Free Republic

A restaurant worker prayed over former President Donald Trump during the 2024 hopeful’s visit to the early primary state of South Carolina over the weekend.Trump approached a worker behind the counter, who was recording the interaction. He asked if she recommended the food and she happily responded, “Yes sir. Do you care if I pray for you?”“No no, not at all. Yes go ahead,” he told the woman, reaching out his hand.The worker held his hand as she began the prayer, “I pray Lord in the name of Jesus,” asking God to help him in his presidential bid. Another worker...

AGENCY: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, Department of Justice. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: The Department of Justice (“Department” or “DOJ”) is amending the regulations of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (“ATF”) to clarify when a rifle is designed, made, and intended to be fired from the shoulder. Specifically, under the Gun Control Act of 1968 (“GCA”) and the National Firearms Act of 1934 (“NFA”) the definition of “rifle” shall include a weapon that is equipped with an accessory, component, or other rearward attachment (e.g., a “stabilizing brace”) that provides surface area that allows the weapon...

Giving Ukraine fighter jets is “out of the question” and could lead to direct UK involvement in the Russian-Ukraine conflict, a defence expert has warned. Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, has repeatedly called on Western allies to provide the jets to bolster the country’s air capabilities in the war against Russia. But both UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, and US President, Joe Biden, have today ruled out sending jets.

A man was arrested at gunpoint at Schuman station, a subway stop in Brussels beneath the headquarters of the European Commission, after a stabbing rampage on a train. A lone knifeman who attacked several people on a train and then on a platform was arrested after his rush-hour attack Monday evening, the Brussels Times reports. The magazine reported that one victim of the rampage was injured “severely” and “several others” sustained minor cuts. The Associated Press reported that there were three injured in total during the attack. Given the present situation in Europe, there has been some question over whether...

The new Czech head of state, who is due to take office on March 9, has clearly indicated that the era of outgoing President Miloš Zeman’s pro-Chinese policy is well and truly over. Just hours after winning the presidential elections, he was on the phone to President Zelensky to assure him about continued Czech support in the war against Russia and on Monday he raised the ire of China by holding a telephone conversation with the president of Taiwan, despite the fact that the China-claimed island has no formal relations with Prague. “Today, I spoke with the president of Taiwan...

Roseanne Barr will make her return to stand up comedy after nearly 20 years away from the microphone as part of a new special that will stream on Fox Nation, Fox News’s streaming service. The hourlong special, titled “Cancel This!,” will be available to stream on Feb. 13, the Monday after the Super Bowl, after it was filmed in front of a live studio audience in Houston at the Cullen Theatre. Barr, a controversial personality in comedy and noted supporter of former President Trump, had her popular sitcom “Roseanne” canceled and rebranded “The Conners” in 2018 after she tweeted racist...

Former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) said on Tuesday he would not run for Indiana Senate, clearing the path for Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) to become the frontrunner to replace the outgoing Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN). “After what I hope was adequate reflection, I’ve decided not to become a candidate for the U.S. Senate,” Daniels explained in a statement to Politico. “With full credit and respect for the institution and those serving in it, I conclude that it’s just not the job for me, not the town for me, and not the life I want to live at this point.”...

The demand for donated organs has already exceeded supply, with patients waiting months and sometimes years for a donor. With so many people testing positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, a new study could provide reassurance when it comes to using organs from SARS-CoV-2-positive donors. To evaluate the safety of transplants, Jason Goldman, M.D., M.P.H. led the largest study on the question of whether it was safe to receive an organ from a SARS-CoV-2 positive donor. The study involved an investigation of data including all U.S. donors and transplant recipients in the national database, as well as cases...

Last spring, the American system of government suffered a grievous blow when someone leaked the draft Supreme Court opinion that would ultimately prevail in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, overturning the infamous Roe v. Wade abortion precedent. The brazen act threatened the internal deliberative process on which the Court relies for its day-to-day functioning and spurred illegal protests outside the homes of justices. Those protests attempted to cow the justices into deciding Dobbs the way the pro-abortion mob wanted, culminating in an assassination plot against Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The damage done to the Court as an institution was incalculable,...

Yasmin Vossoughian tells her story.......video at link.............

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - The name Chris McDaniel is one some Mississippians may recognize either as a state senator or a man who’s had several campaigns for U.S. Senate over the years. “We are here because of our great conservative legacy. From Kirk Fordice all the way to Tate Reeves, this party must learn to work together again if we were to accomplish old and great things for the state,” McDaniel said. The far-right Republican said he’s building his candidacy on original Republican beliefs and values, and wants to slow the growth of moderate and left ideologies. “There was no...

Rep. Thomas Massie is taking charge of the House’s influential panel for antitrust policy, putting the Kentucky Republican known as a fierce free-market defender in a key position to determine how the GOP pursues a crackdown against Big Tech companies. Mr. Massie succeeds Rep. Ken Buck, Colorado Republican, a stalwart Big Tech critic who previously worked on the House Judiciary Committee with Democrats on legislation aimed at diminishing major companies’ market dominance. The subcommittee is part of the judiciary panel, on which both members serve. “I’m looking forward to chairing the Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform and Antitrust,”...

A higher percentage of eligible voters regularly show up to the polls in Mexico, Brazil, and Slovakia than in the world's pre-eminent and oldest democracy.The two parties that, in reality, constitute a uniparty duopoly bend over backward to cater to their respective pet voting blocs (racial minorities for Democrats and Evangelicals for Republicans, for instance). But those demographics pale in comparison to the volume of non-voters.The 2020 presidential election was a banner year for participatory democracy. It turned out a record number of voters (most of them presumably legal, eligible ones), amounting to 62% of the electorate. That's the best...

Nationally, it takes nearly four full-time minimum wage workers to reasonably afford a two-bedroom rental. Affordability for minimum wage workers is tightest in Austin. There would need to be over five full-time minimum wage workers to afford a two-bedroom rental in Austin. In cities with a $7.25 an hour minimum wage, an average of over 3.5 full-time workers are needed to make the typical two-bedroom rental affordable.In cities with minimum wages set higher than that, an average of 2.5 full-time minimum wage workers are needed to make the typical two-bedroom rental affordable, despite many of these cities having higher-than-average rents....

A decade or more ago, a middle-aged couple in Washington State settled in on some acreage near the Hood Canal. They started raising chickens and sheep. All was going well, but coyotes started showing up, killing and eating their livestock.

(Daily readings from the USCCB)While he was still speaking, people from the synagogue official’s house arrived and said, “Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer?” Disregarding the message that was reported, Jesus said to the synagogue official, “Do not be afraid; just have faith.” Mark 5:35–36This short line is one worth pondering every day. “Do not be afraid; just have faith.” This statement can apply to many situations we experience throughout our lives. It is a command of love from our Lord and is a command that we all need to hear, especially when hardships come our...

Actor Alec Baldwin and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed will be charged on Tuesday with involuntary manslaughter for the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of Western “Rust” in 2021, a New Mexico prosecutor said. The charges follow 15 months of speculation whether District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies would find evidence Baldwin showed criminal disregard for safety when a revolver he was rehearsing with fired a live round that killed Hutchins. The “30 Rock” actor has denied responsibility for the shooting, saying he cocked the revolover but never pulled the trigger and it was the job of Gutierrez-Reed and other...

In Egypt, homosexuality is highly stigmatised, and there have long been allegations that police are hunting LGBT people online. Now BBC News has seen evidence of how the authorities are using dating and social apps to do this. All victims' names have been changed Having grown up in Egypt, I am aware of the pervasive homophobia that permeates every part of its society. But friends there tell me that the atmosphere has recently become far more brutal, and the tactics for tracking down LGBT people more sophisticated. There is no explicit law against homosexuality in Egypt, but our investigation has...

MSNBC’s Yasmin Vossoughian revealed to her viewers on Saturday that she had been missing for a while because she developed myocarditis and pericarditis allegedly due to a common cold.

Austria and Hungary agree on not sending weapons to Ukraine, Austrian Defence Minister Klaudia Tanner and her Hungarian counterpart Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky said at a meeting in Budapest on Monday, stressing their close cooperation. Austria and Hungary’s position regarding the war in Ukraine is clear, as both countries are not sending weapons to the conflict area to prevent a further escalation, Tanner and Szalay-Bobrovniczky stated during a joint press conference. They would be on the side of peace, Szalay-Bobrovniczky stressed, while providing humanitarian aid to war refugees. Close cooperation would be the most important as “we live in a time of...