Free Republic

The International Criminal Court should add “ecocide” to its brief alongside genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes to criminalise the side effects of farming, fishing and energy production, a green activist argued during the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland. Greta Thunberg ally and CEO of Stop Ecocide International Jojo Mehta demanded during a WEF Davos panel dubbed “Where Nature Meets Conflict” on Tuesday that a new international criminal category of “ecocide” to prevent the “mass damage and destruction of nature”. Mehta, who co-founded Stop Ecocide in 2017 alongside the late green legal activist Polly Higgins, said...

A federal appeals court declined on Tuesday to reconsider its decision to allow the government to execute a search warrant for information related to former President Donald Trump‘s Twitter account, prompting a stiff rebuke from at least four Republican-appointed judges. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected Trump’s request on Tuesday to block special counsel Jack Smith from accessing his Twitter feed as part of his election interference case. A majority of the appeals court ruled to deny further review. “Upon consideration of appellant’s petition for rehearing en banc, the response thereto, the amicus curiae...

What the results in Iowa mean.

The Foreign Office (FO) on Wednesday said Pakistan has decided to recall its ambassador from Iran and suspend all high-level visits ongoing or planned between the two countries following the “unprovoked violation of its airspace” by Tehran. Iran, on the other hand, claimed that it targeted an “Iranian terrorist group” and “none of the nationals of the friendly and brotherly country of Pakistan were targeted by Iranian missiles and drones”. The development came after the FO, in a statement released late on Tuesday night, denounced the strikes in Pakistani territory that resulted in “deaths of two innocent children while injuring...

Iran launched a missile attack apparently targeting militant bases in western Pakistan which killed two children, officials in Islamabad said. The operation targeted the militant group Jaish al-Adli, which Tehran's foreign minister described as an "Iranian terrorist group" in Pakistan. The attack occurred in Balochistan, and comes after Iran attacked targets in Iraq and Syria earlier this week. Pakistani officials said two children were killed and three others injured. Islamabad said the attack was "illegal" and warned of "serious consequences". However Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, speaking in Davos, insisted that no Pakistani citizens had been targeted, only members of...

The Department of Homeland Security paid an activist group $700,000 to create self-described propaganda that attacked conservatives, a new investigation found. DHS used a grant program intended to combat terrorists, called the Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention (TVTP) Program, to pay activists to write blog posts that criticized Donald Trump and other conservatives under the guise of “media literacy,” the Media Research Center found through public records requests.

On Saturday morning, Biden shuffled into a media scrum on the South Lawn to offer a few remarks before heading to Camp David for a weekend vacation after his Carribean vacation. 8,000 miles away voters in the Republic of China, also known as Taiwan, had just elected President ‘William’ Lai who had promised to preserve the nation’s independence from its greedy Communist superpower neighbor. “Mr. President, do you have a reaction to the Taiwan election?” a reporter asked. “We do not support independence,” Biden mumbled. He did not congratulate Taiwan’s new president-elect because that would offend China. In December, Chinese...

U.S. climate envoy John Kerry confirmed Wednesday he is departing his position to work on President Biden’s reelection campaign, emphasizing the stakes for climate policy in the election. Kerry, speaking with BloombergTV at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, said the stakes for the 2024 election are “as high as they can get,” despite skepticism about Biden among younger, climate-focused voters, who polling shows are increasingly leery of the president’s age and his policies on the Israel-Hamas war.

17 January 2024 Saint Antony, Abbot on Wednesday of week 2 in Ordinary Time Saint Antony the Abbot, Brooksville, FL Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II).Readings for the feriaReadings for the memorialThese are the readings for the feriaFirst reading1 Samuel 17:32-33,37,40-51 ©David and GoliathDavid said to Saul, ‘Let no-one lose heart on his account; your servant will go and fight the Philistine.’ But Saul answered David, ‘You cannot go and fight the Philistine; you are only a boy and he has been a warrior from his youth.’ ‘The Lord who rescued me from the claws of lion and...

Just-released U.S. Capitol closed-circuit TV video clips from Jan. 6, 2021, show Capitol Police Special Agent David Lazarus gave false testimony in the Oath Keepers trial, Blaze Media investigative journalist Steve Baker reported. What's the background? Baker penned an analysis in October calling into question Lazarus' testimony — which helped convict the Oath Keepers — noting that time-stamped CCTV videos Blaze News observed show Lazarus in other parts of the Capitol complex at the time he said he witnessed now-former Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn interacting with Oath Keepers on Jan. 6. Baker and others could view the Jan. 6...

One of the things I keep pointing out about the transnational elite is that, for the most part, they aren’t hiding who they are and what they want. It’s not some deep, dark conspiracy. They are proud of what they are doing. You can go to the websites of major corporations, universities, our federal government, or most conveniently the World Economic Forum and see what kind of dystopia they have planned for you. Basically, it boils down to this: let your betters run your lives, and by the way, we are your betters. If you find it surprising that people...

On January 9, students at James Madison High School in Brooklyn discovered that they would be spending the next two days in front of their computer screens learning from home. But it wasn’t the usual winter weather causing this cancellation of in-person classes – instead, it was because the city of New York was planning to move nearly 2,000 illegal migrants from their encampment and resettle them at the school, displacing the students. The move prompted understandable outrage from parents and recriminations from local officials who pleaded helplessness. What were they supposed to do? Allow the migrants to freeze to...

Amidst claims that “The U.S. economy is fine,” let’s take a closer look at the economic landscape. Manufacturing is contracting, and services are teetering on the brink of contraction. The alarming signal? Private-sector job growth is being overshadowed by government-sector job growth. While the Biden administration touts phenomenal job creation over the past two years, a deeper dive reveals a different story. Job growth post-lockdown was expected, fueled by increased demand from extensive government spending. Since early 2021, the surge in job numbers leans heavily on government-sector growth, a far cry from organic economic development.

North Korea's foreign minister lauded comradely ties with Russia on Tuesday and then held rare talks in the Kremlin with President Vladimir Putin, who has been invited by Kim Jong Un to visit the reclusive nuclear-armed country. -snip- Earlier on Tuesday, during her talks with Lavrov, North Korea's Choe hailed progress on implementing agreements struck during Kim's visit to eastern Russia last September. "The fact that now the foreign ministers of the two countries often meet and deepen comradely ties is yet more proof that the Korean-Russian friendly relations, with a long history of friendship and tradition, are energetically moving...

Workers who make Bud Light and other top-selling beers are threatening to strike in demand of significant wage increases, job security and improvements to retirement and benefits in the first big union contract battle of 2024. Five thousand workers, represented by the Teamsters at 12 Anheuser-Busch breweries in the US, are threatening to strike after voting 99% in favor of a strike authorization last month. Their current union contract is set to expire on 29 February. “Without a contract by February 29, there won’t be any beer come March,” the Teamsters warned on X. The contract fight is the first...

Likewise, the supply, which was extremely scarce, doubled in the city of Buenos Aires. One of the most important measures from Argentine President Javier Milei, the repeal of the Rental Law (Ley de Alquileres), is already generating positive effects in the real estate market, which under previous administrations was heavily regulated. According to the local newspaper El Cronista, just a month after the repeal of the Rental Law, the market has already reacted positively. The supply of apartments in the city of Buenos Aires, which had been extremely scarce, doubled; going from 400 to 800 units, and prices fell by...

..The trial of the century, Mann v. Steyn, is finally in court after twelve long years. And neither snow nor rain nor according to Axios, an "expansive and record-breaking Arctic air outbreak," could stop today's proceedings. Although the trial began late (due to the aforementioned "record-breaking" freeze), there is a judge, a courtroom, and almost a full jury - the whole kit and kaboodle of American jurisprudence. Mark's fans came out en masse - in Washington, DC, no less! — which compelled the honorable Judge Irving, presiding, to scramble for an overflow room to accommodate everyone (see below if you...

Lāna‘i is a place like no other. On this tiny island you’ll find coffee shops that open and close when they please, a relaxed mood among residents and an idyllic cat shelter, among other things. Started in 2004 by Kathy Carroll, the Lāna‘i Cat Sanctuary has become one of the biggest visitor attractions on the island, and its purpose and mission—to help control Lāna‘i’s wild cat population—has remained the same. After moving to Lāna‘i with her husband, Mike, who now owns an art studio in town, Carroll quickly found herself caring for a small stray kitten. Lāna‘i didn’t have a...

Daily Readings from the USCCBThen he said to the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?” But they remained silent. Looking around at them with anger and grieved at their hardness of heart, Jesus said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out and his hand was restored.Mark 3:4–5Sin damages our relationship with God. But hardness of heart is even more damaging because it perpetuates the damage done by sin. And the harder one's heart, the more permanent the damage. In...

A study by the Center for Justice Research (CJR) shows violent crime in Ohio decreased after the state adopted constitutional carry. Constitutional carry recognizes the Second Amendment as a carry permit, allowing law-abiding citizens to carry a concealed handgun for self-defense without first acquiring a permit from their state government. There are 27 constitutional carry states and those are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.