Free Republic

It took him 20 days to do it, but Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg finally made an appearance in East Palestine, Ohio, to tour the scene of the Train Derailment disaster. Of course, he did so as early in the morning as he could, surrounded by officials, obviously to avoid crowds of average people who might boo him or ask him difficult questions. He was decked out in his safety gear, too. What a stark contrast to President Trump yesterday. . . .

Legal pot sales in California shrank last year, falling 8% compared with 2021. This is the first time cannabis revenue has dropped since the sale of cannabis became legal in 2018. Customers purchased $5.3 billion worth of legal pot products in 2022, according to data released Wednesday by the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. That represents an 8% drop, or a decrease of $473 million, from what customers purchased in 2021. The falling sales come as the legal cannabis industry faces multiple headwinds, including competition from a booming illegal market, crashing wholesale prices and yearslong licensing delays. Hirsh...

The Bible In Paintings ~ Encouragement for Appreciating and Applying God's Word ~ •Drawings•Engravings•Facades•Frescoes•Illuminations•Miniatures•Mosaics•Photographs•Reliefs•Statues•Tapestries•Windows• JUDAS' REMORSE AND SUICIDE ֎ Featuring 29 Paintings and 2 Reliefs ֎ M A T T H E W «Chapter 27» Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people came to the decision to put Jesus to death. They bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate, the governor. When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse… 1 NIKOLAI GE "Conscience: Judas" 2 JOSÉ FERRAZ DE ALMEIDA Júnior...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — An Alaska woman is recovering after she was kicked by a moose while walking her dog. The incident was caught on camera by someone driving by, who immediately stopped to help. VIDEO AT LINK................. Tracy Hansen and her dog Gunner do this walk every day. Three times a day, to be exact. But last Thursday night, their daily routine took a drastic turn when she was kicked in the head by a moose. "I thought someone had not been paying attention and hit me with a bike or something," Hansen told KTUU. Hansen was shocked, frightened and...

California's governor, Gavin Newsom, likes to hold out his state as a model for the nation, in a move to ramp up his presidential ambitions.Never mind that 500,000 people have fled the state. He calls California the nation's true "free" state and says he plans to make all of America into one big California.Well, he's got this sort of thing going on, and it's directly tied to his governorship.According to Fox5 San Diego:SAN DIEGO — Law enforcement in San Diego launched a major human trafficking operation that resulted in the successful rescue of eight children and arrest of 48 individuals,...

When Morrill High School (Nebraska) coach April Ott broke the news to Katrina Kohel that she was the only one left on the cheer squad, she promised her that even if she couldn’t compete at the state tournament, they could still enjoy the whole experience. They’d get fun coffee drinks, watch the more than 2,700 girls and 225 teams compete in the three-day cheer and dance competition in Grand Island and just have a good time. But Kohel, the lone senior on what had been a squad of four, had other ideas. After talking it over with her mom, Della,...

On the night of Karen Silkwood’s untimely death, she had arranged to meet with a New York Times journalist to expose issues at a nuclear facility near Cimarron City. She never made it to the meeting. For the first time since that fateful night nearly 50 years ago, the same journalist told KOCO 5 what he thinks happened to Karen Silkwood. … Ask anyone in Oklahoma and most likely, they have heard of the strange and mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of Karen Silkwood. Even today, there is speculation about whether Silkwood died as a result of a car accident...

As I perused a list of rules the British Royal Family must follow, one rule in particular jumped out at me. The Royals cannot express any political opinions. They cannot vote. They can't even speak publicly about politics or run for political office of any kind. With companies around the country increasingly perpetuating political stances, I thought of how appropriate it would be for companies to take a similar stance to the Royals, by not taking political sides. A political side we see being heavily pushed at companies is neither Democrat nor Republican, but rather Marxist. The teachings by Frankfurt...

At about 1am on February 24 last year, Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, received a troubling phone call. After spending months building up a more than 100,000-strong invasion force on the border with Ukraine, Vladimir Putin had given the go-ahead to invade. The decision caught Lavrov completely by surprise. Just days earlier, the Russian president had polled his security council for their opinions on recognizing two separatist statelets in the Donbas, an industrial border region in Ukraine, at an excruciatingly awkward televised session — but had left them none the wiser about his true intentions. (snip) Later that day, several...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today (Thursday) welcomed the authorization for Israeli planes to fly over Oman. "The Far East is not so far away and the skies are no longer the limit. This is a day of great news for Israeli aviation. Israel has, in effect, become the main transit point between Asia and Europe," Netanyahu said. "We have worked to open the airspace, first over Saudi Arabia, and from 2018 when I visited Oman, to add Oman as well so that we can fly directly to India and on to Australia. This was achieved today, after considerable effort, including...

[…]Japanese culture is one that demonstrates great respect for the elderly, so for Narita to even suggest something as ghastly as sacrificing those who are older is blasphemyNarita’s research centers around the design of decision-making algorithms in policy and business, with a particular interest in education policy. However, in December of 2021 he made his first caustic comments during an interview stating:“I feel like the only solution is pretty clear, in the end, isn’t it mass suicide and mass ‘seppuku’ of the elderly?”Seppuku is an honorable death or ritualistic suicide by disembowelment that can only be conducted by a samurai....

The goal of "fair housing" would seem to be quite straightforward. As spelled out in the Fair Housing Act of 1968 — and found in realtors’ offices across the country — it precludes "discrimination in the sale, rental and financing of dwellings … based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), familial status, and disability." In other words, those who can afford to rent or buy should not be precluded from doing so for reasons having nothing to do with the ability to pay. But for the Biden administration’s Department of Housing and Urban...

23 February 2023Thursday after Ash Wednesday St. Polycarp Church, Smyrna Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Violet. Year: A(I).First readingDeuteronomy 30:15-20 ©I set before you today life or death, blessing or curseMoses said to the people: ‘See, today I set before you life and prosperity, death and disaster. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I enjoin on you today, if you love the Lord your God and follow his ways, if you keep his commandments, his laws, his customs, you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you...

Electric vehicles (EVs) are all the rage. They are touted as a cleaner and more sustainable alternative to gasoline-powered vehicles. The United States government has passed numerous legislative actions to phase out gas-powered vehicles and make sure that, within the near term, all vehicles are electric. The common belief is that electric vehicles are more environmentally friendly and, in general, a safer form of energy. The dark secret: neither are true. Currently the gold standard for all major electronic products, EV’s included, are batteries which are made of lithium-ion. The inventor of lithium-ion himself, after receiving the Nobel Prize, warned...

Mark Wahlberg wore an ash cross on his forehead in observance of Lent during an interview with “Today’s” Samantha Guthrie, where he spoke about the significance of his Christian faith in his own life despite its relative absence in Hollywood. Wahlberg spoke about his dedication to Catholicism and how his faith has transformed his life during the interview conducted on Ash Wednesday. He said his belief system entirely “popular” among the Hollywood company he keeps. “I don’t want to jam it down anybody’s throat, but I do not deny my faith,” Wahlberg said. “That’s an even bigger sin. You know,...

Just four years after Florida’s Legislature made sure politicians would have to resign before running for federal office, they seem poised to change the rules again. The impetus is Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is widely speculated to be eyeing a presidential run, especially following this year’s landslide reelection victory. “Candidly, we have gone back and forth based on the circumstances of the moment,” House Speaker Paul Renner said in a statement when asked about his support for changing the rules. “In this case, it’s an honor for someone from Florida to even consider running for President.”

"After the first dose, we were surprised to find the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine elicits an unexpected memorylike response in the immune system, recognizing the vaccine as if it's something it's seen before," says Professor Lynn, from the College of Medicine and Public Health at Flinders University. "This response is targeted against the adenovirus vector in the vaccine, not the Spike protein and the intensity of this response correlates with the expression of proteins that act as a pre-cursor to thrombosis, or blood clotting.

Meehan claims a key finding of his investigation is that the “country club” GOP leadership checks the power of the party’s noisy MAGA wing, in part, by keeping an estimated 100 to 200 committee seats empty, of some 600 seats available. Without those seats filled, the required two-thirds quorum can’t be attained, and the by-laws the party has used since 1972 stay in place. The empty positions, Meehan said, are disproportionately located in Falls and Bristol townships. That’s crucial, he said, since Lower Bucks, while heavily Democratic, is Ground Zero for the middle- and working-class men who voted for former...

A Hunter Biden business associate received a records request with a Wednesday deadline to give the House Oversight Committee business records. The records sought by Oversight members pertain to business dealings that allegedly generated millions of dollars for the Biden family. The Daily Caller further reported: The House Oversight Committee will “soon” receive documents from top Hunter Biden associate Eric Schwerin, a committee spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation. Schwerin is a close friend and business associate of Hunter Biden, the New York Post reported. The committee, led by Chairman James Comer, requested Schwerin provide any records, documents or...

President Biden and members of his administration are knowingly making false statements about the rampant illegal immigration taking place along the U.S.-Mexico border as the problem continues to get much worse. Take, for example, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas who told a Congressional panel last year that he still believes that America’s southern border is secure, saying in response to a question about his confidence, “Yes, and we are working day in and day out to enhance security,” Fox News reported. Then there is Vice President Kamala Harris, the White House’s anointed ‘Border Czar,’ who told NBC News’...