Free Republic

When you look at the breadth of President-elect Donald Trump’s victory, it’s impossible to pin Democratic losses on just one or two things. This is not a situation where the outcome would have been different if President Biden had done X or Vice President Kamala Harris had done Y. In fact, had both Biden and Harris done everything “right,” Trump likely still would have won. The culprit for the Democratic Party’s sweeping losses is bigger than any one particular candidate. In 2016, I left the Republican Party and became a Democrat. In many ways, I feel as if the GOP...

Dec 15 (Reuters) - Israel said on Sunday it would close its Dublin embassy due to the Irish government's "extreme anti-Israel policies" including recognition of a Palestinian state and support for international legal action against its war in Gaza.

A jury has ruled in favor of Kirstin “Blaise” Lobato, finding that two Las Vegas police detectives fabricated evidence against her in a 2001 murder. The verdict was read Thursday afternoon following a day and a half of deliberations. When U.S. District Judge Richard Boulware announced the jury had ruled in her favor, Lobato looked to the courtroom ceiling and gasped before she began crying and hugging her attorneys. The jury awarded Lobato $34 million in compensatory damages, plus $20,000 in punitive damages, ruling that Metropolitan Police Department Detectives Thomas Thowsen and James LaRochelle, now retired, fabricated evidence and intentionally...

The Episcopal Church announced yesterday that it had divested entirely from the fossil fuel industry, marking the “culmination of a decade-long shift toward environmentally conscious investments and a significant milestone in the church’s more than 50-year history of socially responsible investing,” according to a press release by the denomination. With a median congregational age of 69, the Episcopal Church is literally dying. This denomination is thoroughly depraved and ceased long being Christian decades ago, with perhaps only a fraction of a percent of real believers left. Abortion and LGBTQ have long since been lauded and celebrated, and if you throw...

AT least one person has died after a Russian oil tanker split in two, with a second ship damaged in the Black Sea. Footage shows one of the tankers split completely in half, with its bow vertically in the water, upturned and rapidly sinking. An emergency rescue operation is currently underway to desperately evacuate both crews in yet another blow to Putin. The Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-239 are wrecked in the Kerch Strait amid fears for at least 27 sailors, with the damage reportedly resulting in a devastating oil spill. Russian investigators say they have opened two criminal cases to look...

Radio communication Breaking: Andrews AFB tower talked to some passing military helicopters about drone activity near the base. More details coming soon.

The Biden administration has been an unmitigated disaster since day one, with an endless list of extreme failures. Its horrific handling of the COVID-19 pandemic caused immense harm with zero benefits. The Afghanistan withdrawal was a nightmare. Its incompetent handling of the economy led to runaway inflation and mass layoffs. It's been a catastrophe from start to finish, which is why Biden's vice president lost so soundly in the 2024 election. But with just more than a month to go for one of the worst administrations in US history, those "in charge" aren't done making dumb decisions yet. The New...

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said Democrats are in “the fight of our lives” following President-elect Trump’s victory in the 2024 election. “We’re not gonna change our values,” Raskin said on “All in with Chris Hayes” on Wednesday. “We’re not gonna abandon American constitutional democracy because we lost an election by … 1 and a half percent. We’re not gonna abandon the rule of law.” “We’re gonna be recruiting and mobilizing hundreds of thousands and millions of more people to get out there and be leaders in this fight,” he added. “What else can we do? This is not a game...

If you’re a defense contractor, we have a very merry Christmas present for you: at least 18 years worth of weapons stock you need to rebuild in order to regain the stores the U.S. military had before we started shipping it to Ukraine.For the rest of us who prefer that we defend, you know, our own country, that’s a heck of a lump of coal in America’s stocking.According to a study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies published in January 2023 — before many other weapons transfers to Kyiv — “there may be a crisis brewing over artillery...

Stephen Miller, a familiar name in conservative circles, is poised to take on one of the most powerful roles in the Trump White House. The President-elect is expected to appoint Miller as his deputy chief of staff for policy, a move confirmed by Vice President-elect JD Vance on social media. The decision, while not yet publicly confirmed by Trump’s team, follows growing speculation and a viral resurgence of Miller’s past, igniting a flurry of reactions across social media. Miller, who at the age of 31 once held a coveted office in the West Wing and gained the President's ear, has...

Small, child-like fingers had been spotted poking out of an enclosed wooden trailer being towed in Arizona. When police pulled over the driver, they found three girls aged between 11 and 14 hidden in the back amid squalid conditions. There was no ventilation, and pictures released by the Coconino County Superior Court later revealed a toilet in the corner made of a bucket, trash bag and plastic seat. There was also a dingy brown couch, camping chairs, stroller and other junk crammed inside. The driver was Samuel Bateman - a former member of the Fundamentalist Church of the Latter Day...

The federal government does not have the authority to take out drones spotted over New York and Jew Jersey, according to the head of the Department of Homeland Security. Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas says that authorities need to be expanded for DHS and its partners to 'incapacitate' these mystery drones. It comes after President-elect Donald Trump suggested that the unmanned aircraft be shot down. 'Mystery Drone sightings all over the Country. Can this really be happening without our government's knowledge,' Trump posted on Friday amid outcry over the ongoing mystery. 'I don't think so! Let the public know, and now. Otherwise,...

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russian President Vladimir Putin commented on the most pressing issues of politics and economy during the 22th Congress of the United Russia Party which was held in Moscow on Saturday.Russia's confrontation with opponents involves not only the fighting on the battlefield but also all other areas of public life, such as culture, education and the economy, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said. "[The battlefield] occurs not only along the front line. Indeed, this global and decisive confrontation affects all aspects of our lives, including culture, education, worldviews, the economy and technology," Putin stressed. At the same time,...

Senator-elect Adam Schiff (D-CA) claimed Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that Americans did not vote for President-elect Donald Trump to see him “pardon criminals” involved in January 6. Host George Stephanopoulos said, “How about the question about the January 6th pardons?” Schiff said, “Well, I am greatly concerned about it. First of all, that he could pardon people that beat police officers, gouged them, bear sprayed them, but also, even beyond that, just the general message it would send, George, that his first pardons are going to go to people who sought through the use of violence at the Capitol...

A growing chorus of Democratic elected officials in New York and New Jersey are demanding answers from the Biden administration regarding the ongoing sightings of mysterious drones that suddenly began to appear about a month ago. “This has gone too far,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said in a short, terse statement on Saturday, adding that it’s past time to take action.

Senator Mitt Romney (R-MA) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that January 6, 2021 will be seen “as a very dark day in American history.” Host Jake Tapper said, “Four years ago next month you were running for your life from the mob on January 6. And now the person that you said was responsible for that day is about to return to the White House. He says he’s going to pardon a lot of the people that have been convicted for the crimes committed on that day. What do you think the legacy of January 6 will...

As America eagerly awaits the upcoming inauguration of Donald J. Trump as the 47th US President, it is now under a second invasion: after the mass illegal hordes, the mysterious drones. The first basic question in everyone’s mind is: who is doing this? There are two major possibilities: they are either US military/Space Force drones, or else they are foreign, potentially enemy craft. (For me, the ‘alien’ origin in this case can be completely discarded.) Given the fact that the US has not unleashed its assets to deter this phenomenon – that started over New Jersey but now has spread...

The Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry, in collaboration with the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and other components of the Defense Forces, destroyed a train carrying 40 tanks of fuel and incurred damage to a railway line from temporarily occupied Crimea to Zaporizhzhia. “As a result of the special operation, the locomotive and 40 tank cars with fuel were destroyed, and an important railroad line that supplied Russian troops was put out of commission for a long time,” the sources said.

Daily Readings from the USCCBThe crowds asked John the Baptist, “What should we do?” Luke 3:10Among those within the crowds who were asking Saint John the Baptist this question were tax collectors, soldiers and ordinary people. John gave an answer to them all, first telling them to turn away from the sins that they struggled with the most. Sin takes on many forms and often is closely associated with our daily duties in life. Some sins are sins of commission, meaning sins we commit by an intentional act. Some sins are those of omission, meaning a lack of certain virtues...

Former Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that given the absence of government information on the drone sightings in New Jersey, individuals will soon become “drone vigilantes” and “they’ll start taking them down.” Christie said, “I lived in New Jersey my whole life. This is the first time that I’ve noticed drones over my house, and I was in a restaurant in Monmouth County on Friday night. I had people at the bar coming up to me and saying, Governor Murphy won’t tell me anything. The president won’t tell me anything. Do you know? Well, I...