Free Republic

Full Title: President Putin says five men killed in huge explosion in northern Russia that caused sudden radiation spike died trying to create a weapon that ‘has no equal in the world’ Russian President Vladimir Putin has told widows of the five scientists who died in a nuclear explosion earlier this year that their husbands were working on 'the most advanced and unmatched technical' weaponry. Putin's comments came during a ceremony of state decorations at the Kremlin today where he awarded the deceased employees of Russia's state nuclear company with the Order of Courage, posthumously.

f you thought there weren’t any major elections until the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 3, guess again. On Saturday, Louisiana will choose between incumbent Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards and Republican businessman Eddie Rispone for governor. And the race down in the Bayou looks increasingly close, so it’s an open question whether Edwards can once again overcome Louisiana’s deep red hue to win reelection. Here’s where things stand heading into Election Day.

While incumbent Matt Bevin has not conceded the Kentucky governor's race, Democrat Andy Beshear declared ...

The bright spots are the victories of Tate Reeves as governor of Mississippi and the GOP’s statewide margins in Kentucky in all races, except the gubernatorial contest. The mitigations are the Kentucky governor’s battle, which as of Wednesday morning the Associated Press said was too close to call, though other outlets called it for the Democrat — and the loss of both houses of the Virginia legislature for the first time in 20 years.

President Donald Trump is tentatively planning to travel to Monroe, Louisiana, next week to headline a rally for Republican governor’s candidate Eddie Rispone, sources with direct knowledge of the plans have told USA Today Network. Those sources said plans could still change and haven’t yet been confirmed by the White House. Details on the time and place of the rally are still developing, but Monroe Mayor Jamie Mayor said the Secret Service has contacted the Monroe Police Department ahead of the visit. “We will welcome the president with open arms,” Mayo said. Read The Advertiser’s full story here.

@FloridaDude297 "LOUISIANA ELECTION. Exit polls and post election surveys are in. Republicans received 25% of the Black vote. GOP Black voters was 291% over 2015. #1 issue for Conservative voting Black Voters was Democrats attacking President Trump."

The National Instant background Check System, (NICS) hit record high levels in August 2019, for both total numbers and numbers of estimated sales after carry permit and permit rechecks were subtracted. In September 2019, while the totals remain at record levels, the estimated sales fell to 88% of the record set in 2016.In August, after permit and permit rechecks are subtracted from the total NICS checks, 1,239,014 remain. In 2016, following the same procedure, there were 1,229,022. The 2019 number is about 10,000 more than the record set in 2016. These numbers are not precise numbers of sales, for several...

Louisiana Governor - election today. Everybody vote!! Polls close at 8pm. If any candidate gets a majority (51%) of the vote in the first round that candidate wins the election.

After the 9/11 attacks, we began to hear that cliche about how “the terrorists will have won” if we let ourselves become so consumed with fear that we no longer act rationally. Well, the future is now. That’s my reaction to that decision to cancel the annual Labor Day parade in South Plainfield because a guy left some fireworks in a bar in Sea Bright. When I got an email from the Governor’s Office Monday morning saying this year’s parade had been canceled, I figured it might be because of the weather. -snip- Nope. It soon turned out that the...

In May 2019, there were record numbers of background checks in the  National Instant Background Check System (NICS) run by the FBI. It bested the next closest May, done last year, by 347 thousand checks, or about 17 percent.Last May, the total number of background checks were 2,002,992. This year, in May of 2019, they were 2,349,309. Not all NICS Checks are done on the sale of firearms. A growing number of checks are done on carry permits and carry permit rechecks. In May of 2018, the carry permit checks were 876,501, and the permit rechecks were 202,011. In...

Bitcoin climbed close to $7,600 on Sunday, according to industry website CoinDesk. The world’s most-valuable cryptocurrency is now up nearly 90% since the start of the year. One analyst says bitcoin could soar as high as ”$50,000 or $100,000,” as it’s only “in the early part of its cycle.” Bitcoin has jumped above $7,000, continuing a stunning comeback for the cryptocurrency in 2019. The virtual currency climbed close to $7,600 on Sunday, according to industry website CoinDesk. It’s since pared gains, but is still holding above that $7,000 level. It marks yet another move higher for the world’s most-valuable cryptocurrency,...

In the Trump era of the National Instant background Check System (NICS),  the number of NICS checks has remained high while the number of gun sales has trended downward. This has been called the "Trump Slump" in the firearms industry. In February of 2019, the Trump Slump dropped a bit more. In February of 2019, the total NICS checks were 2,053,886. That is the lowest total NICS in February since 2015, when they were 1,859,584.  It is a twelve percent drop from the total NICS of 2018, which were 2,333,193. NICS checks contain many more checks than just those...

Southwest Airlines, the nation's third-largest carrier, is struggling with a surge in planes being taken out of service for maintenance. The airline blames the mechanics union, but the union claims it's a matter of safety. Photos obtained exclusively by CBS News show what mechanics describe as landing gear tires so worn that Southwest had to pull a 737 out of service on Tuesday. More than 40 airplanes per day have been grounded for maintenance issues since last Tuesday. That's unusually high, more than double a normal day. Southwest has declared an "operational emergency" and its chief operating officer Mike Van...

We have entered the third year of the Trump era of National Instant Background Checks (NICS). It started with a January very similar to the last two years. National Instant Background Checks (NICS) is the background check required for most sales of firearms by federally licensed firearm dealers. There were 2,165,094 checks for January of 2019. In the first January of the Trump era, ihn 2017, There were 2,043,184 NICS checks. In the second January, (2018), there were 2,030,530. The three Januarys are remarkably similar, all within a range of only 134,564 checks.  The smallest number is in 2018....

Amazon announced Thursday it was turning back on its plans to build its second headquarters in New York City, a company spokesman said in a statement. The move comes after backlash from lawmakers, notably Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who bemoaned the project. "After much thought and deliberation, we’ve decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters for Amazon in Long Island City, Queens," the Seattle-based Amazon said in the release.

Here are (what I like to call) “snapshots” of the Chinese New Year celebrations in February 2019. The Chinese use a lunar calendar, and the New Year started on 5FEB19, and started the week-long celebration. This celebration is profoundly different than anything experienced in the West. It is a time of family and friends. It is a time of crazed dancing, and orgy of food, and prolonged heavy drinking. It is also a time when you will see friendships renew, relationships expand, and families strengthen. The cultural aspects of this event are (in large part) unknown in the West, but...

The U.S. Supreme Court has been the most trusted branch of government among voters for more than a decade -- and while that still holds true, faith in the court is now near its lowest. In addition, the number saying the executive branch is their most trusted stands at a new low. When asked which of the three branches of government they trust the most, 35 percent of voters choose the U.S. Supreme Court, according to the latest Fox News Poll. That’s down from 45 percent in February 2017. A record-low 33 percent chose the court in June 2005. The...

Politicians just interrupted regularly scheduled programming to bring you a message they’ve been repeating ad nauseum for the last three weeks. President Trump went first. Sitting behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, he read a watered-down stump speech from a teleprompter. Illegal immigrants and a flood of drugs are streaming across the border, the president said in so many words. The shutdown is the fault of Democrats, he continued, and the solution is some variation of a wall. Notably lacking? Fireworks. Trump was presidential in that Trump was unusually low key. He didn’t declare a national emergency, a...

I rarely make predictions -- whether of election results or anything else. My policy has always been to say what I believe should be done, not what will be done. I am making an exception with regard to America in 2019. 2019 will be a dark year in America. Thanks to the left's control of the House of Representatives and the news media, Americans will be kept in a fevered state throughout 2019 -- with innumerable hearings, exposes, criminal investigations and possible indictments of those around the president and the president himself. Truth will not be the point. Defamation will....

Kakistocracy is a badly underused word which needs to make a major comeback this year, as it is perfectly descriptive of the cabal of loons, clowns, demagogues, crooks and halfwits who are now in charge of the House of Representatives. The literal definition of the word is a system of government which is run by the worst, least qualified, or most unscrupulous citizens. It’s been around for a few hundred years, but overtaken by others perhaps more colorful to describe slimeball government. Kleptocracy, for example, has a real ring to it. But in surveying the crowd now in charge, who...