Free Republic

Vladimir Putin is a bad guy. Vladimir Putin is a megalomaniac. Vladimir Putin is a criminal. All of those things are true. Similarly, Adolph Hitler was a bad guy, a megalomaniac and a criminal. But Vladimir Putin is not Adolph Hitler and Russia in 2022 is not Germany in 1938/39. But in both cases, the future of the world hung on / hangs in the balance. But maybe not in the way you think… Much of the world was already engaged in war in 1941 when the United States joined the fight. Most of Europe and much of North Africa...

Friends, in today’s Gospel, we learn of a person possessed by a demon. Jesus meets the man and drives out the demon but then is immediately accused of being in league with Satan. Some of the witnesses said, “By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he drives out demons.”Jesus’ response is wonderful in its logic and laconicism: “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against house. And if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?”The demonic power is always one of scattering. It breaks up communion. But Jesus, as...

They say lightning never strikes twice in the same place. Don’t tell that to balloon pilot Michael Glen of Phoenix. The pilot of Joelly, the popular “baby bee” balloon, awoke early Thursday to leave for Balloon Fiesta Park only to find that his truck and trailer, with “baby bee” and a standard balloon inside, had been stolen from the parking lot of the TownPlace Suites hotel near the airport. Albuquerque social media was abuzz with the news and, to Glen, it was deja vu all over again. In 2006, Glen came to Albuquerque to fly in his first Albuquerque International...

The entire school district police force in Uvalde, Texas, has been suspended over their failed response to the devastating massacre at Robb Elementary School. On May 24, gunman Salvador Ramos, 18, shot and killed a total of 19 children and two teachers at the school. He was left alone in the classroom for 77 minutes before police intervened. In a statement today, the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District (CISD) wrote: 'Recent developments have uncovered additional concerns with department operations. 'As a result of the developments, Lt Miguel Hernandez and Ken Mueller have been placed on administrative leave. 'The District has...

FBI agents with "guns drawn" reportedly raided the home of 73-year-old Chester Eugene Gallagher after the pro-life leader promoted a series of anti-abortion events last year on social media in the Nashville area and advertised an activist blockade of an abortion clinic. Pro-life activist Heather Idoni, the 58-year-old owner of Beloved Books bookstore turned-Ukraine relief center, was charged by the DOJ with a civil rights conspiracy and a Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE Act) offense for "blockading" an abortion facility.

Trump-endorsed Kelly Tshibaka was projected this week to defeat by a narrow margin 21-year incumbent and pro-impeachment Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK). According to FiveThirtyEight’s simulation of the race, Tshibaka is projected to defeat Murkowski 52 in 100 times. The model supports polling showing Tshibaka has a slight edge over the incumbent.

Democrats’ electoral fortunes have improved significantly in recent months. And while it appears the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade is the biggest reason, the coinciding drop in gas prices surely didn’t hurt. But just as the party appeared primed to take advantage of that in the midterm elections, which are just a month away, the problem rears its ugly head again. And Democrats are clearly quite concerned. Just how concerned should they be? Gas prices had already been rising for the past two weeks, after 98 days of consecutive declines over the summer, to a national average...

The FBI team that was in communication with Facebook before the social media company censored the original Hunter Biden laptop story has been identified, according to a new court filing. Meta, Facebook’s parent company, identified the team as the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF), according to an updated complaint entered late on Oct. 6. Meta named the team after receiving a subpoena in a case alleging the federal government pressured Big Tech firms to censor users. “Pursuant to the third-party subpoena, Meta has identified the FBI’s FITF, as supervised by Laura Dehmlow, and Elvis Chan as involved in the...

The oil producing nations basically told the U.S. to "shove it", furthering the case that the BRIC nations are moving away from the U.S. dollar and separating economically from the West. ... OPEC humiliated Biden on a global stage by cutting oil production after he specifically lobbied them not to. There’s no “nice” way of putting it - they straight-up snubbed the U.S. and have now, in my opinion, made it officially clear that they 1) are not our friends, 2) do not care what we want, 3) do not take us seriously and 4) are not here to help...

Two journalists with TFLEV decided to drive the Ford 150 Lightning EV truck from the lower 48 states to Alaska and learned some of the recharging challenges they would face. Having made that drive from Pennsylvania to Fairbanks in 2013, I can tell you it certainly required some planning driving a gas-powered SUV, much less an electric truck. The towns and gas stations once you get north of Whistler, British Columbia, become more and more sparse and when you hit the Yukon Territory, there’s Whitehorse — a nice little city — and not much else to the Alaska border. Things...

The Biden administration has continued weaponizing the Department of Justice to target Conservatives and Trump supporters. 11 pro-life activists were charged with violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, a pro-abortion federal law. The group of pro-lifers allegedly prevented one clinic employee and one patient from entering a Tennessee abortion mill. Seven pro-lifers were charged with “conspiracy against rights secured by the FACE Act.” Four others were also indicted for FACE Act violations. The activists with the “conspiracy against rights secured by the FACE Act” charges could receive fines up to $250,000 and face up to...

PORTLAND, Ore. — Researchers at John Hopkins studied how gun violence impacts Oregonians, just in time for a gun safety measure to hit the November ballot. Next month, Oregonians will see Measure 114 on their ballots. According to the John Hopkins study, there were nearly 600 gun deaths in Oregon and almost 40 were children and teens. Research shows that 77% of those deaths were from suicide. The study also showed that men were nearly four times more likely to die from gun violence than women and seven times more likely to die by firearm suicide than women.

Ukrainian troops have reported outages of their Starlink communication devices on the frontline, hindering efforts to liberate territory from Russian forces, according to Ukrainian officials and soldiers. Thousands of Starlink terminals, made by Elon Musk-owned SpaceX, were purchased by the US government and crowdfunded by donors to help Ukrainian troops operate drones, receive vital intelligence updates and communicate with each other in areas where there are no other secure networks. The systems which connect a small antenna to a 35-centimetre-high terminal also provide internet for Ukrainian civilians. Some of the outages led to a “catastrophic” loss of communication in recent...

Vladimir Putin was being briefed by one of his top generals. "I've good news and bad news for you this morning, sir." "Let's hear the good news," Putin replied. "Intelligence reports indicate that the latest additions to the Ukranian arsenal are damaged and outdated, and many won't pose any threat to us at all." "That's excellent! Finally, things might be starting to turn our way! What's the bad the news?" The general shifted in his seat and looked down at the table. "A large amount of our best weapons and munitions have just been captured, sir."

We should stop teaching history in our schools. The way history is now being taught leads to a racist society, perpetuates white privilege, and overlooks the contributions of women and minorities. I ask school districts to immediately remove history curricula, books, and materials that unfairly communicate history until suitable alternatives are developed. Enslaved people built our young nation and made possible an economy that would throw off the control of the most powerful country then on earth, Great Britain. But, oh, at what a price. According to Bennett Minton in The Washington Post, some schools across the country intend to...

The former Texas Department of Public Safety trooper reportedly under investigation for her actions while responding to the Robb Elementary shooting who was hired as a police officer for Uvalde CISD was terminated Thursday. Crimson Elizondo was seen in footage of the May 24 tragedy at Robb Elementary School and was one of the first troopers to arrive at the school in response to the shooting. SNIP Elizondo resigned and landed a police officer position with Uvalde CISD, prompting community outage and heightened criticism of district officials. CNN’s reporting about the controversial hire led to Uvalde CISD firing Elizondo. SNIP...

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Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned last month that raising interest rates to cool inflation is likely to dampen economic growth -- "and there will very likely be some softening of labor market conditions," he said. But there's no significant softening evident in Friday's jobs/employment report. On Friday, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the number of employed Americans in September rose by 204,000 to 158,936,000, a record high. The previous record, 158,735,000, was set in December 2019 when Donald Trump was president.

Five current or former IRS employees in Tennessee and Mississippi fraudulently received thousands of dollars in COVID relief funds to finance lavish lifestyles, according to the Department of Justice. The five suspects allegedly submitted bogus loan applications to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Program in an effort to gain over $1 million in funding. They then used the loan funds to finance their extravagant lifestyles, such as buying new cars, luxury goods, and personal travel, including trips to Las Vegas, according to court documents. “The IRS employees charged in these cases allegedly abused the...

Safeguard Defenders, a pan-Asian human rights organization, published an investigation last month detailing a Chinese campaign to combat "fraud and telecom fraud" crimes committed by its citizens living abroad. The report indicated that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has established at least 54 police stations across 30 different countries, including the U.S. "I think it shows how brazen the CCP is getting and how little regard they have for other governments," Laura Harth, Safeguard Defenders' campaign manager, told Fox News. "It’s in violation of international law, it’s in violation of territorial sovereign." The police stations are mostly located in Western...