Free Republic

A new report reveals that Bill Gates purchased 3.76% stake in Dutch drinks giant Heineken Holding NV last week in spite of the billionaire Microsoft founder’s previous admission that he was “not a big beer drinker.” A filing by the Netherlands’ Financial Markets Authority said the shares were purchased on Feb. 17. Heineken Holding owns a controlling stake in brewer Heineken NV. Gates purchased the shares from Mexico’s FEMSA, which is selling out of the brewing company. A separate filing from the same day showed that FEMSA sold all 18 million shares it held in Heineken Holding. Shortly after, Gates...

"To the glory and praise of God" (Phil. 1:11). To glorify God is to reflect His character in your words and deeds. Paul's prayer in Philippians 1:9-11 closes with a reminder that love, excellence, integrity, and righteousness bring glory and praise to God. God's glory is a recurring theme in Paul's writings, and rightly so because that is the Christian's highest priority. But what is God's glory and what does it mean to bring Him glory? After all, He is infinitely glorious in nature, so we can't add anything to Him. His glory is never diminished, so it doesn't have...

“Jesus said to him, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’” (John 5:8 NKJV). The crippled man at the Pool of Bethesda had likely heard some of the stories about a man named Jesus healing people throughout the region. What he didn’t know was that Jesus knew about him too. He came to this poor man, lying by the pool in his misery and sorrow, and was moved with compassion. All Jesus asked was that the man believe his words and act on them. “Rise! Take up your bed. Walk away from this scene.” Now this man, helpless and in...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Federal wildlife officials on Wednesday announced a proposal to classify one of two dwindling California spotted owl populations as endangered after a lawsuit by conservation groups required the government to reassess a Trump administration decision not to protect the brown and white birds. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed that California spotted owls that have their habitats in coastal and Southern California be protected under the Endangered Species Act. The other California spotted owl population, which lives in Sierra Nevada forests in California and western Nevada, would be classified as threatened, the agency said. The...

(Last Updated On: February 21, 2023) NATIONAL CHILI DAY National Chili Day on the fourth Thursday in February honors one of America’s favorite winter dishes–chili. It’s also known as chili con carne (chili with meat). #NationalChiliDay In Spanish, chili refers to “chili pepper” and carne means “meat”. Chili is most commonly made up of tomatoes, beans, chili peppers, meat, garlic, onions, and cumin. However, cooks offer up so many variations to the basic chili recipe. And, with so many varieties, chili cook-off competitions love to feature chili as a favored entry. American frontier settlers used a “chili” recipe of dried...

Sam Brinton was one of the Biden regime’s showcase appointments. When he became deputy assistant secretary of the Office of Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition in the U.S. Department of Energy, Brinton himself told us about how history was being made, as he was “one of if not the very first openly genderfluid individuals in federal government leadership.” He loved to prance around in women’s clothes, and even noted proudly that he “has worn stilettos to Congress to advise legislators about nuclear policy” and even to the White House to talk to Barack and Michelle about the gay life. But...

KEY TAKEAWAYS * The Biden administration seems bent on forcing defense contractors to comply with new climate pledges instead of protecting Americans from our enemies. * The FAR Rule doesn’t just put America’s defense in second place, it actively takes money away from defense priorities. * With one rulemaking, the rule could establish new priorities for about half the department’s budget by conscripting major contractors into a war on fossil fuels. ... At issue is a new rulemaking called the “FAR Rule” that uses a change to the Federal Acquisition Regulations to bulldoze federal contractors—including defense contractors—into compliance with the...

Technically speaking, guns don’t kill people — bullets do. Yet we rarely hear about “bullet control.” Ammunition regulation hasn’t been a top priority for gun reformers and lawmakers, and public opinion polls and surveys rarely include questions about it. But a reader recently asked The Trace: “Why aren’t bullets regulated like pharmaceuticals, with a database and license to purchase that will tip off law enforcement when large quantities are purchased?” First, a quick fact-check: While the reader’s question presupposes that police are notified if a patient is prescribed a lot of pills in a short time period, that’s not actually...

Pray For The Peace of JerusalemMark 6John the Baptist Beheaded14 King Herod heard about this, for Jesus’ name had become well known. Some were saying,[b] “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”15 Others said, “He is Elijah.”And still others claimed, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago.”16 But when Herod heard this, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!”17 For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in...

In 2023, many of the accidents that have been happening deserve far more scrutiny than they’re receiving. From food processing plants going up in flames to the recent rash of train derailments that seem to have surged beyond the realm of coincidence, it behooves us to examine the circumstances surrounding these often tragic events. Case-in-Point: The plane crash that killed five people in Arkansas. The plane took off from the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport on Wednesday. Even the namesake of the airport draws a conspiratorial doubletake, but it’s just a name so it’s not a huge deal. The...

The longer this preview war goes on, the sooner will follow the nightmarish main attraction. The Ukraine mess is daily looking more like the Spanish Civil War of 1936 to 1939, a meat grinder that took 500,000 lives. That three-year conflict became a savage proxy war and prelude for the belligerents of World War II. The Ukraine battlefield is proving a similar laboratory of death. New lethal weaponry and tactics are introduced, modified—and always improved—from drones to guided missiles to internet-fed artillery. Likewise, a similar pre-global war lineup of the eventual adversaries is emerging in preview of a much larger,...

(Daily readings from the USCCB)Jesus said to his disciples: “The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.” Luke 9:22Jesus knew He would suffer greatly, be rejected and killed. How would you deal with that knowledge if you somehow knew this about your own future? Most people would be filled with fear and become obsessed with trying to avoid it. But not our Lord. This passage above shows just how intent He was on embracing His Cross with unwavering confidence...

Once, Boris Bondarev was a Russian diplomat - now he is making startling claims about his former president. ussian President Vladimir Putin has already strategically lost the war, according to former Russian diplomat to the UN institutions in Geneva Boris Bondarev. Bondarev was a diplomat in the Russian mission to the UN institutions in Geneva - the only one to resign in public protest because of Putin's war in Ukraine. He said at the time of his resignation in an open letter that the war "is not only a crime against the Ukrainian people, but also a serious crime against...

On a cold, sunny morning at an ice rink along the Delaware River in Philadelphia, a live band plays a ballad. A Zamboni clears the rink, and Sam Rise, a performance artist in a big blue penguin mascot costume, skates out on the ice — hyping the audience up for a show unlike anything they’ve seen before. “Are you ready, Philadelphia? Are you excited about drag? Are you excited about climate change?” they shout. “I mean, fighting climate change with drag!” The show is a camp comedy about climate change by the Bearded Ladies Cabaret, a queer arts organization in...

Should America disappear from the map, it will be because decades of government corruption and abuse were never addressed until it was simply too late. Over at The Conservative Treehouse, Sundance has again managed to generate a treasure trove of anecdotal history, evidence, and analysis from those who visit his site. Last month, he asked readers: if "[y]ou did not take the COVID-19 shot, why not?" The thousands of personal responses were illuminating and created a kind of timeline showing how irreconcilable conflicts pitting available scientific knowledge and common sense against the government's own actions, orders, statements, and censorship heightened...

Got my power bill this morning from Alabama Power. They charged 15.7239¢/kWh, including riders and 4% state tax, but after subtracted flat monthly fees. That's up 20.8% percent from the February 2022 bill. If you like cheap power for charging your EV, you can keep it. Under my plan electricity prices will necessarily skyrocket. End of quote. End of line. How I calculated it: From the bill: kWh pulled from grid: 594 total bill: $109.00 From researching how fees are done: base charge: $14.50 natural disaster rider: $0.50 (added to base) state tax: 4% total base: $15.60 ($14.50 + 0.50...

Joe Biden acquired his job through a legal process. However, he did not earn enough verifiable votes to justify the certifications in six key swing states. This issue is addressed in my new book, but here is some of my reasoning. I have limited myself to one example of unverifiable votes for each of those swing states. Arizona At an Arizona Senate Committee hearing on January 24, 2022, we learned that precisely 95 percent of Maricopa County overseas military members (and their families) voted for Joe Biden. That is an amazing (as in phony) percentage, given that the overall county-wide...

The Georgia grand jury forewoman who laughed about bringing down the former president has a wacky Pinterest page with collections of pinned magic spells and all things witchy. Emily Kohrs, 30, has been on a bizarre media tour that is already causing headaches for prosecutors after she giggled during a televised interview with MSNBC when she said she 'kind of wanted' to subpoena Trump just to get the chance to swear him in. Many of Kohrs social media accounts have been deleted, but her Pinterest page remains with several collections of pins dedicated to Wicca and Witchcraft. Fulton County DA...

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Mine is a Sony Bravia. When it turns on, it's got programmed advertisements for the "cause-du-jour" at the top of the screen. Currently, since this is black month, there's a picture of a domestic terrorist named angela davis in the 60s, running her mouth. And it's A. Big. Mouth. I want a smart tv that doesn't have all that nonsense and propaganda on the opening screen. It's bad enough that Amazon Prime constantly pimps those liberal causes (black month; homo pride; etc), but I'd like to not have it on the opening screen.