Free Republic

YOU ARE SPECIAL "I don't know why I was even born," the young sailor confided! "I'm ugly. I'm not talented. I've never been what you would call smart. I don't really have any friends. And I can't seem to do anything right. I feel like I've spent my whole life letting people down. Sometimes I wonder if even God could love me!" That conversation took place more than a decade ago, but I still remember it as if it were yesterday. That one and a lot of others over the years with the same message: "I'm no good; I'm...

... The holiday has historically marked a spike of street violence in the city, lasting throughout the summer. Though Chicago violence has decreased in recent years, dozens were shot over the last Memorial Day weekend. “I will not rest and my administration will not rest until we tackle this problem and stop the violence,” Johnson said at a news conference inside the Chicago Cultural Center. Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said the department will put additional officers on the street by canceling certain days off and adding overtime hours, but he said that the effort would be “strategic” and “deliberate.” The...

In mid-2022, Gazprom restricted gas flows to Europe in what was seen as a move by Putin to get both leverage against Kyiv's allies ahead of the winter season and retaliate against Western sanctions and support of Ukraine. But the EU managed to find alternative long-term sources of gas imports and free itself from most Russian piped-gas imports ... Gazprom's revenue fell by 41 percent year-over-year in the first half of 2023, while sales profits dropped 71 percent and gas production by 25 percent... The report said the company's upstream gas-production base is now isolated because infrastructure connecting its main...

Video posted to social media shows masked soldier calling on Gallant to quit, warns troops will not obey orders if government doesn’t pursue ‘complete victory’ over Hamas The Israeli military said Saturday that it was opening a criminal probe into a video shared online showing a masked reservist threatening mutiny if the government doesn’t pursue what he defined as “complete victory” over Hamas. “The behavior in the video is a serious violation of IDF orders and IDF values, and constitutes a suspicion of criminal offenses,” the military said in response to a query on the matter. The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit...

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs has remained mum about her recent veto of legislation aimed at curbing China’s gruesome forced organ-harvesting trade, which targets detained ethnic and religious minorities, mostly Uyghur Muslims, Tibetans, Christians, and Falun Gong practitioners. The April 10 veto has proponents of the legislation and human rights activists scratching their heads. Over the last year, Texas, Utah, and Idaho have enacted similar legislation, and legislatures in Missouri, Ohio, and North Carolina are debating similar measures. The bipartisan bills would prevent health insurance plans from reimbursing individuals for any organ transplants in China or other U.S. adversaries. They also...

***** Tunes For Our Troops ~ 2024 Memorial Day Patriotic Music Festival ~ *****~ Support The Artists You Hear Throughout The Canteen ! ~ ***** Warning: Not all music may be appropriate for children! Please click with caution. Thank you! Tunes For The Troops This music is provided for the entertainment of our Troops, Veterans, Allies & their families! Enjoy the variety of musical selections that the Canteen DJs provide throughout the thread. Please ping any DJ with your requests for the Troops! All music is removed on Monday.Thanks to all the DJs for their time & effort providing...

CHINA had a test run with its newest military addition - robot dogs equipped with machine guns on their back. The machine gun robodogs are going through drills for a 15-day exercise called Golden Dragon with Chinese and Cambodian troops. Golden Dragon was held in central Kampong Chhnang Province and at sea off Preah Sihanouk Province, Agence France-Presse reported last week. The training mission consists of over 2,000 troops, 14 warships, two helicopters, and 69 armored vehicles/tanks alongside the remote-controlled four-legged robot dogs with automatic rifles. The troops are also working on live-fire, anti-terrorism, and humanitarian rescue drills are included....

The massive "doomsday glacier" known for its rapid destabilization is undergoing a "vigorous ice melt" that scientists say could reshape sea level rise projections. In a new study, glaciologists from the University of California, Irvine, found that warm, high-pressure ocean water is seeping beneath West Antarctica's Thwaites Glacier, making it more vulnerable to melting than previously thought. The glacier is roughly 80 miles across, the widest on Earth. It packs so much ice that if it were to completely collapse, it could singlehandedly cause global sea levels to rise by more than two feet, according to the International Thwaites Glacier...

PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — A Portland burn nurse returned home on Saturday after a 17-day mission treating patients in Southern Gaza. Monica Johnston said she first heard of the opportunity to provide medical help to civilians in Gaza last year through the organization Palestinian-American Medical Association. "I hear the word ‘help,’ and my ears perk up," she told KATU on Monday, adding that her experience in the burn unit of Legacy Emanuel Medical Center led to "an absolute need to be there." Johnston arrived in Gaza on May 1, planning to stay 13 days. She worked in the European General...

Abdallah Radi says he, along with his father and cousin, raped a woman in Kibbutz Nir Oz before his father murdered her Two interrogation videos were released by the Israel Defense Forces on Thursday, showing Palestinian members of Hamas, a father and son, confessing to murdering and kidnapping people and raping women in Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7. The footage, which was released after it was reported by The Daily Mail, showed Jamal Hussein Ahmad Radi, 47, and his son Abdallah, 18 — both of whom were captured by the IDF in March — in a Shin Bet interrogation...

In March 2018, Barack Obama’s former Secretary of State, John Kerry was caught secretly meeting with Iranian officials to salvage Iran’s nuclear weapons program. Kerry was working against the Trump administration to salvage Obama’s Iranian nuclear deal that funded terrorism across the Middle East. Obama’s former Secretary of State was seen dining with several Iranian regime officials. The above photo was taken as Kerry left the restaurant in Paris. Around this time, President Trump withdrew from the sham Iranian nuclear deal. President Trump knew the deal with the Iranian mullahs was not working. John Kerry reportedly told the Iranian officials...

FR CANTEEN MISSION STATEMENT Showing support and boosting the morale of our military and our allied military and the family members of the above.Honoring those who have served before. FReeper Canteen Just Hangin' CafeSALUTE Come on in, we're open Need a place just to hang out? This is it. We serve coffee, tea, conversation and music. I'm thinking something cold and tangy. Our AWESOME military, our AWESOME allies, and their families are welcomed and honored here. Remember those who gave ALL this weekend.No worries in the FReeper Canteen Just Hangin' Cafe. Grab a cup and start a conversation. You...

The U.S. needs all three legs of its nuclear triad, including the land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles and air-launched cruise missiles maintained by the Air Force, as well as the sea-based weapons that are the domain of the Navy. In a nuclear conflict where adversaries launch a first strike, it's possible they might render U.S. ground-based and air-launched systems unusable. But the U.S. still maintains deterrence though sea-based systems, which guarantee a second-strike capability— the ability to strike back. "If you think about it from the adversary's perspective, anything that they may think they could do as an initial strike, that...

Total Control: Individual Carbon Footprint Trackers that will definitely be programmed to Central Bank Digital Currency’s.. “We're developing through technology an ability for consumers to measure their own carbon footprint. What does that mean? - That's where are they traveling. - How are they traveling. - What are they eating. - What are they consuming on the platform. So individual carbon footprint tracker. Stay tuned. We don't have it operational yet, but this is something that we're working on.”

Agents took many photos inside Melania Trump's room at Mar-a-Lago... FBI authorized agents who were involved in that infamous raid on President Trump's Mar-a-Lago home to use "deadly force" as needed have triggered a resurgence of reports about just what the bureau was seeking there ... Joe Biden had classified documents from his days as senator and vice president, and there was no raid. And Mike Pence had documents from his vice presidency and there was no raid. Perhaps the target was a binder including documents from the government's Crossfire Hurricane .. sponsored by .. Hillary Clinton ... that "missing...

The senators claimed the reason for the State Department's interference was because of ongoing negotiations related to the Obama administration's Iran nuclear deal, which former President Barack Obama signed in 2015. Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson unveiled evidence on Wednesday that former Secretary of State John Kerry's State Department "actively interfered" with the FBI's attempts to arrest people suspected of being in the United States illegally to support Iran's efforts to create weapons of mass destruction. Whistleblowers allegedly told the senators and shared unclassified documents with them that supported their claims, and showed that the Justice Department and...

The Obama-Biden State Department “actively interfered” to prevent the FBI from executing arrest warrants on individuals illegally in the United States who were allegedly supporting Iranian financial efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction, whistleblowers told Sens. Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson. Fox News Digital obtained letters Grassley, R-Iowa, and Johnson, R-Wis., sent to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and Attorney General Merrick Garland on the matter. The Obama-Biden administration began its Joint Plan of Action, which served as the negotiating process for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran Nuclear...

~ The FReeper Canteen Presents ~ ~ Remembering Our Troops!! ~ Take A Bow, Sailors! Congratulations! PORTSMOUTH, Va. (April 18, 2024) Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Blaine Jackson, a native of Brooklyn, New York, and assigned to Navy and Marine Corps Force Health Protection Command, and Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Jhandi Hansford, a native of Silver Spring, Maryland, and assigned to Reserve Component Naval Medical Forces Atlantic pose for a photo during the fiscal year 2023 Naval Medical Forces Atlantic Regional Active Duty and Reserve Sailor of the Year (SOY) announcement, April 19, 2024. SOY finalists participated in a variety...

Other contenders for the role include Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, the former whip Sen. Rick Scott of Florida announced Wednesday that he is jumping into the race to succeed Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell after he leaves the post later this year.

EXCLUSIVE — A House Republican lawmaker is demanding answers from the Biden administration regarding concerns about a proposed treaty being considered by the World Health Organization that would expand the agency’s abilities to respond to future pandemics. In a letter sent to Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday, Rep. Lance Gooden (R-TX) is leading a group of House Republicans to press for information related to the proposed pandemic treaty, which is expected to be voted on during the World Health Assembly at the end of this month. The Texas Republican expressed concerns with the agreement, arguing it would unnecessarily...