Free Republic

To understand television host Mike Rowe, consider his grandfather. In the undated photo of Carl Milton Knobel, he is standing in what appears to be his backyard. Dressed in a dapper suit and wool overcoat, he is looking at whoever is holding the camera with affection. Everything about him emotes dignity and grace but also joy and anticipation, as if someone knew this was the moment to capture all of who he was, for posterity's sake. Knobel was a father of two daughters, the grandfather of five grandsons, and the great-grandfather of four when he passed in 2003 at the...

Gov. Kathy Hochul has signed legislation into law that replaces the word “alien” in state statutes with the politically correct term “noncitizen,” which was proposed by Democratic lawmakers. “New York will both match the language anticipated to be in federal codes and demonstrate respect and humanity to its immigrant population,” reads a legislative memo attached to the bill. Legislative language states that changes to laws covering cannabis, parks, public health, labor, public authorities, real estate, economic development and a litany of other topics will take effect immediately. This includes nixing “illegal alien” in favor of “undocumented noncitizen.” The legislation, sponsored...

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has reportedly fired the “openly genderfluid” Sam Brinton following two accusations of luggage theft at separate airports. In an email to the Daily Signal on Monday, a DOE spokesperson said that Sam Brinton is no longer an employee without further specifying. “Sam Brinton is no longer a DOE employee,” the spokesperson said. “By law, the Department of Energy cannot comment further on personnel matters.”

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“‘And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty’” (Matthew 13:23). The ultimate barrier to salvation is unbelief, and anyone willing to receive the gospel on Christ’s terms proves he or she is “good soil.” God honors the humble faith of receptive hearers and opens their spiritual ears, minds, and hearts, allowing them to understand the gospel. The example of the receptive hearers ought to encourage everyone who has ever witnessed...

In recent months, I have read many sad, pitiful letters from believers who are still bound by sinful habits. Multitudes of struggling Christians write, “I can’t stop gambling… I’m in the grips of an alcohol addiction… I’m having an affair, and I can’t break it off… I’m a slave to pornography.” In letter after letter, these people say the same things. “I love Jesus, and I’ve begged God to free me. I’ve prayed, wept and sought godly counsel. I just can’t break free. What can I do?” I’ve spent much time seeking the Lord for wisdom on how to answer...

There have been skirmishes between armed ethnic Serb protesters and Kosovo police. The reason is that a while ago, Kosovo ordered that drivers surrender Serbian-issued license plates and replace them with Kosovo plates. On Dec. 10, Serbs living in northern Kosovo started erecting barricades. Kosovo residents confronted them, and Kosovo police blocked the border checkpoints. A traffic jam ensued, and so did a small shootout, including the use of a stun grenade. The shooting has died down but the threats have mounted. A shootout over license plates may seem excessive, but this is the Balkans. It is a relatively small...

PHOENIX (AP) — Mecca Patterson-Guridy wants to learn, but for some subjects, she isn’t always comfortable asking her teachers. So she has been turning to TikTok. Online, the 17-year-old high school junior in Philadelphia has found videos on social media platforms about protests over police shootings, civic engagement and Black and Latino history in the U.S. The accounts she checks regularly feature segments including “Fast Black History” and “Black Girl Magic Minute.” The videos, Mecca said, address “things that get overlooked in the classroom.” Scrutiny from conservatives around teaching about race, gender and sexuality has made many teachers reluctant to...

appy Birthday to Dick Van Dyke! Born on December 13, 1925, the actor is turning in 97 today and fans are celebrating his birthday across social media! Mr. Van Dyke is known for many years of acting, which started in 1947 in nightclubs. Then he went on to appear in numerous television shows and films including Disney’s famous “Mary Poppins” and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.”

How Lockdowns Made Us Sicker Early during lockdowns in 2020, when the whole of the media marched in lockstep with the most appalling reach of public policy in our lifetimes, two doctors from Bakersfield, California went out on a limb and objected. Their names: Dan Erikson and Artin Massihi from Accelerated Urgent Care. They held a press conference in which they claimed that lockdowns would only delay but not finally control the virus. Moreover, they predicted, at the end of this, we would also be sicker than ever because of our lack of exposure to endemic pathogens. You could say...

Answer: nope. Even if it might be accurate this time. Which it might be … or may not.The BEA will publish the consumer price index report for November tomorrow morning. Economists expect it to drop, as did the producer price index in last Friday’s report. But they’ve expected it to drop significantly all year, and yet here we are:At this time last year, economists were predicting that inflation would swiftly fade in 2022 as supply chain issues cleared, consumers shifted from goods to services spending and pandemic relief waned. They are now forecasting the same thing for 2023, citing many...

Research published Monday has confirmed a link between a Covid infection and a debilitating heart condition called POTS, or postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, that has been diagnosed in some patients with long Covid. The findings, published in the journal Nature Cardiovascular Research, are in line with earlier reports from physicians that Covid may trigger POTS, a disorder of the autonomic nervous system often characterized by a rapid heart rate, low blood pressure, fainting and lightheadedness. Physicians often fail to recognize the condition, experts say, because it can be confused with a myriad of other health problems, including anxiety and dehydration....

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - After all-night negotiations, the European Union struck a political deal on Tuesday to impose a carbon dioxide emissions tariff on imports of polluting goods such as steel and cement, a world-first scheme aiming to support European industries as they decarbonise. Negotiators from EU countries and the European Parliament reached a deal at around 5am in Brussels, on the law to impose CO2 emissions costs on imports of iron and steel, cement, fertilisers, aluminium and electricity. Companies importing those goods into the EU will be required to buy certificates to cover their embedded CO2 emissions. The scheme is...

Every four years, the World Cup comes around and Americans become interested in soccer until the men’s team loses. Then it is back to football. There is women’s soccer, too, but it attracts little interest, in large part because it is woke.The rest of the world is soccer mad because it is three minutes of action packed into three hours of drinking beer. Americans have baseball for that.Soccer also has a political side, which Alain Destexhe of the Gatestone Institute explored in this year’s celebration in Belgium — the de facto capital of Europe. The cheering was raucous and illuminating.Destexhe...

Luka, a 20-year-old woman who began identifying as transgender in adolescence, now regrets taking cross-sex hormones and having a double mastectomy at 16; she says doctors pressured her into medically transitioning. Her story is a microcosm of what’s happening across the U.S.: thousands of teen girls are undergoing irreversible biomedical interventions to resolve gender identity issues they would likely outgrow on their own, experts say, and doctors are encouraging the medicalization of these minors despite health risks the treatments present. “My parents were told the same thing so many other parents in these situations are told, ‘Would you rather have...

A leftist nonprofit group that funded the private takeover of government election offices during the 2020 presidential election just announced its new round of beneficiaries for the 2024 cycle. The Center for Tech and Civic Life — one of two groups that funneled $328 million (colloquially termed “Zuckbucks“) from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to the blue counties of swing states to mobilize potential Democratic voters and swing the race for Joe Biden — has said it will distribute $80 million in election grants in the next five years to the following counties and cities: Contra Costa County, California Shasta County,...

Those ‘under the age of 50 who took the vaccine now have a 49% higher mortality rate,’ and individuals who received just one dose of the shots, ‘have an approximately 145% worse mortality rate,' said analyst Josh Stirling. ‘That ends up being something like 600,000 excess deaths per year in the United States.’A highly acclaimed insurance analyst reported that “the best statistics we have” reveal those who accepted the experimental gene-base COVID vaccine “have a 26% higher mortality rate,” including 49% for those under 50, and 145% for those who accepted just one dose of a two-dose regimen.Josh Stirling from...

The Epoch Times reported, "Canadians are now waiting longer than ever before if they need to see a specialist, obtain diagnostic procedures, or undergo surgery, according to a new survey."This year, an estimated 1,228,047 Canadians are waiting for procedures in 10 provinces. This is roughly 3.2% of the country’s population, assuming each person is only waiting for one medical treatment."The Fraser Institute says that in the nearly 30 years it has been documenting how long it takes for patients to receive necessary medical treatment, this year’s wait time of 27.4 weeks is the longest."Reading that, I wondered what the wait...

The Government Conspired with Big Tech to Infringe on Free SpeechThe defenders of censorship hate the sunlight from @elonmusk. They complain “but Twitter was a private company!” US case law throws cold water on this defense! “A fundamental principle of the First Amendment is that all persons have access to places where they can speak and listen.” Packingham vs NC.Bottom line: the government conspired to remove valid public health messages and social media posts by myself and others, because they disagreed with the viewpoint which contradicted the federal government’s COVID-19 public health message and views.OpEd in the WSJ about Twitter...

Joe Biden is only in second place – so far. A new report reveals that the economic decline for Americans was both huge and fast under Biden's economic strategies. But he's only in second place, with the fall in wealth faster coming just as Barack Obama, for whom Biden served as vice president for eight years, was beginning his term in the White House. The Gateway Pundit was blunt in its report, explaining, "The U.S. household wealth is down $13.5 trillion in 2022 the second fastest decline on record. Only the 2008-2009 financial crisis was worse than the Biden 2022...