Free Republic

California's gas prices have reached crisis levels—and drivers across the Golden State are demanding answers. This video exposes the complex web of factors keeping California's fuel costs the highest in the nation. Discover how the state's strict refinery requirements, low-carbon fuel standards, and environmental regulations create a perfect storm for sky-high prices at the pump. Learn why California's unique fuel blend can only be produced by a handful of refineries, how the Cap-and-Trade program adds hidden costs to every gallon, and why even minor supply disruptions send prices skyrocketing. We'll explore the refinery shutdowns threatening California's fuel supply, the oligopoly...

Hoo boy. Sometimes, you might do something so embarrassing, so humiliating, that you want to hide in the closet. The prestigious science journal Nature may be thinking about doing that right about now, because on Wednesday, they officially retracted an influential 2024 climate report that predicted gloom and doom, death and misery, and impending economic catastrophe. As is the case with so much of the leftist climate narrative, their wild claims were quite simply unproven:In April 2024, the prestigious journal Nature released a study finding that climate change would cause far more economic damage by the end of the century...

European countries and major corporations are pressuring President Donald Trump to remain in the Paris climate agreement despite his promises on the campaign trail to withdraw the United States from the Obama-era deal that never gained congressional approval.The Trump administration so far is sticking with being undecided—at least until Trump returns to the United States from his first foreign trip, where on Friday, he’s meeting with Group of Seven ally countries, which support the agreement.Back home, the pressure is growing from multinational corporations, even the energy sector, which have opposed stricter limitations on carbon.Exxon Mobil Corp., once run by Trump’s...

An elderly American has been arrested after a gunman was caught on camera walking up to environmental protesters blocking a Panamanian highway Tuesday and blasting two of them to death. Disturbing footage showed a man with gray hair and glasses casually approaching the blockade on the Pan-American Highway and waving his finger while arguing with the demonstrators — before pulling out a gun and opening fire. Other footage showed people standing around bodies in the road in the Chame sector west of Panama City as well as the gunman being cuffed and led to a squad car. Police later shared...

Democratic Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett on Sunday declined to retract her claim that Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin received money from deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Crockett made the false suggestion on the House floor Nov. 18, but the contributions in question were from a different Jeffrey Epstein. On MS NOW’s (formerly MSNBC) “The Weekend,” host Jacqueline Alemany offered Crockett a chance to correct herself, but the congresswoman declined to retract her accusation. WATCH: VIDEO AT LINK................... Cartelville Text “You made a little bit of news last week when you mistakenly accused Lee Zeldin and other Republicans— ” Alemany...

An elderly New Yorker was tragically killed when Monday’s nor’easter blew a solar panel from a roof and sent it careening into the streets below. A forceful wind gust ripped the massive solar panel – more than 7-by-3 feet across — from an outdoor parking lot structure on Ocean Parkway near Brighton Beach Avenue, according to the NYPD and the city’s Department of Buildings. The panel was swept up by the wind and flew about 20 feet, then struck 76-year-old Lyudmila Braun, cops and buildings officials said.

Water, and its absence, has become Iran’s national obsession. In the mosques of northern Tehran the imams have been praying for rain, while the meteorologists count down the hours until the weather is forecast to break and rain is finally due to fall from the sky. Forecasts of “rain-producing clouds” are front-page news. More than 50 days have passed since the start of Iran’s rainy season and more than 20 provinces have not yet had a drop. The number of dams that have less than 5% of their reservoir capacity had increased from eight to 32, and the crisis has...

Amid a deepening ecological crisis and acute water shortage, Tehran can no longer remain the capital of Iran, the country’s president has said. The situation in Tehran is the result of “a perfect storm of climate change and corruption,” says Michael Rubin, a political analyst at the American Enterprise Institute. “We no longer have a choice,” said Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian during a speech on Thursday. Instead Iranian officials are considering moving the capital to the country’s southern coast. But experts say the proposal does not change the reality for the nearly 10 million people who live in Tehran and...

The progressive and Islamist movements, both global in scope, have far more in common than meets the eye. As New York City celebrates a socialist-Islamist mayor and we approach the tenth anniversary of the ISIS-inspired terrorist attack in San Bernardino, it is worth reflecting on the many commonalities that unite the Blue-Green (Democrat-Islamist) alliance. Many have remarked on the absurdities of these misfit ideologies as bedfellows. LGBTQ often professes love for Hamas irrespective of the latter’s nonnegotiable religious injunction to sentence gays to death. Feminists who rage against the so-called white western patriarchy offer unconditional support for an unyielding theocratic...

Today has been officially declared World Toilet Day by the United Nations (but you knew that already, didn’t you) with “climate change” blamed for making sanitation less available across the planet. The globalist organization has marked the scatological tribute event by throwing its full resources into an effort to promote toilets for all, “with the poorest, especially women and girls, worst affected.” It has also published a list of demands for the world to heed to make toilets more accessible while “climate change is reshaping our world – with glaciers melting, weather worsening, and sea levels rising.”

Lentil plant grown at Fuerteventura. Credit: Fayna Brenes =============================================================== Ancient lentils preserved in volcanic silos link modern Canarian crops to 2,000-year-old North African origins. Lentils cultivated in the Canary Islands today have roots that extend nearly 2,000 years into the past. This finding comes from the first-ever genetic study of archaeological lentils, conducted by researchers at Linköping University and the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in Spain. Because these lentils have been adapted for centuries to thrive in hot and arid environments, they may offer valuable genetic traits for future crop breeding in response to ongoing climate change....

No one uses “Malthusian” as a compliment. Since 1798, when the economist and cleric Thomas Malthus first published “An Essay on the Principles of Population,” the “Malthusian” position – the idea that humans are subject to natural limits – has been vilified and scorned. Today, the term is lobbed at anyone who dares question the optimism of infinite progress. Unfortunately, almost everything most people think they know about Malthus is wrong. The story goes like this: Once upon a time, an English country parson came up with the idea that population increases at a “geometrical” rate, while food production increases...

The president of the United States landed in Paris on Monday, his mouth full of grave and ominous reproaches for the heedless. Climate change, the central topic of the world summit he expects to lead, must be dealt with. Do we hear that? Must be dealt with! Or else. "I believe, in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., that there is such a thing as being too late," affirms the president. "And when it comes to climate change, that hour is almost upon us." But to be believed you have to be believable, a point that hardly ever...

COPENHAGEN, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Iceland has designated the potential collapse of a major Atlantic Ocean current system a national security concern and an existential threat, enabling its government to strategize for worst-case scenarios, the country's climate minister told Reuters. The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC, current brings warm water from the tropics northward toward the Arctic, and the flow of warm water helps keep Europe’s winters mild. But as warming temperatures speed the thaw of Arctic ice and cause meltwater from Greenland’s ice sheet to pour into the ocean, scientists warn the cold freshwater could disrupt the current’s...

Climate deniers use scientific aesthetics to reinforce and legitimize their message. At the same time, their main opponents, the climate activists, are portrayed as emotional and irrational. This has been demonstrated by researchers from the Universities of Gothenburg and Amsterdam, who have studied how climate deniers communicate online. "Disinformation is not just about incorrect facts, but about how these facts look and feel. In today's digital media landscape, messages are spread through images, memes and visual narratives that influence us in an instant, before we even have time to think. By understanding the aesthetic logic behind climate denial, we can...

Climate change is reducing the chances of runners breaking marathon records, new research claims. The study, external by US-based non-profit organisation Climate Central said rising temperatures "have made record-breaking runs in some races nearly impossible". It also predicted that optimal running conditions - which it defines as 4C for men and 10C for women - will be less likely in 86% of 221 global marathons by 2045. Former women's world record holder Catherine Ndereba said: "Climate change has altered the marathon. "Dehydration is a real risk, and simple miscalculations can end a race before it begins. Every step now carries...

Measurements were taken at 13 different locations in the Arctic Ocean. Credit: Lisa W. von Friesen ====================================================================== As Arctic sea ice melts, new life may emerge from the thaw. Researchers have discovered that bacteria beneath and along the melting ice are converting nitrogen gas into a form that fuels algae. The rapid loss of Arctic sea ice is widely seen as a catastrophe. Yet, in an unexpected twist, the melting ice may actually boost the foundation of Arctic marine ecosystems: algae. Algae serve as the essential food source for most ocean life, but their growth depends on nitrogen, a nutrient...

If only the peasants would just surrender! When I saw this headline in the opinion pages of the WSJ, I had high hopes that some scientist pointed out that politicians and bureaucrats can’t control the climate: We Can’t Stop Climate Change, So We Need to Prepare for ItSadly, I was wrong. The article was a pure piece of garbage, essentially claiming that despite the work of green pushers to scare everyone into capitulation to the radical green agenda, people just won’t cooperate. The writers complain that, “Around the world, people are giving priority to higher living standards, economics, and access...

Doctors have long known that heat puts a strain on the heart, kidneys and other organs. Those risks are exacerbated for pregnant people, as the body’s processes for staying cool are altered. It’s a problem that climate change, caused by the burning of fuels like gasoline and coal, is worsening. Intensifying extreme heat events, high temperatures well into the night and shattering weather records means more exposure for pregnant people, particularly in developing countries. Here’s what to know about the science of pregnancy and extreme heat: Pregnancy changes the body in myriad ways, which can make it more difficult and...

Put this in the ‘beyond ridiculous’ file that explains the current situation of a contracting European economy; specifically, in the auto sector.Europe has fines associated with the production of gasoline powered engines if the auto company doesn’t hit targets for sales of electric vehicles. The fines triggered this year. In order to avoid paying the European fines the auto makers are forming alliances with Chinese EV makers to purchase carbon credit offsets.In essence, EU car companies buy Chinese car company carbon credits, to avoid the EU fines. The Chinese car companies can then use the carbon credit revenue to subsidize...