Free Republic

Joe Biden was not informed of the prostate cancer diagnosis of Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin until today, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters at Tuesday’s White House press briefing. Kirby said Biden was told of Austin’s illness by White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients in the morning. A press release earlier Tuesday by doctors treating Austin revealed his cancer diagnosis. ..... Snip..... Biden spoke by phone with Austin on Saturday, reported Politico’s Alex Ward, “Biden held a “cordial conversation” with Austin on Saturday night, per one of the U.S. officials. “The president has complete trust and...

I have no idea why the DOJ is putting out a press release about this. It seems more like the sort of thing to never mention again. A U.S. Navy service member was sentenced today to 27 months in prison and ordered to pay a $5,500 fine for transmitting sensitive U.S. military information to an intelligence officer from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in exchange for bribery payments. According to court documents, Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao, 26, aka Thomas Zhao, of Monterey Park, California, pleaded guilty in October 2023 to one count of conspiring with the intelligence officer and...

Vaccination is one of the most highly effective public health interventions, responsible for saving millions of lives each year. In the US, authorized or approved preventive vaccines must be manufactured with high quality, and the effectiveness and favorable safety profile of vaccines must be demonstrated. Their safety over time is also closely and continuously monitored through multiple overlapping passive and active safety surveillance systems, including the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, the Vaccine Safety Datalink, and the BEST Sentinel Initiative.1 Despite the care taken in the development and deployment of vaccines and their clear and compelling benefit of saving individual...

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has trimmed former President Donald Trump’s lead in the Republican primary race in New Hampshire to single digits, according to a new CNN Poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire. Trump still holds a meaningful lead in the poll, with the backing of 39% of likely Republican primary voters in New Hampshire compared to Haley’s 32%. The rest of the field lags far behind in the poll, with former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at 12%, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy at 8%, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at 5% and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson...

Top security actors, including Swedish Civil Defence Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin and the country’s Commander-in-Chief, Micael Bydén, agree that Sweden could soon be facing a war and called for increased resilience, including among the civilian population. As Sweden is expected to join NATO in 2024 and the broader context of Russia’s war in Ukraine, Sweden’s Civil Defence Minister, Carl-Oskar Bohlin, urged his fellow citizens to prepare for war at the Folk och Försvar conference in Sälen. Bohlin expressed concern that the modernisation of the Swedish civil defence system was not happening fast enough and urged everyone, from managers and local councillors...

Former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson has welcomed former CNN anchor Don Lemon to “a new world” of journalism on X, the platform once known as Twitter. Carlson’s welcome to Lemon comes after the ex-CNN anchor announced Tuesday that he is launching The Don Lemon Show through his own media company and that it will be available on X. Lemon’s announcement comes after Carlson launched his own show on X, of which he has released over 60 episodes since mid-2023. “Congratulations,” Carlson wrote in sharing Lemon’s post. “It’s a new world. Welcome.” The welcoming statement from Carlson comes after both...

“Jimmy” Page was born on this date in 1944, making him 80 today. Page is consistently rated as one of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll guitarists. After session work in London and a couple years with the Yardbirds in the mid-1960s, Page founded https://external-content.duckduckgo.coLed Zeppelin with singer Robert Plant, bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. Heavily inspired by Black blues musicians, the band developed a huge hard-rock sound that brought them to stadiums — with Page’s riffing and soloing often taking center stage. Led Zeppelin IV, featuring “Black Dog” and “Stairway to Heaven,” is one...

Only five days have passed since a 17-year-old shot up his school in Perry, Iowa, killing one and injuring five. Yet anyone looking for updates about the tragedy would be hard-pressed to find it on the front pages of any corporate outlet, unusual given the media’s typical amplification of such tragedies.The press is known for lengthy coverage glamorizing killers, inspiring copycat acts, and using shootings to push gun control. When covering tragedies that contradict leftist claims, however, Democrats and their cronies in the corrupt media quickly go radio silent.The Perry shooting is one such case. Once the Iowa killer was...

The original number of jobs reported by the federal government in 2023 was revised down by a total of 749,000 jobs, meaning nearly one-fourth of jobs thought to be created in the year were not actually there, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) analyzed by the Daily Caller News Foundation. The sum of the initial estimate from each of the government’s monthly job growth reports in 2023 totaled 3,140,000 new jobs, with later reports revising down the number of jobs added by a collective 443,000, according to the BLS. The BLS also announced in August a...

After an emergency exit-sized hole opened in the side of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 at 16,000 feet, a separate chaotic episode erupted when the cockpit door mysteriously flew open. That meant the pilots were subjected to the deafening wind and noise from the back of the plane—and also made the cockpit accessible to anyone inclined to try to force their way in. What the flight crew didn’t know at the time, federal investigators said Monday, was that it was supposed to happen that way. What the flight crew didn’t know at the time, federal investigators said Monday, was that it...

Mark Zuckerberg, a man who will forever be associated with smokin’ meats, has upped his game from a weekend warrior on the smoker to a full-time rancher overseeing a herd of the most delicious cattle on Planet Earth. On Tuesday, the Meta CEO shared his incredible project with the world. Mark Zuckerberg detailed how he is raising wagyu and angus cattle at his Ko’olau Ranch on Kauai, Hawaii. The Facebook co-founder revealed his ultimate “goal is to create some of the highest quality beef in the world.” Zuckerberg went on to say the cattle are being raised in style, saying...

A Wisconsin judge ruled Monday that state law does not allow the use of mobile absentee voting sites, siding with Republicans who had challenged the city of Racine's use of a voting van that traveled around the city in 2022. Republicans opposed the use of the van, the only one of its kind in Wisconsin, saying its use was against the law, increased the chances of voter fraud and was used to bolster Democratic turnout. Racine officials, the Democratic National Committee and the Milwaukee-based voting advocacy group Black Leaders Organizing for Communities refuted those claims and defended the legality of...

Caitlyn Jenner was accused of fighting for a chance at being Donald Trump's running mate in the 2024 election after penning a gushing social media message predicting a major win for the embattled ex-prez. Caitlyn Jenner predicted a major win for Donald Trump in the 2024 election. "I predict the electoral map will be unprecedented — to the likes we haven’t seen since the re-election of Reagan!" she wrote via X, formerly known as Twitter, on Sunday, January 7. "I have never been more excited for a candidate that has united so many," she continued. "Common sense policies and real...

Vladimir Solovyov, host of "Вечер" (Evening) on state television network Russia 1, has a panel discussion with numerous Russian commentators who suggest that the election of Donald Trump will be followed by civil war in the USA. They laugh about this prospect. Of note is their acceptance and acknowledgment that Russia will not see a victory in this war any time soon. They're priming the Russian people for a long war.

U.S. Capitol Police Lt. Tarik Johnson expected a relatively easy day when he arrived at work at 7 a.m. on Jan. 6, 2021. It would be anything but that. This is what Johnson witnessed that day. Derek thank you thank you for being with us today and thank you for having me Mike you got it I'm Mike Howell with the 0:06 uh daily signal which is the news outlet for the Heritage Foundation I also run the oversight project here at Heritage 0:13 and after we've heard you speak out and in recent weeks we thought we had to...

Swedes have been warned to brace for the possibility of war in the wake of their country's anticipated NATO membership in 2024 and the backdrop of Russia's conflict in Ukraine. Speaking at the Folk och Forsvar conference in Salen, Civil Defence Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin stressed the urgency of enhancing Sweden's resilience, citing concerns over the sluggish modernisation of the civil defence system. Mr Bohlin urged a collective effort from all segments of society, emphasising the need for swift action. "Many have said it before me, but let me say it with the force of my office - there could be...

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The US economy is under a bad sign. And if it wasn’t for The Fed’s money printing, we would have no economy at all! We experienced a tremendous amount of economic turbulence in 2023, but at least the employment market was relatively stable. Unfortunately, that period of relative stability appears to be ending. The pace of layoffs really seemed to pick up steam at the end of 2023, and the outlook for the coming year is not promising at all. In fact, a survey that was just conducted by Resume Builder discovered that a whopping 38 percent of U.S. companies...

17 states call on the Supreme Court to overturn ruling in favor of parental rights A coalition of 17 state attorneys general are asking the Supreme Court to recognize parental rights in a case involving a Maryland school district’s transgender policies. West Virginia is leading the coalition challenging a case involving parents fighting an appeals court ruling that found they did not have the right to sue Montgomery County Public Schools over a policy that allows teachers and administrators to transition children without their parents’ knowledge or consent. Plaintiffs in the case dubbed the guideline in question the "Parental Preclusion...

A live broadcast by Ecuadorean television station TC was interrupted on Tuesday by armed people who obliged staff to lie and sit on the floor, as shots and yelling were heard. The people, wearing balaclavas and largely dressed in black, were seen wielding large guns and accosting huddled staffers on the live feed, which eventually cut out. Some of the invaders gestured at the camera and someone could be heard yelling "no police".