Free Republic

Crises have the power to expose tensions within ideologies, and the current pandemic has made some of those in contemporary American conservatism vividly apparent. Governor Greg Abbott of Texas is not only fighting a COVID-19 infection—he’s also on the front lines of a clash within conservatism. The Republican has declared his state “the Freedom Capital of America.” He has consistently prioritized cutting regulations on business, and in a 2018 opinion column boasted, “Innovation and self-reliance are deeply rooted in the Lone Star State, and when freed from the stranglehold of over taxation and overregulation, new ideas flourish. By limiting...

Turmeric, a flowering plant of the ginger family, has long been prized in Ayurvedic medicine for its anti-inflammatory properties and in Asian cuisines for its earthy flavour and vibrant hue. Haldi, the spice’s Hindi name, is derived from the Sanskrit for “golden coloured”. But for the millions of South Asians who habitually consume it, turmeric’s skin-staining yellowness can be deceptive and deadly. To heighten their colour, the rhizomes from which the spice is extracted are routinely dusted with lead chromate, a neurotoxin. The practice helps explain why South Asia has the highest rates of lead poisoning in the world. The...

For generations, American politics has been defined by the outsize influence of Christian conservatives, so much so that the intersection of religion and politics is often treated as the sole province of white evangelicals. And for generations, promises of a rising “religious left” have come and gone without any lasting political imprint. But to look at America’s religious left at this moment is to see something genuinely different. Places of worship are participating in demonstrations for civil rights larger than any protest movement in American history. Democrats like the Rev. Raphael Warnock and Joe Biden—political leaders whose faith isn’t just...

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - Drinks, chairs, and fists all flying. Video from inside El Viejon Mexican Restaurant, located at 1045 S. Reynolds Rd., shows two groups of women erupting into an all-out brawl on National Margarita Day. “Sometimes people can’t handle more than two margaritas,” said Juan Castro, a server and spokesperson for the restaurant. It started with an exchange of words that escalated and eventually spilled into the lobby. You can see some people recording the fight on their phones, others heading for the door. Castro said the fight that happened on Feb. 22 left the establishment trashed. “It’s...

The mysterious ailment known as “Havana syndrome” did not result from the actions of a foreign adversary, according to an intelligence report that shatters a long-disputed theory that hundreds of U.S. personnel were targeted and sickened by a clandestine enemy wielding energy waves as a weapon.The mysterious ailment known as “Havana syndrome” did not result from the actions of a foreign adversary, according to an intelligence report that shatters a long-disputed theory that hundreds of U.S. personnel were targeted and sickened by a clandestine enemy wielding energy waves as a weapon.###Seven intelligence agencies participated in the review of approximately 1,000...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYpOyXQCPKk&pp=ygUXaG93IHRvIHNxdWF0IGJ5IGlsbGVnYWw%3D Migrant influencer shares squatting tactics on TikTok 1 m 57 s

RNS) — Shaun King, a onetime Christian pastor who has sparked controversy in the past with his strident liberal activism, converted to Islam with his wife, Rai, over the weekend. Video of King saying the shahada, the Muslim profession of faith, appeared on X Sunday evening, as did separate footage of him speaking about his embrace of Islam at the Valley Ranch Islamic Center in Irving, Texas. In various clips, King was accompanied by Omar Suleiman, founder of the Yaqueen Institute and imam at VRIC (and a Religion News Service columnist). Suleiman noted that he and King have had “multiple...

The ex-US president has brushed off Nikki Haley’s win, saying he purposely avoided campaigning in Washington DC Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley defeated former US President Donald Trump in her party’s Washington DC primary on Sunday. While the win denies Trump a clean sweep of the primaries, her path to the nomination remains all but shut. Haley beat Trump by 62.8% of the vote to 33.3%, securing all of the district’s 19 Republican delegates. The win was Haley’s first of the election season, following losses to Trump in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina, Michigan and the Virgin Islands in...

<p>For more than an hour, sheriff's deputies, firefighters and other volunteers fought to pull Angela Chao out of a vehicle submerged in a pond on a Central Texas ranch, a picturesque location that complicated the rescue attempt, according to a report obtained Friday by the American-Statesman.</p>

A rusted Cold War missile was discovered in a deceased man's garage in Washington state, The Seattle Times reported. What seemed like an ordinary rocket caught the attention of the National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, prompting them to alert the Bellevue Police. The museum was made aware of the missile when someone called to offer to donate the rocket, purchased at an estate sale, said reports A bomb squad identified the relic as a Douglas AIR-2 Genie. The unguided air-to-air rocket was designed to carry a 1.5 kt W25 nuclear warhead. Fortunately, the lack of...

Chemicals that evaporate from personal care products are among pollutants that form ozone in summer smogs While most news articles on indoor air pollution tend to focus on candles, the air pollution effects of the products that we use in homes are far wider. The fossil-fuel derived chemicals that evaporate from printing inks, adhesives, coatings, cleaning agents and personal care products are now dominating the pollutants that form ozone in summer smogs and some types of particle pollution; exceeding the effects of emissions from traffic.

Deflating security: Biden sells federal helium reserve, threatens us industries… National security on the line as critical element supply diminishes. In a surprising turn of events, the U.S. government has auctioned off the Federal Helium Reserve, a subterranean treasure in Amarillo, Texas, responsible for supplying up to 30% of the nation’s helium needs. This critical element is indispensable in medical technologies, cryogenics, semiconductors, and even rocket propulsion systems.

Republican Ohio Rep. Bill Johnson will resign from his position on Jan. 21 to take a job as president of Youngstown State University, according to multiple reports. Johnson was expected to assume his new position at the university on March 15, WFMJ reported. His new start date comes earlier than expected (via WFMJ):In his resignation letter sent to Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, Johnson described the residents of his district as "proud and patriotic," but disregarded by America's "elites," which Johnson said included academics even as he prepares to take over an academic...

CNN — New York City has banned the term “illegal alien” when used “with intent to demean, humiliate or harass a person,” the city said. The city’s new guidelines, announced last week, also ban discrimination against someone based on their English proficiency and threats to call immigration authorities on someone “based on a discriminatory motive.” These violations can result in fines up to $250,000. The guidance is for all public accommodations, employment and housing, the city’s Commission on Human Rights said.

The Babylon Bee sits down with Siaka Massaquoi to talk about how the FBI recently separated him from his pregnant wife at the airport and arrested him over charges related to January 6th. What really happened on January 6th and what was Siaka doing at the Capitol Building?

Former President Barack Obama has secretly lobbied Harvard University officials to stick by embattled President Claudine Gay as she faces pressure to resign for giving cover to antisemitism on campus and for committing plagiarism. Obama, 62, a 1991 graduate of Harvard’s law school, privately urged the university to let Gay remain in office after she testified Dec. 5 before the House Education and Workforce Committee that calls for the genocide of Jews may be permissible under the school’s code of conduct, depending on “context,” according to a report out Friday. “It sounded like people were being asked to close ranks...

Representative Debbie Dingell (D-MI) said Saturday on MSNBC’s “Alex Witt Reports” that she agreed with the Colorado Supreme Court decision to disqualify former President Donald Trump from the state’s ballot. Dingell said, “We’re in such a time of stress test of our Constitution. This ruling is a part of that. That stress test to our democracy.” She continued, “I have not gone through the entire opinion. I will say, I believe the Colorado opinion is right. It holds two things. It affirms with the lower court said, which is that Donald Trump acted in an insurrection. He participated, he supported...

The Satanic Temple has unveiled a new “holiday” display, this time at the Michigan State Capitol.

Valerii Zaluzhnyi is held in so much respect in Ukraine that he can speak frankly like no one else. Not even the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, can be as candid as the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Zelenskiy would not praise an enemy, as Zaluzhnyi did in a September 2022 interview with Time, in which he said that the smartest military theoretician in existence is his greatest rival, Valery Gerasimov, chief of the Russian General Staff. In an interview with The Economist on Wednesday, Zaluzhnyi admitted that he has made mistakes, that the front has stagnated, and that there...

VIDEOVote Fraud is supposed to be rarer than an asteroid strike. However, Jill Stein in December 2016 ACCIDENTALLY proved this to be a farce when she (at the behest of Hillary) demanded (and received) a recount of the Michigan vote hoping to find evidence of Russian hacking. What they found instead was PROOF of Democrat vote fraud with over a third of the Detroit precincts reporting more votes than registered voters. OOOPS! Of course, that recount was quickly dropped but it is interesting that back then demanding a recount was NOT considered to be an attempt to overturn the election...