Free Republic

Moscow, December 15, Interfax - As United States President Joe Biden has signed legislation legalizing same-sex marriages at the federal level, this would make lives of "conventional families" harder and would lead to the nation's degeneration, Russian State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin said. "The way chosen by Washington will definitely cause great problems in American society and lead to the nation's degeneration," Volodin wrote on Telegram on Thursday. The legislation signed by Biden does away with the definition of a marriage as a union between a man and a woman in the U.S., he said. "Conventional families would have hard...

There are a few pop stars whose work I can’t help liking in spite of myself – their song-writing, that is. I’d be happy never to see the faces or hear the voices of Mick Hucknall or Chris Martin again, but the moment ‘Stars’ or ‘Trouble’ starts, I’m mesmerised – only to wonder crossly the minute the song ends: ‘Why couldn’t they have given it to someone with a decent voice?’ Think about it: dancers have choreographers and actors have scriptwriters, so why should we assume songwriters can sing? Bono’s another. I love some of his songs (‘One’, as performed...

Lawsuits, criminal investigations, new scandals: what is going on with Libero Milone and the Vatican?The Holy See’s former auditors remain locked in legal disputes with Vatican court officials in their attempt to bring a lawsuit against the Secretariat of State for wrongful dismissal. The lawsuit, and linked criminal investigation into the former auditors, has the potential to develop into a full-blown parallel legal process alongside the ongoing financial crimes trial in Vatican City — and could potentially bring dramatic new allegations of corruption to light, or derail the so-called “trial of the century” entirely. So as the end of the...

The Senate on Thursday passed the annual defense authorization bill, sending the $858 billion measure to President Biden’s desk for signature just before the year-end deadline. The measure, formally known as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), passed with an overwhelming bipartisan majority, 83-11. It provides $45 billion more for defense than called for in Biden’s budget, including allocating $817 billion to the Department of Defense and $30 billion to the Department of Energy. Thursday’s vote caps weeks of wrangling over floor timing and controversial policy changes, such as language demanded by conservative Republicans to end the military’s COVID-19 vaccine...

A new unclassified report (pdf) released by Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee alleges that COVID-19 “may have been tied” to China’s biological weapons research program. Released on Dec. 14 by Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) and other Republicans on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), the minority report states that “there are indications that SARS-CoV-2 may have been tied to China’s biological weapons research program and spilled over to the human population during a lab-related incident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).” “The Committee has not seen any indications that the Chinese military intentionally released SARS-CoV-2,”...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California air regulators voted Thursday to approve an ambitious plan to drastically reduce reliance on fossil fuels by changing practices in the energy, transportation and agriculture sectors, but critics say it doesn’t go far enough to combat climate change. California previously set that carbon neutrality target as a goal, but Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation making it a mandate earlier this year. He has said drastic changes are needed to position California as a global climate leader. The plan does not commit the state to taking any particular actions but sets out a broad roadmap for...

Former President Donald Trump revealed Thursday that the “MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT” that he teased earlier in the week — which some of his supporters thought could be anything ranging from his announcing a bid for House Speaker to announcing who he would want to be his VP pick should he win the GOP primary — was a series of digital trading cards. “I’m doing my first official Donald J. Trump NFT collection right here and right now; they’re called Trump Digital Trading Cards,” Trump said in a promotional video. “Here’s one of the best parts: Each card comes with an automatic...

The FReeper Canteen Presents... Tell Us Your Favorite "Holiday" Songs *Video* Christmas Music PlaylistPlease remember that The Canteen is here to support and entertain our troops and veterans and their families, and is family friendly.

Outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) snapped at a reporter who asked if she intends to serve her full two-year term in Congress and refused to answer the reporter’s question. With Congress set to break for Christmas soon, Pelosi’s Thursday press conference could possibly have been her last press conference as a member of House leadership. Although Pelosi won reelection in the midterm election, she recently stepped down from House leadership to allow Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) to serve as the House Democrat Leader in the next Congress.

Mayor Eric Adams and his team are worried a steady flow of migrants to New York City will turn into a flood when a Trump-era immigration order ends next week — with the mayor also expressing growing anxiety that neither Gov. Kathy Hochul nor President Biden have offered a helping hand. Top City Hall officials – including Office of Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol, Department of Social Services Commissioner Gary Jenkins and City Hall senior adviser Tiffany Raspberry – held a Zoom conference call where Title 42 came up repeatedly, several sources told The Post. And even Adams admitted publicly...

Twitter suspended several high-profile journalists Thursday evening who have been covering the company and Elon Musk. The suspensions come a day after Twitter changed its policies around accounts that track private jets, including one owned by Elon Musk. The accounts of Ryan Mac of The New York Times, Donie O'Sullivan of CNN, Drew Harwell of The Washington Post, Matt Binder of Mashable, Micah Lee of The Intercept and independent journalists Aaron Rupar, Keith Olbermann and Tony Webster had all been suspended as of Thursday evening. The Twitter account for Mastodon, a platform billed as an alternative, was also suspended early...

New York will ban pet stores from selling dogs, cats and rabbits beginning in 2024 under a new bill designed to crack down on corporate breeders. Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the Puppy Mill Pipeline bill into law on Thursday, months after it passed the State Legislature, after facing mounting pressure from animal rights activists who argue that breeding facilities subject pets to inhumane conditions and saddle unassuming customers with high veterinary bills. Pet store owners, however, have spent the past few months railing against the measure, saying it would put them out of business and have unintended consequences that would...

DETROIT (Reuters) - The past year was sobering for investors who poured money into Tesla Inc and rival electric vehicle startups that hoped to emulate Tesla CEO Elon Musk's success. As interest rates rose and financial markets gyrated, shares in many EV startups deflated. Rivian Automotive Inc, which had a higher market value than Ford Motor Co shortly after it went public in 2021, lost more than 70% of its value over the past year. Other EV startups fared worse. Electric van maker Arrival warned it could run out of cash in less than a year. Lucid Group Inc, backed...

OCEAN CITY – While a long-term decision on a proposed rule change to reduce offshore speed limits for recreational and commercial vessels to further protect endangered North Atlantic right whales hangs in the balance, a national environmental advocacy group this week filed an emergency rulemaking petition urging the federal government to institute the change immediately. In an effort to save endangered North American right whales, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has proposed a 10-knot speed restriction for recreational and commercial vessels 35 feet in length or greater, down from the current 65 feet. The proposed rule change would...

Anderson, of Ocean Springs, is accused of opening fire while sitting with her 10-year-old daughter in her SUV outside Motel 6 in Bay St. Louis after police called child protective services at 4:30 a.m. Thursday, Anderson — who had no criminal history and was reportedly well-liked in the community — had spent 30 minutes speaking to Sgt. Steven Robin, 34, and officer Branden Estorffe, 23, before flipping out and gunning them down, according to Bay St. Louis police. Police said they believe the troubled mother fatally shot herself — but one of the officers also fired a shot, so an...

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) Rep. Jesús ‘Chuy’ García (D-IL) Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH) Rep. Cindy Axne (D-IA) Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL) Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN)

The psychologists are burning another witch. A mob of professors, graduate students, and miscellaneous luftmenschen denounced Klaus Fiedler, the editor of Perspectives on Psychological Science, for “racism, general editorial incompetence, and abuse of power.” The Board of Directors of the Association for Psychological Science (APS), craven accomplices to the mob, swiftly told Fiedler to resign or be fired. Fiedler resigned. The occasion? In 2020, one Steven Roberts of Stanford University published the usual farrago of identity-politics activism that passes for professional research among the woke, copy-pasted to apply to psychology. Fiedler, naif, arranged to publish a professional discussion of his...

The story of Jesus teaches love, forgiveness and courage against tyranny. Helena is a woman who courageously and consistently denounces evil in Melbourne's Saturday protests while proudly displaying an iconic image of The Mother and Child. God Bless Helena. God Save Us From Tyranny.

Scott Smith, the Loudoun County, Va., parent arrested while objecting during a school board meeting following the alleged sexual assault of his daughter by a biological male in a restroom deserves a "universal apology," Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin told Fox News on Thursday."I think that across the board, there should be a universal apology to Mr. Smith," he said. "He stood up for his daughter's rights and his daughter had been sexually assaulted."Youngkin highlighted the fact Smith was not only socially "cancelled" but dragged out by county police at the school board's whim."It's just unacceptable."Youngkin, speaking with "The Story"...

I haven't travelled out of the country in 3 years. I am unjabbed. I just want to make sure I can come back. I checked the CDC website. The jab requirement is only for non-citizens. Has any unjabbed freepers travel overseas recently? Thanks!