Free Republic

You know we are “picking up steam” in the season of Lent when the Lectionary starts turning to the long readings from the Gospel of John (John 4, 9, 11). The Church turns to these texts from John at this point in the liturgical calendar, because John is, in so many ways, a mystagogical document, a gospel intended to takes us deeper into the mysteries, that is, the sacraments. If one is not initiated into the sacraments, John remains—in many respects—a closed book. I can attest to this from personal experience. Although I have always loved my name-sake Gospel more...

The United States Navy has announced another vessel will be renamed in order to cut association with its Confederate namesake. The US Navy will rename the oceanographic survey ship USNS Maury, which was named after Matthew Fontaine Maury. Maury is considered by many to be one of the foremost pioneers of oceanography in history. He was a decorated U.S. naval officer for decades until the outbreak of the Civil War, when he refused to fight against his home state and joined the Confederacy. The USNS Maury will be renamed in honor of Marie Tharp, a 20th century cartographer and oceanographer...

Outlawing the Russian language...Linguistic Nazism...

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The size of the payouts couldn’t be determined, but SVB bonuses range from about $12,000 for associates to $140,000 for managing directors, according to Glassdoor.com. SVB was the highest-paying publicly traded bank in 2018, with employees getting an average of $250,683 for that year, according to Bloomberg.

President Biden complained Friday that Republicans want to make sure “we don’t have enough IRS agents” to go after the “super wealthy.” During a speech on the February jobs report, Biden said he was informed by his staff that the Freedom Caucus is demanding that Biden agree to a set of spending cuts and budget proposals before they will consider voting to raise the debt ceiling. […] “The House Freedom caucus’ proposal would be a gut-punch to the American middle class and wouldn’t cut the deficit. Let me repeat that: this proposal would bring devastating consequences to our national security,...

The collapse of SVB Financial Group (NASDAQ:SIVB) could have a ripple effect on the technology and biotech industries, the two largest sectors that had deposits and financial relationships with the company’s Silicon Valley Bank.break Roku said all insured depositors of SVB will get full access to their insured deposits no later than Monday morning. “Uninsured depositors will receive a receivership certificate for the remaining amount of their uninsured funds. As the FDIC sells the assets of SVB, future dividend payments may be made to uninsured depositors.” Roku reported in the filing that they have $487 million of their $1.9 billion...

Voices from tech and finance are increasingly calling for the federal government to push another bank to take over the failed Silicon Valley Bank to protect uninsured deposits. Some observers called out the irony of the venture capital community calling for government aid after many VCs spurred their portfolio companies to withdraw money after SVB released a surprise statement about its financial situation on Wednesday night. But the vast majority of SVB’s customers were businesses that had more than that on deposit at the bank. As of December, more than 95% of the bank’s deposits were uninsured, according to regulatory...

Passengers on a Lufthansa flight from hell that dropped almost 4,000 feet in severe turbulence were asked to delete their photos and videos of the terrifying event, according to a report. Before the March 1 flight made an emergency landing at Washington, DC’s Dulles Airport, a flight attendant twice made an announcement to get rid of any images, passenger Rolanda Schmidt told Insider. “I think we were all just like, ‘What?!'” Schmidt said. The second announcement implied that the request was to protect passenger privacy, she said. Another passenger confirmed to Insider that they were asked to delete photos. But...

A New York inventor needs cash to develop his big idea, so his adoring wife decides to raise it by divorcing him and marrying an eccentric Florida millionaire, J. D. Hackensacker III. Written and directed by Preston Sturges, featuring Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea, Mary Astor, and Rudy Vallee as Hackensacker III. The Palm Beach Story is a high watermark of Sturges’ brand of physical comedy and verbal repartee."The Palm Beach Story" (1942 Preston Sturges screwball comedy, full HQ video)

Perhaps the best song the Bee Gees ever put out. Not a big single in America but it would have shot to number one had it been promoted here. Bee Gees - Spirits Haven Flown (1979)

Good evening fellow Freepers. I just got me a Roku device and I'm looking for suggestions for what I should add to my channel lineup. I got some already, but I'm looking for more conservative news channels as well as family friendly movie/TV channels to subscribe to. Thanks all!

The Belarusian government is struggling to thwart an internal guerrilla group that opposes Minsk’s assistance to Russia and has engaged in a sabotage campaign since the war in Ukraine kicked off. Earlier this week, opposition activists from the Association of Security Forces of Belarus (BYPOL), a group formed following the 2020 political turmoil in Belarus, attacked a Russian warplane outside the capital city using drones. "Belarusians will not allow the Russians to freely use our territory for the war with Ukraine, and we want to force them to leave," one retired Belarusian serviceman, who joined a group of saboteurs and...

Russian citizens are ratting each other out to authorities in droves for anti-war comments made in bars, beauty salons, and grocery stores in roughly a dozen cities across the country, according to a new report from the independent Russian news outlet Vrestka. Legal filings obtained by the outlet from Moscow, Bryansk, Novosibirsk, and other cities indicate that citizens have been turned in for “violations” as minor as cracking a joke about the war, listening to Ukrainian music, or even just talking about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion in a public space. Many of those jailed after being reported by other...

PRAGUE (AP) – Thousands of people in the Czech Republic rallied against the government Saturday, protesting high inflation and demanding an end to the country’s military support for Ukraine.A new political group, PRO, organized the rally at Prague’s Wenceslas Square as an anti-poverty event. As participants called on the coalition government to resign, party leader Jindrich Rajchl said they want “a government to care first of all about the interests of the Czech citizens.”His group, whose name translates in English to Law, Respect, Expertise, blames the European Union for soaring energy prices. Inflation slightly dropped to 16.7% in Czechia in...

Tensions between European telecommunications firms and U.S. Big Tech companies have crested, as telecom bosses mount pressure on regulators to make digital giants fork up some of the cost of building the backbone of the internet. European telcos argue that large internet firms, mainly American, have built their businesses on the back of the multi-billion dollar investments that carriers have made in internet infrastructure. Google, Netflix, Meta, Apple, Amazon and Microsoft generate nearly half of all internet traffic today. Telcos think these firms should pay “fair share” fees to account for their disproportionate infrastructure needs and help fund the rollout...

A “Climate Modifier” bonus for top executives is among the tactics being used to advance the Royal Bank of Canada’s (RBC) environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals, the bank revealed Monday, announcing the publication of its 2022 Climate Report and ESG Performance Report. “These reports reflect the importance that RBC places on identifying, understanding and responding to the ESG topics that matter most to our stakeholders and our business,” RBC explains in its press release. RBC goes on to tout its efforts to use its power as a financial institution to solve the world’s problems: “They also reflect our belief...

Shannon Joy hosts a 1 day conference in Rochester, New York called the Summit for Truth and Wellness. You can attend the event, which is being held from 11 AM to 4 PM ET, by showing up at Bethel Christian Fellowship. Tickets cost $34 and include world class presentations from Dr. Peter McCullough, Steve Kirsch, VAERS whistleblower Deborah Conrad, Brownstone Institute President Jeffrey Tucker, lawyer Bobby Ann Cox, and Blaze Host Daniel Horowitz.

A head of risk assessment at the beleaguered Silicon Valley Bank has been accused of prioritizing pro-diversity initiatives over her actual role after the firm imploded on Friday. Jay Ersapah - who describes herself as a 'queer person of color from a working-class background' - organized a host of LGBTQ initiatives including a month-long Pride campaign and implemented 'safe space' catch-ups for staff.

Leftist Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, also known as AMLO, threatened the Republican Party during a press conference on Thursday for wanting to use the U.S. military to destroy the nation’s powerful multi-billion dollar drug cartels. Obrador’s remarks come as Republican lawmakers and top former officials, like former Attorney General William Barr, have called for using the U.S. military in recent weeks to put an end to the billions of dollars worth of drugs pouring into the U.S., which are responsible for tens of thousands of deaths per year. The cartels made $13 billion last year from human smuggling...