Free Republic

I'm more and more impressed with Wesley Hunt as a Republican candidate to replace John Cornyn. Cornyn (a friend of my late father) needs to go, and Paxton has way too much baggage (and if his wife can't trust him, why should I?). Are there negatives that I haven't seen yet on Hunt other than his relative political inexperience?

Lawrence of Arabia's portraits have been given a trigger warning for the cultural appropriation of a traditional Arab outfit. The National Portrait Gallery cautioned the 'sensitive' images of the British Army officer dressed in his thobe and keffiyeh over fears they differ from 'today's attitudes'. Born in Wales in 1888, Thomas Edward Lawrence went on to fight alongside the Arabs against the Ottoman Empire during the First World War and was presented with the robes as a gift by the Arab ruler Emir Faisal. Pictures of Lord Byron and other Europeans in the dress of predominantly Muslim cultures have also...

The final text of the proposed death penalty bill for terrorists, advanced by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, was published for the first time on Tuesday morning by KAN News.According to the formulated text, the death penalty would be carried out by hanging. The sentence would be executed by a prison guard appointed for that purpose by the Commissioner of the Israel Prison Service.The bill stipulates that the identities of the executing guards will remain confidential and that they will be granted full criminal immunity.Convicted terrorists would be incarcerated in a separate detention facility and would not be allowed...

Progress in the fight to throttle back inflation appeared to stall in December amid price pressures from groceries, dining out, utility gas, clothing and other categories of consumer spending. The consumer price index, a key inflation gauge, rose 2.7% in December from 12 months earlier, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Tuesday. That was unchanged from the previous month and in line with estimates. “The bottom line is, I think inflation is still uncomfortably high,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s. “Inflation for staples, necessities, remains elevated.”

The San Francisco Department of Public Health gives free shots of alcohol to homeless street alcoholics and addicts under the guise of ” harm reduction,” ostensibly hoping to keep them out of emergency rooms or needing emergency services. While that might not sound so crazy for San Francisco, taxpayers fund over $16 million annually, $9 million for salaries and benefits, and $5 million to program services, and the non-profit “served 55 clients” in four years. That’s $90,909 per “client” out of program services. This is just a high-paid publicly-funded jobs program for the well-connected. It’s a good grift if you...

GENEVA -- U.S. President Donald Trump will return to the World Economic Forum's annual meeting of business, political and cultural elites in Davos, Switzerland next week, leading a record-large U.S. delegation, organizers said Tuesday. The Geneva-based think tank says Trump, whose assertive foreign policy on issues as diverse as Venezuela and Greenland in recent months has stirred concerns among U.S. friends and foes alike, will be accompanied by five Cabinet secretaries and other top officials for the event running from Monday through Jan. 23. A total of 850 CEOs and chairs of the world's top companies will be among the...

The Supreme Court released opinions in three cases this morning.The first case is by Justice Jackson in Barrett v US, a case about whether a defendant who commits a single act that violates two separate provisions of 18 USC 924 can be convicting under only one provision or the other, or instead can be convicted under two.The court holds that Congress did not clearly authorize convictions under both.Barrett opinionNext in Case v. Montana, by Kagan, the Court ruled:"The court holds that the "objective reasonableness" standard for warrantless entries to render emergency aid applies "without further gloss." And it was satisfied...

The State Department is freezing all immigration from Somalia after an internal investigation found that the “vast majority of Somali migrants take welfare once present in the United States,” the Daily Caller has learned exclusively. The freeze is expected to remain in place while the State Department reassesses immigration processing procedures. The effort is meant to “prevent the entry of foreign nationals who would become a public charge on the American people,” the State Department shared with the Caller. The State Department will freeze immigration from approximately 75 countries, including Somalia, on Jan. 21. “Under President Trump, we will not...

The Alaskan Independence Party has voted to dissolve following a December meeting of its state leadership, according to a recent statement. Party leaders cited member apathy, confusion over the organization’s purpose, and declining engagement as key factors behind the decision. The Alaska Watchman first reported earlier this month that the party’s board of directors had met on December 7 in Fairbanks, during which members voted to disband the organization. Following the vote, the board released a brief public statement to local media detailing the reasons behind its decision. The Alaskan Independence Party was formally established as a political party in...

The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed Rep. Mike Bost’s lawsuit challenging his home state of Illinois’ mail-in ballot policy to move forward, issuing an opinion that could have major implications for future elections. In a 7–2 decision, the high court determined that Bost (R-Ill.) and the others who joined his suit have standing to sue despite lower courts concluding that they hadn’t provided evidence of harm. “Candidates have a concrete and particularized interest in the rules that govern the counting of votes in their elections, regardless of whether those rules harm their electoral prospects or increase the cost of their...

Consider the claim that the United States imported not just tens of thousands of Somali pirates and fraudsters, but hundreds of deadly killers as refugees. This notion demands careful unpacking, for it touches on matters of immigration policy, national security, and moral accountability. One might wonder how such a large-scale influx could occur without proper vetting, much like the hasty resettlement of Afghan refugees after the 2021 withdrawal. The answer lies in a pattern of lax procedures that prioritized volume over scrutiny, leading to unforeseen consequences in communities like those in Minnesota. Neither the residents of Minneapolis nor the...

There’s a deeper, darker truth lurking beneath the Somali-dominated, multi-billion-dollar Minnesota welfare fraud schemes that have commanded the attention of federal authorities and stoked nationwide outrage. And it may explain in part why for weeks, Democrats and regime media have been gaslighting the country, casting critics as bigots, and shooting the messengers who sent the long-neglected story viral — and why, now, state and local leaders are trying to turn Minneapolis into a powder keg. These dodges and diversions distract from the fact that the fraud is a feature of what we might call The Blue Model of government. Fueled...

Meta Platforms on Monday named former Trump administration official Dina Powell McCormick as its president and vice chairman, boosting the company’s lobbying efforts in the U.S. capital. President Donald Trump congratulated Powell McCormick in a post on his Truth Social account minutes after the company announced her promotion. “Congratulations to DINA POWELL MCCORMICK, WHO HAS JUST BEEN NAMED THE NEW PRESIDENT OF META. A great choice by Mark Z!!! She is a fantastic, and very talented, person, who served the Trump Administration with strength and distinction!” the president wrote. Her appointment is the latest in a series of changes Meta...

A fearless muntjac deer weighing just 50 pounds went head-to-head with a nearly two-ton rhinoceros at a zoo in Poland in a caught-on-camera David and Goliath bout for the ages. A caretaker at Wroclaw Zoo in Poland captured the standoff between Maruska the rhino and Mundzak the Chinese muntjac deer in a video viewed millions of times on social media.

Our eyes can frequently play tricks on us, but scientists have discovered that some artificial intelligence can fall for the same illusions. And it is changing what we know about our brains. When we look up at the Moon, it seems larger when it is close to the horizon compared to when it is higher up in the sky even though its size, and the distance between the Earth and the Moon, remains much the same during the course of a night. Optical illusions such as these show that we don't always perceive reality the way we should. They are...

While Denmark’s leaders downplay the threat to Greenland posed by Russia and China amidst President Donald Trump’s outspoken desire to acquire the frozen island, Denmark's Danish Defense Intelligence Service (DDIS) recently released an assessment bluntly warning of Russian and Chinese military ambitions toward and expansion around Greenland and the Arctic. Trump said last week that the U.S. needs Greenland “from the standpoint of national security” as he argued that the frozen autonomous territory owned by Denmark was “covered” with Russian and Chinese ships. Top Danish foreign policy and defense officials quickly sought to push back on Trump’s claims, claiming there...

On this date 45 years ago, Blondie released “Rapture,” a genre bending single that quietly became one of the most important crossover records in Hip Hop history. Released in 1981 from the album Autoamerican, the song did far more than expand the band’s sonic palette. It helped introduce rap music and Hip Hop culture to a global mainstream audience at a time when the genre was still largely confined to New York City neighborhoods. “Rapture” blended new wave, disco, funk, and spoken word rap into something unfamiliar yet accessible. Debbie Harry’s rhythmic verses referenced early Hip Hop figures and...

CHRISTMAS BIBLE-ART EPISODE #32 of 33 YOUNG JESUS TEACHING IN THE TEMPLE L U K E CHAPTER 2 Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom. After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find...

Energy Louisiana Trial Lawyers Steered Thousands to Judge Overseeing Their Case Against Oil Companies—Then Won a $744 Million Judgment 'The whole thing is set up as a kangaroo court,' former AG Bill Barr tells Free Beacon L: Offshore oil and gas platform (Mario Tama/Getty Images) R: Chevron logo Thomas Catenacci January 12, 2026 The Louisiana attorneys who helped secure a landmark verdict requiring U.S. oil company Chevron to pay $744 million in environmental damages gave nearly $15,000 to the state judge who presided over the case, ethics filings reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon show. The Baton Rouge-based law firm...

JPMorgan Chase Bank is suing former Chicago Democrat Mayor Lori Lightfoot for letting her $11K credit card bill go unpaid for 17 months.The media has learned that Lightfoot, who became the first Democrat Chicago Mayor not reelected to city hall in about 40 years, was served with a subpoena at her $900,000 Chicago home in October, the Chicago Tribune reports.Chase ultimately decided in March that her $11,000 bill would be a charge-off, but her last payment of $5,000 on the debt was made on August 7, 2024, according to the bank’s records.