Free Republic

The O’Keefe Media Group on Tuesday released undercover video of a Finance Development Officer for Los Angeles Housing Department admitting to witnessing multiple instances of fraud. Donald Byers told the undercover OMG journalist that $10 to $20 million are going into people’s pockets and that homeless developers are embezzling money. Byers also said that the superiors look the other way to help corrupt Democrat Mayor Karen Bass maintain “re-election funds.” Per the O’Keefe Media Group: Donald Byers, a Finance Development Officer from the Los Angeles housing programs, admits on hidden camera that millions of taxpayer money disappear inside the city’s...

Retired Pakistani Lt. Gen. Muhammad Saeed tells the New York Post that Iran lacks the "compatible military means" to sustain a conflict against the U.S. and Israel. As Operation Epic Fury chokes the Iranian economy, Saeed predicts Tehran will be forced to accept a "take it or leave it" deal. A retired Pakistani lieutenant general with deep regional insight has told the New York Post that Iran simply “does not have the military means” to keep up its confrontation with the United States and Israel. Lt. Gen. (ret.) Muhammad Saeed, who spoke exclusively to the Post in Islamabad on Monday,...

"The move to besiege the Strait of Hormuz and the Iranian coasts is expected to paralyze China energetically and economically within a short time, and it is possible that this is the central logic behind the move." (From the study by Adam Kraft and international researchers). The American blockade of Iranian coasts and the Strait of Hormuz has placed the Chinese economy in a precarious position. A new study by a former U.S. national security official warns that without regular supplies, China's oil reserves could run dry as early as June. The Depth of Chinese Dependency China is currently the...

The Justice Department on Tuesday asked a federal appeals court to throw out the seditious conspiracy convictions of Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders who were sentenced to prison terms for leading members of the far-right extremist groups in attacking the U.S. Capitol to keep President Donald Trump in the White House over five years ago. Trump commuted the prison sentences of several Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders last January in a sweeping act of clemency for all 1,500-plus defendants charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack. The request by the Justice Department would go a step further and...

According to a report in The Korea Herald, Jeong Choong-won of Seoul National University and an international team of researchers conducted a genetic study of 78 individuals buried in 44 tombs in South Korea's Imdang-Joyeong burial complex, which was in use during the Three Kingdoms period between the fourth and sixth centuries A.D. The scientists detected evidence of close-kin marriages and family-based sacrificial burials among the occupants of the burials. Most of the tombs in the complex consist of a main burial chamber and a secondary chamber. In at least 20 of the main chambers, the researchers found evidence of...

Dr Thomas Shaknovsky indicted for second-degree manslaughter after prosecutors allege he removed a patient's liver instead of his spleen SNIP The Office of the State Attorney for the First Judicial Circuit in Florida announced in a release Monday that Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky was charged with second-degree manslaughter after he allegedly removed the liver from 70-year-old Bill Bryan of Muscle Shoals, Alabama, in 2024 during a procedure at Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital in Miramar Beach, Florida. Prosecutors allege the surgery was scheduled to be a laparoscopic splenectomy, a minimally invasive procedure used to remove the spleen, but the removal...

A Chinese-owned tanker under U.S. sanctions has passed the Strait of Hormuz despite the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports that began on Monday.Citing data from Kpler and MarineTraffic, Reuters reported that the vessel had traversed the chokepoint earlier today. Owned by Shanghai Xuanrun Shipping Co Ltd., the vessel, Rich Starry, became a target for U.S. sanctions because it was used to transport Iranian crude.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland Democrats have rejected an effort to redraw the state’s congressional map to boost their party’s chances in the midterm elections, a setback for Gov. Wes Moore who put his clout behind the attempt to blunt President Donald Trump’s own redistricting campaign. The clock officially ran out on the proposal late Monday night as the state legislative session ended, a casualty of internal party disagreements. In the end, the Maryland Senate left the bill in a committee, with Democrats who control the chamber concerned it could backfire under judicial review. The unusual mid-decade redistricting, which started...

Faced with a mounting backlash against a Turning Point USA rally to be held on campus, Baylor University administrators have granted a coalition of student groups permission to hold a counter-event on campus with two well-known gay Christians as speakers. This is believed to be the first time Baylor has allowed an openly gay Christian advocacy speaker on campus for such an event. Whether related or not, the university also announced April 7 that Willie Nelson will appear in concert on campus in May. The country singer reportedly has not been on campus since he left there as a student...

Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger has signed legislation that enters the Commonwealth into an interstate compact to give its electoral votes to the presidential ticket that receives the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Virginia is now the 18th state to join the National Popular Vote Compact (HB 965/ SB 322). The legislation passed both houses of the General Assembly, mostly along party lines. Spanberger signed the bill on Monday, April 13.

President Donald Trump flipped on his once close ally, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, on Tuesday in a phone interview with an Italian daily newspaper. Trump responded to Meloni’s recent criticism of his attack on Pope Leo XIV by accusing Meloni of being a changed person. On Monday, Meloni called Trump’s multiple attacks on the Pope “unacceptable.” “I find President Trump’s words toward the Holy Father unacceptable,” Meloni said in a statement. “The Pope is the head of the Catholic Church, and it is right and normal that he calls for peace and condemns every form of war.” Meloni was...

Dianna Russini has resigned from her job at the Athletic after Page Six published photos of her at a luxury hotel with New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel. The veteran NFL reporter shared the news in a letter to Athletic Executive Editor Steven Ginsberg, obtained by Page Six. “I have covered the NFL with professionalism and dedication throughout my career, and I stand behind every story I have ever published,” the letter said. “When the Page Six item first appeared, The Athletic supported me unequivocally, expressed confidence in my work and pride in my journalism. For that I am grateful.”

As if World Cup tickets weren't costly enough, getting to those games is slated to cost plenty more than usual. NJ Transit tickets from MetLife Stadium to New York Penn Station after matches are reportedly set to cost more than $100, while prices in Boston are also set to surge. Currently, prices from East Rutherford to Penn Station are just under $13. The Athletic also reported that there will be no price differences for seniors, children or passengers with disabilities, and a final decision on the pricing is expected in the next few days. Last week, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation...

VATICAN CITY — President Donald Trump escalated his feud with Pope Leo this morning, nailing a copy of The Art of the Deal to the door of the Vatican. "Here I stand, and can do no other," declared Trump as he drove the nail into the Vatican door. "My conscience is captive to making the best deals. If the haters and losers like Pope Leo can't handle that, too bad. I cannot and will not recant anything about the elements of the deal and why I make the best deals of anyone." A crowd of onlookers stood in stunned silence...

Chilling security camera footage shows the movements of the alleged Molotov cocktail bomber who tried to torch Sam Altman’s San Francisco mega-mansion hours before the crazed attack. Daniel Moreno-Gama, 20, checked into a San Francisco hotel on April 6 and allegedly lay in wait for four days before tossing the incendiary device at the OpenAI CEO’s Russian Hill property early Friday morning, hotel staffers told the San Francisco Standard. Hours later, Moreno-Gama emerged from his room dressed in black and carrying a backpack. Housekeepers later found a 9mm handgun in the young man’s room, the Standard reported. He then allegedly...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — With the sudden resignation of California Representative Eric Swalwell over sexual assault charges, analysts speculated that there were now just 534 perverts remaining in the United States Congress. According to political experts, there are typically 535 perverts in Congress at any given time, with 435 perverts in the House, and 100 perverts in the Senate. However, the temporary vacancy left by Swalwell's departure has left Congress with the unusual number of 534 total perverts. "This is not as many pervs as we're used to around here," said Congressional aide Tracy Johnson. "Usually, every office I walk by...

Remember "Malcolm In The Middle," that show from the early 2000s starring Frankie Muniz and Bryan Cranston that was a hilarious look at growing up in a lower-middle class family at the turn of the century? Well, Disney, being the absolute Dr. Frankenstein that it is, just couldn't let the series die with the times, and decided to resurrect the once-popular sitcom, releasing it to an unsuspecting populous. Behold, "Malcolm In The Middle: Life's Still Unfair." Well, that looks like some harmless fun, right? They hit all the bullet points from the original series: the brothers are still nuts, Hal...

According to a report in the Sport Business Journal, the Triple Crown schedule could be shaken up in 2027 as media rights to the Preakness go up for grabs after this year’s edition. The report indicates that the middle jewel of the Triple Crown “is set to make a historic shift to one week later in May,” three weeks after the Kentucky Derby. However, Maryland Jockey Club president and general manager Bill Knauf denied the published SBJ report. He told The Blood-Horse: “We are in the middle of media rights negotiations and have yet to meet with two potential partners....

A 110-foot Ferris wheel, state pavilions and patriotic festivities are coming to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., as part of a 16-day "Great American State Fair" marking the nation’s 250th anniversary. "As our nation prepares to celebrate 250 years of freedom and opportunity, the National Mall will once again serve as the stage for telling our nation’s story. Thanks to President Donald J. Trump’s leadership," said Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum in a release. "The Great American State Fair will bring all 50 states and six territories together in one place, showcasing the people, landscapes, and traditions that...

IN POLITICAL NEWS 1) Unable to come to a settlement with the nutjobs running Iran,https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/ President Trump imposed a blockade on the Strait of Hormuz. Remember, this hurts us ZERO, but really hurts the Euros and the ChiCom. Check out this report of a massive fleet of empty oil tankers heading for the U.S. to pick up oil. https://x.com/MarioNawfal/status/2042747418073034790 Right before shutting it down entirely, Trump ordered the U.S. Navy to clear mines in the Strait. https://blackmon.substack.com/p/hormuz-update-us-navy-clearing-mines It seems the Iranians actually forgot where they put the mines. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/10/us/politics/iran-mines-strait.html What's good for the goose . . . anyone remember when...