Free Republic

Efforts to build a bridge where the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, stood until Tuesday are estimated to cost anywhere from $400 million to several billion dollars, according to reports. Punchbowl News reports — citing sources from the Biden administration, Capitol Hill, and Annapolis — that the undertaking to replace the bridge, which collapsed after a cargo ship named Dali crashed into one of its pier foundations, will cost “several billion dollars.”

The recent bridge collapse in Baltimore is an absolute nightmare, and our thoughts are with the victims and their families during this incredibly tough time. Beyond the heart-wrenching loss and the basic “whys” everyone’s dealing with, there’s one crucial question not many are asking: Can America rebuild the bridge? Sure, it might seem odd to wonder about our capability to build a bridge in 2024, but sadly, it’s a valid concern these days. When you consider how our nation is faltering under inept globalist rule, dragged down by dangerous DEI agendas that place “charity” over excellence, and watching the decimation...

President Biden vowed Tuesday to rebuild Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge after it collapsed into the water when a cargo ship rammed into it, echoing what some Maryland officials said earlier but adding that he expects the federal government to foot the bill. “It’s my intention that the federal government will pay for the entire cost of reconstructing that bridge, and I expect the Congress to support my effort,” Biden said in remarks at the White House. “This is going to take some time, but the people of Baltimore can count on us though to stick with them at every...

Post-war reconstruction and recovery in Ukraine is projected to cost $486 billion over the next decade, up from $411 billion estimated a year ago, a UN-backed study published on Thursday has revealed.

Former U.S. Attorney General William Barr on May 5 showed up in Cleveland, Ohio, where he told reporters, “It is a horror show, you know. If you believe in his policies, what he’s advertising is his policies, he’s the last person who could actually execute them and achieve them.” The “horror show” he’s talking about has nothing to do with current White House occupant Joe Biden. The horror show is what Barr believes will happen if Donald Trump is reelected president. “He does not have the discipline. He does not have the ability for strategic thinking and linear thinking or...

Four-and-a-half years after the destruction of 15 homes in Elazar's Netiv Ha'avot neighborhood, this morning (Wednesday) the Civil Administration's Higher Planning Committee greenlighted 433 housing units in the neighborhood. In addition, over 1,000 units were approved throughout Gush Etzion, while the eastern Gush community of Pnei Kedem was officially registered within the Israel Land Registry (Tabu). Back in 2018, Israel's Suprme Court ordered the demolition of 15 Netiv Ha'avot homes, which was carried out in June of that year. The court ordered the entire houses destroyed despite the fact that only a tiny part of the buildings, about two percent,...

YouTubeThe post-war reconstruction of Ukraine will require a trillion dollars. This was stated by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The amount is unprecedented. As well as the destruction caused by Russia's aggression. Partner countries will be involved in the process of post-war reconstruction of Ukraine, which will be able to take Ukrainian cities and regions under their patronage. Almost two dozen countries have already expressed their desire to help. Among them - France, United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark. What should be the Marshall Plan for modern Ukraine - in the material of our colleagues.

Line painting and other finishing touches continued Tuesday at the new Fern Hollow Bridge in the city’s East End, with a dedication ceremony planned Wednesday and completion of bridge reconstruction work anticipated Thursday, officials said. A date for reopening the bridge to traffic has not been set, according to Pennsylvania Department of Transportation spokesman Steve Cowan, but it was anticipated it would be within a week. The busy, 500-foot Forbes Avenue bridge, which connected Squirrel Hill to Point Breeze and Park Place, collapsed onto a popular hiking trail about 100 feet below the road in Frick Park in January. Ten...

While $1 billion of the military aide would go to Ukraine, the rest will be divided among Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. It comes after Ukraine's top military chief warned Wednesday that there could be a 'limited' nuclear war between Russia and the West.

The post-COVID recovery will be change not restoration. We’ll be forced to rebuild where we are.Years ago, I moved from a somewhat larger small town (pop. 30,000) in upstate New York to a smaller small town (pop. 2,500) 15 miles east in order to establish a little homestead with gardens, fruit trees, and chickens. I found this three-acre property literally on the edge of town, a five-minute walk to the center of Main Street. If you’ve been following this column on urban design the past year, you know I’ve said we’re entering an era of stark economic contraction that will...

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley on Wednesday said there is “a real possibility” that al Qaeda or ISIS could reconstitute in Afghanistan as soon as early spring 2022. Milley said the terrorist threat from Afghanistan is currently less than it was on 9/11, but that “the conditions could be set for a reconstitution of al Qaeda and/or ISIS.” “It's a real possibility in the not too distant future, six, 12, 18, 24, 36 months, that kind of timeframe, for reconstitution of al Qaeda or ISIS,” he told lawmakers at a House Armed Services Committee hearing.

POTUS, Donald J. Trump will actively pursue the political victory of the once great state of New York. The Trump campaign organization will make serious effort & action to produce a political victory in New York State, which has has been destroyed by the Democrat Party!!! All New Yorkers would be wise to heed and respond positively, by giving Trump their votes, come November 3rd, 2020. If you good folks in NY & NYC want to prosper and be the number one state/city in the world, once again, then cast your votes for POTUS, Donald J. Trump!!! If not and...

Helen Hudson will tell you what the 15th Ward was like when she was a girl. In the 1950s and early ’60s, the Syracuse neighborhood was home to thousands of predominantly black residents who had settled in the growing upstate New York city during and after the Great Migration. Those who remember it, like Hudson, describe it as thriving, self-sufficient community they were proud to call home. “Oh my god, the things we had,” she said recently, her voice softening with the distinct twang of nostalgia. “We had two bowling alleys. We had meat markets.” Charlie Pierce-El will tell you...

A western central Texas community jumped in to help an area veterans group raise funds to restore a war memorial that mysteriously sustained thousands of dollars of damage in the past week. Breitbart Texas reported that four of 12 commemorative granite tablets, part of a larger memorial, were found in pieces on Sunday by Harold Stieber, president of the Central Texas Veterans Memorial Committee. He estimated the replacement tablets could cost more than $40,000. The Central Texas Veterans Memorial recognizes all U.S. war veterans in a dozen stone structures and 14 plaques but specifically pays homage to the 259 locals who...

Scientists have been using quantum theory for almost a century now, but embarrassingly they still don’t know what it means. An informal poll taken at a 2011 conference on Quantum Physics and the Nature of Reality showed that there’s still no consensus on what quantum theory says about reality—the participants remained deeply divided about how the theory should be interpreted. Some physicists just shrug and say we have to live with the fact that quantum mechanics is weird. So particles can be in two places at once, or communicate instantaneously over vast distances? Get over it. After all, the theory...

Former President Obama will re-emerge on the national scene this fall, though Democrats expect him to do so with caution. One aide describes the beginning of a "delicate dance" that aims to put Obama in the Democratic fray, but prevent him from remaining the face of the party. Aides will huddle with Obama in the coming weeks to plot out what shape the former president's fall schedule will take. Advisers close to him say that while he will play an active role in helping his party rebuild, much of his work will be behind the scenes. He is likely to...

KOBANI, Syria — I recently stayed overnight in Serekaniye and awoke to unusual sounds at about 5 a.m. I looked out and saw a group of Asayish (local Kurdish police), both men and women, engaged in physical training in an empty lot. Serekaniye had been the scene of clashes in 2012-13 between the Kurds and groups supported by Turkey. Now, the Asayish there look like a disciplined army.  Not quite 200 miles away in Kobani, there is other evidence that the Kurds have serious aspirations for Rojava, officially the Democratic Federal System of Northern Syria. Though rubble remains in most parts, the city is both rebuilding and launching new construction. There is...

A hacker attack on the Bundestag (German parliament) earlier in 2015 means that an entirely new network will have to be built after experts failed to fix the breach. The Federal Office of Information Technology Security (BSI) decided that it could no longer defend against the attack and had to give up, broadcasters NDR and WDR and the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported on Thursday. Der Spiegel reported on Wednesday evening that data was still flowing out of the parliament to unknown recipients, and that rebuilding the network using completely new hardware would take months and cost millions. …

We are looking for advice regarding Yamaha 2-stroke engine for their (older) line of personal watercraft- say 2002 - 2007; pre-four-stroke motors. We want to buy two used ones (the full watercraft, not just the motors), and don't know how to gauge the hours of use on the Hobb's meter. How many hours is too many? What if the cost of a rebuild? How do you know it needs a rebuild? IF this was about chainsaw motors, I could answer my own questions. Looking for FReepers with experience with Yamaha PWC.

FAS | Nuke | Guide | Iraq | CW |||| Index | Search | Join FAS Chemical Weapons Programs Iraq started research into the production of chemical weapons agents in the 1970s and started batch production of agents in the early 1980s. At that stage, production was heavily reliant on the import of precursor chemicals from foreign suppliers. In 1982, early in the Iran-Iraq War, the Iraqis used riot control agents to repel Iranian attacks. They progressed to the use of CW agents in mid-1983 with mustard, and in March 1984 with tabun (the first use ever of a nerve...