Free Republic

Israeli officials said Monday that Biden administration officials had secretly worked with mediators, without Israel’s knowledge, to craft a Hamas “agreement” to ceasefire terms in an attempt to deter an attack on Hamas in Rafah. On Monday, as Breitbart News reported, with Israel beginning its operation in Rafah by warning civilians to leave, Hamas suddenly announced that it agreed to a “ceasefire” — on unfamiliar terms that Israel had not actually offered. Israel, regarding the move as a bluff aimed at the international media in an attempt to pressure Israel to abandon the operation, decided to send junior-level diplomats to...

Carlee Russell’s ex-boyfriend said he was “blindsided” and “disgusted” by the 25-year-old nursing student staging a hoax that led authorities to believe she went missing after stopping to help a child wandering along an Alabama highway in his diapers. “Carlee’s actions created hurt, confusion, and dishonesty,” Thomar Latrell Simmons wrote on Instagram on Monday night. “I was made aware of the false narrative after coming to the defense of my ex Carlee Russell.” He said he and his “family’s nature was to react in love, and genuine concern,” adding that they are “disgusted from the outcome of this entire situation”...

Tucker Carlson was blindsided by his firing from Fox News and learned of it on Monday morning shortly before it was announced, sources tell DailyMail.com. Even some of his closest staff were unaware that his show had been axed, reading about it for the first time on Twitter. 'No one I know was told about it beforehand. We were blindsided,’ one senior staffer who works closely with Tucker’s show, Tucker Carlson Tonight, told DailyMail.com. Another insider revealed he still has no idea why he was let go so suddenly, and that many staffers are now questioning whether it's part of...

Mayor Bill de Blasio sprang a COVID-19 vaccine mandate on all private businesses in New York City on Monday — drawing immediate rebuke from trade groups, New York office workers and some fellow elected officials who said the backbone of the Big Apple was “blindsided” by the stunning move. De Blasio, whose mayoralty ends at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, labeled making vaccines compulsory for private businesses a “pre-emptive strike” against an expected surge in COVID infections this winter amid the emergence of the Omicron variant. ... Kathryn Wylde, head of the business group Partnership for NYC,...

WASHINGTON – The huge amount of money tied up in complex derivative transactions helped cripple the economy, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told lawmakers Friday as he laid out a case for greater government control over a generally unregulated sector of the financial markets. "Establishing a comprehensive framework of oversight is crucial," Geithner said .. Despite apprehension among Republicans, the effort to add government restrictions to these more freewheeling financial instruments has gained support within the Democratic-controlled Congress. "Clearly, we're going to be significantly expanding regulation of derivatives," said Rep. Barney Frank, ..

At his press conference this morning, President Bush, who often makes inside jokes when familiar reporters pose questions, asked Los Angeles Times reporter Peter Wallsten, who was wearing sunglasses outside, “Are you going to ask that question with shades on?” Bush noted that there was "no sun" but added, “I’m interested in the shade look, seriously.” Turns out Wallsten is legally blind and wears the sunglasses due to a rare genetic disorder called Stargardt’s Disease. But Wallsten later told the ThinkProgress web site that Bush’s comments did not offend him at all. “I never advertise it to him. I’ve never...

After being laid off when my company was sold in early 2004, I was finally blessed (with Freeper prayers, I'm sure) in finding a wonderful position in early March 2005. The day before yesterday, I was blind-sighted when I was called into an office and fired. The reason I was told "it just isn't working out". The real reason? I am a smoker (which they knew when I was hired) and the "boss" of the department does not want any smokers or divorcees working in his dept. The company is not a "smoke free" company - there are several smokers...

The biggest winner is Senator John McCain, who once again sold out both principles and party, to the applause of the mainstream media. Not only is he assured of good publicity, he has pulled the rug out from under Majority Leader William Frist, his probable chief rival for the 2008 Republican Presidential nomination. Winning a showdown with the Democrats by using the so-called "nuclear option" to stop the filibustering of judicial nominees would have given Senator Frist the kind of name-recognition that McCain already has and would be a major achievement to solidify the support of the conservative Republican base....