Free Republic

**SNIP** De Blasio - known in New York City for being shuttled from his mayoral mansion in an SUV, albeit a hybrid model, to his gym in another part of town - has made a recent habit of making grand pronouncements on his climate accomplishments. “It’s a priority unlike any other because we deal with, obviously, the health care issues, we deal with education, we deal with so many other issues, but nothing compares to survival,” de Blasio said during recent campaign swing through Iowa. But whether it's building emissions, organic waste collection or even protections in the event of...

The amount of snow blanketing the Sierra Nevada is even larger than the 2017 snowpack that pulled the state out of a five-year drought, California water officials said. As of Thursday, the snowpack measured 202% of average after a barrage of storms throughout winter and spring, according to the Department of Water Resources. The wet weather has slowed but not stopped, with thunderstorms prompting flash flood warnings Sunday in the central and southern parts of the state. At this time last year, the snowpack measured 6% of average — making this year 33 times bigger than 2018, the San Francisco...

The Justice Department has decided not to charge Julian Assange for his role in exposing some of the CIA’s most secret spying tools, according to a U.S. official and two other people familiar with the case. It’s a move that has surprised national security experts and some former officials, given prosecutors’ recent decision to aggressively go after the WikiLeaks founder on more controversial Espionage Act charges that some legal experts said would not hold up in court. The decision also means that Assange will not face punishment for publishing one of the CIA’s most potent arsenals of digital code used...

Why Does the Pope Hate the Deputy Prime Minister of Italy? (Mainly because he’s winning) Europe waking up; Socialists and ‘68ers[1] losing their gripVery much like the “conservative” Catholics getting unpleasantly shocked out of their 50 years of enchanted Novusordoist sleep by the incredible spectacle of this pope, throughout the secular world people of Europe are also waking up. “There’s a proper reawakening across Europe going on,” a young Dutch politician said after late March elections swept much of the old leftist guard out of his country’s Parliament. 36 year-old Thierry Baudet was especially jubilant at the thought of the...

First off, the last part of my title. I lost my pay. I didn't lose my job, but my investors pulled their money from my pay to pay someone else they felt was more important to pay. Either way, I'll deal with that later. But here is the skinny: I had to take an emergency flight to say goodbye to my father, who I am very close to. He's got Cancer and it will take him soon. The chemo has ravaged his mind and his body and I was called across the country to say goodbye. Upon my return, my...

FULL TITLE: Palestinian worshippers barricade themselves inside highly sensitive Temple Mount after clashing with police after Jews were allowed inside during Israeli holiday which coincides with end of Ramadan Palestinian worshippers clashed with Israeli police at a highly sensitive Jerusalem holy site on Sunday as an Israeli holiday coincided with the final days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Muslim worshippers at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound were angered over Jewish visits to the site holy to both religions, with some even taking to the dome of the mosque to shout Muslim slogans as the clash took place. According to...

Our Troops Rock!  Thank you for all you do!   For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces.   Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today!     ~ Hall of Heroes ~ SSgt Henry "Red" ErwinInfo from this website.              By: DaveTroll Without counting the cost to himself, SSgt. Henry Erwin did what had to be done to save the B-29 crew. We may marvel at the heroism and tenacity of the men whose stories have been told in this column,...

For the House’s growing impeachment caucus, June is shaping up to be the most critical month to make their case to a reluctant Speaker Nancy Pelosi. A month packed with subpoena fights, hearings on obstruction of justice and legal battles over Trump’s financial records is certain to provide fresh ammunition to grow the pro-impeachment ranks. “The temperature’s rising, the plot is thickening. It’s hard for me to imagine Congress certainly leaving for the August recess without some closure on this,” said Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), who supports impeachment. “The Hamlet act is, I think, wearing thin, and it’s becoming untenable...

If you're one of those Loch Ness monster fans or debunkers who has been waiting for over a year while a team of DNA researchers from New Zealand analyzed water samples taken from across the loch in an effort to identify all of the creatures in it and - by process of elimination - find or disprove the alleged cryptid ... your wait is over! Or is it? "We've tested each one of the main monster hypotheses and three of them we can probably say aren't right and one of them might be." ... "What we'll have achieved is what...

Recently, Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez attempted to slam ICE while simultaneously taking a jab at conservatives for their stance on abortion, however, things did not go as planned for the self-styled socialist upstart. Citing the death of a prematurely-born migrant child in US detention, Ocasio-Cortez sarcastically stated, “I’m sure EVERY state passing abortion bans will also be prosecuting ICE officials for the deaths of premature babies that happen in their custody?” Ocasio-Cortez went on to add, “Since they intend on jailing doctors, surely they’ll jail ICE for the same thing.”

In his first public statement since the beginning of his investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, special counsel Robert Mueller said he did not intend to testify to Congress and explained that he did not have the "option" of charging the president with a crime.

Police say a 90-year-old Delaware man refused to detour around a gay pride parade and plowed into an organizer trying to wave him away. The motorist’s pickup knocked down the 43-year-old man, who suffered leg injuries after the Saturday morning confrontation, --SNIP---

In case you missed it: Joe Dan Gorman has released his lated edition of the always insightful, always entertaining Intellectual Froglegs, "The spies who shagged themselves".

Well, my internet is finally back up, so here is our gospel tune for today: R.W. Hampton - Letting Go 2014. THE WESTERNER https://thewesterner.blogspot.com/

DONALD Trump has showed off a slick new hairdo as he prepares to meet the Queen during his first official state visit to the UK. The US President’s new look, no doubt achieved with copious amounts of gel or styling product, is a far cry from his trademark yellow bouffant.

As NFL labor negotiations Opens a New Window. loom over the 2019 season, the NFL Players Association is already warning players to save money Opens a New Window. to prepare for a possible work stoppage in 2021. In a Tuesday email, NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith advised NFL agents to tell their clients to budget their income to account for a player strike or lockout by ownership. The NFL’s current collective-bargaining agreement expires after the 2020 season, and negotiations on the next deal are widely expected to be contentious.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Three officials with Puerto Rico’s Senate were arrested by FBI agents Thursday and later charged by the U.S. territory’s federal prosecutor with alleged corruption for a case involving a scheme to defraud the legislature using “ghost employees.” Federal prosecutor Rosa Emilia Rodríguez said 18 charges were brought against Ángel Figueroa Cruz, director of the Senate Office of Government Affair; Isoel Sánchez Santiago, an assistant to the Senate president; and Chrystal Robles Báez, a contractor to the body. “This kind of practice is not going to be tolerated where federal funds are involved,” Rodríguez told...

Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana ripped Democrats over their hesitancy to bring about impeachment proceedings against President Trump, telling them that if they wanted to go forward the should "buy a spine." Speaking on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” the Republican senator said that his Democratic colleagues need to make a definitive decision on the matter, but noted that if they decide to move forward, they will likely regret the “Sisyphean task” of impeaching the president. “It’ll be tough going in the Senate,” Kennedy said. “Impeachment polls right up there with skim milk among the American people, but my advice...

How Often Did Francis Mention Communism? Not Once During his final day in Romania, Pope Francis beatified in Blaj seven Greek-Catholic bishops (picture) murdered by the Romanian Communists (1947-1989). Marco Tosatti noticed that during the liturgy Francis succeeded in pronouncing the word “Communism” not even once. According to Francis the seven gave their lives to oppose an "illiberal ideological system." In reality they died because they resisted Communist plans to integrate the Greek Catholic Church into the Orthodox. #newsQcjviqjxrb

A senior member of Democratic leadership suggested Sunday that the House will eventually begin formal impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump after building public support. "We think that we have to bring the public along," House Majority Whip James Clyburn said on CNN's "State of the Union." He continued, "We aren't particularly interested in the Senate. We do believe that if we sufficiently, effectively educate the public, then we will have done our jobs, and we can move on an impeachment vote and it will stand, and maybe it will be what needs to be done to incent the Senate...