Free Republic

Regulators reviewing deal to create the first coast-to-coast railroad say they have ‘serious concerns’ after watching video of Union Pacific CEO’s remarksUnion Pacific’s (UNP) chief executive may have tanked his own deal, a $71.5 billion plan to create a transcontinental railroad that he touted as the future of freight. It goes back to private remarks Jim Vena made at an industry event in March. The ultracompetitive, tough-talking executive threatened anyone who spoke out against Union Pacific’s proposed combination with Norfolk Southern (NSC), which is currently awaiting regulatory approval. “I’ll probably increase everybody’s rates that said they didn’t want a seamless...

[Catholic Caucus] Archdiocese of Portland urges faithful not to hold hands during Our Father at Mass The current instructions for the Roman Missal only refer to the priest extending his hands to pray during the Mass, the Archdiocese of Portland noted.A U.S. archdiocese has instructed Catholics to no longer hold hands or raise their arms during the praying of the Our Father at Mass.The Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon, explained in a manual just published by its liturgy office: “Laity should refrain from extending hands during the Our Father at Mass.”Both actions by Massgoers have been a point of contention in...

A major rescue operation took place Friday after a tanker struck a river cruise ship on the Mississippi River near the Port of New Orleans, leaving the American Heritage passenger boat on its side and largely submerged in the water.

NOBUNAGA🇯🇵🏯@japan_nobunaga·10hA Japanese diplomat in a morning coat and top hat stepped onto the deck of USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, bracing for the worst humiliation.His name was Toshikazu Kase. He had passed the Japanese Foreign Service examination in 1925 and studied at Amherst and Harvard. He had been on duty at the Foreign Ministry on the weekend of Pearl Harbor, and had helped prepare the document breaking off negotiations with the United States. Now, on an American battleship, he was there to end the war.It was Kase who had suggested the civilian delegation wear formal diplomatic attire of morning dress...

Wall Street Apes@WallStreetApesThis is INSANE 🚨Alaska has major voter irregularities for Midterms- Alaska has 606,007 registered voters- That’s 67,194 more than there are citizens of legal voting age- That's 112.5% of the citizen voting-age population- It's also 40,437 more than all adults living in the stateBut that’s not even the craziest part, Alaska implemented Ballot Measure 1, eligible people applying for the ‘Permanent Fund Dividend’ are automatically registered to voteThe Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend is an annual cash payment distributed to eligible Alaska residents from a portion of the state's oil and mineral wealthSo essentially, EVERYONE gets registered to vote,...

Earlier this week, The (London) Times newspaper reported Jaguar Land Rover (a division of Tata Motors) had appointed bailiffs to raid the Dutch offices of BYD, on suspicion that the Chinese marque had copied the design of the Defender SUV. The raid, which reportedly occurred in August, centred around Jaguar Land Rover’s claims that the BYD Ti7 SUV had benefited from alleged reverse engineering of the technology in the Land Rover Defender. Despite BYD claiming it had attempted to cooperate with Jaguar Land Rover’s requests for information, the bailiffs were able to seize digital records from BYD’s Schiedam and Hoofddorp...

The Associated Press called the race for Democratic challenger Eileen Laubacher, who defeated Boebert in a 48.8% to 47.9% split. The Libertarian candidate Douglas Mangeris secured 3.3%.

Letter to the Youth: American Freedom Is Not Inherited—It Must Be Learned, Defended, and Shared Young Americans: the freedoms you take for granted were not inevitable, and they are not self-sustaining. They were secured through blood, argument, and a deliberate rejection of concentrated power. The Constitution is not a suggestion or a living mood board. It is a set of hard limits on government and a charter of individual rights that has produced the freest, most prosperous large society in history. Losing knowledge of that charter—and of the costs paid to keep it—invites exactly the failures the Founders feared. The...

USS South Dakota (SSN-790) command triad was removed last month following a grounding incident, according to a statement from a member of Congress. The submarine’s commanding officer, executive officer and chief of the boat were relieved from command on Oct. 14, with the relief allegedly attributed to a grounding incident, according to a letter released Thursday by Reps. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.), Ranking Member of the House Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, and Adam Smith (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee. Cmdr. Dan Goodwin was relieved as commander of South Dakota, according to a story in the Day...

Brian Cates - Political Columnist & Pundit repostedFarai Mazhindu@FaraiMazhindu·5hIn Haiti, they told the Haitian people the Clintons came to save Haiti.After the earthquake in 2010, the world watched Port au Prince crumble, and then the saviors arrived. Bill Clinton became the UN Special Envoy to Haiti. Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State, controlling America's aid. And the Clinton Foundation was right there, raising money in Haiti's name.Husband approving the projects. Wife controlling the money. Foundation collecting the donations. That was a family business.The world pledged 13.5 billion dollars. America pledged 4 billion. It was supposed to rebuild a nation. Instead,...

A new report alleges that the vineyard management company contracted by PlumpJack, the wine business founded by California Governor Gavin Newsom in which he still holds a financial stake, has a long history of employing illegal alien labor. Reporters spent weeks in Napa examining operations at Oso Vineyard, a 129-acre property PlumpJack purchased in 2022 for $14.5 million, where Renteria Vineyard Management handles field work, for a new City Journal investigation. PlumpJack’s own materials identify Oscar Renteria as Oso’s long-time vineyard manager, and neither PlumpJack nor Renteria Vineyard Management disputed the arrangement when contacted. RVM was founded in 1987 by...

A University of Chicago student who exposed remarks by Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., about deterring young conservatives from working in the administration of President Donald Trump told Campus Reform in an interview that her warning has only motivated students to stand up for their political beliefs. Michael Bicksel, a second-year student and senior editor of The Chicago Thinker, has since filed a formal Senate ethics complaint against the Michigan Democrat for threatening political persecution against young Americans interested in serving in a Republican administration. “The power imbalance here is really, really stark,” Bicksel told Campus Reform, describing the controversy as...

Residents of federally funded public housing will be required to show proof of U.S. citizenship or eligible immigration status under a new rule published Thursday by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The measure could displace nearly 80,000 people, including tens of thousands of citizens in mixed-status families, from their homes, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan research and policy institute. Since 1995, mixed-status families have been permitted to live together in HUD-funded housing as long as federal subsidies covered only eligible household members. The new rule may force these families to decide...

House Intelligence Committee ranking member Jim Himes pushed Senate Republican leadership Tuesday to reauthorize a warrantless spying tool before Democrats take the majority. Himes, a Democrat from Connecticut, told Politico he spoke to Senate Majority Leader John Thune about reauthorizing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which allows the government to collect and search American citizens’ data without a warrant if they were in contact with targeted noncitizens. Democrats blocked the reauthorization of Section 702 over the summer and have since remained split on its passage. “My preference would be, let’s just take the win that’s on...

The intellectuals date the rise of right-wing populism to Trump’s 2015 descent down the escalator. But it had the 8 p.m. ET time slot on Fox News for the better part of two decades. The network was run by Roger Ailes, the son of a factory foreman from Warren, Ohio, who had figured out how to make Richard Nixon acceptable on television. Republicanism as presented by Fox News was not about asserting ordered liberty against the administrative state; it was the experience of being informed on what pinhead was looking down on you and how you’d show them in the...

Things are getting spicy in D.C., and I am not referring to all the backbiting in the Democrat and Republican caucuses, the Congressional investigations that will plague us for the next two years...at least...or even the sex scandals that will inevitably leak out as they always do when there isn't other news to cover. No. The ongoing saga of Ilhan Omar's immigration status, her incestuous marriage (to be fair, her brother is gay and they didn't live together, kinda proving the marriage was a sham), and her rather flexible birth date. The Department of Homeland Security is saying they have...

Pilots across the country may now receive routing and schedule recommendations from air traffic control (ATC) that were informed by an AI-powered system. The FAA told FLYING on Tuesday that its new Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes and Trajectories (SMART) platform is now active in the airspace of all of the nation’s air route traffic control centers (ARTCCs). The agency in a statement said that following SMART’s “successful initial rollout” in the Washington, D.C., area, it has deployed the system to all 22 ARTCCs to “reduce delays, reduce fuel consumption, and improve the travel experience for the flying public.” The...

According to ChainCatcher, U.S. President Donald Trump filed a disclosure on Aug. 21 this year reporting the sale of up to $1 million in Nvidia shares. Since the filing, Nvidia stock has fallen 29% to $160.64.

An aviation monitoring account reports the FAA has halted flights across the United States until 10 p.m. Central Time, citing frequency issues affecting the National Airspace System. OKLAHOMA -The Federal Aviation Administration issued a nationwide ground stop on Friday afternoon, ordering flights across the United States to remain on the ground until further notice. According to an advisory issued by the FAA’s Air Traffic Control System Command Center on Nov. 13, the nationwide ground stop took effect at 2:54 p.m. Central Time and is scheduled to remain in effect until 10 p.m. Friday. The FAA cited extraordinary circumstances and safety...

A tanker collided with a docked cruise ship carrying about 129 passengers on the Mississippi River Friday. The Atlantic Asphalt tanker hit the American Cruise Lines’ American Heritage around 12:30 p.m. outside the Port of New Orleans Administration Building, Port NOLA told The Post. Harrowing footage posted to social media showed the cruise ship nearly sideways in the river. Some people were seen in the river wearing life jackets, while others appeared to cling to the vessel’s railings. “Our immediate priority is the safety of all passengers, crew members and first responders,” Port NOLA press secretary Kimberly Curth said. “This...