Free Republic

For a man who handed Joe Biden $5million for his 2020 election run, it might seem an impossible ask. But with an appeal against his 25-year prison term off to a shaky start, Sam Bankman-Fried's current language is a message he's ready to bend the knee to Biden's successor for a presidential pardon. The mop-haired crypto crook, who also dished out another $40million to Democratic candidates in the 2022 mid-terms, has always been a gambler. Even so, few who watched his spectacular downfall that year amid the $8billion collapse of his FTX crypto exchange might have predicted his latest spin...

Department says image was flagged by prosecutors before determining it posed no risk to survivors of late sex offenderThe US justice department said on Sunday it had restored an image it had removed a day earlier from the public release of investigative files related to Jeffrey Epstein after concluding that the photograph, which included within it a photo of Donald Trump, posed no risk of public exposure to victims of the late convicted sex offender.The justice department said the image had been flagged by federal prosecutors in New York for potentially exposing victims of Epstein. Its unexplained removal on Saturday...

At least six career staff were placed on leave after DHS opened an investigation into whether they misled the agency’s acting director, Madhu Gottumukkala, into taking the test. At least six career staffers at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency were suspended with pay this summer after organizing a polygraph test that the agency’s acting director, Madhu Gottumukkala, failed. The Department of Homeland Security opened an investigation into whether the staff provided “false information” about the need for the test — which was scheduled after Gottumukkala sought access to certain highly sensitive cyber intelligence shared with the agency. This article...

Any election in Ukraine can not be held in Russia-occupied parts of the country, President Volodymyr Zelensky says, adding that the voting process can only take place if security is ensured. He adds that Ukraine’s foreign minister had started the initial work on the infrastructure needed to make voting possible for Ukrainians living abroad...

The illicit drug market is facing a dangerous new shift as Medetomidine, a potent veterinary sedative, is now frequently replacing Xylazine in street drugs. This combination, primarily mixed with fentanyl, dramatically increases the risk of overdose, complicates emergency reversals, and poses severe challenges to public health officials who must adapt quickly to this evolving and deadly crisis. Story Highlights Medetomidine, a potent animal sedative, replaces xylazine in street drugs. The shift exacerbates fentanyl overdoses, complicating reversals and withdrawals. Enforcement pressures lead traffickers to find new, deadlier drug combinations. Public health specialists warn of unpredictable consequences. Medetomidine’s Rise in the Illicit...

White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller assessed the alleged Somali fraud case centered in Minnesota on Friday's broadcast of "Jesse Watters Primetime" on FOX News. "Somalia has this giant coastline, and the only industry they have created, after hundreds of years is piracy, stealing what anyone going through who has actually built something has made. So, yes, the pirates have stolen all of our money, and they have to go home," Miller said. "JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS: While Democrats fight for illegals and commies, 47 is keeping his eye on the prize. You! Deputy Chief-of-Staff for Policy and...

ALEXANDRIA, La. (KALB/Gray News) - Authorities in Louisiana are investigating a crash involving a semitruck that collided with an interstate bridge. According to the Louisiana State Police, the crash was reported on Friday morning on Interstate 49 near exit 61. State police said fatigue seemed to be a factor in the crash, as the driver fell asleep. There were no injuries in the crash, but the bridge’s structure will have to be evaluated for safety due to damage from the collision, authorities noted. Trucks with oversized loads traveling north on I-49 have been instructed to take a detour on U.S....

Left-wing Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was greeted with boos and abuse at Bondi Beach on Sunday when he attended a memorial vigil to remember those murdered in the terrorist attack that struck a Hanukkah celebration one week ago. Shouts of “shame!” rang out as the Labor leader made his way through the crowd with his security team and staff. Grim-faced Albanese and his wife were further jeered with one man yelling out “blood on your hands” joined by a second who cried, “you are not welcome.” Other hecklers could be heard yelling out, “you don’t represent Australia” as he...

Newly-released videos show the moments a man attacked a woman at random outside the King County Courthouse in downtown Seattle earlier this month. Fale Vaigalepa Pea, 42, was armed with a wooden board that had a screw through the end of it and used both hands to swing the weapon and strike the victim, 75-year-old Jeanette Marken, in the face, according to charges filed in King County Superior Court. The hit gouged out Marken's eye, and she just learned that she will not recover her eyesight in the affected eye, family members told KOMO News on Friday. "To take a...

Four men have been convicted for the horrific exploitation, sexual assault and rape of a vulnerable 16-year-old girl who they picked up in Birmingham. The victim, a runaway, was lured into Arqash Zaffar's BMW on Alum Rock Road in July 2019. She reported that Zaffar raped her multiple times over the following days, including in a hotel room where several men took turns to abuse her. Mohammed Nadim, who was present in Zaffar's car when the girl was picked up, sexually assaulted her in the vehicle. Shahban Arif arranged for the victim to be accommodated in a Walsall hotel, while...

The Australian state of New South Wales is proposing to ban public displays of Islamic State group flags or extremist symbols after a mass shooting driven by antisemitism killed 15 people at Sydney’s Bondi Beach. Under draft laws to be debated by the state Parliament, publicly displaying the IS flag or symbols from other extremist groups will be offenses punishable by up to two years in prison and fines. The state’s premier, Chris Minns, also said chants of “globalize the intifada” will be banned and police would be given greater powers to demand protesters remove face coverings at demonstrations. “Hate...

Federal prosecutors say the Biden‑era border crisis produced one of the most brazen cybercrime cases in years. The Department of Justice charged 54 alleged members of the Venezuelan terror gang Tren de Aragua with using sophisticated malware to loot millions from U.S. ATMs and funnel the cash back to their criminal network. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nebraska unsealed two sweeping indictments charging 54 individuals for their alleged roles in a nationwide ATM “jackpotting” conspiracy tied to the violent Venezuelan criminal organization Tren de Aragua (TdA). Prosecutors say the group deployed sophisticated malware to force ATMs across...

And now, readers, we return to the story that won’t go away, the Jeffrey Epstein saga. The deceased pedophile continues to dominate headlines over six years after his death, mostly because there are rumors that high-profile individuals were involved with his exploits, and if their enemies can prove it, they can be ruined. There are also countless victims who have never received justice. Already this Friday afternoon/evening, news broke that today was the deadline Congress had established for the DOJ to release the files, and the department was doing just that. As our Ward Clark reported, Deputy Attorney General Todd...

Randon Sprinkle, the former finance chairman of the Virginia Democratic Party, has been hit with federal charges of distribution of child pornography. According to a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, the affiant “completed the extraction” of Sprinkle’s computer “and found two archived files constituting child pornography,” and one of the files referenced “consists of a 16-second video which shows an adult male’s erect penis penetrating the mouth of an infant.” FBI Richmond executed a federal search warrant on October 16, 2025. Internet archives show that Sprinkle formerly served as finance director...

The suspected gunman behind both the deadly shooting spree at Brown University and the killing of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor was already dead for two days before authorities found his body inside a New Hampshire storage facility, officials said Friday. Claudio Neves Valente, a 48-year-old Portuguese national and former Brown University graduate student, died Tuesday from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, according to the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office. Police discovered his body Thursday night inside a storage unit in Salem following a nearly weeklong manhunt. Authorities identified Valente as the suspect who opened fire...

The alleged "mastermind" behind Minnesota’s $250 million Feeding Our Future fraud scandal tied to the Somali community is accused of wielding extraordinary power through threats and what the government described as "fake claims of racism." Aimee Bock, who founded the Feeding Our Future nonprofit in 2016, used her growing authority to silence dissent, discourage scrutiny from state regulators and cut off operators who refused to comply, prosecutors said. While other defendants splurged on luxury homes, cars and overseas property, prosecutors said, Bock instead controlled the levers of approval and reimbursement that allowed the scheme to flourish.

More than three dozen missing children were rescued from sex traffickers in North Florida after a massive sting. The rescue effort, named Operation Northern Lights, found 43 missing children across 14 counties with more children found in other states, the US Marshals Service announced Thursday. Federal authorities said the youngest victims were one-year-olds and that one of the young victims had been abducted from Florida and located in Louisiana. Nine people were arrested after the staggering operation, which law enforcement said took two weeks to conduct. Additional charges could include human trafficking, child endangerment and custodial interference. The sting turned...

The United States Coast Guard is seizing a sanctioned vessel off the Venezuelan coast, two U.S. officials confirm to NBC News. The operation is in progress. It was first reported by Reuters. The Coast Guard is taking the lead, both officials said. The U.S. military is supporting with helicopters that are dropping off Coast Guard personnel and observing overhead, one of the officials said. This comes after the U.S. interdicted a large, sanctioned oil tanker known as the Skipper off the coast of Venezuela last week. After that operation, the Trump administration sanctioned six more ships believed to be carrying...

Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, said in an interview on CNN that he and Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, are also considering whether Bondi should be held in contempt of Congress. "What we found out is the most important documents are missing," Khanna said. "They've had excessive redactions." The documents released Friday make only limited references to President Donald Trump, even though the administration has acknowledged that his name appears in the files. Former President Bill Clinton, by contrast, appears numerous times in the documents. The release included photos of Clinton swimming, as well as images showing him...

In a final message delivered from beyond the grave, Hollywood icon Rob Reiner delivered a stirring plea for “resilience” to a global gathering of Holocaust survivors at Jerusalem’s Western Wall on Thursday. The pre-recorded video, filmed just weeks before he and his wife were fatally slain in their Brentwood home, was an emotional centerpiece of the annual International Holocaust Survivors Night. In his final address, Reiner spoke of his aunt, who was in Auschwitz, and his wife Michele, whose “whole family died there,” with the exception of her mother. Reiner — an outspoken liberal activist — didn’t shy away from...