Free Republic

Mayor Proposes Cutting 614 Positions From Chicago PD If Federal Stimulus Doesn’t Get Approved Holly Matkin Chicago, IL – Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has proposed a budget plan that includes eliminating over 600 positions within the city’s police department as part of an effort to offset the unprecedented $1.2 billion shortfall anticipated for next year. Lightfoot said that eliminating 1,921 vacant positions within city government would save a total of $106 million, WBBM reported. Over half of the jobs she plans to slash would be tied to the Chicago Police Department (CPD), which would see a loss of 614 positions...

There are at least a trillion reasons why many in Washington don’t want to fix the American healthcare system. Approximately $800 billion are spent annually running the healthcare bureaucracy. Another $200 billion are paid each year in legalized kickbacks to middlemen in the healthcare supply chain. While none of this money goes toward actual patient care, those becoming extraordinarily wealthy under the current system will do everything they can to make sure their gravy train doesn’t end. Money is power. Money buys power. Money moves those in power to conveniently look the other way when it becomes inconvenient to do...

Hero Down: Houston Police Sgt. Harold Preston Murdered By Gunman Holly Matkin Houston, TX – Houston Police Department (HPD) Sergeant Harold Preston was murdered in the line of duty on Tuesday morning. The 65-year-old sergeant was one of many officers who responded to the Richmond Manor apartments in the 2600-block of Holly Hall and El Mundo to assist a woman who was trying to gather some of her property from her estranged husband, KTRK reported. When the officers arrived at the scene to help the woman to retrieve her property, her husband allegedly opened fire on them, HPD Chief Art...

President Trump recalled his interview with “60 Minutes” correspondent Lesley Stahl was “fake and biased,” according to Fox News. I am pleased to inform you that, for the sake of accuracy in reporting, I am considering posting my interview with Lesley Stahl of 60 Minutes, PRIOR TO AIRTIME! This will be done so that everybody can get a glimpse of what a FAKE and BIASED interview is all about… — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 20, 2020 “I am pleased to inform you that, for the sake of accuracy in reporting, I am considering posting my interview with Lesley Stahl...

A judge has dismissed the lawsuit of one of two men who alleged that Michael Jackson abused them as boys in the HBO documentary “Leaving Neverland.” Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mark A. Young on Tuesday found that James Safechuck, 42, could not sue the two corporations Jackson owned that are named as defendants in the lawsuit, MJJ Productions Inc., and MJJ Ventures Inc. Young said Safechuck’s lawsuit had not demonstrated that he had a relationship with the corporations that would have required them to protect him from Jackson. “We are pleased that the court dismissed Mr. Safechuck’s case...

Louisiana Officer In Critical Condition After Gunman Opens Fire On Him Holly Matkin Mangham, LA – A Mangham police officer is in critical condition after being shot in the abdomen during a traffic stop on Saturday. Franklin Parish Sheriff Kevin Cobb said the shooting occurred after Mangham Police Department (MPD) Officer Marshall Waters conducted a traffic stop on Louisiana Highway 425 near the Richland-Franklin parish line at approximately 1 p.m. on Oct. 17, KATC reported. As Officer Waters stepped out of his patrol vehicle, the driver of the vehicle he stopped opened fire, shooting him in the lower abdomen beneath...

Chelsea Handler has an offer that might appeal to 50 Cent. Earlier this week, 50 Cent -- born Curtis Jackson -- took to Instagram to urge fans to "vote for Trump" after learning about some of the numbers associated with former Vice President Joe Biden's tax plan as the election draws closer. On the social media app, the 45-year-old hip-hop mogul shared an image from a news broadcast stating that New York City would be taxed at a rate of 62%. Biden has stated that such percentages will only apply to those making $400,000 or more per year.

Joe Biden’s campaign fired back Thursday after Tony Bobulinski, a former business associate of Hunter Biden, accused the Democratic presidential nominee of being an active participant in his son’s overseas business dealings while serving as vice president in the Obama administration. Bobulinski identified himself Wednesday night as the CEO of Sinohawk Holdings, a firm he described as “a partnership between the Chinese operating through CEFC/Chairman Ye and the Biden family.” In a lengthy statement, he said he had “seen firsthand” that Joe Biden had discussed foreign business with Hunter – a charge the Biden campaign has repeatedly denied.

Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) is embracing gender-neutral pronouns such as ‘Ze’, ‘Per’, and ‘Hir’ to become “fit for the 21st century.” The 102-year-old air force told Forces.net that it “actively promotes diversity and inclusion throughout its ranks in a number of ways” and that the “open and transparent sharing of chosen pronouns is one way we can be an inclusive employer.” The charges mean, according to Forces.net, that from now on “a Leading Aircraftman could be referred to as a Leading Aircraft-Per,” for example.

In 1987, Robert Bork was denied confirmation to the Supreme Court because his originalist beliefs were deemed a serious threat to constitutional rights. Originalism is no less dangerous for those rights today, yet Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s repeated statements professing her belief in originalism have been met with little objection. Originalists believe that the meaning of a constitutional provision is fixed when it was adopted and that it can change only by constitutional amendment. Under this view, the First Amendment means the same thing as when it was adopted in 1791 and the 14th Amendment means the same thing as...

President Donald Trump’s campaign pulled off another pre-debate surprise Thursday, putting a former business partner of Hunter Biden on camera to level the charge that Joe Biden was ‘familiar’ with his son’s business dealings in China. Former Hunter Biden business partner Tony Bobulinski spoke to reporters at the Marriott in downtown Nashville three hours before start time of the final presidential debate – and said he will turn over three cell phones to the FBI and meet with Republican senators about his former business deals. He said he was angry with Hunter after he wanted to use funds for a...

Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH) stands accused of having an undisclosed personal relationship with a lobbyist for Amazon while voting in favor of at least ten pieces of legislation that the company supported. During a debate on Wednesday evening, Republican challenger Matt Mowers accused Pappas of having a relationship with Vann Bentley, who worked as a lobbyist for Amazon in Washington, D.C., from May 2015 to November 2019. “Congressman, you want to talk about relationships with corporate special interests? With all due respect, you’ve been dating a corporate lobbyist who actually was lobbying on behalf of Amazon at the time,” Mowers...

Former Vice President Joe Biden, the 2020 Democrat presidential nominee, used the n-word two additional times in the 1970s beyond those Breitbart News has previously reported, U.S. Senate transcripts reveal. This summer, Breitbart News reported that Biden used the n-word a number of other times in the 1970s and 1980s in Senate hearings while quoting other people. But these two additional 1970s Senate transcripts show him using the derogatory term for black people while not quoting somebody else–and have not yet been reported here. In a 1973 Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing, for instance, Biden said the “less...

Tony Bobulinski, a former Biden family business partner who confirmed that he was the recipient of one of Hunter Biden’s emails linked to investment with a Chinese energy company, said Thursday he will give all of his materials to the FBI. Fox News Channel White House Correspondent John Roberts initially reported Thursday afternoon that Bobulinski “will turn his electronic devices and records of business dealings with Hunter and Jim Biden over to the FBI.” Bobulinski later addressed reporters at the J.W. Marriott in Nashville, Tennessee, two hours prior to the presidential debate, confirming a story first broken by Breitbart News...

A 15-year-old Pennsylvania girl is suing her local school district after she was suspended for wearing a ‘Women for Trump’ face covering and a ‘Trump the Sequel Make Liberals Cry Again’ t-shirt. Morgan Earnest, a sophomore at Mifflin County High School in the central Pennsylvania town of Lewistown, says in a lawsuit filed in federal court that her free speech rights were violated by school administrators. On October 1, the school district issued a new policy on clothing which banned students from wearing anything that contained political messaging, The Patriot News reported.

Billionaire activist investor Paul Singer is reportedly the latest Wall Street bigwig looking to relocate his hedge fund from New York City for Florida. Singer is taking his $41 billion firm, Elliott Management, to West Palm Beach, according to a report from Bloomberg, which cited people familiar with the matter. While planting a new headquarters in West Palm Beach, Singer will also keep space in Midtown Manhattan and open offices in Greenwich so that all of his employees are not required to relocate, the publication said.

A New York grocery store owner is facing boycott threats because he offered a 20% discount to Trump supporters – even after he said he would honor the deal for Biden backers, too. The Fresh Food Supermarket in Oakdale, N.Y., advertised the offer on Facebook Wednesday with a graphic that said customers could get a discount if they mentioned their support for President Trump at checkout. Beer was excluded. The store’s owner, Jose Colon, a Dominican Republic native who is now a U.S. citizen, said he received immediate blowback, as social media users threatened to boycott and make calls to...

Summary This joint cybersecurity advisory—written by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)—provides information on Russian state-sponsored advanced persistent threat (APT) actor activity targeting various U.S. state, local, territorial, and tribal (SLTT) government networks, as well as aviation networks. This advisory updates joint CISA-FBI cybersecurity advisory AA20-283A: APT Actors Chaining Vulnerabilities Against SLTT, Critical Infrastructure, and Elections Organizations. Since at least September 2020, a Russian state-sponsored APT actor—known variously as Berserk Bear, Energetic Bear, TeamSpy, Dragonfly, Havex, Crouching Yeti, and Koala in open-source reporting—has conducted a campaign against a wide variety of U.S....

NASHVILLE (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to come out swinging in Thursday's final presidential debate with Democratic rival Joe Biden to try to close a gap in opinion polls before an election 12 days away. Trump needs to score some hits in the televised encounter to steady a campaign that is struggling, in part due to his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 221,000 people in the United States. Trump, a Republican, trails former vice president Biden significantly in national polls ahead of Election Day, Nov. 3, though the contest is much tighter...

The tragic death of George Floyd and recent events have fueled widespread protests and a renewed call for racial equality nationwide. Amid this, our country has been compelled to reflect on issues that are often uncomfortable, and leaders have been driven to examine their organizations in ways like never before. The Air Force, in many ways, is no different. But as a war-fighting organization we cannot afford to squander this moment, because our future — and national security — depends on it. Pursuing equality means we must be sure that we are attracting the most capable members of our society,...