Free Republic

SEATTLE—Today, a Seattle family partnered with the Institute for Justice, a nonprofit public interest law firm, to file a lawsuit challenging the city’s Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) ordinance—a law that makes it too expensive for them to build housing on their own property. At the center of the case is Anita Adams. She’s a lifelong Seattleite who grew up and raised a family in the city’s Central District. With Seattle’s housing costs remaining stubbornly high, Anita’s two children cannot afford to live near her. That didn’t sit right with her, so she started to dream about building an addition to...

For federal employees, the most significant part of the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending package that Congress unveiled this week may not be contained in the text of the legislation itself, but rather found in what’s not said. The 4,155-page bill, which House and Senate lawmakers released in the early morning hours of Dec. 20, doesn’t make any reference to the 4.6% across-the-board federal pay raise, in effect silently endorsing the Biden administration’s proposal for 2023. The bill additionally supports a 4.6% pay raise for military members in 2023.

McDonald's has opened up a fully-automated restaurant in Texas, which is completely run by machines so you don't have to speak to anyone, and it has left people on the internet divided. The brand-new eatery, located just outside Fort Worth, uses advanced technology so that customers can order their food and receive their meal without having to interact with any humans, and while some people are excited about the idea, others find it a little creepy. A TikToker who goes by the username @foodiemunster online recently visited the restaurant and documented the entire thing on the video-sharing app, and it...

Report: Vatican Investigator Says Father Rupnik and Hierarchy’s ‘Complicit Silence’ Ruined Victims’ LivesBishop Libanori, also a Jesuit, uncovered the women’s stories when he was sent in 2019 by the Vatican to conduct an investigation into their troubled community in Slovenia amid complaints about their current leader, the AP reported.The Vatican investigator who uncovered allegations of sexual and spiritual abuse by Jesuit artist Father Marko Ivan Rupnik says the claims are true, according to a letter he sent to Italian priests obtained by the Associated Press.Bishop Daniele Libanari also said the women Father Rupnik is alleged to have abused have...

President Trump tells Republicans to vote against the $1.7 trillion omnibus: “It’s crammed with left-wing disasters, Washington betrayals, and special interest sellouts all designed to keep the corruption going.”

Two charts - Global temps from University of Alabama Huntsville satellite - USA temps from the USCRN network, which is the most accurate and pristine network in the world - Global average for November +0.30 F - USA surface average for November (minus) -2.25 F - Full size charts at link - Reduced size charts in Comments.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) unveiled an amendment to the government omnibus spending bill that would extend the Title 42 immigration policy until a "proper plan" can replace it, potentially easing concerns of some Republican senators who threatened to vote against the spending legislation until concerns surrounding the southern border were resolved. Sinema's amendment comes just days before Congress must vote on its annual budget ahead of a Friday midnight deadline in order to avert a government shutdown. Lawmakers planned to vote on the $1.7 trillion spending plan on Thursday even as some GOP lawmakers threatened to stall the legislation until...

According to the Conference Board, consumer confidence, which includes a key indicator on where consumers see the economy going and what they plan to do as a result, is looking up.Reuters reports:The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index increased to 108.3 this month, the highest reading since April, from 101.4 in November. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the index at 101.0. While the survey places more emphasis on the labor market, the rebound in confidence matched a similar rise in the University of Michigan's sentiment index.Consumers' 12-month inflation expectations fell to 6.7%, the lowest since September 2021, from...

Negotiations surrounding the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending package have stalled in the Senate as Sen. Mike Lee’s (R-UT) Title 42 amendment has put a wrench in the process, leading some senators to reportedly discuss a short-term funding bill instead. Title 42 is an immigration policy that makes it easier for the federal government to send border crossers back to their native countries. Initially implemented by former President Donald Trump at the start of the pandemic, a federal judge recently ordered President Joe Biden’s administration to phase out the program by December 21. However, following an emergency application filed by a...

(LifeSiteNews) — A large scandal has been created, as well as discouragement, upon learning the news of the gala event hosted by President Donald J. Trump for openly homosexual supporters of the Republican Party. This endorsement of LGBT ideology is even more serious if one considers that, only two days previously, Joe Biden signed the “Respect for Marriage Act” which recognizes the legal validity of so-called homosexual marriages in the United States, in violation of the Natural Law and also the Law of God. The Democratic Party is totally anti-Christian and obstinately determined to implement the globalist agenda of the...

Wednesday, during his show’s opening monologue, FNC host Tucker Carlson reiterated his criticism of the United States’ involvement in the Ukraine-Russia conflict. Carlson mocked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s address to a joint session of Congress, likening the Ukrainian leader to a strip club manager

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Cheyenne, Wyoming, broke a record on Wednesday, seeing the most drastic temperature drop in less than an hour as the country braces for a massive winter storm, days before Christmas. The National Weather Service (NWS) is warning of the “widespread and dangerous arctic blast,” which has already begun to sweep the U.S., making its way to the East Coast as the holidays approach. The NWS warns that the “record-breaking cold and life-threatening wind chills over the Great Plains” will spread to the eastern portion of the country by Friday. Some cities have already experienced historic drops in temperature. Cheyenne, Wyoming,...

* Mint Press' Alan MacLeod found that former CIA agents made up some of the top ranks in almost every politically sensitive department at Meta * He also found that former FBI agents migrated to Twitter in droves * DailyMail.com has been able to track down many of these former intelligence officials who are now working at top tech companies Former US government intelligence agents are now working across Silicon Valley in senior roles dedicated to censoring 'misinformation', DailyMail.com can disclose. A large number of ex-officers from the FBI, CIA, NSC and State Department have taken positions at Facebook, Twitter...

Residents of the Santa Rosa III sector in the Santiago Oeste municipal district expressed their outrage after two women claimed to have been raped and beaten by several men of Haitian nationality, prompting the community to expel all Haitians from the town. Concern and impotence grew among the locals of that part of Cienfuegos as the women who had been victims of the horrendous sexual assault by the Haitians narrated the details of everything that had happened in tears. “They entered my house at 4:00 a.m. last Sunday, broke a board, then entered through the back door, and then they...

Aglitch in Tesla Inc’s (NASDAQ: TSLA) Full-Self Driving (FSD) caused an eight-vehicle crash on San Francisco's Bay Bridge, according to the driver involved.

For the past 40 years, the LGBTQ+ blood ban has prevented members of the community from donating blood in what can only be deemed a simultaneously discriminatory and damaging policy, particularly in the face of a serious national blood shortage. ... And so in protest of this hateful and harmful ban, artist Zain Curtis has released a new tee shirt featuring the real blood of gay men in order to create an actual "statement piece." As Curtis explained in an announcement post on Instagram, the limited edition shirt is screen printed using a special red ink created by Mother Goods...

One of the worst major coastal flooding events on record — likely near Superstorm Sandy levels — is imminent for parts of the Eastern Seaboard as a soon-to-be bomb cyclone enters the Northeast. This comes in the absence of blizzard conditions on the warm side of the dangerous winter storm that is walloping the Midwest and Great Lakes as it begins to spread toward the East Coast ahead of the Christmas holiday weekend. The Fox Forecast Center said windswept rain is expected Friday in the Northeast as powerful winds blast the region with widespread 50-plus-mph wind gusts. In addition, 60-...

@ThisIsKyleR Stop driving us more into debt @POTUS we don’t have 45 billion dollars to just hand out, millions of Americans are struggling to put food on the table because of the inflation rates under your administration and you’re spending AMERICAN CITIZENS tax dollars like money is endless.

First son Hunter Biden has added a high-profile Washington defense attorney whose client roster includes a who’s-who of embattled politicians to his legal team as House Republicans plan to launch investigations into his overseas business dealings as soon as next month. Abbe Lowell will be responsible for coordinating the 52-year-old Hunter’s defense during the congressional probes that will begin after Republicans take over the House in the new year. “Hunter Biden has retained Abbe Lowell to help advise him and be part of his legal team to address the challenges he is facing,” Kevin Morris — another Hunter Biden lawyer...