Free Republic

If cleanliness is next to godliness, then NYC’s basically heaven on Earth (kinda). Despite its vermin, trash-lined streets and only-in-New York smells, the Big Apple did not rank as one of the top 10 “Dirtiest Cities in America.” It’s a miracle on 34th Street — and it’s not even Christmas. “From clean drinking water to sewage disposal, littered streets to missed garbage pick-ups, we analyzed 12.3 million sanitation-related 311 complaints in a series of U.S. cities to reveal which metropolises need to clean up their act,” wrote study authors from HouseFresh, an indoor air quality imprint.

She can finally have some pride in her job! Former President Joe Biden’s press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has landed a new gig out of the White House as a grand marshal of NYC Pride Parade. Jean-Pierre, who became the first openly gay spokesperson to hold press briefings for a US president, will be among those to head the Big Apple’s famed annual parade in June, CBS reported. “It goes back to that trail-blazing career that she’s had in politics and representing the community at the highest microphone that exists,” NYC Pride spokesperson Chris Piedmont said of Jean-Pierre. Jean-Pierre, 50 —...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in the United States on Thursday ahead of talks with US President Donald Trump on an agreement to develop minerals and rare earths, Interfax Ukraine news agency reported. The two world leaders are expected to discuss the rare earths deal, protection from Russia and how European nations can share the burden of the costs of security for Ukraine. “I want to coordinate our position with the American position. The war is in Ukraine, so for me, the Ukrainian position is the priority,” Zelensky said during a press conference in Kyiv Wednesday. The deal will grant...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu landed in the United States on Monday, with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris both absent to greet him upon arrival. In a video that the Israeli Embassy to the U.S. posted, Netanyahu was seen walking down the steps of an airplane and shaking hands with several people waiting at the bottom. Biden’s absence comes as he tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday. The president’s physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, released a letter saying Biden had “completed his tenth dose of PAXLOVID” and that his symptoms were “almost resolved completely.”

The Utah-based Ute Indian Tribe says the Biden administration failed to formally consult their government before designating Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument in Colorado this week—a process required by federal law.

Headquarter the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in Utah? Absolutely. Just don’t start thinking it will be the Utah Bureau of Land Management.
With the encouragement of Rep. Rob Bishop and Gov. Gary Herbert, Acting Assistant Secretary of Interior Susan Combs came to town this week to discuss a possible move to either Salt Lake City or Ogden. Her boss, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, has pushed the idea of moving more of Interior’s work to the western United States where most federal lands are.

Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes will sue President Barack Obama for designating over 1.6 million acres as national monument land, he said Wednesday, according to The Hill. Obama designated land in Utah and Nevada, including the Bears Ears area in southeastern Utah, as national monuments, which would protect two areas that are rich in Native American artifacts from mining, oil and gas drilling.

The largest passenger jet in the world, the Airbus A380, landed Monday at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, completing the longest currently flown nonstop route in the world.

Unexceptional: China becomes the third country to land a spacecraft on the moon in preparation for a manned visit. Meanwhile, U.S. astronauts have to ride Russian spacecraft to fix toilets on the International Space Station. Tourists visiting the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where one of America´s retired space shuttles now resides, were no doubt able to see news reports of the landing of China´s first lunar vehicle, a solar-powered rover, on the surface of the moon. The landing of the rover 37 years after the last such mission by the Soviet Luna 24 sample-return voyage in 1976 makes China...

In a (video) presentation to the Nevada Association of Counties, Representative Ken Ivory (American Lands Council) talks about the inequitable treatment of the States West of the Mississippi by federal failure to dispose of the public lands into private ownership as promised in State Enabling Acts. Ivory/ALC proposes legislation to return lands to the Western States for lease or disposal into private ownership. Sale could provide revenue to discharge the National Debt.

Possible leaked footage of a UFO arriving then landing at an unknown location in New Mexico. Could be one of ours, CGI, or could be the real deal. As Always You Decide.

Dozens of pro-Palestinian activists taken from EasyJet, Alitalia flights for police interrogation; activists arrive on five different planes; Danino says police have met gov't goals at Ben-Gurion Airport. Police diverted two passenger aircraft that landed at Ben-Gurion International Airport on Friday, detaining at least 60 suspected pro-Palestinian activists for questioning. Participants in the "Air Flotilla" arrived on three other flights as well. Police said that some 69 activists have been denied entry. The flights, one EasyJet from Geneva and one Alitalia, were diverted to Terminal 1, where police combed passengers for pro-Palestinian activists expected to attempt entry into the country...

According to Fish and Wildlife Service land managers and law enforcement officers, recent cases of refuse that was illegally dumped on national wildlife refuges are illustrative of the practice on state and federal lands.

Idaho Republicans held their convention over the past weekend, approving a platform containing some mighty interesting parts of the Tea Party platform -- from state nullification of federal laws, to protecting the institution of marriage from transgendered people, to to a Glenn-Beckesque embrace of gold and silver money. State Rep. Marv Hagedorn (R) told the Associated Press that the push to go further right was a product of disgust with the current status quo from the Obama administration. "It does reflect a change," said Hagedorn. "But it's not a change in our party, it's a change in the White House."...

A fly lands on President Barack Obama's face as he delivers remarks on the Affordable Care Act and the New Patients Bill of Rights, Tuesday, June 22, 2010, in the East Room of the White House in Washington.

A fly lands on President Barack Obama's face as he delivers remarks on the Affordable Care Act and the New Patients Bill of Rights, Tuesday, June 22, 2010, in the East Room of the White House in Washington.…

(IsraelNN.com) Jews living in majority-Muslim countries are in a precarious situation as Israel fights the Islamist Hamas regime in Gaza. While pro-Hamas, anti-Semitic rallies and sporadic attacks are continuing worldwide, Jews in Muslim lands face an additional danger as a vulnerable minority. Synagogue Shut by Force In Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim state, that nation's only synagogue was forcibly shut down and sealed. Located in an ethnic Arab neighborhood of Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city, the synagogue became the focus of a Muslim mob last Wednesday following a "free speech forum" held in the city. The small Indonesian synagogue, without...

Ill wind blows over storm-hit lands The US hurricane season starts today with predictions of severe turbulence ahead Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington Thursday June 1, 2006 The Guardian (UK) Barstools are all that remain from a restaurant in Long Beach, Mississippi, after hurricane Katrina. Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Alberto, Beryl, Chris and Debby. Somewhere over the Atlantic, a combination of warm sea surface temperatures and wind shear is brewing up a string of tropical storms that threaten to unleash a fresh season of devastation on coastal America. With New Orleans still surrounded by the wreckage of Katrina, a new hurricane season...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SALERNO, Afghanistan (Army News Service, March 1, 2006) – It had been 61 years since retired Lt. Col. James “Maggie” Megellas had set foot on a battlefield with fellow 82d Airborne Division “Devils in Baggy Pants.” That all changed Feb. 23 when he arrived in Afghanistan to visit paratroopers from the regiment that he called home during World War II, the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment. Megellas has been awarded the title of distinguished member of the regiment and has frequently visited with paratroopers from the 504th throughout the past six decades. Although it is not uncommon for...

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that states have the power to tax fuel sold on Indian reservations. In a 7-2 vote, the high court said Kansas can tax distributors who sell fuel at an Indian-owned and operated gas station near the Prairie Band Potawatomi tribe's casino. Most of the Nation Station's fuel customers are patrons of the casino, which is 15 miles north of Topeka, Kan. Writing for the majority, Justice Clarence Thomas said the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was wrong in ruling that the tax violated tribal sovereignty. "Kansas law makes clear that...