Free Republic

The shooting of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico seems likely to be recognised as a terrorist attack after the gunman admitted he shot the head of government for political reasons.Slovak prosecutors have published comments by the man who confessed to shooting Prime Minister Robert Fico last week for the first time, offering the first official insight into motivations behind the attack that rocked Europe. The confession opens the way for the Slovak authorities to reclassify the attack from mere attempted murder to a terrorist attack. (snip) While Cintula said he disagreed with several of Fico’s policies and political reforms, according...

A priest in Florida bit the forearm of a woman he says was desecrating the Eucharist in a Communion line at church this past Sunday and has now been charged with one count of battery. Father Fidel Rodriguez, 66, admitted to police that he bit the woman but said he did so only after she reached into the ciborium and tried to grab a host from it, damaging other hosts as she did so. “The only defense that I found to defend something that for us, for all of us, is sacred, was biting her. I have recognized that I...

Colorado has long drawn on its high-altitude sunshine and wintry winds for energy. Now Gov. Jared Polis (D) is determined to tap into another renewable resource: one simmering under the Centennial State’s surface. “The low-cost workhorses of the clean energy economy will always be solar and wind energy, especially in places like Colorado that have great wind and great sun,” Polis told The Hill in a Zoom interview this week. But as states strive to cut down on fossil fuels like coal and natural gas, they are left with an incomplete solution to the energy transition puzzle and need to...

Preeclampsia can be a life-threatening complication of pregnancy, but a new blood test can help predict a woman's risk for the condition while she is in her first trimester, the test's maker said Wednesday. It's the first test that can be used between 11 and 14 weeks gestation to determine the risk of preeclampsia before 34 weeks of pregnancy, Labcorp said in a news release announcing the launch of the test. Roughly one in 25 U.S. pregnancies is affected by preeclampsia, which poses an even greater risk for Black women, who experience the condition at a 60% higher rate than...

Foreign Minister Israel Katz in Jerusalem, February 19, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90) Foreign Minister Israel Katz announced Friday that the Spanish consulate in Jerusalem will no longer provide services to Palestinians from the West Bank following Spain’s announcement that it will recognize an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. “I have decided to sever the connection between the Spanish mission to Israel and the Palestinians, and to prohibit the Spanish consulate in Jerusalem from providing services to Palestinians from the West Bank,” Katz said in a statement. Referring to Spain’s Labor and Economy Minister Yolanda Díaz, who drew allegations of antisemitism for...

The House of Representatives on Thursday voted along bipartisan lines to advance legislation blocking the Federal Reserve from creating its own central bank digital currency (CBDC). Three Democrats joined all Republicans in voting for the bill — moderate Reps. Jared Golden, D-Maine., Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash. The CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act was led by House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., and backed by Republican members of the House Financial Services Committee. If passed in both chambers of Congress, the bill would be a significant step toward curbing the federal government's ability to regulate cryptocurrency, but it's...

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am 70. I got my shingles vaccination in 2018. I took two doses of the Shingrix vaccine. I was invited to dinner at someone’s house where someone just got shingles. Am I still protected? -- S.C. ANSWER: About 99% of North Americans are immune to the varicella-zoster virus that causes chicken pox and shingles, either because they had it as a child or because they got the vaccine. Exposure to the virus, whether it was due to chicken pox or shingles, can cause chicken pox in a person who does not have immunity.

JPMorgan Chase bank has apparently rolled back a policy that led to the de-banking of several conservatives and nonprofit groups, according to Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). Fox News reported on Friday that the bank had rolled back its WePay service, and the Christian law firm is praising the move. The service “required merchants to refrain from accepting payments or using the service for activities related to ‘social risk issues,’ which the bank defined as anything ‘subject to allegation and impacts related to hate groups, systemic racism, sexual harassment and corporate culture,'” the outlet said. In May 2019, JPMorgan Chase Chief...

New research provides insights into how exercise may help to prevent or slow cognitive decline during aging. For the study, investigators assessed the expression of genes in individual cells in the brains of mice. The team found that exercise has a significant impact on gene expression in microglia, the immune cells of the central nervous system that support brain function. Specifically, the group found that exercise reverts the gene expression patterns of aged microglia to patterns seen in young microglia. Treatments that depleted microglia revealed that these cells are required for the stimulatory effects of exercise on the formation of...

Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 @julie_kelly2 My favorite part of the Trump raid search warrant:

Joe and Jill Biden hosted President William Ruto and First Lady Rachel Ruto of Kenya for a State Dinner Thursday evening. Three US Presidents were together at the same dinner Thursday evening. The Clintons arrived at the White House. Barack Obama also made a surprise appearance. ..... Snip..... At one point Joe Biden said Barack Obama is a member of the African diaspora. “Jill and I are honored to have you here and we’re representing, including many members of the African diaspora. One just left — Barack,” Biden said. The attendees sat there in shock

If there was any Chiefs teammate who would refer to kicker Harrison Butker as “Harry,” then you knew it was tight end Travis Kelce, right? Kelce let that tidbit be known in the latest episode of the New Heights podcast. Butker was a topic of conversation for Kelce and his brother Jason, the podcast co-host. “I probably might be the only person that calls him Harry,” Travis Kelce said as his brother laughed. “I’ve known him for eight-plus years and I cherish him as a teammate…He’s treated family that I’ve introduced to him with nothing but respect and kindness. And...

Former President Donald Trump this week named several possible picks for his running mate in the 2024 presidential election, which he said he would reveal "sometime during the [GOP] convention" in July. [cut] The former president also declined to answer directly when asked about his top three contenders to serve as his running mate, but he did specifically mention Sens. JD Vance, R-Ohio, and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., as well as Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-NY, and former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson as possible choices. The convention begins July 15.

* Chipmakers ASML and TSMC can disable advanced chipmaking machines remotely, Bloomberg reports. * The move addresses growing fears of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a key semiconductor producer. * A China-Taiwan conflict could severely impact the global economy. Two of the world's most important chip companies can flip a "kill switch" remotely on their most advanced chipmaking machines should China invade Taiwan, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The Netherlands' ASML — Europe's top tech company by market value — supplies advanced machines to chipmaking companies. They include Taiwan's TSMC, which produces, by some estimates,...

The removal of the navigation buoys is part of a 'broader pattern of provocative behaviour' by the Kremlin, the EU's chief diplomat says. The EU's foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell, has asked Moscow for an "explanation" after buoys on the Narva River demarcating Estonia's border with Russia were removed in the early hours of Thursday. According to Estonian border guards, their Russian counterparts confiscated 24 of 50 buoys intended to mark sailing routes on the border waterway, an act which Borrell described as "unacceptable." "This border incident is part of a broader pattern of provocative behaviour and hybrid actions by...

Almost one in four adults are being prescribed antidepressants, but this proliferation of pills is not only a waste of money but also prevents patients finding and addressing the real cause of their depression, writes Lucy Kenningham I was 20 the first time I was prescribed antidepressants. I had gone to the doctors during January in rainy, miserable Manchester complaining of flu. Somehow, I came out of the appointment having been diagnosed with depression and prescribed a course of SSRIs. But in fact I didn’t have a mood disorder, and I didn’t need to go on medication.

Trump Rallying, Despite Legal Hell, Shows That He Is the Leader America NeedsThe happy, positive warrior attitude is what MAGA needs in a leader.For the last month or so, aside from the regular Democrat lawfare over the last decade, President Trump has been put through a sham “trial” that could only make the Soviet Politburo blush. Trump has been ordered by the Democrat judge to be in attendance virtually every day, with the idea clearly being to keep him off the campaign trail and to help Joe Biden steal the election.However, that has not stopped Trump from being the warrior...

A U.S. Army Colonel reportedly shot and killed an alleged Chechen intruder outside the Colonel’s residence just north of Fort Liberty, formerly Fort Bragg, in North Carolina. The incident occurred May 3, 2024, but the details of the shooting were reported May 22 and 23, 2024. “Two Chechen men who spoke broken English were found near the [Colonel’s] home” and one of them, 35-year-old Ramzan Daraev, was allegedly taking photos of the Colonel’s children, according to FOX News,

Rapper Sean Kingston was arrested during his concert on a US army base in California on Thursday while SWAT raided his Florida mansion taking his mother into custody earlier in the day.

Fairfax County, VA – After over a decade on the run, a 2013 sexual assault suspect was arrested in El Salvador and extradited back to Fairfax County to face justice. On October 21, 2013, officers responded to the 7200 block of Commerce Street in Springfield for a sexual assault report. The victim was sexually assaulted by an unknown male while inside a residence. Officers and detectives collected evidence from the scene. With the help of a DNA profile established from collected evidence in 2014, detectives arrested David Ernesto Cuevas Maldonado, 27, of Springfield and charged him with Sexual Assault. Maldonado...