Free Republic

The United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for sustainable development informs government policies to restrict farming and transform the food systems in different parts of the world, said Alex Newman, an award-winning international journalist who has covered this issue for over a decade. The 2030 Agenda is a plan of action devised by the United Nations (U.N.) to achieve 17 sustainable development goals (SDG). The goals and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development were adopted by all UN member states in 2015. Then-Secretary General of the U.N. Ban Ki-moon called the 2030 Agenda “the global declaration of interdependence,” (pdf) Newman said in...

Masks for thee, not for me. That might be the most enduring message from this Sunday's Emmy Awards in Los Angeles. Will "Ted Lasso" and "The Crown," this year's big winners, join the pantheon of unforgettable TV series? Perhaps, but unlikely. "The Handmaid's Tale," the television adaptation of Margaret Atwood's 1985 novel and feminist grievance culture's favorite parable about modern conservatism, set a record for most Emmy losses in a single season, according to Deadline. ("The Handmaid's Tale" not getting the appreciation it deserves feels almost like we're living in "The Handmaid's Tale.") Ratings were up over the lows for...

Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for a "global mechanism" that would use QR codes to open up international travel."We need to further harmonize policies and standards and establish 'fast tracks' to facilitate the orderly flow of people," he said. The codes will be used to help establish a traveller's health status. But Human Rights advocates warn that the codes could be used for "broader political monitoring and exclusion".

The U.K.’s Ministry of Defence is developing twin shotgun-toting drones that are able to fly inside buildings, as well as identify prospective targets using machine vision. The six-rotor drone so far exists in a prototype version called i9. It will primarily be used for indoors conflicts in which it could prove dangerous to send live personnel. These settings expose personnel to significant danger and unexpected lethal force. However, while the drone could potentially have various autonomous features, the weapons themselves will be remote-controlled by a soldier responsible for firing them. The MoD told Digital Trends that the U.K. has no...

Using chemical analysis of pottery fragments and animal bones found at one of England's earliest medieval villages, combined with detailed examination of a range of historical documents and accounts, the research has revealed the daily diet of peasants in the Middle Ages. The researchers were also able to look at butchery techniques, methods of food preparation and rubbish disposal at the settlement Dr. Julie Dunne and Professor Richard Evershed from the University of Bristol's Organic Geochemistry Unit, based within the School of Chemistry, led the research, published today in the Journal of Archaeological Science. "Much is known of the medieval...

The Yellow Vests are planning protests with specific sites given in Paris as the Champs-Elysees at 930am tomorrow (330 am Eastern US). Protesters are set to be at the Palace de l'Opera between 1030am and 1230pm. Another gathering for protest set at the Port Maillot-Gare Saint Lazare at 10am. Protests are set in other cities like Marseille, Bordeaux, Toulouse and Nantes. A protest is set for the Mont-Blanc tunnel and there are other locations listed. BFM-TV in France reports that fewer buses have been chartered to bring protesters to Paris tomorrow. 24 journalists in France have filed complaints against police...

White people are bad, and everything they do is intrinsically racist. Especially when you throw free-market capitalism into the mix. Nina Lakhani at the miserable, communist Guardian: ----------- Coca-Cola issued a rare apology and was forced to pull an online advert which was deemed offensive to Mexico's indigenous people by consumers, media and advocacy groups in the country. The ad shows fair-skinned, attractive, young people turning up at an indigenous town bearing gifts of sugary fizzy drinks and a Christmas tree for the overawed locals. The company said its ad, set in the Mixe town of Totontepec in the state...

(PHOTO-AT-LINK)Donald Trump went to Mobile, Ala., over the weekend, and thousands of people came to hear the Republican frontrunner speak. But the most important thing thing that came out of Trump's appearance was obviously the photo above, taken by Mark Wallheiser, who should immediately be awarded a Pulitzer prize for it. Let's break down this amazing photo person by person. The woman in the pink tank top, holding a baby The look on her face has already launched an Internet phenomenon. Witness this: Thank you, whoever made this pic.twitter.com/NmUCBKAgSD — Akin Unver (@AkinUnver) August 23, 2015 Amazing. Creepy. Creepily amazing....

This is where we find ourselves now. Every citizen in Europe and the UK faces the risk of an Islamic attack merely while going about normal day-to-day business. UK citizens in particular face this risk whilst being denied weapons of self defense. In the past I have fully and enthusiastically supported the UK’s complete ban on hand guns. But immediately after the killing of Lee Rigby I began to reconsider the wisdom of that ban and I now utterly oppose it. As things stand in the UK, hand guns are illegal. For those shotguns you could own, extremely strict licensing...

Dear GOP base, We will break the bank, vote for amnesty, and replace you tea partiers and Evangelicals with a new voter base. If you wish to stay around and be treated the same way Democrats treat African Americans, be our guest. Now go back to the fields and generate wealth so we can suck it up. Signed, GOPe (aka Progressive lite)

Lawmakers and staff can breathe easy — their health care tab is not going to soar next year. The Office of Personnel Management, under heavy pressure from Capitol Hill, will issue a ruling that says the government can continue to make a contribution to the health care premiums of members of Congress and their aides, according to several Hill sources. A White House official confirmed the deal and said the proposed regulations will be issued next week.

Obama: Planet Will ‘Boil Over' If Africans Are Allowed Cars and Air-Conditioning July 1, 2013 - 4:22 PM By Ryan Kierman (CNSNews.com) – President Barack Obama said at a town hall event in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Saturday that unless we find new way of producing energy "the planet will boil over" if people in Africa are allowed to attain air conditioning, automobiles and big houses. “Ultimately, if you think about all the youth that everybody has mentioned here in Africa, if everybody is raising living standards to the point where everybody has got a car and everybody has got...

A second staffer for Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) disparaged American workers during an interview with Ryan Lizza, a partial transcript of the interview the New Yorker reporter released Monday afternoon shows. Originally, it appeared as though only one anonymous Rubio “aide” disparaged American workers and only did so in the context of speaking about low-skilled jobs in the U.S. However, the Lizza interview transcript shows two aides referenced low-skilled and high-skilled American workers. Lizza asked the two staffers to respond to this statement: “Well their argument is, what, that they have American workers for these jobs, they don’t need this...

I recently read the new biography of Trotsky by Oxford don Robert Service, published in 2009 by Pan Books. It is well-written and surprisingly interesting. The book does a great public service in describing the life of the actual Trotsky, whose previous “biographies” were little more than hagiographies written by his toady worshippers (people like Isaac Deutscher). The last time that I had taken any interest in Trotsky was when I was a teenager and had fleeting delusions of believing in “socialism.” Reading the new book as an adult and as an economist, I found it a useful opportunity to...

<p>First lady Michelle Obama and daughters Malia and Sasha are visiting Las Vegas after stopping in South Dakota on a family trip.</p>

LA GRANGE, Texas (AP) — An attorney says a Texas jury has awarded the largest verdict he has ever heard of — $150 billion to the family of a man who died years after being set afire as an 8-year-old.

Traditional peasant societies believe in only a limited good. The more your neighbor earns, the less someone else gets. Profits are seen as a sort of theft. They must be either hidden or redistributed. Envy rather than admiration of success reigns. In contrast, Western civilization began with a very different ancient Greek idea of an autonomous citizen, not an indentured serf or subsistence peasant. The small, independent landowner -- if left to his own talents and if his success was protected by, and from, government -- would create new sources of wealth for everyone. The resulting greater bounty for the...

Representative Bob Etheridge (D-NC) was recently videotaped assaulting a student reporter on the sidewalk. The student’s offense: asking him a question about his stance on “the Obama agenda.” Etheridge has brushed aside charges that he has broken the law and insists that he was “within my Constitutional rights” in the incident. While Etheridge’s behavior would appear to fall within the legal definition of felony assault, the Representative claims he is Constitutionally exempt from any charges under Article I, Section 6 of the US Constitution. “The Constitution says that a member of Congress ‘shall not be questioned in any other place,’”...

Latinos...are more likely than other young people to drop out of school and live in poverty, according to a new Pew Hispanic Center study. The study, based on a survey of more than 1,200 Latinos ages 16 to 25, presents a portrait of the assimilation of a rapidly growing segment of the U.S. population, one that will have a significant effect on the nation's politics and economics in coming years. Young Latinos make up 18% of all young people in the nation and 42% in California. About one-third of young Latinos are immigrants, but two-thirds are born in the U.S....