Free Republic

This time, the giant schnauzer went the full Monty. After coming close in the last two years, Monty the giant schnauzer won the top prize at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show Tuesday night, leaving handler and co-owner Katie Bernardin almost too emotional to speak. "He always tries so hard, and we're just proud of him," she told the crowd at Madison Square Garden. The spirited schnauzer bested six other finalists to become the first of his breed tapped as Westminster's best in show, the most prestigious prize in the U.S. dog show world. The spirited schnauzer won the huge...

Serena Williams made a surprise cameo during Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl LIX halftime show, as she was spotted dancing during the performance of "Not Like Us." Making an appearance for that song sparked some debate on social media, especially considering Lamar’s song is a diss track toward the rapper Drake, whom Williams dated in 2011. Many believed it was no coincidence Williams’ time to shine was during this track, and ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith thinks the same. It’s why, during his Monday edition of "First Take," he told his colleagues he would divorce her if he was her husband....

Pope Francis issued a major rebuke Tuesday to the Trump administration’s plans for mass deportations of migrants, warning that the forceful removal of people purely because of their illegal status deprives them of their inherent dignity and “will end badly.” Francis took the remarkable step of addressing the U.S. migrant crackdown in a letter to U.S. bishops in which he appeared to take direct aim at Vice President JD Vance's defense of the deportation program on theological grounds. U.S. border czar Tom Homan immediately pushed back, noting that the Vatican is a city-state surrounded by walls and that Francis should...

State conflict of interest laws ban public officials from any involvement in contracts in which they have a financial interest, including agreements that financially benefit their spouse or groups that pay their spouse. Los Angeles’ top homeless services executive told LAist in December that she stuck to those rules, saying she had been walled off and “completely recused” from business relating to her husband’s employer. Through a public records request, LAist later discovered records that contradict her assertion. The documents show that Va Lecia Adams Kellum, chief executive of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), signed a $2.1 million...

Ayanna Pressley says Democrats are willing to work with anyone who is serious about censoring the American people. These people are truly insane. Do they even hear themselves?

1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals just ruled against halting judge’s order requiring the Trump administration to unfreeze federal funding.

Mike Pence has warned Donald Trump that his stance on Ukraine may lead to a Russian invasion of a NATO country and result in a war involving U.S. troops.Speaking on X about Trump's comments on how Ukraine "may be Russia some day," his former vice president said: "If Ukraine falls, it will only be a matter of time until Russia invades a NATO ally our troops will be required to defend."

Carol Rhees is a Democrat lawyer who started Hope for Children in Ethiopia a long-time USAID grant recipient.

Daily Readings from the USCCBJesus summoned the crowd again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.” Mark 7:14–15What is within you? What is in your heart? Today’s Gospel concludes with a list of vices that sadly come from within: “evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.” Of course, none of these vices are desirable when looked at objectively. They are all quite repulsive. And yet too often they...

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MI5 lied to three courts while defending its handling of a misogynistic neo-Nazi state agent who attacked his girlfriend with a machete, the BBC can reveal. Arguing for secrecy, the Security Service told judges it had stuck to its policy of not confirming or denying informants' identities. In fact, MI5 had disclosed the man's status in phone calls to me, as it tried to persuade me not to investigate the man - known publicly only as agent X. The service aggressively maintained its position until I produced evidence proving it was untrue, including a recording of one of the calls....

-snip- Hegseth continued. "We want a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine. But we must start by recognizing that returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective. Chasing this illusionary goal will only prolong the war and cause more suffering." -snip- "A durable peace for Ukraine must include robust security guarantees to ensure that the war will not begin again," Hegseth said Wednesday. "The United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement. Instead, any security guarantee must be backed by capable European and non-European troops." "If these troops are deployed as...

I hate pointing to Fox but that's the best option I found.

Long commentary by a lawyer. The burden of which is that while Democrats are exerting ridiculous lawfare efforts against the Trump Administration, Trump’s response is NOT to use executive power to dismiss these cases but - contrariwise - to exert “malicious compliance.” That is, it is going strictly by the book, meekly filing requests for stays pending appeals. The overreach of these judges is going to stink to high Heaven - and require a 6-3 SCOTUS response AT MINIMUM, and possibly even Democrat-nominated justices as well.

STUTTGART, Germany — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday began his first international trip overseas spending some quality time with American troops stationed in Germany early in the morning for some physical training — or PT, in military-speak. Side-by-side with Green Berets from the 10th Special Forces Group, the 44-year-old defense secretary did the “HERO workout” — a series of exercises honoring those who have fallen in the line of duty. Hegseth did the workout despite arriving to Germany around 2 a.m. that morning and only getting a few hours sleep. Asked why it was important for him to do...

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday that the war between Ukraine and Russia “must end,” that Kyiv joining NATO is unrealistic and that the US will no longer prioritize European and Ukrainian security as the Trump administration shifts its attention to securing the US’ own borders and deterring war with China. In remarks before a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, Hegseth also said that European troops should be the primary force securing a post-war Ukraine—something US troops will not be involved in, he added. “The United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine...

Heartbreaking. 2:17 VIDEO AT LINK.................

Join RSBN for the DOGE Subcomittee's first hearing titled “The War on Waste: Stamping Out the Scourge of Improper Payments and Fraud” on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. Watch LIVE on RSBN starting at 9:30 am EST.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna has announced that she will lead a newly-formed Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets. This initiative aims to bring transparency to some of the most closely guarded information held by the federal government. The task force will focus on several high-profile subjects, including: The 9/11 files Jeffrey Epstein files JFK assassination Sen. Robert F. Kennedy’s assassination Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination COVID-19 origins UFOs

How to Forge the Spectator ClassMy father could disassemble and rebuild a car engine in our garage. I, like many of my generation, was steered toward the ‘civilized’ path – white collar work, climate-controlled offices, and an increasing detachment from the physical world. While I grew up loving sports, memorizing baseball stats with religious devotion, and finding genuine joy in the games, something fundamental has shifted in how men engage with athletics today.In dimly lit rooms across the nation, millions of men gather every weekend, adorned in jerseys bearing other men’s names – not as a complement to their own...