Free Republic

The U.S. Navy's Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers, intended to replace the aging Nimitz-class, are the largest and most expensive warships ever built, costing $13.3 billion each. Despite advanced technology and automation reducing crew requirements, these carriers face challenges due to anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) systems deployed by potential adversaries like China. The new carrier's high cost and potential vulnerability to cheaper A2/AD systems raise concerns about its effectiveness in future conflicts.

Jason Goodman is an independent journalist and host of the show Crowd Source the Truth. He comes on to discuss covering the Trump trial in NYC, the lawfare occurring, his video that went viral with Norm Eisen and much more. I am watching for a second time this morning and taking notes. Jason is a really good investigative journalist and the government has gone after him too.

The Social Security Act, enacted on August 14, 1935, provided a new federally administered system of social insurance for the aged financed through payroll taxes paid by employees and their employers. Under the system, which applied only to workers in commerce and industry, people would earn retirement benefit eligibility as they worked. With some exceptions, benefits would be related to workers' average covered earnings, and workers could not have earnings and still be eligible for benefits. No benefits were provided for spouses or children, and lump-sum refunds were provided to the estates of workers who died before age 65 or...

Thank heavens it wasn't raining last Tuesday morning, as it can do in late autumn in South Africa. It would have meant a drenching for the most unusual ­politician fighting today's election — a 32-year-old farmer's son called Chris Pappas, who is white and gay. Peering through owlish glasses, he was giving a campaign speech to 70 locals in their decaying village hall, a half-day's drive inland from the coastal city of Durban in the sprawling province of KwaZulu-Natal. The building had gaping holes in the tin roof through which you could see the sky. In every window the glass...

A senior member of Hamas has hailed the systematic slaughter of civilians in Israel on October 7, vowing in an interview that if given the chance, the Palestinian terror group will repeat similar assaults many times in the future until Israel is exterminated. “Israel is a country that has no place on our land,” Hamad said in an interview with Lebanese TV channel LBC on October 24, which was translated and published Wednesday by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). “We must remove it because it constitutes a security, military and political catastrophe to the Arab and Islamic nation....

29 May 2024 Wednesday of week 8 in Ordinary Time newly-formed St. Paul VI Parish celebration at St. Hugh, ChicagoReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: B(II).First reading1 Peter 1:18-25 ©You were ransomed by the precious blood of Christ, the spotless lambRemember, the ransom that was paid to free you from the useless way of life your ancestors handed down was not paid in anything corruptible, neither in silver nor gold, but in the precious blood of a lamb without spot or stain, namely Christ; who, though known since before the world was made, has been revealed only in our...

Taking into account all the peace initiatives proposed to end the conflict between the Jews and the Palestinian Arabs over the last 83 years, we must consider the possibility that the Palestinians—or at least their leaders—do not want to establish their own state. Their sight is currently set on the big prize—the entire state of Israel—and they are playing for time.... The Jerusalem Mufti Hajj Amin Husseini, the leader of the Palestinian Arabs from the early 1920s to the late 1940s...suggested that the Jews be deported from Palestine. Rejecting the idea of a Jewish state, he promised that if such...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcLk-tvbrl4

Sargodha Police have identified and booked 44 people for their alleged involvement in mob violence against a Christian man accused of desecration of the Holy Quran the previous day in the city’s Mujahid Colony, it emerged on Sunday. The police on Saturday rescued the man as well as two Christian families from the enraged mob that wanted to lynch him and barge into the homes of some other members of the minority community. The incident had taken place after some residents of the colony fou­nd burned pages near an electric pole and the houses of the Christian family. The first...

British rock guitar legend Eric Clapton moved one step closer to Roger Waters territory last week, telling an interviewer that “Israel is running the world, Israel is running the show.” The 79-year-old musician, who has recently performed playing a guitar painted in the colors of the Palestinian flag, was interviewed on May 22 by David Spuria, an American Youtuber who hosts the popular Real Music Observer show. alking about the recent campus protests in the US against Israel, Clapton criticized the Senate hearings in which university presidents were asked about antisemitism on campus. “I was so enthused about what was...

Supporters of former President Donald Trump, including a former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice, submitted more than 9,000 signatures on Tuesday in an effort to force a recall election of Wisconsin’s top elected Republican after their first attempt fell short. They targeted Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, the longest-serving Assembly speaker in Wisconsin history, after he refused to impeach the official who oversees the battleground state’s elections, angering Trump and his followers. The bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission must determine whether there are enough valid signatures to trigger a recall election. The panel rejected the first attempt for not having enough valid signatures....

An embattled DA has canceled an event to announce her Chinese name months after she was accused of making 'hateful remarks' about Asians. Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price sent out a press release to announce the bizarre event at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center at 12pm on Tuesday. But the next morning it was called off after she was mocked online by Asian locals who called it pandering after she was accused of racism by former staff. They also thought it was a strange thing to do in general as Price, who is black, has no Chinese heritage. 'Someone...

A wave of Republican incumbents were swept out of the Texas House in Tuesday's primary runoffs, including a handful who opposed school vouchers last fall, handing Gov. Greg Abbott a tentative majority in the lower chamber on his signature issue. With most ballots counted across the state, six of the eight GOP House members who were forced into overtime appeared to lose their runoffs, continuing a surge of anti-establishment energy that had already led to the ouster of nine House Republicans in the March primary. The runoffs brought mixed results for Texas' hard right: the House gained a pro-voucher majority...

J’P MXUFSM MSQMSU UFS MJEWE UFXU PJPA’U VYMW YDU UFXA UFS LFXALSE J PJPA’U UXWS XU XGG. —EJHYAS CJGSE

Phelan will be returning to the Legislature in 2025 with far fewer friends and far more emboldened enemies. Despite the cigar and bravado on display at his victory party Tuesday night, Phelan and his cohort suffered heavy losses to the rightwing. Six of the eight House incumbents mired in runoffs lost. Those losses follow the incumbent bloodbath in the March primaries, in which half a dozen Phelan allies were defeated by challengers backed by Paxton and/or Governor Greg Abbott. One of the main jobs of the speaker is to keep his members in office. The king must protect the kingmakers....

Around 10% to 27% of noncitizens living in the United States are illicitly registered to vote, which could see up to 2.7 million illegal votes being cast in the November presidential election. The significant amount of potential illegal votes could be enough to help Democrats repeat 2020.

Colorado legal officials on Tuesday approved an agreement with Jenna Ellis, a onetime attorney for former President Donald Trump, barring her from practicing law in the state for three years after she pleaded guilty to helping Trump try to overturn the 2020 election. Ellis tearfully pleaded guilty to felony charges of aiding and abetting false statements in Fulton County, Georgia, in October. She was one of 18 co-defendants of Trump who were charged in a sweeping case over the former president’s campaign to reverse President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in Georgia.

Click on link

Remains were discovered at a dump site near St. John’s in 2001The man who became known as Conception Bay John Doe after his severed head was found buried in a dump site 23 years ago has been identified by the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary as a Cuban who came to Canada on a tourist visa, The Fifth Estate has learned. Temistocle Casas was identified through genetic genealogy that led investigators to his first cousin, police said. RNC Const. Greg Davis said he will never forget the moment he learned Casas's name and saw his photo for the first time. "Surreal I...

Jenna Ortega has called for a ceasefire in Gaza months after her former Scream VII co-star was fired for voicing support for Palestinians... 'Masses debating over a ceasefire while thousands upon thousands of children continue being slaughtered. Where is the humanity,' she wrote... Ortega's former Scream VII co-star Melissa Barrera was in November dumped from the horror film after making her own posts in support of Palestinians. However, hers were more provocative than Ortega's and were deemed 'hate speech' by production company Spyglass. 'Gaza is currently being treated like a concentration camp,' she wrote in one Instagram story. 'Cornering everyone...