Free Republic

A recall effort aimed at “progressive” Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao has gathered enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot, organizers say — though they are still collecting signatures to ensure that they survive a challenge. The San Francisco Chronicle reported Saturday: The campaign, Oakland United to Recall Sheng Thao, known as OUST, has until July 22 to submit its signatures. Election officials then must make sure enough signatures are valid to trigger a recall, a process that could take up to two months. OUST has obtained nearly 35,000 signatures since it began its effort in February, Brenda Harbin-Forte, a...

“My condolences.” “I’m so sorry for your loss.” “My sympathies.” “May he rest in peace.” Raised as we are in Western civilization, we have an instinctive response when we hear of someone’s death, whether by natural causes, by accident, or even by murder. We think first of his or her family and friends, we naturally empathize with their sorrow, and we wish them these words and more, heartfelt and seriously. We would be sad if a loved one died, and we assume that everyone must have loved ones. Our sympathy is automatic. One wouldn’t think this would be a problem,...

Republican primary voters ousted incumbent state Rep. Charlie Conrad of Dexter on Tuesday night in a striking repudiation of the first-term Republican, who drew intense criticism from conservatives after he voted in favor of a bill that guaranteed access to abortion and gender-affirming care. Partial results as of 9 a.m. Wednesday showed business owner and former McKenzie School Board Member Darin Harbick with a whopping 82% of the vote to Conrad’s 18%. Conrad joined Democrats in supporting House Bill 2002 in 2023 after he said he gained a new perspective on gender-affirming care by speaking with health care providers and...

BREAKING:'No sign of life' detected at crash site of helicopter carrying President Ebrahim Raisi, others, Iran state TV says

Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi has been involved in a helicopter crash hours after posing for pictures with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev and rescuers are frantically trying to reach the site. The aircraft was traveling in Iran's East Azerbaijan province near Jolfa, around 375 miles northwest of Tehran, when it suffered a 'hard landing', according to Iranian state television. Rescuers were attempting to reach the site, but had been hampered by the poor weather conditions in the area. There had been heavy rain and fog reported with some wind. The helicopter was one of a convoy of three and foreign minister...

More than one in 10 young people who identify as LGBTQ attempted suicide in 2023, a survey from suicide prevention organization Trevor Project has found. The survey, which focuses on the mental health of LGBTQ youth, was circulated to 18,000 people from ages 13 to 24. Nearly 40 percent of LGBTQ young people seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year, while 46 percent of transgender and nonbinary young people between the ages of 13 and 17 had similar ideations. Transgender men were the most at risk, with more than 50 percent of them reporting considering suicide and 18 percent...

Protester who threatened city council weeps at arraignment

A Manhattan judge ripped Sam Bankman-Fried as a “remorseless” scammer obsessed with political power as he sentenced the fallen crypto mogul to 25 years in prison Thursday — five months after he was found guilty of stealing more than $8 billion of funds from customers of his now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX. Judge Lewis Kaplan said the 32-year-old convicted fraudster “presented himself as the good guy” all in favor of “appropriate regulation of the crypto industry” — but it was just an “act.” “He did it because he wanted to be a hugely, hugely political influential person in this country,” Kaplan...

John Anthony Castro, a Texas man known for his legal efforts to challenge former President Donald Trump’s eligibility for the 2024 presidential ballot, has been arrested on charges related to filing false tax documents. Castro, who filed challenges in 27 states against Trump’s ballot placement, was indicted last week on 33 counts of aiding the preparation of false tax returns. Castro operated a virtual tax preparation business that deceitfully inflated tax refunds for clients, The Hill reported. Castro was the proprietor of Castro & Company LLC, a digital tax preparation firm with establishments in Orlando, Mansfield, and Washington, D.C., per...

Congressman Kevin McCarthy is leaving Congress before the end of 2023. The former Speaker of the House announced his retirement in an op-ed and a video, offering few details about his plans moving forward. All we know for certain is that another Republican seat in a blue state is being vacated. McCarthy didn’t leave many hints about his future in his short op-ed in WSJ: I will continue to recruit our country’s best and brightest to run for elected office. The Republican Party is expanding every day, and I am committed to lending my experience to support the next generation...

DEMOCRAT JOE MANCHIN ANNOUNCES THAT HE WILL NOT SEEK REELECTION

Now-former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was stripped of his gavel on Tuesday afternoon via roll-call vote on Rep. Matt Gaetz's (R-FL) motion to vacate the chair, pursuant to rules agreed to by McCarthy in order to clinch victory in his drawn-out race to become speaker in January.By a vote of 216 to 210, the historic motion prevailed as presiding Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR) declared "the resolution is adopted...the office of Speaker of the House of the United States House of Representatives is hereby declared vacant."The Republicans joining Gaetz in his motion to vacate were Reps. Biggs (AZ), Buck (CO), Burchett...

The US Women's National Soccer team saw its World Cup chapter come to a close the other day. It ended on penalty kicks. They lost to the Swedish National Team who had been their nemesis for some time. USA today ascribed their demise to being "old and slow." They're right, but that's not all of it. It was wonderful when the USWNT won the World Cup in 2019. All of the US supported them. Funny thing about notoriety, though. How you use it has so much effect on so many other things. In 2015 it was all about team. By...

Bud Light's popularity continues to plummet as both corporate and personal events pivot away from featuring the Anheuser-Busch brand at their gatherings, according to the owner of a pop-up bar business. Catarina Tucker, the founder of Barnastics - a mobile bartending company based in New Jersey- told Fox News there has been a 'significant shift' away from Bud Light among her clients recently. In April, the Anheuser-Busch-owned brand became embroiled in controversy over a promotion it did with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. The company has since lost billions of dollars in market capitalization, and continues to be boycotted by tens...

On this date in 1946, the Sudeten German whose fifth column had paved the way for the Nazi conquest of Czechoslovakia expiated his war crimes at Prague’s Pankrac Prison. Karl Hermann Frank (English Wikipedia page | German) had been a prewar mover and shaker in the Sudeten German Party, increasingly the Reich’s stalking-horse as it bluffed European rivals into acceding to Czechoslovakia’s dismemberment. The onetime Czechoslovakian MP did well by the Anschluss, gaining the rank of Obergruppenführer and becoming one of Bohemia and Moravia’s top evildoers. Notably, he helped orchestrate (though the orders for it came from above) the notorious...

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) has been operating in the Loop since 1898, just 27 years after the Great Chicago Fire. The exchange was part of the city’s rebirth and helped establish Chicago as a financial hub. Now, we see the opposite of rebirth with Chicago’s population shrinking. And the $66 billion CME may not be around to help with future renewal: The company has rewritten the terms of its lease so it can leave the city if politicians pursue “ill-conceived” public policy. “We’re in a very strong position,” CME CEO Terry Duffy said in a recent interview. “If we...

Missouri’s incompetent Circuit Attorney, Kim Gardner, backed by George Soros funds, has finally resigned thanks to pressure from Republicans around the state. Soros funded her her election in 2016 and again in 2020. She was going to seek a third term as of last month, but her resignation letter is dated effective June 1. Her office is dysfunctional, and she won’t prosecute minority criminals. Earlier this year, a criminal violated his bond over fifty times and was awaiting trial in a separate armed robbery case. While out on bail, he drove into a teen volleyball player. She lost both her...

ST. LOUIS (KMOV) -- St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner resigned Thursday amid a firestorm of legal troubles, including the Missouri Attorney General’s attempt to oust her from office. The Circuit Attorney’s Office confirmed the resignation, effective on June 1, on Twitter and in an email to News 4. Multiple attorneys have resigned from the Circuit Attorney’s Office since the attorney general announced his case against Gardner, which came after a defendant out on bond allegedly caused a crash that resulted in a 17-year-old’s legs being amputated. Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has alleged Gardner willfully neglected the duties of...

St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner has (just) announced she is resigning from office. Her resignation is effective June1,

By The First 54 mins ago Donald Trump weighed-in Monday on the termination of Don Lemon over at CNN, saying “the dumbest man on television has been fired.” “Good News: ‘The dumbest man on television,’ Don Lemon, has finally been fired from Fake News CNN. My only question is, WHAT TOOK THEM SO LONG?” posted Trump on Truth Social. CNN announced on Monday that they were ending their contract with Don Lemon after a 17 year run at the network. This news came after Lemon had a short, yet controversial tenure as a morning show co-host. CNN stated that Lemon...