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Fewer people are watching the NBA than in previous years, including some of the sport's top names. Ratings for NBA games on ABC, ESPN, TNT and NBA TV are down 25% through Saturday, according to Sports Media Watch, and there are many ideas floating about why. Three-pointer propensity and lack of defense are the two main bugaboos observers point to. And it's become clear that players rest more often than they used to and that the regular season has been watered down in recent years. Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla was asked about the declining ratings, and one would...

President-elect Donald Trump blasted Democrats on Thursday night, accusing them of voting for a shutdown. In a brief statement, Trump said "Nearly every single House Democrat just voted against government funding and to shut down the government." These 197 Democrats voted against keeping the government open, disaster relief, and aid for farmers," he added. Democrats voted overwhelmingly against the second attempt at a continuing resolution Thursday evening, joining a few dozen Republicans in the process. This CR was backed by Trump, who called for the new bill to include suspending the debt ceiling. This bill would have done so until...

US politics tonight the US House rejecting a second plan to continue federal government spending... A Romanian appeals court ruling that the trial of Andrew and Tristian Tate...cannot go forward... Experts from four countries spent five hours on a suspect Chinese merchant vessel anchored near Denmark... Canadian politics embattled Prime Minister Justin Trudeau set to shuffle his cabinet... Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the murder of United HealthCare CEO Brian Thompson...various charges including terrorism...federal charges added... The US Federal Aviation Administration imposing drone restrictions in 22 New Jersey cities... "The presidential election in the United States has radically changed the...

Welcome to the PRAYER REQUESTS thread. This daily thread is a listing of prayer requests that have been posted by Freepers to the main forum who wish to have continued prayer. Hopefully this thread will remind us to continually pray for our fellow Freepers’ cares and needs. GOD hears and answers our prayers.

The House rejected a Republican plan to stave off a government shutdown on Thursday, hours after GOP members crafted a new spending proposal and President-elect Trump endorsed it. The first plan, a bipartisan effort, went down in flames when it was opposed by many members and Trump. Ahead of the vote, Democrats called the GOP plan “laughable.” Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) handling of the end-of-year spending deal has thrown his future into uncertain territory ahead of a critical Jan. 3 Speaker vote. Trump and Elon Musk put heat on the Speaker when they publicly lobbied on Wednesday against the first...

The Young Turks’ ​⁠‪@AnaKasparian‬ with ​⁠‪@glennbeck‬ on the experience that woke her up to the ills of the radical left: “It wasn’t just that this terrifying thing happened. It was also the reaction that I received from a faction of the left, the ‘social justice’ left, who think that the criminals are the victims and the victims are the criminals. And I don’t know how big this factions is, but they’re loud enough to push me away completely.” We’re proud of Ana for speaking out. She’s got a warm welcome in #WalkAway! 👏 The #WalkAway Campaign is a true grassroots...

It seems like every writer and their dog has already published their take on the Wall Street Journal's bombshell report on Presidentish Joe Biden's decline, but seemingly lost in the hubbub over the White House coverup is one big question. Why the hell didn't they ditch Biden two or three years ago? The obvious answer is that his replacement would have been Kamala Harris, who my friend Stephen Kruiser and I have joked on many occasions got the veep nod from Biden as an insurance policy against getting 25th'd out of office. But given what we know they knew about...

Thirty-eight House Republican lawmakers voted against the President-elect Trump-backed government spending bill that failed to clear the lower chamber with just more than a day before the shutdown. These GOP representatives voted Thursday against the measure that would have prevented a government shutdown and suspended the debt limit:Aaron Bean (Fla.)Andy Biggs (Ariz.)Josh Brecheen (Okla.)Tim Burchett (Tenn.)Eric Burlison (Mo.)Kat Cammack (Fla.)Michael Cloud (Texas)Andrew Clyde (Ga.)Eli Crane (Ariz.)John Curtis (Utah)Jeff Duncan (S.C.)Russ Fulcher (Idaho)Bob Good (Va.)Paul Gosar (Ariz.)Andy Harris (Md.)Wesley Hunt (Texas)Doug Lamborn (Colo.)Debbie Lesko (Ariz.)Greg Lopez (Colo.)Morgan Luttrell (Texas)Nancy Mace (S.C.)Thomas Massie (Ky.)Richard McCormick (Ga.)Cory Mills (Fla.)Alexander Mooney (W.Va.)Blake Moore (Utah)Nathaniel...

If there is anything Americans have learned from the horrific four years of the Biden administration, it is that our government and its institutions operate as any mafia or crime family organization does. Biden’s DOJ is still, to this day, arresting and charging people who were in D.C. on January 6, 2021. They are charged by far left prosecutors, tried before far left judges, and D.C. juries convict them almost without deliberation. Hundreds of them have been jailed in prisons that should not exist in the U.S. Some are in solitary confinement for nothing more than being escorted into the...

Former Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean claimed Thursday on MSNBC’s “All In” that once in office, President Donald Trump will attack free speech, causing the country to be “done for as we know it.” Host Ari Melber said, “I am curious what you see here in the political side of this. These are political efforts to change how people act or change coverage or have some impact. ABC, going to make its own decisions but it was widely covered that the case was not an obvious loss by any means and their statement, I am referring to what ABC...

[Catholic Caucus] Meeting of the XVI Ordinary CouncilOn Tuesday afternoon, 17 December, the first meeting of the XVI Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod took place.After a moment of prayer led by Fr. Matteo Ferrari, OSB Cam, Msgr. Piero Coda, Secretary General of the International Theological Commission, presented a report on the ecclesiological perspectives of the Final Document adopted by the members of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (2-27 October 2024) and by the Holy Father at the end of the Assembly. A rich debate followed.Afterwards, the Council members discussed a series...

YouTube video. The relevant part is 5:18-9:56. Transcript: The Leonidas system has shown up in a moment when the Department of Defense was recognizing a critical need and as promised the technology they provided was proven capable just in time to address the problem America barely knew it had... It uses a directed energy weapon rather than an interceptor system to take out incoming threats, but rather than being a point and shoot offensive weapon, Leonidas is meant to provide defensive area coverage creating less a contiguous force field in the surrounding area and more an area of denial where...

The Thompson

The single greatest mass jailbreak of corrupt scammers in history. Some people lost their life savings while others lost their dreams in a $900 million fraud that was described as one of the largest Ponzi schemes in history and left behind 1 million victims. Investors in ‘Zeek’ had taken out loans and mortgages on their homes expecting to get a 125% return on their investment. Victims included the parents of a leukemia patient who were trying to pay for their daughter’s hospital visits. And while some of the money was recovered, people in towns like Lexington, North Carolina, where ZeekRewards...

Representative Steve Womack (R-AR) claimed Thursday on “CNN News Central” that shutting the government “would be disastrous” to both the new Republican majorities in the House and the Senate and incoming President-elect Donald Trump. Co-host Brianna Keilar said, “Your colleagues who are calling for a shutdown and there are some of them who are calling for a protracted one. You have Marjorie Taylor Green, Nancy Mace saying, shut the government down until Trump takes office on January 6. Your colleagues who are comfortable with the military not getting paid, it appears you’ve got multiple military installations there in Arkansas. You’ve...

FR CANTEEN MISSION STATEMENT Showing support and boosting the morale of our military and our allied military and the family members of the above.Honoring those who have served before. Link Come on in, we're open Need a place just to hang out? This is it.FReeper Canteen’s The Night Before, the Night Before, the Night Before,etc. Christmas We serve coffee, tea, hot cocoa, conversation and music.How about some homemade eggnog? (got another order in)Our AWESOME military, our AWESOME allies, and their families are welcomed and honored here.No worries in the FReeper Canteen Just Hangin' Cafe. Pull up a chair. Grab...

Some of the most memorable moments on PBS's long-running Antiques Roadshow happen when a guest learns their dusty attic find is worth a small fortune. They cry. You cry. It’s pure magic. Equally great are the moments when an appraiser catches a glimpse of something out of the corner of their eye and instantly knows: “This is going to be special.” A Tupperware Container Holding Christmas Magic That’s exactly what happened in 2005 when appraiser Simeon Lipman was at the table during an Antiques Roadshow taping in Providence, Rhode Island. A man walked up carrying—of all things—a Tupperware container. Inside?...

WASHINGTON—Amid collapsing public confidence in U.S. courts, a federal judge has been found culpable of misconduct. The offense? Questioning the ethics of a Supreme Court justice. U.S. District Judge Michael Ponsor published an essay in the New York Times arguing that the display of flags associated with President-elect Donald Trump’s MAGA movement at Justice Samuel Alito’s Virginia and New Jersey homes was a breach of public trust. The piece was unusual because judges don’t typically offer personal criticisms of a colleague in public. According to the jurist assigned to review the matter, Chief Judge Albert Diaz of the federal appeals...

The Republican-controlled House rejected on Thursday evening a revamped spending bill that would stave off a federal government shutdown by the end of the week, leaving the ultimate fate of the measure backed by President-elect Donald Trump and his close allies in doubt.Just hours after the new deal was unveiled, 172 Republicans and two Democrats voted for the bill. It failed to pass under suspension of the rules, meaning the bill needed a two-thirds majority for it to succeed. Another 38 Republicans voted against the bill, siding with the majority of Democrats.Revised GOP CR fails to even get a majority,...