Free Republic

The outlines of President-elect Donald Trump’s initial efforts to end the war in Ukraine from his visit to Europe last week are starting to emerge for the first time. The main takeaway: Europe would have to shoulder most of the burden of supporting Kyiv with troops to oversee a cease-fire and weapons to deter Russia. At a meeting in Paris on Dec. 7, Trump told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and French President Emmanuel Macron that he doesn’t support Ukrainian membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, but that he wanted to see a strong, well-armed Ukraine emerge from any cessation...

Leftist organization ActBlue recently admitted that it didn’t automatically block donations made with foreign-bought gift cards until recently. Just the News wrote in its exclusive report that this was a potentially significant revelation in a current investigation into whether China, Russia, Iran or Venezuela paid off candidates of the Democratic Party.The news source learned that from House Administration Chairman Bryan Steil, R-Wis.According to Just the News, ActBlue also stated that it updated its policies on Sept. 9 to “automatically reject donations that use foreign prepaid/gift cards, domestic gift cards, are from high-risk/sanctioned countries, and have the highest level of risk...

Israel’s Army Radio reported Thursday that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) began preparing plans for Israel to attack Iran’s nuclear sites after destroying nearly 90% of Syria’s air defense capabilities, which had formerly protected Iran. Army Radio military correspondent Doron Kadosh reported on air that Israel had destroyed 86% of Syria’s surface-to-air missile capability, among 500 other sites that the IDF had targeted since the fall of the Assad regime Sunday. Kadosh elaborated, in a post on X, that Israel had used 1800 munitions in the attack on Syrian weapons — munitions that had been intended for other purposes, but...

Much like eating a pint of ice cream while watching guilty-pleasure television, using adverbs, tempting as it may be, is best done sparingly. Just ask author Stephen King, who declared, “The road to hell is paved with adverbs,” in the writing guide/memoir On Writing. Where did King get the idea that adverbs are such a negative part of speech? And despite his feelings on the topic, isn’t it possible to use them in a manner that adds color and intrigue? Let’s examine why King might have his curious opinion and how adverbs are used — for better or worse. Adverbs...

Daily Readings from the USCCBThen the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.” Luke 1:30–31Today we celebrate five successive apparitions of our Blessed Mother to Juan Diego, who was an Indian convert to the faith. Early in the morning of December 9, 1531, Juan was traveling to the town of Tlatelolco where he intended to attend a catechism class and the holy Mass. However, on his way, as he passed by the Tepeyac Hill,...

CBS's Lesley Stahl and WSJ columnist Peggy Noonan openly acknowledge the decline of mainstream media. "I’m very dark about this," Stahl admits, signaling a moment of reckoning for traditional news outlets. Is this the end of an era?

A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled that Nasdaq could not impose rules requiring companies listed on the exchange to have women and minority directors on their boards or explain why they do not. The New Orleans-based 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals on a 9-8 vote sided with two conservative advocacy groups in finding that the rules approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission ran afoul of federal securities law. A three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit comprised entirely of appointees of Democratic presidents in October 2023 upheld the SEC’s 2021 decision to approve Nasdaq’s rules, saying the regulator...

Meta Platforms META -0.45%decrease; red down pointing triangle has donated $1 million to President-elect Donald Trump’s inaugural fund, the latest step by Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg to bolster his once-fraught relationship with the incoming president. The donation, confirmed by the company, is a departure from past practice by Zuckerberg and his company, and comes after an election campaign in which Trump threatened to punish the tech tycoon if he tried to influence the election against him. The contribution and efforts to court the incoming administration are emblematic of the balancing act for technology CEOs whose companies have often been the...

The global chemical weapons watchdog opened an emergency meeting on Thursday to discuss the situation in Syria over concerns about the country’s stockpile of toxic chemicals in the wake of the overthrow of President Bashar Assad. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons told Syria on Monday the country is under obligations to comply with rules to safeguard and destroy dangerous substances, such as chlorine gas, after rebels entered the capital, Damascus, at the weekend. Assad’s regime denied using chemical weapons but the OPCW found evidence indicating their repeated use by Syria in the grinding civil war. Earlier this...

NATIONAL AMBROSIA DAY Right in the middle of the holiday season, National Ambrosia Day brings a refreshing salad to the celebration table. On December 12th, bring ambrosia to your holiday dinner or celebration and go home with an empty bowl. #NationalAmbrosiaDay Ambrosia, according to Greek mythology, is the nectar of the gods, endowing strength and immortality to those who eat it. The term itself can mean something especially delectable to taste or smell. The earliest recipes for ambrosia salad appeared around the 1800s. The recipes called for citrus fruit, coconut, and sugar. However, those who find coconut disagreeable leave it...

FOX5 Interview with Drone pilot.............. 0:15 VIDEO AT LINK...............

Special Dispatch to the New-York Times. The fact that Gen. GRANT had begun a new operation became known to the public on Saturday last, but beyond the simple announcement nothing was made known regarding the aim or direction of the movement. The Richmond papers of Friday, however, bring us pretty full intelligence respecting both. It appears that the present operation is directed against none of the great objectives at which Gen. GRANT has so long been aiming, looking neither to the capture of Richmond, Petersburgh nor the Southside Road, but to the possession of Weldon and the railroads centreing there....

Another sign of the tech giant's boss, Mark Zuckerberg, attempting to build bridges with the president-elect. Trump has previously been highly critical of Mr Zuckerberg and Facebook - calling the platform "anti-Trump" in 2017. But the pair dined at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in November, a meeting Mr Zuckerberg afterwards described himself as "grateful" for. Inauguration funds are used to pay for events and activities when a new president takes office - some consider them an attempt to curry favour with a new administration. Meta is not believed to have made similar donations to President Joe Biden's inaugural fund in 2020...

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer is taking aim at two new accountability targets, revealing that he will soon review more than 400 Treasury Department money laundering reports that raised alarm about the Democrat fundraising platform ActBlue and is already passing information to the next leaders of the Justice Department to punish bureaucrats who tried to impede investigations of the Biden family. “Anyone who's involved in a government agency, whether it's the Securities Exchange Commission, the IRS, the FBI, the Department of Justice, anyone who was involved in obstructing an investigation or covering up criminal activity from the Biden family,...

A spherical robot which can operate both on the ground and in the water with the ability to track, combat and capture, recently patrol side by side with police officers in a commercial zone in Wenzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, drawing public attention with its futuristic shape and functions. With its constant improvement in size and functions, the robot is expected to have broad application, the research team told the Global Times on Tuesday. A video clip circulating online shows the smart amphibious spherical robot automatically moves on the ground without human's control, patrolling the streets side by side...

On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Inside Politics,” Senate Majority Whip Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) stated that he has learned lessons from his unsuccessful attempts to strike a deal with then-President Donald Trump on DREAMers back during Trump’s first term and he knows “you have to work directly with President-Elect Trump to get an agreement, and you’ve got to be sensitive to his priorities, as well as your own.” Durbin stated [relevant remarks begin around 22:05] that he hasn’t talked with Trump’s transition team about the President-Elect’s comments on DREAMers, but he expects they’ll talk to him about nominees and he’ll...

President Donald Trump’s mass repatriation of illegal migrants could lower the price of chicken dinners and also raise family wages, according to AviNews.com, a poultry industry news site. “The poultry industry heavily relies on immigrant labor. Many of these workers are undocumented, and their roles are crucial in processing plants and farms, the article noted on December 11, adding: The loss of this labor force could force companies to increase wages to attract [American] domestic workers.Moreover, the return of many illegal migrants to their home countries would also reduce consumer consumption of chicken products, the site noted: Immigrants are not...

Last week, I filed a brief in support of our neighbor Utah in their lawsuit against the federal government regarding the widespread federal ownership of “unappropriated” land—that is, land owned by the federal government but not used for any federal purpose—across their state and throughout most of the West. Utah’s suit asks the United States Supreme Court to release much of this land back to the ownership and management of the states. As many of you know, I spent 8 years in Washington, D.C. representing Idaho’s First Congressional District. You can’t throw a rock in that town without hitting federal...

Outgoing President Joe Biden is commuting the sentences of 1,500 people and pardoning 39 others in the biggest ever single-day act of clemency in the US. The names of the people involved have not been given but the pardons are for those convicted of non-violent crimes. The commutations on Thursday were announced for those who were placed on home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic. Biden said these people would have received shorter sentences if charged under today's laws, policies, and practices. The pardons come over a week after the president was criticized for pardoning his own son Hunter from his...

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