Free Republic

American Airlines’ pilots union has reported a “significant spike” in safety issues, raising red flags over fewer routine aircraft inspections and shorter test flights on planes following major maintenance work. The Allied Pilots Association cited a slew of “problematic trends” in an email to members Saturday, noting a “significant spike in safety- and maintenance-related problems.” It highlighted incidents in which tools were left in wheel wells and items were left in the sterile area around planes parked at airport gates. The airline has increased the time between routine inspections and ended overnight maintenance checks unless a plane is written up...

An anti-Israel protester wept as a judge arraigned her in California on Friday after she allegedly threatened to murder public officials at a city council meeting.Riddhi Patel, 28, sobbed as she pleaded not guilty to 18 felony counts after she directed comments to Bakersfield city council members and Republican Mayor Karen Goh for not backing a Gaza cease-fire resolution against Israel and for installing metal detectors at city hall.

a larger share of voters see Mr. Trump’s term as better for the country than the current administration, with 42 percent rating the Trump presidency as mostly good for the country compared with 25 percent who say the same about Mr. Biden’s. Nearly half say the Biden years have been mostly bad for the country. Many of Mr. Trump’s key constituencies, such as white voters without a college degree, are particularly likely to have a fond view of his time in office. But a broad swath of the country — including Hispanic voters, voters over 30 and most lower- and...

Shares of Trump Media and Technology Group Corp. bounced Tuesday, after the social-media platform Truth Social laid out its plan to launch a new live TV streaming network. The stock DJT, -18.35% gained 1.5% in premarket trading, after sinking 18.4% on Monday after disclosing a share offering, to close at a three-month. It had plummeted 59.8% since it closed a postmerger high of $66.22 on March 27. On Tuesday, the Trump Media said it has completed the research and development phase for the launching of its content-delivery network (CDN). “With our streaming content, we aim to provide a permanent home...

The House is poised to barrel into the debate over foreign aid this week as Johnson looks to put legislation on the floor to assist embattled U.S. allies — a highly anticipated move that has been months in the making. But the parameters of that bill, or package of bills, remain unknown, leaving lawmakers waiting to see how the Speaker approaches the politically prickly topic — especially after Iran attacked Israel over the weekend, as lawmakers sound the alarm about Ukraine’s beleaguered forces, and amid a threat by Greene to bring a motion to vacate against Johnson. The Speaker told...

Self-described anti-war activists in Chicago cheered after learning that Iran had launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel on Saturday. Earlier in the day at that same event, before the Iran attacks, one agitator led chants in Farsi translating to "Death to America" and "Death to Israel," according to a Free Press reporter there. Iran launched a barrage of more than 300 missiles and drones at Israel in an apparent response to Israel’s reported role in an airstrike that killed a senior Iranian official in the country’s embassy in the Syrian capital of Damascus last week. On Saturday, a...

CHICAGO (AP) — Pro-Palestinian demonstrators blocked a freeway leading to three Chicago O'Hare International Airport terminals Monday morning, temporarily stopping vehicle traffic into one of the nation's busiest airports and causing headaches for travelers. Protesters linked arms and blocked lanes of Interstate 190 around 7 a.m., a demonstration they said was part of a global “economic blockade to free Palestine,” according to Rifqa Falaneh, one of the organizers. Traffic in the San Francisco Bay Area was also snarled for hours Monday morning as pro-Palestinian demonstrators shut down both directions of the Golden Gate Bridge and stalled a 17-mile (27-kilometer) stretch...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was absent from the court Monday with no explanation. Thomas, 75, also was not participating remotely in arguments, as justices sometimes do when they are ill or otherwise can’t be there in person. Chief Justice John Roberts announced Thomas’ absence, saying that his colleague would still participate in the day’s cases, based on the briefs and transcripts of the arguments. The court sometimes, but not always, says when a justice is out sick. .... He took part in the cases then, too.

Spare some pity for Mike Johnson, the stuck speaker of the House of Representatives. A relatively obscure congressman thrust into leadership six months ago when the ungovernable Republican majority threw out the former speaker, Kevin McCarthy, Mr Johnson may be defenestrated too if he does something that he seems to think that he must: provide additional military aid to Ukraine, over the objections of the isolationist wing of his party. While the European Union and its member countries have contributed considerably to Ukraine’s budget and humanitarian needs, America has been Ukraine’s largest provider of military aid, amounting to $44bn since...

Despite his lack of faith, the author believes ‘something happened that was not supposed to happen’ on the day he was attacked Salman Rushdie has revealed an abiding sense that his survival after a brutal knife attack two years ago was a miracle, in spite of his lack of spiritual faith. “I do feel that something happened that was not supposed to happen and I have no explanation for it,” Rushdie said this weekend before the publication of Knife, his account of the incident. “I certainly don’t feel that some hand reached down from the sky and guarded me,” but...

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday he will try to advance wartime aid for Israel this week as he attempts the difficult task of winning House approval for a national security package that also includes funding for Ukraine and allies in Asia. Johnson, R-La., is already under immense political pressure from his fellow GOP lawmakers as he tries to stretch between the Republican Party’s divided support for helping Kyiv defend itself from Moscow’s invasion. The Republican speaker has sat for two months on a $95 billion supplemental package that would send support to the U.S. allies, as...

A wave anomaly captured by a weather-mapping system sparked a global mystery this week—with some internet sleuths even claiming it proves the existence of aliens. A giant cluster of waves over 80 feet high and spanning 2,000 miles—an area larger than Texas—appeared to move through the ocean off the coast of Africa on April 10 in a journey that lasted about 24 hours before it vanished. Some online commentators said the formation could only have been created by something moving under the surface of the sea—making it an "unidentified submersible object," the ocean equivalent of a UFO. A graphic of...

NEW YORK (PIX11) – Police are looking for a man who punched a 9-year-old girl at Grand Central Terminal on Saturday morning, according to police. The young victim was standing near her mother near the dining concourse when the assailant approached and punched the child in the face in an unprovoked attack. The 9-year-old girl suffered dizziness and pain and was transported to NYU Langone Tisch Hospital for treatment, authorities said. According to officials, the suspect is known to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police Department. Police are now searching for Jean Carlos Zarzuela a 30-year-old male. Zarzuela is 5 feet...

Shortly after a few women were randomly punched while walking on the streets of New York City, a suspect was arrested. And now just a few short weeks later, a TikToker has a shocking message about that man for women in the city. https://www.tiktok.com/@producher_nyc/video/7356297375545101611When TikToker Halley Kate was sucker punched while walking down the street in New York a few weeks ago, it didn't take long to get the word out on social media. Not long after going public with her story of being randomly punched, other women also experienced the same thing and shared their stories. The man who...

Ireland is close to formally recognizing a Palestinian state and would like to do so in concert with Spain and other like-minded countries, its new prime minister Simon Harris said on Friday after meeting his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez, reported the Reuters news agency. “Let me this evening say our assessment is that that point is coming much closer and we would like to move together in doing so,” Harris said after meeting Sanchez, the first premier to visit Dublin since Harris became prime minister this week. “When we move forward, we would like to do so with as many...

Ontario has been ordered to pay for surgery for a resident who is seeking to The Ontario resident, identified in court documents as K.S., has been locked in a legal battle with the Ontario Health Insurance Plan since 2022, when OHIP denied a funding request to have a penile preserving vaginoplasty performed at a clinic in Austin, Texas. The surgery, which is not available anywhere in Canada, involves creating a vaginal canal, or opening, without removing the penis. K.S., 33, was born male but identifies as female dominant and uses a feminine name. OHIP denied her request for funding, arguing...

JAMAICA, Queens (WABC) -- The 16-year-old suspect caught on video shoving a senior down the stairs of her church in Queens during a violent mugging is now being charged with robbing and assaulting her. The teen was taken to the hospital after he took off his shirt off in the precinct holding cell and wrapped it around his neck. Police say he was taken to the hospital for evaluation, and once he is released, he will be arraigned. Despite being arraigned as an adult, the Queens District Attorneys Office says they will not be identifying the 16-year-old because of his...

He is just 16 and has already been arrested five times for violent robberies and assaults — including allegedly pushing a Queens granny down church steps, sending her to the hospital.Teen brute Jayvaun Prince allegedly mugged another woman just days before he shoved 68-year-old regular churchgoer Irene Tahliambouris, leaving her with a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain, according to prosecutors.Following his arrest Thursday, Prince was charged both for the April 7 attack on Tahliambouris and the April 4 robbery, in which he allegedly threatened a 50-year-old woman into handing over her wallet and keys and stole her car....

16-year-old Jayvaun Prince was arrested for shoving Irene Tahliambouris down the steps of a Queens church. The teen boy busted for callously shoving a Queens grandmother down the steps of her church and stealing her purse attempted to take his own life while in custody Friday, law enforcement sources said. Jayvaun Prince, 16 — who was arrested Thursday in the brutal mugging of 68-year-old Irene Tahliambouris — took his shirt off and wrapped it around his neck inside the NYPD’s 107th Precinct stationhouse, the sources said. He was brought out in a stretcher and hospitalized, but was not seriously injured,...

A 16-year-old suspect accused of shoving a grandmother down a flight of church steps and rummaging through her purse was arrested Thursday. The victim, who was identified by her family as 68-year-old Irene Tahliambouris, was pushed so hard that she went airborne and landed flat on her back, security video shows. She suffered a fractured skull and a black eye, according to her family, and as she writhed in pain, the suspect allegedly stole $300, her cellphone and her car before fleeing the scene outside St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Queens, New York, on Sunday. "We are devastated to...