Free Republic

Blaze in South Korea prompts debate over whether electric vehicles should be allowed in the country’s ubiquitous underground parking lots The blaze incinerated dozens of cars nearby, scorched another 100 vehicles and forced hundreds of residents to emergency shelters as the buildings above the parking lot lost power and electricity. Nobody died, but the fire took eight hours to extinguish. Outdoor residential parking lots are relatively uncommon. The nation’s ubiquitous high-rise apartments often feature underground parking, where firefighters must contend with restricted access. One of the country’s largest telecommunications firms, KT, has held discussions about barring EVs from parking underground....

[Catholic Caucus] The Vatican got almost everything wrong in its weak response to the Olympic blasphemyThe ceremony was not merely an offense against Christians; it was an offense against God. What the Vatican handled as a breach of good manners was in fact a deliberate blasphemy, a violation of God’s first commandment.(Catholic Culture) — What’s wrong with the Vatican statement on the Olympic blasphemy? Nearly everything.Start with the timing. More than a week passed between the opening ceremonies of the Paris Olympics and the release of the tepid Vatican response. During that week thousands of people had expressed their shock...

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic running mate of Vice President Kamala Harris, owns no stocks, bonds or real estate, according to his most recent financial disclosure. Walz’s salary as governor of Minnesota is $127,629. He was eligible for a raise last year to $149,550, but he chose not to accept it, according to the state. If Walz is elected vice president in November, he would make an annual salary of $284,600, based on 2024 rates. In 2019, after Walz was elected governor, he and his wife sold their Mankato, Minnesota, home and moved into the governor’s mansion. They listed...

Alex Jones dissects, point-by-point, Jamie Ratskin's plans to instigate mass civil unrest when Trump wins the election to use as cover to declare martial law and prevent Trump from taking office.

NASA astronauts stranded due to Boeing's faulty Starliner received horrifying news on Wednesday about their return mission to Earth. Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who have already been trapped on the International Space Station (ISS) for more than two months, may not come back to Earth until February 2025. The US space agency revealed a contingency plan that would launch a two-person crew on SpaceX's Crew-9 mission in September, but still wouldn't bring the crew home until months later. The announcement is another highly embarrassing blow for the embattled Boeing, which is dealing with a spate of issues plaguing its...

[Catholic Caucus] Faithful Catholics protest Fr. James Martin’s LGBT conference endorsed by Pope Francis‘Faithful Catholics must resist the rainbow revolution inside the Church and boldly uphold Church teaching,’ TFP’s John Ritchie said.The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property protest a pro-LGBT conference led by the dissident Father James Martin, S.J. at Georgetown University.The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property (TFP) on Saturday held a rally of reparation and protest against a recent pro-LGBT conference led by the dissident Father James Martin, S.J. at Georgetown University.“With rosaries in hand, standing shoulder to shoulder,...

The bill’s language states that “the products must be available to all menstruating students” in grades four through 12. Schools districts and charter schools in Minnesota will be required to stock period products in school bathrooms for free use, including in boys’ bathrooms. At the end of May, Gov. Tim Walz signed into law an education finance bill which includes requirements for schools to provide menstrual products at no charge starting in January 2024. The bill’s language states that “the products must be available to all menstruating students” in grades four through 12. Each school district must develop a plan...

The RINO Chairman Fervier is mighty unhappy about this. Of course his claims of Res Judicata are pure BS. The only investigation that was done was by Ratburger "investigating" his own handiwork and claiming everything was OK. This is another excellent development from the Georgia Election Board.

[Catholic Caucus] Catholic Standard - Competing With The Washington Blade? The Catholic Standard, media mouthpiece for the Archdiocese of Washington, sunk to a new low in its support of depravity. It doesn't matter that the depravity originates from the Archbishop of Washington himself. Those who run the Standard are Catholics and owe their allegiances first to Our Lord Jesus Christ. I wish I could say that I am shocked, but sadly I am not.Cardinal Gregory offered that Mass at the perversion celebration at Georgetown last Saturday, and the Standard has the unmitigated gall to publish it. I suggest you read...

Before Tuesday, vice presidential contender Tim Walz was hardly a household name. Now that the Minnesota governor has been the subject of round-the-clock news interviews and viral videos, he has also picked up a new nickname. Enter “Tampon Tim,” conservatives’ response to the 2024 state law Walz signed that requires public schools to provide menstrual products in student bathrooms.It hardly feels like much of a “gotcha” moniker, though. Periods have been a mainstream public policy priority for the better part of the last decade. And California has been at the forefront. Since 2017, the Legislature has passed a series of...

House Speaker Emerita Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” that some of her Republican colleagues have told her that if Vice President Kamala Harris can defeat Donald Trump, they can get “back to our debate on the issues.” Pelosi said, “Let’s just talk about the glory of Kamala and Tim, the promise that they have put out there, the enthusiasm.” Mitchell said, “You talk about John McCain and talking to him and he gave you a heads-up he was going to vote, the key vote to save The Affordable Care Act, Obamacare, so there used...

The Job Creators Network on Wednesday debuted a parody of the Eagles' hit song "Hotel California," laden with lyrics outlining the record of Vice President Kamala Harris in the Golden State. "Democrat policies have killed California and are hurting American families and small businesses nationwide. Do we really want Kamala’s California everywhere?" the organization posted on X. Accompanying the post was a music video including the parody song "Kamala's California," which makes reference to her appointment as "border czar" and the state's high-tax policies. "On a dark Sacramento highway, cool wind in my hair, a rotten smell of ambition in...

Joe Biden sat down for a pre-recorded interview with CBS News reporter Robert Costa. The interview was conducted on Sunday and will air in full on Sunday, August 11. Joe Biden has not been publicly in more than 3 days. CBS played a clip from Biden’s interview with Robert Costa. “Are you confident that there will be a peaceful transfer of power in January 2025?” CBS News reporter Robert Costa asked Biden. “If Trump wins, no, I’m not confident at all,” Biden said before correcting himself: “I mean if Trump loses, I’m not confident at all. He means what he...

Prosecutors in special counsel David Weiss' office are accusing Hunter Biden of accepting payments from a Romanian businessman "to influence U.S. government agencies" while his father Joe Biden was vice president. If true, the allegation would mark the closest prosecutors have come to tying President Joe Biden to his son's overseas business endeavors -- a matter congressional Republicans have spent years scrutinizing.

Anyone who claims to understand the forces at work in modern U.S. politics has almost certainly exaggerated. For instance, on July 13, former President Donald Trump responded to a failed assassination attempt with a display of defiant courage. Afterward, only the most deranged Trump haters could deny that they had witnessed what all human beings from the beginning of time have recognized as rare bravery. Then, little more than three weeks later, Vice President and 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris chose as her running mate a man who, according to a former command sergeant major and fellow NCO in...

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Wednesday was a glorious day to enjoy Chicago tourist attractions, but will there be the same vibrant energy during the Democratic National Convention? Some hope so. The Chicago Loop Alliance held a meeting Wednesday about safety and security during the Democratic National Convention. The organization represents 30 businesses. It urged its member to go about business as usual during the convention. "We haven't heard any of our businesses recommend that their employees not come to work," said Kiana DiStasi with the Chicago Loop Alliance. The president of Illinois Hotel and Lodging Association, Michael Jacobson, said some hotels...

An Arizona Republican pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor Tuesday in the state’s 2020 election case, marking the first guilty conviction prosecutors have secured since bringing the sweeping indictment in April. Loraine Pellegrino pleaded guilty to one count of filing a false document, a significant reduction in her initial charges, according to a court filing. Pellegrino initially faced nine counts alongside 17 other defendants in an indictment brought by Arizona Attorney General Kristin Mayes, an elected Democrat. Pellegrino was one of 11 defendants who positioned themselves as alternate electors in 2020, while the other defendants were charged for other alleged illegal...

To all my entrepreneurial patriots out there, I've got a question on Gross Margin (GM) and how do most view the topic of 'paying the entrepreneur' question. Q:As a budding manufacturing business owner/engineer I would like to know if: 1) my $99 price point product has enough margin or if I need to up the price? 2) Would most entrepreneurs include the labor in the GM calc if they are the only one performing labor and they are not supposed to be paying themselves like the sharks on Sharktank always harp on? Background.... I'd really like to keep the price...

I haven't been following Britain well at all, and snooping around to try to catch up, I came across some arrest information from 2016 for content posted on Social media. If it was that bad in 2016, I can't imagine what social media policing is like there now. Many in Britain are posting massive protest videos on X.com. Are they going to be charged with 'inciting to riot'? Prayers up.Two clarifications:1. The "3,300" figure i(below) is likely a reference to a 2017 piece in The Times.More than 3,300 people were detained and questioned last year over so-called trolling on social...

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed several pieces of legislation into law Tuesday aimed to improve voter protections and accessibility, her office announced. The bills the governor signed will: Allow pre-registered voters, individuals who will be 18 years old by Election Day, to apply for an absentee or early mail voting ballot Ensure New Yorkers are able to cure ballot defects within the required timeframes Create a standard ordering criteria for candidates appearing on a ballot Bring state election law into compliance with the requirements set under the federal Electoral Count Reform Act Expand poll watcher eligibility to include most...