Free Republic

The Pentagon is defending its steady rollout of weapons to Ukraine even as officials in Kyiv say the assistance is coming too slowly — and it might already be too late to help turn the tide of the war in Ukraine’s favor. On Wednesday, POLITICO detailed criticisms from high-ranking Ukrainian officials, who said they can’t defend the frontlines any longer: “There’s nothing that can help Ukraine now,” one of the officials said. The West doesn’t have the technology to help Ukraine, and it also hasn’t sent weapons quickly enough, the officials said. While the incoming F-16 fighter jets are welcome,...

On January 14, 2023, David J. Nastri, Esq. filed suit against Katie Dykes as Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection. Nastri challenged the constitutionality of Connecticut’s ban on the carrying of handguns in Connecticut state parks for the purpose of self-defense. From the complaint: This is an action for declaratory and injunctive relief that challenges the constitutionality of Connecticut’s state regulation that bans the carrying of handguns in Connecticut state parks for the purpose of self-defense. Connecticut’s ban on handguns in state parks cannot pass constitutional muster under the historical standard that the Supreme Court announced...

WASHINGTON — Problems with an upgrade installed on some Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighters rolling off the production line have now disrupted plans to incorporate those upgrades on existing aircraft, and the F-35 Joint Program Office does not have a date for when those jets will get the much-anticipated retrofits. The F-35 program “was scheduled to begin TR-3 [Technology Refresh 3] retrofits in April 2024 with the intent to modify 149 aircraft over the subsequent 12-month period,” JPO spokesperson Russ Goemaere told Breaking Defense. But now, “[t]he Program is working closely with F-35 customers to establish a new start...

Normally, Argentina, Colombia, and Mexico attack each other on the soccer field. The three countries are “futbol” mad and live and die with every “gol.” Over the last few days, the new president of Argentina has been criticizing his counterparts in Mexico and Colombia. Before I tell you the story, remember that the guy from Buenos Aires believes in free markets, the one in Bogotá spent some time as a terrorist, and the one in Mexico City wants $20 billion from Joe Biden to bail out his leftist friends in Caracas and Havana. Get the picture? Here is the story:...

Another California small business and its workers have seemingly suffered at the hands of the state’s newly enacted $20 minimum wage. ... When making their way to work Monday morning, Navarro and her team learned upon arrival that the restaurant owner had made the decision to close its doors for good. The owner, Loren Wright, told local Fox affiliate KMPH that this was the “last thing” they wanted to do, but knew by Friday night the business likely wouldn’t be able to absorb the wage hike and didn’t “want to ruin their Easter Sunday.” The new California statewide legislation went...

WASHINGTON, Monday, April 4. Gen. GRANT returned here to-day from Fortress Monroe. He at once called upon the President and Secretary of War, and held a protracted interview with them. While at Fortress Monroe, the preliminaries for the exchange of prisoners, upon a basis entirely satisfactory to the Government authorities, were concluded and heartily approved by him. He leaves for the front to-morrow. THE QUICKSILVER MINING CASE. The opinion in the Quicksilver Mining Case was delivered to-day by Judge NELSON. The decision confirms to the company one league of land, on which the quicksilver mine is situated. The decision is...

“He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as Thou wilt’” (Matthew 26:39). Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane is a perfect model of perseverance in seeking God’s will. By humbly and submissively raising the option, “If it is possible, let this cup pass from Me,” Jesus was not questioning the validity of God’s plan of redemption or the Son’s responsibility in it. The thought of His becoming sin for us was weighing heavier and...

Russian cities erupted in flames overnight as more than 60 explosions ripped through several top military air bases. Vladimir Putin's prized weapons went up in flames last night after a devastating Ukrainian drone blitz on three different military air bases. Costly bombers were wiped out during an assault on the Engels, Yeisk and Morozovsk military bases. A senior Kyiv intelligence source later confirmed to Reuters that the attack on the Morozovsk air base in the Rostov region wiped out at least six Russian warplanes in a joint operation between the security services and military. The blitz also damaged at least...

Readers of the New York Times can be forgiven for thinking that Gaza suffers from the greatest famine on the planet today, because that paper's coverage bias leaves room for no other conclusion. But a very different picture emerges when consulting the website of the UN World Food Programme (UNWFP), which alphabetically lists 14 territories with a food emergency. For each of these 14 areas, the UNWFP notes the number of people affected by food insecurity except for Ukraine, where the UNWFP says only that "One in five households is estimated to be food-insecure." If the remaining 13 countries are...

The family of a West Clermont High School boy who was allegedly taped to a chair by school staff talked about the incident for the first time. Two former staff members are facing charges after police say one of them recorded the whole thing on her cell phone. Mark and Angela Hodge said they wanted to wait until the investigation was complete and charges were filed before they spoke. With a former teacher and a teacher's aide now due in court, they're breaking their silence about the issue that's left them shocked and shaken. “He’s a very resilient kid though....

The Biden administration has finalized a new set of regulations to prevent a future president from initiating a wholesale purge of the US civil service along the lines of what former president Donald Trump envisioned during the final months of his term. The new rules, published in the Federal Register on Thursday and which would go into effect on 9 May, are meant to provide the 2.2 million nonpartisan civil servants who staff the executive branch with more defined protections that cannot be easily stripped away by presidential fiat. They were inspired by an October 2020 executive order issued by...

A Texas National Guardsman has been caught trying to smuggle an illegal alien past the main highway checkpoint into Texas. According to Kinney County Sheriff Brad Coe, the soldier was approaching a tactical Border Patrol pop-up operation along Highway 674. Before the arrival, the silver GMC SUV made a sudden U-turn, which raised the alarm of the station patrol, which then tried to pull the vehicle over. However, when the car refused to pull over, it resulted in a chase that ended with the soldier’s arrest. Watch

On April 2, 2024, the claim that "only 1.6% of US citizens owned slaves in 1860" went viral on X (formerly Twitter): Though the 3.3 million people who viewed this statement (at the time of this reporting) may not be aware, this claim is part of an long-standing genre of online memes that use a misleading statistic to minimize the importance of slavery to antebellum America. The actual percentage reported in these memes varies, Snopes has observed, from 1.3 percent to the present 1.6 percent. As Snopes reported in August 2019, the statistic to which these memes refer is most...

It is absolutely necessary that we ensure that future generations of Americans receive a sound education concerning socialism. For the past few decades, American students have been taught a whitewashed version of socialism. Such is why nearly half of young Americans have a “positive” view of socialism and 70 percent of Millennials are “somewhat or extremely likely to vote for a socialist candidate.” This is a dire threat to the future of the United States considering this cohort will soon become the political, business, and societal leaders of this nation, not to mention the largest voting bloc for years to...

Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem (4/5/24)[Prayer]The Names and Titles of God (TMy Strength)Exodus 15:1-315 Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.2 The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him.3 The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is his name.The King James Version__________________________________God...

The Industrial Revolution started more than 100 years earlier than previously thought, new research suggests, with Britons already shifting from agricultural work to manufacturing in the 1600s. Seventeenth century Britain can be understood as the start of the Industrial Revolution, laying down the foundations for a shift from an agricultural and crafts-based society to a manufacturing-dominated economy, in which networks of home-based artisans worked with merchants, functioning similarly to factories. The period saw a steep decline in agricultural peasantry and a surge in people who manufactured goods, such as local artisans like blacksmiths, shoemakers and wheelwrights, alongside a burgeoning network...

Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that President Joe Biden’s strategy on Israel is not working. Co-host Joe Scarborough said, “If the president turns on Netanyahu aggressively, if the president says we’re going to stop sending weapons, then Netanyahu actually uses that to gain more power inside of Israel saying, see, we have been abandoned even by the United States, we have to fight on.”

Israel FIRES two military commanders and reprimands a third over drone attack that killed seven World Central Kitchen workers

Sarah, is a digital health promoter, available 24/7 in eight languages via video or text. She can provide tips to destress, eat right, quit tobacco and e-cigarettes, be safer on the roads as well as give information on several other areas of health. About Sarah: WHO’s first digital health promoter Using cutting edge technology, Sarah has helped fight misinformation about COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. She now also provides information across major health topics, including mental health, and has expertise to help prevent some of the biggest causes of death in the world including cancer, heart disease, lung...

5 April 2024 Easter Friday Altar in Church of St. Vincent Ferrer (NYC) Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II).First readingActs 4:1-12 ©The name of Jesus Christ is the only one by which we can be savedWhile Peter and John were talking to the people the priests came up to them, accompanied by the captain of the Temple and the Sadducees. They were extremely annoyed at their teaching the people the doctrine of the resurrection from the dead by proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus. They arrested them, but as it was already late, they held them till the next...