Free Republic

An estimated $3.4 million in funding will go towards improving the public image of Charlotte’s public transportation system following recent violence on the CATS light rail. Monday night, the Charlotte City Council unanimously approved plans to enter into a one-year contract with Sherry Matthews Group for marketing and communication services. Officials started searching for a firm about a month after the death of Iryna Zarutska on the Blue Line. Now days after the most recent light rail stabbing, the city is continuing efforts to improve public perception and encourage people to use public transit. “It is outrageous that rather than...

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — With the remains of one hostage still in Gaza, the first phase of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas is nearly complete, after a two-month process plagued by delays and finger-pointing. Now, the key players — including Israel, the Palestinian militant Hamas group, the United States and a diverse list of international parties — are to move to a far more complicated second phase that could reshape the Middle East. U.S. President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan — which was approved by the U.N. Security Council — lays out an ambitious vision for...

President Donald Trump assailed The New York Times, accusing the paper of "seditious, perhaps even treasonous" behavior as it and other mainstream media outlets circulate "fake" reports suggesting he's slowing down. "There has never been a President that has worked as hard as me," Trump said in a Tuesday night statement on Truth Social, pushing back on claims about his stamina and sharpness. He touted what he described as a record of achievements, saying he "stopped Eight Wars," built "the Greatest Economy in the History of our Country," rebuilt the military, delivered the "Largest Tax Cuts and Regulation Cuts, EVER,"...

According to the document, NATO "no longer aligns with current US national security interests"WASHINGTON, December 10. /TASS/. Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, a Kentucky representative, introduced a bill calling for the United States to withdraw from NATO. "NATO is a Cold War relic," the Republican Congressman wrote on the X social network. "We should withdraw from NATO and use that money to defend our own country, not socialist countries," the legislator said, referring to the US expenditures in the military alliance. The lawmaker added that he had submitted a bill to remove the United States from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization....

A Dallas congresswoman opened her Senate campaign by telling voters that she “has gone toe to toe with Donald Trump.” Her Democratic primary opponent insisted that Americans are tired of “politics as a blood sport.” The divergent approach highlights how U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett and state Rep. James Talarico are navigating a race where Democrats hope to break a three-decade losing streak in Texas. It also reflects a broader divide within the party, with some candidates continuing to focus on Trump while others barely mention his name on the trail. Figuring out the best approach will be critical for Democrats...

As of 12/10/2025 text has not been received for H.R.6508 - To require the President to give notice of denunciation of the North Atlantic Treaty for purposes of withdrawing the United States from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and for other purposes.

The ever-ditzy Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) was a guest on the "Grounded" podcast, when she was asked by host Jon Tester about the presence of military personnel in cities like Washington, D.C., and Chicago, Illinois. Though the podcast aired this past September, a couple of her comments have recently re-surfaced and gone viral. When Tester asked the congresswoman her thoughts on the military presence in those cities, Crockett replied, “I think it’s terrible.” That opinion can legitimately be debated by people of good faith. However, she went on to say: "I want to be clear that, like, law enforcement isn't...

One of the most important cyclical events in my life as a data analyst of American religion is the semi-regular release of the General Social Survey.... I was more than pleased that the Association of Religion Data Archives had already managed to upload the 2024 General Social Survey to their website... I wanted to do a really tight “zoom in” on the changes in the religious composition of the GSS before the pandemic and then in the 2024 data. So, here’s how things have shifted since 2016.... You can see some really significant swings in these figures from 2018. For...

🇺🇸Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem 🇮🇱(12/10/25)[Prayer]The Scriptures in Handel’s “Messiah”Psalm 2:33 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.Holy Bible, The King James Version________________________

... On Oct. 18, Caceres had been headed to Texas to photograph a wedding when he was detained while going through security at John Wayne Airport. Caceres and his wife of a year and a half, who is a U.S. citizen, had been wary of travel as mass deportations increased nationwide under the Trump administration. Still, he had clients counting on him. And he believed he would be safe: Caceres said he had fled to the United States as a teenager seeking asylum and had continued following immigration requirements over the years, including completing biometrics and updating his address the...

Somali student in Minnesota threatens to ‘pop’ ICE agents in expletive-ridden, viral rant A Somali Minnesota college student has come under fire for threatening to “pop” ICE agents in an expletive-laden viral social media rant. Hasan Mohamed was blasted after he posted the menacing anti-ICE tirade on social media, where he vowed to shoot immigration agents the next time they show up in his Owatonna neighborhood. “ICE, I actually heard you guys pulled up to Owatonna, the big O, and you pulled up when I was not there? Y’all so p–s-ass s–t, boy. You’re gonna get popped next time I...

The Environmental Protection Agency has removed references to human-caused climate change from its website - tweaking some pages to focus on the “natural processes” driving climate change and wiping other pages from the internet. In October, the EPA page on “Causes of Climate Change,” for example, included a statement from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that noted, “It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean, and land.” That clear statement has been deleted from the page, which now mentions only climate changes from natural sources, such as volcanic activity and variations in solar activity. Another page,...

Why do we have a constitution? How and why did it come into existence? Just what, exactly, prompted the calling of the Constitutional Convention, which gave birth to it? Most Americans believe, logically enough, that after we sent His Britannic Majesty packing, it was time to create a new government. This is false, and it entirely overlooks the fact that we already had a functioning government at the time of the Convention. That government had been in effect for the entirety of the Revolution and for six years following the final British defeat at Yorktown. No, the Convention was prompted...

Higher-education reform has a new hero, and he hails not from the self-styled patrician environs of the Ivy League but from Texas. We all know how tough it is to reform higher education given the ideological capture that permeates many universities. But the chancellor of the Texas Tech University System has exerted himself in a way that should establish him in the official pantheon of friends of higher education. If such a pantheon does not exist, well, let Chancellor Brandon Creighton be the first illustrious inductee. What did the good chancellor do to merit this honor? In one fell swoop,...

10 December 2025Wednesday of the 2nd week of Advent High altar of the martyrdom basilica of Santa Eulalia in Mérida (Badajoz, Spain)Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Violet. Year: A(II).First readingIsaiah 40:25-31The Lord strengthens the powerless‘To whom could you liken meand who could be my equal?’ says the Holy One.Lift your eyes and look.Who made these starsif not he who drills them like an army,calling each one by name?So mighty is his power, so great his strength,that not one fails to answer.How can you say, Jacob,how can you insist, Israel,‘My destiny is hidden from the Lord,my rights are ignored by my...

For a brief, shining moment in 1945, the United States stood astride the world like a colossus. In four years, we had built the greatest military machine in human history, liberated half the planet, and dropped the sun itself on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to prove the point. Nazi Germany, fascist Italy, and imperial Japan (three empires that had terrorized the globe) lay in smoking ruins. The message was unmistakable: try America on the battlefield and you will be annihilated. Our enemies learned the lesson. They have not seriously attempted a direct military confrontation since. Instead, they (and the ideological heirs...

Donald Trump is backing a GOP proposal depositing $1,500 checks into the health care accounts of millions of Americans. The legislation, which is being led by Republican Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy and Idaho Senator Mike Crapo, gives qualifying Affordable Care Act (ACA) enrollees a $1,000 deposit for those aged 18 to 49, as well as recipients aged 50 to 64 for $1,500. While speaking to reporters on board Air Force One on Tuesday, the president

SAN ANTONIO — When it comes to GameStop's eyebrow-raising "Trade Anything Day" – a promotion that encouraged customers to literally trade in anything (with some exceptions) at their local store this past Saturday – Texans didn't disappoint. At least, one customer up in North Texas didn't. GameStop shared that the zanier items brought in for trade-in credit at locations across the country included a bowling ball, a "full creepy doll collection," a speed limit sign and "Friends" on VHS. Up in Corsicana, a small Navarro County community about an hour south of Dallas, someone received trade-in credit for a lanky...

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President Donald Trump shared an update that he received a call that wounded 24-year-old West Virginia National Guardsman Andrew Wolfe “got up from bed.” During a rally in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, Trump spoke about a “tragic incident” in Washington, D.C., which left three people shot, including Wolfe and U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20. Trump spoke about Beckstrom, who he said was looking down “from Heaven, from above.” “Today, I got a call that he got up from bed,” Trump told the crowd about Wolfe. “Do you believe that? He got up. He got up. Now, he didn’t...