Free Republic

The environmental organization Greenpeace was ordered to pay more than $660 million dollars to the Texas-based pipeline company Energy Transfer this week over its role in the Dakota Access Pipeline protests nearly a decade ago. The outcome was a blow to the environmental advocacy group, which has previously said that a lawsuit of this size could bankrupt its U.S. operations. Energy Transfer, the operator of the Dakota Access Pipeline, accused Greenpeace USA and International of playing a central role in organizing the resistance to the pipeline at Standing Rock in 2016 and 2017. The protests drew national attention as activists...

We've been watching federal judges playing President or Commander in Chief. I guess that these judges, coincidentally appointed by President Obama or President Biden, have concluded that Article 2 powers apply to a presidency only if a judge in some blue island agrees with his decision. Glenn Reynolds asserts that this is not going to end well for the judiciary. Let's check out what he wrote:Now Trump is drawing out the nation’s partisan district judges, causing them to overextend themselves in ways that will cost them -- and the judiciary itself -- a lot.Lower-level federal judges have been issuing orders...

More rallies in Hawaii as DOGE cuts hit NOAA in the islands HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) -- A march and rally in support of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) was held on Saturday. A newly formed citizen group called Allies in Resistance hosted the event in honor of human rights champion and former U.S. Rep. Patsy Mink. Mink was a champion of Title IX, which is part of the Education Amendments of 1972. It is a federal law that prohibits discrimination based on gender in any school or education program. Organizers said the march started at 11 a.m. at Iolani Palace. The...

America, unfortunately, has long been suffering from a crisis of civics. Put simply, many Americans are woefully ignorant about the structure and features of their government. But every so often, an opportunity emerges to reteach some basics. The media's predictable shrieks and howls of "constitutional crisis" notwithstanding, we are in the throes of a grand separation-of-powers standoff that will both serve as one such edifying civics lesson. First: Enter the energetic executive. In his frenetic opening weeks, President Donald Trump has channeled the spirit of The Federalist No. 70, in which Alexander Hamilton argued that only a unitary executive can...

Newly resurfaced footage from 2021 reveals controversial statements by U.S. District Judge John McConnell, who recently blocked President Donald Trump’s spending freeze. U.S. District Judge John McConnell, an Obama appointee who recently blocked President Donald Trump’s efforts to freeze federal spending, is facing renewed scrutiny following the resurfacing of a 2021 video interview where he described racism as a “white people problem” and called for diversity-focused reforms in the judiciary. In the interview, published on Helen Cooke’s YouTube channel and uncovered by Natalie Winters, co-host of Steve Bannon’s War Room, McConnell advocated for identity-based sentencing considerations and criticized the lack...

The following pro-life videos were made by some high school girls I know. They did everything from the filming to the editing. They are very proud of their videos. Please click like, shar, and attend your local March for life on January 22.

“America is going to have to save herself,” said LaTosha Brown, the co-founder of the national voting rights group Black Voters Matter. She compared Black women’s presence in social justice movements as “core strategists and core organizers” to the North Star, known as the most consistent and dependable star in the galaxy because of its seemingly fixed position in the sky. People can rely on Black women to lead change, Brown said, but the next four years will look different. “That’s not a herculean task that’s for us. We don’t want that title. … I have no goals to be...

FYI: The Intergovernmental Negotiating Body is scheduled to meet on Monday, November 11, 2024 to consider calling for a special session of the World Health Assembly in the hopes of adopting the proposed “Pandemic Agreement” BEFORE the end of 2024. The INB will consider the determination of process for the convening, as appropriate, of a special session of the Health Assembly by the Executive Board, provided that agreement is reached on the draft WHO Pandemic Agreement. https://apps.who.int/gb/inb/pdf_files/inb12/A_inb12_2Rev1-en.pdf (page 3) If you are opposed to the “Pandemic Agreement,” then RIGHT NOW would be a VERY good time to take the actions...

Vivek Ramaswamy does sanitation work after Biden called millions of Americans 'garbage' "We’re not the garbage, we’re taking out the garbage."

At a recent rally in Juneau, Wisconsin, Donald Trump urged evangelical Christians to vote, saying: "I’ll tell you another one that don’t vote — I love these people — evangelical Christians. The Christian community doesn’t vote as much as they should. They go to church. So now what we are going to do is go to church and we are to get out and vote. ... If they did vote, we couldn’t lose an election." Trump’s concerns are echoed by a recent article in The Jerusalem Post, which cites a recent report from the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian...

Pollution, homophobia, racism, hate; activists claim everything is getting worse.

Forget anatomy or physiology: Many of the medical students heading back to class this month are taking courses that focus more on social justice and diversity. That’s my conclusion in a new study that analyzes the curricula at medical schools across the country. Future physicians are spending more time on divisive political topics and less time on the medical science on which individual and public health depend — a fact that should terrify policymakers and patients alike. My study — the first to document the prevalence of ideology in medical school curricula — focuses on schools’ publicly available course catalogs....

From time to time, I like to re-evaluate things and see if there is something I am missing. Mostly, this is a lengthy process of elimination based off of the realities of life. I usually do this in quiet where nobody can see. But let's examine it openly this time. For example, I'm not a billionaire. I'm lucky to have more than $1000 in the bank at a lot of times which does perhaps put me ahead of a lot of people, but the reason I mention the money means I don't have a future creating a movie. So culturally,...

Can anybody name one-square inch on the planet where Communism has done anyone any good? Anywhere? Not for the ruling elites, but for the people themselves? It doesn’t exist. How, then, do they continue to manage to create new recruits? Well, a story out of California last week explains one strategy. Writing for The Free Press for Free People, Francesca Block reports (3/7/24): “An activist group in California has paid nearly 100 public high schoolers $1,400 each to learn how to fight for racial and social justice.”

NRA Dethroned as Top Gun Lobby in DCBy Doug Howlett - March 7, 2024 Long a bane of anti-gun politicians, Democrats (typically one and the same) and the mainstream media, the National Rifle Association (NRA) has been often blamed as well as credited, depending on which side of the issue a person falls on, with effectively stopping much of the legislation in Congress that would whittle away citizens’ Second Amendment rights. But with ongoing troubles with its longtime leadership, legal challenges in court, lawsuits and even constituent anger over the organization’s spending and direction on certain issues, NRA is no...

LANSING, Mich. -- The State of Michigan announced on Thursday that it will be doling out a total of $87,093,279.90 across 99 cities, 30 villages, 69 townships and 71 of the state's 83 counties. SNIP "This week, many Michigan municipalities and counties will begin seeing their share of adult-use marijuana payments appear in their banking accounts," State Treasurer Rachael Eubanks said. " (SNIP) Aside from the more than $87 million in funds handed out to municipalities and counties, $101.6 million was sent to the School Aid Fund for K-12 education and another $101.6 million to the Michigan Transportation Fund.

WASHINGTON ― A second Donald Trump presidency could be more unbound thanks to the changing face of the Republican Party, where traditional GOP stalwarts are gradually being replaced with hard-charging MAGA loyalists eager to defend and amplify his tactics. During his first term in office, Trump squared off with the likes of John McCain, Bob Corker, and Mitt Romney, establishment Republican senators who were often a thorn in his side. Now, many of the lawmakers most likely to push back against his worst instincts are either gone or heading for the exits, and a favorable electoral landscape for the GOP...

On the evening of Dec. 16, 1773, a crowd of armed men, some allegedly wearing costumes meant to disguise them as Native American warriors, boarded three ships docked at Griffin’s Wharf in Boston. In the vessels’ holds were 340 chests containing 92,000 pounds of tea, the most popular drink in America. With support from the patriot group known as the Sons of Liberty, the intruders methodically searched the ships and dumped their tea into Boston Harbor. According to the British East India Company, whose proprietors owned the destroyed cargo, losses totaled more than a million dollars in today’s currency. The...

Jazmine Hughes, a writer for the New York Times Magazine, resigned this week after a conflict with her editors over signing of an anti-Israeli letter. New York Times Magazine Editor Jake Silverstein said Hughes violated the company’s policy on public protest. The incident exposes the inherent conflicts — and hypocrisy — in the shift away from neutrality in reporting in media companies and graduate programs. I have long been a critic of what I called “advocacy journalism” as it began to emerge in journalism schools. These schools encourage students to use their “lived expertise” and to “leave[] neutrality behind.” Instead,...

Joining the groups of outspoken activists who attach themselves to prominent works of art, Pope Francis has glued himself to the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel to protest climate change. "We must stop climate change now!" the 86-year-old pontiff said as he hung precariously from the ceiling that features priceless paintings by famed artist Michelangelo. "There is no greater danger to all of God's children than the threat of the temperature of the earth rising slightly and causing inclement weather. All other issues around the world pale in comparison to this."