Free Republic

It’s come to this: A fourteen-year-old Scottish girl has more courage to fight evil pedophiles invading her country than all the governments and police forces of Europe combined. By now you’ve seen video of Mayah Sommers, the heroine brandishing a long knife and axe while defending her twelve-year-old sister from two Muslim men making sexual advances. So sure that they could prey on Scottish youth without suffering any legal consequences, the stalkers actually filmed the event, mocking Sommers in Arabic and providing video evidence for the Scottish police to charge the young girl for possession of a bladed weapon. That’s...

Las Vegas hotels are rolling out big incentives — including free nights and thousands of dollars in casino credits — to lure visitors back to the city. Sin City saw an 11.3 percent drop in visitors in June compared with the same month last year, an astonishing fall that means almost 400,000 people stayed away. That decline translates to less spending in restaurants, shops, shows and at hotels, where occupancy fell nearly 10 percent, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

American private military firms could be deployed to Ukraine as part of a long-term peace plan. Donald Trump is in talks with European allies about allowing armed contractors to help build fortifications to protect American interests in the country. The plan is being devised as a workaround after the US president promised that American troops would not be stationed in Ukraine. US contractors could be deployed to help rebuild Ukraine’s front-line defences, new bases and protect US businesses.

Red graffiti can still be seen spray-painted over the Israeli flag that's hanging on the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia's Old City neighborhood. The museum said this vandalism, which happened early Monday morning, is the second incident in two weeks. "Appallingly, vandalizing Jewish institutions has become a daily occurrence in America. The Anti-Defamation League reported over 9,000 cases of antisemitism just this past year. Unfortunately, the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History has become part of that statistic," Dan Tadmor, the president and CEO of the museum, said.

President Donald Trump’s administration this week told 40 states to eliminate parts of lessons that focus on LGBTQ+ issues from federally funded sexual education materials or that they will lose funding. The move is the latest in a line of efforts since Trump returned to the White House in January to recognize people as only male or female and to eliminate what he calls “gender ideology.” “Federal funds will not be used to poison the minds of the next generation or advance dangerous ideological agendas,” Acting Assistant Health and Human Service Secretary Andrew Gradison said in a statement. ...

Queen Elizabeth II had opinions on all sorts of subjects; it was just that she chose not to share them. Or, more accurately, she did sometimes share them, but those who heard were usually too discreet to repeat them. As George Osborne says, “I was constantly astonished by how candid she was and that none of this ever came out. She’d be very forthright in telling you what she thought of individuals, including members of her own family, and what she thought about things going on in the country.” Another politician tells how the Queen once mentioned over drinks that...

Attorney General Pam Bondi fired another Department of Justice paralegal on Friday, this time for flipping off a member of the National Guard in Washington, D.C., on her way to work earlier this month. Elizabeth Baxter of the department's environmental division arrived for work just after 8:20 a.m. on Aug. 18 at the DOJ’s "4CON" building in the NoMa district, where she bragged to a security guard that she had just made the gesture at Metro Center Metro Stop and told the guardsman, "F--k the National Guard," Bondi said, according to the New York Post. "Today, I took action to...

Health officials upgraded a recent travel warning amid a concerning surge of a mosquito-borne illness that causes pain potentially lasting for years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a Level 2 travel warning for Guangdong Province in China, advising visitors to “practice enhanced precautions” due to an outbreak of chikungunya. The outbreak has shaken the province, with Foshan city at the epicenter, sparking an aggressive response from authorities that some are comparing to early COVID-era measures. Thousands of people in China have been infected with the painful virus. It’s an illness that is spread when a mosquito...

A quarrel over a woman at a popular Hamptons bar turned bloody earlier this month when a man stabbed his friend in a fit of rage, according to sources and a report. Two pals who work at Southampton restaurants were drinking after their shift at local watering hole Fellingham’s at around 1 a.m. on Aug. 18 when they began to argue over a woman that was part of their group, according to sources. The pair started screaming at each other, fists flew, and then one man pulled out a knife and stabbed his friend several times in the stomach, according...

“Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36). Jesus felt compassion for the crowds as only the Son of God could feel. It is among God’s attributes to love and care because “God is love” (1 John 4:8). The term for “felt compassion” literally refers to the intestines, and most often occurs in Scripture with the figurative reference to the emotions, the way we use “heart” today. But Jesus’ concern was not just symbolic. He no doubt physically felt the symptoms of genuine caring—ones such as aching...

Politics is a numbers game. Whether it's counting votes, poll ratings, calculating budgets or seats in the house of Commons, it all comes down to numeracy. Reform UK is a case in point. They might only have four MPs - one less than this time last year - but they're arguably the most influential party in British politics right now. Just look at the numbers. They are leading the polls on around 30%, give or take one or two percentage points, well ahead of Labour's 20% and the Tories on 17%. Membership has rocketed to almost 240,000 - making it...

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced Friday that $679 million in federal funding has been withdrawn for 12 “doomed” offshore wind projects – including three in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The scrapped funding includes $10.5 million for Connecticut’s Bridgeport Port Authority Operations and Maintenance Wind Port project, $20.5 million for New Jersey’s Wind Port at Paulsboro and $48 million for Staten Island’s Arthur Kill Terminal. The Trump administration plans to spend the withdrawn funds on “real infrastructure” and “restoring American maritime dominance.” “Wasteful, wind projects are using resources that could otherwise go towards revitalizing America’s maritime industry,” Duffy said...

Vandals splattered red paint across the entrance of the ritzy Greenwich Village building where New York Times executive editor Joseph Kahn lives early Friday, in the latest attack by anti-Israel activists enraged over the paper’s coverage of the Israel-Gaza war. Officers were called to 43 Fifth Ave., near East 11th Street, just before 5 a.m. on Friday, according to cops. Residents were confronted with red paint covering the steps, walls, sidewalk and lamps outside the entrance, along with graffiti reading, “Joe Kahn Lies, Gaza Dies” scrawled in black marker on the pavement. No arrests have been made, and the investigation...

This week, a person who was "tired of being trans" opened fire on praying students at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Two children were killed and 17 others were wounded. The killer's manifesto complained "gender and weed f**ked up my head. I wish I never tried experimenting with either. Don't let your kids smoke weed or change gender until they are like seventeen." The heinous crime sparked outrage among many public officials. Mayor Jacob Frey (D) warned "the most important thing is that we not blame the 'trans community' for this tragedy." He insisted that "anti-trans hate is...

Three men have been arrested in Essex after violence erupted at the latest protest over housing asylum seekers at the Bell Hotel in Epping. Essex Police said three men were arrested on Friday on suspicion of violent disorder, assaulting a police officer and drink driving respectively.The protest coincided with the result of a legal challenge by the government, which successfully overturned a temporary injunction which would have blocked asylum seekers from being housed at the hotel. Despite the Court of Appeal decision, at least 13 other councils are considering pressing ahead with legal action over the use of asylum hotels...

Emergency response teams from across the country faced off in the annual hazmat challenge. It’s all about keeping their skills sharp. “Hazmat teams from around the nation encounter so many different scenarios and hazards that they very rarely get to see this many scenarios in one place,” said Chris Rittner, an emergency response group leader. From wrecked cars, planes and rail cars, it can all be found at the Los Alamos National Lab Emergency Response Center. “The reason we do these challenges is there’s a requirement for teams to maintain their training and competency,” said Rittner. The training event and...

Get ready to say goodbye to all of your glooms because the 101st Burning of Zozobra is set to take place Friday evening in Santa Fe. Thousands are expected to pack into Fort Marcy Park. This year’s event has a lot to live up to following last year’s 100th burning celebration. Old Man Gloom is dressed up in his own funky style again, but with a twist. This year’s theme is steam punk – think a combination of Victorian, old-timey style meets futuristic mechanics. He has a clock, red bow tie, a top hat and blue hair. KOB 4 has...

At least three cases of the plague have been reported in the United States, with infections confirmed in New Mexico, California, and Arizona. Infectious disease specialists noted that a handful of plague cases are diagnosed each year. The bacterium responsible, Yersinia pestis, is transmitted by fleas and cycles naturally among rodents. At least three cases of the plague have been reported in the United States, with infections confirmed in New Mexico, California, and Arizona. (WKRC, file, Provided) "If a person is around these rodents where the fleas are, the fleas can jump off the rodents, get on the person, and...

Game, set, snatch. A vile, grown man sparked outrage after he was caught on camera swiping Polish tennis star Kamil Majchrzak’s hat from an eager young fan at the US Open. The sophomoric scene unfolded Thursday afternoon as Majchrzak greeted fans and signed autographs courtside following his epic five-set victory over No. 9 seed Karen Khachanov, according to footage from the live broadcast. Majchrzak took off his hat and attempted to hand it to a young boy in the stands — when the greedy guy clutching a tennis ball snatched the memento away and shoved it into his wife’s bag....

Bill Clinton is facing renewed questions about his health after he and his wife, Hillary, were spotted leaving the Hamptons this week with a portable defibrillator bag in tow — just two months after the 79-year-old former president was seen stumbling on a Big Apple sidewalk. The longtime Democratic power couple was photographed Thursday carrying what appeared to be a Propaq MD Air Medical Bag — a transport monitor and defibrillator commonly used in emergencies — as they boarded a private plane. Clinton, dressed in a blue jacket and tan hat, was escorted by his security team. Hillary, the former...