Free Republic

President Donald Trump said on Monday that he asked Chinese dictator Xi Jinping to free Jimmy Lai, the pro-democracy Hong Kong media mogul who is awaiting sentencing after he was found guilty of “colluding with foreign forces” on Monday. “I feel so badly. I spoke to President Xi about it, and I asked to consider his release,” Trump commented to reporters about Lai’s sentencing. “He’s an older man, and he’s not well. So I did put that request out. We’ll see what happens,” he said. Trump did not specify when he made this request to Xi. Their last high-profile telephone...

There’s a new beast on the streets — and it’s nothing to bark at. A powerful animal tranquilizer is increasingly saturating the US drug supply, fueling mass overdose outbreaks in hot spots like Chicago and Philadelphia. It was detected in New York last year, setting off alarm bells among public health officials. They warn that while its effects can mimic opioids such as fentanyl, there’s a dangerous catch: It doesn’t respond to conventional overdose-reversal treatments. The drug, medetomidine, is a sedative used by veterinarians to relax muscles and relieve pain, often during surgery. It works by slowing the release of...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled that the National Guard deployment in the nation’s capital can continue for now, staying a lower-court ruling that had ordered an end to the troops’ presence. The three-judge panel for U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that Donald Trump may prevail in his argument that the president “possesses a unique power” to mobilize the Guard in Washington, which is a federal district. The ruling stops the implementation of U.S. District Court Judge Jia Cobb’s Nov. 20 opinion and order, and reaffirms that residents and visitors...

It has become clear to me that we need to expose the notions of "privilege" and "entitlement" for what they are. Thus this opus. Not a FReerepublic exit opus, just an opus, aka a rant. Privilege and Entitlement are the Rhetoric of Resentment and Envy THESIS: Privilege and entitlement are resentment and envy, laundered through FAFSA, glorified by inflated credentials, and paraded as moral superiority. Today’s rant is grounded in the gospel of 2 Diplomians 2:9-14 – · 2:9 - Blessed are those who anchor merit in wisdom and capability, for they shall not be deceived by inflated credentials. ·...

Don’t dismiss Milo Yiannopoulos. He may be provocative, but he’s right. In his recent two-and-a-half-hour conversation with Tucker Carlson, Yiannopoulos dares to speak the truth about homosexuality. It is a truth many are afraid to acknowledge, despite its firm grounding in scientific research. In fact, I found myself wondering, “Have they been eavesdropping at the Ruth Institute?” 'Born' fallacy At the top of the list: Yiannopoulos explains that the “born gay” idea was invented as a marketing strategy. He accurately summarizes the strategy laid out in “After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear & Hatred of Gays in...

U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon has joined the growing number of official voices urging Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to resign in the wake of massive welfare fraud in his state.Walz has been under fire in recent weeks following the uncovering of a billion dollar fraud scheme that funneled federal taxpayer funds to various groups including Somali immigrants with ties to al Shabaab, a Somali-based al Qaeda affiliate.McMahon sent Walz a scathing letter on Dec. 15, accusing the Minnesota governor of carelessness and lack of oversight that has “attracted fraudsters from around the world, especially from Somalia, to establish a...

The conservative Salem Radio Network is tapping CNN commentator Scott Jennings and Breitbart News' Alex Marlow to fill its national midday slot formerly held by slain activist Charlie Kirk. Why it matters: The noon–3pm ET block — once commanded by Rush Limbaugh — is a staple of conservative talk radio. Stepping into that window will elevate both men from prominent commentators to central players in the MAGA media ecosystem. Driving the news: Salem's announcement, shared first with Axios, said Marlow will anchor the noon–1pm hour and Jennings will host from 1–3pm beginning Jan. 5. Marlow, Breitbart's editor-in-chief, hosts a podcast...

Leftists charged in a suspected bombing plot in California allegedly told an undercover FBI informant of their radical intentions several times before their Friday arrest, even mentioning a “terrorist diary,” court records show. The paid informant and an undercover FBI agent were key to infiltrating the leftist group Turtle Island Liberation Front (TILF) and disrupting its alleged New Year’s Eve terrorist plot, the FBI said in a criminal complaint filed Saturday. Defendant Zachary Page said during a December in-person meeting — which included the unnamed informant and agent — that he was “100,000 percent” sure the FBI would certainly be...

The Capitol riot of January 2021 set off the largest criminal investigation in the Justice Department’s history. For federal prosecutor Ashley Akers, it was a defining moment in a seven-year career spent untangling complex cases, from wire fraud to domestic terrorism. She helped put away dozens of rioters – including some who swung bats and beat police officers. Then the tables turned. On his first day back in office, U.S. President Donald Trump granted clemency to every criminally charged January 6 rioter. Akers resigned. Now, Akers and other prosecutors who handled Capitol riot cases face a new threat. Reuters has...

MILAN (AP) — A wildlife photographer stumbled upon one of the oldest and largest known collections of dinosaur footprints, dating back about 210 million years to the Triassic Period, high in an Italian national park near the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympic venue of Bormio, officials announced Tuesday. The discovery in the Stelvio National Park was striking for the sheer number of footprints, estimated at as many as 20,000 over some five kilometers (three miles), and the location near the Swiss border, once a prehistoric coastal area, that has never previously yielded dinosaur tracks, experts said. “This time reality really...

🚨 BREAKING: Police are now INVESTIGATING the incident where leftist woman Michelea Ponce harassed and berated an old lady for wearing a Charlie Kirk shirt while working in Target. Ponce’s employer says police are investigating and that they’ve been FLOODED with calls. GOOD! This is harassment. We need accountability.

New York City police are on the hunt for a suspect who they say stabbed a Jewish man in the chest while making "anti-Jewish" statements on Tuesday. Police released images and a brief video of the suspect, who remains unidentified. Authorities say the victim is a 35-year-old man who got into a dispute with the suspect after an apparently random encounter on the street. The victim's injuries were not life-threatening, and he received care at a nearby hospital. "At approximately 4:10 P.M., in the vicinity of Kingston Avenue and Lincoln Place, in the confines of the 77th Precinct, a 35-year-old...

The National Popular Vote (NPV) plan is the latest in a long line of schemes designed to replace the Electoral College. Imbued with the ideals of this nation’s Founders, the Electoral College has proved itself both effective in providing orderly elections for President and resilient in allowing a stable transfer of power of the leadership of the world’s greatest democracy. Therefore, while it would be a mistake to replace the Electoral College, replacing this system with the NPV would be a disaster. The NPV would devalue the minority interests that the Founders sought to protect, create electoral administrative problems, encourage...

Angelle Sampey had waited long enough to know the moment would never feel routine, not even with three world championships on her résumé. When she finally made her first pass in a Top Fuel dragster after the Las Vegas race, she carried a wish she couldn’t fulfill: her father had asked to see her drive one before he died, and he missed it by a week. “It was supposed to happen a few months ago,” Sampey said. “We had actually had a test session planned for Monday after Ohio. I think it was Ohio, I think. And that got rained...

Good Will Toward Men: The Great War’s Christmas TruceThe fighting in Europe had been growing for almost five months when Pope Benedict tried to arrange a truce between nations in early December 1914 for Christmas. But his efforts failed when Russia declined the truce. The notorious trenches of World War I were filled with weary, cold soldiers. But along the British and German lines, a sudden rise of the Christmas Spirit among the soldiers created a phenomenon that wasn’t seen for the rest of the war—the soldiers decided not to fight on Christmas. Stories of this unofficial Christmas Truce were...

A film by Steven Spielberg. Disclosure Day is in theaters 06.12.26. If you found out we weren’t alone, if someone showed you, proved it to you, would that frighten you? This summer, the truth belongs to seven billion people. We are coming close to … Disclosure Day.

Extraterrestrial beings hitching a ride on the 3I/ATLAS comet may have already landed on Earth, according to controversial psychic Uri Geller's bold assertions. With the mysterious cosmic wanderer 3I/ATLAS approaching our planet – reaching its "closest approach" on Friday – wild speculation has run rampant about what it might contain.

VIDEOOne of the interesting facets of the blockade of Venezuela recently announced is the generally contrasting viewpoints of Spanish language sources which overwhelmingly support or at least not opposed to the blockade vs the English speaking media. Here is a sampling of the Spanish language views on this mixed in with commentary by Nicolas "NO GUAR!" Maduro. I'm not sure how valid the final AI-ish clip is but could that be the ultimate outcome in the near future?

Democrat Gary Clemons, a South Louisville union leader and U.S. Army veteran, won Kentucky’s vacant Senate District 37 seat on Tuesday in a roughly 47.5‑point landslide, taking 72.6 percent of the vote to Republican Calvin Leach’s 25.1 percent, according to unofficial Jefferson County results. “State Democrats are overperforming and winning special elections across every part of the country,” said Heather Williams, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) president, in a statement shared with Newsweek. “Momentum is on our side as voters turn away from MAGA Republicans and back state Democrats who are fighting to lower costs.”