Free Republic

What, Barbra Streisand wasn't available to offer expert commentary on Federal Reserve policy? Instead, Friday's Morning Joe went with former ESPN podcaster Pablo Torre. And the result was a bizarre mixture of perplexity and pathos. His appearance was a classic illustration of the perils of venturing outside 'core competencies,' in corporate-speak, and holding yourself out as an expert-on-everything. Torre used to host the ESPN Daily podcast, but Pablo left ESPN and has gone off on his own, now hosting Pablo Torre Finds Out, and serving as a regular Morning Joe guest. Substitute host Katty Kay invited Torre to comment on...

SIL has shingles any help suggestions appreciated?

Holiday hotspots Majorca and Ibiza are preparing to house asylum seekers in a swathe of UK-style migrant hotels, according to local reports. The move comes amid a surge in the number of migrants arriving on the shores of the Balearic Islands. Made up of Menorca and Formentera as well as Majorca and Ibiza, the Balearics have seen an unprecedented rise in illegal arrivals this year - fuelling fears that the Mediterranean getaway could become a migration hotspot. Some 639 migrants reached the islands in the space of just three days earlier this month after making the journey on 38 small...

The Trump administration and international partners are discussing proposals to build a “Riviera of the Middle East” on the rubble of Gaza. One would establish U.S. control and pay Palestinians to leave.A postwar plan for Gaza circulating within the Trump administration, modeled on President Donald Trump’s vow to “take over” the enclave, would turn it into a trusteeship administered by the United States for at least 10 years while it is transformed into a gleaming tourism resort and high-tech manufacturing and technology hub. The 38-page prospectus seen by The Washington Post envisions at least a temporary relocation of all of...

President Trump has cut hundreds of thousands of jobs from the federal work force, disproportionately affecting Black employees.When President Trump started dismantling federal agencies and dismissing rank-and-file civil servants, Peggy Carr, the chief statistician at the Education Department, immediately started to make a calculation. She was the first Black person and the first woman to hold the prestigious post of commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics. As a political appointee, she knew there was a risk of becoming a target. But her 35-career at the department spanned a half dozen administrations, including Mr. Trump’s first term, and she...

Lisa Cook is, or was, a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve. President Trump wrote Cook a letter, firing her for cause, i.e., mortgage fraud. He announced the firing on Truth Social:Rather than going quietly, Cook responded by suing Trump and others, alleging that grounds for her firing do not exist and asking for declaratory and injunctive relief to that effect. It alleges that Trump’s grounds for firing Cook are pretextual, and the firing is an attack on the Fed’s vaunted independence. The Cook cases raises several issues. The Federal Reserve Act says that the president...

@ChrisVanHollen Netanyahu is restricting aid trucks into Gaza—the best way to get food to starving people there—so Jordan is delivering some with air drops. The Jordanians said @SenJeffMerkley & I could join one of those flights to see the devastation, but Israel denied authorization for our scheduled flight.

Heather Colley and her two children moved four times over five years as they fled high rents in eastern Tennessee, which, like much of rural America, hasn’t been spared from soaring housing costs.A family gift in 2021 of a small plot of land offered a shot at homeownership, but building a house was beyond reach for the 45-year-old single mother and manicurist making $18.50 an hour. That changed when she qualified for $272,000 from a nonprofit to build a three-bedroom home because of a grant program that has helped make affordable housing possible in rural areas for decades. She moved...

Suicide in America has been rising for two decades, with rates for white Americans consistently well above those for Asian-Americans, Black Americans and Hispanics. In data released in 2017, the rate for white Americans was around 19 per 100,000, 7.1 for both Hispanics and Asian-Americans/Pacific Islanders, and 6.6 for Black Americans, according to the CDC. One explanation may be a racial disparity in suicide data…But misclassification cannot fully explain the racial difference in suicide. Dawne Mouzon, a sociologist and associate professor at Rutgers University, suggested that religious involvement is one source of protection. Black Americans overwhelmingly identify as Christian. “Because...

@RandPaul No medical reason to give newborns Hep B vaccine if mother is not infected. All mothers who deliver in a hospital are tested. This “scientist’s” fetish for vaccines not supported by the data

Activists like Greta Thunberg and actors Susan Sarandon and Liam Cunningham are participating.A flotilla of ships departed from Barcelona to the Gaza Strip Sunday with humanitarian aid and activists on board in the largest attempt yet to break the long Israeli blockade of the Palestinian territory by sea. This comes as Israel has stepped up its offensive on Gaza City, limiting the deliveries of food and basic supplies in the north of the Palestinian territory. Food experts warned earlier this month that the city was in famine and that half a million people across the strip were facing catastrophic levels...

Summary German town of Altena volunteered to take in 100 more migrants than required Officials saw opportunity to reverse years of population and economic decline Anti-immigration AfD party gaining support amid frustration over rising costs and infrastructure issues Altena's refugee integration efforts recognized, but population continues to decline ALTENA, Germany, Aug 31 (Reuters) - A decade ago, as Germany was grappling with an influx of more than a million migrants, the small town of Altena saw an opportunity to reverse years of population and economic decline. The industrial town in Western Germany made national headlines in 2015 when it volunteered...

Nick Fuentes asks "Where is the shame, are you not ashamed?" The Hodge Twins give their answer.

The Blessing UK — At this unique and challenging time in the United Kingdom over 65 churches and movements, representing hundreds of others, have come together online to sing a blessing over our land. Standing together as one, our desire is that this song will fill you with hope and encourage you. But the church is not simply singing a blessing, each day we're looking to practically be a blessing. Many of the churches included in this song have assisted with supplying over 400,000 meals to the most vulnerable and isolated in our nation since COVID-19 lockdown began. This alongside...

Guadalajara, a World Cup site next year, lies in a cartel stronghold. As Trump considers attacking drug gangs, it offers a cautionary tale.Carmen Lucia Carrillo spotted her son immediately. Daniel was dressed in black, stretching his lanky frame over the cars, squirting soapy liquid. Handsome and outgoing, with a gap-toothed grin, he always did like to look sharp, even with a rag dangling from his back pocket. She had just bought him those jeans, from a trendy Mexican discount store, Beware of the Dog. A half-hour later, Daniel vanished. Two men — one carrying a pistol — grabbed him and...

If you want to apply to be a teacher in Oklahoma, prepare a resume, references — and to take a 34-question test about civics. Here, Marissa Streit, the CEO of PragerU, which developed the test, and Ryan Walters, the superintendent of education for Oklahoma, explain the reason behind the test and respond to the backlash. Oklahoma and PragerU have introduced a Teacher Qualification Test: a straightforward assessment to ensure educators know American civics, constitutional values, parental rights, and the basics of history and literacy. Before the questions were even published, national media outlets launched a coordinated smear campaign. That isn’t...

"... we’re willing to worship the lives of our children to appease the prophets of the gun industry" One MSNBC guest claimed on Saturday that calls for prayer after the tragic school shooting that unfolded just days earlier were “a form of idolatry” and “theological malpractice,” arguing that unless people were also willing to go after gun manufacturers, their prayers meant nothing. Tennessee State Rep. Justin Jones, a Democrat, joined MSNBC host Ali Velshi to discuss the shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, MN — and he blamed Republican lawmakers and guns for the tragic shooting. WATCH: After a...

The winds of change could soon blow on Iran, according to a new report. The Islamic Republic is facing collapse, indicates the report, issued by UK-based Henry Jackson Society this week, as the UN accuses Tehran of executing nearly 900 people already this year “as a tool of intimidation.” If the Islamic Republic falls, “there is a danger that regime collapse could lead to a vacuum of governance that is accompanied by civil war,” according to the findings. “This is an outcome that must be avoided at all costs for the Iranian people, and every step must therefore be made...

Another Great Awakening for the Democratic Party.Heartlanders had a busy week debating political issues, from Cracker Barrel-gate to the importance of midterms, even laughing it up at former presidential candidate Kamala Harris. CEOs walked back remarks; President Donald Trump pulled back Secret Service protections from the former VP; and Republicans finally saw that maintaining the House and Senate a short year from now is paramount to the MAGA agenda. Light bulbs went off in the most interesting places.MAGA: Saddle Up, We Ride at DawnPollster Matt Towery went on Fox News’ The Ingraham Angle and scared the bejesus out of any...

Germany has long called itself a country that upholds democracy in a “defensive form”—a concept propagated by an establishment that claims the right to decide who and what voters should be allowed to vote for. This principle is now being wielded most aggressively in the fight against the right-populist Alternative for Germany (AfD). This week, a court of appeals confirmed the exclusion of the AfD candidate from the upcoming mayoral election in Ludwigshafen, a western German industrial city of 122,000 residents. When citizens go to the polls on September 21, they will no longer have the option of voting for...