Free Republic

As the automotive sector braces for job losses in the wake of increased competition and the end of the combustion engine, bicycle manufacturers are encouraging redundant workers to enter the growing cycling industry. Europe’s auto industry faces an uncertain future as competition from Chinese carmakers intensifies, and factories jettison decades of internal combustion engine knowledge to focus on zero-emission vehicles. Some 3.4 million people are employed across the EU by the car industry, both directly and indirectly. Internal combustion engines require hundreds of components, involving a broad supply chain of companies. But according to CLEPA, a Brussels-based body representing automotive...

The excitement in France running high and media attention focused on the World Cup of football (soccer). Sunday's championship match in Qatar between France and Argentina follows last Wednesday's semifinal match between France and Morocco that brought French President Emmanuel Macron to the stadium in Qatar. Controversy over Macron going to Qatar as the "scandal" broke late in the week regarding the EU and alleged bribery of EU officials to paint a positive picture of the Persian Gulf oil kingdom. There were disturbances in France after the "Blues" defeated Morocco... Today protesters on the streets of Paris...

According to recent estimates, over 140 million people from 50 countries regularly get exposed to arsenic through drinking water. It is an established fact that chronic arsenic exposure from drinking water causes a variety of cancers including skin cancer. Researchers have recently been able to identify the underlying biological mechanisms of carcinogenesis inhibition. Using in vitro studies, the research team has been able to demonstrate how calcitriol, or activated vitamin D3, inhibits arsenic-mediated carcinogenesis in certain types of skin cells known as "keratinocytes." Quite interestingly, arsenic levels in HaCaT cells cultured with arsenic significantly decreased when these cells were treated...

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media. I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone: for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 1 Timothy 2:1-2 Religion Forum threads labeled “Prayer” are closed to debate of any kind.

CLEARWATER, Fla. — A Florida man is accused of being the driver of a vehicle when a pedestrian was killed last year, instead of the woman who was originally charged, authorities said. Adam Wayne Garabrant, 60, of Seminole, was arrested Thursday and charged with one count of leaving the scene of a crash involving death, according to a news release from the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office. Thomas Rothwell, 70, of St. Petersburg, was crossing “in the area of a designated crosswalk” in Seminole at 12:49 a.m. EST on Dec. 16, 2021, when he was struck by the driver of a...

President Biden’s border insanity isn’t just killing migrants and US law enforcement officers; it’s killing kids and destroying families via the massive inflow of drugs the White House has invited. Title 42 — a Trump-era rule and one of the few brakes on our current massive migrant inflows — will expire this week. That’s going to supercharge illegal migration, and with it the deadly movement of fentanyl over our southern border. The White House silence on this issue is deafening. Last week, a group of Republican lawmakers sent a blistering letter to the president demanding a meeting on the fentanyl...

U.S. and German embassies in China’s capital of Beijing announced on Dec. 15 the suspension of routine visa services due to the city’s COVID-19 outbreak that is also being seen in other large cities in China, following dozens of countries who have already suspended their visa applications in China. Meanwhile, concerns have been rising that the COVID-19 outbreak in Beijing will spread to the countryside during travel for the Chinese new year in January. The recent outbreak started before the communist regime lifted its “zero-COVID” restrictions last month, the World Heath Organization’s (WHO) emergencies chief noted. Foreign Embassies and Visa...

Pope Francis laicizes America’s best loved pro-life priest Fr. Frank PavoneAccording to the pope's U.S. representative, the order for dismissal from the priesthood was a result of 'blasphemous communications on social media' and 'persistent disobedience of the lawful instructions of his diocesan bishop,' but Pavone said he had no knowledge of the Vatican's decision. America’s best loved pro-life priest, Fr. Frank Pavone, the National Director of Priests for Life as well as the President of the National Pro-Life Religious Council, has apparently been laicized (dismissed from the priesthood) by order of Pope Francis.Catholic News Agency (CNA) reported that a December...

The Chinese novelist who wrote an online diary detailing the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan has been censored by authorities and is a virtual prisoner in her home, she told the Sunday Times of London. Fang Fang, 67, said she is feeling “somewhat depressed” after facing pressure from Chinese authorities, who have banned her work. During the early days of the pandemic in 2020, Fang’s virus diary from the ground zero of the COVID outbreak provided first-hand glimpses into the city that was the first to face severe lockdowns.

The trans Canadian high school teacher who made headline news worldwide after photos of her with prosthetic Z-cup breasts and blond wig went viral was once asked to leave a children's concert. A source told DailyMail.com that in 2021, Kayla Lemieux, attended a children's dance recital in Burlington, Ontario. The source said that Lemieux apparently snuck into the theater during intermission. Lemieux sat in the front row watching the children dancing on stage. Eventually, she was confronted by concerned parents and asked to leave as she did not have a child involved in the show. The educator began transitioning from...

Update from Ukraine | Situation in Bakhmut | Putin agreed to lose 300000 soldiers in Ukraine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbhHWYv_k9I Follow on Instagram up to date uploads. https://www.instagram.com/denys_pilot/ SUMMARY & MAPS Military Maps & Comment here: Invasion Day 296 – Summary December 17, 2022 The summary of the situation of Russian re-invasion to Ukraine covering the last 48 hours, as of 16th December 2022 – 22:00 (Kyiv time). https://militaryland.net/news/invasion-day-296-summary/

A 25-year-old Tampa, Florida man was arrested Friday in connection to the death of a 1-month-old infant during "an unspeakable act" of child abuse. On Thursday, Dec. 8, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office received a call from a local hospital after an unresponsive 1-month-old infant that arrived with upper body trauma. Despite doctor's lifesaving efforts, the baby died the following morning from the injuries. The newborn's mother rushed the infant to the local Tampa hospital after she returned home from work and quickly realized that her child was unresponsive and seriously injured. When interviewed by police, the mother told detectives...

This is concerning for the future of the Republic. Leskov Brandonovic @fjb4587 Congressman Ron DeSantis was very upset about Trump “being very positive about Putin”, wanted more lethal aids for Ukraine. Right now people are still suffering, while McConnell is still working hard to send more money to Ukraine. In the meantime this is the guy GOPe is pushing.

Chris Beck described those who embrace and promote transgender ideology as a 'cult' that brings people into the fold through 'love bombing' and propagandizing. (LifeSiteNews) – A former member of SEAL Team Six who famously “transitioned” in an effort to become a woman a decade ago and who has since “detransitioned” is speaking out about the dangers of transgender ideology, manipulation by its proponents, and the grave harm it is doing to children and young people. Chris Beck, who for a time was known as “Kristen,” recounted in a wide-ranging two-hour interview with conservative commentator Robby Starbuck how he was...

Cronies of Vladimir Putin are reportedly plotting a coup against him, while another trusted aide is lying low and preparing to act as kingmaker, according to new reports. In a further blow to Mad Vlad, there are claims his whisky-loving foreign minister Sergei Lavrov is “drinking because he is depressed” and is suffering “health problems". On top of this, there are recurring rumours of the dictator's poor health, with some believing he may have cancer. According to insiders, there were two key meetings on Thursday (December 15) where he had to stay in the same position and sit on a...

A Russian propaganda video is circulating on social media, mocking the men who fled the country to neighboring nations in order to avoid being conscripted as part of President Vladimir Putin's partial mobilization decree. The origin of the clip is unclear, but it has been shared by multiple Telegram channels. It attempts to portray the men who are staying in Russia as "men" and those who flee as "boys." In the video, a wealthy Russian man says that he's escaping to neighboring Georgia, presumably to avoid conscription, and he's promptly mocked for doing so.

A California school district voted this week to ban Critical Race Theory from being taught in its schools. In a 3-2 vote, the Temecula Valley Unified School District in southern California voted to ban schools from teaching CRT. The vote came at the end of a marathon session on Tuesday night that ran into the wee hours of Wednesday morning; a new conservative majority had just been sworn in at the beginning of the meeting. “The TVUSD desires to uplift and unite students by not imposing the responsibility of historical transgressions in the past and instead will engage students of...

Germany’s gas reserves are emptying at record speed: 1% per day as the current wind/solar energy lull means more gas gets burned for electricity, heating. Pleiteticker.de here reports how Germany’s natural gas reserves “are emptying at record speed” because wind and solar power have been on the scarce side over the past few weeks. This means gas turbines have had to jump in to pick up the slack in electricity production – not one the German government had hoped as it wrestles with the heightening energy crisis. “Germany is converting gas into electricity in record quantities,” pleiteticker.de reports. “Thanks to...

In Catholic Charities Bureau, Inc. v. State of Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Commission, (WI App., Dec. 13, 2022), a Wisconsin state appellate court held that Catholic Charities and its sub-entities are not exempt from the Wisconsin Unemployment Compensation Act as organizations "operated primarily for religious purposes." It emphasized that the statute should be "liberally construed to effect unemployment compensation coverage for workers who are economically dependent upon others in respect to their wage-earning status." The court said that it must look to the work of Catholic Charities, not the Catholic Church itself, to determine whether there is an exemption....

In a message sent to heads of state across the world, Pope Francis has asked leaders to reflect on what lessons can be learned three years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Vatican released on Dec. 16 the pope’s 2023 World Peace Day message in which he posed a series of questions: “What did we learn from the pandemic? What new paths should we follow to cast off the shackles of our old habits, to be better prepared, to dare new things? What signs of life and hope can we see, to help us move forward and try...