Free Republic

Former Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., condemned President Donald Trump as a "vile creature" and the worst person on the planet in an interview with CNN published Monday. "He’s just a vile creature. The worst thing on the face of the earth," she said. "You think he’s the worst thing on the face of the earth?" interviewer Elex Michaelson asked. "I do, yeah. I do," Pelosi affirmed. Voting is underway for California’s Proposition 50, in a special election that will have a significant effect on next year's battle for the U.S. House majority. California voters are deciding whether to pass the proposition...

The alleged connection between the Mafia and two former NBA players -- Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups and longtime veteran Damon Jones -- began the way such things often do: through a little-known intermediary. That's one of the ways organized crime finds its way into locker rooms and athletes' inner circles -- by degrees, through introductions that seem harmless enough. What starts as a friendly poker night or an invitation from a trusted acquaintance can, before long, become something else entirely -- a sticky web of influence and, soon enough, obligation, former prosecutors and those who study the Mob say....

A Basketball Hall of Famer. X-ray poker tables. The Mafia. They were all purportedly crucial to an alleged yearslong illegal poker rigging scheme that resulted in 31 federal indictments this week. The case focused on rigged poker games is one of two announced that allegedly involve prominent NBA figures. Investigators state that the scheme to defraud players at a poker table began in April 2019 when defendant Robert "Black Rob" Stroud and other co-conspirators began devising a ruse to use technology to rig illegal poker games, usually Texas Hold 'em, against unwitting, wealthy players whom they called "fish" or "whales,"...

Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups has been charged in an alleged illegal poker scheme tied to organized crime, sources told the Post. Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier was charged as well, in a separate but related illegal gambling case, ABC reported. Prosecutors and FBI Director Kash Patel are announcing further details about the alleged schemes at a press conference in Brooklyn on Thursday morning. LA Lakers, Toronto Raptors, Charlotte Hornets, Portland Trail Blazers involved in sports-rigging scheme: US attorney By Patrick Reilly Four NBA teams have been named as having games involved in the FBI's sweeping investigation into...

The son of a legendary mafia capo, a newbie made man and a mobster who did time for an infamous Queens racial attack were among the 13 reputed mobsters busted alongside NBA stars in a sweeping historic gambling bust, according to a new federal indictment. Among the most prominent of the gangsters who were dealt into the high-stakes scams is Angelo Ruggiero Jr, the son of the late Gambino captain Angelo “Quack Quack” Ruggiero Sr. Ruggiero Jr’s father was close friends with notorious Gambino boss John Gotti, who helped plan the murder of Gambino leader Paul Castellano in 1985. When...

The FBI has arrested Chauncey Billups, NBA champion, Hall of Famer, and coach of the Portland Trail Blazers for his association in a rigged poker game operated by some of New York City’s most notorious crime family. “Why would Chauncey do it?” the world of sports is asking. He’s already worth tens of millions of dollars. That’s a question for Billups, his attorneys, his God, and, presumably, Blazers ownership to answer. But as someone who regularly plays a lot of low and micro-stakes poker, I have a pretty good idea. The games I play in are monitored by security cameras,...

One of President Trump’s biggest political adversaries stunned the political world after revealing that he won an unusual amount of money gambling in Las Vegas last year. As The New York Times reported, Illinois Democratic Governor JB Pritzker released his 2024 tax returns on Wednesday as rumors circulate about him as a 2028 presidential candidate.The returns revealed that Pritzker and his wife reported $10.7 million in adjusted gross income. But the biggest shock was the fact that he won $1.4 million playing blackjack in Las Vegas in just one trip. Such an amount is surprising, especially considering Pritzker is not...

New Talking Point Issued. MSM sound bites parroting the new talking points

“Bloomberg @business Chicago is stepping in to lend cash to its underfunded pensions so they have enough money to avoid asset sales to cover retirement checks as they wait for property taxes to come in after a computer issue delayed collections.” Chicago’s money trees are shedding their autumn layers with a new multi-million dollar government payout package for underfunded public pensions. City officials approved a short-term bailout of the Firemen’s Annuity & Benefit Fund to the tune of $28 million to avoid forced asset sales. That is merely the tip of the iceberg, as Chicago’s pension debt has risen 15%...

NewsNation host Chris Cuomo on “The Chris Cuomo Project” Thursday condemned X CEO Elon Musk for his comments following the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. Musk posted “The Left is the party of murder” on X on Wednesday after Kirk was shot while speaking to a large audience of students at Utah Valley University (UVU). During a rant on his podcast about how destructive social media is, Cuomo argued Musk was devoid of morals and value, saying he would not “be surprised” if the X CEO was killed. “[He’s] the stupidest genius I’ve ever been around. And...

Leftists have long held no qualms about assassination against their rivals, and in Colombia, where narcoterrorism is also a problem and left-narco alliances are common, it has started up again.. But at least we have a secretary of state who is wise to what's going on. This week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent a high-level delegation to Bogota after a leading Colombian presidential candidate, conservative Sen. Miguel Uribe, died of his wounds in a June shooting by a criminal known as a 'sicario' or hitman who obviously had a sponsor. Rubio seems to know who that might be, though,...

Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of Bill and Hillary Clinton, is seriously considering a run for congressman Jerry Nadler's open seat in NY

Despite being one of the most famaous men in the world, ‘Ol’ Blue Eyes’ remains somewhat of a mystery. With so many rumours swirling around Frank Sinatra’s decades long career, it’s hard to untangle the myth from the man. The stories rang from the silly to the downright deranged, from the more boyish antics of him and his rat pack to him using his potential mafia connection to threaten the Mamas and Papas. Some of the tales are believable. It’s easy to assume that the famed singer did have some level of mob ties, but is it believable that he...

Jimmy Hoffa’s final morning on earth, in late July 1975, began with a photo session at his suburban Detroit lakefront home, and thanks to government files, we can see those images 50 years after his disappearance. The portly labor icon posed for photos on July 30, 1975, and then drove to a scheduled luncheon meeting with a pair of hoodlums from Detroit and New Jersey. The mobsters never showed, standing up Hoffa, and the famed labor leader himself was never seen again. Hoffa remained officially missing for seven years, and was declared dead in 1982.

After I saw Oliver Stone’s movie JFK in 1991, I began reading books on the JFK assassination. As the years went on, I gradually became persuaded that the assassination was actually a highly sophisticated regime-change operation on the part of the U.S. national-security establishment, i.e., the Pentagon and the CIA. But I never felt that the evidence was sufficient to persuade me beyond a reasonable doubt, which is the standard of proof in a criminal case. Then I read Douglas Horne’s five-volume book Inside the Assassination Records Review Board. By the time I finished reading that book, I knew beyond...

Politician says his family member’s mafia ties allowed him to walk free. APennsylvania Democrat made a chilling confession during a Wednesday city council meeting that may invite a criminal investigation. The Erie City Council held its bi-monthly meeting earlier this week, during which council members addressed the recent death of Marchello Woodard, a man who was fatally shot. 'You know, Nick, I could blow your head off.' During the meeting, council President Mel Witherspoon (D) explained why he had not attended the man's funeral or the rally held in his honor, claiming that the events "brought some things back to...

A group of current or former Louisiana police chiefs and the operator of a Subway sandwich shop are accused of colluding in a decade-long scheme to falsify police reports to help foreign nationals get visas meant for crime victims or witnesses. A federal grand jury returned a 62-count indictment charging two police chiefs, a former police chief, a marshal and the restaurant operator on charges including bribery, mail fraud, money laundering, conspiracy and immigration fraud, a federal prosecutor said Wednesday. The scheme focused on getting U visas, which allow foreign nationals without any official status in the US to stay...

Ex-Agents: FBI Recruits Violent Informants By JEFF DONN The Associated Press For decades, in cities from coast to coast, FBI agents recruited killers and crime bosses as informants and then looked the other way as they continued to commit violent crimes. When the practice first came to light in Boston - unleashing an ongoing investigation that has already sent one agent to prison for obstruction of justice - FBI officials in Washington portrayed it as an aberration. But Associated Press interviews with nine former FBI agents - men with a combined 190 years of experience in more than 25 bureau...

(WASHINGTON) – United Parcel Service (UPS) is expected to unveil an illegal plan later this month to buyout full-time employees represented by the Teamsters, a corporate scheme that will directly violate the union’s national contract protecting 340,000 delivery workers. The multibillion-dollar company’s Driver Voluntary Severance Plan (DVSP), which UPS has not yet publicly disclosed, would offer cash to drivers to initiate early retirement or quit their job. The DVSP, likely to be announced to workers in the coming weeks, would leave most drivers without quality health insurance if they retire under the program and would undermine UPS’s own legal commitment...

On the third day of a union strike of municipal workers, garbage is piling up in Philadelphia, and some workers are resorting to threats and vandalism against residents who dare to break the strike. The City of Philadelphia is negotiating with members of the AFSCME District Council 33 union, who are asking for a wage increase of 8% per year. The city has offered to increase wages by 7% over three years, which led to the worker strike beginning Tuesday. Since then, residents are reporting that garbage is piling up and threatening their standard of living. "This is a nightmare,"...