Free Republic

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions is slated to hold a hearing Thursday morning regarding a standard 32-hour work week. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Wednesday introduced a bill to establish a standard four-day workweek in the United States without any reduction in pay. The bill, over a four-year period, would lower the threshold required for overtime pay from 40 hours to 32 hours. It would require overtime pay at a rate of 1.5 times a worker’s regular salary for work days longer than 8 hours, and it would require overtime pay at double a worker’s regular...

More than three years into the pandemic, hundreds of Americans are still dying from COVID-19 every week. For the week ending Dec. 9, the last week of complete data, there were 1,614 deaths from COVID, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The last four weeks of complete data show an average of 1,488 weekly deaths. By comparison, there were 163 weekly deaths from the flu for the week ending Dec. 9, according to CDC data.

Faculty at a Massachusetts high school have canceled "USA Day" from its spirit week activities this year because they wanted to "avoid politics," local outlets reported this week. In a letter to the school community, Wellesley High School principal Jamie Chisum explained that school staff canceled the patriotic-themed day to avoid a topic that had become "politicized." "USA Day" was slated to be held on the last day of the high school’s festive week, allowing kids to dress up in their patriotic gear and celebrate America. The theme was replaced by "Fitness Friday," though students were still invited to wear...

I never thought the day would come when I, a die-hard Reagan Republican, would credit a Democratic president for being Reaganesque. Amazingly, it has. Don’t look now, but Joe Biden has been leading with moral authority in the struggle against violent authoritarianism and illiberalism at home and abroad. While Donald Trump criticized the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, Biden met with Bibi and declared America’s support for Israel to be “rock solid and unwavering.” And while Republican support for providing U.S. aid to Ukraine has eroded, Biden has steadfastly supported them in their plight against a brutal Russian invasion.

President Biden was spotted soaking up the sun Saturday during a beach outing that came after a tough four-day workweek. The commander-in-chief caught some rays at the beach near his vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Biden, 80, sported blue swim trunks adorned with sea turtles and a white polo shirt as he sunk his toes in the sand alongside First Lady Jill Biden.

Warning lights continue to flash bright red for California’s cannabis industry as companies struggle to pay their bills, legal cannabis sales continue to drop and pot tax revenue falls for the seventh straight quarter. The latest tax figures released by the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, or CDTFA, showed that cannabis excise taxes fell a whopping 18.8% in the first quarter of 2023. That’s the seventh quarter in a row in which excise tax collections have fallen for the industry. The falling tax revenue is the latest domino to fall in what appears to be a long-brewing economic...

It’s Climate Week in New York City — happening alongside the UN General Assembly — and it comes on the heels of a record-smashing hot summer in the northern hemisphere and ahead of what could be a dangerously under-heated winter in Europe. It’s a moment when China has seen its most severe heatwave on record, the war in Ukraine reinforced Western Europe’s over-dependence on natural gas and flooding in Pakistan was labeled a “climate catastrophe” requiring “massive support.” And all of this just months after the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) raised an alarm bell on the inadequacy...

NewsNation) — There’s some good news when it comes to the price of gas, but it may take a while for drivers to see it. Gasoline futures hit an all-time high on June 8 and have fallen steadily ever since — the price of crude oil has dropped 10 percent since last Monday. Yet while companies are now paying 28 cents per gallon less, the nationwide average has increased by a penny since actual prices began to fall.

During Monday’s broadcast of FNC’s “Fox & Friends,” former House Speaker Newt Gingrich weighed in on Democrats reportedly questioning if President Joe Biden should run again in 2024. With former President Donald Trump’s decision about running in 2024 still looming, Gingrich said that “every week that goes by, Donald Trump’s presidency looks better.” He pointed to the record-high inflation, the border crisis and gas prices, saying people preferred Trump’s policies.

More than 22,000 people in the United States have died from the Chinese coronavirus during President Joe Biden’s second week in office. An estimated 22,032 people in the U.S. have died due to complications from the coronavirus during Biden’s second week in the White House, according to statistics provided by Johns Hopkins University.

New weekly jobless claims fell by 89,000 to 803,000 in the week that ended December 19, the Department of Labor said Wednesday. The prior week’s initial claims number was revised up to 892,000 from the initial estimate of 885,000.

The United States saw its deadliest week since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic — with a 44 percent rise in fatalities compared to the week prior, according to new data. A total of 15,966 Americans died from the coronavirus in the seven-day period between Dec. 3 and Dec. 9, according to data compiled by the COVID Tracking Project, which has been releasing a weekly analysis since March 12.

RUSH: Devin Nunes had a good point. Devin Nunes was on Fox last night. He was on with Hannity. Hannity played him a sound bite of me from yesterday’s program. This is what I said a few times on the program yesterday. RUSH ARCHIVE: I really think that the model for what’s gonna happen this week is the Kavanaugh hearings. It was a never-ending parade for about a week and a half. As every person they brought forth to try to destroy Kavanaugh failed, there was another one waiting in the wings. And I will guarantee you that it is...

Red Semidouble Veni, sancte Spiritus, reple tuorum corda fidelium, et tui amoris in eis ignem accende. Come, O Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of thy faithful, and enkindle within them the fire of thy love. WE HAVE BEEN CONTEMPLATING, with grateful hearts, the inexpressible devotedness, the divine untiredness, wherewith the Holy Ghost fulfills his mission in the souls of men; we have something still to add to our considerations, in order to have anything like a true idea of the wonders wrought by the Divine Guest when the heart raises no obstacles. And first of all, we deem it...

Red Semidouble Veni, sancte Spiritus, reple tuorum corda fidelium, et tui amoris in eis ignem accende. Come, O Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of thy faithful, and enkindle within them the fire of thy love. SO FAR, we have considered the action of the Holy Ghost in the Church; we must now study its workings in the soul of the Christian. Here, also, we shall find fresh motives for admiration and gratitude towards this Divine Paraclete, who so graciously condescends to minister to us in all our necessities, and lead us to the glorious end for which we were...

Red Semidouble Veni, sancte Spiritus, reple tuorum corda fidelium, et tui amoris in eis ignem accende. Come, O Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of thy faithful, and enkindle within them the fire of thy love. THE DIVINE SPIRIT has been sent to secure Unity to the Spouse of Christ; and we have seen how faithfully he fulfils his Mission, by giving to the Members of the Church to be one, as he himself is One. But the Spouse of a God who is, as he calls himself, the Truth, must be in the truth, and can have no fellowship...

Red Semidouble Veni, sancte Spiritus, reple tuorum corda fidelium, et tui amoris in eis ignem accende. Come, O Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of thy faithful, and enkindle within them the fire of thy love. WE HAVE SEEN with what fidelity the Holy Ghost has fulfilled, during all these past ages, the Mission he received from our Emmanuel, of forming, protecting and maintaining his Spouse the Church. This trust given by a God has been executed with all the power of a God, and it is the sublimest and most wonderful spectacle the world has witnessed during the eighteen...

Red Double of the First Class Veni, sancte Spiritus, reple tuorum corda fidelium, et tui amoris in eis ignem accende. Come, O Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of thy faithful, and enkindle within the fire of thy love. YESTERDAY, WE WERE ADMIRING the work of the Holy Ghost, whereby he drew mankind to the faith and name of Jesus, to whom all power was given in heaven and in earth. The instruments used for this conquest were the Apostles and their immediate successors. The Tongue of Fire was victorious, and the Prince of this world was defeated. Let us...

Red Double of the First Class Veni, sancte Spiritus, reple tuorum corda fidelium, et tui amoris in eis ignem accende. Come, O Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of thy faithful, and enkindle within the fire of thy love. YESTERDAY, THE HOLY GHOST took possession of the world: his commencement of the mission given him by the Father and the Son was such as to indicate his power over the human heart, and prepare us for his future triumphs. The days of this solemn Octave are a fitting occasion for our respectfully considering the progress of his workings in the...

White   ℣. In resurrectione tua Christe, alleluia. ℣. In thy resurrection, O Christ, alleluia. ℟. Cœli et terra lætentur, alleluia. ℟. Let heaven and earth rejoice, alleluia. ON THIS DAY, which is sacred to Mary, let us open the holy Gospel, according to St. John. There, in the second chapter, we find these words: There was a Marriage in Cana of Galilee, and the Mother of Jesus was there. The sacred text goes on to say that Jesus also and his disciples were among the guests; but the Holy Spirit, who guided the Evangelist’s hand, would have him...