Free Republic

President Mahmoud Abbas was hospitalized with fever Sunday just days after undergoing surgery on his ear, an official said. The 83-year-old Abbas has endured a series of recent health scares which have revived anxiety over who will succeed him. A senior Abbas aide, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with protocol, said the Palestinian leader was diagnosed with a fever on Sunday. Abbas had an ear operation last week, and returned to the hospital late Saturday for a follow-up. Saed Sarahneh, of Istishari Arab hospital, said late Sunday that “all tests are normal and his condition is reassuring.” He...

Friends it's Sunday night again and time to relax. Warm up the tubes for another 4 hours of classic radio Americana. Listen Live Info *tonight's show will be available at the "Info" link starting tomorrow. Official OTR Blog of "The Big Broadcast" thread: http://kallmansalley.com/

Former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday warned that “true civil discourse” is under threat around the world while speaking to graduates at NYU Abu Dhabi, an event that the school blocked journalists from filming. While obliquely criticizing President Donald Trump, Kerry did not mention the 2015 Iran nuclear deal he secured with other world powers, an accord of which Trump now has pulled America out. […] While never naming Trump, Kerry began his remarks by saying: “Given what’s going on today, I’m glad to be invited anywhere, folks.” He quickly added that the U.S. “needs to build...

FULL TITLE: The rise of homeschooling in West Virginia, Crouse: 'I've seen a shift in how people view home school' CHARLESTON — As all eyes turned to public education during the historic statewide teacher strike, more parents are choosing to pull their students out of school and educate them at home. Enrolling a child in private school has traditionally been the most popular alternative to public school. But in recent years, data shows there has been a surge in the number of home-schooled students. “I’ve seen a shift in how people view homeschool, for sure,” said Kathie Hess Crouse. “Just...

Aaron Schlossberg, a lawyer in New York, was caught on camera berating staff members of a restaurant for speaking Spanish with customers. A lot of multilingual countries promote an official language, but the United States has never done so with English. In fact, the US has no official language. "The Founding Fathers didn't see a need to declare one," Dr. Wayne Wright, a professor of language and literacy at Purdue University, told CNN. "English was pretty much the dominant language of the United States at the time and they didn't want to offend their fellow Americans who helped fight for...

Leading the way was race hustler Al Sharpton, the MSNBC host who carved out a very comfortable living for himself shaking down corporations. Speaking at a rally Saturday put on by his National Action Network, Sharpton took the lovely union of two people in love to say the royal wedding is proof that white male supremacy is coming to an end, the New York Daily News reported.

Patricia Morison, the glamorous star who originated the role of the shrewish actress diva in the delightful 1948 Cole Porter musical Kiss Me, Kate, has died. She was 103. Morison, who also appeared on stage opposite Yul Brynner in The King and I in such films as The Song of Bernadette (1943), died Sunday at her home in Los Angeles of natural causes. With a mane of exuberant, dark hair that reached her hips, Morison often was cast as a villainess or “the other woman” on the big screen.

While the Trump administration backed Israel’s right to defend its border with as much force as necessary, most Democrats didn’t agree. Many responded as the Obama administration would have been expected to, denouncing the supposedly “disproportionate” tactics of the Israel Defense Forces but also noting the role of the Hamas terrorist group, which rules Gaza, in fomenting the violence. Representative Joseph Kennedy III, a rising star in the party who gave the official Democratic response to Trump’s State of the Union address earlier this year, provided a good example of this two-faced approach when he managed to cram criticism of...

Last month a “French” Muslima’s treatment by the police prompted the onset of riots, carbecues, and other traditional forms of Muslim civil disobedience. It seems that Nimouna Hambili ran afoul of France’s no-burka law, and reacted strongly against being detained by police for refusing to remove her niqab. Ms. Hambili has just been convicted and sentenced to six months in prison, of which she will actually serve half. That’s a significant sentence — harsher than those imposed on immigrant child-rapists in Germany or Sweden.

(CNSNews.com) - House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) issued a statement on Tuesday in observance of the Holy Month of Ramadan. “Ramadan offers all Americans an opportunity to honor the remarkable contributions that Muslim Americans make to our nation,” she said. “In every corner of the country, this beautiful heritage enriches our nation and reminds us all that in diversity there is strength.” Here is the full text of Pelosi’s statement: “The Holy month of Ramadan is a sacred time of devotion and contemplation for Muslims in America and around the world. This month, families will join together to honor...

This discusses a reaction to the gun control debate. I am convinced that the left's war on the Second Amendment has nothing to do with public safety (even if some of their foot soldiers believe it individually, and even though the argument is renewed frequently, especially but not exclusively if a gun is used in a crime). The leaders, however, know that if fundamental transformation becomes complete, and their brand of communism is finally installed in America, allowing their totalitarian impulses to be released, it will require the installation of the usual leftist police state to maintain their power and...

French researchers claim to have put an end to conspiracy theories surrounding the death of Adolf Hitler, after a study of his teeth proved he definitely died after taking cyanide and shooting himself in the head in Berlin in 1945. The researchers reached their conclusion after they were given rare access to fragments of Hitler’s teeth which have been held in Moscow since the end of World War II. "The teeth are authentic, there is no possible doubt. Our study proves that Hitler died in 1945," said professor Philippe Charlier. "We can stop all the conspiracy theories about Hitler. He...

Out of curiosity, adventure and challenge I've always wanted to visit a Russian city, namely St. Petersburg. We cruise a bit and when Princess said we could board in St. Petersburg I booked the cruise. We could cruise the Baltic Sea and visit/tour 6 other cities. This meant we could fly in a few day early and tour St. Petersburg. I booked the criuse and then the flights into and out of St. Petersburg. Then I had to get a visa. When I got the visa application I put down the flight arrival date as the first day of presence...

Orangeburg County investigators are searching for three inmates who escaped the Orangeburg County Detention Center Saturday night. ... 27-year old Tyshon Demontrea Johnson who is charged with murder, 20-year-old Curtis Ray Green who is charged with murder, and 27-year-old Christopher Shannon Boltin who is charged with carjacking and grand larceny. All three are considered to be dangerous.

In all eight of the previous known Ebola outbreaks in Congo, the virus has been contained within remote jungle villages or relatively small towns, where isolated populations are less likely to spread the disease. But the Congo River is effectively the region’s highway system. Barges and boats travel from Kisangani in the east through major cities including Bumba, Mbandaka — and eventually Kinshasa, the capital of Congo and home to more than 11 million people, as well as Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of Congo. “The Congo River connects three national capitals and multiple other large cities,” said Jeremy...

... Rather ironically, five days before the 2016 election intelligence agent provocateur Stefan Halper gave an interview to Sputnik News where he outlined his agenda; in hindsight the aggregate agenda of the Obama administration: 2016 was not CIA/FBI Agent Halper’s first endeavor into manipulating the outcomes of U.S. political elections. Indeed manipulating elections it is a specific skill-set within his curriculum vitae. As noted in a New York Times article 35-years ago: 1983 – […] An operation to collect inside information on Carter Administration foreign policy was run in Ronald Reagan’s campaign headquarters in the 1980 Presidential campaign. […] it...

The main ruse of all Soros-funded NGOs is constant litigation. Today, most illegal immigrants enter countries in the EU legally but overstay or violate whatever visa they may have obtained. When the illegals get detained waiting for a deportation trial, lawyers employed by NGOs funded by billionaire George Soros, have unlimited funds to plead for their release. *snip* When a migrant is caught inside Hungary, he is instantly transferred to the transit zone, through one of the gates. This act is not deportation, but detention as the migrant is still in Hungary. Lawyers from these NGOs can do nothing to...

Authorities in Brandon say the danger that multiple fires burning in the city's downtown will spread to other buildings has likely passed. At least four buildings in Brandon's downtown caught fire Saturday in what the city's mayor said will "likely be one of the largest fires Brandon has ever seen." Around noon, crews began fighting flames billowing out of the Christie's Office Plus building at Seventh and Pacific Avenue in the southwestern Manitoba city. The fire later spread to two additional buildings in the 500 block of Pacific Avenue: Massey Manor, an apartment building across the street from the Christie's...

Well, today was the big day for Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, so it seems appropriate to offer a few Royal romances as our Saturday movie date. The most directly relevant movie, Royal Wedding, made in 1947, was set in London against the background of Prince Harry's grandparents' nuptials and starred Fred Astaire and an actress whose dad was an actual guest at the actual real-life wedding - Sarah Churchill, daughter of Winston. But I'll say a few words about that tomorrow night in our Song of the Week department, and today cast our net a...