Free Republic

Air Force pilots and others in rated fields who opt to stay in uniform can earn up to $600,000 over 12 years under the latest round of retention bonuses announced Nov. 30. The fiscal year 2024 incentives offer manned aircraft and drone pilots, combat systems operators and air battle managers an extra $15,000 to $50,000 per year, depending on their assigned aircraft and the years to which they commit. Annual bonus pay programs aim to keep airmen around to blunt the effects of a pilot shortage that has lasted decades, robbing the service of aviators in policy jobs that rely...

The Iowa caucuses are less than six weeks away, and only eleven months remain until Election Day 2024. So maybe it is a good time to see what voters think before the nomination process begins. In the current Real Clear Politics polling average, Trump is up by +2. --snip-- Let’s look at three items from the polls likely to impact the 2024 election: Joe Biden’s job approval numbers, candidate favorability, and what voters believe are the country’s most serious issues. --snip-- An analysis of these numbers is pretty straightforward. My first impression is how consistent they are. Biden’s job disapproval...

Sen. John Fetterman is predicting that fellow Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin is unlikely to remain in the Senate past the end of his term in January 2025. The Pennsylvania Democrat made the remark during an interview with the Washington Post, taking a swipe at his West Virginia colleague over his efforts to reinstate the Senate's dress code in September. "At first I was really kind of angry [at Manchin]," Fetterman told the Post. "And then I realized, well, he's not going to be around much longer and I'm going to get his parking space."

Analysis of the 50 state map projects the likely vote for Trump or Biden in each state based on current polls. Results: Trump 312 EVs. Biden:226 EVs.

II. Definitions A. Definition of Bullying Bullying, used as a shorthand for hostile and abusive behavior or power-based harassment, is defined here as harmful interpersonal aggression by words or actions that humiliate, degrade, demean, intimidate, or threaten2 an individual or individuals. For a violation of the Policy to occur, such aggression must be sufficiently severe or pervasive, and objectively offensive, that it creates a work, educational, or living environment that a reasonable person would consider intimidating, hostile, or abusive and denies the individual an equal opportunity to participate in the benefits of the workplace or the institution’s programs and activities....

Never go full DeSanticlown. pic.twitter.com/CmJYrDJT4x— JoMa (@joma_gc) December 9, 2023

The United States has chosen to ground all V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft until the underlying causes of a recent crash, which took place off the coast of Japan on November 29, are fully understood. This isn't the first time issues have surfaced with the aircraft, an inventive blend of a plane and a helicopter. Despite ongoing development for over 30 years, the design continues to pose serious complications. The Pentagon announced the suspension of all operational activities involving the various Osprey variants following the tragic accident of a CV-22 off the Japanese coast on November 29. That crash resulted in...

President Joe Biden's former Covid advisor has admitted the pandemic may have been borne out of a laboratory leak in Wuhan. Speaking at a New York City health conference this week, Dr Raj Panjabi, former Special Assistant to the President, described the lab leak theory as 'plausible' and called on Governments around the world to 'do more to keep labs safe.’ Biden called former President Donald Trump 'nakedly xenophobic’ in May 2020, for suggesting Covid was the result of Chinese experiments gone wrong.

President Joe Biden rubbed elbows with Hollywood elites at a ritzy Los Angeles fundraiser Friday evening. But outside, leftist pro-Palestinian activists upstaged the event by voicing their vehement opposition to Biden and his stance on the unfolding war between Israel and Hamas. Video footage of the demonstration showed protestors waving Palestinian flags and chanting “from the river to the sea” — a call for wiping Israel and Israelis off the face of the Earth. Others carried signs reading “LA Says No to Genocide Joe” and “End All U.S. Aid to Israel.”

9 December 2023 Saturday of the 1st week of Advent St. Juan Diego Catholic Church, Chandler, AZ Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Violet. Year: B(II).First readingIsaiah 30:19-21,23-26 ©The Lord God will be gracious to you and hear your cryThus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: People of Zion, you will live in Jerusalem and weep no more. He will be gracious to you when he hears your cry; when he hears he will answer. When the Lord has given you the bread of suffering and the water of distress, he who is your teacher will hide no...

Satellite imagery has revealed a network of more than 100 Bronze Age structures hidden in the Serbian plains.Archaeologists first noticed the remnants of the more than 3,000-year-old enclosures in 2015 while reviewing Google Earth photos of a 93-mile stretch (150 kilometer) of wilderness along Serbia's Tisza River, according to a study published Nov. 10 in the journal PLOS One...Previously, this area, known as the Pannonian Plain, was thought to be a hinterland not used for Bronze Age settlements. But now, researchers think that this is just one example of the many settlements found across Europe that are part of an...

Kfir Brigade fighters were confronted by a terrorist squad near a school in Shejaia, in Gaza City. Fighters engaged in a firefight and killed the terrorists, continuing a search within the nearby school. There, the IDF uncovered several weapons in the stockpile. Kalashnikov-type weapons, AK-47 rifles, grenades, and ammunition were found inside the classrooms. A paratrooper brigade combat team located and destroyed a major tunnel shaft that was part of a large route of tunnels. Another tunnel was storing weapons and was complete with an elevator, according to the IDF. Fighters from the 5th Brigade launched an attack in Beit...

An unnamed metal detectorist recently discovered a scarce collection of 12th-century silver pennies near the village of Wymondham in the county of Norfolk in eastern England.This valuable cache of coins included seven pieces minted during the reign of King Stephen and two more dated to the reigns of Stephen's successors, Henry II and III.A grandson of William the Conqueror, Stephen took the throne on the death of King Henry I. However most of his reign was spent in a bitter civil war between him and his rival for the throne, Henry's daughter Matilda.The find is made up of two pennies,...

A team of archaeologists, co-led by a researcher at the University of Southampton, believe they have located the site of the lost Monastery of Deer in Northeast Scotland.It is believed that the earliest written Scots Gaelic in the world was produced in the monastery in the late 11th and early 12th century. These texts, Gaelic land grants, were placed in the margins of the Book of Deer, a pocket gospel book originally written between 850AD and 1000AD.Academics have long speculated that these entries, or 'addenda' were added while the book was in the monastery. Archaeologists believe they have now found...

The basic four-week structure of Advent remains the same throughout the three years of the Lectionary cycle; the first week of Advent focuses on the Second Coming of Jesus; weeks two and three meditate on the figure of John the Baptist, the herald and forerunner of the Lord; and week four zooms in on the days just prior to the birth of Jesus. Here, in the second week of Advent in year B, our readings introduce, or reintroduce, us to the bigger-than-life figure of John the Baptist, a man of immense importance to salvation history and to the world history...

Prayers up. FR is funded solely by contributions made by the liberty loving patriots who love and use it. We are beholden to no political party. No advertisers, no outsiders, no sugar daddies, no corporate string pullers. Definitely no government subsidies or tax breaks. No 501c or other IRS non-profit status. This means no commercial ads. No annoying pop-ups. No ad tracking. No mail campaigns. No spam. No third-parties -- not even the IRS -- trying to control what we do or say. We are self-funded, fiercely independent and enjoy our freedom to speak plainly in the support of God,...

Former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, who is warning about the potential dangers of a second Donald Trump presidency, said Americans should take his recent dictator remark "literally and seriously." Trump raised alarms earlier this week when he declined to flat out reassure the public that he wouldn't abuse power if he is elected, instead telling Fox News host Sean Hannity he wouldn't be a dictator "except on Day One." Some Republicans have suggested Trump was making a joke but Cheney -- who had a lead role in investigating his actions after the 2020 election and on Jan. 6, 2021 --...

Hunter Biden’s estranged wife was furious. “Your spending is documented and irresponsible,” Kathleen Buhle .... “I am sick of trying to figure out how you are hiding the money,” Buhle .. cited in “Laptop from Hell .. by .. Miranda Devine. Buhle wrote that he had spent $122,000 in two months — and at the same time cut monthly payments to Buhle and their three daughters from $17,000 to $1,700. ... Biden “rarely” spent anything on his family, she charged, but was blowing hundreds of thousands on alcohol, strip clubs, gifts to other women, and travel — sometimes charging multiple...