Free Republic

As our July 4th celebrations were beginning, the U.S. quietly closed and abandoned Bagram Air Base, the largest American military base between the Persian Gulf and the South China Sea. Afghan looters were soon seen scavenging inside the base. The long retreat of the American Empire is under way, and this longest war is likely to end in bloody retribution for the Afghans who sided with us against the Taliban and are left behind. When the last American departed Bagram, The Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. is making plans for "an emergency evacuation of the American embassy in...

Start at the 30 minute mark.This is boring flight data explained and there's a reveal shortly after the 30 minute mark that made ME say, "Wait, what?" and go back to listen with different ears.It begins with a warning not to duplicate, but says nothing about sharing.I "liked" and followed this guy from about a year ago

A video has emerged of a shoplifting raid on a department store in San Francisco in which expensive designer bags were stolen by thieves. According to the footage, as many as 10 thieves took part in the raid on the city’s Neiman Marcus store on Monday evening. It shows the thieves run from the front of the department store holding stolen items in their hands. Getaway cars appeared to be waiting

It is one of the unfortunate ironies coming out of the Biden administration that, with all the obsession about so-called equity, the policies they are putting forth will only hurt the very low-income Americans they pretend to want to help. The Biden administration is growing government at a record pace. If what they want is opportunity for every American, government policy should aim to encourage economic growth. Bigger, more intrusive government achieves the opposite. It stifles economic growth. The Biden administration submitted its first 10-year budget to Congress last month. The budget projects average annual economic growth for 2023 through...

U. of C. student dies days after being struck by stray bullet on Green Line: ‘He was a ball of light’ July 5, 2021 Denver native Max Lewis died days after he was shot on an L train. Friends remembered him as an outgoing and welcoming presence. Max Lewis didn’t have to make the trek downtown. The affable 20-year-old University of Chicago junior had the option to work from home for the competitive internship he’d landed at a Loop investment firm, but he “loved getting to know as many people as he could,” according to his best friend. “He loved...

For the first time in a generation, there are six conservative justices on the Supreme Court. In time, this sextet will incrementally push the Court to the right. Yet, three of them are already sounding an alarm. Twice this term, Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch warned that Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett lack backbone. In an excessive force case, the conservative trio wrote that the two newest Justices were "unwilling to...bear[] the criticism that" denying the prisoner's appeal "would inevitably elicit." And in a religious liberty case, the Thomas-3 charged that Kavanaugh and Barrett lacked...

In order to save the planet from catastrophic climate change, Americans will have to cut their energy use by more than 90 percent and families of four should live in housing no larger than 640 square feet. That's at least according to a team of European researchers led by University of Leeds sustainability researcher Jefim Vogel. In their new study, "Socio-economic conditions for satisfying human needs at low energy use," in Global Environmental Change, they calculate that public transportation should account for most travel. Travel should, in any case, be limited to between 3,000 to 10,000 miles per person annually....

Now more than ever, Americans are concerned with the integrity of elections. In response to this concern, states across the country are working to modernize their election laws to cope with the ever-changing nature of elections due to technological advancement, growing populations, and other factors. States that have passed new election laws have all been hit with a barrage of lawsuits, but so far have generally prevailed in court managing to keep their reforms because they are reasonable, fair, and constitutional. Yesterday was no exception. In a 6-3 decision the U.S. Supreme Court in DNC v. Brnovich upheld two Arizona...

Raytheon Technologies, the second largest U.S. defense contractor, is asking its employees to 'identify their privilege' and 'develop intersectional allyship' in a 'woke' training course, leaked documents show. Raytheon CEO Greg Hayes spearheaded the campaign called 'Stronger Together' starting last summer, which was revealed through training documents reported by Chris Rufo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think-tank. The documents instruct employees at the weapons-maker to strive for 'equity' over 'equality', and tutor them on 'intersectionality', a world-view that critics say divides people into different categories in a hierarchy of privilege and oppression based on race, gender,...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem Psalm 117Psalm 117 1 Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples. 2 For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord.[a]Footnotes a Psalm 117:2 Hebrew Hallelu YahNew International Version (NIV)(End of Scripture Passage) This is the Seventh Candle in Our Virtual Menorah.New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.Religion Forum threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate of any kind.

Eric Adams was pronounced the winner of New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary on Tuesday after preliminary final numbers showed the centrist won 50.5 percent of the vote. The Associated Press called the race for Adams after the results showed he narrowly defeated former sanitation commissioner Kathryn Garcia by 8,426 votes. Garcia received 49.5 percent after eight rounds of voting. Adams, a former police captain, beat out a crowded field in New York’s first major race to use ranked-choice voting. If elected, Adams would become the city’s second black mayor. As Democrats outnumber Republicans by 7-to-1 in New York City,...

A United States Air Force Academy Professor has argued Critical Race Theory should be taught to all cadets so that they can understand how the United States was 'shaped by racism.' Political scientist Lynne Chandler García said the Constitution brought about 'inequality' and that George Washington was a racist. She argued that the history of the U.S. proved that 'racism has shaped both foreign and domestic policy.' Garcia, who teaches the Marxist theory at the USAF Academy in Colorado Springs, said she agreed with the Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley who recently told Congress that Critical Race...

In addition to challengers in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate next year, incumbent Sen. James Lankford said he is contending with opposition from a high-ranking member of his own party. John Bennett, who was elected Oklahoma Republican Party chairman April 10, spoke later at the OKC Freedom Rally organized by Lankford’s Republican challenger, Jackson Lahmeyer, and is supporting him in his challenge to Lankford. According to The Oklahoman, Bennett told reporters after the June 26 rally that Lankford’s decision not to object to the results of the 2020 presidential election after the Jan. 6 insurrection was proof that the...

Independence Day is supposed to be a day of national unity. President Joe Biden proclaimed: "The Fourth of July is a sacred day in our country -- a day of history, of hope, remembrance and resolve, of promise and possibilities." Liberal Biden voters in the media did not concur. These are the people who refuse to wear flag pins or say the Pledge of Allegiance at news events they cover. They love their own freedom, but they use it to be professionally unpatriotic. Oh, they would claim that people who love their country can be the most passionate critics, fighting...

ictory is near for the candidate endorsed by former President Donald Trump in Staten Island's Republican primary for bureau president. The third round of unofficial ranked-choice results from the June 22 contest released Tuesday evening, the first including absentee votes, showed Vito Fossella holding a narrow lead with 9,306 votes (50.8%). That was enough for his closest rival, Steven Matteo, to concede the race after getting 9,016 votes (49.2%).

When the First Amendment is being abridged in a small Rocky Mountain town, you have evidence that it's being abridged for all of us. As the country spirals out of control with a pretend president whose election is as illegitimate as he is unhinged, retreat into the idyllic American Rockies in the hopes of escaping the tyranny threatening the rest of the country has provided little satisfaction. Even as La Plata County, Colorado, home to Durango in the southwest, succumbed to the partisan dictates of a health industry dominated by Big Pharma and the overreach of a heavy-handed health director,...

The Democrats have a talent for avoiding responsibility for their contemptible actions by blaming them on the other side. A recent manifestation of this talent is President Biden's attempt to deflect attention away from abhorrent behavior by scores of Democrat politicians. Throughout 2020, they shirked their duty to uphold the law in the face of civil disturbances. Biden wants you to pretend that never happened in order to rail against what he calls a "white nationalist insurrection." Pants on fire! Biden should be ashamed to embrace this nonsense. In his first joint address to the U.S. Congress on April 28,...

The Democratic Party's No. 1 priority is to pass a voting "reform" bill that would federalize elections under rules favorable to Democratic candidates. It's more important than infrastructure, or massive new social spending, or anything else, which is why House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer gave their election bill the designation H.R. 1 in the House and S.1 in the Senate. The House passed H.R. 1 in a nearly straight party-line vote on March 3. Every single Republican voted against it, and every Democrat, with one exception (Rep. Bennie Thompson), voted for it. The problem for...

What happens when drugs can no longer keep Joe semi-coherent? The mental decline of Joe Biden accelerates. How long can he function as even a puppet president? The bigger question is: what happens when drugs can no longer keep Joe semi-coherent? Let's pick a time, say, late November 2021, and fantasize. At the end of November, the Democrat high command verges on a nervous breakdown. The President has not been seen in person or photographed for six weeks. Rumors abound that he no longer recognizes even his wife and that he wears Depends. His wife assures everyone that Joe is...

In America, those who fight for liberty, because they’re fortunate enough not to face imminent death, can be called “Off-White Roses.” Across the United States, people of all ages are organizing patriotic rallies, forming MAGA organizations, and creating conservative newsletters to keep the “America First” Trump base connected with those who share our conservative views about faith, family, and country. Most are not paid for their efforts and yet they devote hours each week to getting the word out about pending state and national legislation, woke companies’ insane actions, elected officials to contact regarding specific topics, and upcoming local issues...