Free Republic

Three of China's top solar market players reported deepening losses over the first half of the year, reflecting weakening demand for solar in the world's top manufacturer and generator.Jinko Solar, JA Solar Technology, and Tongwei all reported six-month losses as overcapacity in the sector meets weakening demand, not only at home but also abroad, Bloomberg reported, citing statements made by the companies at their financial results releases.The report noted new solar power capacity additions in China had shrunk to 72.07 GW over the first half of the year, compared with 212.2 GW a year earlier. Part of the decline was...

Artificial intelligence spending is racing toward levels once considered unimaginable. Yet 250 years of market history suggest the boom may have considerably further to run before financing pressure, higher rates or an outside shock finally brings it down. AI Spending Has Entered a New PhaseThe artificial intelligence boom began as a technology story. It has evolved into one of the largest capital investment cycles in modern history.Since 2024, companies have poured hundreds of billions of dollars into semiconductors, power infrastructure, data-center construction and networking equipment. Amazon, Alphabet, Meta Platforms and Microsoft are expected to spend roughly $700 billion on capital...

War is never a picnic, and the American Civil War became the deadliest war in US history. What everyone thought would end in a matter of weeks became a four-year battle between the Union and the Confederacy. The amount of supplies and rations needed was sometimes underestimated because the war dragged on, and soldiers on both sides had to get creative with their meals. Soldiers during the Civil War were used to having their meals cooked for them, so it was a steep learning curve out on the battlefield and with sparse ingredients. The rations were technically edible but not...

A city council in Canada is taking a page from the U.S. playbook and plans to rename its street honoring Donald Trump - and to troll him with its new name. The Ottawa City Council voted unanimously on Wednesday to rename Trump Avenue, a residential street in its Central Park neighborhood. It was named after Trump approximately 25 years ago and is one of many references the street names make to New York City. Other streets include names like "Staten Way," "Madison Park" and "Gotham Private." The new street names the council is considering reportedly include things like "Obama Avenue"...

🚨RILEY GAINES JUST WON — THE NCAA SETTLED AFTER FOUR YEARS AND RESTORED HER AS THE SOLE FINISHER IN THE 2000M FREESTYLE! Follow: t.me/+uT8Yg-ELrtJjM… They finally folded. Riley Gaines says she’s “beyond thrilled” that her lawsuit against the NCAA has been settled after more than four years. Gaines will receive an undisclosed amount in punitive damages and have her name restored as the sole finisher in her place in the 2000M freestyle. “They finally did the right thing,” Gaines told supporters at a rally outside the courthouse. “And I promise to use this settlement to further the cause of keeping...

California is one step closer to banning disposable nicotine vapes — with environmentalists arguing the gadgets’ metals would be better off in electric vehicle batteries. State lawmakers passed Assembly Bill 762 Wednesday, sending the measure to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk for a signature or veto — with repeat violators facing civil fines of up to $2,000. The bill would permanently ban disposable, battery-embedded vapor inhalation devices containing tobacco products, prohibiting anyone from “importing or manufacturing” them for sale in California starting Jan. 1, 2027. It would also prevent the sale of those kinds of e-cigarettes starting on Jan. 1, 2028....

For more than a year, the National Park Service has been quietly working to fulfill an unprecedented directive from Trump officials: Parcel off a corner of Yosemite National Park to give to a private developer. National Park Service staff in California and Washington, D.C., are trying to arrange a land exchange between a Nevada-based company and the federal government, according to four people directly familiar with discussions, as well as agency documents reviewed by NOTUS. Since the spring of 2025, the Trump administration has been looking into ways it could cede a roughly quarter-mile strip of land inside Yosemite to...

The future of money is changing fast. 💳🌍 Around the world, countries are moving toward a cashless society, where digital money, online payments, and mobile wallets are replacing traditional paper cash. From Sweden and Norway to China and Nigeria, the shift to electronic payments is transforming economies and daily life. In this video, we explore: • Why cash is disappearing in many countries • How digital payments and mobile banking are taking over • The rise of a cashless world and what it means for the future of money If you’re curious about digital currency, cashless societies, online transactions, the...

We are demanding that YouTube remove a music video which shows a Satanic ritual abortion. The video was uploaded by the Satanic Temple.The ritual abortion was carried out on Friday March 13 inside a bathroom at an unknown Hobby Lobby arts and crafts store. Hobby Lobby may have been targeted because of its evangelical Protestant ethos. According to a text contained in the video the ritual murder of the baby was carried out to “empower the patient against those with theocratic religious convictions.” They claim that: “the ritual wards off the effects of unjust persecution, which can cause one to...

This league has been around for 19 years and is in search of players. 1 player will make an 8 team league, 3 players will make a 10 team league. If interested, you must have a yahoo account. It is a live online draft on 9/5 at 5 p.m. Send mail to me with your yahoo email address and I'll send you an invite.

A new Justice Department report reveals that FBI personnel opened investigations into two Catholic priests, conducted surveillance tied to the Richmond Catholic Memo, and continued revising the memo after headquarters ordered it deleted. The report reveals how an investigation into a violent extremist led to the surveillance of clergy affiliated with traditional Catholicism, though the FBI ultimately concluded the priests posed no national security threat. The report also sheds new light on internal disputes on the reliability of the Southern Poverty Law Center. “This Department of Justice will not tolerate a weaponized bureaucracy that chills First Amendment activity,” Attorney General...

U.S. — A popular dating app announced a new feature that would allow men to filter out women who support accused child murderer Lindsay Clancy. OkCupid developers announced the new addition to the app after men expressed a desire for a product that would allow them to be paired with women who don't empathize with a woman on trial for murdering her three young children. "It's a pretty simple concept, really," OkCupid spokesman Mark Sidwell explained. "There are a lot of men out there who would rather not waste their time with women who think the patriarchy is responsible...

For the roughly 15 million college undergraduates in the United States, the benefits of pursuing higher education include better employment prospects, greater social mobility, and even longer-lasting marriages. Research released last year, however, finds that at least one important life outcome — political ideology — is heavily dependent not merely on the decision to attend college, but also on the particular subjects students choose to study. The paper, authored by Israeli academics Yoav Goldstein and Matan Kolerman, used survey responses from nearly 500 American colleges and universities to isolate the political impact of students’ choice of college majors. Those who...

President Donald Trump assured the nation that the cost of groceries should drop just as soon as he renames a few more things "America." With affordability the top concern among likely voters, the administration has recommitted itself to naming even more things "America" in an effort to bring down prices. "Once everything is renamed 'America', the cost of groceries will fall like you won't believe," said Trump. "You're going to be so shocked, you'll go into the store and say, 'Wow. I didn't even know eggs could be so cheap. I didn't think it was possible.' People will be pinching...

Explanation: At the latitude of ESO's Paranal Observatory in Chile, about 25 degrees south, Earth's rotation moves the planet's surface eastward at over 1,500 kilometers per hour. And while that's faster than the speed of sound at sea level, the motion is imperceptible. Still, that motion can be revealed in the apparent rotation of the night sky by photographing star trails. This star trail image was composed from a digital stack of 300 consecutive 25-second exposures made with a camera fixed to a tripod to trace the star trail arcs. The graceful arcs are concentric and centered at the south...

A Honduran agitator arrested earlier this year at an anti-ICE protest in Southern California was busted by Homeland Security agents Friday on charges of illegally registering to vote — part of a crackdown on suspected election fraud in California. Darwin Jonathan Rivera Flores, 30, a Honduran national living in the San Fernando Valley, is accused of two felonies related to his false claims of US citizenship to complete voter registration forms, prosecutors say. Rivera Flores’ early-morning arrest outside a health-care center in Ventura is just the beginning of a war on suspected election fraud that has the full support of...

Pamela Guillen, 40, told CNN she was visiting Magic Mountain to celebrate her daughter’s 16th birthday and they decided to make X2 the final ride of the day before heading to dinner. During the ride’s 3,600-foot course, Guillen repeatedly struck her head against the headrest and, when the train returned to the station, needed assistance exiting her seat and began vomiting, according to ambulance records obtained by CNN. She lost consciousness and became unresponsive after sitting down on a bench. “Mommy, please wake up,” her daughter, Marquez, recalled saying to her mother. “I kept rubbing her thigh and kept shaking...

The National Rifle Association's Gun Bus prepares to depart NRA headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia, for a 13-state tour ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Photo: Courtesy of the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action / Used with Permission(The Center Square) – The National Rifle Association launched its first national bus tour Thursday as the group tries to get gun owners to vote in the 2026 midterm elections.The NRA Institute for Legislative Action plans to make 63 stops in 13 states before the tour ends on Election Day, Nov. 3.The group calls it the 2026 NRA’s Gun Bus Battleground Tour.The...

Both the Democratic Party establishment and the GOP have been flat-footed in their responses to the Democratic Socialists of America and their “Summer of Love.” The Democrats, led by invertebrate castratos like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, have mostly ducked when asked about the DSA’s plans to destroy the US Constitution, nationalize 90% of the economy and decapitate our mechanisms of law and order. They’ve taken cover behind the empty “Big Tent” lie as radical DSA members and allies, like Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed and Colorado’s Melat Kiros, triumph in Democratic primaries. The GOP, for...

Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, a Ugandan king who became the world’s youngest reigning monarch when he was crowned at the age of 3 in 1995, has died. He was 34. Rukidi IV, the ruler of the small Kingdom of Tooro in Uganda’s west, died around 10 p.m. local time Thursday, Tooro Prime Minister Calvin Armstrong Rwomiire Akiiki announced. “This is an immeasurable loss to the Royal Family, the people of Tooro and the nation of Uganda,” he said in a statement. “I call upon all the people of Tooro to remain united, calm and prayerful during this profoundly...