Free Republic

SCOTUS Justices wrestled with how to define a president’s ‘official’ versus ‘private’ acts. A decision may delay President Trump’s trial, which would hand him a win. The Supreme Court seemed skeptical on April 25 of former President Donald Trump’s claim that he should receive absolute criminal immunity, but it appeared to be open to allowing some level of immunity for presidents. Conservative justices seemed poised to remand the case back to the district court in Washington with instructions on what constitutes official and private acts for further fact-finding proceedings. This would further delay President Trump’s trial in Washington and possibly...

Hello to the city, goodbye to your luggage. That was Senatorial candidate Adam Schiff’s rude introduction to San Francisco’s vexing reputation for car burglaries Thursday when thieves swiped the bags from his car while it sat in a downtown parking garage. The heist meant the Democratic congressman got stuck at a fancy dinner party in his shirt sleeves and a hiking vest while everyone else sat in suits. Not quite the look the man from Burbank was aiming for as he rose to thank powerhouse attorney Joe Cotchett for his support in his bid to replace the late Dianne Feinstein...

A pretty dramatic story out of Baltimore today which reveals what may be the first hate hoax perpetrated with the help of artificial intelligence. The principal of Pikesville High School, Eric Eiswert, was accused in January of making blatantly racist comments behind closed doors after an inflammatory audio file was posted on a popular Instagram account.In the recording, the person speaking refers to “ungrateful Black kids who can’t test their way out of a paper bag.”The speaker goes on to question how hard it is to get those students to meet grade-level expectations. He uses names of people who appear...

A new documentary being released by the organization behind the American Greatness website, next week on April 17, is exposing the “four corrupt, political motivated” prosecutors now pursuing cases against President Donald Trump. The narrator of “Chasing Trump” explains, “They say they’re upholding the law. But a close examination reveals politics of the very worst kind meant to influence the 2024 election.” He cites, “Four corrupt, politically motivated prosecutors. One target: Donald Trump.” The trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPAMRVt46KA “Can there be any doubt there’s a sentiment of ‘This is get Trump?'” The video documentary is coming just as a trial is starting...

Judge Aileen Cannon unsealed a trove of documents Monday that appear to reveal a coordinated effort within the Biden administration to target Donald Trump with political prosecution after he left office. Special Counsel Jack Smith and other federal prosecutors in President Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) indicted Trump in June 2023 for allegedly mishandling classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago home. The indictment followed an unprecedented raid on a former president’s home the prior summer. President Biden also retained classified documents after leaving the vice presidency. Yet he was not charged because prosecutors say they believed he would “present himself to...

They can't bring back their children, siblings or partners, but five years on, the families of the 2019 Boeing crash victims want to ensure a similar tragedy never happens again. "We've got French people, Canadians, Americans, Irish, British, we're all there together and we're fighting for something together," Naoise Ryan, holding a photo of her late husband Mick, told reporters on Wednesday. The Irishman was one of 157 killed when a Boeing 737 MAX operated by Ethiopian Airlines plunged into the ground minutes after take-off on March 10, 2019. Ryan is among hundreds of family members calling for the US...

An adage learned early in the career of a trial attorney is, “if the law is not on your side, argue the facts, and if the facts are not on your side, argue the law, but if neither the facts nor the law are on your side, make sure you get your fee up front and in cash,” because you are almost certain to lose your case. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is paid by Big Apple taxpayers regardless of whether he wins or loses a case, but he deserves to lose the so-called “hush money” case against former President...

A Secret Service officer assigned to protect Vice President Kamala Harris who got into a brawl with her colleagues earlier this week previously filed a $1 million gender discrimination lawsuit against the city of Dallas while working as a police officer.Michelle Herczeg was removed from her duties on Wednesday after displaying erratic behavior and assaulting a superior officer while awaiting Harris’ departure from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Monday.In December 2016, Herczeg — then a senior corporal with the Dallas Police Department — filed her claim against the city, alleging that she “was targeted for being a female officer...

The White House punted on Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) demand for President Biden to call in the National Guard to college campuses amid mass protests over the Israel-Hamas war on Thursday. Johnson visited Columbia University on Wednesday, the first of major pro-Palestine protests that have spread to dozens of college campuses around the country, and said that Biden should call in the National Guard to quell the peaceful demonstrations.

News reports about Islamic terrorist attacks are awkward. Videos even more so. Australian authorities have refused to use the “I” or “M” word to discuss the Muslim terrorist attack on a bishop.Now they’re demanding that Twitter take down a video of the stabbing on the Australian Jewish Association Twitter account.At issue is the right of X to publish a video showing the moment a 16-year-old allegedly stabbed a bishop in an Orthodox Christian Church in Sydney earlier this month.Australian authorities say the clips threw fuel on a riot that erupted outside the church after the attack and shouldn’t be available...

Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) argued Thursday before the Supreme Court that droning American citizens is permissible because Obama’s DOJ said so, whereas questioning election results isn’t OK because the government also says so. The Supreme Court heard arguments on the scope of presidential immunity after special counsel Jack Smith alleged that former President Donald Trump should be tossed in jail for questioning the administration of the 2020 election. Justice Brett Kavanaugh posed a series of hypotheticals to DOJ attorney Michael Dreeben about the scope of presidential authority, asking whether Gerald Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon in 1976 could have...

Security services received reports of an explosion near an unidentified vessel today in the Red Sea. It is the first acknowledged report in days and came just hours after the Houthis issued a renewed threat on their official channels. Details were vague on today’s incident with the UK Maritime Trade Organization issuing only brief details. They received a report from a vessel of an explosion in the water approximately 72 nautical miles southeast of the port of Djibouti. The statement only said that there had been an explosion “at a distance,” and that the crew and vessel were reported safe....

The House Judiciary Committee released a new report on Thursday which accuses Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg of pursuing a political prosecution against former President Donald Trump. "[Since] at least 2018, the DANY has weaponized the criminal justice system, scouring every aspect of President Trump’s personal life and business affairs, going back decades, in the hopes of finding some legal basis—however far-fetched, novel, or convoluted—to bring charges against him," the report concluded. "When one legal theory would not pan out, instead of discontinuing its politically motivated investigation, the DANY simply pivoted to a new theory, constantly searching for a crime—any...

A Maryland high school teacher was arrested after he allegedly used artificial intelligence to create phony audio, planting racist and antisemitic words into the voice of his boss, officials said Thursday. Dazhon Darien, a physical education teacher and athletic director at Pikesville High School, was accused of falsifying the voice of principal Eric Eiswert in January, authorities said. "We now have conclusive evidence that the recording was not authentic," Baltimore County Police Chief Robert McCullough told reporters in Towson. "It’s been determined the recording was generated through the use of artificial intelligence technology." Darien was charged with disrupting school activities...

Anti-Jewish, pro-Hamas protesters — such as those seen at Columbia and Yale — will be expelled if they try to pull the same stunts at Florida universities, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) made clear on Thursday. “You think about what happened when you have these Hamas demonstrators out. They’re taking over bridges, and they’re taking over roads,” he said, noting that these individuals do not have the right to do that. “How do you know if someone — someone may need to get to a hospital. Someone may need to pick up a child somewhere, and you’re just going to commandeer...

In October 2021, a woman in the US state of Arkansas allegedly typed out a simple Facebook message: "Just out of curiosity, would you know anyone in the market for a fully intact, embalmed brain?"The woman was a staffer at Arkansas Central Mortuary Services, and according to prosecutors, the message was sent to an antique dealer in Pennsylvania.A search of his home would later uncover multiple buckets containing human remains, including pieces of brain, heart, livers, skin and lungs.Investigators say the pair were part of an underground community spanning multiple states across the US, made up of both morgue staff...

A report in the Daily Mail says that Republicans in Congress are investigating more than ten banks “for colluding with the federal government to spy on Americans after the January 6 protests.” The alleged witch hunt was in search of “‘extremism’ indicators.” You won’t be surprised at all to learn what qualifies as an “extremism indicator.” Fox News reported on January 17: Federal investigators asked banks to search and filter customer transactions by using terms like “MAGA” and “Trump” as part of an investigation into Jan. 6, warning that purchases of “religious texts” could indicate “extremism,” the House Judiciary Committee...

Program will address ‘insidious problem’ with racism in medicine: nurses association Nursing students at the University of Illinois soon will receive “diversity, equity, and inclusion” training via virtual reality courtesy of a $20,000 grant to address racism. The American Nurses Association, which awarded the grant through its National Commission to Address Racism in Nursing, says the funds will address an “insidious problem” with racism in nursing. But other medical professionals and scholars say the project is a waste of money. The university’s College of Nursing plans to use the grant to hire a software engineer to create virtual reality training...

Anti-Israel protesters set up an “intifada” encampment on the campus of state-funded City College of New York Thursday — with participants raising a Palestinian flag over a quad. The encampment was set up Thursday morning, and by the afternoon the Convent Avenue campus was riddled with flags and signs, video from independent reporter Talia Jane showed. “Palestine calls this University Intifada,” Within Our Lifetime organizer Nerdeen Kiswani said into a megaphone, per indie reporter Oliya Scootercaster. “We have a right to control where our tuition goes and that it should never go to oppressing any people anywhere!” Kiswani added in...

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) daughter criticized Democrat judges for giving out harsh sentences to January 6 defendants. Alexandra Pelosi was caught slamming the “liberal” judges who are “out for blood” as they hand out lengthy prison sentences while other J6 protestors get hit with just a fine or probation. “I think I learned in kindergarten that justice is supposed to be fair. A judge is supposed to be the same, and they’re not supposed to be political,” Alexandra said. “And now it’s like one judge you get really makes a difference because some judges are giving probation and...