Free Republic

A new United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) report confirms how extreme weather events have come to dominate the disaster landscape at the beginning of 21st century. Floods and storms were the most prevalent disaster events, followed by earthquakes, extreme temperatures, landslides, droughts, wildfires, volcanic activity and dry mass movement. UNDRR used statistics from the Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT) maintained by the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) which records disasters which have killed ten or more people, affected 100 or more people, resulted in a declared state of emergency, or a call for international...

The spectre of one's mortality that a global pandemic raises can be a needed and sobering opportunity to reconsider and reorder our lives, if we're granted them longer. The spectre of one’s mortality that a global health and economic crisis raises can be a needed and sobering opportunity to reconsider and reorder our lives, if we’re granted them longer.The coronavirus pandemic is a social stress test exposing many Americans’ lack of responsibility for our lives, our willingness to hold other people’s lives hostage to our own, and our national unpreparedness to manage danger. What are some long-term positive steps this...

BENTONVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — Walmart announces changes to hours of operation and special shopping hours as the COVID-19 pandemic changes the landscape of daily life across the country. Over the weekend Walmart stores adjusted its operating hours to help make it easier for associates to stock and perform enhanced cleaning and sanitizing. Walmart saw the results of its efforts and will take additional steps beginning Thursday, March 19. Store Operating Hours Walmart U.S. stores will adjust operating hours to 7 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Stores that open later than 7 a.m. will continue their regular starting hours. This will further...

Polling right about 1% nationally, presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke turned up the heat on his connection to the working class by posting a video of himself changing a tire — without any assistance from the folks at AAA.

Wide-ranging Chinese state rules on what video games can depict are believed to be behind the need to modify Rainbow Six. The revamp would mean Rainbow Six had a "single, global version" so it would be easier to maintain and introduce new features, said Ubisoft. It illustrated its blogpost with images showing what some scenes and icons would look like in the new version. The illustrations depict skulls and knives being swapped for more anodyne images and some elements, such as slot machines, being removed entirely. The modified images and maps will be introduced with the Year 3, Season 4...

One of the things I fuss about a lot (especially at Buffer) are words—very simple words, in fact. Should it say “Hi” or “Hey?” Should it be “cheers” or “thanks?” How about “but” or “and?” There are many occasions when Joel and I sit over one line and change it multiple times, until we feel it really sits right. This is partly to improve our metrics for click rate and others. It is also to simply create the right emotion. The one key question we ask ourselves is: “How does this make you feel?” The question might sound very...

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has ordered a crackdown on corruption, the latest in a wave of frenetic changes in the kingdom over the past 2-1/2 years. Prince Mohammed says he is determined to remodel his conservative country into a modern state no longer dependent on oil. As his father, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, has handed the 32-year-old Prince Mohammed more and more power over the past three years, the ambitious young leader has taken on everything from economic reforms to waging war in neighboring Yemen. Here is what you need to know. ROYAL POLITICS Prince Mohammed capped...

The man who practically invented alter egos has departed planet earth.RIP, David Bowie, whoever you were; and thanks for the memories:From Happy Anniversary Hub!Around here, where alter egos abound, we’ve been Bowie fans for a long time. Remember this golden oldie, still gracing my sidebar, from my early days as Lady M’s Mirror Of The United States: Just think, without Ziggy Startdust, there might never have been a Madonna, Lady Gaga or President Obama. Not that there’s anything inherently wrong with alter egos…butt I guess there’s a downside to everything. Dedicated to the proposition that change can be a good thing,...

Newly-elected Speaker Paul Ryan said in an interview that aired Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation" that he's "redesigning" his leadership job. "I'm redesigning this job. I don't think it can work going forward like it's worked in the past. I can't pick up where John (Boehner) left off. It has to be done differently," Ryan said, referring to Rep. John Boehner's, R-Ohio, recently ended tenure as speaker. The House elected Ryan as speaker last Thursday and Boehner resigned from his leadership post and congressional seat. Ryan told host John Dickerson that he wasn't elected "dictator of the House" and...

By our count at the Galen Institute, more than 54 significant changes have been made to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act since it was enacted in 2010 – at least 34 that the Obama administration has made unilaterally, 17 that Congress has passed and the president has signed, and three by the Supreme Court. Our latest count has added two more changes made by the Obama administration contrary to statutory language, and one rewrite of the law’s text from the latest U.S. Supreme Court decision. Our latest additions: Extension of credits to people receiving employer-sponsored coverage. Section 1511...

For the poorest Floridians who rely on Medicaid for their health care, some big changes are coming in the new year that could affect whether they still qualify. Others who currently don't get Medicaid may find that the new rules allow them to sign up. The changes are all part of the Affordable Care Act and affect residents too poor to get a tax break on premiums through the health-care exchange. So whether you apply this year or next could make a big difference. "If you qualify now but won't under the new guidelines, sign up before Jan. 1," said...

The Obama administration is being accused of "burying" key changes to the federal health care overhaul, as discontent grows about the roll-out of the law. The latest surprise came this week, when the Associated Press reported that individuals will have to obtain insurance coverage by mid-February in order to avoid an IRS penalty. That's six weeks earlier than the March 31 deadline that previously was cited. While an administration official confirmed the moved-up deadline to the AP, the reason the public now knows about it is because tax preparation company Jackson Hewitt pointed it out.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that Democrats will not consider making any changes to Obamacare. She said lawmakers may consider amending the bill — but only after it’s been implemented. “None of these suggestions [are] acceptable,” Pelosi said in reference to Republican efforts to delay the law’s individual mandate for one year. “After we open government and a plan is in place — any law that a Congress makes, a Congress can make another law and so bring your ideas forward. But not, with government shut down and before the plan is even in effect, are they...

TALLAHASSEE -- Florida Gov. Rick Scott says the state will pull out of a national test for school children to see if they are reaching standards in certain subjects. Scott on Monday called for Education Commissioner Pam Stewart and other state officials to take steps related to the ongoing controversy surrounding the new Common Core State Standards. Those include holding public hearings and possibly altering the standards.

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced on Thursday that the Justice Department would ask a court to require Texas to get permission from the federal government before making voting changes in that state. The move opens a new chapter in the political struggle over election rules after the Supreme Court struck down a portion of the Voting Rights Act last month. In a speech before the National Urban League in Philadelphia, Mr. Holder also indicated that the filing, expected later on Thursday, was most likely just an opening salvo in a new Obama administration strategy to try...

Opinion Print Article | Email Friend | Reprint Permissions From their own mouths, Pt 1: LGBT Lobby plans to 'wholly transform the definition of family' by Hilary White Fri Feb 01, 2013 19:52 EST Comments (20) Tags: family, homosexual activism, same-sex 'marriage' ROME, February 1, 2013, (LifeSiteNews.com) – “Transforming the very fabric of society;” and “radically reordering society’s view of reality”: these are what “being queer” means to the ideologues behind the homosexual political movement that is currently sweeping through legislatures around the world. Is this the insane ranting of a right-wing Christian conspiracy theorist? Is it yet another “attack”...

Even small changes in solar activity can impact Earth's climate in significant and surprisingly complex ways, researchers say. The sun is a constant star when compared with many others in the galaxy. Some stars pulsate dramatically, varying wildly in size and brightness and even exploding. In comparison, the sun varies in the amount of light it emits by only 0.1 percent over the course of a relatively stable 11-year-long pattern known as the solar cycle. Still, "the light reaching the top of the Earth's atmosphere provides about 2,500 times as much energy as the total of all other sources combined,"...

(Reuters) - Hopes for overhauling the federal tax system are fading in Washington, but in some state capitals, tax reform experiments - some far-reaching - are fast taking shape. Across the South and Midwest, Republicans have consolidated control of state legislatures and governorships, giving them the power to test long-debated tax ideas. Louisiana Republican Governor Bobby Jindal, for instance, called on Thursday for ending the state's income tax and corporate taxes, with sales taxes compensating for lost revenue. A similar plan is being pushed by Republicans in North Carolina. Kansas, which cut its income tax significantly last year, may trim...

Shakespeare was right when he wrote, “What’s past is prologue.” The Bard’s quote provides a solid road map for predicting how Obama will run his presidency if re-elected. During his 2008 campaign and subsequent four years in office there have been three iterations defining the man and his approach to governance. Obama 1.0 is the mythic figure and the now crumbling foundation for understanding how the president was presented by the media and perceived by the public. Candidate Obama circa 2008 was calm, collected and cool — smooth as silk. The mainstream media and much of America were captivated by...

Hey guys, earlier today I went to read my "pings" and I don't see any of the content of the comments, only the name of the thread and the respondent. Did something change? :( I like clicking and reading the responses and not necessarily going through the whole thread.