Free Republic

The song was written about a year after the Royal Air Force and German aircraft had been fighting over southern England, including the white cliffs of Dover, in the Battle of Britain. Nazi Germany had conquered much of Europe and in 1941 was still bombing Britain. With neither America nor the Soviet Union having yet joined the war, Britain was the only major power fighting the Axis powers in Europe (see The Darkest Hour). The American lyricist, Nat Burton, wrote his lyric unaware that the bluebird is not indigenous to Britain and asked Kent to set it to music....

A bizarre Florida “red flag” case shows the importance of safeguards that protect people’s Second Amendment rights.The allegations against Kevin Morgan were alarming. They described just the sort of circumstances that Florida legislators had in mind when they approved that state's "red flag" law in 2018, three weeks after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. Morgan's estranged wife, Joanie, claimed he was depressed, suicidal, and obsessed with the apocalypse, which he thought was imminent. She said he was stockpiling food, gold, guns, and ammunition in anticipation of the end times; that he talked about seeing,...

An international group of researchers report the discovery of numerous new species of Chlamydiae growing in deep Arctic Ocean sediments, in absence of any obvious host organisms. The researchers had been exploring microbes that live over 3 km below the ocean surface and several meters into the ocean seafloor sediment during an expedition to Loki's Castle, a deep-sea hydrothermal vent field located in the Arctic Ocean in-between Iceland, Norway, and Svalbard. This environment is devoid of oxygen and macroscopic life forms. Unexpectedly, the research team came across highly abundant and diverse relatives of Chlamydia. "Finding Chlamydiae in this environment was...

Faithful Catholics: New Archbishop of Atlanta Bears Watching Past and current associations make Hartmayer suspect SAVANNAH, Ga. (ChurchMilitant.com) - Pope Francis has announced that Gregory J. Hartmayer, bishop of Savannah, Ga., will be the new archbishop of Atlanta. Hartmayer succeeds Washington Abp. Wilton Gregory, who was elevated to his current role when the former archbishop, Donald Wuerl, stepped down in disgrace over his role in the Theodore McCarrick scandal. There have been two distinct periods in Hartmayer's career — one as an educator and one as a pastor. A member of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual (a branch of the Franciscans) since 1970, Hartmayer completed an undergraduate degree in...

As of Thursday, there are now three candidates vying for the position of 2020 Democratic presidential nominee and on March 10, Democratic voters in Michigan will decide which of these candidates they want to lead the nation in the White House. The Arab American News has been fortunate enough to be the community’s voice for more than 35 years and has researched and presented many issues important to it during this time. We believe that Bernie Sanders’ campaign and proposals most closely align with the interests of the community at large. After our meeting last month, we are in...

Have you seen Bernie press conferences lately? He has to read notes for things he has said 1000s of times, lackluster, no energy. If he is like this during the next debate then Biden will look like energizer bunny in comparison. Something is odd about this.

I'm the best pal you boys ever have.

As the coronavirus outbreak hastens its global spread, the United States has reiterated its support for Taiwan participating in the World Health Organization (WHO). Taiwan for years has been barred from obtaining observer-status at the WHO because of the Chinese regime’s objections. Since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, the self-ruled island has further protested its exclusion from the U.N.’s health agency, saying this was hampering global efforts to contain the disease. “This COVID-19 outbreak only further underlines the unacceptability of Taiwan being excluded from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World Health Assembly because the People’s Republic of...

WASHINGTON — Subpoenas into Hunter Biden’s work in Ukraine appear imminent after Sen. Mitt Romney’s office on Friday said he would vote in favor of the probe next week, according to a report. The Homeland Security Committee is gearing up for an investigation into the Bidens which could throw a roadblock in front of former veep Joe Biden’s presidential bid just as it gathers momentum. After criticizing the panel for what he called a politically motivated investigation, Romney will now vote in favor of the subpoena when the committee votes on it next Wednesday, Politico reported on Friday.

After weeks of ignoring the series of scandals surrounding former Vice President Joe BidenÂ’s son that surfaced during President Donald TrumpÂ’s impeachment trial, reporters are suddenly interested again as Biden reclaims his frontrunner status for the Democratic presidential nomination.The focus on Joe BidenÂ’s son, Hunter Biden, which never received adequate media attention in the first place, tapered off throughout the presidentÂ’s impeachment trial and became nearly absent by the time Senate proceedings got underway. In the same week Trump was acquitted, Joe BidenÂ’s presidential hopes began to plummet following a poor performance in the Iowa caucuses. BidenÂ’s chances of becoming...

Troops of monkeys have raided the offices of India's top cabinet ministers and taken over, leaving ministers too scared to make eye-contact with the animalsPunjab and Haryana Civil Secretariat headquarters in Northern India, which is home to cabinet ministers and bureaucrats, has been overrun by opportunist macaques, who are said to climb into offices via balconies. Meanwhile security guards staged on site say they are being distracted from their work by the red-faced pests but are unable to do shoo them away while at their stations. Until a solution is found they are reportedly making do with slingshots to protect...

One of the most contentious claims made in the NY Times 1619 Project is the claim that the impetus for the Revolutionary War was really an attempt to protect the institution of slavery. In her lead essay, Nikole Hannah-Jones wrote “one of the primary reasons the colonists decided to declare their independence from Britain was because they wanted to protect the institution of slavery.” But that isn’t remotely true. Today we learn from Northwestern historian Leslie Harris that she pointed this out to the Times before publication but was ignored: On August 19 of last year I listened in...

I t was odd, the firefighters thought, how many calls were coming from the Life Care nursing facility in Kirkland. The day before, Thursday, had been especially bad. Five separate calls for respiratory distress or fever. After several calls, the firefighters masked up -- they believed something worrisome was spreading, maybe a bad flu. But it wasn’t the flu. Through the chain of command, firefighters learned that management at Life Care said a resident and a health worker had been tested the week before for coronavirus, or COVID-19, a virus that had been especially cruel to the elderly and infirm....

The Department of Justice today issued a final rule to implement the Attorney General’s authority provided by the bipartisan DNA Fingerprint Act of 2005 to authorize the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to collect DNA samples from certain non-United States persons it detains.  Once implemented, this rule will facilitate federal, state, and local investigative and crime reduction efforts.“Today’s rule assists federal agencies in implementing longstanding aspects of our immigration laws as passed by bipartisan majorities of Congress,” said Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen.  “Its implementation will help to enforce federal law with the use of science.”As a result...

Rep. Matt Gaetz stood by his move to sport an enormous gas mask to protect himself from coronavirus — even during a House floor vote on funding for the public health emergency. “Look, members of Congress are human petri dishes,” Gaetz (R-Fla.) told TMZ, “We fly through the dirtiest airports, we touch everyone we meet, so if anyone’s gonna get coronavirus, it’s totally gonna be Congress.” Walking toward a congressional office building, the Florida Republican offered the outlet more examples of the risks politicians face because of their exposure to constituents. “We shake hands, we kiss babies, we touch everybody’s...

America is at a crossroads. I realize we say this nearly every election cycle, but I truly believe this time it is very real. The rise of Bernie Sanders and the ensuing chaos in the Democrat party is indicative of this opinion. Watching second amendment rights getting squashed under the boot of state government in Virginia is indicative of this opinion. Watching California descend into the hell that comes from a one-party super majority is indicative of this opinion. We are now faced with deciding how we want this nation to proceed – as a nanny state in which a...

A Bangladeshi national formally residing in Tapachula, Mexico, pleaded guilty for his role in a scheme to smuggle aliens from Mexico into the United States.Mohamad Milon Hossain, 39, admitted that from March 2017 to June 2019, he conspired to bring, and brought, Bangladeshi nationals to the United States at the Texas border in exchange for payment.  Hossain operated out of Tapachula, Mexico, where he maintained a hotel that housed aliens on their way to the United States.  Hossain provided plane tickets and other assistance for the aliens to travel from Tapachula to Monterrey, Mexico where co-conspirator Moktar Hossain assisted...

Two former executives of EarthWater Limited (EarthWater), a Dallas-based company, were charged in a superseding indictment with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud and obstruction of justice.Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox of the Northern District of Texas and Inspector in Charge Delany DeLeon-Colón of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s (USPIS) Criminal Investigations Group in Washington, D.C., made the announcement.Beth Ellen DeGroot, 60, and Harley E. “Buddy” Barnes III, 61, both of Plano, Texas, were charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and...

Mental health professionals who have expressed concern over what they see as Donald Trump’s declining faculties say that similar fears about Joe Biden’s are overblown. “A few stumbled words are not the same as the extreme danger that result from a list of signs that Donald Trump has shown,” Bandy Lee, a psychiatrist on the faculty at the Yale School of Medicine, told Yahoo News, “and none of them apply to Joe Biden.” Yet since Biden’s reemergence as a front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, Lee has been flooded by requests to assess the former vice president’s string of stumbles...

The founder of a Russian bank was arrested last week in London in connection with an indictment charging him with filing false tax returns, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, U.S. Attorney David L. Anderson for the Northern District of California, and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigation, Special Agent in Charge Kareem Carter.  The Sept. 26, 2019, indictment was unsealed today. According to the indictment, Oleg Tinkov was the indirect majority shareholder of a branchless online bank that provided its customers with financial and bank services.  The indictment alleges as a result...