Free Republic

The recent airstrike error on a food aid vehicle in Gaza highlighted a certain narrative going around claiming that Israel's plan is to create a famine, starving the Gaza residents into submission, so the food aid is the only thing out there saving their lives. Here's how bad it's gotten out there, from a sampling of the headlines: Gaza is going hungry. Its children could face a lifetime of harm. -Washington PostRoad to Famine: Israeli Law Prof. Neve Gordon on Israel’s History of Weaponizing Food Access in Gaza -Democracy Now!Breaking the fast in the shadow of famine -The NationalJosé Andrés:...

Even if you don’t happen to be a lawyer, law professor or legal scholar, it isn’t hard to see a big problem with many of the published decisions made by judges who are hearing defense arguments and motions made by President Trump, in the continued “lawfare” cases being used by the DNC (not the United States) to persecute him financially, and block him politically. There are a number of these judicial positions that are out in the press. I’d like to focus on just one: the most recent case in Georgia involving free speech.I’m not going to write up a...

Video at link...FOX reporter says, "We've been covering the news for a long time, but this is a first." A Chipotle employee in Southfield, Michigan was shot in the leg by a customer Friday night, police sources told FOX 2. The shooting stemmed from an argument over guacamole. "I was just eating a bowl and I heard shouting. And then I looked over, they're arguing. One of the workers went to the back, I don't know why, and then when he was in the back, the customer walked around the counter, tried to grab his food and put it in...

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is being accused of illegally recording a phone call between her and one of the defense lawyers involved in her sprawling racketeering indictment of former President Donald Trump. Christopher Kachouroff, who is representing Trump co-defendant Harrison Floyd, is alleging Willis recorded a phone call between her and one of Kachouroff’s Maryland-based colleagues without his knowledge. That would be a violation of Maryland’s Wiretap Act, under which recording a private conversation without consent from both parties is punishable by up to five years in prison, a fine of up...

By KIMBERLY LEONARD 04/06/2024 09:38 PM EDT HOLLYWOOD, Florida — Ron DeSantis is making nice with his most loyal donors and, at least over the weekend, ignored Donald Trump. During a retreat in South Florida for the governor’s donors that featured golf, cigars and spa time, and little mention of the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee, DeSantis thanked and wooed the people who most avidly supported his presidential run. Part of the weekend was also to brainstorm how he could keep Florida front and center in the conservative movement with more than 2 and a half years left as governor. Robert...

former U.S. prosecutor from Tampa who helped the federal government indict Florida residents accused of participating in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol is about to stand trial himself. According to court records, Patrick Douglas Scruggs is expected at the Pinellas County Justice Center on May 3 at 8:30 a.m. for a pre-trial hearing on allegations that he stabbed a 35-year-old man with a pocket knife during a road rage incident last year. Mr. Scruggs, 38, who has been released on bond, was arrested last September and faces three felony counts of armed burglary, aggravated battery and...

From the November 2021 issue of Car and Driver. What's blasting from your car speakers, and more important, how does it sound? For sound-system engineers at the audio-equipment manufacturer Bose, a playlist is more than tracks that slap. To test stereos, they need songs representing a variety of sounds and recording techniques to make sure new systems can re-create a song with the depth of the original recording. To have a common reference point, Bose engineers all over the globe share a master playlist. "Every system engineer knows these tracks inside and out," says Mark Armitage, head of the acoustical-engineering...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, America First Legal (AFL), Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, and a coalition of twenty state Attorneys General took new legal action to stop President Biden from continuing to fly hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens from crime-plagued nations directly into cities across the United States. The underlying lawsuit aims to stop the Biden Administration’s “parole” scheme that allows 30,000 aliens from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela (CHNV) to enter the country each month and remain–indefinitely. The program allows these aliens–after more or less flying to the destination of their choice–to obtain work permits and ultimately claim...

This week Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in a direct conversation with his French counterpart Sebastien Lecornu. Shoigu warning about any deployment of French troops in Ukraine leading to consequences... Violence against French school students became a big story with two attacks on teenagers. Earlier in the week in the southern city of Montpellier a 13-year-old girl (Samara) attacked outside her school by a gang of teens. The gang said to number 20 to 25... And then near Paris on Thursday the beating of a 15-year-old schoolboy. Several attackers beat him badly after he left a music class... This six-hour...

An 18-year-old Northern California man who survived a mountain lion attack that killed his older brother is expected to recover, authorities said Sunday. The 21-year-old's death on Saturday in a remote area northeast of Sacramento was the first fatal encounter with a cougar in the state in two decades. SNIP The surviving brother “has undergone multiple surgeries for his injuries and is expected to make a full recovery,” the sheriff's office said Sunday. “The family is grateful for the prayers and condolences from the community however wishes for privacy in order to process this tragic event."

Madison is among several blue cities and states that used taxpayer-funded Covid aid for programs for illegal immigrants. A Wisconsin lawmaker is demanding answers from the city of Madison in the wake of a report showing the leftist enclave doled out hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal Covid relief funds to illegal immigrants. “The decision to use pandemic relief money to assist illegal immigrants at the expense of Wisconsinites reveals the out of touch priorities of Madison politicians,” Republican state Sen. Duey Stroebel said Thursday in a statement. His office has filed an open records request “to investigate the...

"Never trust a man who lays his hand on his heart when he assures you of anything," goes the old axiom. That's why I never trust a Democrat who makes any promise ever about a federal agency or program. Take Medicare. In 1966 when Medicare began, it cost $3 billion. The House Ways and Means Committee estimated that Medicare would cost about $12 billion by 1990. Instead, it cost $107 billion and today costs the government close to a trillion dollars.So when Joe Biden and the Democrats assured Americans and Republicans in Congress that the $80 billion the president wanted...

Maryland hasn’t elected a Republican senator in nearly four decades, but according to new polling, that streak could soon come to an end. A Goucher College poll released Tuesday has former Governor Larry Hogan edging out either of his likely Democratic opponents. In a hypothetical race against Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, 44 percent of respondents said they’d back Hogan, 40 percent said they’d vote for Alsobrooks, and 11 percent were undecided. In a hypothetical race against U.S. Rep. David Trone, Hogan took 43 percent of respondents, Trone took 42 percent, and 10 percent of respondents were undecided. "What...

The Israel Defense Forces has been progressing with its internal investigations into the military’s failures in the lead-up to the Hamas terror group’s October 7 massacre, with new details revealed Thursday on the subjects and periods each unit is investigating. The probes are aimed at drawing operational conclusions for the military and will not look into the policies of the political leadership, avoiding a fight with government leaders who have insisted that investigations wait until after the end of the war against Hamas. The investigations, by units seen as having had a role in the failure to notice Hamas preparations...

CLEVELAND — Women’s college basketball continues to grab the nation’s attention at an unprecedented rate, and the metrics prove it. The Final Four game between Iowa and Connecticut on Friday was the most-watched basketball game ever aired on ESPN; an average of 14.2 million viewers tuned in, and the broadcast peaked at 17 million viewers. Iowa defeated U-Conn., 71-69, to advance to its second consecutive national championship game with star guard Caitlin Clark leading the way. The previous record for an ESPN basketball broadcast was 13.51 million viewers for Game 7 of the 2018 NBA Eastern Conference finals between the...

Employers in the US added more than 300,000 jobs last month - the biggest gain in almost a year - as the boom in the world's largest economy continued. The jobless rate fell to 3.8%, as most sectors, including health care, construction and the government added roles, the Labor Department said. It marked another month of stronger-than-expected growth. Economists had forecast job gains of about 200,000. Analysts said the strong figures could delay cuts to US interest rates.

Donald Trump has raised $50.5 million at a Florida fundraiser for his 2024 re-election campaign - the highest amount ever raised at a single event. Saturday's $250,000-a-ticket bash was held at the Palm Beach home of Trump supporter John Paulson, and slightly exceeded the $50m fundraising total organizers predicted. The enormous amount is almost double the $26 million Joe Biden's campaign recently raised at a New York City bash which boasted the added star-power of former Democrat presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. 'It's clearer than ever that we have the message, the operation, and the money to propel President...

On March 18, 2008, the Second Amendment hung in the judicial balance. That morning, the U.S. Supreme Court would hear oral arguments in District of Columbia v. Heller. The question was stark: is the Second Amendment “right to keep and bear Arms” an ordinary individual right? Or would the Court hold that the Second Amendment right is so feeble that the District of Columbia’s handgun ban could be upheld? The lead attorney, Alan Gura, had initiated the case since 2002. At the Supreme Court, I was one of the other three lawyers who joined Gura at the counsel table to...

Populist Peter Pellegrini has been elected president of Slovakia, succeeding the liberal Zuzana Caputova. Mr Pellegrini, 48, defeated the pro-Western Ivan Korcok, a former diplomat, with 53% of the vote. A former prime minister, he is an ally of Prime Minister Robert Fico, and shares the PM's dovish attitude towards Russia. Mr Fico and his allies now control Slovakia's parliament, government and soon the president's office.

Representative Madeleine Dean (D-PA) said Friday on CNN’s “News Central” that former President Donald Trump “would be a useful idiot” to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Dean said, “When we’re talking about this very critical subject, I can’t think of anything more starkly clear. Mr. Netanyahu, I believe, is waiting his days out because he would like to have the return of what I believe is a useful idiot to people like Mr. Netanyahu.” She added, “Mr. Netanyahu, after all, let’s think about this, he was not honest about how he was going to prosecute this war. He told us...