Free Republic

It seems that one continent can’t seem to catch a break. After the chaotic mess that was summer travel, Europe is preparing for a cold, hard winter. There is an impending energy crisis looming over the continent and as the demand surges in the colder months, European countries will have a hard time supplying much-needed power and the costs to heat and light homes and workplaces will soar. Already, it is estimated that the energy prices are 10 times higher than the five-year average. Countries are scrambling to store energy and advising measures to people to navigate through difficult times...

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, one of the few conservatives to win a presidency anywhere in the world this year, urged the United Nations in his speech on Tuesday to “stand together in solidarity” and defend freedom from wherever a threat may arise. Yoon’s remarks, his first address to the annual General Assembly debate, echoed much of what he told Koreans in his inauguration speech in May. On that occasion, he used the word “freedom” 35 times; to the United Nations, he said “freedom” a mere 18 times, according to the organization’s official English-language transcript. Unlike many other heads of...

Latino voters in 2020 moved to the right. The 2022 midterms could be a test for Democrats. Republicans are slowly winning over Latino voters. Democrats may not have learned from their 2020 mistakes.

Zuckerberg's alleged actions were 'beyond disgraceful,' ... Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, his wife and three voting rights groups were hit Thursday with legal complaints alleging malfeasance related to activities surrounding the 2020 election. The Center for Renewing America (CRA) filed two complaints — the first against Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan and the second against the groups Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL), Center for Election Innovation and Research (CEIR) and National Vote at Home Institute (NVAHI) — Thursday morning with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The complaints .. allege that Zuckerberg and the three groups were involved...

Iran has shut off the internet in parts of Tehran and Kurdistan, and blocked access to platforms such as Instagram and WhatsApp, in an attempt to curb a growing protest movement that has relied on social media to document dissent. The protests, which were sparked on 16 September after the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman in police custody, show no sign of subsiding. On Thursday, protesters torched police stations and vehicles in several cities. This comes as anti-regime demonstrations spilled into cyberspace, with videos of women burning their hijabs going viral. Other women have been posting emotional videos in...

State legislatures could see a record number of new faces elected in November. More than 25% of the 6,278 state legislative seats up for election will see a newcomer. Heated primary battles ousted a surprising number of Republican incumbents, and the recent redistricting, as always, has led to an increased rate of open seats.

Once again hunters can register their moose online and submit tooth as proof.Moose season is underway this week and hunters are out in big numbers this year.The province issued 5,107 licences for the hunt, which runs until Sept. 24.That's the highest number since 1995. Dwayne Sabine, a biologist with the Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development, said this year's increase was largely due to a drop in hunter success rates. "So essentially we were able to issue a few more licences to harvest the same number of moose that we expected to harvest over the last couple of years,"...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOYArc7mFiE

There’s No Time to Meet with Francis. China Already Has Its Pope, XiAfter the botched and fruitless meeting in Kazakhstan with Moscow patriarch Kirill, Francis also failed to meet in Nur-Sultan, now once again called Astana, with Chinese president Xi Jinping, on a state visit to the Kazakh capital that same day, Wednesday September 14, on which the pope reaffirmed the “primary and inalienable” right to religious freedom, which is not only interior or devotional but must also include “the right of every person to bear public witness to his beliefs,” just the opposite of what happens in China.The meeting...

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is asking the state's Supreme Court to investigate New York Attorney General Letitia James for publishing a report claiming he sexually assaulted multiple women during his tenure. Cuomo claims James manipulated the investigation in order to pursue her own run for governor, failed to appoint independent investigators to the case and omitted crucial evidence from her report released last August. Cuomo argued James's press conference announcing the findings of the report "was meant to be prejudicial and highly inflammatory, and to villainize me in the public eye, and to mislead the public and the...

Carcasses can explode if left to decompose on land and should be towed back to sea ‘where they belong’, experts say Two mass strandings in Tasmanian waters in a week has left about 200 pilot whales and 14 sperm whales dead. On Monday, 14 juvenile sperm whales died and washed ashore at King Island, in Bass Strait. Approximately 230 pilot whales became stranded on Ocean Beach, west of the Tasmanian town of Strahan on Wednesday. In 2017, a New South Wales council buried an 18-tonne humpback whale at Port Macquarie’s Nobbys beach and then excavated it a week later, due...

Every spring and fall, billions of birds migrate through the US, mostly under the cover of darkness. This mass movement of birds must contend with a dramatically increasing but still largely unrecognized threat: light pollution. Light pollution harms birds, but you can help! Light attracts and disorients migrating birds, confusing and exhausting them as well as making them vulnerable to collisions with buildings, not to mention other urban threats like cats and toxins. An estimated 365 – 988 million birds die in collisions with buildings annually, including a number of species of high conservation concern. The BirdCast team joins a...

Former Trump administration DHS official Miles Taylor, the anonymous author of a New York Times op-ed article in 2018 criticizing President Donald Trump, said Thursday on MSNBC’s “Deadline” that Donald Trump was behaving and talking in a “deranged” manner. On Fox News Wednesday night, Trump said, “If you’re the president of the United States, you can declassify just by saying, ‘It’s declassified.’ Even by thinking about it. Because you are sending it to Mar-a-Lago or where ever you are sending it. There doesn’t have to be a process.”

[Catholic Caucus] Future Bleak for Vatican II MassMy parish is forced back into compliance with the “unique liturgical expression of the Roman rite” this month, as expressed by Pope Francis in Traditionis custodes, with the banning of the traditional Latin Mass in my as well as in other parish churches. This in order to open us to the full experience of the wonders of Vatican II and its sole expression of public prayer in the Novus Ordo or Mass of Paul VI. Pope Francis’ vision of the full flowering of the 1960’s revolution is now realized only through compliance with...

Pennsylvania’s radical Democrat nominee for U.S. Senate, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, appears to have covered a forearm tattoo that read: “I WILL MAKE YOU HURT.” Fetterman’s forearm tattoos are often prominently displayed below the rolled-up sleeves of one of his token Carhartt sweatshirts, but one tattoo he reportedly had while serving as mayor of Braddock is no longer visible. In 2009, Janet Reitman authored a profile on far-left Fetterman in Rolling Stone, headlighting his forearm tattoos at the top of the piece: Fetterman inked the [Braddock’s] ZIP code, 15104, on his left forearm. Since then, he has tattooed the dates...

Women (especially those aged younger than 45 years) who have undergone a hysterectomy may be at greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes (T2D), according to a study of more than 83,000 middle-aged French women who were followed for an average of 16 years. "The findings suggest that women who undergo hysterectomy before the age of 45 have a 52% increased risk of developing incident type 2 diabetes," says Professor Fabrice Bonnet. Hysterectomy may be recommended as a treatment for heavy periods, fibroids, endometriosis, and gynecological cancers. The surgery removes the uterus (or womb), sometimes along with the fallopian tubes,...

Undocumented immigrants in Washington affected by COVID-19 can now apply for a new round of financial relief, as part of an unprecedented $340 million fund approved last year by the state legislature. Eligible people can apply to the Washington COVID-19 Immigrant Relief Fund and receive at least $1,000 via check or prepaid card, delivered some time between December and January. Undocumented immigrants affected by the pandemic – including those who lost jobs, had hours cut, contracted the virus, fell behind on housing and utility bills and cared for a family member who tested positive – are eligible. Applications for the...

Explanation: Big, beautiful spiral galaxy NGC 7331 is often touted as an analog to our own Milky Way. About 50 million light-years distant in the northern constellation Pegasus, NGC 7331 was recognized early on as a spiral nebula and is actually one of the brighter galaxies not included in Charles Messier's famous 18th century catalog. Since the galaxy's disk is inclined to our line-of-sight, long telescopic exposures often result in an image that evokes a strong sense of depth. This Hubble Space Telescope close-up spans some 40,000 light-years. The galaxy's magnificent spiral arms feature dark obscuring dust lanes, bright bluish...

California approved the composting of human remains today. Composting of human remains will be more ecologically friendly and efficient than either cremation or burning. Besides being ecologically friendly, composting will provide positive economic value. During composting, maggots can be collected and processed as food. Maggots, when freeze dried, are indistinguishable from rice, which then can be used for Asian dishes, Rice Krispies, rice flour, protein bars, etc. The completely composted remains, after the skeletons are ground up, can be sold to pig farmers for feed additives or for compost to local garden shops (Aunt Lilly's Garden Best Compost).

Democratic Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman is stepping up his public appearances after weeks of heavy scrutiny over his health — including from Republican opponent Mehmet Oz. Over the weekend, Fetterman drew a crowd of 1,000 at a Scranton rally and is slated to hold another rally in Philadelphia this weekend. The campaign said they saw a crowd of 3,000 attend a rally with Fetterman and Planned Parenthood earlier this month in Philadelphia, the same day as the home opener for the Philadelphia Eagles, no les