Free Republic

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) told MSNBC on Wednesday there was “no question” that the economy under President Joe Biden was “strong” and “doing well.” After MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle asked Romney during an interview why he was so optimistic about the future of the country, Romney replied, “First of all, America is an extraordinarily resilient country.” He explained, “We just had this extraordinary pandemic, and yet our economy is strong, low levels of unemployment, it’s extraordinary, and it’s not because the president is pulling all the levers in the right way. No, it’s not. It’s because the American people are...

Borrowing to pay for college is about to get more expensive: The interest rate on new federal student loans for undergraduates during the upcoming 2024-25 academic year will be the highest in 12 years. The federal student loan interest rate will be 6.53% for undergraduate students, up from 5.5% for the current year. The interest rate has not been that high on any undergraduate loans since the 2012-13 school year. Graduate students will see an 8.08% interest rate this coming academic year, up from 7.05%. And PLUS loans, which are available to both parents and graduate students, will come with...

The ship’s first power outage occurred after a crew member mistakenly closed an exhaust damper while conducting maintenance in port, causing one of its diesel engines to stall, according to the report. A backup generator automatically came on and continued to run for a short period — until insufficient fuel pressure caused it to kick off again, resulting in a second blackout. While recovering from those power outages, crew members made changes to the ship’s electrical configuration, switching to a different transformer and set of breakers, according to safety investigators. “Switching breakers is not unusual but may have affected operations...

The Jerusalem Post’s editors take a dim view of Biden’s threat to halt military aid — 500-pound bombs, 2000-pound bombs, artillery shells — if the IDF goes beyond the outer perimeter of Rafah. They soberly set out all the reasons why the Bidenite distancing itself from its ally, Israel, makes no strategic or moral sense. More on their response to what can only be called a great betrayal of an ally can be found here: “Betrayal of allies: US pauses munitions, while threatening Israel’s security – editorial,” Jerusalem Post, May 9, 2024:Amid the conflict in Gaza, the United States administration’s...

The 7-2 ruling, whose majority opinion was written by Justice Clarence Thomas, a conservative, reversed a decision by the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. Three other conservatives, and the court’s three liberal justices, joined in the majority opinion. The court’s two remaining conservative justices, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch, dissented.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — Pro-life advocate Will Goodman has been sentenced to 27 months in prison and a $125 fine on Tuesday, in the third of the day’s sentencing hearings for the first batch of pro-lifers convicted last year of blocking access to a late-term abortion facility in the nation’s capital. On August 29, 2023, a D.C. jury found Goodman, Lauren Handy, John Hinshaw, Heather Idoni, and Rosemary “Herb” Geraghty guilty of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act and “conspiracy against rights.” The next month, Joan Andrews Bell, Jonathan Darnel, and Jean Marshall were convicted of...

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has passed a motion to ensure that the public defender’s office provides defense attorneys and legal resources for the pro-Palestinian activists arrested at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) earlier this month. As Breitbart News noted, the pro-Palestinian “encampment” was cleared by police on May 2 after a week in which activists had seized the center of campus by force, assaulting journalists, using antisemitic rhetoric, and denying Jewish students and others access to public areas on campus. After 100 pro-Israel vigilantes attacked the barricades on the night of April 30 – May...

WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — 74-year-old peaceful pro-life advocate Jean Marshall was sentenced by Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly to 15 more months in prison on Wednesday and denied a request to serve the rest of her sentence in home confinement due to health issues, including debilitating osteoarthritis in both hips. Marshall is one of several pro-lifers convicted over blocking access to a scandal-plagued late-term abortion facility in the nation’s capital, in a case criticized by pro-life leaders as an egregious example of Biden administration overreach. On August 29, 2023, a D.C. jury found Lauren Handy, Will Goodman, Heather Idoni, Rosemary “Herb” Geraghty,...

WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — Joan Andrews Bell was sentenced to 27 months in jail, community service, and a $125 fine on Wednesday, in the second batch of pro-life advocates convicted last year of blocking access to a scandal-plagued late-term abortion facility in the nation’s capital, a case criticized by pro-life leaders as an egregious example of Biden administration overreach. On August 29, 2023, a D.C. jury found Lauren Handy, Will Goodman, Heather Idoni, Rosemary “Herb” Geraghty, and John Hinshaw guilty of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act and “conspiracy against rights.” The next month, Bell, Jean...

WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — Below is the full statement of pro-life advocate John Hinshaw before being sentenced to 21 months in prison on Tuesday for blocking access to late-term abortionist Cesare Santangelo’s Washington Surgi-Clinic facility in the nation’s capital. It is the middle of the night, which, we know, means early, early morning. My wife rises from our bed and walks her house alone. The slightest discomfort in one of her children displaces her from sleep. The smallest sniffle in one of her grandbabies will disturb her sleep for days. For she is a mother and, as such, is bound...

CV NEWS FEED // Pro-life advocate Lauren Handy has been sentenced to 57 months in prison, followed by three years of supervision for protesting the murder of late-term unborn children at a notorious abortion clinic in Washington, D.C. “Handy, a Catholic, is a well-known pro-life voice on the political left. She was the primary organizer and leader of the peaceful protest that led to the ongoing court cases,” CatholicVote previously reported: Last year, [Handy and her eight co-defendants] were found guilty of violating the controversial Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. They each face a sentence of up...

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukrainian units locked in street battles with the Kremlin´s forces in a key northeastern Ukraine town have halted the Russian advance, military officials in Kyiv claimed Thursday, though a senior Moscow official said the frontline push had enough resources to keep going. Russian attempts to establish a foothold in the town of Vovchansk, which is among the largest towns in Ukraine´s northeastern Kharkiv region with a prewar population of 17,000, “have been foiled,” Ukraine´s general staff said in a midday report. It was not possible to independently verify the claim.

More than two-thirds of Americans think the Supreme Court was right to hold Harvard's race-based admissions policy unlawful. But the minority who disagree have no doubt about their own moral authority, and there's every reason to believe that they intend to undo the Court's decision at the earliest opportunity. Which could be as soon as this year. In fact, undoing the Harvard admissions decision is the least of it. Republicans and Democrats in Congress have embraced a precooked "privacy" bill that will impose race/gender quotas not just on academic admissions but on practically every private and public decision that matters...

The World Health Organization has accused Nigel Farage of spreading misinformation after he launched a campaign to block an international treaty designed to improve global pandemic preparedness. WHO member states are negotiating a deal to shore up cooperation against new pathogens. If adopted, the legally binding treaty would commit countries to helping each other in the event of a pandemic, increase research and sharing of data, and promote fair access to vaccines. But populist figures including Farage and a number of Tory MPs are lobbying the UK government to block the deal, claiming that it will give the WHO power...

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s running mate, the Silicon Valley investor Nicole Shanahan, said on Wednesday night that she had given another $8 million to their independent presidential campaign as it carries out the expensive endeavor of gaining ballot access across the country and tries to propel Mr. Kennedy onto debate stages. Ms. Shanahan’s new donation, which she announced at a comedy fund-raiser in Nashville, brings her total contribution to the campaign to $10 million, not including the $4 million she gave to a super PAC backing Mr. Kennedy to help pay for a Super Bowl advertisement early this year. Ms....

The Trump campaign and the GOP are suing to stop Nevada’s forgiving law allowing mail ballots to be counted four days after Election Day.As a Nevada law allowing mail ballots received up to four days after Election Day to be counted faces a legal challenge, a fresh look at Nevada’s 2022 vote count reveals the potentially election-flipping number of mail ballots that were counted despite arriving after Election Day. In just Clark County, nearly 40,000 mail ballots were counted that arrived in the days after voting supposedly ended, roughly 5 percent of the county’s total ballot count. In that same...

A class disparity has emerged within the Russian military, contrasting the fates of ordinary soldiers and the privileged elite. This divide has ignited widespread anger and criticism, even among top-level troops who feel betrayed by their leadership during the ongoing battle over Ukraine.

Former George W. Bush adviser Karl Rove said Wednesday on Fox News Channel’s “America Reports” that President Joe Biden had to agree to debate former President Donald Trump because his numbers were “bad.” Rove said, “Not surprised there will be debates but I am surprised that Vice President Biden woke up to the fact that he was looking like he was trying to avoid debates. If there had not been debates whoever the American public held responsible for the absence of debates would suffer in the polls. He is finding his numbers bad enough already and probably decided I better...

President Joe Biden is backing an internal revolt within Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government over the fate of postwar Gaza, after defense minister Yoav Gallant publicly declared his opposition to long-term Israeli rule there. Gallant made an unexpected televised address in which he stated that he was opposed to Israeli military rule or civilian rule in Gaza after Hamas, and preferred rule by non-terrorist Palestinians with help from Arab states.

Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Chris Jansing Reports” that former President Donald Trump can’t rely on cheering crowds at the upcoming presidential debate with President Joe Biden. Host Stephanie Ruhle said, “There’s talk today about a presidential debate maybe as early as June. I know debates were important to you. They certainly got you a lot of momentum in 2012. Do you think they matter today? In many ways we know a lot about the two people running. do you think it will impact votes, maybe even your vote? ”