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BRUSSELS (AP) — A total of 45 reporters and media workers were killed doing their jobs over the last year, the highest number among them in strife-torn Afghanistan, the world’s largest organization of journalists said Friday. The figure represents one of the lowest death tolls in 30 years, since the International Federation of Journalists first began publishing annual reports in 1991 on journalists killed in incidents related to their work. Sixty-five deaths were recorded in 2020.

Antwerp, now the No. 1 port in Europe for cocaine busts, has seen a rise in gang violence and corruptionANTWERP, Belgium—For centuries, goods flowing through the giant port here have enriched this elegant city, known for its diamonds, art and fashion. Now a different import from across the Atlantic—cocaine—has unleashed a gusher of cash that officials say is swamping Antwerp with corruption, violence and economic distortion. Authorities have seized 88 metric tons of cocaine stashed in containers from Latin America this year, nearly 10 times the figure in 2014. .... To sneak their drugs through the port, traffickers are paying...

We can't stop them from cheating, but we must not let them get away with it. According to the polls, Biden's popularity is sinking faster than the Titanic. This is causing great joy among the people who don't want to live under communism or even extreme totalitarian socialism. Sadly, we won't win elections by winning in the polls. We won't win elections by winning the hearts and minds of the voters. In places where bad people cheat big time, we won't win the elections no matter what we do. We can't stop them from cheating, but we must not let...

PRISTINA, Dec 28 (Reuters) - As Kosovo endures its worst energy crisis in a decade, Xhelal Gashi is considering closing down his bakery in Pristina because he is struggling to cover fuel costs for a generator since authorities introduced power cuts.... Many businesses and households in Kosovo have brought out portable power generators since the country's power distribution company, Kosovo Energy Distribution Systems (KEDS), announced last week that it would introduce two-hour-long power cuts until further notice.... ..."As a consequence, Kosovo is importing energy that was not scheduled in the markets," The European Network of Transmission System Operators (ENTSO-E), which...

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – After the game clock had finally ticked down to double zeroes Friday night at Hard Rock Stadium and Georgia’s 34-11 win over Michigan was official, Kirby Smart’s players sought to give him a Gatorade bath. The Bulldogs’ coach was having none of it. He avoided the dunk and scolded those that tried to give it to him. “I was wanting a real shower and not a Gatorade bath,” Smart explained after the College Football Playoff semifinal victory. “Because I want to get focused on Alabama. They have a five- or six-hour head start. To be honest,...

It turns out they’ve been playing us all along when it comes to COVID cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. If you still doubt that our COVID nightmare is being fully orchestrated by the evilest cabal of miscreants ever assembled in America, look no further than the latest stories that have just come over the wire featuring the almighty Fauci and some of his minions. How convenient for the perps to let the cat out of the bag on a Friday New Year’s Eve when most people are trying to forget the never-ending horror show that was the year of Our Lord...

Happy New Year, everyone!! Great news: Our bandwidth and other costs with our new provider are substantially lower than before so we have now reduced our total budget to $82k per quarter! FR is funded solely by contributions made by the liberty loving patriots who love and use it. We are beholden to no political party. No advertisers, no outsiders, no sugar daddies, no corporate string pullers. Definitely no government subsidies or tax breaks. No 501c or other IRS non-profit status. This means no commercial ads. No annoying pop-ups. No ad tracking. No mail campaigns. No spam. No third-parties --...

The New York State Department of Health has chosen a very peculiar and unconstitutional way to allocate scarce resources. Martin Luther King, Jr., dreamed of a world in which his children would be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. New York State’s Department of Health has effectively said that the color of a person’s skin is the only thing that matters. It has explicitly announced that, because of a shortage of monoclonal antibody treatments, the state will be rationing what supplies it has...and White people need not apply. Normally, when there’s...

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I have a few friends that are attorneys that don’t suffer fools gladly. I have been speaking independently to two of them. They don’t know each other and likely will never meet each other. They pursued different facets of the law, and each was successful in their career. Each of them used the same noun to describe the intellect of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamela Harris. They said, “moron”. I hadn’t heard the term in a long long time. I think the last time was in Animal House. I have met several prominent politicians from both sides of...

William Golding (of Lord of the Flies fame) wrote an essay titled “Thinking as a Hobby” in which he outlined what he saw as the three stages of human thought. The first stage, he pointed out, wasn’t really thinking at all, but rather emoting about whatever information (or disinformation) parades through a brain’s synapses. This level of “thought” takes no actual knowledge, uses logic sparingly, if at all, and produces nothing but anger, bitterness, and only an occasional tickle of amusement. The second stage of thinking is actual, rational thinking, but only goes so far as to list the problems,...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Friday shot back at criticism from right-wing figures after a photo of her on vacation with her boyfriend in Florida was shared online, suggesting that her critics stop "projecting their sexual frustrations" on her. Steve Cortes, a former Trump campaign adviser, shared a photo on Twitter on Friday of Ocasio-Cortez in public with her boyfriend, Riley Roberts, vacationing in Florida. Cortes attacked Ocasio-Cortez for not wearing a mask in public and also took aim at Roberts's "gross pale male feet in public." Ocasio-Cortez responded by retweeting the photo and writing, "If Republicans are mad they...

HOUSTON — Thousands of people moved to Texas again this year, and if you’re one of them, you may not be aware of some of the unusual laws we have, especially those that deal with buying alcohol. All liquor stores are closed in Texas on New Year’s Day and lots of folks had no idea. (Snip) “ The state law reads that every liquor store in the state of Texas has to be closed on Sundays, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day." The law is among what are known as the state’s “blue laws” regulating when hard alcohol can be...

At the start of 2021 there were 16 members of the Constitutional Carry club in the United States of America. They were:AlaskaArizonaArkansasIdahoKansasKentuckyMaineMississippiMissouriNew HampshireNorth DakotaOklahomaSouth DakotaVermontWest VirginiaWyoming2021 was a record year for Constitutional Carry. In 2021, five states joined the Constitutional Carry club, increasing membership from 16 to 21. The last and largest state to join the club was Texas. The four other states to join the club in 2021 were Tennessee, Iowa, Montana, and Utah.Several other states are working to pass Constitutional Carry bills. Here are states and possibilities for Constitutional Carry in 2022.The first in line, with bills that...

Out with the old, in with the new. The eternal slogan of the optimist on this day. I’m going to lose weight . . . after I finish that muffin over there. Edna St. Vincent-Millay is supposed to have said that history isn’t one damn thing after another—it’s the same damn thing over and over again. I’m thinking this is now the motto of the CDC and our public health service, so come February 2, expect the groundhog to see six more months of COVID at least. I’m pretty sure Brandon is up for it, though.

I spent eight years in Japan, living as the less affluent Japanese do in a small, noisy, and cold apartment, with no car, and eating mostly rice, noodles, vegetables, and fish. It was a simple lifestyle, difficult in some ways but clean and healthy. I was on foot, climbing stairs and climbing hills, working a lot, and spending my days off in the botanical garden or just hanging out by the river, where there were benches and some open space and relative peace and quiet. When I returned to the USA, I thought I was lucky, and in most ways,...

SHEDAI CAMP, Afghanistan (AP) — In a sprawling settlement of mud brick huts in western Afghanistan housing people displaced by drought and war, a woman is fighting to save her daughter. Aziz Gul’s husband sold their 10-year-old into marriage without telling his wife, taking a down-payment so he could feed his family of five children. Otherwise, he told her, they would all starve. He had to sacrifice one to save the rest. Many of Afghanistan’s growing number of destitute people are making such desperate decisions as their nation spirals into a vortex of poverty. Afghanistan’s aid-dependent economy was already teetering...

I do not write this article for the typical American Thinker reader. Like me, the typical reader already recoils in revulsion and fear about the direction this country and world are heading. I write instead for the Leftist sappers and monitors who watch what comes out in American Thinker either to pounce on it in trolling comments or simply report back to their overseers. I want us all to engage in a New Year’s Day mental exercise and extrapolate where we will be—not as a country but as a culture—in 20 years. In that span, patriot conservatives may win a...

A Cleveland police officer was shot dead early Friday evening in a carjacking incident while he was off duty, according to reports. Responding officers soon located the stolen vehicle and took a suspect into custody, FOX 8 of Cleveland reported. Neither the slain officer – who was shot twice -- nor the suspect were immediately identified....

January 1st, 2021 St. Florian's chapel, Sanok, Poland Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White First readingNumbers 6:22-27 ©They are to call down my name on the sons of Israel, and I will bless themThe Lord spoke to Moses and said, ‘Say this to Aaron and his sons: “This is how you are to bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them: May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord let his face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord uncover his face to you and bring you peace.”This is how they are...