Free Republic

...I did want to write something because I keep seeing the same headline everywhere: the religious left is back. Ezra Klein’s take on the return of the religious left is going viral. Christian Paz at Vox called Talarico’s and Hamilton’s wins the rise of a Christian left. The AP says the midterms showed the strength of the religious left... Zach W. Lambert posted a good reminder of this on Substack this week: Talarico and Hamilton are not pioneering Christian faith in progressive politics. The Black church has been leading the way for generations. Raphael Warnock. John Lewis. Adam Clayton Powell...

As Americans spend more of their time online, the neighborhood—once a primary physical location for real-world socialization—is playing less of a central role than ever before.... Whether because of social media distractions, travel sports commitments, or the rising use of freelance service providers ... Americans rely far less on close neighbors and venture out less often into their communities. As Marc Dunkelman contends in The Vanishing Neighbor: The Transformation of American Community, less routine interaction with neighbors and others in the “middle ring” of social connections allows us far fewer opportunities to practice constructive debate.[i]... It’s not only a class...

They Don't Stand A Chance 😭

The F-35 Joint Program Office is struggling to keep track of billions of dollars worth of spare parts for the fifth-generation fighter, government auditors said in a new report—and it still can’t find $85 million in parts that have been lost for years. The Pentagon does not maintain complete records tracking its worldwide pool of roughly 26 million spare F-35 parts that are collectively worth about $31 billion, the Government Accountability Office said in a report released Nov. 9. What records it has are often inaccurate, incomplete, and don’t reflect real-time changes, the congressional watchdog added. The report also said...

A runner at Sunday’s Santa Barbara Half Marathon struggled toward the finish line while experiencing a deep fog — then suddenly woke up in a medical tent. Nineteen competitors were hospitalized after the event, prompting a police investigation into what caused their “unusual symptoms.” One mom, who requested anonymity, told the California Post her daughter was well prepared for the race and runs regularly but got sick near the finish line. “You can see on her Garmin [watch], [she] went from a really decent pace to a crawl,” she said. “She has no memory of the finish line. She said...

Over 7,000 years ago, Neolithic farmers crossed the Mediterranean from Iberia into North Africa. Carrying Cardial Ware pottery, domesticated crops and livestock, these European migrants established communities in Morocco and mixed with indigenous Maghrebi hunter-gatherers. Archaeology and ancient DNA shows how farming spread through migration, cultural adoption and later movements from the Levant. Including the remarkable spread of the R1b-V88 paternal lineage from Mesolithic Europe and Neolithic Iberia into the Green Sahara, and ultimately to populations living around Lake Chad today. How DNA Reveals Neolithic Europeans Colonized Africa 7,000 Years Ago | 22:05 Dan Davis History | 392K subscribers |...

President Donald Trump went to bat for Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Monday, despite the latter’s affair with an alleged Chinese spy. When asked about the allegations during a White House press briefing, Trump said that he will not bring up the case with President Xi Jinping when the two meet next week. He added, “I just know Jensen very well. I think he is a very honorable man. He built a great company. American company. I think he’s a very honorable guy. I feel very confident that he will be in good shape.” Trump was later asked to put a...

Bone fragments attributed to Saint Nicolas were stolen from a church in France, then allegedly burned and crushed. Priests at Saint Nicolas de Port, one of France's few sanctuaries to hold a relic of the saint, reported the theft of a reliquary containing a fragment of the saint's body on November 2. Police later arrested the suspect, who reportedly admitted acting spontaneously out of a 'desire to destroy' the relic because he viewed devotion to the bones as a form of idol worship. Saint Nicolas, the inspiration behind Santa Claus, lived between 270 and 343 AD and is famous for...

Scholars have developed ways of thinking about the differences in how learners engage with a subject. The ICAP framework categorizes student learning as interactive, constructive, active, or passive. Research indicates the strongest learning—in terms of both content recall and conceptual understanding—comes from the interactive and constructive types, in which learners must generate their own ideas and make complex and multilevel connections. For example, a project for which a student is required to do research—finding and reading sources then determining an argument based on them—is both interactive (with the sources) and constructive (developing and communicating an argument).1Studies examining how students employ...

A rather unusual stray is looking for a new home in Southern California after being found wandering the streets. The Inland Valley Humane Society & S.P.C.A. in Pomona is hoping to find a loving home for a large, black pig that was rescued by humane officers after being spotted roaming a neighborhood. “Not every rescue involves paws and wagging tails,” the organization wrote in an Instagram post Sunday. “Sometimes, it involves hooves and a curly tail!” Photos shared by the shelter show the hefty pig strolling along a sidewalk and grazing in a grassy area as officers responded to the...

Jewels Jones ®@JewelsJonesLive·3hPete Hegseth handed America's war colleges 33 DIRECTIVES this morning. By Wednesday the House has to take a floor vote on impeaching him.He announced them to the students of the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. On the war colleges' own mission statements: "The word 'win' is entirely absent. The word 'defeat' does not appear."So the 80-page thesis is out. Competitive war games and exams are in. New civilian faculty get three-year contracts, not lifetime tenure. Colonels fresh off an operational command get a Warfighter Chair at every senior college. The war games and the chairs are...

46% chance This market will resolve to "Yes" if, by November 6, 2028, 11:59 PM ET, the states and the District of Columbia that have enacted the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact into law collectively hold a majority of the electoral votes. Otherwise, this market will resolve to "No".

... Looking at the political facts on the ground looks hopeless and exhausting. If you are feeling despondent at witnessing blow after blow to pro-life candidates and causes, it might be good to remember that politics isn’t everything. Don’t get me wrong — politics is extremely important. Catholics need to be deeply involved in politics, fighting for the justice. But Catholics can’t make the fundamental error those Emmaus disciples made. They hoped Jesus would come and solve this world’s problems here and now. Instead, they got the cross. Christ didn’t become the political ruler of Israel. Instead, he invited his...

2 minute video at the linkWall Street Apes@WallStreetApes·16hAmerican converted to Islam and then realized the real plan was to bring down America from within“When I converted to Islam, I was treated really well by the Muslims. And this is the honest truth. They showed me nothing but love and respect up until like a month in. And that was the first time I heard people talking about Islam is going to enter every household in America. And there's a plan, a 100 year plan.So I started doing my own research. It got me to a book published in 1991 by...

ransomnote: For Free Repubilc's language rules, I've replaced a word with '[redacted]'.InfantryDort@infantrydort·52mNah man. I’m not gonna let this go unchecked. As a GWOT veteran I can’t.I listened to Massie drone through his articles of impeachment against Pete Hegseth and I recognized the sickness immediately.We fought under this ridiculous worldview during GWOT, and it cost us dearly.Massie is merely an acolyte of the bloodless bureaucratic religion that puts the lawyer in the center of the kill chain, treats every American use of force like a moral emergency, and somehow always finds more sympathy for the enemy being hunted than for the...

JoeLange@JoeLange·4hDo not FEAR certification.Certification is not the end of the story.Certification does not prevent overturning and does not guarantee the “new” Congress will ever be seated.The states begin the process of certification on Nov 10, with the last state certifying on Dec 18.Just a coincidence that Trump’s EO requires the DNI to report on foreign election interference by Dec 18?No coincidences.Trump purposely required the DNI report 45 days after the election to coincide with the final certification.That’s SIGNAL that the election certification isn’t the end of the story.Trump has planned for this moment and set the table in his first...

Explanation: Does the blue nebula look like the head of a witch? The nebula is known popularly as the Witch Head Nebula because, it is said, the nebula's shape resembles a Halloween-style caricature of a witch's head. Exactly how, though, can be a topic of imaginative speculation. What is clear is that IC 2118 is about 50 light-years across and made of gas and dust that points to -- because it has been partly eroded by -- the nearby star Rigel. One of the brighter stars in the constellation Orion, Rigel lies just below the center of the featured image....

NOBUNAGA🇯🇵🏯@japan_nobunaga·3hIt looks like a scene that no Hollywood director would dare put in a movie because audiences would never believe it was real.Yet the official U.S. Navy photograph taken on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln on July 6, 1991 proves every word of it.At fifteen thousand feet over the Indian Ocean, Navy Lieutenant Mark Baden was flying a Grumman KA-6D Intruder, with bombardier-navigator Lieutenant Keith Gallagher sitting beside him in the right seat.Without warning, a mechanical failure triggered the ejection seat under Gallagher while the glass cockpit canopy was still locked shut.The seat rocket blasted...

The caravans are back. If you get in, you get amnesty. That's the message they received [Video at URL) ...

MouseBlocker PROx 12V – Under-Hood Ultrasonic Mouse & Rat Repeller for Cars, Trucks, RVs, Campers & EVsProtect your vehicle’s wiring harness, hoses and insulation from costly rodent damage. Experience the varying and enhanced power of adjustable ultrasonic sounds, now 200 times more potent than the original model. These powerful sounds create an uncomfortable environment for rodents, discouraging them from nesting in your vehicle. Additionally, the MouseBlocker Pro incorporates two bright strobing LED lights, providing an extra deterrent that rodents despise.Crafted with a robust all-aluminum alloy case, the MouseBlocker Pro not only safeguards our advanced microcomputer but also effectively dissipates heat....