Free Republic

During Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Lead,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) derided the Biden administration for its lackluster handling of border security at the U.S.-Mexico border. Johnson accused the Biden administration of rolling out the welcome mat for illegal immigrants by abandoning the policies of President Joe Biden’s predecessor, former President Donald Trump. “The argument is that there’s only so much a president can do,” CNN host Jake Tapper said. “Even Donald Trump could not seal the border. Even when the remain-in-Mexico policy was in place in 2019, there was still a migrant crisis. There was still a crisis...

Former Trump official Alyssa Farah Griffin said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that a second Trump term “could mean the end of American democracy as we know it.” Anchor Jonathan Karl said, “President Trump saying he’ll be a dictator on day one of his second term. Here’s a continuation of my conversation with three women who served in his White House. What would it mean in your mind if he became president again?” Farah Griffin said, “Fundamentally, a second Trump term could mean the end of American democracy as we know it. I don’t say that lightly. We all witnessed...

American-Israeli dual national Judith (Judy) Weinstein, 70, was confirmed Thursday to have been murdered by Hamas during its October 7 terror attack, not taken hostage as previously thought. Hamas has possession of her body, along with that of her husband, Gad Haggai, 73, who was likewise thought to have been taken hostage until being confirmed dead earlier in December. Kibbutz Nir Oz, where Weinstein and Haggai lived, issued a statement Thursday: With great sorrow Kibbutz Nir Oz announces the murder of Judy Weinstein. ‎‏Judy was 70 years old, and was a member of Kibbutz Nir Oz. She was a mother...

SNIP For example, vegetarians used to be referred to as Pythagoreans after the ancient Greek mathematician, Pythagoras, who remains well known for his Pythagorean theorem, among other things. But before he was the bane of every high school kid's existence, Pythagoras was considered the "father of vegetarianism," according to the online exhibit "America's Hidden Meals: The History of Vegetarianism in the US." Citing ethical concerns, Pythagoras and his followers didn't eat animals, according to the virtual exhibit. As a result, before his kind was referred to as vegetarians, they were called Pythagoreans. After Pythagoras died in 495 BC, the movement...

Gadi Haggai, 73, was murdered by the terrorists who are still thought to be holding his 70-year-old wife, Judi Weinstein, according to the Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum representing the families.

Rising costs have pushed the “American Dream” out of reach for most Americans, according to a new analysis from Investopedia. Common milestones associated with success in the United States like marriage, children, homeownership, cars and healthcare are estimated to cost $3,455,305 throughout a person’s lifetime, according to the financial news site. Meanwhile, the average lifetime earnings of an American with a bachelor’s degree is about $2.3 million, according to data from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. Those with less education can expect the life associated with the American Dream to be further out of reach. For...

In 2014, then-Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) rose to the floor of the U.S. Senate to give a 24-minute speech denouncing Antony Blinken, nominated by President Barack Obama to be Deputy Secretary of State, as “dangerous to America.” The speech is gaining attention again in conservative media circles in the wake of Blinken’s trip to the Middle East, in which he reportedly told Israel that it lacked “credit” to remove Hamas from the Gaza Strip, a goal the U.S. had supported in public. McCain, known (and criticized) as a foreign policy hawk, said that he usually did not oppose presidential nominees,...

Three Americans — including a 4-year-old whose parents were slain by Hamas — are are expected to be among 13 hostages released by Gaza Sunday, marking the first time US citizens would be released since a delicate cease-fire was struck up between the terror organization and Israel. Two unidentified women and Abigail Mor Edan, a young girl who turned 4 alone in captivity on Friday after becoming an orphan in the deadly Oct. 7 incursion, were set to be freed, senior US officials told CNN. President Biden on Friday had expressed hope that the young Israeli-American girl would be among...

An ice hockey star who is believed to have taken a blade to his throat in a horrific injury during a game has died aged 29, his family have said. Adam Johnson's injury was so horrific it forced the game to be abandoned and left traumatised fans in tears. The Minnesota-born athlete is believed to have been stuck in the neck by an ice hockey blade in a freak accident at the match between Nottingham Panthers and Sheffield Steelers at Utilita Arena Sheffield this evening. His mother Kari took to social media to share her heartbreak this morning - telling...

Nearly seven out of 10 US service members are considered either overweight or obese — which may compromise the nation’s military readiness and undermine national security, according to a new wide-ranging study. The American Security Project, a Washington-based nonprofit, found that 68% of US troops qualified as either “overweight” or “obese” under the Body Mass Index, which takes into account a person’s age, height and weight. It also determined that the number of troops in the “obese” category have more than doubled over the course of the past decade — from 10.4% in 2012, to 21.6% last year. The trend...

A hate-fueled attacker pummeled a young man for wearing a turban and a face mask on an MTA bus in Queens over the weekend, police said. “We don’t wear that in this country,” the creep snarled, adding, “And take that mask off!” before he repeatedly punched the 19-year-old man in the head, face and back. The suspect then tried, and failed, to snatch the victim’s turban off his head, cops said. The shocking attack took place at around 9 a.m. Sunday on an MTA shuttle bus near 118th Street and Liberty Avenue in the Little Guyana neighborhood, authorities said. The...

Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” anchor Jake Tapper asked National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan why it looked like nothing was being done to rescue Americans currently held hostage by Hamas in Gaza. Partial transcript as follows: TAPPER: Is rescuing the hostages a priority at all? I mean, Israeli news media, like “Haaretz,” they say it doesn’t seem like it at all. And frankly, Jake, if my kids were being held hostage in Gaza — and, as you know, there are Americans being held hostage in Gaza right now — I’d want you to send in the Navy SEALs....

The White House said on Wednesday that so far details are scant when it comes to the location and conditions of Americans it believes are being held hostage by Hamas following the terrorist attacks against Israel. National security adviser John Kirby told reporters there are a “very small” number of Americans believed to be held as hostages, but that he wasn’t aware of proof of life, and he couldn’t provide details about their whereabouts or condition. So far, the administration has determined 17 Americans to be unaccounted for and it is unclear precisely among those how many may be held...

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is heading to Israel, where an unknown number of Americans are being imprisoned by Hamas militants who have threatened to begin executing hostages. The State Department announced the trip in a press release Tuesday, but did not mention the hostages: Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken will travel to Israel and Jordan October 11-13, 2023, where he will meet with senior officials. The Secretary will reiterate his condolences for the victims of the terrorist attacks against Israel and condemn those attacks in the strongest terms. The Secretary will also reaffirm the United States’ solidarity with...

Delta, American, United and Southwest Airlines have discovered that unapproved jet engine parts with fake safety certificates have been installed inside their planes. The airline companies and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency have claimed that AOG Technics, a leading global aircraft support provider to the air transport industry, sold them the fake parts. The airlines stated that AOG Technics falsified the required airworthiness documents for the spare parts and mass-produced artificial safety certificates in order to sell its engine parts to them. Parts sold by the problematic company have been found in 126 engines across the airlines and several...

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (D) said Tuesday she doesn’t “understand” Americans who support Russian President Vladimir Putin in his war against Ukraine. “I don’t understand any American siding with Putin, but we’ve seen it and we’ve heard it and we have to fight against it,” Clinton said in an interview with PBS NewsHour’s Geoff Bennett. Clinton was asked by Bennett about a “growing” divide in American politics over funding and support for Ukraine in their fight against Russia and how she thinks the Russian leader views it. She said she thinks Putin is “thrilled” about this divide.

About 100 planes around the world have been caught up in a scandal that would be cartoonish if it weren’t so terrifying. It saw a dubious company, with fake employees and an address that was a glorified PO box, sell and distribute fake airplane parts that ended up in planes belonging to some of the world’s biggest airlines. On Thursday night, American Airlines became the fourth, and so far final, airline to have found parts from AOG Technics in its aircraft. Southwest kicked off the disclosures from various airlines around the world in early September, when it became the first...

While lawmakers on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. debate sending billions more in military aid to Ukraine, an American citizen journalist, Gonzalo Lira, is languishing in a Ukrainian prison on allegations of spreading Russian propaganda, throwing into question the status of free speech in the supposed democracy the Biden administration argues is worthy of more taxpayer dollars. The Biden administration is asking Congress to approve another $24 billion for Ukraine for now through the end of this year, which would add to the $113 billion that Congress has committed to the country since its war with Russia began in February...

The Heritage Foundation found that the United States’ current provision of $113 billion in aid to Ukraine costs $900 per American household. “The formal aid packages alone amount to a staggering $113 billion—roughly $900 per American household and almost 12 times the spending cuts promised by House leadership in the annual spending bills,” Richard Stern, the director of the Heritage Foundation Hermann Center for the Federal Budget, told the Daily Signal.

Democrats are very worried that a third-party presidential candidate backed by the group No Labels could cost Joe Biden the 2024 presidential election — handing victory to the Republican candidate, possibly former President Donald Trump. Democrats are right to be worried … but Republicans should be worried too. Although third-party candidates are fairly common in U.S. presidential elections — as well as other federal and state elections — they seldom have much of an effect on the outcome. But in at least four presidential elections since 1900, a third-party candidate attracted enough votes to arguably change the outcome. Two of...