Free Republic

Ukrainian power grid operator Ukrenergo has suffered over UAH 70 billion ($1.9 bil-lion) in losses as a result of Russian attacks on the Ukrainian power grid, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said during a Cabinet meeting on Nov. 22.70 repair crews, totaling over 1,000 workers, are currently working to restore the grids, the PM added. Widespread power outages across the country will continue as the work goes on, he noted.Read also: Total blackout unlikely in Ukraine, DTEK says Shmyhal also explained why some cities in Ukraine may get more outages than others.“To put it plainly, there are substations and power transmission...

Now that the Republicans have a slim majority in the House, they need to use all the powers available to them to slow down the Dems’ abuse of power and assault on the Constitution. This means both now and next term, no “bipartisanship,” no preemptive cringes to ward off media attacks, and no “negotiations,” over raising the debt ceiling, for example, that don’t get some substantive concessions for pruning back the Democrats’ fiscal excesses. Come January, the most obvious actions are House committee hearings and investigations. Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, along with Jim Jordan (Ohio), James Comer (Ky), and other...

Two economists reported Tuesday in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that President Joe Biden is cutting Medicare benefits through the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, which cuts payments for prescription drugs for seniors. Casey B. Mulligan and Tomas J. Philipson wrote: President Biden has accused Republicans of scheming to cut Medicare. In fact it is his signature legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act, that will lead to benefit cuts and premium increases for seniors. Medicare’s popular drug-coverage program is headed for a painful amputation. The private plans participating in Medicare’s prescription-drug program, known as Part D, currently draw on three sources of...

Following my previous article on U.S. natural gas production, I engaged in a Twitter discussion on the causes of the natural gas price surge over the past two years.What ensued was a discussion of the influences in the natural gas markets in recent years. Indeed, the comment above is correct that most of the demand increase in U.S. natural gas production in recent years has been in power generation, as power plants phased out coal.Over the past 20 years, natural gas devoted to power production has increased from 5.3 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) in 2001 (24 % of production that...

A controversial new proposal to ban diesel-powered trucks in California has sparked a divisive debate among the trucking industry, the state and environmentalists. The California Air Resources Board has laid out an ambitious plan to eventually force all diesel truck fleets off the road, with varying timelines. This includes mandating that all new trucks operating around busy railways and ports be zero-emission vehicles by 2024; phasing out all diesel trucks from those areas by 2035; and eventually taking every diesel truck and bus fleet off California roads by 2045, where feasible. The proposed Advance Clean Fleets regulation first targets the...

Earlier today the Russian military shut down the Ukrainian electricity network. Previous attacks had limited the distribution capacity to some 50% of demand. Controlled blackouts over several hours per day allowed to give some electricity for a few hours to most parts of the country. The attack today created a much larger problem. Not only were distribution networks attacked but also so the elements that connect Ukraine's electricity production facilities to the distribution network. All four nuclear power stations of Ukraine with their 15 reactors are now in shutdown mode. Kiev along with most other cities of Ukraine no longer...

Elon Musk @elonmusk · 5m Should Twitter offer a general amnesty to suspended accounts, provided that they have not broken the law or engaged in egregious spam? Yes 73.4% No 26.6% 127,807 votes · 23 hours left

JUST IN - Elon Musk makes a new poll to offer a general amnesty to suspended accounts -- if not broken the law or engaged in egregious spam

Be our guest—at the unemployment bureau. Restaurants are failing faster in the United Kingdom than they did during the economically devastating COVID-19 pandemic, leading experts to predict over a third of UK “hospitality businesses” will close by 2023. I guess inflation wasn’t transitory there either. The Guardian blamed a “‘toxic mix’ of surging energy costs, staff shortages and falling bookings” for the crisis, as restaurant closures rose 60% this past year. And it’s not just restaurants affected, according to Steve Bannon, who posted on GETTR that “50% of all British small business said they would in all likelihood close shop...

(Nov. 22, 2022) — On Sunday and Monday, for those following him on Twitter, Barack Obama’s purported older half-brother Malik caused quite a stir. On Sunday at one point, he tweeted a graphic of the cover of a book he published in 2020 titled, “Big Bad Brother from Kenya.” On the same day, however, he suggested he and Barack are not brothers. The tweet gained the attention of WheresObamasBirthCertificate.com founder Mike Volin, who pointed it out to CDR Charles F. Kerchner, Jr. In a responsive blog post, Kerchner featured not only the tweet, but also his related research into the...

I’ve been warning for days that the Club Q shooting may not be what it seems. Many on the left quickly jumped to the conclusion that this was a targeted attack on the LGBTQ committee — what they would call a “hate crime” — for which Republicans bore responsibility because of their opposition to the “Respect for Marriage Act” that would codify gay marriage in federal law.Well, it turns out that the shooter is a part of the LGBTQ community.According to court filings, the suspect is identified as “Mx. Anderson Aldrich,” identifies as non-binary, and uses they/them pronouns.In new court...

Some conservatives have raised questions about the impartiality of the newly appointed special council on former President Donald Trump’s case, Jack Smith, after it emerged that his wife donated to President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign and produced a film for former First Lady Michelle Obama. On Nov. 18 Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith to be special counsel in two probes involving Trump.

Members of Germany’s national soccer team protested FIFA’s ban on players wearing LGBTQ armbands at the World Cup by covering their mouths when posing for a team photo. All players for Germany’s starting 11 posed for the team’s official photo before their opening match Wednesday against Japan by using their right hand to cover their mouth. The protest was in response to the international soccer governing body’s threat to impose sanctions on Germany and six other European nations if their players wore rainbow-printed armbands in support of LGBTQ rights during this year’s World Cup tournament. According to FIFA rules, players...

Republicans’ House majority in the next Congress climbed to 220 on Tuesday, when Republican Kevin Kiley defeated his Democratic opponent, Kermit Jones, in the tight race for California’s 3rd Congressional District. The Associated Press called the race for Kiley on Tuesday afternoon, two weeks after voters headed to the polls to cast their ballots in the eastern California district. Kiley, a California State Assembly member, won with 53 percent of the vote. Kiley’s win brings Republicans’ House majority to 220, while Democrats currently hold 212 seats. Three races are still uncalled by the AP: California’s 13th District, Alaska’s at-large district...

Personal computer company HP will dismiss between 4,000 and 6,000 employees, joining other firms in the technology sector making efforts to reduce headcount amid economic headwinds. The company reported net revenues of $14.8 billion in the fourth quarter, marking a decline from $16.7 billion in the same period last year. The effort to reduce payrolls, which will conclude by the end of fiscal year 2025, will save approximately $1 billion. “Looking forward, the new Future Ready strategy we introduced this quarter will enable us to better serve our customers and drive long-term value creation by reducing our costs and reinvesting...

ROME — Pope Francis tied Russia’s war on Ukraine to Joseph Stalin’s 1930s Holodomor, when the Soviet leader engineered a man-made famine that killed millions of Ukrainians. “Let us pray for peace in the world, and for an end to all conflicts, with a special thought for the terrible suffering of the dear and martyred people of Ukraine,” the pontiff told pilgrims and tourists gathered in the Vatican Wednesday for his weekly general audience. “This Saturday is the anniversary of the terrible Holodomor genocide, the extermination by hunger in 1932-33 artificially caused by Stalin,” the pope continued. “Let us pray...

President Biden rebuffed charges that he overlooked the attempt to exterminate the Uyghurs living within China, saying "I purposely avoided the topic because I felt mentioning it would reduce our chances for getting Xi's cooperation with our climate change objectives. Look, as bad as we might feel about the genocide against this Muslim minority, climate change is worse. Fending off the greater threat is worth the loss of a few million people nobody knows or cares about." "I told Xi that the world expects the two most powerful nations to cooperate on measures to reduce the greenhouse gases responsible for...

Thanksgiving is tomorrow and I have already started cooking my first turkey yesterday via sous vide. Tomorrow I smoke my second turkey on the Weber grill. Therefore I am cooking TWO turkeys in tandem for Thanksgiving and will continue doing so in the future whether it be for Thanksgiving or otherwise.Why? Well I first cooked tandem turkeys earlier this year. In addition to providing extra turkey for the guests, I was able to serve up INCREDIBLE homemade gravy which was made possible by using the wings that weren't used in the sous vide turkey as well as the rest of...

Last week in Washington, D.C, the City Council passed a sweeping overhaul to the city’s criminal codes. Touted as yet another example of “justice reform,” the changes reduced or removed bail for most crimes, and lowered or eliminated minimum sentences for many crimes while also lowering some maximum sentences. As we’ve seen in so many other cities, the overarching goal of the legislation was to further empty the jails and put criminals back out on the streets more quickly. There was a tragic bit of irony taking place even as the measure came up for a final vote, however. One...

suspect was busted Tuesday in the string of attacks on a Hell’s Kitchen gay bar — and allegedly told cops he was just “exacting revenge” on behalf of a gal pal feuding with the club, police said. Sean Kuilan, 34, was charged with reckless endangerment and criminal mischief in the brick-hurling attacks on VERS bar, including a caught-on-video incident Saturday night, NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said. “Basically, what he says [is] he knows a girl who had a problem with one of the guys in the bar and he was ‘exacting revenge,’” Essig said. “As of right now...