Free Republic

New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) called on lawmakers in Washington, D.C., to pass gun reform after the city announced that one officer had been fatally shot and another remained in critical condition during a shooting in Harlem on Friday evening. “We don't make guns here. How are we removing thousands of guns off the street, and they still find their way into New York City? In the hands of people who are killers, constantly carbon highways of death, destroying our communities,” Adams said on Friday night. “We need Washington to join us and act now to stop the...

One year since President Joe Biden cancelled approval for the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada, and the United States’ thirst for oil is as strong as ever and rising. U.S. oil imports from Saudi Arabia and Russia have increased, and gasoline prices are higher than they have been in the last five years.

On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” host Bill Maher argued Democrats should move President Joe Biden “into a more ceremonial role.” Because while his first year was “Not horrible, certainly better than the alternative,” “for some reason, America has lost its faith in Joe.” And “even when Joe does something good,” like the economy, “he seems to get no credit.” Maher began by saying, “Democrats must thank President Biden for his great service to America, and then move him into a more ceremonial role.”

"I'm opening the doors for every youngster to enter America and f**k with them," said Malik Faisal Akram, the terrorist who held four people hostage in a Colleyville synagogue earlier this week, in a recording of a call with his brother, Gulbar, published by the Jewish Chronicle on Wednesday. Akram can be heard telling his brother he demanded that Pakistani Al-Qaeda-affiliated Aafia Siddiqui, who is serving an 86-year prison sentence for multiple felonies, be released and brought to him. "I've told them I'll release these four guys, I'll come on the yard, I'll have a toe to toe with you....

MOSCOW (AP) — With tens of thousands of Russian troops positioned near Ukraine, the Kremlin has kept the U.S. and its allies guessing about its next moves in the worst security crisis to emerge between Moscow and the West since the Cold War.Amid fears of an imminent attack on Ukraine, Russia has further upped the ante by announcing more military drills in the region. It also has refused to rule out the possibility of military deployments to the Caribbean, and President Vladimir Putin has reached out to leaders opposed to the West.The military muscle-flexing reflects a bold attempt by the...

BREAKING: State Department orders families of U.S. embassy personnel in Ukraine to begin evacuating the country as soon as Monday, U.S. officials say

Albert Bourla, chairman and chief executive of global pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc., was awarded on Wednesday the prestigious Genesis Prize for his efforts in leading the development of a COVID-19 vaccine. The $1 million award is granted each year to a person for their professional achievements, contributions to humanity and commitment to Jewish values. ---SNIP--- The Greek-born Bourla, the son of Holocaust survivors, plans to donate his prize to projects aimed at preserving the memory of Holocaust victims, especially in Greece, the foundation said. Bourla’s parents were among the few survivors of Thessaloniki’s Jewish community, which was all but wiped...

Speaking at a media conference today, Victorian premier Dan Andrews revealed to the Australian people that the national cabinet had been debating making the COVID-19 booster shot mandatory to be labeled “fully vaccinated” in the sovereign country. During his remarks, Andrews stated, “This is not an option, not an add-on, not ‘a good thing to have.’ I think we’re close to a change in policy that will simply reflect the fact that in order to be fully protected, you need three doses, not two plus an optional extra, to in fact be fully vaccinated. You need three. “We can all...

France and Ireland are following England in announcing the lifting of a host of COVID-19 restrictions. The Irish Independent reported Friday that the majority of COVID restrictions in Ireland will be removed by 6 a.m. Saturday, including vaccine passports. The paper said the government also will eliminate "limits on household visits, early closing time for hospitality and events, capacity restrictions for indoor and outdoor events including weddings, social distancing, the rule-of-six at a table ... and the requirement to maintain contact details for close contact tracing." In France, Le Monde reported Prime Minister Jean Castex announced a timetable on Thursday...

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DA George Gascon is hesitating to prosecute a 26-year-old that raped a 10-year-old because the rapist is a transgender.

The Fairfax County Public School system, which is the largest in Virginia and one of the largest in the country, is seeking to do damage control when it comes to masking policies within the district. On Friday, Parents Defending Education circulated a "Principal Briefing" that orders administrators in the district to suspend students for refusing to wear a mask. That same night, the district texted families a link to a "Message from the Superintendent - Maintaining Mask Requirements Within a Caring Culture." "Tonight, we are aware that some internal communications around our mask regulation - which has been in place...

A stray bullet struck and killed an English astrophysicist while he was inside an Atlanta-area apartment, authorities say. Matthew Willson, 31, of Chertsey, Surrey, England, was visiting his girlfriend in the United States when he was hit by a bullet that pierced the wall of the apartment. The shooting happened early Sunday morning, only three days into his visit. “He was supposed to be here for three months because we’ve been long distance for a while,” Katherine Shepard, his girlfriend of three years, told WSB-TV. “I picked him up from the airport, took him to his favorite eating location, and...

The New York Post and other outlets are reporting Senator Grassley has accused the Secret Service of withholding information from Congress on trips Hunter Biden took to Kazakhstan, Russia and China. The Secret Service improperly redacted hundreds of pages of records related to Hunter Biden’s overseas travel — and apparently withheld information about trips to China, Russia and other countries, two leading Republican senators claim, reported the New York Post. In a Tuesday letter to Secret Service Director James Murray, Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) alleged the agency “hid names and other information contained in email conversations...

I wrote an August 1973 cover story for Time magazine that praised Minnesota as “the state that works.” The cover photograph showed Gov. Wendell Anderson, dressed in a plaid flannel shirt, grinning and holding up a northern pike that he had just caught in one of Minnesota’s 12,000 lakes. The story began with this archaic rhapsody: “It is a state where a residual American secret still seems to operate. Some of the nation’s more agreeable qualities are evident there: courtesy and fairness, honesty, a capacity for innovation, hard work, intellectual adventure and responsibility. . . . Minnesotans are remarkably civil;...

White House chief of staff Ron Klain has come under fire as Joe Biden's popularity wanes and Democrats struggle to pass the president's huge social safety net legislation. The litany of complaints against Klain, a longtime Democratic insider, goes as follows: He 'micromanages' the West Wing, he's too deferential to the liberal wing of the party, and he pays way too much attention to cable news and social media. Two reports on Klain, 60, this week - timed to the one-year anniversary of Biden's tenure in office - were filled with criticisms about his work. Most are from anonymous sources,...

There are many significant moments in American history that have informed the principles of America’s tradition of liberalism, but not since the American founding have we lived in one so important. The United States is at a “1776 Moment” of ideological transformation. The American Revolution of 1776 marked a change of political ideology from constitutional monarchy to liberalism. Today, the ideological transformation is from liberalism to progressivism.

A Conservative backbencher who accused Downing Street of trying to "blackmail" MPs seeking to oust Boris Johnson is to meet police to discuss his allegations. William Wragg said he will be speaking to a Met Police detective in the House of Commons early next week, after requesting a meeting with the force. The MP, who wants the prime minister to quit, said he wanted to leave any probe to "experts" rather than No 10. Downing Street said it had not seen any proof of the behaviour he alleges. A spokesman said on Friday they were not investigating the allegations but...

Antonio Guterres condemns air raids by Saudi-led coalition on Saada city and urges all parties to protect civilians from danger. The UN chief has condemned air raids by the Saudi-led coalition on Saada city and called for an investigation into the attacks that killed more than 70 people in Yemen. “The Secretary-General calls for prompt, effective and transparent investigations into these incidents to ensure accountability,” Antonio Guterres’ spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said. A detention centre holding migrants in Saada city was bombed on Friday. Basheer Omar, a Red Cross spokesperson in Yemen, said rescuers continued to search for survivors. He said...

The federal government showered government schools with money to stay open, but they’re shutting down anyway. It’s turned into a ruse and the victims are the children and the taxpayers. Ohio received more than $6 billion in federal COVID relief funds earmarked for keeping our public schools open. After two years of this pandemic, any schools who accepted this funding and still haven’t found a way to keep kids in class should be forced to refund their share of the money. Instead of reopening, many public schools in Ohio are returning to remote learning. While traditional homeschooling is terrific for...