Free Republic

For years, world leaders have accused Russia of funding environmental groups in Europe to steer nations away from energy independence and strengthen Russia’s iron grip over the continent. As nations across the globe begin shunning Russian oil in response to the country’s invasion of Ukraine, U.S. leaders are also questioning how deep Russia’s ties go in the environmental community. "The Russians actually fund some of the most rabid environmental groups in Europe because they sic them on the energy projects that aren’t Russian," James Carafano, vice president of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign...

In an act of vandalism apparently carried out by pro-Hamas radicals in the Netherlands, the statue honouring Holocaust victim Anne Frank in Amsterdam was graffitied with the word “Gaza” in red paint on Tuesday afternoon. The defacing of the statue of Frank — a German-born Jewish girl who documented in her diary her life under Nazi occupation in the Netherlands before being killed in the Holocaust — was first alerted by the Dutch pro-Israel organisation Cidi, De Telegraaf reports. “More ‘anti-Zionism’,” the group wrote on X, “The statue of Anne Frank on Merwedeplein in Amsterdam, where the Jewish diarist lived...

A demonic dog inspired him to kill, but now he’s driven by a diary. Son of Sam serial killer David Berkowitz compared his decades behind bars to Anne Frank’s “inspirational” writings — days before the self-proclaimed “father figure” is set to face the parole board. “My favorite book is the Holy Bible. But the most inspirational book for me throughout my years of incarceration is ‘Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl,’” Berkowitz told The Post this week. “Young Anne wrote her diary while in captivity. She shared her heart within its pages,” the 70-year-old wrote from the maximum-security...

ROME — Pope Francis has signed an interfaith statement asserting that humanity faces a “global climate crisis” that demands phasing out fossil fuels. The Abu Dhabi Interfaith Statement for COP28 manifests the signers’ “shared concern for the escalating climate impacts that imperil our cherished planet, as well as our common commitment to jointly address this global crisis.”

Pope suggests blessings for same-sex unions possible in response to 5 conservative cardinalsPope Francis has suggested there might be ways to bless same-sex unionsVATICAN CITY -- VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has suggested there could be ways to bless same-sex unions, responding to five conservative cardinals who challenged him to affirm church teaching on homosexuality ahead of a big meeting where LGBTQ+ Catholics are on the agenda.The Vatican on Monday published a letter Francis wrote to the cardinals on July 11 after receiving a list of five questions, or “dubia,” from them a day earlier. In it, Francis suggests...

Republican presidential candidate Gov. Ron DeSantis rattled off a list of what he deemed to be broken 2016 campaign promises by former President Donald Trump, saying he’d rather attack the GOP front-runner on the issues than personality. "Substantively, we've been very frank about our differences with respect to the former president," the Florida governor said. "I mean, for example, he promised to drain the swamp – it got worse. He did not drain the swamp. "He promised to have Mexico pay for a border wall. They did like 50 miles of wall. There's massive expanses still there," he continued. "He...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Sunday pushed back against Gov. Chris Christie’s strategy of launching attacks at former President Donald Trump — and discussed plans to ratchet up his mainstream media exposure in the crowded 2024 GOP field. DeSantis, in an interview on Fox News’s “MediaBuzz,” was asked to respond to Christie’s claims that he is the only Republican presidential candidate to go toe-to-toe with Trump, 77, because the others are to afraid of offending the front-runner or his supporters. “I don’t do insults so that is true,” DeSantis said. “I think just getting in this insult game turns voters...

Pope Francis calls for an ‘end’ to ‘the era of fossil fuel’ in Prayer for Creation message‘It is absurd to permit the continued exploration and expansion of fossil fuel infrastructures,’ the Pope said.Pope Francis has called for world leaders to implement an “end” to the “era of fossil fuel,” in his message released for the ecumenical Season of Creation taking place later this year.“Let us heed our call to stand with the victims of environmental and climate injustice, and to put an end to the senseless war against creation,” Pope Francis said in his message for the World Day of...

Take what happened in the past two weeks: Charlie Javice, the founder of the financial aid startup Frank, was arrested, accused of falsifying customer data. A jury found Rishi Shah, a co-founder of the advertising software startup Outcome Health, guilty of defrauding customers and investors. And a judge ordered Elizabeth Holmes, the founder who defrauded investors at her blood testing startup Theranos, to begin an 11-year prison sentence April 27. *SNIP* When Javice was trying to sell her college financial planning startup, Frank, to JPMorgan Chase, she told an employee not to share exactly how many people used Frank’s service,...

Barney Frank, the former congressman from Massachusetts who helped design the landmark banking safety legislation after the 2008 economic crisis, defended his involvement with the now-defunct Signature Bank, which was taken over by New York state officials this week. “I worked as a member of Congress for a certain objective,” Frank said in an interview with the Financial Times. “And then having retired, not having a pension by my choice, not wanting to be a lobbyist for reasons personal, I need to make some money.”

Former Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), author of the 2010 Dodd-Frank bill, sat on the board for Signature Bank which collapsed in the wake of the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) implosion. The U.S. Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) announced in a joint statement on Sunday the plan to manage the fallout of SVB’s collapse as well as the demise of Signature Bank. “Today we are taking decisive actions to protect the U.S. economy by strengthening public confidence in our banking system,” the joint statement read. “This step will ensure that the U.S. banking system...

President Biden claimed Friday that his uncle Frank Biden won the Purple Heart for his actions during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II — but there’s no evidence of the award and key details of the story are chronologically impossible. The 80-year-old commander-in-chief has a habit of sharing false or embellished personal anecdotes to build a connection with his audiences and told his latest apparent tall tale during largely unscripted remarks. “My dad, when I got elected vice president [in 2008], he said, ‘Joey, Uncle Frank fought in the Battle of the Bulge.’ He was not feeling...

[Catholic Caucus] Pope Mocks Roman Liturgical Art and Humiliates Sicilian Priests Sicily is almost a nation in itself, and Sacred Art and liturgical beauty have always flourished in that island, in times of Christian freedom. Much of the liturgical beauty of vestments has been preserved in Sicily and elsewhere in Italy since the invention of the 1969 New Mass, and it is still used.So it was astonishing to hear Francis mocking both Sicilians and their vestments, as well as their grandparents in a meeting with Sicilian bishops and priests today:More lace, but where are we? Sixty years after the...

Pope Francis released a video message advocating more left-wing politics on Saturday, in the latest attempt by the Vatican to reassure the world that Catholicism is on the side of social justice. The pope praised deceased felon George Floyd as a “Good Samaritan,” and provided a moral endorsement of violent BLM rioters. “Do you know what comes to mind now when, together with popular movements, I think of the Good Samaritan?” the Pope declared. “Do you know what comes to mind? The protests over the death of George Floyd. It is clear that this type of reaction against social, racial...

We believe the national interest will be best served by President Biden reappointing Jerome Powell to chair the Federal Reserve System. The most important issue facing us today is the enactment of President Biden’s comprehensive program responding not just to the ravages of COVID-19 but to the underlying social and economic problems that have exacerbated its effects. Reappointing Mr. Powell will provide strong support for this essential step. We are not predicting a diminution of the Fed’s independence. Whatever one thinks of the rule that presidents should not tell the Fed what to do, it is clear that Mr. Powell...

Ali vs Frasier. Trump vs Biden. Lindell vs. Kimmel.That last great battle hasn’t happened yet, at least not in person. But it will. Next week, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell will go on the Jimmy Kimmel Live show on Wednesday to settle the differences they’ve had this week. It should be fun for the audience, who is lucky enough to all be receiving MyPillows to take home, as well as for those of us watching on television.This will be the first episode of the show that I’ve ever seen. I’m probably not alone among conservatives who consider the disgraceful social justice...

LIVE: Mike Lindell launches new platform, Frank sPEECH to fight tech censorship 4/19/21 RSBN is LIVE at Frank's unveiling to fight tech censorship with Mike Lindell and his team!

* Mike Lindell's platform Frank is set to go live on Monday but VIPs can get access from Thursday. * Lindell said he'd spent millions of dollars on the site's security, including its own servers. * He described the site as a cross between YouTube and Twitter - but some content will be off-limits. You can now sign up for VIP access to Frank, the social-media site being launched by MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell but if you choose to join, you'll still have to be careful about what you post. Although the site supports free speech, people won't be able...

Mike Lindell has announced the Apr. 20 launch of FrankSpeech.com, a new social media platform that he says will be able to handle a billion people. ... VIP pre-passes will be available soon, and a round-the-clock telethon stream will start at 9 am on Apr. 19 to usher in the official launch of the site on Tuesday, Apr. 20, called a “Frankathon.” This “Frankathon” will include information about the platform along with a premiere of Lindell’s new documentary ‘Absolute Interference’, which he promises will contain “the most mind-blowing evidence you’ve ever seen in history.” FrankSpeech currently links to LindellTV.com, whose...

My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell said that he has employed private investigators to probe into Fox News because the outlet, according to him, rejected the idea of reporting on election fraud allegations. He expressed suspicion about the channel’s unwillingness to take him on to talk about allegations of voter fraud software and hardware corporations in an interview with Steve Banon’s War Room. “I’ve hired private investigators and I’ve spent a lot of money on them to investigate everything,” Lindell said. “The bots and trolls, who’s behind them? Why is Facebook involved, Wikipedia involved? And then the big question: Why isn’t...