Free Republic

Former President Donald Trump issued a statement on Wednesday celebrating the possibility that Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) may not run for reelection. Trump vowed to work on defeating Murkowski in the Republican primary in 2022 and the Alaska senator voted in favor of convicting him during the second impeachment trial. “Great news for the Republican Party! Senator Lisa Murkowski said she is ‘still weighing whether she will run again’ for the Senate in Alaska. In other words, there is a chance that she won’t run! Wouldn’t that be great?” Trump said in a statement issued via his Save America political...

On a regular basis, we are hearing reports of high-profile Christian leaders renouncing their faith, most recently Dr. Paul Maxwell, an author, former Moody Bible Institute professor, and writer for Desiring God. Yet, for many of us, it was even more shocking to learn that Abraham Piper, son of the influential pastor John Piper, had become an internet sensation, best known for his videos mocking his former evangelical beliefs. As reported by Ruth Graham for the New York Times, “Abraham Piper became a sensation on TikTok nearly overnight. He posted his first video in November, and he now has more...

It was nearly twelve years ago to the month. Barack Obama was in the first weeks of his new administration. Some of the biggest names in finance were summoned to the White House to discuss the terms of the bank bailout known as the “Troubled Asset Relief Program” (TARP). Politico published a detailed insider account of the meeting. The charismatic new president who’d just won an historic election with a message of unity sounded a distinctly different tone behind closed doors with the titans of American banks. As the CEOs attempted to defend their large compensation packages in the midst...

With no notification given, Amazon banned a new book aimed at helping parents sever the influences of gender ideology and then reversed its decision in its latest move against voices that scrutinize transgenderism. The online retail giant blocked the book Desist, Detrans, & Detox: Getting Your Child Out of the Gender Cult by Maria Keffler, the co-founder of the recently-formed Partners for Ethical Care, from being sold on its platform six days after its publication. The book's removal comes on the heels of a similar move earlier this year when Amazon scrubbed scholar Ryan Anderson's book, When Harry Became Sally:...

States are “ranked” in many ways — best business climate, worst quality of life, most fun, etc. But most of those judgments are made by professionals — economists, pollsters, even journalists.A unique YouGov survey took an entirely different approach.We asked people to choose the better of two states in a series of head-to-head matchups. States are rated based on their “win percentage”, that is: how often that state won the head-to-head matchup when it was one of the two states shown.All 50 states were shown, in addition to Washington, D.C., but territories were not included.The rankings are from best to...

Norah O'Donnell, anchor and managing editor of the "CBS Evening News," talks immigration, politics, painting and more in a revealing interview with former President George W. Bush for "CBS Sunday Morning," to be broadcast on April 18. More of the interview will be presented Tuesday, April 20, on the "CBS Evening News with Norah O'Donnell," and Wednesday, April 21, on "CBS This Morning." O'Donnell visited Mr. Bush and former first lady Laura Bush at their Texas ranch, south of Dallas. There, the 74-year-old opened up about his life after leaving office, his thoughts on the country, his painting and his...

Vladimir Putin is raising the threat level in Ukraine by moving tens of thousands of troops to the border, threatening war. He’s also ignoring the pleas of the international community to release his political foe, Alexey Navalny, from prison. Navalny is reportedly on a hunger strike, although the Kremlin announced they would force-feed the dissident if necessary. So Joe Biden chose this moment in history to punish Putin for his election interference in 2015-16 as well as the state-sponsored hacks of everything from government personnel files to national security secrets. Russia was already under severe economic sanctions for the annexation...

Gavin Newsom's decision-making is under heightened scrutiny as the California governor faces a recall election later this year. And while this may be unwelcome focus as the Democratic lawmaker wrangles with COVID-19 in his state, down the line the vote could prove a political boost. "The impact of the recall on Newsom's vulnerability down the line depends on whether it does end up being close or not," Eric Schickler, professor of political science and co-director of the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, told Newsweek.

If you've spent any time in Seattle, and I have over the past three decades, you will notice that something strange has occurred. I don't mean the socialist idiot city councilwoman Kshama Sawant and her raving minions. Nor is it the entire city council that echoes the latest and most progressive progressions of the progressed. Neither is it the homeless encampments defiling a once beautiful, clean cityscape with their needles, trash, and turds. No, this is much more subtle until it hits your cognitive center like a Tesla running out of juice before you get to your destination with no...

A study by Oxford University found the number of people who receive blood clots after getting vaccinated with a coronavirus vaccine are about the same for those who get Pfizer PFE and Moderna MRNA vaccines as they are for the AstraZeneca AZN vaccine that was produced with the university's help.

CHARLESTON, Saturday, April 13 -- Evening. Major ANDERSON has surrendered, after hard fighting, commencing at 4 1/2 o'clock yesterday morning, and continuing until five minutes to 1 to-day. The American flag has given place to the Palmetto of South Carolina. You have received my previous dispatches concerning the fire and the shooting away of the flagstaff. The latter event is due to Fort Moultrie, as well as the burning of the fort, which resulted from one of the hot shots fired in the morning. During the conflagration, Gen. BEAUREGARD sent a boat to Major ANDERSON, with offers of assistance, the...

President Biden spoke to former President George W. Bush on Tuesday ahead of his announcement that he intended to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan. "I spoke yesterday with President Bush to inform him of my decision," Biden said in prepared remarks outlining his plans for the withdrawal.

Rock bands tend to peak early in their life cycles, riding the wave of youthful inspiration. It's hard enough to keep a project going for years. It's almost impossible to make great albums up through the end. In other words, not all "final albums" are created equal. Some long-haul acts slowly fizzle, trickling out average material every few years — mostly as an excuse to rev up the touring engine and play the greatest hits. Others keep the machine running organically, hitting the brakes due to inevitable creative tension, oversized egos or commercial backslides. In cases like Nirvana, Jimi Hendrix,...

President Joe Biden has cancelled the deployment of two US warships from the Black Sea despite warning Vladimir Putin there would be 'repercussions' for the troop build-up in Ukraine. Last week, Turkey said Washington was sending two warships to the Black Sea, in a decision Russia called an unfriendly provocation. But the Biden administration has reversed the decision after the Kremlin warned them to 'stay away for their own good'.

@JacobRubashkin Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who is up for re-election next year, raised $1,925,637 this quarter and had $3,137,384 on hand on March 31. Charles Booker, who narrowly lost the 2020 KY-Sen Democratic primary, is exploring a run against Paul

A centuries-old puzzle, sometimes used as a practical joke, is the Chinese finger trap. It’s a simple woven bamboo tube into which an unsuspecting victim puts both index fingers but then cannot release themselves from the tight bondage of the tube, no matter how hard he pulls. This brings to mind the "one belt, one road" project advanced by China all over the world, especially in Africa, South America, and the poorer parts of Asia. A poor country, grateful for Chinese aid, readily accepts the offer of a road or bridge. After completion, China asks for payment as per the...

Minnesota cops arrested 24 people for rioting and curfew violations in the fourth night of protests over Daunte Wright’s police shooting death — with one man mocking officers by parading a severed pig’s head on a stake. Video below: Twitter LinkVideo below: Twitter LinkLate in the night, Antifa/BLM rioters decided to get even more violent. An unlawful assembly was declared outside the Brooklyn Center Police station. The Police started spraying the crowd from behind the fence outside the police station. Video below: Twitter LinkA powerful moment that was captured yesterday by Brendan Gutenschwager shows a black man yelling at the...

Researchers with the Voyageurs Wolf Project in northern Minnesota showed off their first-ever wolf collar camera footage. They fitted a GPS collar camera to a lone wolf last spring. The camera captures 30 seconds of video at the top of every hour, for 42 consecutive days. The cameras captured more than four hours of the wolf eating fish and deer, watching birds, walking through the woods, and of course, sleeping. Researchers found the wolf’s fishing activity "fascinating" because previously they had only documented wolves from a single pack hunting fish at the creek. They say it "provides insight into the...

President Biden's expected pick to lead U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Chris Magnus, has a record of defending sanctuary cities and resisting Trump administration orders about undocumented immigrants. Magnus is currently police chief in Tucson, Arizona, where he made headlines for rejecting federal border security grant money from Operation Stonegarden in 2020 — a decision that earned him criticism from Tucson Police Officers Association head Tony Archibald. "For years, this federally funded grant has paid for officer overtime to do proactive, on-site activity in high crime areas," Archibald said . "The Stonegarden deployments have resulted in hundreds of arrests that...

After appearing on milk carton memes from Republicans mocking her as AWOL in being Joe Biden's border crisis czar, Kamala Harris has dropped her crocheting, snacking, and home decor battles to bring herself out of the woodwork. Wednesday, she held a press conference and Zoom-like round table on just what she plans to do about the migrant surge at the border, looking for all those "root causes."Here are some choice bits from the White House transcript -- the first reporter's question got right to the point:Q Madam Vice President, will you visit the southern border. Do you have a trip...