Free Republic

American military bases are reportedly on high alert for “missing Saudi servicemen” in the wake of the deadly shooting at Pensacola’s Naval Air Station on Friday. The feds have repeatedly emphasized that “Saudi Air Force officers selected for military training in the United States are intensely vetted by both countries.” But the government’s own data on military deserters from the Muslim world and elsewhere are not so reassuring.

Sen. Romney says the Trump administration and Congress “must act without any delay” on vaping among the youth. The Utah senator seeks a ban on the flavored vaping cartridges that appeal to kids. The Centers for Disease Control says among middle and high school students who use tobacco products, 7 in 10, or 4.3 million, of them say they used flavored tobacco products in 2019. Vaping cartridges are available in flavors like mint, candy, fruit, or chocolate, the students say.

In a fantastic display of true investigative journalism, One America News journalist Chanel Rion tracked down Ukrainian witnesses as part of an exclusive OAN investigative series. The evidence being discovered dismantles the baseless Adam Schiff impeachment hoax and highlights many corrupt motives for U.S. politicians. Ms. Rion spoke with Ukrainian former Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko who outlines how former Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch perjured herself before Congress. watch What is outlined in this interview is a problem for all DC politicians across both parties. The obviously corrupt influence efforts by U.S. Ambassador Yovanovitch as outlined by Lutsenko were not done independently....

Our Troops Rock!  Thank you for all you do!   For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces.   Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today!     ~ Hall of Heroes ~ The Berlin Airlift Part 2: OperationsAll info and photos from this website. Link to Part One             Lt. Gen. William H. Tunner:  Directed Berlin Airlift Operation    A native of New Jersey and son of an immigrant father, General Tunner was awarded an appointment to West Point upon his...

Today, we hear our representatives (it seems increasingly less clear just whom they represent) frequently invoking the phrase "the American people." I ask, who are these American people whom politicians so flippantly feign to speak for?[snip]Today, I see our country divided into many disparate social groups, presided over by egotistical, self-indulgent politicians. As a young man with many ethnic bloodlines running through my veins, I saw myself as an American first. Today, Americans identify predominantly by their ethnicities, pronouns, and gender preferences. We've become balkanized along the lines of sexual preferences and pronounced racial differences, and in place of a...

With the backing of a consortium of Christian colleges and universities, a Utah congressman introduced a bill Dec. 6 that would ban discrimination against LGBTQ people while also protecting religious institutions that uphold traditional beliefs about marriage and sexuality. The so-called "Fairness for All" bill, introduced by Rep. Chris Stewart and eight other Republican legislators, is the culmination of a three-year effort to bridge the divide between two typically warring groups: LGBTQ people and religious conservatives. "All of God's children, regardless of sexual orientation or religion, deserve dignity, respect, and the right to pursue happiness," Stewart said in a statement....

After a bone marrow transplant, a man with leukemia found that his donor’s DNA traveled to unexpected parts of his body. A crime lab is now studying the case. Three months after his bone marrow transplant, Chris Long of Reno, Nev., learned that the DNA in his blood had changed. It had all been replaced by the DNA of his donor, a German man he had exchanged just a handful of messages with. He’d been encouraged to test his blood by a colleague at the Sheriff’s Office, where he worked. She had an inkling this might happen. It’s the goal...

Ran across this on the Interwebs today. Migrants in Tyrol tried to pull the masks of festival-goers. Instead, they were chased down and beaten.Austria fights back! Krampus vs migrants (YouTube)Good to see those who fight for cherished traditions that are all too often cancelled for "security reasons" (i.e. fear of offending Muslims).It was only a few years ago the Austrian region of Tyrol wanted to cancel this festival altogether worried the grotesque Krampus masks would frighten immigrants.Austrian town reassures asylum-seekers over unusual Christmas tradition

The Chinese communist regime is heading towards disintegration and the West needs to be prepared to manage the fallout, according to a leading China scholar. Arthur Waldron, China historian and Lauder Professor of International Relations in the Department of History at the University of Pennsylvania, made the remarks in a recent interview on The Epoch TimesÂ’ American Thought Leaders. He shared his views on the Chinese Communist PartyÂ’s (CCP) imminent collapse, U.S. foreign policy on China, and the relentless Hong Kong protests that have posed a major challenge to BeijingÂ’s rule. CCPÂ’s Disintegration The CCP has started on a path...

In a conversation with fellow actor Brad Pitt for a lengthy chat for Interview magazine, Anthony Hopkins explained why he seldom -- actually: never -- talks about politics... and why he's not a big fan of other actors talking about politics either. In short: "Actors are pretty stupid." "People ask me questions about present situations in life, and I say, ‘I don’t know, I’m just an actor,'" Hopkins told Pitt. " I don’t have any opinions. Actors are pretty stupid. My opinion is not worth anything. There’s no controversy for me, so don’t engage me in it, because I’m not...

More Americans are going without health coverage and the pace of spending on health care nationally is rising in part because of an Affordable Care Act tax on insurers, Trump administration officials said Thursday. A federal report from actuaries at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services documented trends that are likely to further fuel the battle between Republicans and Democrats over how to slow health-care spending growth that has already put the U.S. far ahead of most comparable wealthy countries. Overall, national health-care spending rose to $3.65 trillion in 2018, up 4.6% from 2017. The U.S. spent $11,172 per...

School-bus drivers Billie McClinsey and Brad Mayer didn’t like being represented by the Teamsters and wanted to put the matter to a vote. That should have been straightforward. Federal law provides that if union opponents collect signatures from 30% of their co-workers, they can ask the National Labor Relations Board to schedule a vote. But the process is frequently made convoluted and oppressive. As a result, Messrs. McClinsey and Mayer are trapped—likely indefinitely—in the union they oppose. The NLRB is soliciting comments on proposals to lift barriers that limit workers’ right to remove a union. Messrs. McClinsey and Mayer work...

[Catholic Caucus] Fatima and the Immaculate Conception May God grant you a joyful and blessed Feast of the Immaculate Conception! Although the Church’s faith in the Immaculate Conception is of apostolic origin, the dogma was explicitly defined with infallible petrine authority (ex cathedra) on December 8, 1854. In his apostolic constitution, Ineffabilis Deus, Pius IX teaches: “We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of Her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of...

Having witnessed a surge in Chinese imports data despite an on-going tussle with the United States (US), Beijing seems to sound strong at the phase-one negotiation table. The Financial Times (FT) recently ran a story highlighting the fact that the Chinese Administration orders all government offices and public institutions to remove foreign personal computer (PC) equipment and software within three years. Key quotes China’s administration has ordered all government offices and public institutions to remove foreign computer equipment and software within three years. Targets Chinese buyers to switch to domestic technology vendors. FX implications Amid the initial trading hours during...

Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg claimed last month that “everything that we have proposed has been paid for, and we have proposed no tax increase on the middle class.” The South Bend, Ind., mayor is incorrect on both counts: He hasn’t said how he’d pay for all his proposed spending. He has endorsed one explicit tax increase on the middle class, and his recent retirement plan provides an outline for another. Add it up, and middle-class workers could face a trillion dollars in new taxes. To support family caregivers, Mr. Buttigieg’s retirement plan restated his prior commitment to enact “an...

Kudos to Margaret Brennan of CBS for asking Adam Schiff on Sunday about his release of phone logs of his political opponents. Mr. Schiff dismissed any criticism, and his reason is revealing about the balance of power in Washington. “The blowback has only come from the far right,” Mr. Schiff said. “But look, every investigator seeks phone records to corroborate, sometimes to contradict, a witness’s testimony.” Yes, but executive-branch investigators who want to get data from private telecom companies typically must obtain some kind of judicial order. Mr. Schiff did it himself. Prosecutors are also supposed to limit the release...

While Trump has continuously blasted the impeachment inquiry, calling it a “one-sided sham process” and blocking his highest-profile officials from testifying before a Democratic-dominated House, the president has also said he would "love" for his administration officials to testify in the Senate. “It will be fair in the Senate,” he said ahead of the first House impeachment hearing.

... PG&E’s collapse has exposed the California Public Utilities Commission’s failure to hold the utility accountable on safety. The CPUC for years focused attention elsewhere, on setting rates and pushing for cleaner power. Now, the agency tasked with regulating utility safety is struggling to refocus on the issue while also grappling with its failure to prevent the state’s second electricity crisis in two decades. “The PUC is reactive,” says Janice Grau, a retired administrative law judge for the commission. Of the weather patterns that led to deadly power-line failures and blackouts, she says: “There wasn’t anyone at the PUC who...

I can no longer remember when I first used the line, but, as I've said many times before, sometimes a society becomes too stupid to survive. Back when President Trump was Candidate Trump, he famously proposed a soi-disant "Muslim ban" on entry to the United States "until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on". Which was a rationale to which I was rather partial - because a failure to "figure out what the hell is going on" is a big part of why we're where we are a generation after 9/11. Mohammed is now in...

Three Jesuits, Two Eras, One Enduring Faith On Martyrs Hill in Nagasaki Given the whirlwind of troubles afflicting the Church today — the worship of pagan idols at the Amazon Synod, the ongoing cover-up of clerical sex crimes, the theft of half a billion dollars from Peter's Pence — some of the faithful might be tempted to throw up their hands, drop all pretense of being truly Catholic, and join the gulled masses on their merry ride to Hell. Thank God we have the witness of the martyrs. Nishi-Zaka Martyrs Monument In the last week of November 2019, Pope Francis trod...