Free Republic

BERN, Switzerland—Hours after a U.S. strike killed Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the Trump administration sent an urgent back channel message to Tehran: Don’t escalate. The encrypted fax was sent via the Swiss Embassy in Iran, one of the few means of direct, confidential communication between the two sides, U.S. officials said. In the days that followed, the White House and Iranian leaders exchanged further messages, which officials in both countries described as far more measured than the fiery rhetoric traded publicly by politicians. A week later, and after a retaliatory Iranian missile attack on two military bases hosting American...

From the Tuscaloosa News: Pickens County EMA director Lakitha Bell says three people have died and two more, including adults and children, are injured after a tornado touched down near Carrollton. As predicted storms are rolling across Alabama from the west. A series of suspected tornadoes has killed at least three about 3 miles from Carrollton in Pickens County, the National Weather Service confirms. Aldotcom's Leigh Morgan has the forecast and will keep it updated with the latest information. .

Have you been tirelessly researching potential travel destinations for 2020? Maybe you need a little inspiration. Google is listing the top trending places to start off 2020. Some of the cities may surprise you. The sandy beaches in Da Nang, the night life of São Paulo, and Korean barbecue from Seoul are all top of mind for people planning vacations this year. According to global hotel search data, people from around the world are interested in traveling to these destinations in 2020

So what is the question to which measuring wealth distributions and a wealth tax are the answer? To briefly review, in Part I we met the fact that "wealth is measured as "capitalized income," Y/r. But only some kinds of income and with r choices that blew up measured wealth inequality. In Part II we learned that a big reason wealth inequality widened is that interest rates fell. If r falls, Y/r rises, but it's the same Y. In Part III we noted the distinction between consumption, income and wealth inequality. Wealth is beyond badly measured as a measure of...

The popular Jupiter Shield theory proposes that the planet acts like a giant space shield due to its huge mass causing it to suck in or deflect dangerous debris. However, this shield theory is slowly falling out of favor and one of the leading critics is space expert Kevin Grazier. [Kevin R. Grazier, Ph.D.] He's published several papers explaining why he thinks Jupiter is a "sniper rather than a shield". Recently, he's been aiming to prove how this 'sniper-like' process works. Grazier's extensive work could put the Jupiter Shield theory in jeopardy. He told Gizmodo: "Actually, I wouldn't say that...

That didn't take long. A day after Jake Fromm announced that he'll be foregoing his senior season at Georgia, the Bulldogs moved quickly in added coveted Wake Forest graduate transfer quarterback Jamie Newman. He will enroll at Georgia in the coming days and participate in winter workouts and spring drills. The dual-threat quarterback announced his decision via Twitter on Thursday, likely filling a major void for the Bulldogs in 2019.

The US Navy said a Russian navy ship "aggressively approached" its destroyer in the Arabian Sea on Thursday while it was conducting routine operations.

A Florida security guard is accused of threatening to kill President Trump in retaliation for a US airstrike that killed Iran’s top military general last Friday. Chauncy Lump, 26, from the Fort Lauderdale area, faces federal charges of threatening to kill the president and remained jailed Thursday with bond set at $100,000, according to court documents filed Wednesday by the Secret Service. Agent Lucas White wrote that shortly after Trump announced last week that a US airstrike had killed Qassem Soleimani in Iraq in retaliation for plotting numerous terrorist attacks, Lump, under the name “BlackMan vs. America,” began livestreaming a...

Happy New Year, everyone!! Here's hoping 2020 is the best year yet!! President Trump should take the win in the Senate trial without dragging it out, then concentrate on winning the 2020 election with wide coattails, then bide his time as the cases against the various coup plotters wind their way through the justice system. Win the election, hold the senate, take back the house!! And then continue the work of making America great again: Build the wall, enforce the law, deport them all!! End DACA!! End sanctuary cities!! End anchor babies!! Continue cutting regulations, cutting government, cutting spending and...

According to a report in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, a team led by Dr. Richard Schwab, the chief of sleep medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, used MRI scans to look at how weight loss affected the upper airway. They say that lowering tongue fat is a primary factor to ease the severity of OSA. Though we already knew weight loss can improve symptoms, Schwab said research hasn’t looked at fat loss in the tongue. In 2014, Schwab conducted research that found patients with obesity and OSA had larger...

CNN has agreed to pay $76 million in backpay as part of a record settlement with the federal labor board after the cable television network terminated the contracts of unionized camera operators in 2003. The settlement is the “largest monetary remedy” in the National Labor Relations Board’s 85-year history, the agency said in a statement Friday. The settlement will benefit more than 300 people, officials said. “The settlement demonstrates the board’s continued commitment to enforcing the law and ensuring employees who were treated unfairly obtain the monetary relief ordered,” General Counsel Peter B. Robb said in the statement. The NLRB...

Actor Joaquin Phoenix spoke at actress's Jane Fonda's weekly climate change protest outside of the Capitol building on Friday and expressed sadness that he's unable to avoid activities that contribute to climate change. "Something that I think isn't oftentimes talked about in the environmental movement or in the conversation about climate is that the meat and dairy industry is the third leading cause of climate change," Phoenix said. "I think sometimes we wonder what can we do in this fight against climate and there is something you can do today right now and tomorrow by making a choice what you...

Thomas Cooley was the most renowned American legal authority of his age. Cooley became the first Dean of the University of Michigan Law School, and later sat on the Michigan Supreme Court; Roscoe Pound named him as among the top ten American judges of all time, and one scholar considers him "the most influential legal author of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His book, The General Principles of Constitutional Law was released in 1880. Cooley treated the Second Amendment as an individual right. Indeed, Cooley went further and pointed out that if the right to arms were limited...

Lumi by Pampers is a smart sensor that attaches to your infant's diaper and sends you a notification when the baby needs to be changed. The Lumi system uses an HD night vision camera capable of monitoring temperature and humidity, the baby sensor and an app to compile the data for parents.

Tucker Carlson debunked the so-called transgender “murder epidemic” on his show last night, highlighting figures which prove transgenders are actually safer than the general population. Carlson began the segment by playing a clip of presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren vowing to “read the names of transgender women, of people of color, who have been killed in the past year.” He then quoted Democratic pressure group the Human Rights Campaign, which supported Warren, claiming that there is an “epidemic of violence against transgender people – especially trans women of color.” Carlson then highlighted how this narrative is being amplified by the media,...

Allies of President Trump are pursuing an effort to acquire right-leaning news channel One America News Network, according to people familiar with the matter, in a bid to shake up a conservative media market that has been dominated by Fox News. The investment firm Hicks Equity Partners is looking to acquire the channel and is pitching other wealthy GOP donors to arrange a bid of roughly $250 million for the channel’s parent company, the people said. The firm is owned by the family of Thomas Hicks Jr., co-chairman of the Republican National Committee and a close friend of Donald Trump...

In 2018, the Trump Administration withdrew from the 2015 multilateral nuclear agreement with Iran (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, JCPOA), and since mid-2019 has taken several steps in its campaign of applying “maximum pressure” on Iran. Apparently in response to the maximum pressure campaign, Iran and Iran-linked forces have attacked and seized commercial ships, caused destruction of some critical infrastructure in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, attacked facilities used by U.S. military personnel in Iraq, and downed a U.S. unmanned aerial vehicle. As part of an effort its leaders term “maximum resistance,” Iran has also reduced its compliance...

Gloria Gaynor will be honored at the 2020 She Rocks Awards at House of Blues Anaheim on Friday, Jan. 17...during the NAMM Show. ... The honorees include: Gloria Gaynor, Grammy Award-winning “I Will Survive” singer and Grammy Hall of Fame inductee Linda Perry, acclaimed singer-songwriter and producer Lzzy Hale, Grammy Award-winning Halestorm frontwoman Suzi Quatro, pioneering bassist, singer-songwriter and actress Beatie Wolfe, singer-songwriter Tal Wilkenfeld, singer-songwriter and bassist Suzanne D’Addario Brouder, executive director of the D’Addario Foundation ... Gaynor, who celebrated her 70th birthday in 2019, is best known for her 1978 disco anthem “I Will Survive.” All these years...

An Alexandria, Virginia, tax lobbyist was sentenced to one year in prison today for willfully filing a false tax return, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger for the Eastern District of Virginia. According to court documents, attorney James F. Miller, 67, underreported his gross income on his 2010 through 2014 tax returns by more than $2.2 million. Miller, a tax policy lobbyist and former employee of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, filed multiple false tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). These returns omitted...

WOW! Iran regime's Revolutionary Guards air propaganda video of supposed attack on Whitehouse to boost morale after Soleimani's killing. Disturbing scenes of terror attack show Donald Trump & Sec Pompeo lying dead. Video on Twitter Here.