Free Republic

Life often takes us in unexpected directions, but Maria Sue Bell’s life has been more rollicking and full of surprises than most. Back in 1984 and 1985, Bell served in the Army National Guard and was on Army Active Duty until Jan. 31, 1986. In a warning sign of what was to come, the criminal complaint against Bell says that she “received an Other Than Honorable (OTH) Discharge deemed Good for Service in lieu of a Court Martial,” although the reason for this has not been disclosed and has now been overshadowed by far more serious misconduct: Bell was sentenced...

Coming on the heels of Germany’s announcement to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock has declared “we are fighting a war with Russia” at a meeting of the European Council. “We have to do more also on tanks,” Baerbock said. “But the most important, crucial part is that we do it together, and we do not do the blame game in Europe, because we are fighting a war against Russia, and not against each other.” NATO countries have so far scrupulously avoided insinuating that they are direct participants in the regional border conflict over ethnic...

One of former President Donald Trump’s most consistent personal traits — one that his advisers say has helped keep him out of even worse legal jeopardy — has been his refusal to communicate by text or email. Until now. Trump, 76, who is heading into his third presidential campaign and is still under scrutiny by investigators on multiple fronts, has at last become a texter, according to three people with knowledge of his new habit. The former president’s resistance to texting frustrated investigators for the House Jan. 6 committee as they tried to track his thoughts and actions when he...

Russia expressed mounting fury at the prospect of modern Western tanks being sent to Ukraine. The Kremlin's spokesman described it as an "absurd" plan that scuppers the prospect of talks to end the war. The Russian Embassy in Berlin called the German government's decision "extremely dangerous" and said it "takes the conflict to a new level of confrontation."

Philadelphia is experiencing a crime wave like no other in its over 300-year history. Theft, muggings, assaults, carjackings, and homicides are all plaguing the city's communities. And, while these stories continue to humiliate Philadelphia, Democratic government officials continue to sit idly by, silently giving their consent to the policies that have turned the city's jails into doors. But now, the criminals may have committed the ultimate sin - stealing a car from a player on its beloved football team, the Philadelphia Eagles. PHILADELPHIA PROSECUTOR SHOULD BE REMOVED FROM OFFICE Maybe this will finally cause Democrats to start taking crime seriously...

Yuriy Sak, an adviser to Ukraine’s defense secretary, told The Hill that he was optimistic about receiving western fighter jets such as the American F-16s, which Ukrainians have sought since early last year when Russia first invaded.“Every type of weapon we request, we needed yesterday,” Sak said. “We will do everything possible to ensure Ukraine gets fourth-generation fighter jets as soon as possible.”Reuters first reported the news that Ukraine was setting its sights on fighter jets.Ukraine scored a major win on Wednesday with the announcement from President Biden that the U.S. will donate 31 American-made M1 Abrams main battle tanks...

On this date in 2010, American-occupied Iraq hanged Ali Hassan al-Majid — Saddam Hussein‘s cousin and longtime aide, better known as Chemical Ali. Al-Majid acquired his chilling nickname for the notorious March 1988 attack on the Kurdish city of Halabja. That day, after an appetizer of conventional bombing, Iraqi jets dropped a cocktail of multiple chemical weapons — mustard gas, sarin, tabun, and VX, give or take — killing up to 5,000 people. “It was life frozen. Life had stopped, like watching a film and suddenly it hangs on one frame,” wrote the ethnically Iranian BBC correspondent Kaveh Golestan,* who...

A woman fired from a video game company for following conservative accounts on Twitter believes a trans activist complained about her because she voiced excitement over a new Harry Potter game. Kara Lynne was 'terminated' by Limited Run Games hours after activist Jessica Blank, a trans woman, who uses the pseudonym Purple Tinker, publicly accused Lynne of being 'a transphobe who follows a veritable who's who of right-wing transphobic creeps'. Blank shared screenshots of accounts followed by Lynne and said she would stop shopping with Limited Run games until Lynne, who was the company's community manager, was fired. Lynne believes...

There appears to be a trend going on at liberal video programming distributor DirecTV. The company dropped Newsmax from its channel lineup just months after it nixed One America News from the platform. Newsmax reported Jan. 25 that DirecTV “cut” the outlet’s “signal, immediately shutting the network off from more than 13 million customers of the satellite service, DirecTV Stream, and U-Verse." Newsmax said it was “seeking a fee with a 75% discount to its market value, and compared to fees currently paid by DirecTV, almost all 50 channels below Newsmax in ratings get higher fees.” Newsmax Media CEO Christopher...

Over half of all of the mail-in ballots issued for the 2022 midterm elections and primaries in California are still unaccounted for, a nonprofit has revealed. According to Public Interest Legal Foundation, a conservative nonprofit group based in Indianapolis, Indiana, mail-in voting during the 2022 elections was a disaster. Including both the primary and the general elections, the new law resulted in the rejection of 226,250 mail-in ballots by state election officials, the report said. The news follows a major push for mail-in voting from Democrats across the country. Following the Democrats’ success with mail-in voting during the 2020 election,...

Just last week, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl told reporters that the Abrams is a complicated, expensive, difficult to maintain and hard to train on piece of equipment. One thing Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has been very focused on, he said, “is that we should not be providing the Ukrainians systems they can’t repair, they can’t sustain, and that they, over the long term, can’t afford, because it’s not helpful.” For the Abrams to be effective in Ukraine, its forces will require extensive training on combined arms manuevuer — how the tanks operate together on the battlefield,...

The 61-year-old felon arrested for the murder of Microsoft executive Jared Bridegan rented his Jacksonville home from Bridegan's ex-wife's new husband. Henry Tenon is in custody on charges of second degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder for Bridegan's killing on February 16. *** Police however said at a press conference on Wednesday that he did not act alone, and that they continue to investigate. Tenon rented his home from Mario Fernandez, the new husband of Bridegan's ex-wife Shanna. The couple sold the house in October 2022 - eight months after the murder, and three months after Tenon was arrested...

Centrist Sen. Joe Manchin (D) met with Speaker Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) Wednesday to urge the House Republican leader to negotiate with President Biden on legislation to raise the debt limit, a sign the senior West Virginia senator could play a pivotal role in bipartisan talks. Manchin’s meeting with McCarthy comes at a time when other Democrats, including Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.) and Rep. Brendan Boyle (Pa.), the ranking member on the House Budget Committee, say that Democrats should not negotiate over the debt limit.

Nearly a year after the ambush hit on a St. Augustine father after dropping off two of his children to his ex-wife in Jacksonville Beach, Police Chief Gene Paul Smith announced an arrest of a 61-year-old felon. But State Attorney Melissa Nelson said he did not act alone in the death of 33-year-old Jared Bridegan. Henry Arthur Tenon, 61, was charged Wednesday with conspiracy to commit murder, second-degree murder with a weapon, accessory to the fact to a capital felony and child abuse, Smith and Nelson said.

A German-made tank, which Berlin once dubbed one of the best in the world, has had its shortcomings embarrassingly exposed on the battlefield in Syria. Photos from the Turkish military operation dubbed 'Euphrates Shield', which began in August 2016, show the charred remains of one of the Leopard 2 tanks which was reportedly blown up with mines. The images - taken from an ISIS video published in January 2017 - show the tank with its turret completely blown off. Other pictures from the same conflict show Leopard 2s standing idle in ditches and snow after being severely damaged. The 1970s-built...

Twitch influencer Jessica Fernandez issued an apology Tuesday after she went viral for posting a video about a “feral” man at the gym who she claimed was staring at her “like a piece of meat.” Fernandez published the apology on TwitLonger — an extension of Twitter that allows users to post tweets longer than 140 characters — calling the video “the most serious thing I have ever posted.” “First of all, I want to apologize sincerely to the man at the gym where this all started. He didn’t do anything wrong to me and I blew our interaction out of...

The Biden administration rolled out a blueprint for a renters bill of rights, a major win for tenants, advocates say. Some of the upcoming changes could include curbing ‘egregious’ rent hikes in certain properties, and more funding to get low-income tenants facing eviction access to legal representation.

Mum-to-be reveals her heartbreak as her husband dies suddenly in his sleep only days after they found out she was pregnant - and months after they tied the knotPregnant mother pens heartbreaking letter to late husbandConnor Russel died suddenly in his sleep on ThursdayMs Rissel said her late husband had 'such a big heart' A heartbroken mother-to-be has written a tearful last letter to her dead husband after he unexpectedly died in his sleep.Shannen Rissel shared the touching tribute to the 'love of her life' who had 'such a big heart' following his tragic sudden death on Thursday morning.Ms Rissel...

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr recently said the following:“This is not Oregon. We are not Washington or New York or California. We’re Georgia. Do not come to our state and engage in violence against our citizens, against our law enforcement or break our laws. It will not be tolerated. You will be charged, and we will not stop until we make sure that everybody that’s been a part of this has been held accountable.”CNN recently published this article, which is titled, “7 charged with domestic terrorism after deadly shooting near proposed Atlanta police training facility.”I’ve said this before, and I’ll...

[Excerpted] Jeremy Clarkson of "Top Gear" fame faces further risk of cancellation over a December column in which he ridiculed former actress Meghan Markle. It appears he has decided to go out swinging, although his target is of much greater significance this time around. While these leftists may conceal their intentions, Clarkson suggested their impact is far-reaching and unmistakable, citing as proofs the apparent ideological capture of television and radio, big business, and the education system in the U.K. The former "Top Gear" presenter wrote a comedic column in December stating that he hated Markle on a "cellular level," and...