Free Republic

New York state is ditching the terms “feminine hygiene products” and “sanitary napkins” in favor of more inclusive language, according to Gov. Kathy Hochul. Hochul this month signed into law the Health Equity and Opportunity legislative package, which replaces all instances and variations of the phrases in correction law, public health law and tax law, with gender non-specific terminology like “menstrual products and pads.” Additionally, the legislative package requires free menstrual products be provided to students in private middle and high schools; requires cosmetologists to receive training in all hair types and patterns, including natural hair types; and designates March...

The U.S. Senate will hold a vote on President Joe Biden's billion-dollar aid request for Ukraine and Israel as early as Dec. 4, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a letter to senators Nov. 26."I intend to bring the President’s national security supplemental package to the floor as soon as the week of December 4th," Schumer said.He also said the "biggest holdup" in passing the security assistance package was the Republican's party's demand that Ukraine funding be tied to U.S. border policy."This has injected a decades old, hyper-partisan issue into overwhelmingly bipartisan priorities," Schumer said in the letter.Mike Turner,...

Weather pundits on TV and even The Old Farmers Almanac are telling us key factors like Solar Cycle 25, El Nino, and a polar vortex moving south from the North Pole will combine to give most of the U.S. a colder and a much more snowy winter. Are we ready? Is the Biden administration ensuring our gas and coal-fired power plants are winterized and have enough fuel? Of course not. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), a not-for-profit regulatory authority whose stated mission is "to assure the effective and efficient reduction of risks to the reliability and security of...

Reported infighting among White House aides over the administration’s position on the Israel-Hamas war threatens President Joe Biden’s 2024 reelection hopes. The internal power struggle suggests the Biden administration will go into an election year alienating half the Democrat Party, raising concerns that likely GOP nominee former President Donald Trump will reclaim the White House. Numerous aides and allies inside and outside the White House told the Washington Post that Biden’s support of Israel’s defensive measures against Hamas is “dividing a White House that has prided itself on running a disciplined and united operation.”

Hammer time! With existing home sales collapsing to their lowest SAAR since 2010, new home sales are the only pillar left holding up any hope in the US housing market. However, with housing affordability at its lowest since at least the early 1980s, (and homebuilder sentiment slumping as mortgage rates rose), it’s no surprise that analysts expected new home sales in October to tumble 5.0% MoM (after their unexpected 12.3% surge in September). As a reminder, The Mortgage Bankers Association’s index of home-purchase applications tumbled to 120 – the lowest level since 1995 – as mortgage rates hit 8% for...

ROME — Pope Francis asserted Sunday that global warming is contrary to God’s plan and presents a significant risk to all “life on earth.” “Besides war, our world is threatened by another great danger, that of the climate, which puts life on Earth, especially for the future generations, at risk,” the pontiff stated in a written text, which was read aloud by his aide Monsignor Paolo Braida following the weekly Angelus prayer. “And this is contrary to the plan of God, who created everything for life,” he added. Impelled by this apocalyptic distress, the pope said that next weekend he...

Victor Davis Hanson is the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow in Residence in Classics and Military History at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, a professor of Classics Emeritus at California State University, Fresno, and a nationally syndicated columnist for Tribune Media Services. He is also the Wayne & Marcia Buske Distinguished Fellow in History, Hillsdale College, where he teaches each fall semester courses in military history and classical culture. Victor discusses current political and social events and ideas, and current and past cultural trends. (video in link below) https://youtu.be/2V6jH-6F6K0

Red Cross in 1944: “We found no trace of installations for exterminating civilian prisoners in Auschwitz” 👇 Red Cross in 2023: “We found no evidence of weapons or hostages being kept in hospitals in Gaza”

The TurkStream pipeline, which brings natural gas from Russia to Türkiye across the Black Sea and then into southeastern Europe, was controversial in certain quarters of the West ever since it was conceived. Now the flow of natural gas to Europe from Russia via Türkiye is reaching all-time highs. TurkStream has a capacity of 31.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year, roughly half of which stays in Türkiye, and the rest continues on to the Balkans and Central Europe. Serbia and Hungary are the primary European consumers. According to S&P Global, supplies via TurkStream into Southeast Europe rose...

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La) has authorized the release of all 40,000 hours of security video footage taken at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. "My decision will provide millions of Americans, criminal defendants, public interest organizations, and the media an ability to see for themselves what happened that day," he said. Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Tx) said "the videos I've seen so far directly contradicts the claim that what happened that day was an insurrection. These videos showing police escorting peaceful protesters walking through the Capitol were suppressed by the unbalanced January 6 committee assembled by former Speaker Nancy Pelosi...

Florida’s Republican Governor, Ron DeSantis, is set to face off against California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom.The much-anticipated debate titled “DeSantis vs. Newsom: The Great Red vs. Blue State Debate,” hosted by Fox News’ Sean Hannity, is set to take place in Alpharetta, Georgia.“FOX News Channel’s (FNC) Sean Hannity will present an exclusive live 90-minute televised debate between Florida Governor and GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis (R) and California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) on Thursday, November 30th in Alpharetta, GA. DeSantis vs. Newsom: The Great Red vs. Blue State Debate will be presented on FNC from 9-10:30 PM/ET during a two-hour...

... Biden on Monday will convene the first meeting of his supply chain resilience council, using the event to announce 30 actions to improve access to medicine and needed economic data and other programs tied to the production and shipment of goods. “We’re determined to keep working to bring down prices for American consumers and ensure the resilience of our supply chains for the future,” said Lael Brainard

Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel downplayed donor concerns following reporting on the GOP finances, saying the situation is not unusual. On Monday, the Washington Post reported that concerns over the national party’s finances were growing as donations to the RNC appear to drop ahead of next year’s presidential election. The Post noted that the RNC reported having $9.1 million in the bank in October, which is significantly less than the $20 million the party reported having on hand at the same point in the 2016 presidential campaign cycle. Meanwhile, the Democratic National Committee reported having $17.7 million cash-on-hand in...

Monica Lewinsky has called for elected officials to be subject to mandatory retirement ages and presidential self-pardons to be banned. The former Bill Clinton White House intern whose affair with the president eventually set the stage for his 1998 impeachment pushed for those measures in an opinion piece published on Monday by Vanity Fair. Lewinsky, a political activist and writer, said that her editorial was inspired by recent discussions about whether the US constitution’s 14th amendment barred anyone from holding public office if they engage in an insurrection.

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. Loitering munitions, drones used as unmanned bait, civilian vehicles 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 a vehicle is captured and then...

“Tagespost" exclusive: Rome Opens the ParachuteDie Tagespost November 24, 2023Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin informs the German bishops that the ordination of priests reserved for men and the Church's teaching on homosexuality are non-negotiable - a German special path is therefore The German bishops have received a clear message from the Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin that the Vatican is not considering negotiating the letter "Ordinatio Sacerdotalis", in which Pope John Paul II confirmed the exclusion of women from ordination to the priesthood in 1994, or the Church's teaching on homosexuality in upcoming talks with a delegation of...

Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk lent support Monday to Israel's campaign against Hamas, saying one challenge was stopping propaganda of a sort that led to the Hamas terrorists' killing spree that triggered the Israel war on Gaza. The owner of the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, Musk was on an unusual visit to Israel, during a four-day pause to the fighting, and held a live online discussion with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Hearing Netanyahu describe the destruction of Hamas, which Israel has set as a war goal, as necessary for any prospective peace with the Palestinians, Musk sounded...

Nearly a third of all outstanding US government debt is set to mature in the next 12 months, according to an analysis from asset management firm Apollo. A chart shared by Chief Economist Torsten Sløk in September showed that the share of US public debt set to mature in a year or less has steadily risen toward pandemic-era levels and is now at 31%. In terms of dollar amount, that's $7.6 trillion, a high not seen since early 2021, and is a source of upward pressure on US rates, he added. In addition, public debt maturing in the near term...

Since the advent of modern scientific theory people who worry about such things have spent much time worrying about the creations of man supplanting humanity, developing a life of their own and the ability to out-compete their creators in all areas of life. From Shelley's Frankenstein to Cameron's Terminator fear of humans sowing the seeds of their own destruction run deep in the modern psyche, and with the advent of artificial intelligence engines such as ChatGPT this concern has only intensified for many. Well, we're here to tell you that if 'Anna Indiana' is anything to go by the reign...