Free Republic

55% of Ivy League graduates believe that the U.S. “provides too much individual freedom” compared with just 16% of ordinary U.S. voters. Back in 2019, as I was developing what became the luxury beliefs framework, I read a recently issued chapter published by Cambridge University Press titled “Why Are Elites More Cosmopolitan than Masses?” Authored by a team of social scientists, this 2019 paper reports stunning gaps in political views and outlooks between elites and ordinary people in various western countries. In the introduction, they suggest that elite attitudes are expressions of cultural capital. That is, the large gap in...

Albert Speer’s famous defense at the Nuremberg trials oddly concluded with a warning about the potential destructive powers of science and technology. He strongly pointed out that such a technology could easily be used to dominate people – as was the often the case in the Third Reich, especially with regard to the spread of propaganda. Speer even spoke of intercontinental super rockets that could now rain down atomic fire upon cities without warning. He went on to say that “science will be able to spread pestilence among humans and animals,” and that “chemistry will be capable of inflicting unspeakable...

Faint interest in film glorifying activists bent on violence, destructionJames Cameron caught little heat for a shocking admission. He hearts eco-terrorism. It’s one thing for the “Avatar” director to be so green he makes his cast and crew eat vegan. That seems quaint compared to a quote that got ignored by most press outlets. Now, we have an entire film dedicated to eco-activists willing to employ violence to suit their needs. And it’s clear where the story’s empathy lies. “How to Blow Up a Pipeline” deserves some sort of Truth in Advertising award. The story follows a gang of eco-thugs...

The New York Times seems to get a kick out of pushing, hubris-riddled blather normalizing the ridiculous notion that governments can control Mother Nature to fight climate change. A Sept. 14 Times guest essay whined that switching to clean energy from fossil fuels wasn’t enough of a radical change to “stave off climate catastrophe.” The essay, which had three co-authors, was adamant that “we desperately need another solution.” Their so-called “solution” was nothing short of cuckoo, and the co-authors even admitted as much: “As crazy as it might sound, geoengineering the oceans by adding iron — in effect, fertilizing them...

Britons have never been given a proper say over our draconian, punishing climate laws. ‘I’ve knocked on hundreds, literally thousands of doors, and had tens of thousands of conversations with voters… and I just don’t have conversations about climate change.’ So said an anonymous MP, despairing at the British public’s lack of interest in climate change. He was quoted in a 2018 report by the environmental think-tank, the Green Alliance. The findings were stark. Ten years after the UK had passed the Climate Change Act, which commits the British government to stringent, legally binding decarbonisation targets, there was no sign...

m a recovered phobic. Not from any of the politically trendy, culture war-specific “phobias” intended to demonize libertarians, conservatives, and other reasonably sane people, but a real one. Acrophobia. It`s why I’m so short. If I’d grown to be much taller than I am (not), it would have been impossible for me to stand up without having a panic attack. At least any time before I was 17. I had an irrational, unjustifiable fear of harm from a real threat: the possibility of falling from any height above about five feet. But that fear was not at all justified by...

No quote from Bloomberg allowed, store here.

The elites would really like to get rid of us. Genocide is a potent word. It refers to the decimation of an entire group. It results in destruction on a massive scale. It defies the imagination even though we have often witnessed it in the 20th century. To most people, it is the concerted evisceration of a particular group, whether they be Jews annihilated by the Nazis, Uyghurs by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), or the Ukrainians by Stalin. Of the latter, the term Holodomor comes to mind. It was a man-made famine that affected the Soviet republic of Ukraine...

APR 26, 2023 GENERAL NEWS Spearheaded by the Springfield Township Environmental Advisory Commission, the Board of Commissioners have approved a pilot program for No Mow May for up to 25 residences in the Township. Mowing your lawn less helps to increase the abundance and diversity of wildlife, including bees and other pollinators. By participating in No Mow May, residents can let grass grow uncut for the entire month, allowing a habitat to form for early season pollinators. This is particularly important in urban and suburban areas where floral resources are often limited. In addition to benefiting pollinators, reducing mowing frequency...

When I was a child in the 1970s, we were constantly being scared by mainstream news sources about the upcoming ice age that was being predicted.It was absolutely terrifying.Fortunately, the predicted ice age never came.The global warming that we are experiencing today is far preferable to the upcoming ice age that was being predicted by every mainstream news source in the 1970s.I am so, so very glad that those predictions did not come true.Here are some examples of those predictions:New York Times, February 23, 1969: “Worrying About a New Ice Age”https://web.archive.org/web/20190925033108/https://www.nytimes.com/1969/02/23/archives/science-worrying-about-a-new-ice-age.htmlWashington Post, January 11, 1970: “Colder Winters Held Dawn of...

Brian Eno is one of the artists who’ll credit the Earth as a co-writer of his music, as part of a project designed to secure royalties for eco-activism. He co-founded the EarthPercent campaign, which will receive funds in perpetuity from work that names the planet as entitled to a share of income. The program is supported by a range of other artists including multiple Grammy winner Jacob Collier, and it’s hoped that $100 million will be diverted from the music industry toward environmental causes. Eno called it “a poetic construct” and “a beautiful idea” in a statement, while producer Fraser...

In response to your recent December news release statement concerning “Principles for Climate-Related Financial Risk Management for Large Financial Institutions” and request for public comments, I have the following comment to your board. The intended purpose of the Federal Reserve is formulating U.S. monetary policy through the control of currency and interest rates, as well as promoting financial stability through the regulating of financial institutions. If members of the Federal Reserve are so concerned about climate, environmental and energy policies, then I strongly suggest that those members resign from the Federal Reserve. These former members could then simply seek other...

In a case of odd bedfellows, environmental groups and Republican politicians are calling for a pause in offshore wind farm development following a string of whales washing up dead on New Jersey and New York beaches. Seven whales have turned up dead in little over a month. The latest victim, a 20- to 25-foot juvenile Humpback whale, turned up in Brigantine, New Jersey on Thursday afternoon, close to a Coast Guard station. “The wave of dead whales is the ocean sounding the alarm, and we must heed the warning,” said Cindy Zipf, executive director of Jersey-based Clean Ocean Action, after...

According to the Rachel Carson Institute, Enviva alone — which currently owns and operates seven plants in the southeastern United States — is responsible for clearcutting 50 acres of southern forestland every day, much of it a mix of hardwoods critical for wildlife habitat and absorbing the carbon dioxide rapidly warming the planet.

The term "pedestrian" has a derogatory meaning because peasants walked while nobles were "equestrians" and rode horses. The industrial revolution eliminated this class difference, as it did so many others, by making car ownership available to the masses until eventually Herbert Hoover was able to boast that "Republican prosperity has reduced and increased earning capacity” to "put the proverbial 'chicken in every pot' and a car in every backyard to boot." Democrats have spent two generations trying to get those cars out of every backyard. Biden is trying to bring back Obama's mileage standards that were estimated to raise car...

Over the weekend, a mass of angry Sri Lankan citizens swarmed the presidential palace over an absolute economic collapse in the country, forcing the nation’s prime minister to resign and leading to more civil unrest.There has been a lot of talk over the country’s struggles, but ultimately a lot of the blame comes down to western environmental activism taking hold of the country’s policies and encouraging Sri Lanka to switch how it grows its own food. This has led to smaller crop yields, a massive increase in importing food, and plenty of angry citizens.The problem in Sri Lanka comes from...

OROVADA, Nev. — Max Wilbert, standing on a hill overlooking a wide plain of brush and farmland, walks over to a black banner that’s grabbed a lot of media attention. In blood-red letters, the banner reads, “Lithium Lies.” Here in Nevada, activists like Wilbert are fighting against the largest lithium mine set for development in the United States. The mine is in the final stages of permits, and the lithium pulled from the ground here could fuel batteries for electric vehicles sold in the United States. But the grassroots movement against the project has been torn apart over an unrelated...

The eco-extremists at the liberal Guardian should realize by now that the internet is forever. The outlet freaked out over 17 years ago about a frosty future thanks to a ridiculously inaccurate Pentagon prediction. The Guardian published a report in 2004 sounding the alarm bells over a “secret report, suppressed by US defence chiefs” and obtained by sister newspaper The Observer. Here was the harrowing message, according to The Guardian: “[M]ajor European cities will be sunk beneath rising seas as Britain is plunged into a ‘Siberian’ climate by 2020.”

JAKARTA, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Indonesia's environment minister has dismissed as "inappropriate and unfair" a global plan to end deforestation by 2030, days after her country, home to a third of the world's rainforests, was among more than 100 that made the zero-deforestation pledge. The agreement late on Monday at the COP26 climate talks is at odds with Indonesia's development plans and the global goals should be fine-tuned, said minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar... ...Siti said definitions of deforestation differ widely, so imposing European standards onto Indonesia was unfair...

The verdict on climate change from the G20 summit is in — somewhat. After two days worth of talks in Rome, world leaders released a joint statement, agreeing "meaningful and effective" action is needed "by all countries" to prevent global temperatures from reaching more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, as previously set forth by the Paris Agreement. ... United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, meanwhile, tweeted he left Rome with his hopes "unfulfilled," though stated he welcomed the "recommitment to global solutions." UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said only 12 of the 20 G20 members committed to the 2050 pledge, adding the...