Free Republic

Gov. Ron Desantis (R-Fla.), a bonafide star in the Republican party, didn’t hold back in a Friday press conference when talking about what may happen to looters who try to take advantage of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Ian. “Don’t even think about looting. Don’t even think about taking advantage of people in this vulnerable situation. And so local law enforcement is involved in monitoring that,” Desantis defiantly warned. “You can have people, you know, bringing boats into some of these islands and trying to ransack people’s homes,” he continued. “I can tell you, in the state of Florida, you...

What’s happening in Iran is the biggest women’s rights protest ever in the Islamic world. Yet the response from some of the leading feminists in the United States, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib, has been strikingly muted. Each one has made what can be characterized at best as a tepid, pro forma response, one that contrasts sharply with their statements and actions during the Trump administration. It looks as if each one of these women regards Donald Trump as a far greater threat to women than the Islamic Republic of Iran is. AOC tweeted on September 23: “Solidarity...

... “For me, playing to win also means doing things differently. Doing things that others may question, but that we believe will put us in the winner’s circle the longest,” he said Wednesday during Toyota’s annual dealer meeting in Las Vegas, which, by the way, was called “Playing to Win.” Toyoda, who described Toyota as a large department store, said the company’s goal “remains the same, pleasing the widest possible range of customers with the widest possible range of powertrains.” Those powertrains will include hybrids and plug-in hybrids like the Prius, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles like the Mirai and 15...

The Election Integrity Partnership was formed in the final days of the 2020 election “as a non-partisan coalition to empower the research community, election officials, government agencies, civil society organizations, social media platforms, and others to defend our elections against those who seek to undermine them by exploiting weaknesses in the online information environment.”Those “weaknesses” are websites that don’t toe the company line on a variety of issues like “attempts to suppress voting, reduce participation, confuse voters, or delegitimize election results without evidence.” Question an election, and the EIP reports you to social media companies. The organization bragged they were...

Vladimir Putin is determined to shape the future to look like his version of the past. Russia’s president invaded Ukraine not because he felt threatened by NATO expansion or by Western “provocations.” He ordered his “special military operation” because he believes that it is Russia’s divine right to rule Ukraine, to wipe out the country’s national identity, and to integrate its people into a Greater Russia.He laid out this mission in a 5,000-word treatise, published in July 2021, entitled, “On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians.” In it, Putin insisted that Belarusians, Russians, and Ukrainians are all descendants of...

Predicting he will lose his bid to unseat Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), former Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D) blamed President Biden. "I'm losing the Latino vote because the President didn't spend a dime or a day in the Rio Grande Valley or really anywhere in Texas," Beto complained. "You got to be locking eyeballs with the people that you want to fight for and dishing out loot to those whose votes you want to win." O'Rourke contrasted "Biden's lame focus on abortion, climate, and Ukraine with the Republicans' more appealing offer of jobs, low crime, and low taxes. Latinos are...

Members of the far-right Sweden Democrats (SD) secured roles chairing four commissions in the Nordic country's parliament, the Riksdag on Saturday. While the leader of the center-right Moderate Party continues efforts to form a coalition government, members of the SD will chair four parliamentary commissions, reported local broadcaster SVT Nyheter. Deputies of the SD, who are preparing to support the minority right-wing government expected to be formed next week under Moderate Party leadership, will assume chair the justice, business, labor market, and foreign affairs commissions.

Who owes what to whom? The supply line of history rarely lies. If the ancestors of people who enslaved people owe reparations to the ancestors of those who were enslaved, then perhaps it is time for a “conversation” -- as the left likes to put it -- about paying reparations to the descendants of people who fought and died to help free enslaved people. Someone ought to put the question to CNN’s Don Lemon -- who endlessly lectures about the moral necessity of paying reparations to the descendants of the enslaved -- even if the people who will be “asked’...

“Voters are ready for change” after Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker’s “catastrophic impact,” according to Republican nominee Darren Bailey, who is currently within “striking distance” of his Democratic opponent in the 2022 race for governor of Illinois. In an exclusive statement to Breitbart News on Sunday, state senator and Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey highlighted the “failure” of Democrat Gov. J. B. Pritzker, calling him “an out-of-touch trust fund billionaire who has abandoned working families.”

Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD) said Sunday on MSNBC’s “Velshi” that the January 6 House Select Committee will show there is a “the continuing, clear and present danger posed by the political forces unleashed by Donald Trump.” Anchor Ali Velshi asked, “Your next hearing might be the final hearing. You have described it as it may be the last investigative public hearing, where we will try to round out the factual narrative. Could you put any meat on those bones for us?”

More than 143,000 households of color would need to become homeowners to close Washington’s racial homeownership gap, a chasm that persists because of a shortage of housing, skyrocketing home prices and discriminatory practices, a state report released this week found. About 31% of Black households in Washington own their homes, compared to about 68% of white households, according to census data included in the report. Ownership rates also lag for Hispanic, American Indian and Alaskan Native and Asian households, though Black Washingtonians face the largest gap. In response, the Washington state Department of Commerce said it will ask the state...

Governor Roy Cooper (D-NC) said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” said his state has a “front row seat” to climate change while discussing the aftermath of Hurricane Ian. Anchor Chuck Todd asked, “Let’s talk about rebuilding from his disasters. North Carolina has had to do it, Florida has had to do it quite a few times. Is it time to put more strings when it comes to rebuilding so that every dollar that’s spent is done for resiliency, so that it’s better for the next time and who should pay for that?” Cooper said, “North Carolina has had a...

Duct tape on a plane initially thought to be holding its wing together has been revealed as having a far less questionable purpose. The tape made for an alarming sight what was thought to be a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner for Australian opera singer David Wakeham who last week shared a photo to Twitter, where it later went viral. “When choosing your favourite airline, choose wisely. Profits before safety,” his post, which was also shared to Reddit, read. While at the time it was joked the tape was used for “temporary repairs”, it has since been identified as commonly used “speed...

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Hurricane Orlene grew to Category 3 strength on Sunday as it headed toward Mexico’s northwest Pacific coast between the tourist towns of Mazatlan and San Blas. After growing into a hurricane Saturday, Orlene quickly added power, and had maximum sustained winds of 125 mph (205 kph) on Sunday, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. That was slightly below its Category 4 peak of 130 mph (215 kph) earlier in the day. The storm was forecast to roar past the Islas Marias, a former prison colony being developed as a tourist draw, late Sunday or early...

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2 causes severe pathophysiology in vulnerable older populations and appears to be highly pathogenic and more transmissible than SARS-CoV or MERS-CoV [1, 2]. The spike (S) protein appears to be a major pathogenic factor that contributes to the unique pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2. Although the S protein is a surface transmembrane type 1 glycoprotein, it has been predicted to be translocated into the nucleus due to the novel nuclear localization signal (NLS) “PRRARSV”, which is absent from the S protein of other coronaviruses. Indeed, S proteins translocate into the nucleus in SARS-CoV-2-infected cells. To our...

by Becca London | RNNAfter a California inmate beat two convicted child molesters to death with a walking cane, he decided to speak out about what went down behind bars. His words should serve as a warning.Jonathan Watson, a 41-year-old California inmate, attacked David Bobb, 48, and Graham De Luis-Conti, 62, at the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison in Corcoran, NBC Los Angeles reported. Both men were taken to the hospital with head wounds after being bludgeoned with a cane. Watson unashamedly admitted to their murders after Bobb died en route and Luis-Conti was pronounced dead three...

One of the biggest advantages of Social Security is that its payments get annual cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs). When inflation is high -- as seniors have seen during the past couple of years -- these COLAs cause monthly checks to rise the following January to help retiree purchasing power keep pace. 2022's COLA boosted benefits by 5.9% this year, and early estimates make it likely that the COLA that will take effect in early 2023 will be between 8% and 9%. What's even better news is that, unlike in 2022, many Social Security recipients are more likely to see the full...

I am not a psychiatrist, but I have been told more than once that some mentally ill people think everyone else is mentally ill, and I am beginning to wonder if more and more people are mentally ill or if it is me. On Sept. 19, 2022, it was reported that the Dutch city of Haarlem will consider a proposal to prohibit companies from advertising meat for sale because cattle impact the climate in a way that is harmful to the environment. On Sept. 20, 2022, Stacey Abrams, Democrat candidate for Governor of Georgia, said six-week fetal heartbeats detected by...

Iran has shut down WhatsApp and Instagram in an attempt to stifle the discontent growing across the nation, following the death of 22 year-old Mahsa Amini, who died in custody after being arrested by morality police. Internet shutdowns are fairly commonplace in authoritarian societies on the eve of change, where governments may seek to gain control of the narrative by trying to stop communication and the sharing of information which can fuel protests and uprisings . ... Citizens tend to circumnavigate such crackdowns by downloading virtual private networks, or VPNs, which allows them to get around restrictions to certain blocked...

Would you rather be ruled by George Soros or Barack Obama? George Soros with his Open Society money plus the Chicago Marxist contingency of Susan Rice, Valerie Jarrett, Penny Pritzker, and Barack Obama are five people I'm inclined to group as the Biden puppet masters. Is there a pecking order among them? Does it matter? I suppose it matters to these individual megalomaniacs, but to anyone else? No. Just get that totalitarian state up and running. Maybe it will matter when all nations are under someone's thumb and one of those thumbs wants to be the one-world Big Thumb. Not...