Free Republic

Who really cared about Jeffrey Epstein? He was, above all, a bipartisan pedophilic blackmailer, and his client lists are, and shall remain, buried in the deepest vaults of the Uniparty. Among the powerful elite of both parties, Epstein's awkward passing was clucked about all around D.C., with great indignation, loudly, as to drown out a communal sigh of relief. A finding of suicide, no matter how absurdly improbable, was broadly proclaimed to be a certainty. But, while the brand of bipartisanship found among established Republicans in Washington (defined as we-pretend-to-compromise-while-you-win) cannot embrace Donald Trump any more than the Democrats can,...

The South Carolina House signed off on legislation requiring the state’s retirement system to consider only "pecuniary factors" when making investment decisions, essentially barring it from weighing environmental, social and governance factors. Lawmakers on Thursday gave the third approval to H. 3690, the "ESG Pension Protection Act," sending the legislation to the state Senate, which referred it to the Committee on Finance. The measure could require the Retirement System Investment Commission to spend an additional $1 million to hire five additional employees, depending on how the legislation is implemented if signed into law. According to a fiscal estimate from the...

The House Science, Space, and Technology Committee on Thursday launched a bipartisan investigation into the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Department of Commerce over allegations the agency’s chief had engaged in whistleblower retaliation. The Committee members alleged that Inspector General Peggy Gustafson and “senior members” of the OIG had engaged in the retaliation, made misleading statements to Congress and conducted operations with “gross mismanagement,” according to a letter signed by Chairman Frank Lucas and Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren, an Oklahoma Republican and California Democrat respectively, citing reports received by the Committee. The letter also notes the...

It's Easter and Passover at SteynOnline. This column has become something of a tradition here at this time of year: my thoughts on Mel Gibson's big blockbuster from just shy of twenty Easters ago. Mel has spent the last decade getting a little crazier with every year that passes.... Surprisingly, there have been no attempts by Mr Gibson or anyone else to replicate the success of this film, but back in 2004 it was impressive not just cinematically but as an interesting business model for bypassing Hollywood: The headline on the Washington Post review summed it up: "'Passion' Is A...

Children of politically liberal parents are more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety , lack a sense of life meaning, and have substance abuse issues, according to a family physician with more than 30 years of experience. Dr. Leonard Sax, who also holds a Ph.D. in psychology, told the Washington Examiner that left-of-center parents are much more likely to be "aggressively permissive" in their parenting style, leaving children without proper authority. These "permissive parents," whose parenting style is also known as "gentle parenting," do not want to be seen as "controlling" or "coercive" to their children. For example, "gentle...

This list only includes destroyed vehicles and equipment of which photo or videographic evidence is available. Therefore, the amount of equipment destroyed is significantly higher than recorded here. Small arms, ATGMs, MANPADS, loitering munitions, drones used as unmanned bait, civilian vehicles, trailers and derelict equipment are not included in this list. All possible effort has gone into avoiding duplicate entries and discerning the status of equipment between captured or abandoned. Many of the entries listed as 'abandoned' will likely end up captured or destroyed. Similarly, some of the captured equipment might be destroyed if it can't be recovered. When the...

VIDEO"Wolf, things have not worked out as well as you had hoped for I'm sure."Those words uttered by Alex Trebek to Wolf Blitzer when he ended up $4600 in the hole are as applicable now as it was he was a big LOSER on Jeopardy. Wolf had the same look on his face while attempting to defend Alvin Bragg's sham indictment of President Trump as he did losing $4600. Perhaps, to paraphrase Alex Trebek, Congressman Byron Daniels "is so much faster on that signaling device today."

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott promised Saturday to pardon a US Army sergeant a day after he was convicted of shooting a protester to death during a Black Lives Matter rally. The Republican said Sgt. Daniel Perry, 35, was acting in his own defense when he repeatedly fired his handgun on 28-year-old Garrett Foster as he marched in the July 25, 2020 Austin demonstration. “Texas has one of the strongest ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive District Attorney,” Abbott said in a statement. The governor blamed the Friday conviction on the...

Every year the Crystal Cabin Awards showcase innovative ideas that reconceptualize the airplane cabin experience. There are eight categories, with awards spotlighting everything from eco-friendly innovations – such as an AI-based food waste app idea from German airline Lufthansa – to next generation concepts straight from the university classroom. Julia Grosser, a spokesperson for the Crystal Cabin Award Association, says this year’s shortlist suggests aviation is turning a corner after the uncertainty of the peak pandemic years. Among the shortlisted cabin innovations is Air New Zealand’s “Skynest” concept, which envisages bookable sleeping pods made up of six lie-flat bunk beds,...

A new bill proposed in California would create an "Ebony Alert" system to specifically notifiy the public when black women and children go missing. While the state already has a missing persons alert system, this one would only be for black women and children. The state currently has an Amber Alert for missing children, a Silver Alert for missing elderly persons, and a Feather Alert for missing indigenous persons. The Amber Alert system is not race-segregated like the Ebony Alert would be. In a release on the race-based crime bill, state senator Steven Bradford said that the bill would "address...

Every spring, shareholders in publicly-traded companies get to weigh in on how they're run. It's a chance for investors to vote on proposals to shape corporate policies for things like executive pay and political spending. But as the Earth heats up, annual shareholder meetings have become a battleground for activist investors who are pressing companies for more aggressive action on climate change. This year, shareholders filed around 540 proposals as of mid-February asking companies to address environmental, social and corporate governance issues, according to Proxy Preview. Resolutions focused on climate change accounted for about a quarter of this year's total,...

In the clips shared to social media, masses of garbage could be seen charging down canals and storm drains, the water carrying it virtually invisible for all of the junk. “These are the trash tsunamis of Indonesia and it will all end up in the ocean,” clean-up environmentalist Gary Bencheghib, who shared the clip, wrote. “We can no longer turn a blind eye to these waves of plastic.” “The trash is not the problem. It’s the people. If they don’t waste from the beginning, there will still be trash but maybe better managed,” another wrote. Others called for a more...

Happy RESURRECTION SUNDAY.For those in Christ every day is resurrection day in our new life with Him as new creations by Him.we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we...

Republicans in the Tennessee legislature reached a new political low on Thursday with their decision to expel two Black members for having participated in an anti-gun protest following the March 27 deaths of three children and three adults in a Nashville Christian school mass shooting. As if blind to the racial implications, lawmakers voted narrowly to let a white House member keep her seat after she participated in the same protest. Tennesseeans are holding high-profile protests to put much-needed pressure on lawmakers to stop sidestepping the significance of school mass shootings. Apparently, the protests inside the Tennessee House chamber hit...

... The focus of these concerns center around the Trinity River Restoration Program (TRRP), a longstanding agency who oversees releases from Trinity Lake in pursuit of restoring the river habitat. In water year 2023, they have implemented a new Winter Flow Project that has seen significant releases from the lake since February. ... Right now, those releases aren’t making sense to many. The high volumes persist despite Trinity Lake having the lowest percentage of its historical average of any major reservoir in the state. ... Many have questioned why they had picked this particular year, when current lake capacity of...

(Daily readings from the USCCB)On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. John 20:1–3Happy Easter! Our Lord has risen, He has overcome death and He has opened the gates...

Billionaire Hansjörg Wyss, a Swiss national who lives in Wyoming, has become a “Democrat-aligned mega-donor,” according to the Associated Press (AP), thanks to his funneling hundreds of millions of dollars to left-wing groups. “Newly available tax documents show that his giving through the Berger Action Fund, which describes itself as advocating for ‘solutions to some of our world’s biggest problems,’ swelled in 2021 to $72 million, cementing Wyss’ status as a Democratic-aligned megadonor,” the AP reports. Wyss, who built his fortune creating the medical device company Synthes USA, which was sold in 2012 to Johnson & Johnson for $20 billion,...

EASTER SUNDAY John 20:1-9Friends, our Easter Gospel is John’s startlingly concise account of the Resurrection.The Easter declaration, properly understood, has always been and still is an explosion, an earthquake, a revolution. For the Easter faith—on clear display from the earliest days of the Christian movement—is that Jesus of Nazareth, a first-century Jew from the northern reaches of the Promised Land, who had been brutally put to death by the Roman authorities, is alive again through the power of the Holy Spirit. Once we’ve come to some clarity about the Resurrection claim itself, we can begin to see why it still...

For decades, Oregon hasn’t had to sell itself as a destination. Who wouldn’t want to live in this state of trees and mountains, drink its award-winning craft beers and enjoy its laid-back culture? Turns out – thousands of now-former Oregonians. Census figures show that about 16,000 more people left Oregon than moved in from July 2021 to July 2022. It’s the first decline for Oregon since the 1980s when the nation was engulfed in a recession. The gloomiest part of the news is that we all can come up with a list of reasons why. As much as Oregon has...

HAPPY EASTER TO ALL, INCLUDING THOSE THAT DREAM ENDLESSLY OF DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY BECAUSE THEY ARE INCAPABLE OF DREAMING ABOUT ANYTHING ELSE, THOSE THAT ARE SO INCOMPETENT THEY DON’T REALIZE THAT HAVING A BORDER AND POWERFUL WALL IS A GOOD THING, & HAVING VOTER I.D., ALL PAPER BALLOTS, & SAME DAY VOTING WILL QUICKLY END MASSIVE VOTER FRAUD, & TO ALL OF THOSE WEAK & PATHETIC RINOS, RADICAL LEFT DEMOCRATS, SOCIALISTS MARXISTS, & COMMUNISTS WHO ARE KILLING OUR NATION, REMEMBER, WE WILL BE BACK!