Free Republic

Callous human traffickers threw young migrants into the sea to try to lighten the boat that sank off the Italian coast, according to a report Monday — as officials fear the death toll could top 100. “The traffickers started to throw kids out,” one of the 81 survivors told La Stampa of the overcrowded 65-foot wooden boat that smashed into rocky reefs before dawn Sunday. “They grabbed them by the arm and threw them in the sea.” The mayor of the Italian town of Crotone, Vincenzo Voce, shared similar stories as he arrived with flowers to where dozens of coffins...

A mikveh is a bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion to achieve ritual purity in Judaism. The traditional rules regarding the construction of a mikveh are based on those specified in regulations laid down in the Torah and in classical rabbinical literature.The text describes how a mikveh must be connected to a natural spring or well of naturally occurring water, and thus can be supplied by rivers and lakes which have natural springs as their source. A cistern filled by rainwater is also permitted to act as a mikveh’s water supply, so long as the water is never...

What President Ronald Reagan and House Speaker Tip O’Neill (D-Mass.) “deplored more than each other’s political philosophy was stalemate, and a country that was so polarized by ideology and party politics that it could not move forward. There were tough words and important disagreements. . . yet a stronger commitment to getting things done.” That observation came from O’Neill’s oldest son, Thomas P. O’Neill, in a 2012 New York Times column entitled, “Frenemies: A Love Story” regarding his Democratic father’s relationship with the Republican president. O’Neill and Reagan were both of Irish descent. And when disagreements got heated between the...

The titanic political contest in 1980 between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan is well known. It was a struggle between two very different men with two very different views of America and the world. One believed in bigger government and one believed in smaller government. One believed we could work and coexist with the Soviets and one said he would "consign it to the ash heap of history." One believed in the individual and the other led a party whose platform said government was the principal creator of jobs. During the campaign, Reagan often zinged Carter by saying, "Recession is...

This is a pretty interesting commentary on the Asbury University revival considering that Ben Shapiro is an Orthodox Jew. I wouldn't have expected such a positive view of the revival from Shapiro. His comments about our society, the Asbury revival, and, to a lesser degree, the Woke Movement and secularism are insightful.

Larry Summers, former U.S. secretary of the treasury and former president of Harvard University, called for the Western governments to “seize” Russian government assets held in international banking institutions to “support” Ukraine and other countries during an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria aired on Sunday. .@LHSummers says the U.S. should “seize” Russian assets held in international banks & redistribute them to Ukraine & “other nations” as well pic.twitter.com/vibKS065kh — Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) February 27, 2023 Summers framed reparations paid by the German government to the Soviet Union after World War II as a precedent for seizure of Russian government assets.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi got a rude welcome home when she got heckled in a San Francisco restaurant. In the video below you can hear a man call put Pelosi on numerous issues. He says: “Nancy, can you tell us why we have 150 billion dollars going to Ukraine when we have homeless on our streets in your own city? Nancy, can I get some stock trading tips on how to get semiconductors in Taiwan. Nancy, is your son involved with Hunter Biden?” Nancy seems to fire back at the heckler but staff shout over her response. She recently...

Billionaire Elon Musk Sunday accused the media of being racist against whites and Asians after U.S. newspapers dropped a white comic strip author who made derogatory comments about Black Americans. The Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post and USA Today were among newspapers that canceled the cartoon "Dilbert" after its creator Scott Adams said Black Americans were a hate group and posted racist comments on his YouTube channel Wednesday. In replies to tweets about the controversy, the Tesla and Twitter chief executive said the media had long been racist against non-white people but are now "racist against whites & Asians."...

Here’s a pop quiz. Some questions are conceptual, others ask about particular facts. The correct answers are supplied at the end. (But don’t cheat by peeking beforehand at the answers!) Good luck!

<p>Historical, racist gun laws are taking on new relevance in legal battles over modern-day gun regulations, following a Supreme Court ruling that expanded the right to bear arms.</p><p>In the 1700s and 1800s, states across the country passed laws to keep guns out of the hands of slaves, free Black people, Native Americans and Catholics. Such discriminatory gun restrictions would be unconstitutional today, but they have entered the gun-rights debate as judges look to apply the Supreme Court’s decision last June that said gun restrictions must be anchored in historical traditions.</p>

When you hear that one of Hunter Biden’s former business partners may be going public with some of the family’s dirty laundry, the first name that comes to mind is probably Eric Schwerin. And it’s true that Schwerin is reportedly cooperating with the House Oversight Committee’s investigations into Biden Incorporated. But today’s story is about a different associate of Hunter, Joe, and Jim. Gal Luft is a think tank executive who used to represent a Chinese energy corporation that basically served as a front for the Chinese Communist Party and reportedly paid Hunter Biden millions of dollars. Luft is in...

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen made a ‘surprise’ visit to Kiev on Monday to reinforce the US’s support for Ukraine.Joe Biden was just in Ukraine giving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky more US taxpayer money.But that wasn’t enough.Yellen is now in Kiev to announce another transfer of $1.25 billion to Ukraine.Janet Yellen is also working to seize the $300 billion in Russian bank assets frozen by sanctions and transferring it to Ukraine to help rebuild the country.Reuters reported:U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen swept into Kyiv on Monday on a surprise visit to reaffirm U.S. support for Ukraine in its struggle against Russia’s...

In an interview with Chris Wallace on CNN, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas explained that "when I say the border is secure this doesn't mean that people aren't able to cross the border illegally. It means that we are able to prevent Republicans from blocking the entry of foreigners that the Administration believes will help make the country stronger." "Surveys have shown that people are coming here because the President has invited them to come," the Secretary pointed out. "Their gratitude for being admitted and gaining their fair share of the benefits and amenities the US has...

(Last Updated On: February 23, 2023) NATIONAL STRAWBERRY DAY We continue with February’s heart-shaped and red theme by observing National Strawberry Day on February 27th. These juicy, sweet berries can brighten up any dish and are delicious all on their own. #NationalStrawberryDay There are a few different stories behind the origin of the name. The more widely accepted version is that the berries would drop off the leaves and become “strewn” about the plant. Over time “strewn-berries” became “strawberries”. There was a time (and some gardeners still do this today) when strawberry beds were mulched with straw, insulating the plants...

In countries where Asians and Jews immigrated in large numbers, they have long followed a common path. Both groups occupy a dual position: discriminated against for standing out, while at the same time held up as models of success. But increasingly, that success has itself become a liability. Jews and Asians outperform the overall population in such critical areas as education and income, not only in the U.S., but in Canada, Australia, and the U.K., and as a result are collectively held a party to supposedly oppressive power structures in those countries. According to progressive ideas being taught by public...

(Last Updated On: February 22, 2023) NATIONAL KAHLUA DAY National Kahlúa Day on February 27th recognizes the rich, cream coffee liqueur that also serves up a great many delicious desserts! This alcoholic beverage adds to cocktails and adult flavored desserts equally well. To celebrate, you may want to use Kahlua, a coffee-flavored rum-based liquor, to flavor your ice cream or another dessert such as cheesecake or cake. It also tastes great in coffee, hot chocolate, creamy cocktails, as a shot or on the rocks. #NationalKahluaDay Pedro Domecq began producing Kahlúa in 1936. In 1994, the company merged with Allied Lyons...

Ninety-two-year-old James A. Baker is among America’s most distinguished statesmen. His most significant appointments were as President Reagan’s Treasury secretary and chief of staff and President George H.W. Bush’s secretary of state and closest confidante. Baker also led the legal team in the 2000 election that halted the Florida recount, awarding Bush’s son Florida’s Electoral College votes and the White House. Among our presidents, no other, including Eisenhower, had a resume comparable to George H.W. Bush. Bush had been CIA director; a member of Congress; ambassador to China and the United Nations; and one of the Navy’s youngest fighter pilots...

Campus Reform Correspondent Emily Sturge reports on professors breaking silence about the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), LSAT requirements, and Florida universities accused of under-reporting DEI spending. First, Sturge discusses dozens of American professors signing a letter asking universities to break their silence on CCP human rights violations. The letter exposes ties between U.S. higher education institutes and the CCP, citing that universities are silent about the CCP due to fear of losing funding. Following that discussion, Campus Reform Senior Correspondent Alexia Bianchi joined the program to discuss the American Bar Association (ABA) voting to uphold LSAT requirements. Bianchi is happy...

id America’s Founding Fathers really embrace a nationalist economic program of tariffs and industrial subsidies? According to the “National Conservative” movement, such Founding Era luminaries as Thomas Jefferson and James Madison eventually abandoned their free-trade instincts and embraced a program of economic policies not unlike the NatCon agenda today. The American Compass website celebrates “Thomas Jefferson’s conversion to Hamiltonian supporter of domestic industry,” echoing Patrick Buchanan’s 2018 claim that “Tariffs Made America Great.” Most arguments in this genre point to Jefferson’s qualified commentaries on the Tariff of 1816 as evidence of this claim, while also noting the law was signed...

A seventh flight carrying almost three tons of relief material - sleeping mats, electrical generators, solar lamps, tarpaulins, blankets, emergency and critical care medicines - landed in earthquake-hit Turkey from India this week. The Indian government has extended a hand of friendship to crisis-hit Turkey and Syria in the form of massive humanitarian aid, with transport aircraft carrying relief material as part of Operation Dost, "friend" in both Hindi and Turkish. With the death toll from the Turkey-Syria earthquakes now in the tens of thousands after the disaster on 6 February, a global rescue effort is underway to aid the...