Free Republic

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron warned Thursday that Europe could “die” if it fails to build its own robust defense as Russia’s war in Ukraine rages on, or if it fails to undertake major trade and economic reforms to compete with China and the U.S. . . . “Our Europe today is mortal,” Macron said. “It can die and that depends solely on our choices,” he added. He called on people to make those choices now because, “it’s today that Europe is between war and peace.”

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Rioting broke out between two rival groups of Eritreans in the Netherlands on Saturday night, police said. Officers used tear gas in an attempt to quell the unrest in The Hague as rioters torched police cars and a bus. Images from the scene showed vehicles in flames and dozens of men in the street, some throwing rocks. “It got seriously out of hand,” The Hague Municipality spokesman Robin Middel said.

Many parents put a lot of focus into teaching their kids about cleaning their rooms, acting responsibly and doing homework. These things are important, but there’s one thing that many of us are completely forgetting about: how to enjoy life. .... Children can easily get the wrong message about happiness In my experience, people are happiest when their life includes some type of meaningful, productive activity. Unfortunately, we are constantly being bombarded with the message that happiness comes from consumption. When advertisers tell us to “treat” ourselves to their products, they are trying to make us believe that buying things...

AMSTERDAM, July 7 (Reuters) - The Dutch government on Friday collapsed after failing to reach a deal on restricting immigration, junior coalition partner Christian Union said, a move expected to trigger new elections in the fall.

By November 1944, almost in a cruel and desperate afterthought to what seemed a lost cause, balloons launched from Japan and carrying explosive and incendiary bombs drifted east on the jet stream to the United States. Once again, the goal was to start forest fires and wreak devastation. On December 6 after a "mysterious explosion" in Wyoming, officials found balloon parts and bomb casing fragments from what had been a 33 pound high explosive bomb. During the next several months, Japan launched over 9,000 balloon bombs resulting in over 342 incidents registered throughout western United States and Canada. Oregon alone...

The LSD consciousness-expansion movement of the late sixties and the campus gender-identity fixation of today are two examples of these counterfeit revolutions. The two might initially appear very different, but they share similar intellectual assumptions and therefore make analogous mistakes. Most significantly, both take rationality and physical fact as limitations to freedom, impediments to be transcended, instead of appropriate cornerstones of political freedom itself. They’re too incoherent to be rationally communicated and too individualistic to resist anomie. And so, denuded of genuine revolutionary potential, these children’s crusades cycle through failures.

NEW YORK, July 13 (Reuters) - A former CIA software engineer was convicted on Wednesday of leaking classified information to WikiLeaks from the spy agency, in one of the biggest such thefts in CIA history.

Carlos A. Rodríguez

And the revellers shared one thing … huge beaming grins as they supped their first pints by the welcoming, polished wooden bar. It felt wonderful to stride to the counter and chat to staff as you watched your frothy ice-cold beer fill up your crystal clear glass. And to finally actually hear the banter among the replete customers, all eschewing their facemasks, was a joy in the cool, shaded lounge. Station regular Damian explained: "Freedom Day has brought life back."It's great to see small, community pubs like this finally full and the landlord grinning as he chats over the bar...

Loudoun County Public Schools in Virginia plans to appeal a judge’s order to reinstate physical education teacher Byron Tanner Cross, who was suspended days after telling the school board he would not refer to transgender students by their preferred pronouns because of his religious beliefs. In a statement, LCPS said it “respectfully disagrees with the Circuit Court’s decision to issue the injunction, and it is appealing this ruling to the Supreme Court of Virginia.” “Many students and parents at Leesburg Elementary have expressed fear, hurt and disappointment about coming to school,” the statement said. LCPS said while it “respects the...

--snip--- What does critical race theory look like in practice? Last year, I authored a series of reports focused on critical race theory in the federal government. The FBI was holding workshops on intersectionality theory. The Department of Homeland Security was telling white employees they were committing “microinequities” and had been “socialized into oppressor roles.” The Treasury Department held a training session telling staff members that “virtually all white people contribute to racism” and that they must convert “everyone in the federal government” to the ideology of “antiracism.” And the Sandia National Laboratories, which designs America’s nuclear arsenal, sent white...

Congress shall be in session on the sixth day of January succeeding every meeting of the electors.The Senate and House of Representatives shall meet in the Hall of the House of Representatives at the hour of 1 o’clock in the afternoon on that day, and the President of the Senate shall be their presiding officer. Two tellers shall be previously appointed on the part of the Senate and two on the part of the House of Representatives, to whom shall be handed, as they are opened by the President of the Senate, all the certificates and papers purporting to be...

The Michigan Supreme Court on Monday denied Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s request to extend emergency powers that she invoked to curb the spread of the coronavirus. The conservative-majority court rejected the Democratic governor’s request to delay the effect of its decision striking down a law she had used to keep intact sweeping orders amid the pandemic. The justices voted 6-1 against halting the precedential effect of its Oct. 2 opinion until Oct. 30. They reaffirmed their initial 4-3 ruling that declared unconstitutional her use of the 1945 emergency powers law.

Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan denied a request from Republicans to stop Montana Gov. Steve Bullock’s (D) plan to mail ballots to all registered voters. Kagan, who has jurisdiction over the case based on geography, denied the request without referring the case to the full court. The suit was brought by Joe Lamm of the Ravali County Republican Central Committee and other voters. The GOP-dominated Legislature banned mail-in ballots for general elections, instead allowing only by-request, no-excuse-required “absentee ballots” and in-person voting compatible with Phase 2 safety restrictions in the governor’s COVID-19 reopening plan. But Bullock argued an emergency declaration...

The order directs the California Air Resources Board to develop a phase-out plan that would require 100 percent zero-emissions personal use and dryage vehicles by 2035 and as many medium-duty and heavy-duty vehicle applications deemed feasible by 2045. “Pull away from the gas pumps,” Newsom said. “Let us no longer be victims of geopolitical dictators that manipulate global supply chains and global markets.”

John MacArthur reads list of demands from California Govt.