Free Republic

Presidential historian Michael Beschloss said Saturday on MSNBC’s “American Voices” that former President Donald Trump intentionally uses language that “led to the Holocaust.” Beschloss said, “Absolutely, and provide Hitler with an easy way to blame the many ills of Germany 1924 after World War I, one group which was Jewish people as well as some others but it was mainly Jews. And for Donald Trump as a former president and possible future president to use that language, knowing that that language led to the Holocaust, he knows what he’s doing, and he thinks it works.”

San Francisco city officials said the pro-Palestine protesters have been cleared from Union Square following their demonstration. In a tweet, city officials said "incident in the area of Union Square has been resolved" in an update. Residents should still expect residual traffic delays. Around 2 p.m., some protesters gathered in the area of Union Square's Christmas tree. One protester also climbed the tree, hung a Palestinian flag, and placed a "Free Palestine" poster on the tree.

Shuttered stores at Schuylkill Mall in Pennsylvania in 2017. By the 1980s, the mall had become the center of American social life and accounted for the bulk of all retail sales. But a shrinking middle class, the rise of online shopping, and the fact that there were simply too many malls contributed to the decline of the American mall.

Representative Debbie Dingell (D-MI) said Saturday on MSNBC’s “Alex Witt Reports” that she agreed with the Colorado Supreme Court decision to disqualify former President Donald Trump from the state’s ballot. Dingell said, “We’re in such a time of stress test of our Constitution. This ruling is a part of that. That stress test to our democracy.” She continued, “I have not gone through the entire opinion. I will say, I believe the Colorado opinion is right. It holds two things. It affirms with the lower court said, which is that Donald Trump acted in an insurrection. He participated, he supported...

[Catholic Caucus] Pictured: Priest replaces Joseph for same-sex nativity sceneParish priest defends having two mothers of baby Jesus as reflective of modern familiesA church nativity scene featuring two mothers of the Baby Jesus instead of the conventional Mary and Joseph has sparked anger in Italy.Nativity scenes are popular in the largely Catholic country, but in recent years they have been increasingly mired in culture wars as its society becomes more secular and multi-cultural.The priest at the Church of Saints Peter and Paul, in Capocastello di Mercogliano, a hamlet in the province of Avellino about one hour’s drive east of Naples,...

I have a six-month old puppy. I believe it to be a possible German Shepherd/Rottweiler mix. My problem is she is filled with energy. She jumps and runs around a lot and me and my spouse can't spend a large chunk of time due to our job schedules. But she also likes to nip and chew. On everything. Including hands. Any suggestions on what to do?

The Biden administration hoped to keep the Chinese spy balloon incident a secret and let the device move along without alerting anyone, NBC News revealed Friday. The outlet cited the NBC News report that said the administration initially wanted to hide the device from Congress and the public. “Before it was spotted publicly, there was the intention to study it and let it pass over and not ever tell anyone about it,” a former official explained to NBC News. A senior Biden administration denied that there was an attempt to keep the balloon secret. “To the extent any of this...

good afternoon president's office this 0:03 is speaking hello is this the President 0:06 Office of University of Yale yes it is 0:09 this is sarit from the office of Jewish 0:11 culture in Israel Shalom as we say thank 0:15 you Shalom to you we've read this week 0:17 that you removed the word Israeli from 0:19 the Israeli couscous dish with the 0:21 spinach and the tomatoes in your 0:24 cafeteria okay your spokesman said that 0:27 it was because the authenticity of the 0:29 food and naming of recipes have been a 0:31 concern brought to you...

Donald Trump demanded an appeals court in Washington dismiss a federal indictment accusing him of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election, in his latest attempt to avoid prosecution. The former president's lawyers made a late-night court filing Saturday to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, claiming he is immune to charges because they stem from actions he took while serving in the White House. It is the latest development in an ongoing and pivotal legal dispute between Trump and special counsel Jack Smith over election interference. The 77-year-old Republican argued the case should be dismissed...

A potential plan by Israel to flood the Hamas tunnel network with seawater risks “ruining the basic conditions for life in Gaza”, one of the elements of the crime of genocide, a senior hydrologist has told the Guardian. Environmental experts have warned the strategy – which Israel has yet to commit to – risks causing an ecological catastrophe that will leave Gaza with no drinkable water and devastate what little agriculture is possible in the 141 sq mile territory. The UN special rapporteur for the right to water, Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, compared it to the legend of Romans’ salting of the...

Spirit Airlines has apologized after it mistakenly put an unaccompanied child on the wrong flight during the holiday season travel rush.The child was supposed to fly from Philadelphia International Airport to Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers on Thursday. But the minor was “incorrectly boarded” on a flight to Orlando, according to the airline.“The child was always under the care and supervision of a Spirit Team Member, and as soon as we discovered the error, we took immediate steps to communicate with the family and reconnect them,” Spirit said in a statement Saturday.“We take the safety and responsibility of...

One of the key contrasts between the various classical Chinese thinkers is what to make of Heaven (天). For Confucius, Heaven is the source of moral virtue and an ideal to emulate in human conduct. By and large, he concerns himself with human affairs: self-cultivation, education, and good rule. But Heaven has a will on Earth, personality and intent, and what is good in men flows down from Heaven. As the Master says, "How great was Yao as a ruler! So majestic! It is Heaven that is great, and it was Yao who modeled himself upon it" (Analects 8.19). Mengzi...

(Dec. 23, 2023) — Of course I cannot get into the heads of the people present, but my assumption is that many (if not most) in the January 6, 2021 crowd (and some in the Trump administration) hoped the presence of thousands of protestors would demonstrate to the House members that the voters were angry and believed the election was stolen, and that the Electoral College votes of several states with numerous election “irregularities” should not be counted but should be sent back to the states for reconsideration and auditing. But that would not be an “insurrection” in the sense...

Cities across the United States have seen huge increases in retail theft since 2019 with New York City and Los Angeles suffering the most. There have been 8,453 more shoplifting incidents across 24 cities in the first half of 2023 compared to the same period in 2019, according to data from the Council on Criminal Justice. Crime-ridden New York City has seen the biggest impact with a 64 percent increase in retail theft, followed by Los Angeles with a 61 percent jump and Virginia Beach, Virginia, which has seen a 44 percent rise. Dallas and Raleigh, North Carolina, round off...

On December 19, TSMC announced the retirement of chairman Mark Liu, but there has been increasing speculation that the chairman's five-year tenure might have been ended forcibly (via Wealth Magazine). Taiwanese media voices theorize that Liu's abrupt departure from the company is related to the construction delays for TSMC's Arizona fab, which Liu spent much of 2023 trying to keep on track. Retirement isn't unusual for someone who's been working for roughly forty years, but there are two main reasons why Liu's retirement has stirred up speculation. The first is that it was very sudden; there was very little warning...

The CDC has struggled to measure and decide who is fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Most recently, it includes people who have received the 2023/2024 updates from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, or Novavax. Dosage rules vary by age. With this as their yardstick, 33% of Americans qualify as vaccinated as of December 10, the latest period for which data are available. Arizona has a rate that is only about half of that. Medical experts have become alarmed that a new variant has spread quickly in the US. The JN. 1 Omnicro sub-variant accounts for over 40% of cases. The WHO describes it as...

Have a holly, jolly Christmas! Despite it being far more expensive under Bidenomics. The ‘Misery Index’ is near its lowest level since pre-COVID, but Misery Index masks the true horrors of Bidennomics: 20% higher food prices, 19% higher rents and 61% higher gasoline prices under Bidenomics. Americans should be in a better financial position heading into the holidays, according to a famous formula developed in the 1960s under President Lyndon Johnson. The sum of U.S. unemployment and inflation – known as the “misery index” – fell to 6.8% in November from 7.5% the previous month. That’s the lowest since the...

Paris, France CNN — French authorities grounded a passenger plane carrying 303 Indian citizens, including 11 non-accompanied minors, at the airport of Vatry, on suspicion of human trafficking, the Paris Prosecutor’s Office told CNN on Saturday. The plane, belonging to Legend Airlines, a company based in Romania, was on its way from the United Arab Emirates to Nicaragua and had stopped over at Vatry airport, roughly 150 kilometers east of Paris, for supply, according to the Prosecutor’s Office. French authorities seized the plane on December 21 after receiving an anonymous tip. The plane was chartered by a company registered outside...

Harvard University has come under fire amid revelations it sought to thwart The Post’s investigation of Claudine Gay’s alleged plagiarism and cleared her of such accusations before even conducting an investigation. Rep. Jim Banks, (R-Ind.) who sits on the House Education and the Workforce Committee, which has been scrutinizing the Ivy League school, called the aggressive attempt to suppress The Post’s investigation “shameful.” “Harvard has been terrified of losing donations and taxpayer funding since they were exposed for harboring antisemitism,” he told The Post. “Claudine Gay claimed to support free speech and truthful inquiry in her congressional testimony, but now...

A drone fired by Yemen‘s Houthi rebels hit a commercial oil tanker in the Red Sea on Saturday, Pentagon officials said, while the Iran-backed group launched another four attack drones toward a U.S. warship in the region. The attacks represent a direct challenge by the Iran-affiliated Houthis to the U.S., which recently launched an international task force to protect merchant ships in the increasingly dangerous waterways. The weekend brought fresh reminders of how serious the situation in the Red Sea has become. In one incident, the Houthis fired four attack drones toward an American warship, the USS Laboon. The ship...