Free Republic

Firefights broke out along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border late on Saturday, with the Afghan Taliban attacking Pakistani posts, according to security officials from both countries, following a Pakistani airstrike in Kabul this week. Pakistani security officials said that they were responding "with full force" to what they called unprovoked firing from Afghanistan. The exchange of fire took place at more than six locations along the border, they said.

Israel moves prisoners ahead of Gaza deal exchangeIsrael has begun transferring prisoners to two jails ahead of their release as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal, designed to lead to the release of hostages held by Hamas, the prison service said on Saturday.Thousands of staff, including prison officers, “operated throughout the night in order to implement the government’s decision: ‘The framework for the release of all Israeli hostages’,” a statement said, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).Under the truce deal Israel is supposed to release 250 prisoners, including some serving life sentences for deadly attacks. In exchange, Hamas has until Monday to...

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that Harvard University can be sued by families who allege the school mishandled the bodies of their loved ones donated to its medical school, allowing body parts to be sold on the black market. In a unanimous decision, Justice Scott Kafker wrote that a lower court judge erred in dismissing the lawsuits, saying the plaintiffs had sufficiently alleged that Harvard failed to act in good faith in handling the remains. "It had a legal obligation to provide for the dignified treatment and disposal of the donated human remains, and failed miserably in this regard,...

Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin on Friday encouraged New Yorkers to vote for Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee in the New York City mayoral race, just weeks ahead of Election Day. "He’s running to make NYC more affordable for everyone and has captured the nation’s attention with his incredible campaign," Martin, who was elected by fellow Democrats to his position earlier this year, wrote in a post on X in a thread highlighting downballot Democratic candidates with election coming up soon. "Go vote for Zohran this November!" Asked Saturday if Friday’s tweet was an endorsement of Mamdani from Martin,...

Veterans of shutdowns of the past 30 years say there’s little passion, among lawmakers and constituents, over this shutdown.Congress’s impasse over funding the government has now left federal agencies partially shuttered for more than 10 days, with no end clearly in sight. Yet the vibes on Capitol Hill were almost standard operating procedure.Thursday night, senators debated and voted on a defense-spending bill. Then, at 9:35 p.m., the Senate closed up shop for the week. Senators went home for the holiday weekend, with next votes slated for Tuesday evening.And before 11 a.m. Friday, House leaders sent notice they had formally canceled...

Silver is spiking simultaneously across the globe: China’s e-commerce platform JD.com lists silver at $59 per ounce. London’s lease rate rockets to a historic 19%. Physical shortages in Asia &The West. -$50 dollars is the new floor on Silver with no resistance above. -Silver short sellers will get their faces ripped off. (polite way of saying it) -Earlier this week the SLV lease rate spiked to over 12% -Today LBMA lease rate hit 19% -China industrial silver users hoarding physical silver All indicating a global silver shortage China’s state-run Chengtong Precious Metals—the direct descendant of the State Council Ministry of...

Six years after Democrats pursued the impeachment case, many of the allegations have crumbled in the face of two convictions, the pardons of Hunter Biden and others, as well as new evidence uncovered by Congress from the FBI, the Justice Dept and the CIA. Two powerful committee chairmen in Congress tell Just the News it is time to declassify evidence submitted by an alleged intelligence community whistleblower that prompted the first impeachment trial against President Donald Trump for his efforts to investigate the Biden family’s business dealings in Ukraine. Six years after Democrats pursued the impeachment case over a...

In women with type 2 diabetes (T2D), use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) skin patches is not associated with a higher risk of blood clots or stroke. However, an increased cardiovascular risk was found for oral HRT, according to a large real-world study. Among the findings are an analysis revealing women with T2D who took the oral form of HRT doubled their risk of developing a pulmonary embolism (PE—when a blood clot blocks an artery in the lung) and faced a 21% increased risk of heart disease compared with those receiving transdermal HRT (skin patches). "Our study suggests that up...

More than 500 migrants crossed the Channel in just one day, taking this year's total to over 36,000 in a humiliating blow to Labour's 'one in, one out' policy. Around 1,659 migrants in 23 boats arrived on British shores in the past three days, Home Office figures say. And, on Wednesday alone, over a thousand people made the perilous journey across the English Channel. Now, a total of 58,718 migrants have entered the UK by boat since Labour took office, with 36,060 making the crossing so far this year. It comes as the Government's 'one in, one out' scheme was...

Financial problems at the maker of spark plugs, wiper blades, brake calipers, brake shoes, tow hitches and motor oil has caused intense anxiety on Wall Street in recent weeks. Car parts are not usually something that causes finance chiefs to lose much sleep. But the potentially multi-billion dollar financial crisis surrounding First Brands has them rattled. As ever in finance, it’s what investors don’t know that scares the most, and with First Brands, there appears to be plenty. What is First Brands?First Brands was founded by the Malaysian-born businessman Patrick James. Starting life as Ohio-based Crowne Group, James acquired Trico,...

It is becoming harder to get away with lying in the age of independent media. Progressives in particular are struggling to safeguard the sacred belief that the planet is on the verge of melting because naughty plebeians keep driving SUVs and using air conditioning.Climate change devotees are willing to lie to defend this article of faith. Ray Sanders, an engineer by trade, realized this as he double-checked the calculations of the Met Office, the U.K. government agency responsible for guessing whether it will rain in Blighty tomorrow.The Met is also known for making bold prognostications about the conditions expected half-a-century...

CAIRO (AP) — As the Middle East broadly welcomes a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, Iran finds itself at one of its weakest moments since its 1979 Islamic Revolution. Tehran has operated its self-described “Axis of Resistance” over several decades, supporting militant groups and nations allied with it against Israel and the United States. But as Israel bombed the Gaza Strip, it also turned its crosshairs toward top leaders abroad in militant groups like Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and even the top echelon within Iran’s military and nuclear program — killing many and disrupting their ability to fight back....

This video on Rare Earth Minerals explains a lot of what is unfolding with China. China was blackmailing other countries to stop them from shipping rare eart elements to the US.

Republicans are on the defensive as Democrats have successfully made the shutdown fight about health care. Most Republicans said they don’t want to see insurance premiums spike, but neither are they willing to openly support the extension of the enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits Democrats are asking for. While the GOP has remained united in refusing to even entertain the idea of an extension in the context of ending the shutdown, Republicans don’t appear to have an alternate plan for what happens next. “We’re open to a lot of different things. And the president wants to make health...

Trump making fun of himself. Funny.

I have, like so many others, been wrong about Bitcoin and crypto. But timing is not destination, and I believe one day there will be a rug-pull that will wipe trillions off the face of the crypto earth. This might happen when Bitcoin is $200,000 or $2 million, but it will happen. For the uninitiated, a rug-pull is a coordinated effort by a concentrated group to sell their crypto holdings at a price they are content with, leaving the foolish masses with nothing but losses. It is transfer of wealth from a large to a small group. One recent and...

Christopher Hohn, a British billionaire and hedge fund manager, is cutting off funding to left-wing groups and causes after a report by Americans for Public Trust (APT). APT said in its report that the groups that received funding from the Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), which lists Hohn as its founder and chair of board, "pushed for nothing less than the complete radicalization of the U.S. political landscape." CIFF, which has a reported $6 billion endowment, is "heavily funded by Hohn’s nearly $60 billion activist hedge fund," according to APT. "For far too long, Christopher Hohn, and other foreign billionaires...

Vice President JD Vance blasted Big Tech companies for firing American workers and then claiming they need visas for foreign labor Wednesday. The H-1B visa program allows U.S. companies to hire foreign workers for specialty occupations and is overwhelmingly used by the tech industry. However, it has long been controversial for some conservatives, who say it is abused by tech companies to bring in cheap, predominantly Indian, labor to replace American workers. Vance spoke with The All-In podcast hosts on a panel at the "Winning the AI Race" AI Summit in Washington, D.C. The Vice President noted that while some...

Feeding blueberries to infants as one of their first solid foods may help strengthen their immune systems, reduce allergy symptoms and support healthy gut development, according to new research. To safely introduce blueberries to babies, the study's authors recommend pureeing them for younger infants. For older babies and toddlers, blueberries should be mashed or cut into small pieces to eliminate choking hazards. The study is the first of its kind to rigorously test the effects of a specific food, blueberries, on infant health using a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial. The study followed 61 infants in the Denver area from...

Israel on Friday published the names of 250 Palestinian security prisoners it has agreed to release as part of the Gaza ceasefire-hostage deal, and Israeli authorities began notifying families whose loved ones’ killers are set to go free. However, Hamas’s Prisoners’ Ministry said there was no agreement yet on the identities of the prisoners to be freed, and Qatari-owned network Al Araby TV cited sources saying the list published by Israel on Friday omitted some names that mediators had agreed on. The list, published the morning after the cabinet approved the US-backed ceasefire deal, includes members of the Hamas, Palestinian...