Free Republic

Philosophers seeking to answer questions around inequality in household labour and the invisibility of women's work in the home have proposed a new theory -- that men and women are trained by society to see different possibilities for action in the same domestic environment. They say a view called "affordance theory" -- that we experience objects and situations as having actions implicitly attached -- underwrites the age-old gender disparity when it comes to the myriad mundane tasks of daily home maintenance. For example, women may look at a surface and see an implied action -- 'to be wiped' -- whereas...

IN BRIEF Sundar Pichai is apparently all in a pickle over OpenAI's ChatGPT engine, and is gearing up Google to meet the perceived threat. According to an internal memo seen by the New York Times, Pichai has "upended the work of numerous groups inside the company to respond to the threat that ChatGPT," and is plucking staff from other divisions to meet the threat to the OpenAI's plans. It's reportedly considered a "Code Red" for the Chocolate Factory. At issue is whether Google's core product, search, will be displaced by AI systems that can give more accurate research results, and...

When Andre Audette first arrived at Notre Dame for grad school, he got a brochure about living in South Bend, Indiana. That brochure included a section on churches and advice on which Catholic parish to attend if you were conservative and which to attend if you were liberal.While Audette ignored the brochure’s advice — choosing a different parish altogether — the link between church shopping and politics stuck with him.“I found that kind of fascinating,” said Audette, now an assistant professor of political science at Monmouth College in Central Illinois. Audette is co-author of a new study on the role...

The blizzard ended Christmas morning, but the emergency was far from over. With first responders in Buffalo and the Northtowns finally able to start maneuvering, the devastation from the fierce winter storm that battered the region with gale force winds, lake-effect snow and bitter subfreezing temperatures was coming to light. Sister says Buffalo man died in the blizzard on his 56th birthday On Day 3 of the storm, desperation was growing. At least 17 people were dead, and authorities said there was no question that the death toll would increase.

A Seattle official has been handed a sarcastic award for banning city workers from displaying Christmas or Hanukkah decorations in their own homes while on Zoom calls to avoid offending colleagues with different beliefs. Gloria Ngezaho is the workforce equity manager for King County, which encompasses Seattle, and was handed the Ebenezer Award from the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. Ngezaho's draconian edict was first revealed in November, and he was handed the award last week over his 'Guidelines for Holiday Decorations' rules.

On Christmas 1017, England’s King Cnut had the ealdorman Eadric Streona summarily axed. While legend has it that Eadric Streona (“Grasping Eadric” or “Eadric the Acquisitor”) irritated the monarch by beating him in a game of chess, Middle Ages chroniclers attributed his fate to the just deserts of inveterate treachery. A couple centuries of Viking raids and conquests had just culminated with the Northmen’s outright capture of the English throne, fifty years before the better-remembered Norman invasion. Notwithstanding his best efforts at resistance, the Anglo-Saxon king Aethelred the Unready had been briefly driven into exile by Cnut’s father, Sweyn Forkbeard,...

The principal who fired the Christian teacher also refuses to use someone's 'preferred pronouns.'AKRON, Ohio (LifeSiteNews) — A Christian public school teacher filed a federal lawsuit against her former employer after it forced her out for refusing to support gender-confused children in their “social transition” by using their chosen pronouns and names. Defendants in the First Amendment lawsuit include Jackson Local School District, Principal Kacy Carter, Superintendent Christopher DiLoreto, and Monica Myers, the curriculum director. Yet, Vivian Geraghty appeared to follow the same policy that Principal Carter himself stated he followed – to avoid using someone’s pronouns if it conflicted...

For years, two administrators at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ) have been withholding notifications of National Merit awards from the school’s families, most of them Asian, thus denying students the right to use those awards to boost their college-admission prospects and earn scholarships. This episode has emerged amid the school district’s new strategy of “equal outcomes for every student, without exception.” School administrators, for instance, have implemented an “equitable grading” policy that eliminates zeros, gives students a grade of 50 percent just for showing up, and assigns a cryptic code of “NTI” for assignments not turned...

Retired U.S. General Mark Hertling dismissed Russia's offer to negotiate over the war in Ukraine, even after Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed readiness to discuss solutions. "On Christmas Eve Putin says he's 'ready to negotiate.' Having 'negotiated' w/ Russian military & Defense Ministry I learned lessons: Even in small things, RU officials don't negotiate...they demand, then they lie, and then they renege on agreements," Hertling tweeted Sunday.

As Ron DeSantis works to enact an investigation into all things Covid Vaccine, including whether the pharmaceutical industry and/or the Federal Government lied about the efficiency, the effectiveness, the safety of the vaccines, and/or the effectiveness of natural immunity as opposed to the vaccine, I got in a debate with someone online about whether or not conservatives deny science. I made the following claim: “Yours is a conditioned response. The actual science tells us that Covid-19 is a weaponized bat disease with a human-designed spike protein attached to it to make it easily spread among humans. How it escaped the...

Three power substation facilities were vandalized in Pierce County, Washington, on Christmas morning, knocking out power to more than 14,000 customers, authorities said. Two of the break-ins were at Tacoma Public Utilities substations and the third was at a Puget Sound Energy station, according to the sheriff's office in Pierce County, which encompasses Tacoma.

Tim Conway & Harvey Korman star in "The Dentist" – one of the most popular sketches from The Carol Burnett Show! Conway plays a recently graduated dentist who accidentally injects himself with Novocaine his first day on the job.

Dear Remnant Readers... A Christmas Message from Archbishop ViganòRex pacificus magnificatus est, cujus vultum desiderat universa terra.[1]The whole earth desires to contemplate the blessed face of the King of peace, who deigned to be born according to the flesh, two thousand twenty-two years ago, to redeem us from the yoke of Satan and acquire us for the glory of heaven with His most holy Passion.For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace....

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Please. Yulia Bubnova: Good afternoon. TASS Agency, Yulia Bubnova. To be honest, I would like to start with some summing up. Clearly, it was not the easiest year, and not the most ordinary, but what are its main results for you? What have we achieved, perhaps, what did we fail to achieve, and how do you see our future, where are we going and where should we arrive? Thank you. Vladimir Putin: There are no ideal situations. Ideal situations only happen in plans, on paper, and you always want something more. But in general, I...

Blasts were heard at Russia's Engels air base, hundreds of kilometres (miles) from the frontlines in Ukraine, Ukrainian and Russian media outlets reported early on Monday. There was no immediate official confirmation of the blasts and Reuters was not able to independently verify the reports. The RBC-Ukraine news agency reported that two explosions took place. The Russian news outlet Baza reported, citing local residents, that air raid sirens were wailing and an explosion was heard. The air base, near the city of Saratov, about 730 km (450 miles) southeast of Moscow, was hit on Dec. 5 in what Russia said...

Our Troops Rock! Thank you for all you do! For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces. Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today! ~ Hall of Heroes ~ The Christmas Truce Info from here. You are standing up to your knees in the slime of a waterlogged trench. It is the evening of 24 December 1914 and you are on the dreaded Western Front. Stooped over, you wade across to the firing step and take over the watch. Having exchanged pleasantries, your bleary-eyed and...

WASHINGTON — Over a hundred migrants arrived near Vice President Kamala Harris’s home on Saturday evening, one of the chilliest Christmas Eves on record in the capital, according to a mutual aid group. Volunteers anticipated three buses with about 130 immigrants to arrive in New York on Christmas Day, but the buses were rerouted to the Washington area because of road closures and frigid conditions, said Madhvi Bahl, an organizer with the Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network. Migrants arrived in Washington after a 36-hour journey, some with little more than a T-shirt or a light blanket, Ms. Bahl added. The...

Bill Gates sold West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin on this year’s Democratic climate spending blowout as a way to put unemployed coal workers to work building advanced nuclear reactors. Now we learn, belatedly, that these projects depend on Russia for fuel and will cost taxpayers more than advertised. The Energy Department last year awarded up to $2 billion for an advanced nuclear reactor “demonstration” project in Wyoming being developed by TerraPower, a company Mr. Gates founded. These advanced reactors have been promoted because they take up significantly less space than conventional reactors and could theoretically use reprocessed nuclear fuel. TerraPower’s...

On Dec. 17, 2022, it was reported that Rep. David Cicilline, a Democrat from Rhode Island, has introduced legislation to permanently bar former Pres. Trump from running for president again, and 40 Democrats have signed on. Cicilline is accusing Trump of orchestrating an insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021. At the time of this writing, it is debatable as to whether Cicilline’s legislation will get voted on before the new Congress takes office in 2023, but some conservatives have said from the beginning that the main purpose of the Jan. 6 fake show-trial was to stop Trump from being elected again....

Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), directed his former girlfriend, who was also the CEO of his Alameda Research firm, to steal customer funds from the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, unsealed criminal court documents have revealed. A major political donor to both American parties, SBF and his Alameda cohorts funneled millions of corrupt dollars into the 2022 midterms, including money that GOP establishment leader Kevin McCarthy used to sabotage America First campaigns and prop up his loyalists. Caroline Ellison, the former girlfriend of disgraced crypto mogul and uni-party bag man Sam Bankman-Fried, reached a deal with prosecutors, pleading guilty to seven charges of fraud...