Free Republic

BLUE WAVE: The KMT’s Chiang Wan-an defeated the DPP’s Chen Shih-chung and is to become Taipei mayor, while President Tsai Ing-wen stepped down as DPP chairperson after many of the party’s candidates, handpicked by the leadership, performed poorly The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday flipped key mayoral seats in Taipei, Taoyuan and Keelung, and won control of 13 out of 22 cities and counties in the nine-in-one local elections. President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) last night resigned as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairperson over a poor showing by the party’s candidates, who were handpicked by the DPP leadership rather than chosen...

Paul Ryan's top 3 picks for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination:1. Ron DeSantis 2. Glenn Youngkin 3. Tim Scott

THE POWER OF LOVE What most people need to learn in life is how to love people and use things instead of using people and loving things. This story will keep you singing! Like any good mother, when Karen found out that another baby was on the way, she did what she could to help her 3-year-old son, Michael, prepare for a new sibling. Karen and her spouse found out that the new baby was going to be a girl, and day after day, night after night, Michael would sing to his sister in Mommy's tummy. The pregnancy progressed...

In 2015, David Hole was prospecting in Maryborough Regional Park near Melbourne, Australia. Armed with a metal detector, he discovered something out of the ordinary – a very heavy, reddish rock resting in some yellow clay. He took it home and tried everything to open it, sure that there was a gold nugget inside the rock – after all, Maryborough is in the Goldfields region, where the Australian gold rush peaked in the 19th century. To break open his find, Hole tried a rock saw, an angle grinder, a drill, even dousing the thing in acid. However, not even a...

Taken from the single "American Pie" (2000)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is dismissing speculation that he may challenge President Biden for the Democratic nomination in 2024 — reportedly telling POTUS himself that he is “all in” on Biden’s re-election. In an interview with Politico, Newsom sought to tamp down speculation that he may run for the Democratic nomination after what the outlet said was “considerable” irritation from the White House at rumors he was plotting a run to oust Biden. “I’ve told everyone in the White House, from the chief of staff to the first lady,” he said, saying his message is “I’m all in, count me...

The last time Alyssa Milano was accused of being smart, it was 1991 while playing her role in “Who’s The Boss?” Since then, she continuously says and does things that reveal just how lacking she is in the mental department. Her latest entry for the Darwin Awards was an attempt to virtue signal against Elon Musk. He owns Tesla. He now owns Twitter and he’s letting people back in who Milano doesn’t agree with, therefore it makes sense to her feeble mind to “give back” her Tesla. Her reasons are ludicrous: I gave back my Tesla. I bought the VW...

Beloved Borscht Belt comic and actor Freddie Roman, best known for his roasts as part of New York City’s Friars Club and later Comedy Central, died at the age of 85 on Saturday, his family said. Roman suffered a heart attack in Boynton Beach, Florida, his daughter confirmed to Deadline. The comic had spent most of his life in show business after he was given the opportunity to emcee at his uncle and grandfather’s Crystal Spring Hotel in the Catskills when he was just 15.

What’s it like to be a 'traditionalist' Catholic in Germany?As the "synodal way" shapes Catholicism in Germany, 'The Pillar' talked with Germany's "traditionalist" Catholics.If you are ever browsing at a newsstand in a big German train station, look out for a magazine called Dominus Vobiscum.The cover is likely to feature a photograph of a Mass, or perhaps a statue of a saint, or a page from a medieval manuscript.Beneath the image will be a line explaining that the magazine is produced by Pro Missa Tridentina, a lay association dedicated to “the Classical Roman Rite in the Catholic Church.”The magazine is...

Luke 21:34-36 Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus directs us to be vigilant about his coming again. But his words also warn us to prepare for the day of our coming before him in death. On that day, our world will end. How are we going to deal with that day? Most of our interests, pursuits, and entertainments are designed to stave off this question. And this is why so many of the spiritual masters emphasize the importance of forcing ourselves to address this matter. St. Benedict tells his monks to hold their own death before their mind’s eye every day....

Soft-on-crime Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has downgraded more than half his felony cases to misdemeanors — while also managing to lose half of the felony cases that do reach court. Since taking office on Jan. 1, Bragg has downgraded 52% of felony cases to misdemeanors — compared to 39% in all of 2019. Between 2013 and 2020, under District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., the percentage of cases the office downgraded had never exceeded 40%, according to data made public by the DA’s office. When serious felony charges are brought, Bragg’s office wins a conviction just 51% of the time...

I'm looking for flash drives (USB 3.1 or 3.2 memory sticks) with 3D NAND memory if such are out there? MLC would be next best. I'm looking more for reliability than speed. Most useful would be a 256 GB stick. A dual drive (USB A and USB C connection on either end) would be best.Recommendations?

No text with this one. Instead, there are a few short videos. I don't every remember about hearing about this incident. Apparently, an entire town lynched a couple of suspected murderers of the son of a leading businessman. The thing is, though, a lot of people who looked at this case think they were innocent. They made a movie out of it.

A 19-year-old former foster child is caught in the grip of a fentanyl addiction after being moved to a San Francisco halfway-house beside an open-air drug camp. The baby-faced teenager, who gave his name as Noah Santana-Cobain, found a ready and available supply of the powerful synthetic opioid after being assigned to the city's Larkin Center, on the edge of its notorious Tenderloin District.

It’s tough to tell which fact is more surprising: That a red stag deer, not native to North America, was roaming around Randolph County, Alabama. Or that, after countless veteran hunters sought this elusive animal for months, a teenager who never harvested a deer in nearly 50 previous hunts, is the guy who killed it. Or that this specimen — estimated at more than 300 pounds — was so big, part of it dangled from his GMC Z71 pickup truck on the way to the processor, where it was too heavy for one scale and maxed out another. Or that...

Bilingual educators brought from the Dominican Republic to work for the city Department of Education were ordered by a middle school teacher to shut up about the steep cost of the rooms they were forced to rent — or be exiled from the program, they told The Post. The Dominican recruits said Rosse Mary Savery, a teacher at MS 80 in the Bronx under Principal Emmanuel Polanco, warned them not to tell a soul about having to fork over a monthly $1,350 to $1,450 each for a single room in apartments where they share a kitchen and bathroom with colleagues....

The American outbreak of avian influenza is officially the worst on record with 50.54 million dead birds, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The highly pathogenic virus was found at a commercial turkey farm in South Dakota this week, resulting in tens of thousands of birds being killed to avoid further spread. That pushed the 2022 total depopulation figures above 2015 when 50.5 million birds were killed, USDA data shows.

Some labelled the tweet “gross” and “inappropriate”, and others were upset about its explicit nature.Tampon brand Tampax has been hit with controversy after its recent tweet, which social media users have deemed “vulgar” and “gross.” Tampax went viral after putting its spin on the popular flirting method of “Slipping into someone’s DMs”, a reference to someone romantically and sexually approaching others by messaging on their social media platforms. Tampax tweeted on Monday, November 21: “You’re in their DMs. We’re in them. We are not the same”. The seemingly innocent tweet racked up more than 360,000 likes and 47,500 retweets, but...

As the published Covid science narrative evolves overseas, Professor Michael Baker is doing his best to prop it up here in New Zealand with his own special brand of magic beans. At this point in time, the research findings of harm from the Pfizer vaccine have become overwhelming, but Baker is sticking closely to the safe and effective fantasy. Even the most timid amongst us, fearful of visiting the internet, might have noticed that the vaccine doesn’t actually work, but Baker, in a kid gloves interview with Sean Plunket of The Platform, reassured us all that the mRNA biotech vaccine...

In a New York Times guest essay, MSNBC anchor Chris Hayes claimed that “in under a month” all of his “worst fears have been realized” in regard to how new Twitter owner Elon Musk has run his new social media platform. Hayes claimed that Musk “courted some of the worst trolls” on Twitter, has scared off advertisers and cut staff that handle the basic functions of the platforms. Hayes also expressed worry that under Musk, the platform may “break down and stop working altogether.”