Free Republic

Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said the party was “not dead” despite the party’s loss of the White House and Senate majority in last fall’s elections. “We’re not dead as a party. We’re still alive and kicking, and we’re going to fight for our values, and we’re going to fight for American values at this time, when people are seeing what Donald Trump and the Republicans are doing at this time,” Martin said during a Monday appearance on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show.” Martin won the race to become the next DNC chair on Saturday in a highly-contested race....

A California law that went into effect January 1, 2025, requires licensed gun dealers to warn customers about the alleged dangers of gun ownership. USA Today reported the law, AB 1596, “requires firearm dealers to provide consumers with a pamphlet covering the reasons for and risks of firearm ownership.” Among the warnings, dealers are to make customers aware of the claim that gun ownership “[increases] risk of death to someone in the household by suicide, homicide, or unintentional injury.” Another law that went into effect in California on January 1, 2025, strengthens a pre-existing law against buying more than one...

Happy New Year!

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HAPPY NEW YEAR 2025!!! A Happy and quiet New Year here in the woods. Best to you and yours.

In recent days, the Biden administration has released two decisions on the future of mining in the Powder River Basin. The basin, which includes portions of Wyoming and Montana, produces 43 percent of the nation’s coal. The administration said it would not allow new leasing to take place in the area, citing climate change impacts. Ongoing mining operations, which are expected to last through 2041, would not be affected.

1:51 During an interview with Pittsburgh ABC affiliate WTAE on Wednesday, 2024 Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) stated that the Green New Deal shouldn’t be scrapped and “the issue is, is making sure we have an all-of-the-above policy. And Pennsylvania has a proud history of producing energy.” WTAE co-host Shannon Perrine asked, “The Green New Deal does call for fossil fuels to be replaced at a certain deadline. We produce a lot of natural gas in Western Pennsylvania and all over the state. Does that mean that the Green New Deal should be scrapped?” Walz answered,...

“Jupiterian” French President Emmanuel Macron has written to the French people, reflecting on the failure of the recent snap election to produce a new government, but conveniently forgetting to mention his role in that outcome. There will be no new Prime Minister or government appointed for some time, President Macron said in a nationally published letter to the people in which he talked up his role as “protector of the higher interests of the Nation”. Macron congratulated the French people on having rejected the “extreme right” at the ballot box, despite the actual opposite of that having happened. The “extreme...

After being unchurched for a number of years, I felt that it was very much time that I once again become part of a body of fellow believers in Christ Jesus. I knew The Lord desired this of me, and I felt His urging in my spirit for a long time. I decided to act upon it, and even though the Saturday before I began to encounter feelings of apprehension and fear, I decided and thought to myself, “That I should not fear, for who is it that shall stand against God, and what He wants for me? That I...

Massachusetts AIr National Guardsman Jack Teixeira, accused of classified document leak. CREDIT: Simon Ateba, TwitterThe big story Thursday was the arrest of 21-year-old Jack Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard who allegedly leaked more than 100 pages of classified documents that exposed extremely sensitive information from the Pentagon regarding Ukraine, Russia, China, Israel, and documents produced by the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency.That story changed markedly through the day, though, and the sparse information we have about Teixeira raised major questions about how he could have possibly had access to such a wide-ranging tranche...

Summary. The Israel of God is no longer fleshly, natural Israel, but rather all believers in Jesus―along with a remnant of Godly believers of old. Jesus fulfilled all of the promises to Old Covenant Israel (Luke 1:67-79; 2 Corinthians 1:20). “Not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel” (Romans 9:5-8). The church extends beyond natural Israel to include Gentiles (Luke 2:32; Acts 9:15; 11:1, 18; Romans 11:11-32; Galatians 3:6-9, 25-29). This is not “replacement theology, but rather “inclusion theology.” Here is a sampling of passages about this: Galatians 6:14-16. In the context of the rest of Galatians, Paul...

Most Americans say they feel they pay too much in taxes, and many believe they receive little value in return, a new poll found. About two-thirds of taxpayers said they believe their federal income taxes, state sales taxes and local property taxes are too high, according to the poll conducted by the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The poll found that about one-third of taxpayers say the value they receive from paying taxes is poor, with less than than 25 percent of respondents saying they receive good value...

ACLJ Chief Counsel and lifelong musician Jay Sekulow has assembled this award-winning, all-star lineup, led by two of the most powerful voices in rock ’n’ roll – John Schlitt of the iconic Christian rock group Petra and legendary singer/songwriter John Elefante of Kansas. The Jay Sekulow Band is ringing in the New Year with a stellar night of classic rock anthems and original tunes.

Happy New Year to everyone!

A troubling new COVID subvariant is on the rise just in time for the holidays, officials have warned. The JN.1 subvariant – when stems of the omicron variant that surged in early 2022 – is “rapidly increasing globally,” the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Tuesday. JN.1 is now causing about 20 percent of new coronavirus infections in the US, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated. The variant evolved from BA.2.86, a descendent of the omicron variant that made headlines over the summer when scientists worried that it might mutate beyond the capacity of vaccines and antibodies, CNN...

(NEXSTAR) — As millions of Americans are preparing to gather for the holidays, health officials are warning of a new COVID-19 variant sweeping the country. The World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday it was classifying the COVID variant JN.1 as a variant of interest. Here are 5 things you should know about the new variant of interest.

Health authorities say they're closely tracking the spread of three new COVID-19 variants now spreading around the country. Levels of COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths for now remain far below previous peaks seen during past summer and winter waves of the virus, but have been climbing steadily for several weeks. Public health officials have said that they're well-equipped for the latest seasonal uptick in the virus, with COVID-19 tests and forthcoming vaccines expected to work for the variants on the rise around the country. But the appearance of a new "highly mutated" variant has raised questions among virus trackers about what...

A new study from Heritage Foundation – reviewed by The Epoch Times – found that 71% of the illegal aliens coming in in one month went to Republican congressional districts. As a result, Texas is no longer majority white. Texas is now majority Hispanic. Not all of the illegal aliens stay in Texas. They also travel to the country’s interior and every state, except perhaps Hawaii. The study was conducted using geofencing of thousands of illegal aliens. The researchers also found that NGOs, left-wing groups, and religious organizations are being paid to transport these people, and they overwhelmingly transport them...

The most expensive home for sale in Atlantic Beach, Long Island, has just listed for $11.5 million. Indeed, this marks the biggest number seen for the chiefly laid-back area, though probably not for long. As Wall Street is set to return to a full five-day work week, the Hamptons is starting to seem pretty far away. This part of the island, with a lowly population of about 1,800, comes with all the perks of the Hamptons — right on the water, for starters — and it’s just a breezy hour away from the city and away from the crowds. Rarely...

Among both his friends and his enemies, there is a tendency to think of Donald Trump as sui generis: a political figure, and certainly a president, unlike any other. In some respects, including his incessant mendacity and his tendency to publicly insult everyone who doesn’t bow down to him, he may truly be without equal in U.S. history and more comparable to foreign political strongmen from Juan Perón to Viktor Orban. But at the New York Times, Ross Barkan suggests that as Trump pursues a comeback after his 2020 defeat (which, of course, he will not acknowledge), he may actually...