Free Republic

2023 has been a record-breaking year in terms of temperature rise, ocean warming, wildfires and pretty much every other weather event the world over. Various climate attribution reports show that climate change had a guiding hand in making these events more frequent and more intense. Yet, the climate modelling used to plan for and finance adaptation to a warmer world has failed to keep up. This disconnect between models and the likely future that awaits us is deeply problematic. The first European climate risk assessment from the European Environment Agency, published in March, shows Europe has heated up faster than...

Hollywood has reportedly received a whopping $25 billion in state tax incentives to date — a win for studios like Disney and Netflix but a big “L” for ordinary taxpayers, who are footing the bill for the giveaways. Frequently championed by Democrats, state tax credits for movie and TV productions are intended to juice local economies by creating jobs and boosting revenue for small businesses that provide services like catering and transportation. That, in turn, is supposed to generate more tax dollars. But despite the $25 billion spent so far, states are seeing paltry returns on their investment — sometimes...

BRUSSELS (AP) — A major European Union plan to fight climate change and better protect nature in the 27-nation bloc has been indefinitely postponed Monday, underscoring how farmers’ protests sweeping the continent influence politics ahead of the June EU parliamentary elections. The member states were supposed to give final approval to the bill on Monday following months of proceedings through the EU’s institutional maze. But what was supposed to be a mere rubber stamp has now been possibly shelved forever. “(The plan) is in a very difficult position at the moment and with the upcoming European elections, it won’t be...

“In terms of the Moscow terror attack, the fact that those who carried out the attack were captured is now causing a huge headache for those who were ultimately responsible.” — The Sirius Report on “X”. You’ve got to ask yourself: really, who seems to hanker more for a red-hot World War Three, “Joe Biden” or Vlad Putin? Since “Joe Biden” is only a figment of American politics, first you’d have to ask: a figment of what? Answer: A figment of our greater intel blob, led, of course, by the Central Intelligence Agency. Which is to say, the blob is...

WASHINGTON (TND) — In the wake of the deadly terror attack on a concert hall in the Moscow suburbs that killed at least 130 people, national security experts in Russia, the Middle East, Western Europe and the U.S. are focusing their concerns on the group claiming responsibility for the attack: ISIS-K. Americans may recognize the name from the August 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal, after the group took credit for the suicide bombing at the Kabul airport which killed 13 U.S. service members and around 170 Afghan civilians. However, it has been waging its own jihad in the region for nearly a...

While serving on the board of Boeing in 2020, GOP presidential candidate and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley helped kill an initiative designed to force the company to more comprehensively disclose its spending to influence politicians and safety regulators, government filings show. Haley joined the company’s board of directors after the two fatal 737 Max crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia. Amid allegations of fraud and a coverup of safety problems following the disasters — resulting in a $243 million fine and $3 billion in compensation to airlines and victims’ families — Haley served on the board’s audit committee, according...

California restaurants are reportedly laying off staff and reducing hours for other team members in an effort to cut costs ahead of a California state law taking effect on April 1 that will raise fast-foot workers’ hourly wage to $20. In the months leading up to the wage mandate, California eateries, particularly pizza joints, have established a plan to cut jobs, according to state records obtained by The Wall Street Journal. Pizza Hut and Round Table Pizza — a Menlo Park, Calif.-founded chain of 400 pizza parlors, mostly on the West Coast — have said they plan to lay off...

The hosts of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” said Monday that former Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel — NBC News’s new paid contributor — will not be asked to appear on their show as a guest, pointing to her role in helping former President Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski in their Monday broadcast sharply criticized the network for hiring McDaniel and called on NBC News to reconsider the decision. “To be clear, we believe NBC News should seek out conservative Republican voices to provide balance in their election coverage. But...

On Saturday, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it would be creating a new center for the purpose of training state and local government officials on how to implement and enforce “red flag” laws that allow the government to infringe on Americans’ Second Amendment rights. According to the Daily Caller, the new center, the National Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) Resource Center, will operate under the DOJ’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP). Its mission will be to educate local officials on how such laws work, and how to act upon them when they find an individual they...

Four suspects accused of killing more than 130 people in a terrorist attack at a Moscow concert hall appeared heavily beaten as they were charged by a court in the Russian capital Sunday. Photos and videos released by the court showed the four men being led into the courtroom with various levels of injuries. Three of the men had visible bruises and swelling on their faces, including one with heavy bandaging around his right ear. The fourth seemed barely conscious as he sat inside the prisoner’s box dressed in a hospital gown and on a stretcher, with his eyes closed...

Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun will step down at the end of 2024 in part of a broad management shakeup for the embattled aerospace giant. Chairman of the board Larry Kellner is also stepping down, and Stan Deal, CEO of the commercial airplane unit, is out effective immediately. Boeing executives have faced increasing scrutiny from regulators and customers over quality control problems.

A well-funded environmentalist group played a key role in the push to remove dams in the Pacific Northwest’s Klamath River ahead of premature deaths of thousands of salmon. American Rivers — an organization that has received millions of dollars from left-of-center environmentalist grantmaking organizations in recent years — was “the orchestrator of the Klamath dams removal project,” according to Siskiyou News, a local outlet in Northern California. The drawdowns of several reservoirs pursuant to the scheduled removal of four dams in the river preceded the deaths of “hundreds of thousands” of young salmon in the waterway, according to Oregon Public...

A Staten Island power couple made up of the district attorney and a state Supreme Court judge are under scrutiny for “double dipping” by taking in hefty taxpayer-funded salaries and pensions. Both DA Michael McMahon and Judge Judith McMahon are getting paid six-figure salaries while also collecting government pensions that are likely more than $100,000, The Post has learned. DA McMahon “retired” from government service in December — while remaining the borough’s chief prosecutor — and now collects a pension that is likely upwards of $130,000. McMahon, 66, a former legislative staffer, councilman and congressman before becoming district attorney in...

U.S. Bank has debanked the Constitution Party of Idaho March 22, 2024 — The Chairman of the Constitution Party of Idaho (CP-Idaho) received by mail the balance of the party’s funds in the account held with U.S. Bank since 2006, along with a short account closure letter which read, US BANK — ACCOUNT CLOSURE Reference number xxxxxx Dear Constitution Party of Idaho, Advertisement Enclosed is an official check in the amount of $xxxxxxx for the balance of the above referenced account. Sincerely, Retail Quality Assurance – Account Review Advertisement Check number xxxxxx This account has always been in good standing...

At the nexus of most of America’s current crises, the diversity/equity/inclusion dogma can be found. The southern border has been destroyed because the Democratic Party wanted the poor of the southern hemisphere to be counted in the census, to vote if possible in poorly audited mail-in elections, and to build upon constituencies that demand government help. Opposition to such cynicism and the de facto destruction of enforcement of U.S. immigration law is written off as “racism,” “nativism,” and “xenophobia.” The military is short more than 40,000 soldiers. The Pentagon may fault youth gangs, drug use, or a tight labor market....

The Biden regime is in a tough spot. Its far-left base is enraged over its ongoing ostensible support for Israel. Instead of acting with integrity despite the electoral cost and standing by a loyal ally in its time of need, the regime is making a series of moves to betray Israel and give aid and comfort to its enemies.Now it’s mulling over a step that would constitute the biggest betrayal of all and would hand victory to the Hamas jihad terror group. For the unprincipled Biden regime apparatchiks, it’s all about winning in November.The New York Sun reported Monday that...

CINCINNATI, Thursday, March 24. A dispatch from Cairo says: "We have good news from the Red River expedition, which comes from undoubted authority. Gen. A.J. SMITH landed his forces from transports a few miles below Fort De Russey. The rebel Gen. DICK TARLOR promptly marched against him with his whole force, and attacked him in his rear. Gen. SMITH, instead of attempting to keep up communication with the river, proceeded by forced marches toward the fort. When TAYLOR saw the trick, he started for the same destination, and for a time the race seemed doubtful. But finally the Yankees came...

Today, a side of Adams that was not made much of in his lifetime has for many of us become the most important, and much-needed, part of his legacy: his critical view of Islam and of Muhammad. He derived these views from experience — his own and his father’s — of Muslim behavior (both of the Barbary Pirates and of the Ottoman Turks), from his lifelong study of history, and from his intensive reading of the Qur’an. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were sent in 1786 to negotiate in London with the ambassador from Tripoli, Sidi Haji Abdrahaman, about the...

The bad news is that the Biden administration is ramping up its gun confiscation agenda in the form of a whopping $750 million dedicated to establishing so-called “red flag laws” in every state in the Union. The good news is that epically incompetent Vice President Kamala Harris seems to have been put in charge of the push.On Saturday, Harris toured parts of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where a former student with a legally purchased firearm massacred 17 innocents on Valentine’s Day, 2018. She then announced two administration proposals purportedly aimed at quashing gun violence.The first would...

A transgender teenager from Pennsylvania has admitted to killing her 12-year-old friend while they were watching Netflix together and then posting photos of the child’s body on Instagram. Ash Cooper, 18, who was originally charged as Joshua Cooper, pleaded guilty on Thursday to charges including third-degree murder, possession of an instrument of crime and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence in the death of Morgan Connors, Fox News reported. The two were watching Netflix on Nov. 25, 2022 at a trailer park in Bensalem Township when Connors got up to use the bathroom and Cooper decided to clean and organize...