Free Republic

Foreign policy experts and officials alike reacted to the news on Sunday, speculating about what might be in store for the Middle East nation and the American forces residing there. "Who knows what's next?" former Deputy National Security Adviser K.T. McFarland asked. "But the [multiple] rebel groups got together, and they saw a moment of opportunity, and they moved into Syria… and President Trump is so right to say, ‘let it play out. This is not our fight.’ I'm just sorry we have 900 American forces in that country because who knows? Are they sitting targets? Are they potential hostages?...

Pope Francis: May inmates on death row in the US be gracedPope Francis asks for prayers for inmates awaiting execution on federal death row in the United States, appealing that their sentences be commuted.Pope Francis on Sunday prayed that the sentences of inmates on death row in the United States be commuted or changed.His prayer during the Angelus address comes as US President Joe Biden has the authority to commute the sentences of people on federal death row before he leaves office in January 2025.“Today, I feel compelled to ask all of you to pray for the inmates on death...

Liberal Party USA held their inaugural convention in Houston this weekend. While this author had hoped to attend, circumstances prevented travel. As most readers here know, I am clearly in support of the argument for a classic liberal party. So while this is intended to be as unbiased as possible, please excuse any on my part that may filter in. The party entered the weekend with ten state affiliates. They left with twelve and about ten new states “under construction”. The New Hampshire Classic Liberal Party was accepted as an affiliate before the start of the convention, and the Montana...

When thieves made off with Darcie Bell’s rented U-Haul truck, the San Francisco woman put out a call for help on X: “If you see a 26 foot uhaul truck with the Arizona plate AL50003- would you let me know because it had like everything I own on it.” The post went viral, but not for the reason she hoped for. Bell spent years posting left-wing “defund the police” views — and users across the site blasted and mocked the activist. “Anti Police activist begs the police to help,” jeered the X account Bay State of Mind, which comments on...

Israel should seize the opportunity of the Assad regime falling and the Iranian proxy axis weakening to convince the US to strike Iran’s nuclear program, former IDF Operations Command chief Maj.-Gen. (res.) Israel Ziv told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday. Ziv said that the fall of Bashar Assad, which also has weakened the “Axis of Resistance,” is a historic opportunity and that Washington, especially under President-elect Donald Trump, who will assume office on January 20, might be more ready than ever before to take advantage of Tehran’s moment of weakness. In the past, one reason, among many, that neither American...

California is making so much solar energy that large commercial operators are increasingly forced to stop production, raising questions about the state’s costly plan to shift entirely to carbon-free sources of electricity. In the past 12 months, California’s solar farms have curtailed production of more than 3 million megawatt hours of solar energy, either on the orders of the state’s grid operator or because prices had plummeted because of the glut, according to an analysis of data by The Los Angeles Times. That’s enough to power 518,000 California homes for a year, based on average electricity usage. The amount of...

[Verse 1: Marilyn Maxwell & Dean Martin] I really can't stay (But, baby, it's cold outside) I've got to go away (But, baby, it's cold outside) This evening has been (Been hoping that you'd drop in) So very nice (I'll hold your hands, they're just like ice) My mother will start to worry (Beautiful, what's your hurry?) My father will be pacing the floor (Listen to the fireplace roar) So, really, I'd better scurry (Beautiful, please don't hurry) But maybe just a half a drink more (Put some records on while I

[Catholic/Orthodox Caucus] The primacy of Mary as Immaculate Conception - By Fr Serafino M. LanzettaIn omnibus Ipsa primatum tenensThe primacy of Mary as Immaculate ConceptionBy Fr Serafino M. LanzettaChrist is firstIn order to execute a project, or to turn a vision into action, one first needs to have an idea or a plan. The idea precedes the action, as the intention precedes the actual achieving of the goal. Likewise, an artist, to give an example very expressive of this reality, must first conceive in mind what he wants then to depict on a canvas. If his intelligence is uninspired, it...

The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) conducted dozens of airstrikes on known ISIS camps and operatives in central Syria on Sunday to prevent the terrorist organization from taking advantage of the demise of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad’s regime. After Assad’s family ruled over Syria for more than 50 years, Assad was forced to flee Syria to Russia, where he was granted asylum, when a coalition of largely radical Islamist groups led a sweeping offensive across Syria and captured the country’s capital city. CENTCOM announced on Sunday that it has conducted strikes against ISIS leaders, operatives and camps as part of an...

9 Day Novena for the Conversion of Pope Francis [Prayer]Steubenville, Ohio. A special 9-day Novena for the Conversion of Pope Francis will begin on December 8, 2024, and will run through December 17, 2024 (the birthday of Pope Francis), starting at 8:00 PM EST every night.This prayer initiative, which invites Catholics worldwide to unite in prayer, is focused on securing the grace of conversion for Pope Francis. Our Lord said to Peter in Luke 22:32 “But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and thou, being once converted, confirm thy brethren.”Our prayer is focused on the prayer...

Around midmorning on Thursday, parents across Montana started receiving texts from their children that schools were in lockdown.... Fortunately, there was no such gunman.... Many schools in Montana have armed School Resource Officers, but these uniformed, easily identifiable individuals find themselves at a serious disadvantage in an attack.... There’s a good reason air marshals on planes don’t wear uniforms. If you have an armed officer in a school, don’t make him readily identifiable. Give him a staff position in the school so it won’t be obvious that he is the one person with a gun. But designated officers shouldn’t be...

On a dreary Sunday, as severe storms crippled vast portions of the Great Lakes and families planned to return home after a long Thanksgiving weekend, Joe Biden sprung the second surprise of his presidency. He issued a presidential pardon for his son Hunter's activities dating back to January 1, 2014. The pardon was overbroad and covered activities that were not even the subject of a DOJ trial of Hunter, such as lying about filling out a form to obtain a gun and failing to pay taxes on time. [snip] The presidential pardon, however, shook Biden's loyal supporters. They said Biden...

Explanation: Are Saturn's auroras like Earth's? To help answer this question, the Hubble Space Telescope and the Cassini spacecraft monitored Saturn's North Pole simultaneously during Cassini's final orbits around the gas giant in September 2017. During this time, Saturn's tilt caused its North Pole to be clearly visible from Earth. The featured image is a composite of ultraviolet images of auroras and optical images of Saturn's clouds and rings, all taken by Hubble. Like on Earth, Saturn's northern auroras can make total or partial rings around the pole. Unlike on Earth, however, Saturn's auroras are frequently spirals -- and more...

On a podcast with Trump hating attorney Preet Bharara (SDNY), atheist philosopher and for "New Atheism" horseman Sam Harris goes scorched earth against identity politics as practiced by the Democrats: Key Points that Harris makes in this interview: 1. Identity politics should be dead now with Trump's election 2. Democrats championed fake racism because there was not enough real racism in society 3. The Southern Poverty Law Center is a corrupt, indoctrinated organization that invents racism everywhere and no one should take it seriously any more 4. All pandering to imagined victim groups has backfired 5. Identity politics is a...

Some 43,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since Russia's full-scale invasion began, Volodymyr Zelensky has said in a rare admission of the extent of the nation's casualties. In a post on social media, the Ukrainian president said 370,000 injuries had been reported, though this figure included soldiers who had been hurt more than once and some of the injuries were said to be minor. He also claimed that 198,000 Russian soldiers had been killed and a further 550,000 wounded. The BBC has not been able to verify either side's figures.

When a party of four Venezuelans and one Colombian crawled through a hole in a fence at the United States-Mexico border, they knew they were entering the U.S. illegally. But they didn’t know they would become witnesses for the Department of Justice (DOJ) in a human trafficking case against Venezuelan national Cesar David Martinez-Gonzalez of Chester, Pennsylvania. --SNIP-- Trafficking — modern day slavery in the United States — is a byproduct of an unchecked open border, and President Joe Biden’s policies have invited more trafficking.

The Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, led by Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, has toppled the regime of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad. The group insists it has renounced its ties to al-Qaeda and that it will respect pluralism and the rights of minorities. Since the downfall of Assad’s regime, the Syrian President has reportedly fled the country and been granted asylum in Russia. Meanwhile Israel has seized a buffer zone in the Syrian-controlled area of the Golan Heights. It says this is a temporary but necessary measure since Syrian soldiers had abandoned their positions. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has...

Full 1-hour 16-minute "Meet the Press" interview. President Donald Trump sits down with activist Kristen Welker for an exclusive and wide-ranging interview.

SOME ORDER Among the many groups, there are mainly four: A. HTS al-Jolani: Islamic Jihadists ex Nusra (supported Hamas Oct 7 attacks). B. Other Islamists - backed by Turkiye. C. Kurds - allies of US C. Others, including secular. Non jihadisrs are mainly under FSA

Israel's prime minister has announced its military has temporarily seized control of a demilitarized buffer zone in the Golan Heights, saying the 1974 disengagement agreement with Syria had "collapsed" with the rebel takeover of the country. Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to enter the buffer zone and "commanding positions nearby" from the Israeli-occupied part of the Golan. "We will not allow any hostile force to establish itself on our border," he said. A UK-based war monitor said Syrian troops had left their positions in Quneitra province, part of which lies inside the buffer zone,...