Free Republic

America’s Founders fought a bloody revolution in order to escape the “absolute despotism” to which they had been reduced under the hereditary monarchy of the British government, a system that Thomas Paine said “laid the world in blood and ashes.” After that revolution was won, the Founders’ singular focus was to create a republic that would safeguard individual freedom and state sovereignty by vesting only limited, specifically enumerated powers in a federal government. The Constitution’s first ten amendments (the Bill of Rights), Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, as well as the Ninth and Tenth Amendments establish clear limitations...

The 21-year-old Air National Guardsman suspected of spilling a trove of classified US documents online frantically searched the word “leak” on his government-issued computer — on the same day the public found out about the intel breach, court records unsealed Friday allege. Jack Teixeira started trawling through classified intelligence reports looking for the phrase on April 6, the date the New York Times published its first article detailing how secrets of the Ukraine war had been posted on Twitter and Telegram, according to an FBI affidavit. Teixeira’s search was detected by an unidentified government agency “which can monitor certain searches...

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau received at least five formal briefings from top national security officials on foreign interference in Canada since 2021, according to documents shared with a House of Commons committee. Those formal briefings are in addition to “numerous” informal discussions about the issue with Trudeau and his staff since November 2022, when Global News began publishing reports about alleged Chinese political interference in Canadian federal elections. The information comes from Jody Thomas, Trudeau’s national security and intelligence advisor (NSIA), in a submission to the House of Commons committee probing the issue of Beijing’s covert influence over Canadian politics...

A judge ruled Friday to have a church in California pay $1.2 million in fines—including interest—for defying COVID-19 rules during the pandemic by holding large religious services where attendees were not wearing masks. Calvary Chapel in San Jose was dealt the fine, including 10 percent interest, on April 7 by Evette Pennypacker, a Superior Court of California judge in Santa Clara County, for having exhibited “egregious conduct” in flouting the mask-wearing rules of the county between November 2020 and June 2021. Calvary Chapel was one among several large churches in California that ignored the state and local mask-wearing and social...

from Pew Research: You are five times more likely to be murdered with a knife vs. a rifle. More than half of all firearm deaths are due to suicide. In countries where firearms are banned/outlawed, the number of knife deaths skyrockets. (It’s not a firearm problem; it’s a people problem.) The U.S. has the highest rate of firearm ownership, yet ranks 28th in the world for firearm deaths. Cities with the strictest firearm laws also have the highest firearm crime rate. As for the 2nd Amendment: You seem to have ignored the part about “shall not be infringed.” And militia...

Former President Donald Trump did not hold back his praises to some of the world's authoritarian leaders in a new media appearance. In his interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Trump shared his admiration for the leadership styles of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un. "They're all top of the line," Trump said. The former president described Xi as a "brilliant man" and recalled meeting with him in his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida in 2017. "President Xi is a brilliant man... The look, the brain, the whole thing. We had a...

Mother of 16-year-old boy, who is in serious condition, urges other parents to not let their children use electronic cigarettesA teenager was hospitalized Thursday due to collapsed lungs that were apparently caused by using electronic cigarettes. The 16-year-old boy was being treated at the Schneider Children’s Medical Center of Israel, where he was listed in serious condition. The hospital said he was being treated in the intensive care unit with an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine, which provides cardiac and respiratory assistance. The boy’s mother asked Israelis to pray for his health and urged other parents not to let their...

A seagull has died after being pulled around on a leash by a man in Blackpool. A passer-by saw the man, who is in his 50s, pulling a seagull along the pavement on Bispam Road around 8pm on Monday 10 April. Lancashire Police arrested the man for being drunk and disorderly and subsequently de-arrested him. Pictures and video clips of the incident quickly circulated on social media with many users expressing their concern for the seagull which had a "rope around its neck". The bird was taken to a local vet by a member of the public where they decided...

XBB.1.16, the subvariant behind a COVID-19 surge in India, has been reported in 22 countries and 18 U.S. states.The World Health Organization (WHO) is keeping tabs on the new omicron subvariant XBB.1.16, dubbed “Arcturus” by those tracking the virus. XBB.1.16 is currently fueling a surge of cases in India, where it’s the dominant subvariant, and has been identified in at least 22 countries, including the United States. XBB.1.16 is “one to watch,” according to Maria Van Kerkhove, PhD, COVID-19 technical lead at WHO and a professor at the Georgetown University Center for Global Health Science and Security in Washington, DC....

Hunter Biden had to explain a child's question to his father, President Joe Biden, during the president's trip to Ireland Wednesday, shocking social media users. The apparent confusion came after the elder Biden struggled to answer the child's question about success. "What’s the top step to success?" the child asked the president. "What’s the top what?" Biden responded. "Step - steps - step to success," the child answered. Biden responded that the way to be successful is to stop COVID-19 from spreading. "Oh, well, making sure that we don’t all have COVID. What - why - what are we talking...

One GOP Missouri lawmaker defended a 12-year-old’s right to get married during a debate about anti-transgender care legislation earlier this week. Missouri State Sen. Mike Moon (R-Ash Grove) said on the floor Tuesday that he knew at least one person who got married at 12 years old and followed up with a comment of “Guess what, they’re still married.” State Rep. Aaron Crosley (D-Independence) brought forth attention to Moon’s remarks via Twitter, sharing a video of the floor debate late Wednesday that was largely met with criticism among viewers.

Ghost guns are coming under fire from gun-control advocates. But why are these weapons so difficult to trace? And can anything be done to keep them from getting into the wrong hands? (snip) Officials told him the 17-year-old suspect used a ghost gun, which is a privately made firearm that is unregistered and untraceable. Nowadays, anyone with access to the internet can buy the parts needed to make a gun without a background check. Tutorials online explain how to assemble the pieces into a fully functioning firearm with just basic tools in less than an hour. "I was just in...

A Toyota Project Portal hydrogen fuel cell electric semi-truck is shown during an event in San Francisco, Calif., on Sept. 13, 2018. (Stephen Lam/Reuters) Researchers have come up with a new system that turns seawater into hydrogen fuel—a development that could aid in the proliferation of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. The new method extracts hydrogen from the ocean by funneling seawater through a double membrane system, using electricity. The design was successful in generating hydrogen gas without the accompaniment of large quantities of harmful byproducts. Vehicles with hydrogen fuel cells are fed with compressed hydrogen gas. The fuel cells do...

The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on a Hungary-based bank linked to Russia, marking a new low point in Hungary’s relationship with Washington. The U.S. Treasury Department announced the penalties, which will target the International Investment Bank (IIB), a controversial institution located in Budapest with ties to the Russian state. The bank’s presence in Hungary has drawn the ire of Western officials, who fear it could be used for Russian intelligence operations inside Europe. Speaking to reporters in Budapest on Wednesday afternoon, U.S. Ambassador to Hungary David Pressman said Washington had repeatedly shared information with Hungarian counterparts about how...

Hoffman, 55, has told New York Magazine‘s Kara Swisher: “The short answer is I will spend as much as I possibly can and it takes and is effective [to beat Trump].” This could involve aiding other GOP primary candidates, reports Puck News, to the point where Hoffman and his cohorts are investigating state primary rules, as well as the idea of supporting anti-Trump, right-leaning media. The issue was discussed at length in a late March podcast by the new, D.C.-based news site. While Hoffman has demurred on specifically endorsing a Republican candidate, claiming “I’m almost certainly in the Biden camp,”...

I am outraged by the favoritism enjoyed by (now former) top Biden administration nuclear fuel and waste official Sam Brinton, who wantonly (and we know repeatedly) stole luggage from strangers at airport baggage claim areas. The UK Daily Mail reports:The non-binary former Energy Department official who was caught on video stealing luggage was ordered to pay $3,670 to the victim and given a suspended sentence of 180 days in prison after pleading 'no contest' to theft. Samuel Brinton, 35, who uses they/them pronouns was issued their sentence Wednesday in Las Vegas, Nevada, eight months after they grabbed a passenger's bags...

President Biden, during his visit to Ireland this week, took a selfie with a controversial Irish nationalist who had once been banned from British airwaves due to his role as the public face of the Irish Republican Army. Gerry Adams, who is a former leader of Irish republican party Sinn Fein, took a selfie with Biden on Thursday. "A presidential selfie," he tweeted. Adams was president of Sinn Fein between 1983 and 2018. During the height of the IRA’s terrorist bombing campaign in the 1980s and 1990s, as part of its efforts to end British control over Northern Ireland, Sinn...

NEW YORK -- The digital media conglomerate Starboard said Friday it purchased the conservative social media site Parler and will temporarily take down the app as it undergoes a “strategic assessment.” The deal came months after another acquisition agreement with rapper Kanye West, legally known as Ye, collapsed in November. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed by either company. Parler said the deal was concluded on April 7. Parler caters to right-wing, far right and libertarian voices and fashions itself as a platform with fewer rules in support of free speech. It was briefly booted off the internet...

Until I saw the document labeled, CIA Operations Center Intelligence Update, I was inclined to believe that the leaked documents were the work of a frustrated whistleblower. But I have changed my mind. This looks like a controlled, directed leak by individuals who manipulated the 21-year-old National Guard troop member into taking certain documents and posting them on a public server.The CIA Operations Center Intelligence Update is a document produced by analysts in the Operations Center to be delivered to the regular CIA analysts. When I worked in the Ops Center I was responsible for monitoring traffic from Latin American...

The Missouri amusement park is requiring all people age 15 and under to have an adult with them past 4 p.m.