Free Republic

US Customs and Border Protection issued a press release on May 17, 2022 to announce the arrest Norma Elizabeth Rivas-Villacorta of Riverdale, Maryland. The 23-year-old was met at the gate of her arriving flight from El Salvador at Washington Dulles International Airport. FBI agents and officers from Prince George County were present for the arrest. She is now being charged with one count each of first and second-degree murder in connection with the May 2021 shooting death of her boyfriend, Kayshaun Daly, who was 20 at the time of his death. While there is very little detail regarding the circumstances...

The McBride Fire ripped through Ruidoso in April, destroying hundreds of homes and killing two people. Now, there are some new calls for accountability. A new lawsuit claims a mismanaged area near a PNM power line is to blame for that deadly fire. The lawsuit outlines findings from an independent investigator. The civil suit claims PNM neglected an area where a tree blew over, causing the deadliest wildfire in New Mexico history. Joe Lovell represents three Texans who lost their vacation home on Gavilan Canyon Road in Ruidoso. “Well, it’s heartbreaking,” Lovell said. “For this particular group, they were largely...

<p>One of five teens accused in a March homicide at an Albuquerque gas station is in custody.</p><p>Prosecutors want 17-year-old Caprice Sicilia to be held in jail until trial.</p><p>Sicilia is going to be held pending a determination by the district court whether or not she can be released or held pending trial. That decision could come June 8.</p>

“The slothful man saith, There is a lion in the way; a lion is in the streets. As the door turneth upon his hinges, so doth the slothful upon his bed. The slothful hideth his hand in his bosom; it grieveth him to bring it again to his mouth. The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason” (Proverbs 26:13-16).

Ko Im always thought she would live in New York forever. She knew every corner of Manhattan and had worked hard to build a community of friends. Living in a small apartment, she found her attitude shifting early in the pandemic. After her brother accepted a job in Seattle in the summer of 2020, she decided to move there too. “It was fine until it wasn’t,” said Im, 36. “The pandemic really changed my mindset about how I wanted to live or how I needed to live.” Eight of the 10 largest cities in the U.S. lost population during the...

Oklahoma has officially enacted the United States' strictest abortion law, which bans terminations from the moment of conception. The state's GOP Governor Kevin Stitt, 49, signed the new legislation on Tuesday, which allows Oklahomans to sue anyone who helps a woman get an abortion. 'I promised Oklahomans that as governor I would sign every piece of pro-life legislation that came across my desk and I am proud to keep that promise today,' Stitt said in a statement.

Everyone has awful thoughts, things that cross our minds out of nowhere that were we to act on them would have us on the express train to Hell. While we don’t know where these thoughts come from, we don’t act on them so it doesn’t matter – the brain works in mysterious ways. And then there are horrible, evil people who walk among us every single day who do actually do horrible things and are on their way to Hell. Then there are those who see the evil done and think, “I can use that to get what I want.”...

The Lebanese Al-Mayadeen news website, which is affiliated with Hezbollah, reported on Wednesday that Palestinian Arab terrorist groups have informed Israel, through mediators, that they will not remain silent and respond militarily to Israel's attempts to establish new facts in Jerusalem and in particular in the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Palestinian Arab sources in Gaza told the website that Israel sent a message through the mediators that the Flag March, scheduled for this Sunday in Jerusalem, would take place along the same route that has been customary in recent years. The message also stated that the Israel Police will limit the number...

USA 25 May 1977

Today we saw some important testimony in the Michael Sussmann case. First, Rodney Joffe, an FBI confidential human source, went around his FBI handler to relay dubious Alfa Bank information to a friend at the FBI. Second, there were indications that Joffe previously worked on Russia cyber security matters. This leads us to ask whether Joffe was in some way involved in the Trump/Russia investigation. More on that below. The testimony of retired FBI Agent Tom Grasso. Grasso, a witness for Sussmann, was a Special Agent with the FBI whose “primary responsibility involved investigating cyber crimes.” He was part of...

Fatphobia is the single most toxic form of bigotry after racism, sexism, and discrimination against neurodivergent BIPOC trans sex workers with HIV. While fatphobes come in all shapes, sizes, and colors fatphobia is most commonly observed in Toxically Masculine, Patriarchal, White, Cishet, Assigned Male at Birth (TMPWCHAMAB) individuals–otherwise known as the conservative man. Fatphobia harms one hundred percent of fat people while fat shaming leads to severe mental and emotional health problems including poor self-esteem, fear of wearing revealing clothing in public, preoccupation with weight loss, and even reluctance to eat high calorie, fattening foods. Myths about fatness are rampant...

Jussie Smollett will make his post-scandal directorial debut on BET+ with the upcoming film B-Boy Blues. It will be the first project for the 39-year-old actor since being found guilty in December 2021 of charges stemming from a fake hate crime against himself. Mona Scott-Young, 55, and her Monami Entertainment has joined the film as a producer and was a key figure in the BET+ deal, according to an article on Wednesday by Variety. Smollett was sentenced in March to 150 days in county jail after being convicted on felony charges over the January 2019 hate crime hoax. He served...

Breastfeeding duration is associated with improved cognitive scores at ages 5 through 14, even after controlling for socioeconomic position and maternal cognitive ability, according to a new study. Previous studies have found an association between breastfeeding and standardized intelligence test scores; however, a causal relationship is still debated. Improved cognitive outcomes could potentially be explained by other characteristics—such as socioeconomics and maternal intelligence—of the women who breastfeed their babies. The unadjusted associations found that longer breastfeeding durations were associated with higher verbal and spatial cognitive scores at all ages up to ages 14 and 11, respectively. After taking the differences...

For God's sake, Mister President, don't turn this tragedy into cheap political capital. ... After that, it became a political stump speech: "When in God's name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?" he demanded. "When in God's name will we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done?" Ten times he named God in a seven-minute speech. In seven of those, he called on God's name in what could easily be taken as an epithet...

"Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil." "But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." "And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." Matthew, Chapter 4 1 Then was Jesus led up of the...

Texas gubernatorial hopeful Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke (D) took the opportunity to inject himself during Governor Greg Abbott’s Wednesday press conference covering the Robb Elementary mass shooting in Uvalde. Beto appears to wait until the governor’s remarks are complete before he stands in front of the stage to interrupt Lt. Governor Dan Patrick’s presentation. Patrick attempts to shut down the Democratic Party candidate for Governor, saying, “Excuse me, you’re out of line and an embarrassment.” O’Rourke continued to talk over the Lt. Governor to address Governor Abbott. “You’re doing nothing,” the failed presidential and senatorial candidate said. Uvalde Mayor Don...

The Pope called for more gun control in the United States after the horrific mass shooting at an elementary school in Texas, and a Cardinal in Chicago agreed. Pope Francis spoke about the shooting from St. Peter's Square at the Vatican during his weekly general audience. "I am praying for the children and adults who were killed, and for their families. It is time to say enough to the indiscriminate trafficking of arms," Francis said Wednesday. "Let us all make a commitment, so that tragedies like this cannot happen again," he added. Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, the archbishop of Chicago,...

— Frustrated onlookers urged police officers to charge into the Texas elementary school where a gunman’s rampage killed 19 children and two teachers, witnesses said Wednesday, as investigators worked to track the massacre that lasted upwards of 40 minutes and ended when the 18-year-old shooter was killed by a Border Patrol team. “Go in there! Go in there!” nearby women shouted at the officers soon after the attack began, said Juan Carranza, 24, who saw the scene from outside his house, across the street from Robb Elementary School in the close-knit town of Uvalde. Carranza said the officers did not...

KILLEEN, Texas -- Fort Hood likely will be renamed Fort Cavazos after a blue-ribbon commission recommended that the Confederate-named Army base receive a new name along with eight other military bases nationwide.The Naming Commission, which was created by Congress and is responsible for recommending new names or removal of names and symbols that commemorate Confederate figures within the Department of Defense, called for Fort Hood to be named after Gen. Richard Cavazos, a native Texan and the Army's first Hispanic four-star general.The Army's largest active-duty armored post, with about 40,000 soldiers, was named after Gen. John Bell Hood, who led...

The last thing consumers want to hear is an increase in power costs this summer following the news last week of rising threats of rolling blackouts across half of the US. Tight supplies of natural gas, crude, and coal have pushed up residential electricity rates this year. A nationwide weather outlook for this summer forecasts extreme heat — all of this will force households to crank up their air conditions, resulting in oversized power demand that could stress national grids. Bloomberg cites new data from Barclays Plc that says monthly power bills could be 40% more than last year’s. The...