Free Republic

“Fat Beach Day” events are appearing across the United States, aiming to create spaces for the plus-size community to gather — including one Saturday in Far Rockaway. “We’re going through something culturally that is impacting us every day on an individual level and a systemic level,” Jordan Underwood, the event organizer told the Guardian. “We’re really trying to open up a space for people to be themselves.” “I’m so self-conscious at the beach, and I’m never around people that look like me,” Emma Zack, who started Berriez in 2018, told the outlet. “I’m excited we’ve created this space for folks...

A relatively small web forum I am a member of is shutting down soon. There are a lot of posts on it I and other members would like to archive to HD for reference. Saving individual pages is VERY time consuming, and we only have until the end of the month. Do any of our FReeper computer guru's have any experience with this?

South Africans will go to the polls on Wednesday, May 29, in what may be the last chance to save their country from the ruin wrought by the so-called party of liberation, the African National Congress (ANC). The ANC led the struggle against apartheid, and swept into office, with Nelson Mandela, in the country’s first fully democratic election in 1994. Since then, but especially since Mandela left office in 1999, the ANC has been running South Africa into the ground. Crime is soaring. Corruption is rampant. The country’s infrastructure is collapsing. Electricity is often unavailable, thanks to “load-shedding,” which are...

An Iranian nuclear scientist who returned home last week from the United States provided valuable information about the CIA, a semiofficial news agency reported Wednesday, adding that his spy's tale would be made into a TV movie

OXFORD, England (AP) — Humanity has only two years left “to save the world” by making dramatic changes in the way it spews heat-trapping emissions and it has even less time to act to get the finances behind such a massive shift, the head of the United Nations climate agency said. With governments of the world facing a 2025 deadline for new and stronger plans to curb carbon pollution, nearly half of the world's populations voting in elections this year, and crucial global finance meetings later this month in Washington, United Nations executive climate secretary Simon Stiell said Wednesday he...

FENTANYL KILLS. That’s what the billboard says. That’s all the billboard says—FENTANYL in a cold, light blue, KILLS in stark white against an all-black background. Below is a woman on a gurney, treated with the same dead-blue tones as the script above her. She’s covered to her armpits in a sheet, arms at her sides, awaiting an autopsy. Anyone who has seen a cop drama in the past 30 years knows the image. When an opioid user overdoses, their lips turn a cold, light blue. That was the color of my lips when I lay slumped in a pile outside...

Now that the Supreme Court has unanimously destroyed the dreams of Davos to use January 6th as a means to keep him off the ballot, Donald Trump has passed the easiest of the hurdles in front of his returning to the White House. Some things, politically, in the US still function. This ruling was a lay-up. The SCOTUS had to rule decisively here. Trump was never convicted of ‘insurrection.’ He was impeached and character-assassinated, sure, but none of that carries any weight of law. But, even if you somehow believe he was guilty of the crimes the Democrats accused him...

Ronald Reagan’s values, vision and vibrant personal optimism inspired a rebirth of American pride, growth and exceptionalism in the 1980s, after nearly two decades of social and cultural upheaval. "Reagan was deeply concerned about America in the late 70s," Virginia-based historian and author Craig Shirley told Fox News Digital. "America had gone through 17 long, horrible years beginning with the assassination of JFK." The quagmire of Vietnam, the author added, the failed presidency of Lyndon Johnson, the resignation of Richard Nixon, the Iran hostage crisis and the infamous social and economic "malaise" of the Jimmy Carter administration all created the...

The House on Thursday passed legislation aimed at preventing biological males from competing as transgender athletes in girls’ and women’s sports at schools across the country, after a debate in which several Democrats accused Republicans of "bullying" transgender students by calling up the bill. The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act passed in a 219-203 vote Thursday morning – all the "yes" votes came from Republicans, and all the "no" votes came from Democrats. Republicans defended the bill as an attempt to spare women and girls from having to compete against transgender women and girls – biological males...

OCEAN CITY – While a long-term decision on a proposed rule change to reduce offshore speed limits for recreational and commercial vessels to further protect endangered North Atlantic right whales hangs in the balance, a national environmental advocacy group this week filed an emergency rulemaking petition urging the federal government to institute the change immediately. In an effort to save endangered North American right whales, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has proposed a 10-knot speed restriction for recreational and commercial vessels 35 feet in length or greater, down from the current 65 feet. The proposed rule change would...

The Biden administration is launching a $6 billion effort to save nuclear power plants at risk of closing, citing the need to continue nuclear energy as a carbon-free source of power that helps to combat climate change. A certification and bidding process opened Tuesday for a civil nuclear credit program that is intended to bail out financially distressed owners or operators of nuclear power reactors, the US Department of Energy told The Associated Press exclusively, shortly before the official announcement. It’s the largest federal investment in saving financially distressed nuclear reactors.

President Joe Biden continues struggling with messaging to Americans about what his administration is doing to make things better for the difficult 2021 holiday season. The White House released a video on Tuesday evening of Biden trying to reassure Americans things were going to be fine, despite looming reports of shortages, and stubbornly high costs for ordinary goods.

All in-park overnight lodging will be closed for incoming arrivals beginning on Monday, December 7, 2020 and will remain closed until further notice. All overnight camping within Yosemite National Park will be prohibited beginning on Monday, December 7, 2020 until further notice. This includes all park campgrounds, wilderness camping, and overnight use along climbing routes. Overnight backpacking trips into Yosemite’s wilderness will also be prohibited. All visitors planning trips to Yosemite are asked to be our partner in recreating responsibly. Yosemite National Park conducts hundreds of search and rescue missions each year, many of which could be avoided with visitors...

With the trajectory of the U.S. economy uncertain, Americans saved a record portion of their monthly income in April. The savings rate for that month hit an all-time high of 33.5 percent, according to USA Today, citing Commerce Department data. In the months after, that rate fell, but the June rate of 19.5 percent remained nearly triple the normal rate. The average monthly rate of savings was 7.5 percent of income before the pandemic began. “We’ve never had this much savings,” Tom Porcelli, chief economist of RBC Capital Markets, told the newspaper. “It’s uncharted territory.” An analysis by Moody’s Analytics...

VIRGINIA BEACH Collin Dozier is rarely up late. But a fun night with friends riding their motorized skateboards at the Oceanfront had him headed home a little past midnight. As he drove over the Lesner Bridge on April 25, just a few hundred yards from his house, he noticed a parked car on the opposite side of Shore Drive. Its blinkers were on. Probably just broken down, he thought. But when he parked at his house, something told him to go investigate. So he hopped on his skateboard and road back up to the top of the bridge. There he...

One evening Slava, Russian man, was getting back home thru the cold city streets. Suddenly he spotted a little ball of wool on the sidewalk. It wasn’t moving and it wasn’t clear what it was at all. Slava still decided to stop and check if it’s a live being or not.“Something was telling me that this can be a little animal that needs help”, says Slava. When he approached it he discovered this was a frozen kitten. At first it got afraid of the man, but it wasn’t capable of running away.“I covered it in a blanket and took with myself”,...

A tiny tortie kitten was left in a cardboard box on the steps of a shelter in New Jersey. She was in need of foster care, so the Union County animal hospital took her in until they could find her a forever home.She was named after Storm from X-Men because of her eyes. TracyTracy and Derek found little Storm on the animal hospital's Facebook page. "We instantly fell in love. We knew she would need special care because she appeared to be blind," Tracy told Love Meow. "We didn't care. We had to make her part of our family."...

Mischa the cat spent all her life with her previous owner until things started to change when she was nine years old. As the household grew and she continued to age, they had less time to be with her and she started having some urinary tract issues. Chatons Orphelins Montréal"Her former owner contacted a local veterinary clinic to make an appointment, but it wasn't for treatment for the cat. It was for euthanasia," Chatons Orphelins Montréal, a rescue group in Montréal, Canada, shared with Love Meow. The clinic didn't want to put down a cat whose illness was treatable....

A kind-hearted man spent seven hours digging through piles of wood to save a litter of tiny kittens in the dumpster.Courtesy: CliffA month ago, Cliff heard meowing coming from a pile of wood in the dumpster. He spotted a little helpless kitten hanging onto scraps of wood, letting out a few faint cries. Soon he discovered that there were more than one kitten. "They got dumped in the dumpster, then there was wood dumped on top," Cliff told Love Meow. He spent hours digging through piles of wood and steels to save the abandoned kittens. They were so young...

Millennials may have only a little saved for retirement, but they still want to retire early. A recent Bankrate.com survey asked millennials, classified as Americans ages 18 to 37, what the perfect time to retire would be. Their answer: 61 years old. “Early retirement is something that seems very appealing,” Bankrate.com analyst Amanda Dixon tells CNBC Make It. If only wishing made it so. Of those millennials already saving, the median retirement account balance is about $19,100. But overall, roughly two-thirds of millennials have nothing saved so far, according to a February report by the National Institute on Retirement Security....