Free Republic

A provision in the 2021 "infrastructure" spending package, as it turns out, includes a provision that directs the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to come up with a way to stop you from driving your car or truck if the government doesn't want you to. The measure is sold as a way to keep people from driving while impaired, but the implications are chilling. "A provision in the bipartisan $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that President Joe Biden signed in 2021 directed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to come up with a rule by this year requiring new...

Note: I apologize in advance for the potentially rambling nature of this piece, which is something of a stream of consciousness geostrategic meditation. It’s possible that this is too abstract to be interesting. If so, please berate me in the comments. I am a great lover of chess. While no more than a middling player myself, I am endlessly entertained by the seemingly countless variations and strategic contrivances that the world’s great players can create from that same, familiar beginning. Despite being an old game (the rules that we know today emerged in 15th Century Europe), it has resisted the...

The U.S. House of Representatives has impeached Alejandro Majorkas, the Secretary of Homeland Security. The Constitution sets a very high bar for the removal of an officeholder through impeachment. Everyone is certain that this bar will not be cleared in the U.S. Senate. Many onlookers, including plenty of our Republican representatives themselves, therefore wonder, what’s the point? And you might not expect it, but this very issue is at the heart of one of the biggest disagreements in the current Republican party. There is an unwritten parliamentary rule among legislators in leadership: You never call a vote on any measure...

The most compelling show of contemporary basketball skill at last year's NBA All-Star Game didn't necessarily come from one of the players dribbling a ball ... it came from a ball itself. That ball was Wilson's Airless basketball prototype, a futuristic piece of see-through design work that traded good, old reliable pneumatics for a 3D-printed lattice structure offering the supple bounce without the air. At the time, it wasn't clear what – if any – future the ball had, but now Wilson has launched it as a limited edition. A very expensive limited edition. Called the Airless Gen1, the new...

The European Union is good at coming up with inoffensive-sounding terminology to talk about unpleasant things. For example, the phrase “strategic autonomy” is a nice way of saying, “We don’t trust the Americans” — and, with Donald Trump leading the polls and boasting about encouraging Vladimir Putin to invade European countries, it is impossible to blame them. It is important to get the context of Trump’s remarks straight: Trump says he told an unidentified NATO counterpart whose country hadn’t met the organization’s target for defense spending, “No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage [Russia] to do...

Twenty percent ($929 billion) of the $4.7 trillion of outstanding commercial mortgages held by lenders and investors will mature in 2024, a 28 percent increase from the $729 billion that matured in 2023 ... “The lack of transactions and other activity last year, coupled with built-in extension options and lender and servicer flexibility, has meant that many loans that were set to mature in 2023 have been extended or otherwise modified and will now mature in 2024, 2026, 2028 or in other coming years,” said Jamie Woodwell, Head of Commercial Real Estate Research at MBA. “These extensions and modifications have...

China’s inauguration of a new scientific research station in Antarctica last week has renewed debate about the purpose and impact of the rapid expansion of Chinese presence on the continent. Situated on Inexpressible Island near the Ross Sea, Qinling Station is China’s fifth scientific outpost and third research station on the continent that can operate year around. The station covers 5,244 square meters (6,272 square yards) and can house up to 80 people during summer months, according to Chinese state broadcaster CGTN. Qinling Station is near the U.S. McMurdo Station and just south of Australia. A Center for Strategic and...

A plea to my Democratic friends: It’s time to start calling Joe Biden a great president. Not a good one. Not a better choice than Donald Trump. Joe Biden is a historically great president. Say it with passion backed by the conviction that it’s true… There’s not much I admire about the modern Republican Party, but I find myself wishing Democrats could learn from their eagerness to unite behind a candidate and echo a consistent message. If a Republican president had a record remotely equaling the Biden record, the only debate among Republicans would be if he should be called...

Explanation: A cosmic dust grain plowing through the upper atmosphere much faster than a falling leaf created this brilliant meteor streak. In a serendipitous moment, the sublime night sky view was captured from the resort island of Capri, in the Bay of Naples, on the evening of February 8. Looking across the bay, the camera faces northeast toward the lights of Naples and surrounding cities. Pointing toward the horizon, the meteor streak by chance ends above the silhouette of Mount Vesuvius. One of planet Earth's most famous volcanos, an eruption of Mount Vesuvius destroyed the city of Pompeii in 79...

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron and New York Attorney General Letitia James may have scored a major hit on former President Donald J. Trump with the unprecedented $354 million penalty but they may have inadvertently inflicted grave damage on the entire real estate industry. On Friday, leftists were jubilant when Engoron announced the crushing financial blow on Trump, a ruling that in the opinion of one notable business expert, Kevin O’Leary of the popular television show “Shark Tank” is “un-American” and if not reversed on appeal, could potentially lead to other real estate developers facing similar charges from political...

Prayers up. FR is funded solely by contributions made by the liberty loving patriots who love and use it. We are beholden to no political party. No advertisers, no outsiders, no sugar daddies, no corporate string pullers. Definitely no government subsidies or tax breaks. No 501c or other IRS non-profit status. This means no commercial ads. No annoying pop-ups. No ad tracking. No mail campaigns. No spam. No third-parties -- not even the IRS -- trying to control what we do or say. We are self-funded, fiercely independent and enjoy our freedom to speak plainly in the support of God,...

Do you remember when a trip to Grandma's meant going through her drawer filled with S&H Green Stamps so you could lick 'em and stick 'em into those little booklets? Green Stamps were offered in certain regions beginning in 1896 but they were most widely distributed in the U.S. from the 1930s to the 1980s, with a peak in the 1960s and '70s. Did you know you can still redeem any you might find lying around? Yep. S&H is still in business, only altered for a digital world. Read on to learn how to redeem them

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s team declared his death a murder Saturday as authorities claimed his life ended because of a medical condition called “sudden death syndrome.” Navalny, 47, died Friday in Russia’s brutal IK-3 penal colony in remote Kharp, about 1,200 miles northeast of Moscow. “Alexey Navalny was murdered. His death occurred on February 16 at 2:17 p.m. local time, according to the official message to Alexey’s mother,” Navalny’s spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh wrote on X early Saturday. Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service originally claimed “the convict” collapsed and died after he “felt unwell” during a walk. “When Alexei’s lawyer and...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an unexpected turn of events, Vice President Kamala Harris was removed from the top spot of "Worst Diversity Hire of All Time" after Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis opened her mouth during a televised trial about inappropriate use of funds and an alleged affair with a top prosecutor of former President Donald Trump. "DA Willis' perfectly executed court disaster may not have been enough to get her to top the proven record of VP Harris," said one onlooker, "But wearing her dress backwards, what a coup de grace!" Those close to Kamala Harris say her team...

17 February 2024 Saturday after Ash Wednesday (optional commemoration of The Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order) Seven Holy Founders, St. Louis, MO Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Violet. Year: B(II).First readingIsaiah 58:9-14 ©You will be like a spring whose waters never run dryThe Lord says this:If you do away with the yoke,the clenched fist, the wicked word,if you give your bread to the hungry,and relief to the oppressed,your light will rise in the darkness,and your shadows become like noon.The Lord will always guide you,giving you relief in desert places.He will give strength to your bonesand you shall be like...

ANTIOCH -- The Antioch Community Library is being closed because crime has made it too dangerous for users and staff, the Contra Costa County Library announced Friday. The county library said it "has made this difficult decision after repeated dangerous incidents in the last few months that have threatened the safety and security of patrons and staff," according to a Facebook post. "Beginning Saturday, February 17, 2024, the Antioch Library will be closed until further notice," the post said. The library apologized for the lack of notice on the closure, "but the safety of our patrons and staff is a...

Denver's hospitals are at risk of collapsing due to out-of-control immigration, with one healthcare system providing $17 million in free care in just three months. It comes as the Colorado city's Mayor Mike Johnston warns he's had to cut DMV and Parks & Rec funding 'in the face of the migrant crisis'. Struggling UCHealth was given $17 million from other hospitals, including $10 million from University Colorado Hospital, to help care for 5,800 undocumented patients between November and January, according to the Denver Post. Medics believe these patients are mostly - if not entirely - migrants, because the data covers...

ight now, China, Taiwan, North Korea, Japan, Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Sweden, among other nations, are all posturing for war or are at war. What’s going on? Jesus said in the last days, there’s going to be a time of “wars and rumors of Wars” (Matthew 24:6). Now, there have always been wars and rumors of wars, but in the Olivet discourse in Matthew chapter 24, he’s talking about an escalation and frequency of these things. While all these other things are taking place, there’s going to be a coalescing of...

With 300 sunshine days a year, low taxes and safe streets, it's little wonder Californians are flocking to the so-called 'Beverly Hills of Arizona'. Sitting between Phoenix and Scotsdale, Paradise Valley is Arizona's wealthiest municipality, with the average home costing an eye-watering $2.87 million. The affluent area has already proved popular with celebrities such as Alicia Keys, Michael Phelps and Stevie Knicks.

Leading Catholic prelates and a scandal-plagued Vatican cardinal took part in a conference on Freemasonry and the Catholic Church today, organized by the leading Freemasonic lodge of Italy. Announced some days ago by the Grand Orient of Italy, the nation’s leading Freemasonic lodge, a conference is taking place in Milan, February 16. Entitled “Catholic Church and Masonry,” the event is headlined by Stefano Bisi, who serves as the Grand Master of the Grand Orient, along with notable members of the Catholic hierarchy: The scandal-plagued Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, emeritus prefect of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts. Milan’s Cardinal archbishop...