Free Republic

The left-wing media in the US are railing against the questions about Joe Biden’s mental capacity and have instead found a bizarre way to prove he’s up to the job says Sky News host Chris Kenny. “I keep telling you, it might be depressing, but this US presidential contest is never going to be boring,” Mr Kenny said. He said CNN has launched a bizarre attempt to prove the presumptive Democratic nominee is up to the job, namely "because he can ride a bike". ...

President Trump pulled an inside straight to win in 2016, and now he needs another one. The good news for Trump is that his approval rating has stopped falling recently. The bad news is that it has stabilized in the low 40s. Election-watcher Harry Enten points out that no president since Harry Truman has won with anything like Trump’s negative net approval rating. Truman won at –6, while incumbents who lost (Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and George H. W. Bush) averaged out at about –13, roughly where Trump’s number is. The presidents who won reelection averaged an approval rating of...

Since the start of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic, Democrats have wanted the National Park Service to shut down parks or slowly open facilities across the nation. Despite his party's push to limit how Americans spend their time, particularly outdoors, Congressman TJ Cox (D-CA) pulled strings to get into Yosemite National Park on the 4th of July. Cox, whose district falls close to Yosemite, had his staff request two parking passes for a personal visit to the park. At the time, people could request one of 340 tickets available. Tickets were given on a lottery basis. Because Cox was wanting to...

No one is more important to the history of environmental conservation than John Muir — the “wilderness prophet,” “patron saint of the American wilderness” and “father of the national parks” who founded the nation’s oldest conservation organization, the Sierra Club. But on Wednesday, citing the current racial reckoning, the group announced it will end its blind reverence to a figure who was also racist. As Confederate statues fall across the country, Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune said in an early morning post on the group’s website, “it’s time to take down some of our own monuments, starting with some...

The number of black bears has QUADRUPLED at Yosemite since the park closed due to coronavirus as the beasts migrate there while visitors stay away 'The National Park Service (NPS) is working with the federal, state, and local authorities to closely monitor the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) situation.' Ranger Katie, a biologist who's worked with black bears for over a decade, said in a Facebook live stream video that the animals are now having a 'party' since humans have been barred from visiting. There can be literally walls of cars, stop-and-go traffic or people in the park,' she said. 'So, for...

Being cooped up at home is no fun for humans, but bears are making the most of the extra space at California's shuttered Yosemite National Park. "The bears are just literally walking down the road to get to where they need to go," Ranger Katie Patrick said during a Facebook Live event on Sunday. She is a wildlife biologist who has worked with black bears in Yosemite since 2007. "For the most part, I think they're having a party," she said in response to questions about what the animals have been doing since Yosemite closed on March 20. Normally this...

Danielle Burnett, of Lake Havasu City, Arizona, was scaling the steepest part of the trail Thursday when she fell more than 500 feet (150 meters) down the steep, rocky terrain. Gediman says Burnett was dead when Park Rangers arrived on the scene. Rangers installed cables to help hikers get to the top of the 8,800-foot rock face. The cables are installed each summer to assist the climbs of thousands of hikers who make the popular 14-mile round trip.

Yosemite National Park’s great Ahwahnee Hotel has its name back. The Ahwahnee was renamed the Majestic Yosemite Hotel after the park’s former concessionaire filed a lawsuit against the National Park Service in September 2015, claiming ownership of some of the park’s trade names and trademarks. The Ahwahnee Hotel was named The Majestic Yosemite Hotel. The Wawona Hotel became Big Trees Lodge. Curry Village became Half Dome Village. And Badger Pass Ski Area was renamed Yosemite Ski & Snowboard Area. As part of a $12 million settlement paid to the park’s former concessionaire, names that had been changed during the lawsuit...

Against a backdrop of jumbled boulders and spindly trees, former Joshua Tree National Park Supt. Curt Sauer joined dozens of people at a rally in this high desert enclave on Saturday to express their anger over the economic and physical damage caused by the partial government shutdown to the park and the surrounding community. President Trump signed a short-term spending bill on Friday that will reopen the government until Feb. 15. But the 35-day shutdown has already taken a heavy toll on the economy of this dusty refuge for nature lovers, rock climbers and artists at the main gateway to...

The couple – who were both born in India and living in the U.S. – died of “multiple injuries to the head, neck, chest and abdomen, sustained by a fall from a mountain,” Dr. Sung-Ook Baik, a forensic pathologist in the Stanislaus County Coroner’s Office, wrote in a Jan. 4 report, reports said. Viswanath’s brother, Jishnu Viswanath, told the Associated Press the couple were setting up a tripod-mounted camera near the ledge of Taft Point on Oct. 23. An inquiry into how the couple fell is ongoing. “Any deaths that happen inside the park, the National Park Service rangers do...

A visitor at Yosemite National Park reportedly fell to his death on Christmas Day, and the incident went unreported until now due to the ongoing government shutdown, a National Park Service spokesman said. “The incident remains under investigation, which is taking longer than usual because of the shutdown,” Andrew Muñoz, a public affairs officer for the National Park Service, told Outside Magazine Thursday. “A news release wasn’t issued because of the shutdown. We aren’t releasing more details.” NPS representatives did not respond to HuffPost’s requests for comment. (The NPS has said media lines would also be impacted by the shutdown.)...

Parts of California’s Yosemite National Park were forced to close after visitors began using the side of the road as a toilet. Bathrooms in the park haven’t been open since the partial shutdown of the federal government began on Dec. 22. Hetch Hetchy and Mariposa Grove were among the areas that closed “due to lack of restrooms and resulting impacts from human waste,” the park announced Sunday.

A spokesman for Yosemite said they are simply trying to meet the demands of visitorsNearly 23,000 people have signed a petition expressing "deep dissatisfaction" with the decision to open a Starbucks at Yosemite National Park. The Starbucks, which is slated to open this spring, would not be a freestanding store but rather part of a food court attached to Yosemite Lodge. Online protesters say they are concerned that the arrival of Starbucks at one of America's oldest and most venerable national parks would open the door to other big chains. A spokesman for Yosemite said they are simply trying to...

A husband and wife who fell to their deaths from a popular lookout at Yosemite National Park in the United States were taking a selfie, the man's brother says.

Taking a selfie against a dangerous background or in a frightening position is thrilling and it shows a bravery and courage in getting that next-to-impossible photo, that is until the photographer slips and falls off a mountain or tumbles down a cliff or is killed by a wild animal. >> Read more trending news The number of people willing to risk their life to get that perfect shot is an “emerging problem,” according to a new study on how many people have died in selfie-related accidents over the past few years. Researchers discovered that 259 people worldwide have lost their...

A teenager visiting Yosemite National Park from Jerusalem plunged to his death this week while reportedly trying to take a selfie at the park’s popular Nevada Fall. ... Multiple fatalities have been reported in the park this year. In May, a man died on Half Dome after he slipped and fell during a thunderstorm on the last 400 feet of the climb, where hikers grasp cables to scale the summit. According to the park service, most accidents there occur during wet conditions.

The Ferguson Fire in Yosemite National Park has jumped Hwy 41 in the Park. The fire is now headed toward Badger Pass Ski area, which is a fire base camp. There is only one road in and out of that area. The fire crews are now trapped and have to shelter in place. PLEASE pray for the safety of the fire crews at that location. They are in immediate danger. We have already lost two firefighters with this fire.

I’ll trade you a piece of Yosemite Valley and all of the Napa wine country for Disneyland and the Santa Monica Pier. For the first time since before the Civil War, California voters will decide this November whether to spilt the Golden State into three entities, dubbed California, Northern California and Southern California. An initiative to divide the state, pushed by Silicon Valley venture capital investor Tim Draper, received enough signatures to qualify it for the November ballot. Supporters say splitting the state would lead to improvements in infrastructure and education while lowering taxes.

Park officials said the climbers had been attempting to climb the Freeblast Route, according to a post on the Mariposa Gazette’s Facebook page. Authorities withheld the identities of the climbers pending notification of next of kin. The investigation was ongoing. Saturday’s incident came nearly two weeks after a hiker fell to his death while ascending the Half Dome trail during thunderstorm activity, officials said.

… during a thunderstorm. Rangers were notified and arrived on the scene to provide assistance to the second hiker. The hiker who fell did not survive and rangers recovered his body Tuesday. ... first fatality on the Half Dome cables since 2010, and the first time a visitor has died at the park this year.