Free Republic

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) issued a proclamation on Saturday declaring April as Arab American Heritage Month. Newsom’s statement comes as anti-Israel protests and encampments have sprouted up on university and college campuses across the United States, calling for a ceasefire in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, for the U.S. government to stop arming Israel, and for colleges to divest from Israeli companies. Hamas, a U.S.-designated Islamic terror group attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, leaving 1,200 Israelis dead and more than 200 people taken as hostages.

Last month was the planet’s warmest February on record and the ninth-straight month of record-breaking temperatures, according to data released Thursday. February was more than 1.7 degrees Celsius warmer than an average February in pre-industrial times, reported Copernicus, the European Union’s climate monitoring service. The average global surface air temperature during the month was 13.54 degrees Celsius — or about 56 degrees Fahrenheit — and beats the previous warmest February, which was recorded in 2016. The month was also part of a record-warm twelve-month period, according to the service, which reported that “the global-average temperature for the past twelve months...

The Biden-Harris campaign is launching a series of radio, print and digital ads targeting Black voters in battleground states. The ads, according to the reelection campaign, will highlight promises President Biden kept to Black Americans over the last four years. Two radio ads — “Reflect,” which runs for 30 seconds, and “Remarkable,” which is a minute long — will run Feb. 14-26 in Atlanta, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Detroit, Phoenix, Raleigh, N.C., and Charlotte, N.C.

BRUSSELS — The world just experienced its hottest January on record, continuing a run of exceptional heat fueled by climate change, the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said on Thursday. Last month surpassed the previous warmest January, which occurred in 2020, in C3S’s records going back to 1950. The exceptional month came after 2023 ranked as the planet’s hottest year in global records going back to 1850, as human-caused climate change and the El Nino weather phenomenon, which warms the surface waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean, pushed temperatures higher. Every month since June has been the world’s...

Retail giant Target recently confirmed it was removing one of its Black History Month products from store shelves after finding out that that product misidentified three civil rights leaders. After historically savvy users pointed out that Target’s Black History Month magnet book mixed up the three civil rights icons, W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington and Carter G. Woodson, the store confirmed the blunder. Target noted it was removing the items from shelves and letting the product’s producers know about the mistake. A TikTok video shared by user Issa Tete on Tuesday pointed out the flaw in the holiday-themed item....

The city of Austin, Texas, helped provide a guaranteed income of $1,000 a month to 135 households for a one-year period. According to a new report prepared by the Urban Institute, most of the money went toward housing. According to the report, nearly 60% of the money used in the UpTogether program was spent on housing, while 20% went to basic needs, 10% went to other bills, and the remainder was put into investments or given to help others.

U.S. oil prices reached $90 a barrel Thursday for the first time in nearly a year, with the spike coming shortly after Saudi Arabia announced extended production cuts. West Texas Intermediate crude prices hit $90.25 Thursday, surpassing $90 for the first time since last November. The report comes just more than a week after Saudi Arabia announced that the supply cuts of 1 million barrels will be extended through the remainder of 2023, with the state-run Saudi Press Agency saying the cuts would be reviewed monthly with the possibility of increases or decreases. Another oil price measure, international benchmark Brent...

Ukraine likely only has around 30 days left in order to make significant gains in its counteroffensive, the highest-ranking military officer in the United States Armed Forces has warned. Speaking to Britain’s public broadcaster, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley predicted that the looming winter would not only freeze the ground but also the current lines in the war between Russia and Ukraine, and therefore would mean that if Zelensky’s government wishes to recapture occupied territory from Moscow, his forces would need to do so in the next four weeks.

After a month of scorching heat across the globe, scientists have officially labeled July as the hottest month on record in world history. Copernicus Climate Change Service, a division of the European Union’s space program, announced Tuesday that July’s global average temperature was about 62.51 degrees Fahrenheit. This broke the previous monthly record of about 61.93 degrees Fahrenheit — set in July 2019. “Record-breaking temperatures are part of the trend of drastic increases in global temperatures. Anthropogenic emissions are ultimately the main driver of these rising temperatures,” Copernicus Climate Change Service Director Carlo Buontempo said in a statement. “July’s record...

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has called for replacing Juneteenth with Election Day as a national holiday, deriding the celebration of the end of slavery in the US as “useless.” “Single day voting, on Election Day,” the 37-year-old entrepreneur and longshot 2024 White House contender proposed in a speech before Iowa voters on Saturday. “We will make Election Day a holiday in the United States of America, so there’s no complaints about it.” < However, Ramaswamy told the crowd that in order to make room for another federal holiday, one of the current 11 would need to be removed from...

July is set to be the hottest month on record. That’s according to data released Thursday that was collected by Copernicus, the Earth observation component of the European Union’s space program, and supported by the World Meteorological Organization, the United Nation’s agency for weather, climate and water. The first three weeks of July have been the hottest three-week period on record, according to a joint statement published by the Copernicus Climate Change Service and the World Meteorological Organization. This month’s record-breaking heat surpasses July 2019, the previous hottest month, and comes on the heels of June setting the record for...

What the Biden administration formally declared as “pride month” has come to an end, leaving behind weeks of controversies as U.S. government agencies, members of the Biden administration, and companies pushed the envelope and the LGBTQQIAAP2S+ agenda on Americans.

Ukraine is suffering a tremendous loss of 10,000 drones each month, largely due to Russia’s electronic warfare — a “critical” component of Moscow’s military tactics, a recent report said. Russia’s use of tech defense systems has contributed to the staggering loss of Ukrainian aerial drones — approximately 10,000 each month, according to the latest Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) report. Russia deployed a high density of electronic warfare equipment in Donbas in 2022. They have since increased their supply. Russia now has a system every six miles along the war’s 750-mile-long frontline.

LOS ANGELES (CNS) -- Los Angeles County residents can begin applying for a guaranteed income program on March 31, the county announced Friday. The "Breathe: LA County's Guaranteed Income Program" will give 1,000 qualified residents $1,000 a month for three years. After meeting the qualifications, recipients will be selected at random.

New Yorker Shakeya Hudson, 33, is one of 100 moms who are receiving the cash as part of the Bridge Project scheme. The scheme provides support to moms and their babies and aims to reduce child poverty across New York City.

Sept. 16 (UPI) — Consumer spending in the United States rose during August, which was the fourth straight month spending increased, government figures showed Wednesday. The Commerce Department said in a report that retail and food services sales were up 0.6% last month, to $537.5 billion. The August total was 5.1% higher than it was last year, and the increase from July was 2.4% higher year-to-year, the department said. Month-to-month growth in August was slower than it was In July (0.9%), signaling a slight downturn in spending.

http://media.aish.com/images/AvNuevoFormato500x291-SP.jpg The same covenant that promises suffering, promises redemption. By every measure the Jewish month of Av is tragically unique, one in which the worst disasters in our history took place. Disaster is no stranger to us. In many ways it is part and parcel of God's covenant with Abraham. When Abraham was told that his people would be chosen, God told him that there would be a price to pay. What is that price? One look at Jewish history tells us two pieces of information that make us unique. One is that we don't disappear because we recognize that...

Walking around Manhattan during the month of June, Rainbow Pride flags are on display everywhere. In the windows of large chain stores and banks, as well as small eateries and bars. Williams Sonoma had a display of dishes in their window that represented the Rainbow Pride flag colors. Zara clothing store was selling men's tank tops that look like they were specially designed to replicate the exact shades of each of the Rainbow Pride flag colors. They all hung from a rack in the designated order of colors, approximating the flag. Last night, Madison Square Garden was lit up in...

(SACRAMENTO, CA, 7/29/16) – On Monday, August 1, the California chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR-CA) will join Assembly member Bill Quirk (D-Hayward) in the presentation of House Resolution 59, which recognizes the month of August 2016 as “Muslim Appreciation and Awareness Month.”~~SNIP~~“I am proud to celebrate the first ever Muslim Appreciation and Awareness Month by honoring generations of Muslim Americans for their many social, cultural, and economic contributions to California,” Assembly member Quirk stated. “The rhetoric surrounding this election makes the presentation of this resolution more important for me,” he said. “It is appropriate to acknowledge...