Free Republic

People were stopped from entering the National Conservatism Conference a few hours after it began, organisers said - although it continued for those inside. The local mayor said he issued the order to ensure public security. Organisers of the conference said they "overcame attempts to silence" them. They said they plan to continue with the conference on Wednesday, writing: "See you again tomorrow!" on X, formerly Twitter. Hungary's Mr Orban - who is due to speak there - has reacted with indignation, posting on Facebook: "Brussels just moved up a gear. If anyone stands up for peace, they are simply...

KFC has apologized after its phone app sent a notification to German customers suggesting they treat themselves to fried chicken and cheese to commemorate the pogrom that preceded the Holocaust, German media reported on Thursday. "Commemoration of Kristallnacht — Treat yourself to more soft cheese and crispy chicken. Now at KFCheese!," read the message sent on Wednesday.

Hours after Iran state TV displayed the cream-colored American bat-wing RQ-170 "Sentinel" drone – its undercarriage hidden by banners of a US flag, with stars replaced by skulls and marked with anti-US slogans – Iranian officials said the spy craft was proof of enduring US hostility toward Iran. "Iran will target all US military bases around the world," in case of further violations, warned conservative lawmaker Mohammad Kossari today. Iran's response would be "terrifying." US officials confirmed with "high confidence" that the drone displayed by Iran is almost certainly the one reported lost last by US forces in Afghanistan last...

Donald Trump was the perfect “meme leader,” appealing to an array of shadowy, loosely organized groups with varied philosophies but shared roots in internet “imageboards” like 4chan and 8chan, along with a desire, like their adopted chief, to disrupt the established power structure. “He had already — before he ran in 2015 — become a memetic figure in a lot of these communities. His hair was already a meme. He stood for a certain kind of New York wealth and power and masculinity to these communities,” said Emily Dreyfuss, a journalist, fellow at the Shorenstein Center for Media, Politics, and...

The day after Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg met with airline leaders to quiz them about widespread flight disruptions, his own flight was canceled and he wound up driving from Washington to New York. “That is happening to a lot of people, and that is exactly why we are paying close attention here to what can be done and how to make sure that the airlines are delivering,” Buttigieg told The Associated Press in an interview Saturday.

So, I suppose the question is...what kind of civil trial will we see, or not see, between Cheney and Whittington? Whittington is certainly no stranger to a court room and to civil litigation. Will Cheney pay him off, preemptively? Will they go to court? I would imagine if a guy with a few beers in him shoots you in the face on a hunting trip, how could you turn down that opportunity? ... Cheney is a terrorist. He terrorizes our enemies abroad and innocent citizens here at home indiscriminately. Who ever thought Harry Whittington would be the answer to America’s...

It wasn't exactly my finest hour, but it does go to prove that anyone can be scammed if the circumstances are exactly right. There were a few unfortunate incidents just prior to this phishing email and I explain how I was convinced to delete me own YouTube channel.

In the work that I do, I stress the fact that we’re going to need more and more government coercion as we go forward as a more and more interdependent society. Our structures of democracy, which basically evolved in the 18th century, are not sufficient to carry the load of the government coercion that we now need. We need much more robust democratic mechanisms than what we have. The structure of elections gives you a clear majority that is legitimate, in almost every case, but it’s not sufficient. If we think about climate change and the tremendous burdens we need...

I'd like to curate a list of DIRECT sources for the raw election data for all of us to use - this may require a bit of poking around at the various Secretary of State websites or other sources for the various states. These are of course most urgently needed for AZ, GA, MI, NC, NV, PA, and WI but if you find other state raw data sources please post them also. This website https://electproject.github.io/Early-Vote-2020G/index.html displays data from each of the states and DC. More importantly, clicking on a state shows the source of the data. Data which may be...

The Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act prohibits securities of a company from being listed on any of the U.S. securities exchanges if the company has failed to comply with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s (PCAOB) audits for three years in a row. The bill would also require public companies to disclose whether they are owned or controlled by a foreign government, including China’s communist government.

People who attended religious services at least once a week were significantly less likely to die from “deaths of despair,” including deaths related to suicide, drug overdose, and alcohol poisoning, according to new research led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The study showed that the association between service attendance and lower risk of deaths from despair was somewhat stronger for women than for men. “Despair is something that can confront anyone dealing with severe difficulties or loss. While the term ‘deaths of despair’ was originally coined in the context of working class Americans struggling with unemployment, it...

That work, Harris said, has led to the current clinical trial, leveraging insights from research done at high altitude to design a treatment that, should it work, would kill coronavirus directly in the lungs and allow patients to be discharged from the emergency department to home. The key insight, he said, is that the lack of oxygen at high altitude mirrors the effects of COVID-19’s lung dysfunction on the cell’s mitochondria powerhouse. It is also well-known that nitric oxide, which improves blood flow in the lungs, is central to adapting to life at high altitudes and has antiviral benefits. “If...

or more than half a century, governments all over the world trusted a single company to keep the communications of their spies, soldiers and diplomats secret. The company, Crypto AG, got its first break with a contract to build code-making machines for U.S. troops during World War II. Flush with cash, it became a dominant maker of encryption devices for decades, navigating waves of technology from mechanical gears to electronic circuits and, finally, silicon chips and software. The Swiss firm made millions of dollars selling equipment to more than 120 countries well into the 21st century. Its clients included Iran,...

https://www.c-span.org/video/?468482-1/president-trump-addresses-march-life-rally Live Video starting at 12:00 PM EST.

... Hartman said that during the time the restaurants were open, employees and patrons were harassed by people who took issue with the politics of Kris Kobach, the controversial politician who lost his bid to become Kansas governor last November with Hartman as his running mate. Kobach, the former Kansas Secretary of State, is now a Republican U.S. Senate candidate. From the first day the restaurants opened, Hartman said, people were writing obscene messages on menus, spitting on his employees, urinating on employees’ cars and shouting at people who went into the restaurant that they should eat somewhere else. “We...

A 42-year-old Iraqi father allegedly attempted two attacks on Germany's high-speed train lines. Police were reportedly able to track him down through vital clues he left at the scene.

A federal prosecutor laid out for a judge this week a plot where agricultural corporations and Juan Pablo Delgado -- the man at the defense table -- profited from a plot to supply them with a cheap, illegal labor force, leaving hundreds of migrant workers caught in the middle. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Woods said, in some cases, employees who couldn't legally work in the country were made to work in the dark as punishment for not working fast enough, were threatened with deportation and were forced to do cramped, painful work while Delgado made millions. Woods said he conspired...

It would appear we are fleeing California like it’s on fire (which, actually, it literally is lately); only large quantities of “foreign” people moving into one area typically disrupt culture and incite hatred like that. Yet San Francisco rent continues to lead the nation based on white-hot demand. This doesn’t really make sense. Let me offer a snapshot of San Francisco in 2018: A friend is having a birthday party at a funky dive bar in the Mission and has invited you. Despite the ostensibly blue-collar aesthetic, you pay $14 for a cocktail containing house-made lavender syrup and organic gin....

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) today reintroduced the Startup Act – bipartisan, cutting-edge legislation to encourage job creation, grow entrepreneurial activity, increase innovation and advance economic development. The Startup Act would accelerate the commercialization of university research and creative inquiry that can lead to new ventures, review and improve the regulatory processes at the federal, state and local levels, and modernize a critical Economic Development Administration (EDA) program to spur economic growth and promote innovation. The widely-supported legislation also creates both entrepreneur and STEM visas for highly-educated individuals...

Craft beer drinkers in the U.S. may see fewer new bottled beers coming out in the next few months. That's because the federal agency that approves brewery labels is closed, a result of the government shutdown. The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau is part of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. One of the TTB's jobs is to review beverage alcohol labels for things like alcohol content or fluid ounces in a bottle.