at the sailor’s court martial that is scheduled to start Monday at Naval Base San Diego. The July 2020 blaze burned for nearly five days and sent an acrid smoke over San Diego, damaging the amphibious assault ship...

The Massachusetts state lawmaker who represents Martha’s Vineyard demanded an investigation Sunday into Governor Ron DeSantis’ “inhumane” decision to fly 50 migrants to the island. -snip “We are requesting that the Department of Justice open an investigation to hold DeSantis & others accountable for these inhumane acts,” state Representative Dylan Fernandes tweeted Sunday. “Not only is it morally criminal, there are legal implications around fraud, kidnapping, deprivation of liberty, and human trafficking.” He said he spoke with U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Rachel Rollins, urging her to pressure the Department of Justice to launch an investigation. Up to 125 members of...

A person linked to the Boston Public Schools community has monkeypox, local families were told Monday. Boston 25 News reports a letter has now been circulated to the school community. In the missive, Acting Superintendent Dr. Drew Echelson and Incoming Superintendent Mary Skipper wrote, “An adult member of our BPS community has been diagnosed with monkeypox.” The school system reportedly worked closely with the Boston Public Health Commission and the affected person to identify and notify exposed individuals, officials said.

This list only includes destroyed vehicles and equipment of which photo or videographic evidence is available. Therefore, the amount of equipment destroyed is significantly higher than recorded here. Small arms, ATGMs, MANPADS, loitering munitions, drones used as unmanned bait, civilian vehicles, trailers and derelict equipment are not included in this list. All possible effort has gone into avoiding duplicate entries and discerning the status of equipment between captured or abandoned. Many of the entries listed as 'abandoned' will likely end up captured or destroyed. Similarly, some of the captured equipment might be destroyed if it can't be recovered. When the...

In The Student Loan Giveaway is Much Bigger Than You Think I argued that the Biden student loan plan would incentivize students to take on more debt and incentivize schools to raise tuition with most of the increased costs being passed on to taxpayers through generous income based repayment plans. Adam Looney at Brookings takes a deep dive into the IDR plan and concludes that it’s even worse than I thought. Here are some of Looney’s key points: As recently as 2017, CBO projected that student loan borrowers would, on average, repay close to $1.11 per dollar they borrowed (including...