Free Republic

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan confirmed Monday that the Biden Administration would consider cutting off arms sales to Israel if it did not submit a report explaining how its use of the weapons complies with international law. Sullivan added that he expected Israel to provide such a report, but did not rule out ending U.S. supplies to Israel. From the White House briefing transcript: Q Thank you, Jake. The deadline for Israel to comply with the National Security Memorandum … is coming up on Sunday. Has Israel responded in writing? MR. SULLIVAN: So, first, when you say “to comply,” what...

A Satanic pedophile cult uncovered by the FBI after the arrest of a Queens man two years ago is an offshoot of a much older neo-Nazi organization that wants to destroy Western civilization, according to an overseas nonprofit that’s been tracking the hate group. Federal authorities stumbled upon the newer group – which is named “764” but goes by a number of aliases – while investigating Angel Almeida, a 23-year-old convicted felon from Queens who was busted with a gun in November 2021. The loosely organized commune of creeps appears to be intensely interested in targeting kids on the internet,...

A Satan-worshipping cult of pedophiles is blackmailing girls into cutting themselves — but the FBI didn’t seem interested in that so much as the fact that one of its members once used the n-word, a Daily Wire investigation found. For years, the group known both as 764 and Harm Nation has tortured what is believed to be hundreds or thousands of girls. But the FBI didn’t put its cybercrimes or violence-against-children investigators on it. Instead, its interest appears to have piqued mainly by the fact that the group — most of whose victims are white teens — was once racist...

U.S.-based streaming company Roku is planning to cut hundreds of positions in its workforce and slow down its hiring process in an effort to boost profits after a series of quarterly losses. In a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing Wednesday, Roku, which specializes in audio and video manufacturing, said it plans to lay off 10 percent of its workforce, or approximately 360 people. Roku is hoping for a restructuring charge boost of $45 million to $65 million related to the layoffs, as the charge will include severance and benefits costs. According to an annual report, the San Jose, Calif.-based...

Tesla is cutting prices again to boost demand in an increasingly crowded electric vehicle (EV) market. The EV maker on Thursday cut prices on all of its models, including a $5,000 price drop for its luxury Model S and Model X vehicles. Tesla also began taking orders on a new, cheaper Model Y that starts at under $50,000. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said he’s willing to sacrifice profit margins to cement Tesla as the dominant EV manufacturer. Tesla is the best-selling EV company in the U.S. but has gradually ceded market share as major auto companies rush to catch...

Radio giant SiriusXM is slashing hundreds of jobs in what the company says is a cost cutting measure. In a note to SiriusXM employees on Monday, CEO Jennifer Witz said the company will cut eight percent of its workforce, amounting to some 450 jobs, after a recent review of the outlet’s business. “We are entering into a new phase for our Company. The investments we are making in the business this year, coupled with today’s uncertain economic environment, require us to think differently about how our organization is structured,” Witz said. The CEO said SiriusXM in recent months had identified...

Dell Technologies is the latest technology company to announce job cuts, saying Monday that it will be cutting about 5 percent of its workforce, or about 6,600 jobs. According to a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing, Dell will cut 5 percent of its global workforce to respond to a “challenging global economic environment.” Co-Chief Operating Officer Jeff Clarke said in an email to employees that the company is facing market conditions that “continue to erode with an uncertain future,” which will require restructuring the organization and letting some employees go. “In the coming days and weeks, you’ll begin to...

In a phone call with Ukraine's president this month, US President Joe Biden pledged continued solidarity with Ukraine as it battles Russia's military invasion and illegal annexation of Ukrainian territory. But that level of support could be in jeopardy if the GOP gains control of the House of Representatives in this year's midterm elections. The warning signs have been building for months. In April, 10 House Republicans voted against a bill allowing the Biden administration to more easily lend military equipment to Ukraine. The following month, 57 House Republicans voted "no" on a nearly $40 billion aid package for Ukraine....

Prime Minister Liz Truss has been on a media tour defending her tax-cutting ‘mini-budget’ amid fierce criticism from the left and central bankers. Truss, who is attempting to boost growth by, among other things, cutting green levies and, controversially, the top 45 per cent rate of income tax for earnings over £150,000 — rather than the 40 per cent rate of income tax on earning from £50,000 to £150,000, which impacts mainly on the squeezed middle class — has been accused of “undercutting” the country’s central bank, which is largely unaccountable to the government, by Mark Carney, its former governor.

In yet another tragic mass shooting, Salvador Ramos, 18, slaughtered 19 innocent children and two much-loved teachers at Robb Elementary school, in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday before being killed in a shoot out with a Border Patrol officer and local law enforcement. It is the second deadliest shooting in US history after the infamous Sandy Hook massacre in 2012 - which saw 26 people killed - and has once again left people asking how someone could commit such a heinous crime. As the country tries to make sense of the tragedy, stories about Ramos are beginning to emerge from those...

PIERCE COUNTY, WIS. — A roofer used a circular saw to kill a co-worker Monday, police said. Maguel A. Nabarro, 24, used the saw and cut Israel Valles-Flores, 37, severely on the neck and face, according to WQOW. Police found Valles-Flores unconscious on a roof where the men were working around 4:30 p.m., the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported. Nabarro, of St. Louis, was arrested and charged with suspicion of intentional homicide, the Pioneer Press reported.

MAPLE HEIGHTS, Ohio -- A 12-year-old Ohio boy's summer vacation was anything but exciting until someone called police on him for doing his job. Reginald Field started a business cutting grass for his neighbors, but his service at one customer's house resulted in a 911 call. Fields said everything was going fine until his customer's neighbors called the police, claiming the teen had mowed part of their lawn. "They said I was cutting their grass," he said. "I didn't know it." The neighbor told authorities that the teen and his crew had cut a portion of their property and were...

Far more U.S. teens than previously thought are transgender or identify themselves using other nontraditional gender terms, with many rejecting the idea that girl and boy are the only options, new research suggests. The study looked at students in ninth and 11th grade and estimated that nearly 3 percent are transgender or gender nonconforming, meaning they don't always self-identify as the sex they were assigned at birth. [Snip] The study is an analysis of a 2016 statewide survey of almost 81,000 Minnesota teens. Nearly 2,200 identified as transgender or gender nonconforming. The study found that these kids reported worse mental...

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The first thing you'd probably ask Lisa Marteau is: Why would people want to hang from hooks pierced through their skin? The reasons are different for each person who participates in this activity known as body suspension, and the Boulder woman is careful not to make generalizations. She tiptoes around her words. She does not want to misrepresent the community — to further distort society's misconceptions and opinions about this unusual hobby.

LITTLE FALLS, Minn. — A Minnesota man who killed two teenagers who broke into his home can be heard on an audio recording talking to himself for hours after the shooting and at one point, apparently describing the slain teens as "vermin." Byron Smith, of Little Falls, faces first-degree premeditated murder charges in the deaths of 18-year-old Haile Kifer and 17-year-old Nick Brady on Thanksgiving Day in 2012. Smith, 65, claimed he was defending himself and feared for his life after several break-ins at his home. Prosecutors, though, say Smith planned the killings. They say he sat in a chair...

We teach kids that honesty is the best policy, but at one Virginia Beach middle school it might be better to keep the truth to yourself. Last Thursday at Bayside Middle School, sixth grader Adrionna Harris came to the aide of a classmate who was cutting his arm. She faces expulsion for taking a razor from the student, throwing it away and convincing him what he was doing wasn’t right. She thought she was doing the right thing, so on Friday she told the school administration what happened. The way school officials responded led to this question: was the school’s...

A thought provoking Marketwatch article regarding the growing trend of cable "cord cutting" demonstrates the need for a shakeup in the cable television industry. The industry is being run into the ground by old guard gatekeepers. It is becoming a case study of what not to do when faced with competition from visionaries with new technologies and business models. Comcast CEO Brian L. Roberts is best thing that ever happened to Netflix shareholders. Listen Comcast shareholders: Despite CMCSA sitting near 52 week highs, that is abysmal compared to what the market cap SHOULD be and WOULD be if the company...

Many cash-strapped cities and counties facing the prospect of shelling out hundreds of thousands of dollars in new health-care costs under the Affordable Care Act are opting instead to reduce the number of hours their part-time employees work. The decisions to cut employee hours come 16 months before employers — including state and local governments — will be required to offer health care coverage to employees who work at least 30 hours a week. Some local officials said the cuts are happening now either because of labor contracts that must be negotiated in advance, or because the local governments worry

Competitors Try to Best Each Other in Slicing Water Bottles, Tennis Balls; Bisecting a Grape Donavon Phillips windmilled his arms. He hopped a few times to get the blood flowing in his legs. A light sweat formed under his black-and-red jersey—just the right dew. "You can't go into this cold, because it's an all-out sport," said Mr. Phillips, pulling his right arm across his chest. He was warming up for a cutthroat event: the 10th annual World Championship Cutting Competition. It takes razor-sharp focus to be a cutting champ, along with a blade that resembles a bulkier, sharper version of...