Free Republic

Metropolitan Police in London are investigating a fire in a pro-Israel lawmaker’s office as an arson attack, a spokesperson said this week. Tory MP Mike Freer, whose Finchley office was torched Sunday, said the fire was only one of many threats made against him for his pro-Israel stance. Freer, who represents Finchley and Golder’s Green, the home of one of London’s largest Orthodox Jewish communities, was away from his office when a fire was started on 7 pm on Christmas Eve. The fire charred the front of the building and damaged three floors of the interior.

State health leaders confirmed Tuesday the first death in Texas of a person who was diagnosed with monkeypox, and it could be the first in the United States. The Texas Department of State Health Services said the person — an adult from Harris County — was “severely immunocompromised.” The death is being investigated to learn what role monkeypox played. State health leaders explained that for most people, monkeypox is painful but not life-threatening. “Monkeypox is a serious disease, particularly for those with weakened immune systems,” Dr. John Hellerstedt, DSHS commissioner, said in a news release. “We continue to urge people...

It comes after the legendary singer was forced to cancel two shows in Dallas, Texas after testing positive for Covid last month. 'It is with great regret that the Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour dates in Dallas set for Tuesday, January 25 and Wednesday, January 26 must be postponed due to Elton recently testing positive for COVID-19,' a statement confirmed at the time. 'Fortunately, Elton is fully vaccinated and boosted, and is experiencing only mild symptoms. Fans should hold on to their tickets as they will be honoured at the rescheduled dates to be announced soon.' 'Elton and the Farewell...

Democrat presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg insisted again this week that he can be a Christian and support abortion on demand. Speaking with Rolling Stone, the South Bend, Indiana mayor tried to justify his stance by claiming the Bible associates “the beginning of life with breath.” The Washington Examiner reports Buttigieg has been accused of “cherry-picking” biblical teachings on a number of issues. He responded to the accusations by claiming the Bible is “inconsistent internally” and Christians have to make their own sense out of it. “Well, I think for a lot of us — certainly for me — any encounter...

The poll shows Buttigieg leading the pack of 2020 Democrats with 25 percent of the vote — nine points ahead of second-place candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Former Vice President Joe Biden is now in third place with 15 percent of the vote, as well as Sen. Bernie Sanders.

A young Instagram influencer has whinged that learning about World War 2 harms millennials’ mental health. Freddie Bentley, 22, said he thought the schools’ curriculum on the devastating conflict should be cut back because it was “so intense”. Bentley, who appeared on The Circle, told Good Morning Britain today: “It was a hard situation, World War 2, I don't want anyone to think I'm being disrespectful.” He added: “I remember learning it as a child thinking ‘Oh my God it's so intense’.” He thought that any mental health issues a youngster may have could be worsened by learning about the...

Last week found Republicans in Congress complaining loud and long that the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, along with the House Oversight and Foreign Affairs committees, all bipartisan and under the leadership of Rep. Adam Schiff, were violating the rules of the House of Representatives by interviewing witnesses about impeachment behind closed doors. They derided Schiff's hearings as a "secret impeachment." President Trump called the hearings a hoax. When some pointed out that the initial round of government interviews of witnesses is always conducted behind closed doors to facilitate candor, Senate Republicans supported the president and condemned the House...

1. December 2018: Napolitano claimed that Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, had implicated him in a “felony.” (The Southern District of New York investigated and declined to initiate any further prosecutions.) 2. January 2019: Napolitano told Shepard Smith that Mueller would be able to show “collusion” and “conspiracy” because “the campaign had a connection to Russian intelligence.” The Mueller report found no collusion. 3. February 2019: Napolitano claimed that a phone call by the president to Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker was “obstruction of justice.” Mueller’s report, released a month later, did not allege any obstruction. 4. April 2019: Napolitano...

"I didn't think it was Taron. I thought it was me," says the musical legend of watching the actor, who shaved half his head, painted a gap in his teeth and made out with a 'Game of Thrones' star for a biopic that Paramount prays can replicate 'Bohemian Rhapsody' success — despite R-rated gay sex and drugs — and launch Egerton into the stratosphere of Hollywood. Taron Egerton was shooting a big splashy dance number on a soundstage at Bray Studios outside London in October 2018 — belting out "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" in a 1950s carnival-like setting while...

Former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) said Monday that President Donald Trump could lose the 2020 presidential election if his “personality” is the central focus of his campaign. “The person who defines that race is going to win the race. If this is about Donald Trump and his personality, he isn’t going to win it,” Ryan said during a lecture in Vero Beach, Florida, according to TCPalm.com. The former speaker said President Trump should focus on issues of substance, rather than not style, if he wants to beat his Democrat presidential rival next year. Potential Democrat presidential contenders include Sens....

CHICAGO -- Chicago police confirmed Thursday that detectives are talking to two persons of interest in connection with the alleged attack on "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett. Multiple sources have told ABC7 Eyewitness News that police are investigating whether Smollett and the two men staged the attack allegedly because Smollett was being written off of "Empire." A source familiar with the investigation told the ABC7 I-Team that Smollett failed to appear for an interview with detectives earlier Thursday. A source briefed on the Smollett investigation confirmed to ABC News that Chicago police are questioning the two persons of interest -- one...

Musician and actor Jussie Smollett spoke to ABC News' Robin Roberts in his first interview since being viciously attacked on Jan. 29 in what is being investigated as a possible hate crime. In a clip that ran ahead of the "Good Morning America" interview Thursday morning, Smollett revealed that he is "pissed off." The 36-year-old, who portrays a gay musician on Fox's "Empire," addressed rumors and criticism that he might not be telling the truth. "What is it that has you so angry? Is it the...attackers," Roberts asked. "Attackers, but it's also the attacks," Smollett responded. "It's like, you know,...

Jussie Smollett has given his first interview about the shocking racist and homophobic attack he was subjected to as he walked home from a Subway in Chicago last month at 2am. The Empire actor spoke to ABC's Robin Roberts for an interview that will air on Good Morning America on Thursday morning. In a brief promo for the interview, he is seen tearing up after Roberts asked him if he feared for his life at any point during the attack. It is the first time the 36-year-old himself will answer questions on camera about the incident which shocked the nation...

After spending about $100 on lower-bowl tickets and driving 2½ hours from the Lafayette area, Tracey Hernandez was nervous as she took her seat near midfield of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on Friday night. It wasn’t the preseason game the Saints were about to play against Arizona that worried her — the dance instructor hardly watches football. What mattered to her was how her son, Jesse, would fare in his debut as the first-ever male member of the Saintsations, New Orleans’ NFL dance team. The crowd in the stadium was the biggest Jesse had performed in front of since his dancing...

CNN host Don Lemon fired back at President Trump on Saturday after the president sent a tweet attacking Lemon and questioning the intelligence of NBA star LeBron James, whom the CNN host interviewed this week. Lemon pointed out James's recent decision to open a school in Ohio for at-risk third- and fourth-graders as evidence that the NBA star was no "dummy" after Trump wrote Friday that Lemon had managed to make James look intelligent, which he said wasn't "easy to do." "Who’s the real dummy? A man who puts kids in classrooms or one who puts kids in cages?" Lemon...

Fox News host Shepard Smith on Wednesday rapped President Trump for his criticisms of NATO members, saying that the comments could “turn back the global clock centuries.”

s Trump won primary after primary in 2016, a rattled John Brennan started claiming to colleagues at the CIA that Estonia’s intelligence agency had alerted him to an intercepted phone call suggesting Putin was pouring money into the Trump campaign. The tip was bogus, but Brennan bit on it with opportunistic relish. Out of Brennan’s alarmist chatter about the bogus tip came an extraordinary leak to the BBC: that Brennan had used it, along with later half-baked tips from British intelligence, as the justification to form a multi-agency spy operation (given the Orwellian designation of an “inter-agency taskforce”) on the...

Sen. Lindsey Graham would like to see the White House apologize for a "disgusting" joke that was made about the health of his friend, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who is battling brain cancer. Last week, a White House press aide, Kelly Sadler, joked to colleagues during a closed-door meeting mocked McCain’s health after he called for his Senate colleagues to reject Gina Haspel’s nomination for CIA director. “It doesn’t matter, he’s dying anyway,” Sadler said. Graham, R-S.C., said if this was in fact a joke, "it was a terrible joke." "I just wish somebody from the White House would tell...

You are here checking out this post, so I guess you do want to know. I was listening to conservative talk radio hosts Michael Medved today to see if he would admit he was wrong about corruption in the FBI. Nope, he did not. He said "I have no idea why Trump released THE STUPID THING in his angry voice." He went on seeing how the Dozier was only a small part of getting the fisa warrant. He was saying that releasing this memo hurts Trump's agenda and does not help it. By the way, I was also listening to...

Barack Obama’s legacy may be under attack by President Trump — but he still has bragging rights as the most admired man in the world, according to a new Gallup poll. The poll found 17 percent of people questioned named Obama the man they admired most, a drop from 22 percent last year. Trump took second place with 14 percent, while Hillary Clinton was named the most admired woman for the 16th year in a row, with 9 percent of mentions, Gallup found. Obama has now been named the most admired man 10 times in a row, trailing only Dwight...