Free Republic

U.S.A. — Seven times as many people have been killed by bears when bear spray has been sprayed in defense than have been killed by bears when a handgun has been fired in defense. Any comparison of the efficacy of bear spray and firearms is difficult. There are many variables. The data is subject to selection bias. The analysis of the data is subject to confirmation bias. Similar problems exist with the defensive uses of firearms.Fatal bear attacks are less subject to selection bias because nearly all fatal bear attacks are recorded.We nearly always know when bear spray was sprayed...

How central banks and politicians create the conditions for indentured servitude. Generally speaking, central banks are empowered to control the supply of money by employing a number of tools that include buying government debt, selling government bonds, adjusting reserve requirements, and setting official interest rates. Operating under various legal mandates to sustain an overall healthy economy, central banks ostensibly pursue policies that will produce relatively low inflation, steady economic growth, and low public unemployment. What if these stated goals are merely talking points meant to justify a central bank's continued monopoly over a nation's creation of money, and the true...

"Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, 'And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,' and he was called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone" (James 2:21-24). You are a friend of God if you love Him and obey His Word. Can you imagine life without friends—those...

No matter what crisis we face or what sorrow may come, our blessed Lord is leading and caring for us every step of the way. The economy could tank; our health could collapse, or our dreams could be derailed. No matter the trouble, our God is in front of it and is preparing the road ahead for us. The children of Israel couldn’t wrap their heads around this level of faith, and God finally had to disown those he delivered out of Egypt. Why? Because they doubted and limited him after having been so miraculously delivered time and again. It...

ix Mississippi deputy sheriffs have been fired or resigned after they were accused by two black men of beating and sexually assaulting them before shooting one in the mouth. Michael Corey Jenkins, 32, and his friend Eddie Terrell Parker, 35, said deputies from the Rankin County Sheriff's Department burst into a home in Rankin County, just east of the state capital of Jackson, without a warrant. The men said deputies beat them, assaulted them with a sex toy and shocked them repeatedly with Tasers in a roughly 90-minute period during the January 24 episode, Jenkins and Parker said. .....

BBC News While celebrations were held around the world for Pride month, there were no major LGBT events in China. The country's largest Pride event has been suspended since 2021. The organiser, a group named ShanghaiPride, did not give a reason for the move, saying at the time it was "cancelling all upcoming activities and taking a break from scheduling any future events." People taking part in political protests in China often face punishment, so instead of holding parades, ShanghaiPride had organised dance parties, community runs and film screenings in the city. Now, only a few low-profile events are available...

The American post-Cold War order from the Ronald Reagan through George W. Bush administration is over. Barack Obama began its erosion with his tired lectures about the past sins of the United States. Obama empowered radical Islamists. He invited Russia back into the Middle East after a forty-year hiatus. He snored while Vladimir Putin swallowed large areas of Ukraine. He nonchalantly allowed ISIS almost to take over Iraq. And he authored the Libyan misadventure. Joe Biden has greatly amplified what Obama inaugurated. He accentuates the Obama-authored foreign policy disasters by his own family corruption. If the U.S. had an honest...

... As millions of borrowers anxiously await a looming Supreme Court opinion that will decide whether President Biden’s student loan forgiveness is constitutional, a subset of that population finds themselves especially eager to hear the news: women. Women hold nearly two-thirds of the country’s student loan debt, owing $929 billion of the $1.54 trillion student debt, according to the American Association of University Women (AAUW). “That’s a pretty substantial amount of money that women are taking on in many cases to just sort of achieve what men don’t even need to have a degree to achieve,” Gloria L. Blackwell, CEO...

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MUNICH: Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s European tour last week made clear that Europe is not about to decouple from China. If anything, Sino-European cooperation will deepen on technology and, critically, on development issues in the Global South Li is not only China’s second-ranking official but also Xi Jinping’s closest political associate since the time when the two worked together in Zhejiang Province, more than two decades ago. As Shanghai party chief, he expedited the Tesla Motors mega-factory that helped make China the world’s top auto exporter. His visit included meetings with Chancellor Olaf Scholz and top German industrial leaders, as...

@Nigel_Farage The establishment are trying to force me out of the UK by closing my bank accounts. I have been given no explanation or recourse as to why this is happening to me. This is serious political persecution at the very highest level of our system. If they can do it to me, they can do it to you too Video @ Link

Ritter sees the attack on the nato gathering site as payback for MI6 and ukie collusion with Prigozhen...

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has made it clear to his closest aides in no uncertain terms that he not only will reject any political advice that he try to limit his son Hunter’s public visibility but that he also doesn’t want to hear such suggestions, according to three people familiar with the discussions. His message, as one of the sources described it, was: “Hands off my family.” The blunt directive helps explain why in recent months the father-and-son public appearances seem to have increased in tandem with intensified scrutiny of Hunter Biden’s legal troubles. But the public displays of...

Pressure is growing in congressional, legal and media circles for the federal judge in the Hunter Biden case to reject a plea deal that would spare the first son from serving prison time after evidence has emerged from two IRS whistleblowers that a more serious criminal tax case was sabotaged by the Justice Department. “I don't understand how any judge could bless this plea agreement now that all of this evidence of obstruction and DOJ and FBI wrongdoing has surfaced,” Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., told Just the News. “So I hope this judge does reject this, and then insists and...

Court of Appeal judges today found the Rwanda policy to be unlawful and backed a legal challenge by campaigners and asylum seekers. Three judges agreed by a majority of two to one that the East African nation was not 'a safe third' country, putting a halt to plans to deport Channel migrants there to claim asylum. The decision is a major blow to Rishi Sunak's pledge to 'stop the boats' through his his flagship Illegal Migration Bill, although ministers may now appeal to the Supreme Court.

@JunkScience Not the narrative: June 2023 so far is now 1.61°F cooler than June 1981 in the US. 140% more industrial era atmospheric CO2 over the past 42 years has not produced promised warming. Climate is a giant hoax.

Prompting claims it's a body double Russian president lapped up praise from a fervent crowd in Dagestan last night It is the first time since before the pandemic he has attended such an event His uncharacteristic behaviour has fuelled speculation it was a body double Vladimir Putin is consolidating support in Russia following last week's short-lived rebellion by Wagner group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin in a rare meet-and-greet that saw him mobbed by a crowd as he posed for selfies with young girls. Stunning footage from the event - a presidential appearance during a trip to the city of Derbent in...

Multimillion dollar solar project gets reduced to a heap of toxic rubble by one single hail storm. The Scottsbluff, Nebraska 5.2 MW Community Solar project was part of the NPPD’s Sunwise program that consisted of an array has over 14,000 solar panels. It’s reported that it had been put into operation in 2019. Surely the project had been ceremoniously put into operation, with dignitaries and proponents proclaiming it would reliably deliver cheap and clean energy, reduce the state’s carbon footprint and contribute to a bright and climate-friendly future. Now it has been just recently reported that the multimillion dollar solar...

One of the most obvious perversions of this ecclesiastical overreach was the “administration of virtual communion” by some sessions! In their rejection of first principles, they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and issued declarations that bordered on idolatry. They tried to convince their flock that “virtual worship” was a viable substitute for corporate worship, and many have drunk the “Kool-Aid.” Consequently, the church is still hemorrhaging from this soul-draining charade. It is no wonder that 20%-30% of former worshippers have not returned to weekly worship gatherings. Israel’s history should have taught us that idolatry will lead worshippers...

Despite satellite evidence of wildfires across Canada…•being set off simultaneously, and •statistics from Canadian National Fire Database revealing such natural and manmade wildfires across Canada have decreased in recent years, …Mainstream Media is at it again with their false propaganda attempting to blame it on “climate change.”