Free Republic

A city council in Wisconsin has issued guidelines to its employees suggesting they do not use red and green decorations in public spaces to mark the Christmas holidays for fear of causing offense. The bizarre suggestion was put forward by Deputy City Administrator Melissa Cantarero Weiss in an email under the instruction of City Administrator James Archambo. In the email Weiss encouraged city workers to adopt 'inclusive decorating practices' in how Wauwatosa's municipal buildings are decorated over the holiday season including using more 'winter themed' decorations such as snowflakes or 'snow people'. The message specifically urges employees to choose more...

Atheism can't equip us for civilisational war... In 2002, I discovered a 1927 lecture by Bertrand Russell entitled “Why I am Not a Christian”. It did not cross my mind, as I read it, that one day, nearly a century after he delivered it to the South London branch of the National Secular Society, I would be compelled to write an essay with precisely the opposite title. The year before, I had publicly condemned the terrorist attacks of the 19 men who had hijacked passenger jets and crashed them into the twin towers in New York. They had done it...

A federal appeals court has set a mid-January deadline for the Louisiana state legislature to draw up a new congressional map, which comes in a long-running legal dispute that included a lower court ruling that found the current map likely unfairly diluted the power of black voters. A three-judge panel in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals issued its order on Nov. 10, requiring the state legislature to pass a new map by Jan. 15, 2024. The appeals court's order notes that, if the state legislature fails to adopt a new map by the deadline, then the lower court should...

Ukrainian men are trying in every possible way to escape the war, which has now lasted twenty month. Authorities are increasingly struggling to recruit for the army, which is estimated to have around 500,000 men and women under arms, including reserves. Russia has about three times as many military personnel. The clearest sign that calling up soldiers is not going well came in August. President Zelensky dismissed all the heads of the regional mobilization offices in one fell swoop because they accepted large-scale bribes... There are also men who go into hiding. News channel Al Jazeera tracked one down. In...

"We made a tolerance offer to Brussels: every country can deal with #migration the way they want to, but they cannot force #Hungary to copy the failed migration policies of Western Europe. We don’t want #terrorism, gang wars and mini Gazas in Budapest!" Viktor Orban Twitter

ISN'T IT OBVIOUS? This warning label (among about a half dozen warning labels) appears on my son's baby carriage: Do not fold carriage with baby inside! It may seem funny to state something so obvious, but I suppose to cover themselves against lawsuits from people who couldn't figure out to first remove the baby, they put on the warning label. The Prophet Micah gives us easy-to-follow instructions for a good life that seems so obvious and elementary we wonder, is that all we have to do to live happily and peacefully? The answer is YES! All we need do...

Seventy years after the Korean War ended, veteran Earl Meyer is still waiting for his Purple Heart. The 96-year-old Minnesotan can still feel the shrapnel that remains lodged in his leg that he says happened when his platoon came under heavy fire in June 1951. Doctors have said it’s too close to his sciatic nerve to remove. In recent years, at the urging of his daughters who he only opened up to about his war experiences as he got older, Meyer decided to apply for a Purple Heart, but he has repeatedly been denied as decades have faded positive proof.

New rumours swirled today over Vladimir Putin’s health as a speech by his top security aide emerged referring to the Russian dictator entirely in the past tense. ‌Nikolai Patrushev – a former head of the FSB security service and seen as Moscow’s most sinister spymaster – dressed in black and gave a eulogy to the autocrat which sounded more like an obituary. -snip- His words were compared to those of his predecessor Lavrentiy Beria – KGB chief – after the death of Stalin in 1953. ‌Patrushev, virulently anti-Western secretary of the Russian Security Council and seen by some as the...

The IDF eliminated Ahmed Siam, a company commander of Hamas's Naser Radwan Company, the terrorist responsible for holding approximately 1,000 Gazan residents hostage in Gaza's Rantisi Hospital preventing them from evacuating south to safety, the IDF said on Saturday.

A Princeton professor has sparked a backlash from disgusted Twitter users after he urged his followers to 'read and ponder' a 'thought-provoking' article promoting bestiality.

Virginia Democrats last week took control of the state House and retained control of the state Senate by one seat — but a winning senator may have lied about residing in the district, a situation that could lead to the chamber falling into Republican hands. Democrats are slated to control the state Senate 21-19, but if Ghazala Hashmi is ineligible to hold office because she lied on her campaign paperwork, then a situation could arise where she is replaced by a Republican, and Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears would cast tie-breaking votes. [snip] The form says “knowingly making any untrue...

Visegrád 24 @visegrad24: "Khaybar Khaybar oh Jews, the army of Muhammad will return,” This is a reference to the Khaybar Oasis, where Mohammed’s forces took action against the tribal Jewish communities, leading to their subjugation, mass expulsion, and slaughter.

A few years back, I started Veterans Day on "Fox & Friends", reacting to the live footage of President Trump in Hanoi. We talked about the Vietnam war's domestic impact on the American psyche, and how it took many decades for that to change. This Veterans Day movie pick is one of the cultural artifacts of that evolution in perception - a film about soldiering that wears its allegiance in its very title. It was released about six months after 9/11, in the spring of 2002, and in that sense is a movie about an old war seen through the...

A Las Vegas teenager beaten by a group of about 15 people near Rancho High School last week died on Tuesday, according to his father. Jonathan Lewis Sr. said Friday that son Jonathan Lewis Jr., 17, died while at University Medical Center for treatment for injuries he suffered in the fight. “We’re all just trying to process this,” said Lewis, 38, by phone. “The whole family is in shock.” From what he understands, the altercation happened after “Jonathan stood up for one of his smaller friends,” Lewis said. “A couple (of people) attacked him, and they weren’t able to hurt...

Former US President Donald Trump on Saturday released a new campaign video. The video ad builds on the thousands of people, including 31 Americans, killed by Hamas in Israel since October 7, and slams US President Joe Biden's release of billions of dollars in funds to Iran. The campaign video, claims, "Trump played hardball with Iran. Destroyed ISIS. Kept the Middle East at peace. Kept us out of endless wars with strength."

While cyclist Edwin Gonzalez Montoya of Chicago was participating in the Hincapie Gran Fondo in Greenville, South Carolina he saw something odd fly overhead. In reviewing the GoPro footage, he saw that the unidentified flying object was actually an athletic deer leaping over his bicycle mid-ride.

Newly-confirmed Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. is pressuring Israel to give up on the idea of eliminating the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, claiming a prolonged war risks turning more of the Palestinian population into terrorists. Gen. Brown, whose nomination stalled amid concerns about his “woke” record — including support for Black Lives Matter radicals and racial promotions in the military — expressed skepticism despite rapid Israeli gains on the ground against Hamas. The Times of Israel reported: The top US military official indicated Thursday that Israel will have a harder time eradicating Hamas...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday announced its approval of Ixchiq, the first chikungunya vaccine. The vaccine, which is made by Valneva, is approved for anyone age 18 and older who has a risk of being exposed to the virus. The chikungunya virus is transmitted to people through bites from infected mosquitoes. "This virus is in a similar category as dengue or Zika and is carried by the same mosquitoes," noted Dr. Marc Siegel, clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center and a Fox News medical contributor. The FDA described chikungunya as an "emerging global...

They should be treated the exact same way that Ashli Babbitt was treated. in response to Hamas supporters in NYC have surrounded Grand Central Station and are attempting to breach the outer doors to reach police officers sheltering inside.

Unbeknownst to many, the eldest son of Hamas co-founder Hassan Yousef is no fan of the ruthless, savage terrorist group. Speaking on Fox News’s “Hannity” this week, Mosab Hassan Yousef said that, despite assertions from the left, Hamas is no political party but rather a religious movement waging a holy war. “If Hamas was a political party, then we [could] apply pressure on them, bring them to the negotiating table where they can compromise. But Hamas is a religious organization. Nobody can satisfy their religious ambition because it’s a condition in their charter,” he told network host Sean Hannity. While...