Free Republic

As Russia presses on Ukraine and China escalates tensions with the Philippines, the United States is courting unnecessary risk. While our greatest risks still stem from a series of rising domestic radicalisms, the danger from beyond our borders won’t forever accommodate our turned eye. A decade plus, bipartisan-blessed era of inward focus has resulted in doubt domestically as to where our red lines really are. Not necessarily where our alliances and commitments stand on paper, but where they will stand in practice. Which foreign capitals are our divided citizenry willing to sacrifice for in 2021? What about after our next...

Spending lockdown with anyone is hard, but spending lockdown with Britain’s third favourite funnyman1 feels like being one of the final contestants on I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, or that weird final hour in Big Brother, where there is an undeniable shared sense of having gone through something difficult together, but also a competitiveness because only one of them can take away the huge pot of money. The huge pot of money in this case would be my divorce settlement. We argue nearly every day. It takes its toll on Jon, but for me it’s just self-expression....

“. . . A great multitude with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and elders of the people” (Matthew 26:47). The crowd that captured Jesus at Gethsemane illustrates the world’s sinful, hateful rejection of Jesus Christ. A crowd can have a positive, uplifting influence, as when a large group of neighbors bands together to help someone in need. But crowds can also have a negative impact, such as when they incite riots or heckle someone who is trying to give a speech. The multitude that came to the Garden of Gethsemane to capture Jesus is a prime example of...

A Chinese woman gained more than a daughter-in-law at her son’s wedding last month — when she discovered the bride was actually her biological child. The woman noticed for the first time at the March 31 wedding that her son’s bride had a distinctive birthmark on one of her hands — just like the child she gave up for adoption years ago, the Oriental Daily reported. The stunned woman turned to the bride’s parents and asked, “Did you by any chance adopt your daughter?’’ the outlet said. The bride’s parents responded yes — revealing a secret they had kept from...

It’s just the flu, bro. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/06/us/politics/vaccine-passports-coronavirus.html Some say the next Coronavirus issue that will be fought is vaccine passports. I say no way to any imposition of a vaccine passport requirement for schools and government. If a private business wants to do it then I won’t give that business any money. https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2021-04-06/texas-gov-greg-abbott-issues-executive-order-banning-coronavirus-vaccine-passports Texas and Florida have banned government mandated vaccine passports. These are executive orders - legislation banning them would make me a bit more at ease. - https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2021/apr/06/coronavirus-live-news-indian-states-call-for-people-under-45-to-be-eligible-for-vaccine-cases-rising-in-japan?page=with:block-606c9c1a8f08098d4e05661e Dutch government says soon you will be able to go to the zoo or museum if you have a negative Coronavirus...

The Biden administration next week will launch a funeral assistance program that will provide up to $9,000 to cover the burial costs of each American who died of covid-19 — the largest program of its type ever offered by the federal government. The program is open to families regardless of their income, as long as they show documentation and have not already received similar benefits through another program.

"60 Minutes" condensed Florida governor's lengthy "pay-to-play" rebuttal down to several seconds. ================================================================= CBS is facing bipartisan backlash after using heavily edited footage of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in a"60 Minutes" story alleging potential political corruption on the part of the Republican politician. "60 Minutes" reporter Sharyn Alfonsi alleged in a recent report for the long-running news magazine that wealthy residents of Florida "cut the line during [the state's] frenzied vaccine rollout." In the segment, Alfonsi suggested that the state government's recent decision to award a vaccine distribution contract to the grocery chain Publix had the appearance of potential favoritism....

VIDEONew York Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet desperately tried to brush off the Project Veritas lawsuit against his newspaper a couple of months ago with very unconvincing maniacal laughter that came off as totally fake and forced. The clip of his fake maniacal laughter might be destined to become a viral meme. What makes the laughter really funny is when you match it up against the subsequent decision by a New York State Supreme Court judge to DENY the Times' motion to dismiss the lawsuit. And now the Times is subject to discovery which will prove they published a FAKE...

US Customs and Border Protection officials removed a press release from their website that announced the arrest of two Yemeni nationals on the terrorism watchlist who’d illegally crossed the border this year. Officials deleted the release because it “was not properly reviewed and contained certain disclosure and policy information related to national security,” CBP spokesman Justin Long told The Post Tuesday. The press release, which is archived online on Wayback Machine, was originally published Monday but is no longer accessible on CBP’s website. When its link is clicked, readers are sent to a page that says “Access Denied” and “You...

It is now blatantly obvious that Janet Yellen, former Federal Reserve chair and now the U. S. Treasury Secretary, is a globalist who wants to impose financial rules upon all the nations of the world when it comes to corporate income taxes. In a nutshell, she is proposing that there be a fixed corporate income tax worldwide. The real question is: does she have the financial clout to force all nations to agree and go along? The reality is that Amazon pays no corporate income tax in the United States, due to tax loopholes. If forced to pay the Biden...

The king wanted to go fishing, and he asked the royal weather forecaster the forecast for the next few hours. The palace meteorologist assured him that there was no chance of rain. So the king and the queen went fishing. On the way he met a man with a fishing pole riding on a donkey, and he asked the man if the fish were biting. The fisherman said, "Your Majesty, you should return to the palace! In just a short time I expect a huge rain storm." The king replied: "I hold the palace meteorologist in high regard. He is...

Food reportedly bought from Thailand and bound for Tatmadaw (Myanmar’s military) troops in Karen State was taken away on Tuesday at midnight, after ethnic armed organization the Karen National Union (KNU) blocked its delivery. Many in Myanmar believe that the food was sold by the Thai army to the Tatmadaw, prompting people to condemn the Thai military on social media after the food arrived on the banks of the Salween River on Saturday. Following fresh clashes with the Tatmadaw in Karen State’s Papun District, the KNU’s Brigade 5 blocked transportation routes to Papun, preventing the military regime from delivering food...

Major League Baseball shamefully pandered to Leftists by pulling the All-Star game out of Georgia. Trump’s strong response in calling for a boycott of MLB deserves a standing ovation, and Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced that Texas will no longer seek to host MLB events.Baseball should remain the timeless sport which unified America ever since the Civil War. The armies of the North and the South would take breaks to play a friendly game of baseball with each other.Healthy rivalries between the National and American Leagues, and other professional baseball leagues, subsequently kept the game on track for more than...

A little-known Los Angeles-based actor was reportedly arrested by the FBI on Tuesday for allegedly running an enormous Ponzi scheme where he duped investors by lying about the success of his film distribution company. Zachary Horwitz, 34, who has had roles in small films under the name Zach Avery, is accused of cheating investors out of $227 million and using most of the funds for himself, The Los Angeles Times reported, citing federal authorities. Horwitz allegedly enticed the investors by falsely claiming his company, 1inMM Capital LLC, had film licensing deals with Netflix, HBO and other platforms, the newspaper reported.

What makes a mass shooter capable of emotionless, indiscriminate killing remains largely a mystery. Such a depraved act is not within the normal programming of a human being, not even for most hardened criminals. We may never truly understand all the factors, both physiological and environmental, that turn angry people into mass killers, but there is much we do know and can figure out, if common sense is our guide. Since the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School, the mass shooting phenomenon has been intensively studied by experts in a number of disciplines, from law enforcement to sociology and psychiatry....

To quote Charles Barkley, “most white people and black people are great people.” That describes 95% of the American public. Sadly, too many of our politicians come from the other 5%, and that dynamic also goes beyond the political class into the social and traditional media class. It’s the 5% who are the loudest, most obnoxious and most divisive users of Twitter and Facebook. CNN and MSNBC award platforms to divisive hucksters and buffoons like Don Lemon and Joe Scarborough and Chris Cuomo and Al Sharpton because they know those are the people who will regularly say outrageous and divisive...

The Octave of Easter Luke 24:13–35 Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus enlightens the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Have you ever tried to solve a puzzle and then were surprised when the various pieces suddenly fell into place? Well, this is what happens to these disciples as Jesus begins to speak: “How slow of heart [you are] to believe all that the prophets spoke! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” The whole of Christianity is hanging here in the balance. The disciples didn’t get it at first. They didn’t...

One American gets up in the morning, gets in his car and drives down a congested highway to work. Another wakes at noon and rides a subway to a saloon. Which of these two -- if America's future takes a wrong turn -- would pay what might be called the "Buttigieg tax"? CNBC's Kayla Tausche asked Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in a March 26 interview what sort of taxes he perceived as possible ways to pay for infrastructure projects. "First, a gas tax," she asked. "You called it old-fashioned to raise the gas tax. Do you still believe that? Could...

Tanesha Williams, 25, and Diamond Johnson, 28, were charged with attempted murder, first-degree assault, second-degree assault and other related chargesTwo Waldorf women arrested after allegedly assaulting several people in a Taco Bell drive-thru in Charles County, Maryland, have been employed as correctional officers with the Prince George’s County Department of Corrections since 2018. Tanesha Williams, 25, and Diamond Johnson, 28, were charged with attempted murder, first-degree assault, second-degree assault and other related charges after crashing into the restaurant. On March 31, Charles County Sheriff's officers responded to a report of an assault at 10:23 p.m. at the Taco Bell on...

The Ministry of Foreign Relations (Minrex) of Cuba confirmed Monday that it had summoned the top American diplomat in the country, Embassy Chargé d’Affairs Timothy Zúñiga-Brown, to protest “flagrant and systematic violations of human rights in the United States.” The accusation followed the publication of the U.S. State Department’s 2020 report on international human rights, which detailed the situation in every country on earth. Cuba’s profile in the 2020 report was typically unflattering given the consistent use of state violence to silence dissidents, the lack of free speech and assembly provisions, and widespread abuses of power by state security. The...