Free Republic

🎄 German police are now confiscating pocket knives from elderly women at Christmas markets. Exploding knife crime in Germany, which the police openly says is tied to mass immigration, has led to a security state at German Christmas markets. In response to the footage above, Alice Weidel, co-leader of the AfD, stated: “Deliberate loss of state control at the borders leads to the illegal immigration of countless knife attackers - and the state harasses its own citizens in response. You can’t make this up!”

Something’s going on in the great state of Texas. For a deep-red state, it sure pumps out some questionable Republicans. Establishment shills like Dan Crenshaw and John Cornyn come to mind. These two aren’t just off the America First train—they’ve got more in common with the left than they do with President Trump or his movement. And now, there’s another oddball Texas politician to add to the list: Chip Roy. He’s a trickier one to spot. Thanks to his bluster and fiery rants—much like Trey Gowdy back in the day—Roy can fool people into thinking he’s one of the good...

I wonder how many different "scientists" missed the simple #math error in #MeganLiu's study that caused an unjustified panic over #BlackPlasticUtensils. Oh look. Their organization is called #ToxicFreeFuture. This is why I favor meritocracy instead of #SocialJustice or #DEI. https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/black-plastic-spatulas-really-bad-164241783.html

Results reported for Texas public schools bolster the case for privatization and universal education savings accounts to fund students directly. A study by Vance Ginn, an economist who runs the Texas-based Vance Ginn Economic Consulting firm, found that taxpayers pay over $15,000 per pupil per year for maintenance & operations and over $27,000 for debt service. Meanwhile, the average tuition for private schools is $11,000 per pupil. State Rep. Glenn Rogers (R-Graford) called the comparison "unfair to the public schools. Private schools can concentrate on education to the exclusion of other concerns. One of the big benefits that public schools...

The word Christmas is not a pronoun, it is a noun, a singular, proper, abstract noun or an adjective. The possessive form is Christmas's. Example uses: Noun: This Christmas we will be visiting my grandmother. Adjective: We will bring her some Christmas gifts. Possessive noun: Christmas's weather was mild this year.

On this day in 1970, Presley formally met Nixon at the White House. The famous photo of the two shaking hands struck a nerve with a number of Presley’s fans at the time, as well as supporters of Nixon. The photo was a pretty big jolt to fans who knew Presley best for his countercultural approach to getting attention: Shaking his hips indecently and performing rock and roll tunes. He had been called everything from “unfit for television” to “a danger to the security of the United States.” He was a countercultural icon for a minute. Nixon, on the other...

Russia has been forced to issue a humiliating denial of rumours that the wife of the former Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad wants a divorce. Rebel forces stormed to victory this month, taking the Syrian capital, Damascus, and forcing President al-Assad to flee to Russia, where he has been personally given sanctuary by his long-time ally, President Vladimir Putin. But after losing his country, rumours ran amok that Assad could also be losing his wife Asma al-Assad, with Turkish and Arabic media reporting the British-born former first lady wanted to come to the UK. Now, in an angry rebuttal from Moscow,...

Saturday Night Live veteran Dana Carvey, who was known for his impression of President George H.W. Bush on the sketch show, once had an interaction that the late politician didn't find very funny. "So I'm in the White House having dinner, my wife and I, with George senior, the president of the United States at the time, and his wife Barbara," Carvey recalled on a recent episode of his podcast, Superfly, cohosted by David Spade. "And the dog, Ranger, kept coming around looking for food. So I was kinda sneaking some food to the dog." "And then at one point...

Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan earlier this month, pleaded not guilty on Monday to the state charges he is facing, including murder. Mangione’s not guilty plea comes after he was extradited late last week from Pennsylvania, where he was initially found and arrested, to New York, where the trial will be held. He is also facing four federal counts, including a charge of murder through use of a firearm, which could allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty. But while prosecutors have said the state and federal cases will progress on...

Anthony Fauci is still getting a taxpayer-funded security detail and SUV, despite retiring from his $480,000-a-year government job 18 months ago. Now a top Republican has accused the former White House COVID advisor of trying to get 'sympathy' by claiming extremists want to kill him and he is the target of death threats. During the publicity tour to promote his new book, 83-year-old Fauci recently said he is scared 'deep down, that there's a possibility that somebody's gonna kill me.' But that is just a strategy to 'develop empathy and sympathy' and paint 'Republicans as creating this danger,' Sen. Rand...

Since the late 1990s, drug companies have spent tens of billions of dollars on television ads, drumming up demand for their products with cheerful jingles and scenes of dancing patients.Now, some people up for top jobs in the incoming Trump administration are attacking such ads, setting up a clash with a powerful industry that has long had the courts on its side.Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald J. Trump’s choice for health secretary, is a longtime critic of pharmaceutical advertising on TV, arguing that it leads broadcasters to more favorable coverage of the industry and does not improve Americans’ health....

If the aftermath of the first widespread mRNA vaccine was not enough to deter the public, the government and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) partnered with Moderna to create a new DNA-altering vaccination for the bird flu. And here we go again – Moderna said that their most recent vaccine is specifically for this variant (2.3.4.4b) of the flu, which has not spread from person-to-person contact. The Science Translational Medicine published Moderna’s study of the vaccine in which they exposed ferrets to the virus. Moderna won a $176 million federal funding package back in JULY to develop...

Merry Christmas, all! I'm finding that the act of writing a novel is very hard work. My writing style tends to be very concise. I can pack a lot of thoughts and ideas into a small number of sentences. This does not work well with my current project. Various sources tell me that 90,000 to 100,000 words is the typical count for a given novel. I'm only at 15,900 words. I have quite a few chapters to go, but it's a struggle to flesh out this work to the right size. I have a first draft manuscript, and if anyone...

The operation began over a decade ago, with Mossad initially weaponizing walkie-talkies sold to Hezbollah. "A walkie-talkie was a weapon just like a bullet or a missile," said "Michael," a former Mossad case officer whose identity was concealed during the interview. "Inside the battery, there is an explosive device… made in Israel." The agents revealed to 60 Minutes how Mossad developed shell companies to sell these devices covertly. "We create a pretend world," said Michael. "We are the directors, producers, and main actors; the world is our stage." He explained this fake world as similar to The Truman Show, similar...

On Sunday, December 22, the Chinese state-run CGTN's correspondent in Ankara reported, citing an Iranian security official, that Pourhashemi died after being shot by a Syrian officer during a meeting in a joint operations room in Aleppo.According to the report by Yakup Aslan, the meeting included Iranian military advisors and Syrian army commanders and took place amid advances by rebel forces in the outskirts of Aleppo...The report noted that IRGC commanders believed a counteroffensive against Assad's opposition, supported by Russian airpower, was possible at the time. However, Syrian commanders hesitated to issue the necessary orders...Armed opposition forces, in a surprise...

[Catholic Caucus] Pope Francis’ public heresy means he isn’t a member of the Catholic Church: Dr. Edmund MazzaIn conclusion, against the position of Matt Gaspers (and others) it seems it simply must be the case that a public material heretic Pope loses office before any declaratory action on the part of the Church.Matt Gaspers and I have previously—and charitably—debated the likelihood that Francis was ever a valid Pope due to Benedict’s innovation of becoming Pope Emeritus. It is in the same fraternal spirit that I take up the challenge again.Virtually no one disputes that Pope Francis is at least a...

We’re learning about more ominous drone sightings in the Northeast. ABC News reported Friday that the objects entered the airspace of a New Jersey Weapons Station multiple times – all this sparking questions and anger — with numerous lawmakers demanding answers from federal agencies. And now, people are taking to social media in Florida and other states, saying they’ve been seeing similar unidentified flying objects. On TikTok, Miami realtor Jessica Blank Gerson posted a video of a mysterious bright object, asking: “What is this? Is this the same kind of drone they’re seeing in New Jersey?” Gerson took the video...

.... Fearful of Trump’s agenda on everything from abortion rights to electric vehicles and immigration, Newsom called a special session of the legislature to bolster the state’s legal defenses, saying California “won’t sit idle.” But he also promised to approach the administration with an “open hand, not a closed fist.” .... \/

Former Rep. Matt Gaetz filed a lawsuit Monday against the House Ethics Committee seeking an emergency temporary restraining order to try and stop the release of its damning investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, arguing its release would prompt “immediate and widespread” media coverage. Gaetz filed the lawsuit after denying allegations published in a leaked draft of the report ahead of its official release in full.

Congress has leaked its hit job, er “report,” against former Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-FL). According to the report set to be officially released later Monday, Gaetz allegedly made tens of thousands of dollars in payments to women for sex while he was a member of Congress, along with a host of other so-called ‘crimes.’ “From 2017 to 2020, Representative Gaetz made tens of thousands of dollars in payments to women that the Committee determined were likely in connection with sexual activity and/or drug use,” the report reads. In total, Gaetz allegedly paid more than $90,000 to 12 different women. One...