Free Republic

The City Council of Long Beach, California has authorized a public health emergency in response to a local outbreak of tuberculosis. The city's health officer, Dr. Anissa Davis, declared the emergency last week, after its health department detected 14 tuberculosis cases at a single-room occupancy hotel. The City Council vote on Tuesday night served as the final approval for the declaration. Nine tuberculosis patients have been hospitalized and one has died, according to the health department. As of Monday, about 175 people had been exposed to tuberculosis as a result of the outbreak. In a news release last week, the...

Less than a day before the Biden administration announced its intent to cut off U.S. arms sales to Israel, it issued a sanctions waiver to bypass congressional prohibitions on arms sales to a host of Arab nations that boycott the Jewish state, including Hamas ally Qatar and Iran-controlled Lebanon, the Washington Free Beacon has learned. On Tuesday—just a day before President Joe Biden threatened to withhold key weapons deliveries from Israel if the country moves forward with an incursion in the Gaza Strip's Rafah neighborhood—the State Department informed Congress that it intends to bypass laws that bar the United States...

Ben Gvir hammered by president, opposition over ‘Hamas Lapid and Yesh Atid lawmakers urge Netanyahu to fire minister for ‘infantile’ response to US arms freeze threat, amid worries quip could harm national security. National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir faced calls for his sacking Thursday after he quipped online that the Hamas terror group loves Joe Biden, in reaction to the US president’s comments to CNN that he would freeze arms transfers to Israel should the military advance into the Gazan city of Rafah. Opposition head Yair Lapid led a chorus of lawmakers from his side of the aisle excoriating...

In an era where technology increasingly interweaves with the fabric of modern warfare, the United States Marine Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC) has embarked on testing a new frontier of combat capabilities: armed robotic dogs. These quadrupedal unmanned ground vehicles (Q-UGVs), developed by Ghost Robotics and equipped with weapon systems by Onyx Industries, represent a remarkable leap in military robotics. MARSOC’s current evaluation of these Q-UGVs, as disclosed by Onyx Industries, includes testing two variants equipped with the company’s SENTRY Remote Weapon System (RWS). This system, which is AI-assisted and features advanced digital imaging for target acquisition, maintains a crucial...

'These heroes were callously tossed aside'.. Multiple times already Colorado, led by homosexual Democrat Gov. Jared Polis, has been cited for its "hostility" to Christianity. It happened in the state's attack on the faith of specialty baker Jack Phillips. Then the same issue arose in a fight involving state censorship of a web designer... Both times the state got slapped hard by the U.S. Supreme Court. Now it's another court, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and a division of the state, the University of Colorado, That court now has ruled that CU's Anshutz School of Medicine's policies that...

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Plagued by delays in ship repairs and outdated design practices, the US Navy faces mounting challenges in maintaining readiness and keeping pace with China’s rapid shipbuilding advancements. This month, USNI News reported that the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) revealed that fewer than 40% of US Navy ships had completed repairs on time, despite the availability of shipyard space. The GAO ranked shipyard conditions second only to F-35 Lightning II air fighter sustainment costs as the most problematic readiness issue facing the US armed services.

Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 @julie_kelly2 NEW: Judge Cannon preparing to unseal nonpublic defense motions filed by Trump related to Mar a Lago raid, DC Judge Beryl Howell order that pierced atty-client privilege in docs case, and a prosecutorial abuse motion. Keeps getting good...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a video message on Thursday vowing that Israel "will stand alone" to defeat Hamas, if necessary, after President Biden threatened to withhold weapon shipments to the Jewish State should Netanyahu proceed with an invasion of Rafah. Netanyahu echoed the 1948 Israeli war of independence in his remarks, saying that despite a weapons embargo on Israel, Israelis had fought and defeated the Arab nations who attacked the nascent Jewish state, thanks to their bravery and unity. "Today, we are much stronger," the prime minister said. "We are determined, and we are united in order to...

MILTON, Fla. - A Florida father was arrested over the weekend after pulling an AR-15 rifle on an Uber driver who dropped his daughter off at his home, according to deputies. Sean Hollonbeck, 54, of Milton, was taken to jail on charges of false imprisonment of a person and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. On May 4, shortly before 11 p.m., an Uber driver arrived at Hollonbeck's home to drop off the suspect's daughter. The young female was still in the vehicle when she saw her father run up to the driver with an AR-15 in hand and force...

Russia on Thursday wrapped itself in patriotic pageantry for Victory Day, as President Vladimir Putin celebrated the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II by hailing his forces fighting in Ukraine and blasting the West for fueling conflicts around the world. Even though few veterans of what Russia calls the Great Patriotic War are still alive 79 years after Berlin fell to the Red Army, the victory remains the most important and widely revered symbol of Russia’s prowess and a key element of national identity. Even though few veterans of what Russia calls the Great Patriotic War are still...

The man behind a lucrative extreme body modification website dedicated to streaming “grisly and gruesome” footage of castrations and limb amputations has been jailed for life with a minimum of 22 years. Marius Gustavson’s Eunuch Maker site, which operated on a pay-per-view subscription basis, had amassed over 22,000 registered users and brought in nearly £300,000 before it was shut down. Court proceedings revealed horrific details of the body modification ring, which profited from explicit videos of men undergoing “dangerous, unnecessary and life-changing surgeries,” including the removal of male genitals. The ringleader, Gustavson, 46, was personally involved in at least 30...

Mayor Eric Adams’ administration says the city has saved money by putting limits on how long migrant families can stay in shelters. But that 60-day cap has come at a humanitarian cost and its consequences have been poorly tracked, according to an investigation by City Comptroller Brad Lander.

The Saban Capital Group founder held a prominent L.A. event for the president in February, raising $4.5 millionDemocratic megadonor Haim Saban torched President Joe Biden’s decision to pause Israeli weapons shipments in an email to aides on Thursday, urging the administration to “reconsider.” The Biden administration paused a shipment of thousands of weapons to Israel, including 2,000-pound bombs, amid concerns over Israel’s intention to expand military operations in Rafah, which could dramatically increase the death toll in Gaza, according to U.S. officials on Tuesday. Israeli-American donor Saban, who hosted a prominent Los Angeles fundriaser for Biden’s reelection campaign in February,...

John Leguizamo thinks that Democrats take Latino voters “for granted” — and that it could come back to bite them in November’s presidential election between President Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Speculating how Trump, who campaigned in 2016 off a “build the wall” platform along the U.S.-Mexico border, could sway the Latino vote in 2024, the comedian and “Daily Show” guest host admitted Monday that “we don’t give a flying F about immigration.” “It looks like the Democrats are in trouble and you might be thinking, how is this possible Donald Trump is winning Latinos?” Leguizamo said while guest hosting...

New York City Democrats were largely quiet Thursday after President Biden announced he was pausing some military aid for Israel to deter an offensive against Hamas-held Rafah — with members of the left-wing “Squad” of House members openly celebrating and many others saying nothing publicly. “Protesting is working. Keep fighting for a #CeasefireNow,” tweeted Bronx and Westchester Rep. Jamaal Bowman, who has been an outspoken supporter of anti-Israel protesters at Columbia University and elsewhere Bronx and Queens Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also celebrated Biden telling CNN “I’m not supplying the weapons” for an offensive on Hamas’ final major stronghold in the...

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) wasted little time after 163 Democrats voted to save his speakership to announce he would not use Congress’s constitutional power of the purse to stop special counsel Jack Smith’s “lawfare” against Donald Trump. The Speaker, in some of his earliest public comments after Democrats saved his gavel, refused to make any attempt to defund Smith’s office as it continues its prosecutions of Trump. “That’s not something you wave a wand and just eliminate the special counsel as a provision,” Johnson told Politico. “There is a necessity for a function like that, because sometimes the Department of...

It's been known for years that cooking indoors can taint the air in a home and cause health problems, especially when cooking without proper ventilation. But a new study found that emissions from cooking may degrade the air quality outdoors as well. "If you can smell it, there’s a good chance it’s impacting air quality," researchers with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Chemical Sciences Laboratory recently wrote about a new study looking at the "unrecognized and underappreciated sources of urban air pollution."

Former President Donald Trump’s defense on Thursday seemingly worked to paint the picture that porn actress Stormy Daniels attempted to financially benefit from his wealth and fame, according to reports. Daily Caller courts reporter Katelynn Richardson noted that during the defense’s cross-examination of the porn star, who nearly blew the trial for the prosecution on Tuesday, Trump attorney Susan Necheles was “pushing to show Daniels was motivated by money when she entered into her 2016 NDA [non-disclosure agreement].” Daniels notes she did the 2018 Anderson Cooper interview for free. Necheles: After the interview, you negotiated a book contract for $800,000?...

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says that women should be able to decide to get an abortion at any time during pregnancy — shocking his running mate Nicole Shanahan, who tried to claim “that is not Bobby’s position” on a recent podcast. "Every abortion is a tragedy. Many of them leave permanent trauma on a woman. But I think, ultimately, I don’t trust government to have a jurisdiction over people’s bodies,” Kennedy told former ESPN anchor Sage Steele on an episode of her eponymous podcast, which aired Wednesday.