Free Republic

The decision not to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey over his deliberate leaks to the media isn’t a sign of weakness or lack of will, but of the professionalism and well-reasoned restraint of President Trump’s Department of Justice. Attorney General Bill Barr’s number one goal since taking the helm at the DOJ has been to restore the impartial and professional ethos that has characterized that agency for more than 200 years. He is working diligently to cleanse it of the stain of politically driven vindictiveness that Obama-era officials created by grossly mishandling the Clinton email investigation, and then, even...

One woman and two men received 100 strokes of the rattan as dozens of spectators cheered on in Lhokseumawe, near Indonesia's Banda Aceh province The woman begged the officer to stop as he brutally hit her A woman cried as she was publicly whipped by a masked sharia officer for having pre-marital sex with her boyfriend in Indonesia's Banda Aceh province. The young woman, 22, is seen wincing in pain and begs the officer to stop as she received 100 strokes of the cane while dozens of spectators watched along the sidelines.

Vitamin D supplementation may slow the progression of type 2 diabetes in newly diagnosed patients and those with prediabetes. The study findings suggest that high-dose supplementation of vitamin D can improve glucose metabolism to help prevent the development and progression of diabetes. Although low vitamin D levels have previously been associated with an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, some studies have reported no improvement in metabolic function. However, these often had a low number of participants or included individuals with normal vitamin D levels at the start who were metabolically healthy, or who had long-standing type 2 diabetes....

President Trump has an unbreakable bond with his supporters and his presence would overshadow any Democratic contender in a debate, according to Rush Limbaugh. The president appeals to Americans' positivity instead of playing on their fears, Limbaugh claimed Thursday on "Hannity." "Trump appeals to people's better interests," he said. "This is what people don't understand about Donald Trump," Limbaugh added. "The man touches everybody's hearts -- talking about greatness, talking about inspiration, aspirational living, being 'great.'

Peter Scattini who was onboard the flight tweeted a video of the bat, writing: "Me, twice a year: 'I'll never fly spirit again.' Me, this morning, after deciding I'd rather save 12 dollars." "Hey Batman," says a woman as the panicked creature flaps its wings and flies over the heads of passengers.

A new video posted to YouTube is offering an eye-opening look at the folks who truly control the U.S.-Mexico border, and they’re some bad hombres. “These sicarios are with Gente Nueva, ‘The New People,’” intelligence consultant Jaeson Jones posted to Twitter. “Focus on the helmets, belt-fed weapons, 50cal. Rifle, & body armor these sicarios are wearing. Gente Nueva operates in the city of Juarez across from El Paso, Texas.” The post features a video uploaded to YouTube by Mario Quintana with a Spanish title that roughly translates to “The poster of the new people and the state of Chihuahua.” The...

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., received a $2,500 donation from a man who died more than a decade ago, public records show. Michigan businessman and real estate developer George S. Farah Sr., who emigrated from Palestine to the United States in the mid-1950s, donated $2,500 toward Tlaib’s election, according to campaign filings. Farah died Feb. 1, 2009, according to Michigan Live. dailycallerlogo “Gisele Farah is the sole beneficiary of a trust in her late husband’s name, George S. Farah Sr.,” Tlaib’s office said in a statement to the The Washington Free Beacon, which first reported the contribution to the Democrat from...

Boffins plan to grow rat-human and mouse-human embryos in Japan. The Japanese Research group has received approval from the government to insert human cells into animal embryos. After being inserted into the animals, the cells may then grow into organs. If research goes well, experts plan on introducing the embryos into other animals such as pigs.

Supermarket chains in Connecticut are capitalizing on a new law that seeks to ultimately eliminate plastic bags but was engineered to collect $50 million in state revenues beginning August 1. The once familiar “paper or plastic?” at the supermarket check-out is no longer an option in Connecticut after Democrats passed a law that requires a ten-cent tax on single-use plastic bags until July 1, 2021, when the bags will be entirely banned. Most consumers have no option currently, however, due to the supermarkets’ decision to forgo offering plastic bags immediately and, instead, offer only paper bags at a fee of...

The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday accused the United States of influencing the increasingly violent pro-democracy protests that have rocked Hong Kong for two months. "As you all know, they are somehow the work of the US," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a press conference in Beijing. Hua added that China would "never allow any foreign forces" to interfere in the semi-autonomous city, and warned that "those who play (with) fire will only get themselves burned." The comments are one of the most direct accusations Beijing has so far made of US interference in Hong Kong politics, and...

Ex-White House chief strategist Steve Bannon says he does not see any of the declared Democratic candidates posing a challenge to President Trump. Bannon sees a possibility of “people on the sideline” joining the race by this fall, positing Hillary Clinton or Mike Bloomberg. In June, Trump told NBC News that he would rather run against former Vice President Joe Biden than Clinton.

Severe wildfires are burning across an area about the size of Massachusetts in the vast Russian region of Siberia—and now the resulting smoke is arriving in North America, according to satellite imagery. Summer wildfires in Siberia are relatively common, however, the situation this year is particularly bad with around 2.7 million hectares currently burning across six Russian regions, according to the country's Federal Forest Agency. The government has declared a state emergency in five of these regions in response to the fires, which experts say have been fueled by a mix of record-high temperatures in some areas, lightning storms and...

Once you strip away all the hysteria and madness surrounding Donald Trump's presidency, you're left with a policy agenda of a populist, big-government Republican. Whether or not you have a moral or personal case against Trump himself, the president's stated policy positions fall well within the contours of traditional right-left politics. Can the same be said of Democrats? I'm sorry, but across-the-board tax cuts, notwithstanding the panic-stricken reaction we saw, aren't particularly radical. Every Republican president going back to Warren Harding has passed some kind of rate reduction. Nor is Trump's stated position on constrained foreign entanglement, which is...

The Navy has dismissed charges against Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher’s platoon leader and ordered a review of its justice system. Lt. Jacob Portier was charged with covering up war crimes in connection with the Gallagher prosecution and faced trial in September. “Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson today dismissed all charges in the case of Lt. Jacob Portier,” a Navy statement said Thursday, according to the San Diego News-Tribune. “Richardson took this action in the best interest of justice and the Navy.” Richardson also ordered a review of the Navy’s Judge Advocate General Corps, which prosecuted Gallagher and Portier....

Trump told reporters Thursday that he had spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin about ways to improve trade and wildfires blazing in Siberia. He made no mention of either the new sanctions or whether they came up during the phone call. President Donald Trump slapped new sanctions on Russia for its poisoning of an ex-spy in the United Kingdom in 2018...Trump, who signed the executive order Thursday, has been reluctant to impose sanctions against Russia in his efforts to improve relations between Washington and Moscow.

A combination of enzalutamide and androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) significantly reduced the risk of metastatic progression or death over time in men with advanced prostate cancer, according to the results of clinical trial led by Duke Cancer Institute. The study enrolled 1,150 men with metastatic prostate cancer who had just begun treatment with androgen deprivation therapy or recently completed treatment with docetaxel and ADT; half of the men were randomly assigned to receive the combination therapy; half received ADT and a placebo. Most of the men, 62 percent, had high volume disease, defined as having more than four metastatic sites...

Of the 12 people who have walked on the moon, zero have been women. NASA's Artemis program aims to change that by landing the first woman on the moon. "I have a daughter. She is 11 years old, and I want her to see herself in the same position that our current, very diverse astronaut corps currently sees itself, having the opportunity to go to the moon," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in an agency town hall May 14. "In the 1960s, young ladies didn't have the opportunity to see themselves in that role. Today they do, and I think...

Saikat Chakrabarti wore it in a video produced by the left-wing outlet NowThis News, titled “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Chief of Staff on Acting Fast in Congress,” in December 2018. U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff, Saikat Chakrabarti, donned a T-shirt featuring the face of former Indian leader Subhas Chandra Bose, who supported Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. He wore it in a video produced by the left-wing outlet NowThis News, titled “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Chief of Staff on Acting Fast in Congress,” in December 2018—one month after his boss became the youngest woman elected to U.S. Congress. The issue came back...

To the editor: I write as a refugee from Hitler who, at age 6, fled Vienna with her family, on March 12, 1938, the day of Hitler’s annexation of Austria, so as to avoid being taken to a concentration camp. We lost everything but at least we were alive. (“I’m Jewish and I don’t say this lightly: ‘Never again’ is right now in America,” Opinion, July 26) The parallel today would be this: If right now, on this very day, op-ed article writer David Ulin’s doorbell rang and he, a citizen of the United States, would suddenly be arrested for...

A group of 12 states led by California and New York on Friday challenged the Trump administration’s decision to suspend a 2016 Obama administration regulation that more than doubled penalties for automakers that fail to meet fuel efficiency requirements. Automakers protested the higher penalties, which they said could cost the industry up to $1 billion annually, and the Trump administration finalized the regulatory freeze on July 12. The 12 states, joined by the District of Columbia, filed a petition in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to reverse the rule released by the National Highway Traffic Safety...