Free Republic

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Once known as the Islamic State “public square from hell,” with regular executions, crucifixions, and lashings, Raqqa’s old Paradise Square is returning to its former glory, two years after its liberation. The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) liberated Raqqa in October 2017, after a heavy battle that lasted months. When it was retaken, the damage to the city’s infrastructure was extensive and grim. Now, the Raqqa Civil Council (RCC) is focused on rebuilding and providing services as life slowly comes back to the streets of the Islamic State Caliphate’s former capital in Syria. Just after its...

a 1,945-mile “energy park” that would pay for itself, deploy sophisticated security to the sometimes dangerous area and turn a largely deserted area into an economic engine...The plan 'just released' would also build on the cooperative relations between Washington and Mexico City to have both countries build the energy wall. Luciano Castillo, Purdue University's Kenninger Professor of Renewable Energy and Power Systems.... heads the effort authored by 28 engineers and scientists, several of whom are members of the National Academy of Engineering. The school, led by Purdue President Mitch Daniels, a former White House budget director, is running the project....

New York Times foreign affairs columnist Thomas Friedman had some choice words for Rep. Ilhan Omar after the recently elected congresswoman has displayed antisemitic rhetoric during her short tenure in Congress via her comments about Israel and big money in politics. Friedman said Rep. Omar had a "perfect" opportunity to be a bridge builder between Muslims and Jews but instead has opted to be a "bridge destroyer" because she has not offered "constructive" criticism. "Ilhan Omar represents, I believe, the largest Jewish community in the whole upper Midwest...She also represents a Somali immigrant community that have come to our city and...

Steven R. Henson, 57, was convicted last year on multiple counts, including falsifying patient records and fulfilling prescription requests outside the regular regimen of care. The death of his patient Nick McGovern in 2015 was a result of intoxication of alprazolam and the opiate methadone — two deadly and highly addictive prescription drugs. “I want this case to send a message to physicians and the health care community,” said U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister. “Unlawfully distributing opioids and other controlled substances is a federal crime that could end a medical career and send an offender to prison.” "There was ample evidence...

It has begun. It will not be long before DNC meetings begin with the Islamic call to prayer. Nancy Pelosi has surrendered her party to Islam. No matter what Pelosi says, Ilhan Omar is now in command. Pelosi has been cuckolded. Omar has spouted out a parade of antisemitic comments that have inflamed many on both sides of the aisle. She pretended to apologize but then continued her antisemitic rants. Members of the House- including democrats- wanted a resolution condemning her utterances but Pelosi protected her. Instead of properly singling her out Pelosi rolled a resolution condemning all "hate" and...

The so-called V3 Supercharger operates at 250 kilowatts -- approximately twice that of the older stations -- and can charge some of its cars at a rate of 75 miles every five minutes, which Tesla is promoting as “1,000 miles per hour,” without explaining the math. (75 x 12 = 900, doesn't it?)(Following the publication of this article, a Tesla representative clarified that the "1,000 mph" speed is a peak rate that is only sustained for a portion of the initial five-minute period on batteries at a low state of charge. Average speeds over longer charging times were not...

As homeschooling rapidly grows, so too are state-level efforts to "oversee" families. Oregon, Washington state, and even Iowa are trailblazing another assault on constitutionally protected individual rights. The state legislature in Oregon is currently mulling over a bill that “directs Oregon Health Authority to study home visiting by licensed health care providers.” The bill contends that home visits are “necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety.” There’s a similar scheme being conjured up in Washington. In January, Gov. Jay Inslee (now a 2020 Democrat presidential contender) declared: “My budget would also offer universal home visits....

In a 228-197 vote, Democrat lawmakers opposed a Republican resolution condemning voting by illegal aliens.

"A major power outage hit crisis-stricken Venezuela on Thursday, according to Reuters ... a problem the government of President Nicolas Maduro quickly blamed on "sabotage" at a hydroelectric dam that provides much of the country's power." National life ground to a standstill, telecommunications -- including the internet -- stopped working, hospitals were plunged into darkness and cities of millions lay helpless without electricity. As the outage continued into Friday spreading to every Venezuelan state, it became clear this was going to become the biggest of the blackouts yet and Maduro's officials increasingly pointed a finger at the United States. But...

Authorities say a man is accused of breaking into a Phoenix apartment and helping himself to tortillas and soup. Court documents show that 31-year-old Jerry Christopher Drane was arrested March 1 on suspicion of criminal trespassing. According to charging documents, a female occupant smelled something burning. She found Drane in the kitchen cooking tortillas on top of a stove burner. She yelled for her roommate and both women demanded Drane to leave. They told police Drane then went onto the balcony and began eating a can of soup. Responding officers say he showed signs of being intoxicated and was subsequently...

Scientists have finally been able to accurately calculate the weight of the Milky Way, overcoming the difficult hurdle of measuring dark matter, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced Thursday. After years of struggling to estimate the size of our galaxy, astronomers with NASA and the ESA used data from the Hubble Space Telescope and the ESA’s Gaia mission to determine the Milky Way weighs about 1.5 trillion solar masses within a radius of 129,000 light years from the center. Because dark matter makes up about 90 percent of the galaxy, estimates of the Milky Way’s weight have differed widely in...

A middle class that outnumbers the combined poor and aristocracy is a relatively new phenomenon, dating back to around 1900. The rise of the middle class was the result of Industrial Revolution capitalism. It has been one of the most significant and epochal developments in history, yet the intellectual reaction for the most part has been to either ignore it or treat it with disdain. Now the project to destroy the middle class is well under way, with unpredictable and uncontrollable consequences that promise to be just as epochal as its creation. Intellectual condescension towards the middle class is so...

Dr. Martin Luther King’s niece, Dr. Alveda King, accuses Democratic Party supported Planned Parenthood of what Rev. Dr. Clenard H Childress Jr. calls "Black Genocide." King points out “The leading cause of death in the African-American community is not gang-violence, gun violence, heart attack, stroke, HIV, high blood pressure, diabetes. People will name all these. No, it’s abortion. And the reason we have come to that conclusion, statistically, you’ve got 60 million plus abortions legal in America since 1973. About a third of those occur in the African-American community. That means dead babies. And, with us being 13 percent or...

VIDEO One side effect of desperate liberal hope of salvation from Robert Mueller in the form of his long awaited report is the plethora of Robert Mueller merchandise, Mueller Merch, available on the Web. This video reviews some of the bizarre Mueller Merch along with suggestions about what liberals can do with it after the Mueller Report does not go the way they want.

On Wednesday, about 800 migrants from Central America showed up along the border fence in El Paso. More groups continued to arrive Thursday...Most of the migrants are families from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. Some of them were unaccompanied juveniles, said Agent Joe Romero, public information officer with U.S. Border Patrol. KFOX14 spoke with migrants as they waited Thursday morning. They said it took them about 20 days to get to the border. Passersby in El Paso stopped to give the migrants water and food..."Because a large number is apprehended on one given day does not mean that they're released...

DOJ Records Show Numerous Bruce Ohr Communications with Clinton-linked Fusion GPS and Christopher Steele Judicial Watch Sues DOJ for Records on Effort to Rollback Trump Decision to Declassify Russia Probe Documents Obama Holdover Fires Journalists Over Report Critical of Soros DOJ Records Show Numerous Bruce Ohr Communications with Clinton-linked Fusion GPS and Christopher Steele Big news. We just uncovered 339 pages of heavily redacted records from the Justice Department which reveal that former Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr remained in regular contact with former British spy and Fusion GPS contractor Christopher Steele after Steele was terminated by the...

IOWA CITY — The sharp left turn in the Democratic Party and the rise of progressive presidential candidates are unnerving moderate Democrats who increasingly fear that the party could fritter away its chances of beating President Trump in 2020 by careening over a liberal cliff. Two months into the presidential campaign, the leading Democratic contenders have largely broken with consensus-driven politics and embraced leftist ideas on health care, taxes, the environment and Middle East policy that would fundamentally alter the economy, elements of foreign policy and ultimately remake American life. Led by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a democratic socialist...

Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant is appointed Supreme Commander of all Union Armies by President Abraham Lincoln.

Calling all FReepers: We need your help to keep the lights on. Please donate today if you can. Wouldn't it be great if we could wrap this baby up today? FR is funded solely by contributions made by the liberty loving patriots who love and use it. We are beholden to no political party. No advertisers, no outsiders, no sugar daddies, no corporate string pullers. Definitely no government subsidies or tax breaks. No 501c or other IRS non-profit status. This means no commercial ads. No annoying pop-ups. No ad tracking. No mail campaigns. No spam. No third-parties -- not even...

Police say a fight over a brownie has left a 14-year-old Houston boy dead of a stab wound to the eye and another 14-year-old boy is in juvenile custody charged with aggravated assault. Houston Independent School District police say the victim died Friday of the knife wound suffered Wednesday afternoon. District Police Chief Paul Cordova said the fight erupted after school Wednesday outside a convenience store across from the Jane Long Academy in southwest Houston. He said that when the victim was loaded into an ambulance, he still acted as if the fight were continuing. No identities have been released...