Free Republic

In what may be a world-first effort to tackle the climate impact of cars, the government of Wales said Tuesday that it would scrap all its major road building projects, and place tight carbon-related restrictions on future proposals. Wales, a country of 3 million and one of the four nations that make up the U.K., set up a panel in June 2021 to review the environmental cost of 59 planned road projects. Most of the schemes, including new bypasses, highways, and road expansions, were designed to relieve congestion. But the panel concluded that ultimately these projects would encourage more private...

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Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, or LBNL, researchers Michael Wehner and Alan Rhoades worked with Binod Pokharel, a researcher at Utah State University and Tribhuvan University in Nepal, to help link drought and fire in Nepal to climate change. They also established a model for predicting future fires. According to Pokharel, the project arose from his own interest in the topic, specifically during March 2021 when there was an unprecedented amount of pollution and fire in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. “It was very dry in the nation, that’s for sure,” Pokharel said. “It was also very still. March in Nepal is called...

The US Federal government reminds me of the Peggy Lee song “Is That All There Is?” Since the outbreak of Covid in 2020 and the absurb spending spree by Pelosi and Schumer, the Federal government has increased their debt by 36% to help pay for the Federal spending spree. That amounts to $54.8 TRILLION in additional Federal debt since January 2020. What did the US economy get for all that Federal spending? In Q4 2022, Real GDP rose by … 0.91% YoY. Seriously? Is that all there is from $54.8 TRILLION in additional Federal debt? What do you expect when...

Pray For The Peace of JerusalemMark 6Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31 Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” 32 So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. 33 But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them....

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has issued a set of proposals to crack down on illegal immigration across the state of Florida, blasting President Joe Biden for “reckless … open border policies.” DeSantis detailed the list of legislative proposals during a press conference in Jacksonville on Thursday, urging Florida state legislators to approve the initiatives that would increase criminal penalties for human smugglers, enforce a statewide ban on employers hiring illegal aliens, and prohibit counties from issuing driver’s licenses to illegal aliens, among other things. “I think we’re going to be able to do more in the next couple of months...

A group of parents and school police officers from Palm Beach County sent a letter to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis detailing a list of severe and long-standing problems with policing in The School District of Palm Beach County. When the letter was submitted to the DeSantis administration, the group asked for whistleblower status, so I won’t reveal any individuals involved in writing or sending the letter. Still, I’ve spoken to some of them, I know who they are, and I can confirm that it is a “group.” I’ve been told it’s “hundreds and hundreds” of police and parents, but I...

The Russian strongman began his invasion refusing to accept the legitimacy of Ukrainian nationhood and identity. The past year has proven how wrong he was. After a year’s wait and just hours before a speech by President Joe Biden in Poland, Vladimir Putin gave his first “State of the Nation” speech since the invasion of Ukraine. In the nearly two-hour address, the Russian autocrat promised to press on in Ukraine, calling the “existential” conflict a “war” for the first time and asserting that the West had started it. He attacked the leaders of the Ukrainian government as “neo-Nazis,” and addressed...

The proposal is “an attempt for public relations on the part of China,” said Li Mingjiang, a professor and international security expert at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.... In addition to calling for sovereignty to be respected and sanctions against Russia to end, the 12-point paper urges measures to prevent attacks on civilians and civilian facilities, keep nuclear facilities safe, establish humanitarian corridors for civilians and ensure the export of grain after disruptions inflated global food prices. It also called for an end to “Cold War mentality” — China’s standard term for what it regards as U.S. hegemony, and maintenance of...

Poland is to expel the defence attache of Belarus, the Polish Press Agency reported on Thursday, citing a foreign ministry spokesman. Last Friday, Belarus ordered the expulsion of three Polish diplomats, including a border guard liaison officer, in response to Poland’s closure of one of two truck border crossings. Poland has been an important refuge for opponents of Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, and is a staunch supporter of Ukraine since Belarus' main ally Russia invaded in February 2022. (snip) Earlier on Thursday, Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak wrote on Twitter that Poland is to place additional defence enforcements, including anti-tank barriers,...

BENGALURU, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Developed nations' failure to deliver on a decade-old commitment to pay $100 billion in annual climate financing to developing nations is a "travesty", Achim Steiner, administrator of the U.N. Development Programme, said on Friday. Wealthy nations, who are most responsible for global warming, are yet to deliver on the 2009 pledge to provide $100 billion per year to help developing nations deal with the consequences of rising global temperatures. "A travesty. I say this with all honesty," Steiner told Reuters during an interview on the sidelines of a Group of 20 (G20) meeting of finance...

Russia is planning to launch "false flag" attacks to drag Belarus into the Ukraine war and "undermine" the government of Moldova, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). An ISW report published on Thursday, the eve of the one-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine, asserts that Russian President Vladimir Putin's government is "setting conditions" to attack Belarus and make it appear as though the attack was launched by Ukraine. According to the U.S.-based think tank, the false flag operation could force Belarus into the war, while also diverting Ukrainian forces away from the Donetsk region, where...

What we are hearing from the media industrial complex is fear, not concern. Ever since Axios reported that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) gave Fox News host Tucker Carlson unfettered access to surveillance video captured by Capitol security cameras on January 6, 2021, the corporate media has experienced a collective convulsion bordering on a nervous breakdown. Guardians of the fourth estate long ago abandoned their self-proclaimed role as watchdog over those in power in exchange for the role of lapdog. But apparently the last ones to get the joke are reporters, editors, and cable news hosts themselves, who still operate...

@TheInsiderPaper North Korea warned that ‘if the U.S. continues its hostile and provocative actions against North Korea despite our repeated protests and warnings, it can be regarded as a declaration of war"

Columbia Property Trust, a large office landlord controlled by PIMCO, has defaulted on $1.7 billion in loans tied to seven buildings across the country, marking one of largest office defaults since the start of the pandemic. The firm is now working with its lenders — a group that includes Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Deutsche Bank — to restructure its portfolio, according to Bloomberg. The loans were all floating rate, meaning Columbia Property Trust started to feel pain after interest rates soared last year. The loans are tied to three office buildings in New York, two in San Francisco, one in...

It seems like all the smart people have made up their minds that the future of automobiles belongs to electric vehicles. In August 2022, California, by regulation, adopted a ban on gasoline-powered cars by 2035; and in September 2022, New York promptly followed with its own ban, also by regulation, and also set for 2035. And at the federal level, in 2021 the Biden Administration ordered that all agencies move toward 100% procurement of electric vehicles, also by 2035. Meanwhile, by means of a thicket of regulations — from vehicle mileage standards to pollution caps and more — the administration...

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis discussed energy, economic and security issues in Bucharest Thursday with his visiting Moldovan counterpart, as the two neighbors seek to boost ties amid Russia’s war in Ukraine. Iohannis' office said the talks with Moldovan President Maia Sandu would aim to bring her country closer to the 27-nation European Union, to which Romania belongs. Afterwards, Sandu said Moldova’s strategic partnership with NATO-member Romania is yielding "concrete benefits." (snip) Sandu’s visit came a week after she claimed Moscow was allegedly plotting to overthrow Moldova’s government, put the nation "at the disposal of Russia," and derail its aspirations to...

The Armstrong family told the Problem Solvers that prosecutors obtained surveillance video and shared it with them to explain the decision not to charge the vehicle owner. Thomas Armstrong said the footage shows a single bullet was fired from the back of the truck first, before the truck owner allegedly unloaded 15 shots into the truck, as one of the three boys inside the truck fired back twice. “And the video, it showed the man with his hand on his gun, running towards them with a real fast speed … you heard one shot, then you just heard him let...

The M1 Abrams tanks that President Biden promised to send to Ukraine amid its ongoing war with Russia may not arrive by the end of this year or potentially the next, a U.S. Army official said Thursday. Last month, President Biden announced the U.S. military would send 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine to increase its defensive capabilities against Russia. However, the military does not currently have the available inventory to supply the tanks and Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth said Thursday that transporting the vehicles to Ukraine "is not going to be a matter of weeks," according to...

In 1994, Bryan David Range made a serious error. He co-signed on a form requesting food stamps. The form claimed that he and his wife of the time were not making quite as much as he was from his job mowing lawns. On August 8, 1995, he acknowledged the mistake as his responsibility, plead guilty in a plea deal to a misdemeanor, and paid a fine of $100, $288.29 in costs, and paid back $2,458 in restitution to the state. From the appeal: Range’s then-wife prepared an application for public assistance, which she and Range both signed.The application did not...