Free Republic

The three jurors who voted against the death penalty for Parkland killer Nikolas Cruz did so based on “mitigating circumstances” from Cruz’s life. They made the wrong call, but their rationale is superior to the reason many will agree with the sentence: a blanket opposition to the death penalty. Public support for capital punishment has slid over the last 30 years, remaining a majority opinion but barely so. Those who oppose death as a punishment often have kind, even noble intentions. Yet their well-meaning beliefs do not translate into justice or the common good. The death penalty is consistent with...

NASCAR announced Tuesday that it had suspended Bubba Wallace from the next Cup Series Championship event after his incident with Kyle Larson in Las Vegas Sunday. After Larson's car forced Wallace's car into the wall, Wallace returned the favor by hitting the rear of Larson's car, forcing Larson's car to spin out. After the crash, Wallace got in Larson's face and pushed him. Wallace had a tense conversation with a reporter after the incident, telling NBC Sports' Marty Snider to "stop fishing" for an answer he didn't want to give. "My behavior does not align with core values that are...

The price of charging an electric car using a public rapid charger is now more expensive than filling up with diesel according to data gathered by Parkers. The soaring price of wholesale gas and electricity has forced up the cost of charging a typical electric car, with £10 of charge taking you less far than the same amount of diesel. This rise in EV charging begins to bite just as petrol and diesel prices are finally beginning to fall. Despite the spiralling costs of using public electric car chargers, the long-term consideration of an electric car is still very much...

Republican MAGA superstar Kari Lake is up by three points over Democrat Katie Hobbs, per a Trafalgar Group/Daily Wire poll. This same poll also shows Republican Blake Masters surging against incumbent Democrat and Biden puppet Mark Kelly for Arizona’s U.S. Senate race: Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake is ahead of her Democratic opponent, Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, with a lead just inside the poll’s 2.9-point margin of error: 49.2% to 46.4%. Republican Blake Masters at 46.4% is running close behind incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly (47.4%).

Conservative Muslims in Dearborn, Michigan, have joined forces with right-wing Christians in a bigoted crusade against gay and trans literature in public schools.

Far-left Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the audience at a climate change event on Tuesday that he believed the escalation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine was “accelerating” the “energy transition” away from fossil fuels and towards a zero-carbon electric grid. Trudeau asserted that Europe’s heavy reliance on Russian oil and natural gas clearly endangered the continent and positions countries like Canada, with its own abundant natural resources, to usurp the dominance that tyrannies like Russia and China have taken in both fossil fuels and industries such as rare-earth metals, used for many of the products necessary for a...

Firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) warned that the Republican base would be “very unhappy” if House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) does not give her more power if Republicans take control of the chamber next year. In a New York Times Magazine profile on Monday examining Greene’s rise in influence and future, the Georgia congresswoman indicated that McCarthy would have to adopt her “a lot more aggressive” approach toward President Biden, whom she has introduced multiple articles of impeachment against. “I think that to be the best Speaker of the House and to please the base, he’s going to...

The annual elementary school Halloween parades of a Pennsylvania school district have been scrapped due to “inclusivity” and “safety” considerations, leading to an uproar on the part of disappointed parents.

The Bible In Paintings 2 ENCOURAGEMENT FOR APPRECIATING AND APPLYING GOD'S WORD SHEPHERDS, FIRST TO SEE THE SAVIOR L U K E CHAPTER 2 She gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not...

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Wednesday that he has signed a law introducing martial law in four Ukrainian regions the Kremlin has sought to annex, in violation of international law. The regions — Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk — are not under full Russian control. Western nations have decried the annexations and vowed not to recognize them as Russian territory. Putin made the comments during a scheduled Security Council meeting. “In this regard, let me remind you that in the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Luhansk People’s Republic, as well as in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, martial law was...

Putin evacuates 60,000 people before Battle of Kherson Vladimir Putin declared martial law in occupied Ukraine, handing him sweeping new powers over civilians Comes after officials ordered evacuation from occupied Kherson, as Ukraine's forces push to re-take city If Putin's army is forced to flee the city, it would be the most humiliating defeat it has yet suffered in Ukraine Fears are growing that Putin may be plotting a nuclear show of force over the Black Sea to save his invasion Experts believe Putin may detonate a nuke at a remote testing ground or above the Black Sea to prove...

Calling it "probably the largest data breach in United States history," Los Angeles County prosecutor Eric Neff said Chinese contractors working for a Michigan-based software company had direct control over U.S. election data through an app for poll workers called PollChief. The prosecutor, describing the volume of data in the breach as "astounding," was commenting on the criminal case against Eugene Yu, the CEO of Konnech, for allegedly storing Los Angeles election worker data on servers based in China. The complaint issued by the L.A. District Attorney’s Office cited as evidence a message from a Konnech project manager through a...

PORT ROYAL, Tuesday, Oct. 14, 1862. The return of Brig.-Gen. BRANNAN and his command from Jacksonville yesterday puts me in full possession of the particulars concerning the successful expedition against that place, and as only an in- complete account has gone North, I shall send a brief and connected narrative of the circumstances. The expedition left Hilton Head on the afternoon of the 30th ultimo, consisting of the Pennsylvania Forty-seventh Regiment, Col. GOOD; the Connecticut Seventh Regiment, Col. HAWLEY; a section of the First Connecticut Battery, under Lieut. CARMON, and a detachment of the First Massachusetts Cavalry, under Capt. CASE,...

ROCKLEDGE, Fla. – A 61-year-old Florida man was arrested on allegations of urinating on cases of beer inside a Brevard County store. According to a Rockledge police arrest affidavit, on Saturday the man walked into the Hop and Pop convenience store on Eyster Boulevard and tried to enter the restroom, but it was locked. The man then went into the store’s “beer cave” and made it appear like he was looking at the merchandise, police said.

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In-depth: The death of Jina 'Mahsa' Amini at the hands of the Islamic Republic's morality police sparked nationwide protests and has put a spotlight on the plight of Iran's long-oppressed Kurdish minority... With the protest movement following the lead of Kurdistan, the Kurdish cause has rapidly become intertwined with that of other oppressed communities in Iran.

Democrats’ lead over Republicans on the generic congressional ballot now stands at 1 point with just three weeks left until Election Day, according to a Politico-Morning Consult poll released on Wednesday. Forty five percent of registered voters in the new survey said they would vote for the Democratic candidate in their congressional district, compared to the 44 percent who would cast their ballots for the Republican. Another 11 percent in the poll said they don’t know who they would vote for or had no opinion. Democrats’ lead on the generic congressional ballot has ticked down in recent weeks, as the...

Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant occupied by Russian troops has been reconnected to 750 kV line. This was announced by IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, informs Censor.NЕТ referring to Interfax-Ukraine. "ZNPP has restored the connection to the last operating 750 kV transmission line after it was lost for the third time in ten days," Grossi said. At the same time, he drew attention to the fact that now both the main and reserve lines are available for communication with the power system of Ukraine, but intensive shelling of infrastructure across the country has delayed the restoration of the second backup external...

It’s not surprising that Democrats have been salivating ever since the House panel unanimously voted to subpoena Trump last week. As is ever the case with Trump, be careful what you wish for. There are all kinds of ways in which Trump’s testimony can backfire on his antagonists. First, one of the reasons the Jan. 6 committee hearings have had whatever success they have had is that it is an uninterrupted, one-sided narrative.

President Joe Biden plans to release even more barrels of oil from the federal government’s strategic reserves to keep gas prices low before the midterm elections. Bloomberg News reports that the Biden administration plans to release another ten million to 15 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Biden’s latest decision marks more than 200 million barrels set for release in less than two years as president, more than all previous presidents combined according to the Wall Street Journal. The oil reserves are currently at the lowest level since 1984. Despite Biden’s historic oil releases to bring down...