Free Republic

... Gov. Gavin Newsom claimed Texas ​​middle-class families “pay more taxes than middle-class families in California.” “Look that up,” he said in a virtual meeting with editorial and opinion writers from the McClatchy chain’s California newspapers. “That’s a fact”

At 9:05 Monday night, State Department spokesman Ned Price issued a plaintive message to the new rulers of Afghanistan. "The Taliban needs to meet its commitments and obligations in Afghanistan," Price tweeted. Those commitments and obligations include respecting freedom of travel, safeguarding the "basic rights of the people," engaging in counterterrorism, "not carrying out reprisal violence against those who stayed" in Afghanistan and "forming an inclusive government." Who is Price kidding? Here is a quick answer: No, the Taliban is not going to do those things. The more immediate question is: What about the Americans still in Afghanistan after the...

The Biden administration is expected to increasingly rely on drone surveillance and strikes for counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan following Monday's U.S. exit from the country after 20 years of war. President Biden this past week gave his top military commanders the authority to carry out several strikes on Islamic State affiliate targets in the country, a response to a suicide bombing near the airport Thursday that killed 13 U.S. service members and dozens of Afghans. The drone attacks – including a Friday strike in Jalalabad near the Pakistan border that killed two militants, and a Sunday strike in Kabul that...

On 16 August 2021, in the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii, Judge J. Michael Seabright granted a motion for summary judgment for the plaintiffs. The two disputed parts of the State of Hawaii’s registration law are unconstitutional in violation of the Second Amendment. From the decision: HRS § 134-2(e)’s requirement that “[p]ermits issued to acquire any pistol or revolver shall be void unless used within ten days after the date of issue” is declared unconstitutional in violation of the Second Amendment. Defendant’s officers, agents, servants, employees, and all persons in active concert or participation with Defendant...

Politicians love force. The idea of leaving us alone to make our own decisions goes against their nature. To be sure, civilized society sometimes needs government force: police to punish killers, soldiers to protect us from foreign invaders, environmental police to stop my smoke from flowing to your lungs ... But the political class always goes too far. Now some want medical police to force everyone to get vaccinated. I'm surprised it hasn't happened already. "It has!" you say. "I have to get vaccinated to keep my job, for my kids to attend school, to go to the movies, a...

A government bill to create new police powers to spy on criminal suspects online, disrupt their data and take over their accounts has been passed with the support of Labor.The identify and disrupt bill passed the Senate on Wednesday, despite concerns about the low bar of who can authorise a warrant, and that the government failed to implement all the safeguards recommended by the bipartisan joint committee on intelligence and security.The bill creates three new types of warrants to enable the AFP and Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission to modify and delete data, take over accounts and spy on Australians in...

If you take the time to piece together the puzzle, you begin to see a very disturbing picture. In seven short months, the Biden administration hasn’t only, via policy and executive decisions, precipitated a dire crisis on the U.S. southern border and an unforced debacle in Afghanistan -- the latter with dark strategic implications vis-à-vis the PRC, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, along with an anticipated resurgence in terrorism but appears to seek to break the American spirit. The picture emerging strongly suggests that demoralizing Americans isn’t merely a consequence of bad policies, poor decision-making, and incompetence. We know this:...

I am sorry I have not been very responsive to your Emails lately. I have been somewhat under the weather. My doctors have diagnosed me as having an acute case of Post Islamic Stress Trauma with Apologetic White House Fatigue, PIST-AWF (Pronounced pissed-off) PIST-AWF is a newly defined disease that has become widespread and highly contagious. Doctors at the CDC released a statement disclosing PIST-AWF as a new disease. It has already infected over half of the United States and is anticipated to continue to spread. The disease itself affects the cells of a person's entire body then goes dormant....

Airbus 380 is on its way across the Atlantic. It flies consistently at 800 km/h at 30,000 feet, when suddenly a Eurofighter with Tempo Mach 2 appears. The pilot of the fighter jet slows down, flies alongside the Airbus and greets the pilot of the passenger plane by radio: "Airbus, boring flight isn’t it? Now have a look here!" He rolls his jet on its back, accelerates, breaks through the sound barrier, rises rapidly to a dizzying height, then swoops down almost to sea level in a breathtaking dive. He loops back next to the Airbus and asks, "Well, how...

The former speaker of the house explains the consequences of Joe Biden's Afghanistan withdrawal

Impeachment of President Joe Biden and use of the 25th Amendment are available options for Congress in response to the killing of U.S. military personnel in suicide bombing attacks in Kabul, Afghanistan, Rep. Roger Williams (R-TX) said on SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Sunday with host Joel Pollak. “It’s certainly grounds for [Biden] to be to be removed from office,” Williams remarked. “He should resign if he truly loves this country and sees that this is a disaster of epic proportions. When we lost those [14] young men and women the other day, it was about as low as America has gotten...

US President Joe Biden did not find time for a joint press conference following a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Vladimir Zelensky, RIA Novosti reports. The White House press office has released Biden’s schedule for the upcoming day. The American president is scheduled to meet Zelensky at the Oval Office and during the meeting “will reaffirm the United States’ unwavering support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russia’s ongoing aggression in Donbass and Crimea.” After the meeting, Biden’s schedule includes a weekly economic briefing. Consequently, the US president did not find time in his busy schedule...

September 1st , 2021Memorial of Bl. Michael Ghebre of Ethiopia Kidane Mehret Catholic Church, Eritrea Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green First readingColossians 1:1-8 ©The message of the truth has reached you and is spreading all over the worldFrom Paul, appointed by God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy to the saints in Colossae, our faithful brothers in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father. We have never failed to remember you in our prayers and to give thanks for you to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, ever since...

The catastrophic implications of the incompetent U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan are difficult to exaggerate. The effects of this debacle are apt to reverberate well beyond the lifetime of anyone reading this, for there can be no doubt that this perceived Taliban victory has infused new life into the Islamist campaign against the West. The roots of Islamism run deep and cannot be reduced to the kinds of conspicuous and easily understandable complaints that are often identified as "root causes" of violent political outbursts. Violent Islamism was invented as an effort to make sense of and reverse the Islamic world's perceived...

A HUGE arsenal of tanks seized by the Taliban have been added to their bulging stash of arms now worth £62 billion. Video shows row after row of tanks and other armoured vehicles parked up and being inspected by the fanatics after being captured when they defeated government forces... ..In the video, a Taliban fighter can be seen on top of one of the vehicles panning round to show the extent of their weaponry. Taliban fighters have also been pictured posing for snaps in abandoned fighter jets as satellite shots show the aircraft treasure trove left behind by the US...

Another busy night of many ill*gal border crossers. Just walking down the highway…

PU PD PIHRDDPSNY JRV BRZ UR MR RW XD BRZ FYVY SYJRVY, DR BRZ IZDU MR RW XD BRZ WYKYV EXKY. —QEYVBN DUVXBYT

With placeholder president-in-name-only Joe Biden’s horrifying, juvenescent, and callow surrender of Afghanistan, the Dems’ and Never-Trumpers’ grand succession plan après Donald Trump has now utterly collapsed. resident Joe Biden is officially a disgrace to the office, the nation, and its citizens. Ruined by his native low IQ arrogance, malicious incompetence, and aging mental health infirmities, and shunned by our allies, Joe Biden has no standing. Relegating serious Afghan retrograde decisions to a collection of woke fools, and duplicitous useless technocrats would never be forgivable even if Biden were a completely innocent incapacitated bystander. Yet in his increasingly rare coherent nano-moments,...

Remarkable footage shows the truly epic scale of the exodus of Afghans fleeing their country to head west. The almost-biblical scenes of the mass migration across the desert where the borders of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran all meet shows an endless river of people flowing between the mountains. And for British politicians concerned about an influx of migrants to Europe, these images will confirm their worst fears.

Reuters on Tuesday released excerpts from last call between Biden and Ghani before the Afghan president fled They talked for about 14 minutes on July 23 as the Taliban advanced rapidly Biden told his counterpart of a perception that the fight against the Taliban was not going well 'There is a need, whether it is true or not ... to project a different picture,' he said Comments are indication Biden knew it was matter of time before Taliban won In months leading up to withdrawal, Biden predicted pullout would go smoothly Neither appeared to realize just how badly things would...