Free Republic

The Chief Rabbi of the Israel Police penned an open letter on Tuesday addressed to rabbis throughout Israel urging them to advise their congregants to carry legal and licensed firearms on Shabbat. In his letter, Rabbi Rami Brachyahu said that this measure was necessary in the wake of the recent terrorist attack in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Neve Yaakov in which seven people were murdered outside of a synagogue where most did not carry arms because of the Shabbat.. “We are learning that the religious neighborhoods and synagogues can serve as an extensive target for terrorist acts,” he wrote. “This...

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is said to have delivered a stark warning to the provincial premiers. According to reports, he has given them an ultimatum: either agree to implement digital healthcare IDs or face the loss of federal healthcare funding.... a Tiktok user (@introverts008) said. "And basically told them that we would not be able to get funding for our healthcare unless the premiers agree to the digital IDs...You will not be able to access any healthcare without these digital IDs. You will actually not be able to carry a bank account or do anything online regarding financial transactions...For farmers...

Moldovan Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita resigned along with her pro-European Union government Friday following intense Russian economic and political pressure. Moldova President Maia Sandu said in a Facebook post she will consult with parliamentary factions about a new government and will nominate a candidate to replace Gavrilita as Prime Minister.

MSNBC political analyst Elise Jordan said Republicans are not interested in legislating, only airing their grievances against their political opponents. "I’m going to add to that description of yours, grievance train. They are adding to the grievance train. First off, the obsession with Hunter for whatever they might find is — I think that will backfire, as well. This is President Biden, who’s extremely well-liked, who many believe has accomplished something in his first two years in office, and they’re going after him with such vigor," Brzezinski said. Brzezinski said Republicans "literally close their eyes" to former President Donald Trump...

The 2005 Real ID Act, which requires U.S. citizens to present more than just a basic driver's license to board domestic flights, was initially scheduled to take effect on May 3, 2023. However, after many years of delays, the Department of Homeland Security has postponed the enforcement deadline...travelers will now have until May 7, 2025, to obtain the necessary updated documents.... Soon, a Real ID may be mandatory for boarding a commercial flight. The Real ID may also be a requirement for accessing secure buildings... It could range from Capitol buildings to public schools, and even public gathering places. The...

American Jewish songwriter and pianist behind ‘I say a little Prayer’ dies at 94, remembered for romantic, melancholic ballads that blurred line between jazz and pop By HUW GRIFFITH and SUSAN STUMME9 Feb 2023, 11:36 pm LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Legendary American pop composer, songwriter and pianist Burt Bacharach, whose prolific output provided a chart-topping playlist for the 1960s and 1970s with hits like “I Say a Little Prayer,” has died in Los Angeles at the age of 94. Bacharach worked with a constellation of stars during his decades-long career, from Dionne Warwick and Aretha Franklin to Dusty Springfield and...

CNN — The FBI is currently conducting a search of former Vice President Mike Pence’s home in Indiana, a source familiar with the situation told CNN. Pence is currently on the West Coast with his family after his daughter had a baby, according to his spokesperson. A private attorney for Pence is at the Indiana house while the search is underway, the spokesperson added. The FBI is also expected to search Pence’s office in Washington, DC, in the coming days, sources told CNN.

WASHINGTON — At John Fetterman’s desk in the Senate chamber, there is a newly installed monitor that rises or lowers, depending on whether he sits or stands, and provides closed captioning so he can follow the proceedings. At the center dais, a custom desk stand has been built to accommodate the same technology for when he takes his shifts presiding over the Senate. The sergeant-at-arms has arranged for live audio-to-text transcription for the committees on which Fetterman serves, and plans to expand the service to all Senate hearings. But his adjustment to serving in the Senate has been made vastly...

President Joe Biden on Feb. 8 attempted to downplay the classified documents discovered at his home and former office, claiming that their contents dated back to 1974 and were simply “stray papers.” Biden made the comments in an interview with PBS NewsHour just a day after his State of the Union address, which garnered mixed reactions from Republicans and Democrats. The president was asked by host Judy Woodruff about comments he made in September in relation to former president Donald Trump, whose Mar-a-Lago home was raided in August, during which around 11,000 documents—some of which were marked classified—were seized by...

Yahoo plans to lay off more than 20% of its total workforce, affecting nearly half of its ad tech employees by the end of the year CEO Jim Lanzone said the layoffs are not due to financial challenges, but rather changes to the Yahoo for Business advertising unit With the announcement, Yahoo is just the latest in a string of technology companies to announce layoffs The move comes as many advertisers have pared back their marketing budgets in response to record-high inflation rates and continued uncertainty about a recession. With the announcement Thursday, Yahoo is just the latest in a...

CNN anchor Don Lemon serenaded the network’s audience on Friday with a rendition of “Lift Every Voice,” known widely as the Black national anthem. During a taped interview with actor and singer Sheryl Lee Ralph, who will be preforming the song before Sunday’s Super Bowl, Lemon broke out in song. “I don’t know. I was — I felt like I should do it in the taping. Now, why did I do that?” Lemon told his co-hosts when “CNN This Morning” cut back to the studio. “Well, you made our day. Our week,” co-anchor Poppy Harlow said. “Yeah, look, that we...

Former Democrat Rep. Tulsi Gabbard tore into Utah GOP Sen. Mitt Romney this week after he previously accused her of treason. During a House hearing on the weaponization of the DOJ and FB, Gabbard attended as one of the witnesses and offered her opinion on the “corrupt” relationship between Big Tech and the federal government. Gabbard noted that when she ran for president in 2020, a woman approached her and demanded to know if she was working for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Those accusations were first uttered by twice-failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who accused Gabbard of being “groomed by...

President Joe Biden has insisted the Chinese spy balloon that flew over the U.S. was 'not a major breach', despite its ability to collect Americans' communications.'It’s not a major breach. Look, the total amount of intelligence gathering that’s going on by every country around the world is overwhelming,' the 80-year-old told Noticias Telemundo on Thursday night.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said on Friday that “extreme MAGA” Republicans view Social Security as a “Ponzi scheme,” calling on Democrats to work to protect the program. “The Extreme MAGA Republican crowd claims Social Security is a Ponzi scheme. More evidence they want to destroy it. Dems must stop them,” Jeffries tweeted, using an acronym for former President Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan. The White House and Democrats have been arguing this week with the GOP over whether Social Security and Medicare are at risk as part of some Republican Congress members’ proposals. During his State of...

Twitter Files show agency's mission is now "a perversion of the First Amendment," 33-year veteran says. House Republicans think federal agencies have become a weapon against their own apolitical employees and the constitutional rights of Americans. House Democrats think House Republicans have become a weapon against the prerogatives of federal agencies. The parties traded laundry lists of grievances stemming from agency and congressional investigations, from the Benghazi attack to the Russia collusion hoax, at the first hearing Thursday of the House Judiciary Committee's Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. Minority Democrats deemed the subcommittee itself a threat...

During her annual state of the city address Tuesday, San Francisco Mayor London Breed proclaimed that the city's downtown, “as we know it,” is “not coming back.” Still, Breed said the shift would not impede a broader economic recovery. “You know what? That's OK,” Breed said. “Empty office buildings have fueled dire predictions about economic doom and screaming headlines about the death of downtown.” Breed recounted how even though the city has struggled to return to its pre-pandemic state, downtown San Francisco was in far worse shape after the 1906 earthquake. “In 1907, downtown was mostly rubble and ash. That’s...

Vladimir Putin's major new offensive has 'definitely started,' Ukraine has said, as Russia unleashed a 'massive' wave of missile and drone strikes on Friday.... When asked on television whether the new offensive had already begun, Ukrainian Governor of the Donetsk region answered: 'Yes, definitely.' Zaporizhzhia official said south-eastern city had been hit 17 times in one hour... Krylenko said in areas around Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Vuhledar - which have seen some of the bloodiest fighting of the war - 'the enemy's forces and means are escalating there with daily intensity'....Moscow's forces struck critical infrastructure in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, and...

The Biden Administration is quietly trying to ban crypto. Nic Carter explains in an explosive guest post for Pirate Wires. -Solana What began as a trickle is now a flood: the US government is using the banking sector to organize a sophisticated, widespread crackdown against the crypto industry. And the administration’s efforts are no secret: they’re expressed plainly in memos, regulatory guidance, and blog posts. However, the breadth of this plan — spanning virtually every financial regulator — as well as its highly coordinated nature, has even the most steely-eyed crypto veterans nervous that crypto businesses might end up completely...

One of the first things Republicans in charge of the House of Representatives have chosen to investigate is the melange of denouncement surrounding the October 2020 New York Post story about Hunter Biden’s laptop. Democrats called the hearing “silly” and a “bizarre political stunt.” Of course it’s political, but that doesn’t mean it’s silly. See the guy in the photo above? His name is Ihor Kolomoiskiy. He’s a Ukrainian oligarch, whose home was recently raided on the order of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In March, 2021, the NY Post reported that Kolomoiskiy “reportedly has a controlling interest in Burisma, the Ukrainian...

Newly elected Sen. John Fetterman has described his severe hearing disability as causing him to hear the voice of the teacher from the "Peanuts" cartoon when listening to people speak, the New York Times reported. Fetterman suffered a stroke in May 2022 while campaigning for Pennsylvania's open Senate seat, causing him to have cognitive issues, including a problem with auditory processing. The senator, who is in the hospital after experiencing lightheadedness Wednesday, has also struggled to adjust to life in the Senate, given the challenges of recovering from his stroke and the need for technological tools to help him conduct...