Free Republic

A former political candidate for state and federal races in Arizona was recently arrested for an alleged disturbance reported last Friday in the Valley. Brianna Westbrook, 41, was arrested on July 10 after her former partner contacted police following an incident at a Phoenix residence, court records show. The reporting party told police Westbrook allegedly "pushed her way" into the residence holding a knife and duct tape. The two then allegedly "wrestled" until Westbrook pushed the other person onto the couch. The victim then screamed out and asked Westbrook "to stop" before Westbrook allegedly "took off running," records show. Officers...

Half a century after approving coercive plea bargaining, the Supreme Court is beginning to recognize its costs.Between 2013 and 2023, Munson P. Hunter III "used fraudulently obtained Social Security numbers to open 14 bank accounts, acquire at least 18 credit cards, and apply for loans from the Small Business Administration," the Justice Department says. "Those fraudulent acts ultimately cost others nearly half a million dollars." After he was arrested in 2023, Hunter faced 10 counts of bank and wire fraud with combined maximum penalties of 300 years in prison. He also faced a choice. He could go to trial, risking...

Google AIThis is the version before infamous Islamofascist Iskandar323 began vandalizing it,followed by ithers if that gang incl. Zero0000: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Zionism&oldid=1163995776

The back-and-forth voyages have been instrumental because only a small number of shipowners were willing to risk sending their tankers through HormuzIran’s attacks on commercial ships are turning off a lifeline for the global energy market—a stream of tankers ferrying crude through the hazardous Strait of Hormuz.The barrage of missiles and drones hit ships that specialize in short voyages in and out of the Persian Gulf known as “shuttle runs.” Unlike traditional tanker voyages, which carry crude through the strait to refineries in China, South Korea and elsewhere, these ships make repeated short trips moving oil from Gulf terminals to...

Education experts have written many excellent books and articles in recent years and made insightful presentations covering a range of important topics – admissions, curriculum, pedagogy, administration, and accreditation. The Martin Center itself has co-authored model legislation for general education. From different perspectives, many of these present well-reasoned arguments for the restoration of the Western tradition in general education. While there has been some recent progress, it has been gradual and halting. To move forward, I suggest we review three lessons from ancient Sparta. In 480 BC, Sparta and its allies were vastly outnumbered and overmatched by the invading Persian...

Cardiologist says warning signs can develop years before symptoms appearHeart disease remains the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States, but doctors say many cases can be prevented through early screening and lifestyle changes. New cholesterol guidelines are calling for screenings to begin earlier and for high-risk patients to reach lower LDL targets. Dr. Ajay Mhatre, a cardiologist at Cardiovascular Institute of Northwest Florida, said the risks often build silently over time. “Coronary disease or cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death for men and women in America,” Mhatre said. Smoking, diabetes,...

De Beers: Venetia diamond mine ======================================================================================= DE Beers is preparing to shutter South Africa’s largest diamond mine for two years, threatening thousands of jobs and removing roughly two-fifths of the country’s diamond production as the industry’s most famous company battles one of the worst downturns in its history. The move is intended to cut costs, while production will be increased elsewhere, enough to leave its overall output guidance unchanged. It’s an especially striking decision because Venetia, in Limpopo, is not an ageing operation being allowed to gracefully expire. And De Beers has already spent about $2.2bn converting the former open-pit...

[Catholic Caucus] Facing God, Rooted in Christ: The Latin Mass, Tradition, and OrthodoxyThe always remembered Pope Benedict XVI — whom it is quite possible will one day be declared a Doctor of the Church — sought, through his Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum of July 7, 2007, on the two uses of the one Roman Rite in its ordinary and extraordinary forms, to liberalize the celebration of the Mass commonly called "traditional," "Tridentine," "of Saint Pius V," or "the Mass of all time." He did so with the aim of contributing to liturgical peace and out of the respect owed to...

Digital ID: Billionaires are CIRCLING your digital life - it's time to WAKE UP

Explanation: Why is this asteroid a double? Earlier this month the Japanese robotic spacecraft Hayabusa2 shot past asteroid 98943 Torifune and captured pictures. Although previous observations from distant Earth indicated that Torifune was oblong, Hayabusa2 found that Torifune actually has two joined lobes. With a length of about four soccer fields, this space rock frequently comes near the Earth as it orbits the Sun, although it is not a threat. Besides the two lobes, Torifune shows many large boulders, but, surprisingly, no obvious craters, likely because its surface is a pile of rubble. Like asteroid Arrokoth, it appears that each...

A new report says health officials are investigating Taco Bell as a potential part of the cyclosporiasis outbreak that’s sickened thousands of people across the U.S., with many suffering from extreme diarrhea. The Washington Post cites two anonymous sources close to the investigation, which is said to involve both federal and state health officials. Taco Bell has reportedly removed lettuce, cilantro, pico de gallo and guacamole from its menu in some areas as a precaution. Michigan’s health department has pointed to lettuce or other salad greens as a potential source of the outbreak, but said some people infected with the...

Sasquatch interviews the bison who attacked the old man!

The Dutch town of Ter Apel has a population of just 10,000 and was just sabotaged by its own government.Over 2,200 asylum seekers were dumped on this town, most of them young, Muslim men. The center used to house asylum seekers tops out at 2,000, so, according to local news reports, “between 40 and 100 asylum seekers have spent their days outside the centre.”Naturally, this influx of hostile foreigners who are not interested in integrating has deteriorated conditions. Violence has become enough of a problem that the “Red Cross and the Dutch Council for Refugees… have withdrawn their aid workers...

All remaining US military forces will be out of Iraq by the end of September, the nation’s new prime minister Ali al-Zaidi said during a Tuesday visit to the White House. “On the 30th of September, the US forces will be out of Iraq, while these companies will be inside Iraq,” al-Zaidi said through a translator when speaking to reporters alongside President Trump in the Oval Office. About 2,000 US troops currently are stationed in Iraq, mostly at the Harir Air Base in Erbil in the northern Kurdistan region. Washington and Baghdad agreed in September 2024 to a phased withdrawal...

Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett opened up Tuesday about the chilling moment she had to explain to her son why she had to wear a bulletproof vest following the leak of the opinion that overturned Roe v. Wade. Barrett, a mother of seven, told lawmakers on a House Appropriations subcommittee that her security detail told her to wear extra protection on her commute home after a draft of Justice Samuel Alito’s opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was published by Politico in May 2022. “I carried it into my house, put it into my bedroom, dropped it...

State workers have completed their first full work week since California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered them to return to the office four days a week starting July 1 — and in addition to parking complaints, workers now claim they’re being forced to work in disease-plagued state offices. Workers’ union Service Employees International Union Local 1000 claimed recently that “unsafe, or potentially unsafe working conditions” have been reported at government buildings, specifically at the Department of Industrial Relations Building in Lodi. The union said Legionella bacteria was detected in the building last month, contaminating a line that connects to an icemaker....

A St. Bonaventure University professor is facing backlash on social media after appearing to celebrate the death of South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham in a social media post before deleting it less than 12 hours later, prompting renewed scrutiny of political rhetoric on college campuses. A social media account identified as belonging to Ibrahim Zabad, a political science professor at the private university in western New York, posted a message late Saturday evening celebrating Graham's death, using inflammatory language and ending with the phrase "Rest in Hell," according to Campus Reform.

The Mossad's Farsi-language account on X took a shot at some of Iran's most senior officials on Wednesday, speculating that they may all be Israeli agents, following a report about contacts between former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Israeli spy agency. The image posted by the Mossad depicts several senior Iranian political figures, including Speaker of the Parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, President Masoud Pezeshkian, and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, as well as former President Ahmadinejad. ..... Each of the figures in the image is depicted with a Star of David on their hands and an earpiece in their ears, hinting...

[Catholic Caucus] Catholic parents demand German archbishop rescind pro-LGBT ‘sexual education’The Archdiocese of Hamburg last year implemented ‘sexual education’ curriculum for all Catholic schools that promotes homosexuality and transgenderism, and now parents are fighting back.Catholic parents in the Archdiocese of Hamburg are calling on the archbishop to reverse pro-LGBT “sexual education” curriculum for Catholic schools.The “Parents’ Network for Child Protection and Prevention” reached out to the then-apostolic nuncio to Germany, Archbishop Nikola Eterović, and the chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference (DBK), Bishop Heiner Wilmer, regarding the dispute over the heterodox framework for “sex education” in Catholic schools in the...

Former Navy Secretary John Phelan is calling on the help of Congress and the Pentagon to help the Navy work better, faster and smarter to keep up with U.S. adversaries.Phelan, in a new op-ed published Tuesday in The Washington Post, "The depleted Navy needs immediate rebuilding as dangers rise," argues that the United States is at most responsible for the current state of the naval fighting force. His heeded warning comes amid an ongoing war in Iran played on the backdrop of the major international shipping channel, the Strait of Hormuz, which has been strategically used by Iran to flummox...