Free Republic

'When they're damaged, the cost of repair is higher,' she said. Since electric cars have fewer components, when one does fail its more expensive to replace. That means insurers may prefer writing off a car over repairing it. Unlike in the past when a windshield could be replaced with relative ease, the sensors that go into them now mean traditionally simple repairs have become longwinded and expensive. That also means they can take a while, leaving the insurance company responsible for renting a replacement car for the customer for even longer periods. 'If an electric vehicle is involved in a...

The Jazlah plant in Jubail city applies the latest technological advances in a country that first turned to desalination more than a century ago, when Ottoman-era administrators enlisted filtration machines for hajj pilgrims menaced by drought and cholera. Lacking lakes, rivers and regular rainfall, Saudi Arabia today relies instead on dozens of facilities that transform water from the Gulf and Red Sea into something potable, supplying cities and towns that otherwise would not survive. But the kingdom's growing desalination needs –- fuelled by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's dreams of presiding over a global business and tourism hub –- risk...

Talk about a blunder! Oakland has missed out on funding from a $267million grant to combat retail theft after its leaders missed the deadline to file an application. California planned to distribute the money to cities struggling to deal with the rampant looting, which has plagued the state. But Oakland missed the July 7 deadline to apply for the grant due to alleged technical difficulties - and it has left businesses and residents furious. Local pastor and community leader Bishop Bob Jackson slammed the city officials and said: 'You didn’t have to be a rocket scientist to fill out the...

After the Senate voted to acquit Attorney General Ken Paxton of all charges levied against him by the House General Investigating Committee on Saturday, several members of the House who voted against impeaching Paxton called on House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, to resign. In an interview with The Center Square, Rep. Steve Toth, R-Spring, said Phelan should apologize and resign. He said the acquittal “isn’t just an exoneration [of Paxton]. It’s a repudiation of the Texas House. The Texas House owes not just Texas but the entire United States an apology for what they did. ”This was so wrong. We...

Joe Biden's relationship with his attorney general, Merrick Garland, is so icy it is 'in the deep freeze', according to a report on Saturday. Biden and his aides are infuriated by Garland's decision to appoint special counsels to investigate both Biden's handling of classified documents, and his son Hunter's business affairs. They told The Wall Street Journal that Garland was seen as going too far in his effort to appear independent from Biden, who appointed him. But Garland's aides told the paper that the widely-respected, low-key official was simply trying to stop any suspicion that Biden was influencing his decisions....

Spanish conquerors did not themselves bring inequality to the Aztec lands they invaded, they merely built on the socio-economic structure that was already in place, adapting it as it suited their plans. This is the subject of an article by Guido Alfani of Bocconi's Department of Social and Political Sciences and Alfonso Carballo of NEOMA Business School in France. Their article, "Income and inequality in the Aztec Empire on the eve of the Spanish conquest," has just been published in Nature Human Behaviour...The primary social distinctions in the Aztec Empire were between the nobility, the commoners and the slaves. The...

LWL archaeologists have been excavating an Iron Age cemetery containing cremation burials near Fröndenberg-Frömern in Germany’s Unna district.Dr. Eva Cichy from the Olpe branch of LWL Archeology, said: “When a few remains of corpses were uncovered, it quickly became clear that we had found a small burial ground. In some graves, the remains of vessels used as urns were still preserved, while most of the burials had already been destroyed by agriculture.”Two large burials have been noted by the archaeologists. One slightly oval pit at a depth of 15 centimetres contained large ceramic shards deposited as funerary offerings, some of...

How many years has Joe Biden told us a ton of malarkey that he never spoke about business with his son? After so much evidence came out that they no longer could deny it, the White House then made an Orwellian transposition, claiming they'd always said Biden was never "in business" with his son, which wasn't what he said. In any event, evidence shoots down both of those claims. We reported on new information about a breakfast meeting with Joe and Hunter Biden, as well as two of his business associates. One of the associates was trying to get a...

Throughout the West and here in America a slash-and-burn operation conducted against the Genesis account, particularly its’ literal and historical elements, is justified by the false idea that evolution is empirical science, thus intolerance of special creation is often presented as a ‘science versus religion’ or ‘faith versus reason’ issue. So successful has this war of attrition been that younger generations of Westerners and Americans have been disconnected from both Western history and its’ founding Christian-based worldview, thus like seedlings recently popped up from barren soil are unconcerned that special creation, where the ultimate source of life, consciousness, soul (inner...

Reviewer: The WEF, lead by Schwab and his side kick Harari, is now saying the Bible needs to be re-written by AI to be more inclusive of all other religions and peoples, thus creating a new world-wide universal religion – do you need to hear anything more?..

China is leading the way in a growing anti-Western economic alliance known as BRICS, a Wall Street term that has morphed into a diplomatic and trading power bloc that threatens U.S. interests abroad. Originally formed by Brazil, Russia, India and China in 2009, these countries invited South Africa to join the political group a year later, when an “S” was added to the BRIC acronym. At the 15th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg last month, six more nations joined the confederation. Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were just admitted to the coalition at the annual...

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is looking to hire over 3,700 additional tax enforcers as it ramps up its audit crackdown of higher-earning taxpayers, though a watchdog warns that Americans making less than $400,000 could get caught in the dragnet because the agency doesn't have a clear definition of "high-income." The IRS said on Sept. 15 that it had opened over 3,700 positions nationwide to assist with "expanded enforcement work" that focuses on complex partnerships, large corporations, and high-income earners. The compliance positions will be open in more than 250 locations across the United States and are part of a...

Hank Williams was born in Butler County, Alabama, on September 17, in 1923. 100 years ago today. He changed the way people could hear the real American voice. An astonishing contribution to world culture. Here are just a few of his best words: “I was a pretty good imitator of Roy Acuff, but then I found out they already had a Roy Acuff, so I started singin’ like myself.” “To sing like a hillbilly, you had to have lived like a hillbilly. You had to have smelt a lot of mule manure.” “Folk songs express the dreams and prayers and...

Newsdump Alert Breaking News: Security Guards Detain Armed Main Near Robert F. Kennedy Jr... Here I am your host to again recall the Great El Rushbo and Rush Limbaugh often reminded us that the "Rush Limbaugh Program" was the: "most fun you can have with your clothes on" But of course other folks out there... God Bless Congresswoman Lauren Boebert... US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican Senator Mike Crapo of Idaho leading a US Senate delegation to nations like China and Japan No. 1 and 2 holders of the massive US national debt... The Second Coming Of Jesus...

Which way America? What are the forces conspiring to bring us down and destroy our country? Former senior advisor to acting Secretary of Defense Doug Macgregor offers insights into what we can do to reclaim the Republic...

In 2020, fandom thrived. We saw people return to their old fandom favorites like Twilight or Sherlock, play so much Animal Crossing and The Sims, and fall down the BTS rabbit hole (leading the group to their first no. 1 song in “Dynamite”). Escapism has literally kept people going despite all kinds of crises, and the use of fandom as a solace will likely only continue... But all experiences of escapism are not created equally. Escapism isn’t actually possible for everyone because of the nature of both fandom and the world around us. The best-worst example of the limits of...

Incredible speech by solitary experienced Republican who refused to vote for Paxton impeachment

"I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, "Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea." "I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death." Revelation 1 1 The Revelation...

A seemingly unrelenting wave of debt is piling onto America’s balance sheet. New data from the U.S. Treasury Department show the federal debt increased by over $296.524 billion from August 8th to September 8th, reaching a total of $32.940 trillion. The new numbers come as JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon issues a warning on America’s fiscal trajectory. At a conference hosted by Barclays, Dimon told reporters that America’s rapid rate of spending is bound to have a significant impact on households. “I just think people make a mistake to look at real-time numbers and not look at the future. And...

A group of writers headed by celebrated novelist Michael Chabon and Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang are suing Facebook parent Meta as well as ChatGPT maker OpenAI, alleging in two separate suits that their artificial intelligence platforms engaged in copyright violations with tens of thousands of books.