Free Republic

Kaja Kallas said that Belgium has legitimate concerns about the risks, but the other member-states have said that they are willing to share those risksBRUSSELS, December 1. /TASS/. The European Commission intends to make the decision on the expropriation of Russian assets at the European Council’s meeting on December 18-19, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas told reporters. "We are not going to leave the Council in December without the result for the financing of Ukraine," Kallas said. "Belgium has legitimate concerns about the risks, but the other member-states have said that they...

If you grew up in a Latino household, you know the blue tin. You know the smell. You know the heartbreak of opening it and finding sewing needles instead of cookies. Royal Dansk is basically a cultural artifact at this point. So when TikTok videos started going viral claiming our favorite Danish butter cookies are “actually made in India,” the internet spiraled.

China's new low-altitude economy is taking off with flying taxis and food delivery drones, but the industry faces obstacles, including strict airspace controls. In the neighboring city of Shenzhen, food-delivery drones have become an integral part of everyday life and serve as a unique tourist attraction, despite the premium pricing for such services. At the waterfront park encircled by towering skyscrapers, Polish visitor Karolina Trzciańska and her companions placed a phone order for bubble tea and lemon tea, simply to experience the novelty.

Food stamps were first issued in 1939 as an assistance program to prevent starvation during the Great Depression. But 86 years later, thousands of liquor stores and smoke shops have become approved retailers, increasing the possibility of fraud, new research shows. The longest ever government shutdown, which ended after 43 days of deadlock, thrust the federal food stamp program into the national spotlight as millions of recipients went without benefits. But, it also laid bare many abuses in the system. Even before the shutdown, the Trump administration planned to crack down on fraud in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)...

A federal appeals court said on Monday that Alina Habba had been serving unlawfully as the U.S. attorney in New Jersey, dealing a blow to the Trump administration and most likely setting up a showdown at the Supreme Court. In its ruling, the three-judge panel, based in Philadelphia, affirmed an earlier ruling by a Federal District Court judge, shooting down each of the government’s arguments for why Ms. Habba could continue to serve. In their opinion, the judges wrote that the Trump administration appeared to have become frustrated by the legal and political barriers that have prevented its preferred U.S....

Minnesota social service workers slam Gov. Tim Walz as ‘100% responsible for massive fraud’ of $1B roiling state Hundreds of state workers at the Minnesota Department of Human Services publicly excoriated Gov. Tim Walz for allowing a “massive fraud” scandal to unfold under his watch and retaliating against their whistleblowers. Over $1 billion in taxpayers’ money was fleeced by dozens of scammers in Minnesota’s Feeding Our Future fraud scandal, the largest known COVID-19 fraud case in the country. “Tim Walz is 100% responsible for massive fraud in Minnesota. We let Tim Walz know of fraud early on, hoping for a...

A man has been jailed for possessing and distributing extreme right-wing music and material.Norbert Gyurcsik, from Kestrel Road, Hereford, was arrested in May last year over albums in which lyrics breached terrorism legislation and intended to incite racial hatred.

Freedom of speech will be under even greater threat if the British government is able to do away with jury trials for almost all cases because legal studies show a judge sitting alone is far more likely to convict defendants in free speech than juries, the Free Speech Union warns. The Free Speech Union warns the United Kingdom risks losing “a check on governmental power and arbitrary justice” in “the biggest assault on our liberties in 800 years” if the government is able to push ahead this week with plans said to be looking at abolishing the right to a...

When developers began transforming the kitschy waterfront motels of Sunny Isles Beach into luxury high-rise condos and hotels more than two decades ago, they were confident they understood the challenges of erecting massive towers on shifting sand. They were wrong. It turned out to be far more complicated than anyone expected. Within just a few years, engineers discovered they’d underestimated how much some buildings would sink on a barrier island composed of varying layers of sand, silt, peat and porous limestone — much the same material underlying many of South Florida’s premier oceanfront properties. In their own reports filed with...

This writer remembers being in kindergarten when her teachers started talking about the hole in the ozone layer. It was going to get bigger, we were told, and the world would begin boiling from heat, crops would burn from acid rain, and cities would be uninhabitable thanks to smog. That was 1988, and now — 37 years later — this writer is staring at a foot of snow outside her window, and there's nary a drop of acid rain in sight. Cities are uninhabitable, but that's because of Democratic Party policies and not smog. Ah, so we didn't have to...

The video of the ambush is brief and sickening. Two young National Guard soldiers, barely into adulthood, walk their post near the White House. An Islamic terrorist rounds the corner, raises a revolver, and opens fire. By the time other guardsmen tackle him, Specialist Sarah Beckstrom is fatally wounded and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe is fighting for his life. The suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, is not some random drifter. He is a former member of the CIA’s elite Afghan “Zero Units,” a paramilitary strike force trained for kill capture missions in the Taliban heartland. He came here through President Biden’s Operation...

This potty-mouthed passenger took a stand — and lost her seat. A United Airlines passenger’s meltdown went viral after the irate woman lobbed a few choice words at a poised flight attendant during a delay on the tarmac at Newark Liberty International Airport. A fellow traveler captured the woman’s entire tirade — which quickly garnered nearly 500,000 views on TikTok since it was posted on Nov. 10. Then, in a moment of karmic glory, the testy traveler realizes she’s being recorded and goes dead silent. She drags her gaze away from the phone and tries to play it cool. From...

A while back, a married couple asked for the time of the morning service at my church, promising to show up the following Sunday. They did, and enjoyed the service, but an observation by the wife surprised me. “Everyone’s dressed up,” was the essence of her comment. Even the ladies, she noticed, were wearing skirts and dresses instead of pants, something she seemed to think was refreshing. Apparently, I’ve been in my own church bubble for too long to realize that dressing up for special occasions and places is no longer a thing. It’s a pity that it isn’t. Because...

Companies didn’t improve the recipe — they cheapened it. The scam is simple: charge the same, deliver less. The label tells the truth the ad won’t. ********************************************************************* BRIEFING Grant here. Here’s a story that’s going to hit people right in the nostalgia and the grocery cart. A couple’s video is going viral when they bought what they thought was the Breyers they grew up with… and instead they stumbled straight into a corporate magic trick. Let’s break it down. In the video, the couple discovers after closely examining the box that their Breyers “ice cream” isn’t legally ice cream —...

The MONTHLY Gardening Thread is a gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located. This thread is a non-political respite. No matter what, you won’t be flamed, and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack the...

Every creator on X is playing a game they were never told the rules to. Your reach isn’t dying by accident. It’s being scored, tiered, and throttled behind your back. If advertisers decide your ideas are “unsafe,” the algorithm buries you before your own followers ever see a word. ===================================================================== BRIEFING Jett here. Everyone feels like something changed on X, like the lights dimmed on certain voices and mysteriously brightened on others. It’s starting to feel like that commie Jack is running the show again. Let’s get into it. X isn’t just a public square anymore. Apparently, it’s a scoring...

Two weeks ago, the seditious six congressional members began framing an op against the Trump administration under the auspices of military “defying illegal orders.” In the past few days, the same “illegal order” narrative has been used against Secretary Pete Hegseth; these two structured and timed sequence events are not disconnected. The leftists and deep state IC are running a color revolution operation inside the USA. The first step in all color revolutions is to undermine the legitimacy and authority of the elected national leader; this is exactly what the seditious six are doing. This version of the color revolution...

🇺🇸Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem 🇮🇱(12/1/25)[Prayer]The Scriptures in Handel’s “Messiah”Isaiah 53:88 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.Holy Bible, The King James Version________________________

As thousands gathered in Pioneer Courthouse Square for the city’s 41st annual tree-lighting on Friday night, leaders and speakers avoided mentioning “Christmas” at any point — including in the ceremony itself and the event’s ads. The festive occasion was kicked off with a woman from the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs thanking everyone in the crowd for coming out on Native American Heritage Day. She introduced two younger members of the tribe, who referred to the celebration only as “the tree lighting,” before handing the microphone to another featured speaker. Draped in a Palestinian flag, the woman used her stage...

“‘And He shall proclaim justice to the Gentiles’” (Matthew 12:18). Contrary to Jewish thinking and expectations, the Messiah would be the Redeemer for all nationalities, not just the Jews. In fact, the Jews were to be the ones to proclaim God’s grace to the rest of the world. God told Abraham, “In you all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Gen. 12:3). It is therefore rather ironic that the Jews would resist the concept that God’s good news was for all peoples. The reality that Jesus’ message would be for all mankind was readily apparent early in His...