Free Republic

A year ago, when the Russians began to assemble forces along the Russia – Ukraine border, Western planners were sure that whatever the Russians were planning could only last a few months. They simply lacked the resources to put an army in the field, especially against a heavily defended opponent, for a long time. The Western response to the Russian advance into Ukraine was predicated on this. By now, the war should have been over due to a Russian withdrawal. This short time frame thinking is clear in the economic sanctions that were levied against Russia when the war started....

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The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden called on Congress to provide Ukraine with an additional $38 billion in military support and humanitarian aid, reported the Ukrainian service of the U.S. state-funded Voice of America news outlet on Dec. 16, citing White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. “We know that our job is to continue our military support to Ukraine so that they are in the best possible position on the battlefield,” said Sullivan.

Twitter’s top ranks were riddled with ex-FBI agents and executives, stitching the company even closer to the federal agency now under fire for leaning on Twitter to meddle in the 2020 elections. More than a dozen former feds flocked to the company in the months and years prior to Elon Musk’s purchase of the social network in October. The Post found FBI influence was considerably more significant than just James Baker, the FBI’s former general counsel who later worked in the same role for Twitter. He was recently fired by Musk for interfering in the billionaire’s efforts to come clean...

Poland's top police official told a radio broadcaster that a grenade launcher that was a present from Ukrainian officials accidentally exploded while he was moving it in his office this week. The explosion occurred on Wednesday morning at national police headquarters in Warsaw. Amid media reporters speculating on the incident, the Interior Ministry issued a statement on Thursday saying that a gift from Ukraine had exploded, and that Szymczyk and another person suffered minor injuries. RMF FM, citing police officials, said Szymczyk received two used anti-tank grenade launchers as presents during a recent visit to Ukraine. There were no other...

John Dean, former White House counsel to Richard Nixon and chronic GOP critic, said Friday on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” that the work of the House Select Committee investigating January 6, 2021 will go down in history. Cooper asked, “John, when it comes to charges being considered, obstruction of an official proceeding, insurrection, conspiracy to defraud the federal government if the DOJ were to pursue those, how high is the bar in the court of law?”

The spectacular fall of leftist poster boy Sam Bankman-Fried is another reminder that leftist dreams die hard, which is a good reminder that it is time once again to screen the Greatest Christmas Movie Ever Made. After all, Bankman-Fried fell harder than Hans Gruber from the top of Nakatomi Tower. Meanwhile Musk continues to annoy the left, which ought to inspire lyricists everywhere to come up with new verses for “The Twelve Days of Christmas”—”On the first day of Christmas/My true Musk gave to me/an online free speech decree. . .” Better than Trump trading cards I think.

Every city has exactly as much crime as it’s willing to tolerateEvery city has exactly as much crime as it’s willing to tolerate.If this guy in Chicago had been executed for the two felony murders that he committed in 2009, he wouldn’t have gone on to murder three more people in 2022.He confessed to these three new murders. So why not execute him tomorrow?https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/portage-park-mass-shooting-suspect-no-bail/

Human beings are social animals. We do what we see others doing. Occasionally the imitative tendency leads to mass hysteria, as large numbers of human beings convince themselves that there are witches possessing malevolent supernatural power among their friends and neighbors, that Martians have landed on earth and begun a violent takeover, or that large numbers of daycare centers are engaging in Satanic ritual abuse. Human behavior is contagious and spreads to other humans, for good as well as for ill. What societies revere and glorify, they’ll get more of. And so it is that nearly 40% of students who...

Looking beyond the abuses of enslavement, California’s Reparations Task Force this week dug into racist state policies of the 20th Century as it worked to quantify harms committed against Black communities. The committee has already recommended that California provide financial reparations to descendants of enslaved people and Black Californians who can trace their ancestry in the state to the 19th Century. Now it’s working on other questions, such as how to compensate people for unjust property takings by eminent domain, devaluation of Black businesses, housing discrimination and homelessness, over-policing and the disproportionate mass incarceration of Black people, and health harms....

(Daily readings from the USCCB)Eleazar became the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ. Matthew 1:15–16The last line of the Gospel passage above offers much for us to meditate upon this day and throughout the week ahead. “Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.” What an amazing reality we celebrate! God Himself took on our human life, experienced conception, birth, infancy, childhood, etc. As a human, He also experienced hatred, abuse, persecution, and murder. Again, what an...

OUR DISPATCH FROM HEADQUARTERS. HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, FALMOUTH, Tuesday, Dec. 16 -- 1 1/4 P.M. During last night the Army of the Potomac evacuated their positions on the opposite side of the river. The movement was a perilous one but it was conducted in safety. The artillery was the first to cross over the river. The last of the infantry brought up the rear shortly after daylight. The enemy never discovered the movement until it was too late to do us any harm. As soon as the last man had got safely across the river the...

I attended Michelle Obama’s final book release event this week in Los Angeles at sold-out YouTube Theater. Her celebrity interviewer was Oprah Winfrey. This evening was ostensibly produced to promote Michelle’s new book, The Light We Carry. In fact, it was just another “under the radar” 2024 presidential campaign event for Michelle. I arrived two hours early and saw thousands of excited Michelle Obama fans already waiting in line to get in. The vibe was clearly that of a campaign rally. At one hour until showtime, the crowd was let in and swarmed Michelle’s tour merchandise and book sales kiosks,...

The state of California and the Los Angeles Unified School District achieved record-high graduation rates last year despite the lingering effects of the crippling pandemic and a historic spike in student absences, prompting both praise and skepticism over the new numbers. For the high school class that graduated in 2022, the percentage of students who earned a diploma in four years in Los Angeles Unified — the nation's second-largest school system — was 86%. The rate for all of California was 87.4%. The graduation figures were released this week. For the state, this figure was a nearly 4 percentage point...

The Bible In Paintings ~ Encouragement for Appreciating and Applying God's Word ~ JESUS' APOSTLES: Thaddeus, James, Simon, Matthias ֎ Featuring 16 Paintings, 8 Statues and 8 Windows ֎ T H A D D E U S C a l l e d J U D E 1 ANTHONY VAN DYCK "Apostle Jude" 2 Source 3 Source 4 Source 5 Source 6 Source 7 Source 8 Source J A M E S The Younger 9 PETER PAUL RUBENS "St James the Minor" 10 JAMES TISSOT "Saint James the Less" 11 EL GRECO "Saint James the Younger" 12 DANIEL SARRABAT...

Two students, just 14 and 15 years old, were fatally shot in the head and two other teens were wounded in a shooting Friday afternoon near a high school on Chicago's West Side.

Gucci Mane wants VP Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden to look into allegations of prison abuse against Pooh Shiesty. The Memphis rapper is rumored to be suffering from poor prison conditions. On Wednesday, rapper and entrepreneur Gucci Mane provided context for this by posting an update to his Twitter. Shiesty, 23, was reportedly sent to USP Pollock in Grant Parish, Louisiana, approximately 1500 miles from his home, as indicated by the “Lemonade” rapper in his post. He added that the young artist is being held in harsh conditions. “We do not pay attention to how inmates in the U.S....

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. accused the CIA of murdering his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, in a tweet on December 16, 2022. He called the JFK assassination a “successful coup d’etat.” “The most courageous newscast in 60 years. The CIA’s murder of my uncle was a successful coup d’état from which are democracy has never recovered,” RFK Jr. wrote, sharing a broadcast by Fox News’ host Tucker Carlson

This morning I'm picking up my brand spanking new Toyota Tacoma TRD Off-Road edition. It's my first new vehicle in almost 40 years.While I was married, all the new vehicles went to the now ex-wife because I wanted her to be the safest possible and I was ok driving the 'hand me downs' due to my very short commute.As we had kids, that continued with her getting the new vehicles with the most safety features for her and our two sons. I never considered it a "sacrifice" to always drive the highly used vehicles and her & the kids getting...

Just like everything out of Garland’s department, the notion that Jack Smith is in charge and his staff is “independent” is a total fabrication. To hear the media tell it, Jack Smith, the special counsel appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate Donald Trump’s alleged theft of classified documents and any illegal interference in the certification of the 2020 election results, is feverishly working away. Smith, according to a recent story in Yahoo News, issued subpoenas seeking more information related to Trump’s attempts to “overturn” the 2020 election. The subpoenas target “election officials in seven battleground states that were...