Free Republic

A federal judge rejected former President Trump’s latest attempt for a new trial, upholding the verdict and $83.3 million award in his defamation case against writer E. Jean Carroll. In a written opinion, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan said Trump’s arguments are “without merit.” “Mr. Trump’s malicious and unceasing attacks on Ms. Carroll were disseminated to more than 100 million people. They included public threats and personal attacks, and they endangered Ms. Carroll’s health and safety,” Kaplan wrote. A jury in January ordered him to pay $83.3 million to Carroll after Kaplan found he was liable for defamation. Last month,...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has rejected a proposal to raise the governor’s salary with a three percent increase in the 2025 budget, asserting that an increase is “appropriate for others given the persistent inflation” but not for the governor’s salary. “I’ve spoken to legislative leaders and asked that they remove a proposed 3% increase for the Governor’s salary in next year’s budget,” DeSantis said in a statement posted to X. “While this increase is appropriate for others given the persistent inflation in the US economy, it is best to leave the Governor’s salary as is,” he said, garnering praise...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu firmly rejected a Biden administration-backed plan Sunday to end the war in Gaza, with Hamas still holding onto its weapons and power, in exchange for the staged release of the remaining 136 Israeli hostages. As Breitbart News reported, the Biden administration, Qatar, and Egypt have proposed a three-stage deal in which Israel would release Palestinian terror convicts and withdraw completely from Gaza in exchange for the gradual release of Israeli captives.

One of Australia's top doctors has rejected calls for the return of a mask mandate as COVID-19 hospitalisations rise across the country. Dr Nick Coatsworth told Today it was important to remember that vaccination and booster shots remained a strong defence against COVID-19. It follows media reports that Queensland doctors were calling for the return of the mandate at public gatherings and in hospitals, GP surgeries.

Doc-No-Go. New York City Comptroller Brad Lander rejected the city’s no-bid $432 million migrant housing and care contract with a medical services provider Wednesday — citing the company’s lack of expertise and other controversies. “My office did not make this decision lightly. After a careful review, we are declining to approve this contract due to numerous outstanding concerns,” Lander said in a statement about his decision to return the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s nine-figure deal with DocGo. There is “little evidence” to suggest that DocGo — formerly known as Rapid Reliable Testing NY LLC — had the experience...

A Russian court on Tuesday rejected Brittney Griner’s appeal after the jailed WNBA star begged for forgiveness for her “mistake” — upholding her nine-year sentence on drug charges. Griner and her lawyers had asked for acquittal or at least a more lenient sentence, which they said was disproportionate to the offense and at odds with Russian judicial practice. The presiding judge said the verdict was upheld “without changes” except for the counting of time served in pre-trial detention as part of the sentence. Griner is now expected to be moved to a penal colony. The US chargee d’affaires in Moscow,...

Q is the result of the sacrifices and commitment of countless patriots to win back our captured country from the Deep State and achieve the transformation President Trump promised in this campaign video. President Trump has said the awakening of the public is key to this transformation.Q describes this awakening as follows: "The Great Awakening ('Freedom of Thought’), was designed and created not only as a backchannel to the public (away from the longstanding 'mind’ control of the corrupt & heavily biased media) to endure future events through transparency and regeneration of individual thought (breaking the chains of ‘group-think’), but,...

NEW YORK (AP) — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin lost her libel lawsuit against The New York Times on Tuesday when a jury rejected her claim that the newspaper maliciously damaged her reputation by erroneously linking her campaign rhetoric to a mass shooting. A judge had already declared that if the jury sided with Palin, he would set aside its verdict on the grounds that she hadn’t proven the paper acted maliciously, something required in libel suits involving public figures. Palin, a onetime Republican vice presidential nominee, sued the newspaper in 2017 claiming it had damaged her career as a...

Chief Justice John Roberts on Thursday rejected a request to block a federal mask mandate for air travel. The emergency request was filed by a Florida man on behalf of himself and his 4-year-old autistic son, who both claim to be medically incapable of wearing masks for extended periods, according to court papers

The Biden administration’s plea for more oil production has been rejected by OPEC and its allies, including Russia, according to Reuters.The group of big oil producers believe oil markets do not need more oil than they plan to release in the coming months, Reuters reported.The report cited “four sources” but did not name them. Reporting on internal OPEC decisions is often based on unnamed sources.The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is a cartel of 13 nations that includes Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. A larger group, that also includes Russia, Mayalasia, and Mexico, is known as OPEC+.The...

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey’s (R) office says the state is “moving forward” following new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) which recommends that individuals, regardless of vaccination status, wear face masks indoors in certain areas. “The American people, Governor Ivey included, are understandably frustrated with the changing goal post and whiplash over the CDC’s covid-19 [Chinese coronavirus] guidance,” said Gina Maiola, Ivey’s press secretary, in a statement to Breitbart News. “Governor Ivey has been crystal clear on her position that there will be no mandates from the state level.

Iran has rejected President Joe Biden’s reported compromise proposal for a partial nuclear deal before he has even offered it. As Breitbart News noted earlier Tuesday, Politico reported Monday that Biden was preparing to offer Iran partial relief from sanctions in exchange for a partial suspension of nuclear activity:

On "Fox & Friends" Wednesday morning, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee gave President Trump some advice he will likely decline. He wants the president to stop talking about how Democratic nominee Joe Biden's son Hunter sat on the board of a corrupt Ukrainian gas company while he was vice president and overseeing U.S. relations with Ukraine. "It is a mistake" to keep bringing up the Hunter Biden scandal, Huckabee explained, "Because most people don't understand it, it's too complicated. And frankly, it doesn't matter to them."

The Supreme Court Thursday rejected the petition by scientists and academics against the COVID-19 lockdown. The judges ruled that “the petition’s underlying factual and legal infrastructure is no longer relevant," referring to the petition’s claims of inflated morbidity and mortality data, biases, and lack of transparency. The judges ruled the points were moot, as the government has already tightened measures and imposed full lockdown based on the same data. The Court said it cannot examine the substantive arguments presented by the petitioners, and therefore defers to the "competent bodies". Attorney Batya Sachs, who prepared the petition, responded to the ruling,...

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday blocked a Republican bill that would pay the Coast Guard without ending the ongoing partial government shutdown.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country rejects the move of the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, adding that the U.S. has “lost its role as mediator” in the Middle East in the process. “With its latest step America has chosen to be a part of the problem, not a solution, and lost its mediator role in the Middle East peace process”, Erdogan told the Chatham House global affairs think tank on Monday. “We are rejecting once again this decision which violates international law and which is against UN resolutions,” he said. ‘President Erdogan vigorously defended Turkey’s...

The Turkish foreign ministry has issued a rebuttal of U.S. President Donald Trump’s statement on the Armenian genocide. “We reject the inaccurate expressions and the subjective interpretation of history in the written statement by Mr. Donald Trump, President of the USA, released on 24 April 2018 regarding the events of 1915,” it said. “In this context, we remind President Trump that during the same period more than 500.000 Muslims were slaughtered as a result of the events in which Armenian insurgents took part.” It said that Turkey was offering to establish a Joint Historical Commission to research the historical period,...

NEWS DESK- Iraq Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said that he spoke with his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu about the need for the withdrawal of Turkish troops from Iraq and stressed on not allowing Iraq to become a regional conflict zone.Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu arrived at the capital Baghdad on an official visit and is scheduled to head to Hewler to meet with leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party Massoud Barzani.The Turkish visit comes after the start of the campaign to restore Tal Afar in the province of Nineveh, also after the delegation left the referendum in the Kurdistan Region...

Strong words, Wednesday, from Poland’s conservative prime minister, Beata Szydło, in reaction to EU threats to force her country to accept migrants or face massive fines. ‘’Poland will not submit to any blackmail on the part of the European Union’’, Szydło stated during a parliamentary debate, adding that her Central European nation would not be participating in the ‘’madness of the Brussels elites.’’ Referencing the Islamist suicide bombing which killed 22, mainly children, and injured dozens more at a pop concert in Manchester this week, the Catholic prime minister said she had the courage to call out the EU’s political...

German national parliament Berlin, Germany (Photo: Jorge Royan). Germany has rejected more requests for arms exports to Turkey during the past 5 months than in five years between 2010 and 2015, German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported on Tuesday.The sharp increase in rejections, mainly handguns, ammunition and parts needed in weapons production, is due to “the risk of a deployment in the context of internal repression or the Kurdish conflict,” according to a written response by State Secretary Matthias Machnig to a question posed by lawmaker Jan van Aken.“Respect for human rights is a matter of particular importance for arms export...