Free Republic

ROME — Pope Francis lamented the West’s continued demographic decline, insisting on Friday that fewer children signals a lack of hope in the future. Countering “outdated” myths of dangerous overpopulation, the pontiff contended that far from being a problem, human beings are the solution to the world’s difficulties. Without naming names, the pope seemingly referred to characters like Stanford biologist Paul Ehrlich, who penned the 1968 doomsday bestseller The Population Bomb, which sparked hysteria over the future of the world and the earth’s ability to sustain human life.

Independent presidential candidate and former Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr. admitted this week that he supports “full-term” abortions. In a sit-down interview with former ESPN reporter Sage Steele, RFK said that while he doesn’t think women should abort their children in the eighth month of pregnancy or beyond, he wouldn’t prohibit them from doing so. “Even if it’s full-term,” he said, later adding, “I think we have to leave it to the women rather than the state.” RFK’s position is extreme, no matter how you slice it. The majority of Americans believe there should be some restrictions on abortions; only...

Cops prevented a raging mob of Harlem locals from attacking a maniac accused of slashing an 11-year-old girl in the head on a spree through Manhattan Friday afternoon — leaving the youngster now afraid to go outside, her distraught mom said. Shaquan Cummings, 30, allegedly preyed on the girl after flying through the 116th Street 6 subway platform around 2:15 p.m., moments after allegedly punching an unsuspecting 43-year-old woman around the street corner, according to sources. The fiend — who has a lengthy rap sheet — knifed the youngster in the back of the head and cut her ear as...

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces began a renewed ground assault on Ukraine’s northeast, killing and injuring several and forcing more than 1,700 civilians to evacuate from the Kharkiv region, local officials said Saturday. Artillery, mortar, and aerial bombardments hit more than 30 different towns and villages, leaving at least three people dead and five others injured, said Kharkiv governor, Oleh Syniehubov. Ukraine rushed reinforcements to the Kharkiv region on Friday to hold off a Russian attempt to breach local defenses, authorities said.

OAKLAND — A 47-year-old man was shot and killed while using a sledgehammer to break up concrete chunks and hurl them at cars and property, and now the suspect is behind bars facing a murder charges. The strange sequence of events started around 4 p.m. March 28, when Greer was seen using a sledgehammer to break up chunks of concrete outside the abandoned home, then began hurling them at the property and cars parked nearby, police said. At some point while Greer was doing this, Dorn allegedly exited the abandoned residence, got on a green bicycle, rode a short distance...

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) announced his proposed $288 billion state budget, which would cut thousands of vacant state jobs and funding to more than 200 state programs in order to close the state’s $27.6 billion deficit. Newsom revealed his budget proposal on Friday for the 2024-2025 fiscal year, which starts on July 1, citing the importance of accountability and responsibility, according to ABC7 News. This comes a month after state officials agreed to reduce California’s deficit by $17.3 billion after Newsom announced in January that the state’s deficit was $37.9 billion. The state deficit ended up being closer to $45...

Ford reported losing over $100,000 per electric vehicle sold in the first quarter of 2022, with its electric vehicle division posting a $1.3 billion loss. Electric vehicle sales volumes dropped 20% as Ford was forced to slash prices due to weak industry demand. “Americans don’t want EVs at levels Biden’s climate hysteria require,” businessman Andrew Puzder wrote on X. “Ford’s EV Q1 losses soared to $1.3 billion — a ridiculous $132,000 per EV sold. All Ford’s profits came from combustion engine vehicle sales. Collectivist policies destroy prosperity.” The company expects $5 billion in electric vehicle losses for the year, up...

American surfing legend Bethany Hamilton has called out officials in California after organizers of a competition in Huntington Beach were told a transgender surfer must be allowed to compete in the women’s division. Hamilton, 32, posted a message on social media Friday about the controversy surrounding the inaugural Huntington Beach Longboard Pro in California this weekend after reports revealed the event’s organizers were forced to reverse their stance on transgender athletes or risk having it canceled.

NEXSTAR) – It’s been almost 20 years since we’ve seen a geomagnetic storm as strong as the one heading our way this weekend. Power operators and other groups that maintain critical infrastructure are preparing for what might happen when the coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, hit Earth. But is there anything you should be doing? A G4-level solar storm, such as the one expected to hit as soon as Friday evening, can cause issues with the power grid, radio communications and the accuracy of GPS.

***** Tunes For Our Troops ~Canteen Music Dedication Presents~~ Happy Mother’s Day Music ~ *****~ Support The Artists You Hear Throughout The Canteen ! ~ ***** Warning: Not all music may be appropriate for children! Please click with caution. Thank you! Tunes For The Troops This music is provided for the entertainment of our Troops, Veterans, Allies & their families! Enjoy the variety of musical selections that the Canteen DJs provide throughout the thread. Please ping any DJ with your requests for the Troops! All music is removed on Monday.Thanks to all the DJs for their time & effort...

Florida voters could narrowly pass an amendment enshrining the right to abortion in the state constitution in November. A survey by the Florida Chamber of Commerce found that 61 percent of likely Florida voters say they support the abortion amendment, above the 60 percent support needed to pass the measure. However, the results are within the survey’s ±4 percent margin of error. The poll found that 29 percent of respondents oppose the amendment, and 10 percent are undecided.

A man is being held in the Metro Jail on a felony charge after he reportedly destroyed parts of a Catholic charity building. According to an affidavit from the Metro Nashville Police Department, officers responded to a call regarding an irate person “actively destroying items on the property” of a Catholic charity on Monday, April 22 on Lea Avenue. When they arrived, they saw Napoleon Meredith on the roof of the building. Upon accessing the roof of the building, officers said they witnessed Meredith destroying an air condition unit. Officers approached Meredith, telling him to come out from behind the...

A 16-year-old boy spray painted LGBTQ graffiti Wednesday outside of the Central Catholic High School chapel, Lafayette police said. The vandal struck in the early afternoon Wednesday, and school officials covered up the vandalism on the walls with plywood. The vandal returned about 6:10 p.m. Wednesday and spray painted new messages on the plywood covering the earlier graffiti. The graffiti read, "Queer Lives Matter" and "God loves trans kids too," police said. The vandalism included inverted crosses spray painted on the chapel's stained-glass windows, according to police reports.

A pair of men driving a spray-painted van trespassed onto one of Fresno’s Jewish temples and Catholic churches, papering their facilities with fliers, leading to their arrest.Fresno police are investigating a possible hate crime at Temple Beth Israel, a Jewish temple in north Fresno, after vandals papered the religious facility with fliers. Officers apprehended two men around 4:15 p.m. when they began to post fliers on the campus of St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church nearly a mile south of the Jewish temple. Driving the news: The suspects’ van, which was spray-painted to read “Repent or Perish” was seized at...

The president of a Detroit-area congregation hoped to play down the antisemitic incidentPolice are investigating after witnesses said a man who reportedly called himself a “Jew hater” drove to a Detroit-area synagogue, yelled antisemitic slurs at two people outside the building and threw a pair of work gloves at one of them. The incident in Oak Park, Michigan began at about 9 a.m. on Thursday, when police said in a statement that a white man “with thick dark hair and a long dark beard” driving a Chevrolet SUV pulled into the parking lot of Congregation Beth Shalom. At the time,...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Friday announced a $44.9 billion deficit in his revised proposal for the 2024-2025 state budget, while proposing a series of cuts to close the spending gap. The shortfall includes $27.6 billion detailed in his proposal, plus $17.3 billion in cuts that the State Legislature proactively instituted a few weeks ago. The governor proposed a $288.1 billion topline budget figure, down from Newsom’s initial January proposal for a $291.5 billion budget. Although the total $44.9 billion deficit is higher than the $37.9 figure projected in January, Newsom’s revision involves withdrawing $4.2 billion from the state’s...

If you’ve visited a grocery store in the last year, chances are high that you saw single-use plastic bags swapped for another reusable bag (also made with plastic, but we’ll get to that later). Or maybe your local grocery store hasn’t even made this trade-off, despite the law stating they must do so. On your walk home from that very store, you probably saw plastic bags still littered along the street. This is all part of the current problem with single-use plastic bans on bags, straws and takeout containers across the U.S. They are disjointed and, for the average person,...

White House Council of Economic Advisers Chair Lael Brainard dismissed the notion that Republicans would be able to easily reverse the sustainable energy provisions passed in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) even if they win majorities in the general election this fall. By building the energy transition into the tax code and incentivizing businesses and households to change their behaviors rather than compelling them to do so with more top-down spending initiatives, the Inflation Reduction Act is insulated from any quick-and-dirty policy corrections that may be desired by a new Congress or presidential administration, Brainard argued Friday.

President Joe Biden’s border chief says the White House’s border plan “is working.” But the plan is not intended to reduce migration into U.S. communities, homes, and jobs, according to May0rkas, who was impeached in February by the House of Representatives. Instead, the border plan is intended to divert the flood of economic migrants from the cartel-run “irregular migration” pipeline into many expanding government-run quasi-legal pipelines, Mayorkas told NPR Morning Edition‘s Steve Inskeep during a May 10 interview: Inskeep: Do you also have a policy goal to cause fewer people to arrive, fewer people to get in, fewer people to...

McDonald’s is working to introduce a value meal in U.S. stores to help offset an increasingly challenging environment for consumers, two people familiar with the matter told CNBC. The people said the $5 meal could include four items: a McChicken or McDouble, four-piece chicken nuggets, fries and a drink. The value meal was first reported by Bloomberg News. The potential new offering comes at a time when low-income consumers are beginning to pull back on spending, particularly at fast-food brands. Mentions of low-income consumers on company earnings calls are at their highest levels in nearly two years, according to data...