Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government is on track to max out on its $31.4 trillion borrowing authority as soon as this month, starting the clock on an expected standoff between President Joe Biden and the new House Republican majority that will test both parties’ ability to navigate a divided Washington, with the fragile global economy at stake. Once the government bumps up against the cap — it could happen any time in the next few weeks or longer — the Treasury Department will be unable to issue new debt without congressional action. The department plans to deploy what are...

The Mega Millions jackpot has reached an estimated $1.35 billion – the second-largest in the lottery’s history – after no winner snagged the big prize in Tuesday night’s drawing, officials said. That’s a boost from Tuesday’s jackpot of $1.1 billion, which saw no tickets match all six winning numbers of 7, 13, 14, 15, 18 and the Mega Ball 9. While no ticket matched the jackpot drawing, 16 won the game’s second-tier prize taking home up to $3 million.

WASHINGTON, Jan 11 (Reuters) - There is no evidence of a cyber attack in the FAA system outage that grounded flights across the country on Wednesday and President Joe Biden has ordered an investigation, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. "There is no evidence of a cyberattack at this point, but the President directed DOT (Department of Transportation) to conduct a full investigation into the causes. The FAA will provide regular updates," Jean-Pierre said in a Twitter post.

Ordinary people have extraordinary power. Don't believe me? Watch what happens if tens of millions ever decide to close their bank accounts all at once. Or critical sectors of the workforce decide to stay home for weeks. Or a sizable percentage of the population refuses to obey arbitrary and capricious government orders. When citizens become fed up enough to take matters into their own hands, those with government-bestowed titles learn quickly how little power those vaunted titles actually have. If you were to ask a collection of random people what governments do, you would hear a multitude of answers: they...

While the UFO's identity is unclear, some Russian lawmakers are claiming it was a Ukrainian drone, though other civilians have wilder theories. Russian air defenses reportedly shot down a UFO in the Rostov Oblast near the Ukrainian border on Tuesday, with local media outlets and Telegram channels sharing videos of a small object in the sky exploding. The news was first shared by Rostov Oblast Governor Vasily Golubev on Telegram, who claimed that it was spotted above the village of Sultan Sala. "I urge everyone to remain calm. To ensure security, all forces and means are involved. The sky is...

The steamer Marion, Capt. JOHNSON, from New-Orleans on Jan. 2, arrived at this port yesterday morning. She brings very little news. The capitol at Baton Rouge was burned on the night of Dec. 30. Fire was discovered early in the evening. It was apparently subdued about nine o'clock, and it was supposed that the danger was past, but the flames soon after broke out with renewed violence, and the whole structure was consumed. No loss of life is mentioned. The Baton Rouge Comet, of Dec. 31, says: "The building was occupied by Confederate prisoners, but the cause of the catastrophe...

Studies have demonstrated that rednecks have the lowest stress rate because they do not understand the seriousness of most medical terminology: Medical Term Redneck Definition Artery The study of paintings Bacteria Back door to cafeteria Barium What doctors do when patients die Benign What you be, after you be eight Caesarean Section A neighborhood in Rome Cat scan Searching for Kitty Cauterize Made eye contact with her Colic A sheep dog Coma A punctuation mark Dilate To live long Enema Not a friend Fester Quicker than someone else Fibula A small lie Impotent Distinguished, well known Labor Pain Getting hurt...

A man who left at least six people injured in an attack at the Gare Du Nord station in Paris early Wednesday morning was shot by police and hospitalized, authorities said. -excerpt- The attack began at about 6:42 a.m. local time, with police responding within a minute, Darmanin said. The suspect, who did not appear to say anything prior to the attack, was shot three times by police

The United States was facing another major aviation disruption on Wednesday as the Federal Aviation Administration ordered a halt to all domestic flight departures after the system providing pilots with pre-flight safety notices went offline. The FAA said in a statement it had ordered airlines to pause all domestic departures until 9 a.m. Eastern Time while it tried to restore its NOTAMS -- or Notice to Air Missions -- system. "We are performing final validation checks and repopulating the system now," an earlier FAA statement said. "Operations across the National Airspace System are affected. We will provide frequent updates as...

Flights across the United States were grounded Wednesday morning after the Federal Aviation Administration said it experienced a computer outage. All flights in the U.S. were grounded following the incident, a source with knowledge of the situation told NBC News. The FAA said later Wednesday morning it had ordered all airlines to pause domestic departures until 9 a.m. ET....

We are experiencing a national identity crisis, and our distrust of one another is one of its manifestations. In a recent Rasmussen Reports poll, 39 percent of Americans consider other Americans to be America’s greatest threat. That’s more people than consider China our greatest threat (25 percent). It’s almost twice as many as those that consider Russia our greatest threat (20 percent). Of those polled, 22 percent say Democrats are our greatest threat. That would include people like myself, who believe the Dems have become the American communists -- determined to destroy everything that makes us exceptional -- as a...

Paris (AFP) – The world's oceans, which have absorbed most of the excess heat caused by humanity's carbon pollution, continued to see record-breaking temperatures last year, according to research published Wednesday. Climate change has increased surface temperatures across the planet, leading to atmospheric instability and amplifying extreme weather events such as storms. Oceans absorb about 90 percent of the excess heat from greenhouse gas emissions, shielding land surfaces but generating huge, long-lasting marine heatwaves that are already having devastating effects on underwater life. The study, by researchers in China, the US, Italy and New Zealand, said that 2022 was "the...

A woman who ran away from home in Alabama to join ISIS said she felt "broken" when the US revoked her citizenship for aiding the terror group. Hoda Muthana spoke in an interview with The News Movement (TNM), conducted from a prison camp in Syria where she is being held by US-allied forces. She said she wanted to return to the US, and volunteered to serve time in prison if necessary. That seems unlikely to happen — the Obama administration stripped Muthana of citizenship in 2016. In 2019, then-President Donald Trump tweeted that he had personally barred Muthana from the...

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Illinois lawmakers have changed the state’s election laws to explicitly allow county clerks and other election authorities to verify mail-in ballots using a process a judge had ruled was illegal, as it “would be an obvious way to commit ballot fraud.” Last week, the Democrat-dominated Illinois General Assembly granted final approval to the legislation known as House Bill 45. The legislation makes a number of changes to the state Election Code and the state’s Circuit Courts Act to establish so-called judicial subcircuits and resident judgeships in county courts in and around Champaign and Winnebago counties. However, one of the legislation's...

Andrew Bridgen has been suspended as a Tory MP for spreading misinformation about Covid vaccination. It comes after the North West Leicestershire MP posted tweets that compared vaccines to the Holocaust. Tory chief whip Simon Hart said the comments had "crossed a line" and caused great offence. He said Mr Bridgen would lose the party whip - meaning he will sit as an independent - while a formal investigation takes place. "As a nation we should be very proud of what has been achieved through the vaccine programme," Mr Hart added. "The vaccine is the best defence against Covid that...

Flights across the United States were affected Wednesday morning after the Federal Aviation Administration said it experienced a computer outage. All flights in the U.S. were grounded following the incident, a source with knowledge of the situation told NBC News.

@Steven_Swinford BREAKING Simon Hart has removed the whip from Andrew Bridgen over Covid tweets He says he has crossed a line 'Misinformation about the vaccine causes harm and costs lives. I am removing the Whip from Andrew Bridgen with immediate effect, pending a formal investigation'

@ABridgen As one consultant cardiologist said to me this is the biggest crime against humanity since the holocau

Russia is using prisoners and freshly mobilized troops to absorb heavy Ukrainian fire along the war's front lines in order to clear the way for its better trained forces to take ground, a US official said, calling the move a classic Russian tactic. Prisoners recruited by the Wagner Group — a notorious paramilitary organization with close ties to the Kremlin — and others have recently been deployed to the forefront of fighting around eastern Ukraine's war-torn city of Bakhmut, which has become the epicenter of hostilities between Moscow and Kyiv. These recruits have been forced to "take the brunt" of...