Free Republic

Trump administration officials fired more than 300 staffers Thursday night at the National Nuclear Security Administration — the agency tasked with managing the nation’s nuclear stockpile — as part of broader Energy Department layoffs, according to four people with knowledge of the matter. Sources told CNN the officials did not seem to know this agency oversees America’s nuclear weapons. An Energy Department spokesperson disputed the number of personnel affected, telling CNN that “less than 50 people” were “dismissed” from NNSA, and that the dismissed staffers “held primarily administrative and clerical roles.” The agency began rescinding the terminations Friday morning. Some...

One of Elon Musk’s latest targets is a nonprofit dedicated to bolstering democracy overseas that has long been a darling of the GOP. Yet prominent Republicans with ties to the group — including a lawmaker who serves on its board — are staying conspicuously silent.Musk, in recent posts on X, has demonized the National Endowment for Democracy — a 41-year-old organization rooted in efforts to counter communism that provides grants to democracy and civil society groups abroad — is “rife with corruption” and guilty of unspecified “crimes.” He posted in early February that the “evil organization needs to be dissolved.”The...

The aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman collided with a large merchant vessel Wednesday night in the vicinity of Port Said, Egypt, in the Mediterranean Sea."The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) was involved in a collision with the merchant vessel Besiktas-M at approximately 11:46 p.m. local time, Feb. 12, while operating in the vicinity of Port Said, Egypt, in the Mediterranean Sea," a statement from the U.S Navy's Sixth Fleet said.The collision involved a rare collision of two large vessels as the 100,000-ton aircraft carrier collided with the 53,000-ton merchant vessel Besiktas-M, a Panamanian-flagged cargo ship.There...

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) said the quiet part out loud during a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Wednesday, revealing the Democrats’ true concerns about DOGE and Elon Musk. .... Snip.... While interrogating Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, Waters demanded to know whether he would let Musk audit the fed. When Powell refused to give a straight answer, Waters let her mask slip. “Well, you know what happened at Treasury, and you know what happened over at the CFPB,” Waters said.” People of this country are being violated because all of our privacy has been taken up by Elon Musk...

Two Russian colonels are reported to have fallen out of windows in the space of two days, adding to a growing list of high-ranking officials who have died in mysterious circumstances since Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine began. Artur Pryakhin, 56, the head of a regional branch of Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) in the Republic of Karelia, died after falling from a fifth floor window of an office building at around noon on February 4. Local authorities said he left a suicide note in his office in which he apologized to his wife, asked his loved ones for forgiveness,...

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. ' Galatians 6:7

An emergency alert issuing an evacuation warning for all of Los Angeles County was sent out by accident, according to officials. City officials from Santa Monica, Long Beach and other areas took to social media to reiterate that the message was sent in error.

The threats to Israel from Syria remain despite the moderate tone of rebel leaders who ousted President Bashar al-Assad a week ago, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Sunday, amid military moves by his country to counter such threats. "The immediate risks to the country have not disappeared and the latest developments in Syria increase the strength of the threat - despite the moderate image that the rebel leaders claim to present," Katz told officials examining the country's defense budget, according to a statement. Syria's de facto leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, said on Saturday that Israel was using false pretexts...

Eventually, everything in politics goes full circle. If you wait long enough, it all turns Ecclesiastes 3. Take Joni Ernst, the junior senator from Iowa, for example. She burst onto the national scene, pledging to “cut pork” in a very memorable way: When your opening line is, “I’m Joni Ernst, I grew up castrating hogs on an Iowa farm,” not only do you have our attention — you’ve got us squirming in our seats. (Ouch.) Before the castration spot aired, Ernst was struggling to raise money, trailing Republican frontrunner Mark Jacobs by several points for the GOP nomination. Conservative women...

In a surprising legal move, special counsel David Weiss filed a motion in the California federal court where Hunter Biden’s tax case is being conducted, calling on the judge not to dismiss the charges following President Joe Biden’s pardon that was announced on Sunday. Biden’s pardon covers the period from Jan. 1, 2014 to Dec. 1, 2024. That time frame includes Hunter’s jury-trial convictions in June for lying on a federal form about his drug use when he purchased a handgun. It also covers his September conviction on nine charges related to his failure to pay at least $1.4 million...

Johnson & Johnson, with the aid of President Joe Biden's administration, has been put in charge of a Baltimore vaccine production plant that ruined 15 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine and has moved to stop British drugmaker AstraZeneca Plc from utilizing the facility to avoid any future mistakes, senior federal health officials said on Saturday. The extraordinary decision, which was first reported by The New York Times, was put into action by the US Department of Health and Human Services and will allow the Emergent BioSolutions plant to focus on making the single-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. Johnson...

Workers at a Baltimore plant manufacturing two coronavirus vaccines accidentally conflated the vaccines’ ingredients several weeks ago, ruining about 15 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine and forcing regulators to delay authorization of the plant’s production lines. The plant is run by Emergent BioSolutions, a manufacturing partner to both Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca. Federal officials attributed the mistake to human error. The mixup has halted future shipments of Johnson & Johnson doses in the United States while the Food and Drug Administration investigates. Johnson & Johnson has moved to strengthen its control over Emergent BioSolutions’ work to avoid...

Mattel may be safe from the Wicked Witch of the West, but it has had to issue a mea culpa to avoid the wrath of angry parents. The toy company said the web address for a pornography company was mistakenly printed on the packaging for dolls tied to the new film “Wicked” instead of the official website for the upcoming Universal Pictures release. Social-media users pointed out the mistake, noting that the URL directs to an adult-content website. The film’s website is wickedmovie.com. The URL on the box omits the word “movie.” “We deeply regret this unfortunate error and are...

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is facing criticism over a campaign mailer featuring a nonsensical Arabic translation of election information, including the last day voters can cast their ballot. The campaign leaflet features Arabic script in which the characters appear in reverse order and are disconnected, deviating from standard Arabic script requirements. The mistake drew attention after Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, a journalist, criticized the gaffe on X (formerly Twitter). He remarked that the disorganized script was emblematic of Ocasio-Cortez’s disconnect with Arab voters. The incorrect Arabic also drew comments from Meir Javedanfar, an Iranian studies professor at Reichman University. He equated the...

Reports are coming in of a helicopter crash in western Iran, carrying Iranian leaders and Houthis. Also to go along with this headline is the one below.No official word on casualties yet as investigations continue.Source: Al Jazeera

Three Israeli hostages, whose bodies were found last year in underground tunnels in Gaza, were likely killed in a military airstrike aimed at a Hamas commander, an investigation into their deaths concluded. An investigation into the deaths of Nik Beizer, 19, Ron Sherman, 19, Elia Toledano, 28, found there was a "high probability" that the hostages were killed "as a result of a byproduct of an IDF airstrike" targeting Hamas Northern Brigade commander Ahmed Ghandour, the Israel Defense Forces said on Sunday. The three hostages were being held in a tunnel where Ghandour was operating when the military struck on...

F-16, during the massive rocket attacks on August 26, was shot down with the help of Patriot air defense systems due to the lack of coordination between the units of the Ukrainian Air Force. This was stated by the deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Mariana Bezuglaya. "According to my information, the F-16 of the Ukrainian pilot Alexei "Moonfish" Mes was shot down by the Patriot anti-aircraft missile system due to discoordination between units. The reports noted that he "failed to manage." The event took place during one of the most powerful air attacks of the Russians on August...

The two Boeing Starliner astronauts who have been stranded in space for 80 days will stay in space for another six months, NASA officials announced Saturday. Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are now expected to return to Earth in February, while the Starliner will be brought back unmanned. Veteran astronauts Wilmore and Williams launched aboard Boeing’s Starliner back on June 5 — the maiden crewed voyage for the spacecraft — for what was supposed to be an eight-day mission docked to the International Space Station. The test flight, however, encountered thruster failures and helium leaks so serious that NASA...

The city of Fort Lupton and town of Platteville, Colorado, agreed on the settlement with the victim, Yareni Rios-Gonzalez, according to a release from the Fort Lupton Police Department. The settlement amount will be split equally between the town and city and paid by their insurers, according to attorney Eric M. Ziporin, whose office represents the city. Rios, who was a suspect in a road rage case, survived the September 2022 collision but suffered nine broken ribs, a broken arm and other injuries. “This voluntary settlement is to the mutual satisfaction of the parties, recognizes the gravity of this matter,...

Economist Valentina Bondarenko is dead. She fell from her apartment window, the Russian news agency Tass reported. Newsweek called her "Russia's leading economist." She is yet another prominent figure in Russia to die this way since the invasion of Ukraine began. The tragedy was supposed to have happened on Monday evening, while Russian media reported the woman's death on Tuesday. 82-year-old Bondarenko was a leading researcher at the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow - explains the American "Newsweek". The Russian news agency Tass reported that the economist's fall "had no criminal background. - Valentina...