Free Republic

Former President George W. Bush said in a new interview he’s “still disturbed” by the U.S. Capitol riot. “I can’t remember what I was doing, but … I was sick to my stomach … to see our nation’s Capitol being stormed by hostile forces,” Mr. Bush told Texas Tribune CEO Evan Smith. “And it really disturbed me to the point where I did put out a statement, and I’m still disturbed when I think about it. “It undermines rule of law and the ability to express yourself in peaceful ways in the public square,” he said. “This was an expression...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- A corrections officer is suing a New Mexico county over a requirement that first responders and other employees be vaccinated, setting up another legal fight during a pandemic that is testing local and federal public health laws. Isaac Legaretta says in a complaint filed Feb. 26 in federal court that a directive forcing Dona Ana County employees to take vaccines that are not yet fully approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration violates federal law. Legaretta is facing termination for declining a vaccination. His attorney, N. Ana Garner, is seeking an injunction to keep the county...

Nicolette Davis said she was 25, on her first networking trip as a junior lobbyist for an insurance company, when she felt the 45-year-old congressman’s hand on her back. She and other lobbyists had gathered at an Irish pub in Minneapolis after a day of ice fishing, Davis told The Washington Post, and Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y) was seated to her left. “A drunk congressman is rubbing my back,” she texted a friend and co-worker at Aflac that evening in 2017, adding later, “HELP HELP.” Reed, his hand outside her blouse, briefly fumbled with her bra before unhooking it by...

A coalition of 21 states has filed a lawsuit against President (Joe Biden), alleging that his decision to revoke a permit for the ( Keystone XL pipeline) violated the constitution, since only Congress can regulate interstate and international commerce. And in other news, the governor of Virginia has signed an executive order giving voting rights to 69,000 released prisoners. In this live Q&A with Crossroads host Joshua Philipp we’ll be discussing these stories and others, and answering questions from the audience.

Central Bank Digital Currencies are the future of currency, and when they arrive, they'll enslave the world. To understand why, you first need to understand what they are, how they serve the vision of those in power, and why they're inevitable. What Are Central Bank Digital Currencies? Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) have yet to be launched on a large scale, but advocates envision a government-controlled cryptocurrency that replaces national currencies. CBDCs will use digital tokens on a computer network to represent a national currency. They'll rely on blockchain, the same technology behind Bitcoin, Etherium, and other popular cryptocurrencies. As...

Michael Cohen, former President Donald Trump's former fixer, is meeting for the eighth time with the Manhattan District Attorney's office on Friday, according to a person familiar with the matter. Prosecutors have increased the frequency of their interviews with Cohen since they began in the fall of 2019 soon after the district attorney's office subpoenaed Trump's accountant for his taxes. Cohen, who worked for Trump for about a decade and once said he would take a bullet for Trump, knows the inner workings of the company. Prosecutors are interested in speaking with Cohen because he can help explain the culture...

Milwaukee Democrat County Circuit Court Judge Brett Blomme has been arrested on charges of possession of child pornography. Wisconsin’s Department of Justice announced that Blomme was taken into custody by special agents with the state Division of Criminal Investigation “following an investigation into multiple uploads of child pornography through a Kik messaging application account in October and November 2020.” If convicted, he faces up to 25 years in prison on each count, local ABC News outlet reported. In a press release, the Wisconsin Department of Justice stated: The Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) today announced that Brett Blomme, age 38,...

Late last week, a curious alert appeared in the Federal Aviation Administration’s database of Notices to Airman, or NOTAMs, which, among other things, alerts aviators to chunks of airspace that are temporarily off-limits. The details strongly point to the comings or goings of a high-flying aircraft between either Area 51, also known as Groom Lake, or the Tonopah Test Range Airport, two of the U.S. military’s most closely-guarded flight test facilities, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest of San Francisco, California. The NOTAM, which was first pointed out by users of the Dreamlandresort.com message board, was issued on March...

Twitter on Friday said it locked Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-Ga.) personal account due to an error and reinstated access. “We use a combination of technology and human review to enforce the Twitter Rules across the service,” a spokesperson for the San Francisco-based firm told news outlets on Friday afternoon. “In this case, our automated systems took enforcement action on the account referenced in error. This action has been reversed, and access to the account has been reinstated.” Greene was writing on Twitter Friday afternoon, confirming that her account was reinstated. “I was just told @Twitter suspended me for 12...

In the late spring of 2020, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Israel. His visit came after Israel formed a coalition government between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud and Benny Gantz’s Blue and White Party. Pompeo, while endorsing Israel’s rights to Judea and Samaria, had a blunt message for his Israeli friends: “Beware of China.” Pompeo added, “We don’t want the Chinese Communist Party to have access to Israeli infrastructure, Israeli communication networks, and the kind of things that endanger the Israeli people and the ability of the US to cooperate with Israel.” Pompeo’s gently expressed admonition to Israeli...

Even though we understand the impulse to want to start eating grilled cheese as soon as possible, don’t rush the cooking process. Moderate heat allows the cheese inside to fully melt without burning the outsides. Ingredients MAKES 2 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature 2 Tbsp. finely chopped parsley ½ garlic clove, finely grated ½ tsp. Diamond Crystal or ¼ tsp. Morton kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper 4 thick slices Pullman or other sandwich bread 4 oz. sharp cheddar coarsely grated Preparation Step 1 Mix butter, parsley, garlic, salt, and several grinds of pepper in a small bowl until...

For the second year in a row, a bill that would call for an Article V convention – or “convention of states” – is making its way through the South Carolina House of Representatives. This year’s legislation – H. 3205 – cleared a House judiciary subcommittee on Thursday and is now headed to the full judiciary committee for approval. Last year’s convention of states bill was approved by the full judiciary committee and advanced to the floor of the S.C. House. It failed to receive a vote, though, as the legislature effectively shut down during the coronavirus pandemic. Most observers...

Consider U.S. farmers happy. They are exporting record volumes of products to China. Shipments of soybeans, corn and pork are bringing smiles back to the American heartland. Or, to put this another way, Beijing is effectively acknowledging it cannot feed the Chinese people. China's leader, Xi Jinping, recently made such an admission. Last August, he announced what became known as the "clean your plate" campaign to end what he called a "shocking and distressing" waste of food. Just about everyone saw this effort, to get the Chinese people to eat less, as a warning of food shortages to come. Chinese...

The COVID-19 vaccine did not factor in the death of a West Point woman whose passing days after getting her second inoculation shot prompted questions from her family, according to health officials. The Utah Department of Health and the Office of Medical Examiner, or OME, issued a statement Thursday saying it had investigated the deaths of people who had recently taken the vaccine. After conducting the probes, the statement said, investigators found no links between the vaccine and any deaths. “The OME has determined there have been NO DEATHS caused by the COVID-19 vaccines to date in Utah. The OME...

Days after a mass shooting across three Atlanta-area spas left eight dead — an especially devastating attack on the Asian community that took place mere weeks after the killing of 84-year-old Vicha Ratanapakdee of San Francisco turned into national news — Asian members of Congress are taking their Republican colleagues to task at a Thursday hearing for perpetrating anti-Asian sentiment.

Attorney General Mark Brnovich is warning consumers about a reported increase in the amount of stimulus check email and text scams. With the third round of economic stimulus checks on the way to many Arizonans, the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) has seen an uptick in consumer complaints involving unsolicited text messages from scammers pretending to be from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

American officials are ready to participate in the first high level meeting of the administration with their Chinese counterparts this week in Alaska. But those representatives from Beijing are not coming to conduct meaningful discussions. They are coming instead to lecture Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan. “The Chinese are offering zero accommodations to the United States,” a former defense official said in an interview with Foreign Policy. “They are offering only expectations of the United States to change and no change on their part.” The assessment is consistent with the hardline tone which top...

The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season was so active that forecasters resorted to naming storms with letters from the Greek alphabet for only the second time in history. Turns out, it was the final time. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced Wednesday the Greek alphabet will not be used in the future because doing so "creates a distraction from the communication of hazard and storm warnings and is potentially confusing."

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health previously revoked the eatery's health permit, and the Burbank City Council last month revoked its conditional-use permit.. A judge ruled Tuesday that the city of Burbank can padlock the doors at a Burbank bar and restaurant that has continued operating despite the issuance of a temporary restraining order allowing the city to enforce its closure order. But in the latest round of back-and-forth between the city and bar, the owners of Tinhorn Flat removed the doors.. "We found out a judge signed off on padlocking our doors, so we took maters into...

California falls near the bottom of the list in a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looking at the equitability of COVID-19 vaccine distribution. California is ranked among the five worst states — along with Kansas, Maryland, Idaho and New Hampshire — in distributing shots to the communities that have seen the worst infection rates during the pandemic. The report published Wednesday used data on vaccine coverage — the number of people who had received at least one dose — in the first two-and-a-half months of the U.S. vaccine rollout, from Dec. 14, 2020 to March...