Free Republic

Turkey’s incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared victory Sunday in his country’s runoff election, extending his increasingly authoritarian rule into a third decade. With nearly 99% of ballot boxes opened, unofficial results from competing news agencies showed Erdogan with 52% of the vote, compared with 48% for his challenger, Kemal Kilicdaroglu.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) declared $45 billion in aid to Ukraine “morally right” on Christmas Eve. “Continuing our support for Ukraine is morally right, but it is not only that. It is also a direct investment in cold, hard, American interests,” McConnell wrote, posting a picture with himself and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) has declared an emergency in the region as nearly 11,000 border crossers have arrived on buses from Texas and Arizona — a fraction of the number of illegal aliens who arrive in American border towns every few days. On Thursday, Bowser declared an emergency over the many migrant buses that have been sent to the sanctuary city of Washington, DC, from Texas by Gov. Greg Abbott (R) over the last few months.

The City of Oakland, California, declared racism to be a “public health crisis” in a unanimous vote of the city council on Tuesday, allocating $350,000 to hire a consultant and data analyst in the Department of Race and Equity. The ordinance was introduced by the city attorney, Barbara Parker, City Administrator Ed Reiskin,and Darlene Flynn, the director of the department of race and equity. It was also cosponsored by Council Members Sheng Thao, Loren Taylor and Treva Reid — all of whom are running for mayor. “The link between racism and disparate health outcomes is well-established and indisputable, and the...

Gov. Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency to take effect for all of New Jersey to take effect at 10 p.m. Thursday, when a nor'easter is expected to dump 3-6 inches of snow across the area. The emergency order will include travel restrictions on highways, specifically banning commercial truck traffic on interstates that run through central and south New Jersey into Pennsylvania, and urges all residents to stay home through Friday.

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission voted Tuesday to declare a water shortage emergency amid a crushing drought in the state that threatens water supplies throughout the region, slapping a 5% surcharge on water users in the city. California is in the midst of one of the worst droughts in its history. The drought from 2011- 2017 was so intense that rainy seasons in 2017 and 2018 barely reversed the damage. Mountain snow in 2020 was not enough to fill the state’s reservoirs.

The Catalan regional parliament has voted to declare independence from Spain, just as the Spanish government appears set to impose direct rule. The move was backed 70-10 in a ballot boycotted by opposition MPs. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy earlier told senators direct rule was needed to return "law, democracy and stability" to Catalonia. The crisis began when Catalans backed independence in a disputed vote earlier this month. What powers does Catalonia have?The case for and against independenceReality Check: Police violence in Catalonia The Catalan government said that of the 43% of potential voters who took part in the...

Finally, a serious and truly experienced contender. Donald Trump and his $9 billion just made the biggest splash of the 2016 presidential race. By the time the seas stop sloshing back and forth, there may not be a drop of water left over for anybody else to float a rowboat. Of course, what you heard from Washington and the elite political set in both parties Tuesday was snickering and laughing and scoffing. All the old jokes about The Donald's cheesy style. His crazy orange combover. His penchant for grand statements spoken bluntly with and exclamation point that is often dotted...

An Islamic State-affiliated jihadi group in Gaza has declared war on Israel after claiming responsibility for two rocket attacks over the past two weeks. A group calling itself the Sheikh Omar Hadeed Brigade in Quds claims that it fired a rocket on 26 May which landed near the Israeli city of Ashdod as well as another on June 3 that also hit the city. Israel responded with air strikes in Gaza on Thursday. The first rocket was widely believed to have been fired by Islamic Jihad and the IS-affiliated Omar Brigade claim – which came in a statement on June...

Los Angeles’ new mayor has vowed to help stanch the flow of film and TV production jobs out of Hollywood, starting with the appointment of a film czar at City Hall. But to make a real difference, Eric Garcetti needs to convince skeptical state pols to combat the lure of rich tax incentives from outside California. Two days after this year’s Oscars, Hollywood’s councilman Eric Garcetti, then running for mayor of Los Angeles, staged a media event at Sunset Gower Studios. Only a smattering of reporters and photographers showed up, perhaps because the gathering was to address “runaway production,” a...

Fort Pierce — Update: Campaign officials for Patrick Murphy, Democrat candidate for the congressional district 18 race, are calling their candidate the winner because the St. Lucie Canvassing Board has missed the noon deadline to certify results to the state Division of Elections. Under Florida law, if the deadline passes with final certified results, the unofficial certified results filed last Sunday stand. Those results show Murphy ahead by .58 percent – above the .5 percent spread which would trigger an automatic recount. West officials were not immediately available for comment. ------------------ The St. Lucie County Canvassing Board resumed ballot counting...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says Joe Biden "was terrific" in the vice presidential debate. Obama spoke to Biden briefly after the debate. The president says he "could not be prouder" of Biden and believes he made a strong case for making sure the economy grows for the middle class. ...

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia - Canada has placed Iran on its list of state sponsors of terrorism and has shut down its embassy in Tehran, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said. Baird, speaking to reporters ahead of the opening of the annual summit of Pacific nation leaders here, said the skeleton Canadian Embassy staff in Tehran has been withdrawn for their own safety. Canada is also expelling all Iranian diplomats in Canada. "Canada views the government of Iran as the most significant threat to global peace and security in the world today," Baird said. "The government of Canada is formally listing Iran...

CHARLOTTE, N.C.--Vice President Joe Biden has famously distilled President Barack Obama's argument for re-election to a simple phrase: "Osama Bin Laden is dead, and General Motors is alive." On Thursday evening, the scrappy former senator delighted Democrats gathered at their national convention in Charlotte with a long-form version of that slogan. Speaking from his "ringside seat" to Obama's struggles since January 2009, Biden praised the president he has watched at work and told Americans worried about the still-sputtering economy that "America has turned the corner." "Yes, the work of recovery is not yet complete, but we are on our way,"...

Cuba's Communist government has declared Good Friday next week to be a public holiday following an appeal from Pope Benedict. The Pope made the request during his recent visit to the island. Good Friday is the day Catholics commemorate the death of Christ, and is a central part of Easter celebrations. It is the first time it has been recognised as a public holiday in Cuba since the 1960s, when religious holidays were abolished. President Raul Castro took the decision in light of the success of the Pope's "transcendental visit", the Cuban government said in a statement. The holiday will...

AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas comptroller said Monday that the economic recovery is taking hold, producing higher than expected tax revenues and possibly resulting in a budget surplus in 2013. In a letter to the Legislature, state Comptroller Susan Combs said tax collections were on pace to produce a $1.6 billion budget surplus for the fiscal biennium ending in 2013. That means the state could earn $82.7 billion over the next two years, while the 2012-2013 budget is only $81.1 billion. That represents an 8.2 percent increase in state revenues over the 2010-2011 budget cycle.

"You've chosen to give me another four years as your governor," he told supporters from a stage at his Baton Rouge campaign headquarters less than an hour after polls closed. "We've got a lot more work to do over these next four years."

As the CWA picketing of Verizon continues it seems some of the union leadership is becoming more and more unhinged. Apparently one member of the union leadership went so far as to instruct his members, by way of publicly accessible telephone hotline, that it is now “open season” on “managers and scabs”. The thug went on to say that union members should “follow them” and “torture them, torture them with chants and noise”. (h/t Moon Bat Tracker) Th

Well, so much for that American ally. As the pro-American government continued to crumble in Yemen this week, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula announced yesterday that Abyan Province is now an Islamic Emirate. Yemeni anti-government protesters demonstrate in Sanaa. US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s eventual fall or his replacement by a weaker leader would pose “a real problem” for US counter-terrorism work. (AFP/Ahmad Gharabli) Women were told not to go outside except under necessary circumstances. Business Insider reported: Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has declared Yemen’s Abyan province an “Islamic Emirate”...

BULLETIN: Dan Gainor of Business & Media Institute just broke the news about George Soros' immedate plans to reorganize central banking, globally. Gainor will be our guest on Gulag Night, this Monday 3/28, 10pm ET, 30 mins. Read the article here: "Unreported Soros Event Aims to Remake Entire Global Economy." from Terresa Monroe-Hamilton’s NoisyRoom From: ihasa HotDog To our comrades at Media Matters… They are sharing their civility and love today by declaring war on Fox News. How very Stalin of them. Well, we have a request to our readers out there. As most of you know this site partners...