Free Republic

Pressed on the matter by the interrogator, the Radwan fighter posited that those who fled had “little faith,” having chosen to join Hezbollah for the money rather than ideology...Pausing momentarily before answering, the operative responded that the first objective was to respond to any strikes that came their way. The second long-term goal was “to perhaps push forward to the Galilee.”...The remark on a plan to invade the Galilee was consistent with briefings from the army in recent weeks in which they revealed that days after Hamas’s October 7 mass onslaught in southern Israel, thousands of terrorists had been positioned...

Democrats are trying everything they can to hold onto judicial power in case Trump wins in November.. During President Donald Trump’s first term, many left-wing interest groups ran to courts chock-full of leftist federal judges in, among other places, California, Hawaii, and Washington state. Because of the Senate’s “blue slip” policy — an unwritten rule that allows home-state senators to veto district court judicial nominees — there was no real doubt that these groups would draw a judge ideologically similar to them. These district court judges proceeded to issue sweeping injunction after sweeping injunction, and various Trump policies were bogged...

Puerto Rico cannot become a state of the Union unless Congress admits it. It cannot become independent unless Congress agrees to it. It cannot enter into a free association arrangement unless Congress provides for it. In other words, for Puerto Rico to cease being a colony, Congress must do its part.

This is the moment a smug Vladimir Putin is taken down a peg by one of his top energy officials in a dispute during a tense discussion about Russia's Arctic infrastructure projects. Director General of Russia's state atomic energy corporation Rosatom Alexei Likhachev yesterday visited the Kremlin where he delivered a presentation about the company's performance and ongoing projects under Vladimir's steely gaze. After a lengthy speech in which he boasted of Rosatom's 24 per cent annual revenue growth and lauded the successes of the company's work to establish Russia as a major player in nuclear energy globally, the director...

Thanks to the surgeon-like precision of my researcher Haley McLean, this timeline (we believe) represents the most exhaustive one to date showing the requests and denials related to the deployment of the D.C. National Guard before and on January 6, 2021. Events have been curated from a number of resources including congressional testimony, internal agency investigations, media coverage, videos, and book excerpts. We preface the timeline with critical context and information about the lead-up to January 6 involving key political operatives and known foes of President Trump. Summer 2020 Jamie Fleet, then-Democratic staffer for Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi...

Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) believes the solution to the border crisis is to open the floodgates by passing the Senate’s pro-migration border bill, he said in a Tuesday night debate with Republican Dave McCormick. Casey and McCormick spent several minutes of the heated debate sparring over immigration and border security, with Casey — and one of the moderators — spending time deriding Republicans for alleged anti-immigrant rhetoric instead of discussing policies. McCormick’s numbers surged throughout the summer, and the race is now deadlocked with McCormick trending as early voting has begun in the commonwealth. Casey touted the failed Senate bill,...

VIDEO AT LINK................. Oct. 15 (UPI) -- The unusual British sport of conkers has erupted into controversy after the winner of the men's title at this year's world championships was accused of cheating with a steel chestnut. The World Conker Championships featured more than 200 participants, with two competitors in each round using a chestnut on a leather string to try to break their opponents chestnut. David Jakins, 82, a long-time competitor known as King Conker, won his first men's title at Sunday's event in Southwick, Northamptonshire. Jakins lost the overall contest to women's title winner Kelci Banschbach, 34, an...

Cash-starved Boeing, contending with massive financial losses from a crippling strike and years of operational and safety problems, is turning to major banks and Wall Street to raise tens of billions of dollars in cash. In a regulatory filing early Tuesday, the company announced plans to borrow $10 billion from a consortium of banks. It also separately announced plans to raise $25 billion by selling stock and debt. The $10 billion borrowing plans would be included in the $25 billion that Boeing filed to raise. The company’s debt surged in the last six years as Boeing reported core operating losses...

North Korea claims more than a million young people have signed up to join or rejoin the army this week, state media reported, after accusing South Korea of sending propaganda drones to Pyongyang and blowing up border roads. The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Wednesday that 1.4 million young people, including students and youth league officials, signed the petition to join the army. “Millions of young people have turned out in the nationwide struggle to wipe out the ROK scum who committed a serious provocation of violating the sovereignty of the DPRK through a drone infiltration,” KCNA...

The presidential race is swinging in former President Donald Trump’s direction, according to a national poll released by Marquette. The latest survey shows both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris tied with 50 percent support each in a two-way race with leaners included. This reflects a four-point swing in Trump’s direction, as the last poll — released August 1 — showed Harris up by four points, garnering 52 percent support to Trump’s 48 percent support. The survey also took a look at the results with a “full field” and found Harris up by a single percentage point — 48 percent...

Key Points * Solid-state batteries have long been billed as the “holy grail” of sustainable driving. Proponents say they offer safer, cheaper and more powerful batteries for electric vehicles (EVs), as well as faster charging times. * There could be another option, however: semi-solid-state batteries, which use a hybrid design of solid electrolyte and liquid electrolyte. * “Five years ago, if we talked about this, I would have been so excited about solid-state batteries,” Transport & Environment’s Julia Poliscanova said. “But somehow ... there is some kind of barrier today.” ============================================================================================= PARIS, France — The push to commercialize solid-state batteries...

Kamala Harris is responding to Democratic panic about her White House prospects by turning up the heat on Donald Trump. The vice president warned Monday that the ex-president was “unstable,” “unhinged” and out for “unchecked power” as she sent a jolt of urgency though her campaign with 21 days to go. “Watch his rallies. Listen to his words. He tells us who he is, and he tells us what he would do if he is elected president,” Harris told a large crowd in Pennsylvania after a weekend when Trump’s authoritarian rhetoric reached chilling new levels and hinted at the extreme...

The Biden Justice Department, much like the Biden Labor Department, is quietly amending its crime statistics after posting incomplete data to dispute a key charge that former President Donald Trump has made against Joe Biden. For most of his third campaign for office, President Trump has regularly railed against rising violent crime in the U.S., tying high-profile instances of murder to the millions of new migrants who crossed into the country over the past two years. In response, both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have disputed his characterization of crime, and they have been assisted by a mainstream media...

Chuck Todd, chief political analyst for NBC News, warned Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday she needs to come up with a reason why she is different from President Joe Biden. Under the Biden-Harris administration, costs increased by about 20 percent across the board, Russia invaded Ukraine, Hamas and Iran attacked Israel, illegal migrants invaded the southern border, and the nation suffered the deadly Afghan withdrawal. “Nothing comes to mind,” Harris told The View when asked about what she would have done differently from the last four years: Todd believes Harris’s comment hurt her chances of defeating former President Donald...

U.S. — In a tense exchange with Vice Presidential candidate J.D. Vance, ABC news anchor Martha Raddatz argued that the tragedy of September 11th had been way overblown since it only involved a handful of buildings. "They only hit three buildings, and you're calling this a major issue?" asked Raddatz, incredulous. "You realize I can literally count on one hand how many planes were hijacked. Stop making 9/11 out to be such a big deal." Senator Vance vainly attempted to argue that terrorists hijacking planes and crashing them into buildings was still a serious issue, even if only a few...

Daily Readings from the USCCBThen one of the scholars of the law said to him in reply, “Teacher, by saying this you are insulting us too.” And he said, “Woe also to you scholars of the law! You impose on people burdens hard to carry, but you yourselves do not lift one finger to touch them.” Luke 11:45–46This scholar of the law had been listening to Jesus firmly rebuke the Pharisees. As he listened, his own conscience was pricked, and he challenged our Lord. What does Jesus do? He quickly and firmly rebukes the scholar of the law, pointing out...

Pro-life activist and mother of a young daughter, Bevelyn Beatty Williams, announced on Tuesday that her stay of appeal request has been denied by the judge who sentenced her on charges of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE Act), and that she is to report to federal prison in Alabama on Thursday. She will be in prison for at least a month as her attorney appeals the decision. “I wanted to give you all an important update,” she wrote. “My legal team worked tirelessly to submit a stay of appeal so I could be home on...

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer dug herself a new hole when she offered a fundamentally dishonest apology, and then had her press secretary lie about what happened. Whitmer said she would “never do something to denigrate someone’s faith,” which, of course, she did. Indeed, it is the very reason she was forced to say something. She also said the video that she shot with podcaster Liz Plank was supposed to be “about the importance of the CHIPS Act.” This is risible on the face of it—no one is buying it. We all know what she was doing: mocking the Eucharist. Stacey...

Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Monday shared an AI-generated video that featured a virtual fashion show with prominent political figures including US President Joe Biden, former US President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and US Vice President Kamala Harris. The video showcased each leader in unique, futuristic attire as they walked down a digital runway. In the post sharing the video, Musk said, "high time for an AI fashion show." The video began with Pope Francis dressed in a white puffer coat that resembled a luxurious winter garment, cinched at the waist with a gold belt.

The Jewish historian Josephus, who lived in the first century AD and was an eyewitness to many gruesome crucifixions, characterized this form of execution as “the most wretched of deaths.” .... with the suppression of the Spartacus revolt in 71 BC, Rome lined the famous Appian Road stretching from Capua to Rome with 6,000 crucified rebels. In AD 7, a minor revolt in Judea was brutally squelched, resulting in the crucifixion of 2,000 Jews in Jerusalem. During the siege of Jerusalem by Titus in AD 70, 500 Jews were crucified each day for several months. Once the victim was condemned...