Free Republic

One of the most swampy Republican senators is in hot water after voting to charge Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial, which ended in his acquittal. Alaska GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski has not committed to running for a fourth full term. When asked on Tuesday evening when she will announce her decision, Murkowski deflected and said she will make her final decision “when I make it.” “I have been doing everything that a good incumbent does in terms of preserving my options, visiting with Alaskans, spending a lot of time, as much time on the ground as I can,...

Sens. Mitt Romney and Kyrsten Sinema are working together on their own minimum wage proposal, after an increase to $15 was stricken from reconciliation for the American Rescue Plan. HuffPost first reported a plan was being drafted. "We're negotiating a minimum wage proposal which we would ultimately take to our group of 20 and see how they react to it, and go from there," Romney told reporters on Wednesday. He did not comment on how much the wage would be, or the timeline for it.

Several moderate Senate Republicans are discussing a potential counteroffer to President Biden's $2 trillion infrastructure proposal, which they consider to be too big and containing too many provisions unrelated to traditional infrastructure projects, such as highways, bridges and trains. But Mr. Biden seems unwilling to lower his ambitions and has argued that the modern definition of infrastructure should include things like child care and electric vehicles. The president also appears set on raising the corporate tax rate to pay for his infrastructure bill, which has been met with stiff resistance by Republicans. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican from West...

Taken together, the groups allow Trump to exert maximum influence over the party and its direction in not just the coming months but future years. And while the groups’ main goal will, undoubtedly, be to position to Trump to walk to the 2024 Republican nomination if he decides to pursue it, there are other reverberations — whether planned or not — from what is happening here. The establishment wing of the Republican Party, with McConnell at its head, is trying to move along from Trump. McConnell slammed Trump for his role in the January 6 US Capitol riot (although he...

Autumn Firth needed crutches after a chance encounter with the dreaded giant hogweed caused extremely painful burns to her feetA teenage girl may need a skin graft after her flesh was burned away in a momentary brush with “Britain’s most dangerous plant”. Autumn Firth, 13, was left on crutches after a chance encounter with the dreaded giant hogweed caused “extremely painful” burns to her feet. The teenager, from Denbigh, now has a long road to recovery before her. “She was on the riverbank in Denbigh and she was barefoot,” said her dad Jonathan, 35. “She stepped on a piece of...

MSNBC anchor Joy Reid on Wednesday’s “The ReidOut” accused former president Donald Trump of inciting “violent white extremism” and likened it to the way Osama Bin Laden did with the Islamic terrorist organization al-Qaeda.

UFC strawweight challenger Rose Namajunas says her philosophy is “better dead than red” as she prepares to face champion Zhang Weili at UFC 261. Weili happens to be the UFC’s first champion from China, and that fact inspires her opponent, Namajunas, according to ESPN. Namajunas claims she is inspired to take on Weili because her family is from Lithuania, and they understand just how dangerous communism is. And she says that freedom and western values are a “huge motivating factor” for why she is a UFC fighter.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot spent more than $100,000 on City Hall improvements last year as the city grapples with a billion dollar shortfall. That tax payer funded spending included $104,682 on the conference room plus another $10,000 on a private roof terrace - which is inaccessible to the public. The estimate for the conference room upgrades arrived around the same time Lightfoot was preparing to share news about a $1.2 billion budget shortfall, according to Department of Assets, Information and Services records.

ERIE — About 150 unaccompanied children found at the southern border of the U.S. have arrived in northwestern Pennsylvania and will be housed at a dormitory at the Pennsylvania International Academy. The children landed Tuesday night at Erie International Airport and were screened by a physician, dentist and nurse, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said. The Pennsylvania International Academy is designated as an emergency intake site by the department. Six children were assigned to each room in the 648-capacity dormitory, with more children expected in the future, the department said. A department spokesperson told the Erie Times-News...

Dana Walden, the chairman of entertainment for Walt Disney Television, recently said during a panel discussion that ABC passed on 'some incredibly well-written scripts' because they did not meet its new diversity standards. Walden made the comments during panel discussion titled 'Women in Focus: Women, Big Tech and the Future of Hollywood' put on by Chapman University and Glamour on April 9, the Hollywood Reporter revealed. Last year, the outlet reported that ABC was calling for at least 50% representation of 'underrepresented groups' in regular and recurring characters - as well as with writing staff and producers.

A police union leader has slammed Brooklyn Center's mayor for 'letting political activists run the show' after a white female cop shot dead a black man in the city. Brian Peters, the head of the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association, told WCCO-AM radio: 'If I were the mayor, I would not allow the political activists [to] run the show.' Peters claims Mike Elliott - mayor since January 2019 - is in 'way over his head'.

The consulting firm for Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors pulled in over $20,000 a month while she served as the chair of an LA jail reform initiative. Cullors' consulting firm, Janaya and Patrisse Consulting was paid $191,000 during 2019 from Reform LA Jails, aka Vote Yes on R, Fox News reports. The 37-year-old, who recently came under fire after her multi-million property empire was revealed, reportedly founded the firm with her spouse and BLM co-founder Janaya Khan.

The movement to make the United States pay reparations to black descendants of slaves was given its most significant backing to date on Wednesday, as the House Judiciary Committee approved a proposal to begin studying the issue. The Committee's vote does not mean reparations are likely any time soon: their support for a new commission to investigate does not mean legislation to create the commission will make it to the House floor. Even if it does proceed to a vote, there is no guarantee that it would survive that vote, as the Democrats hold an extremely narrow majority.

BOSTON (CBS) – The owner of a Lynn tax preparation company is facing more than $135,000 in fines after she is accused of prohibiting employees and customers from wearing masks and refusing to implement COVID protocols. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cited Ariana Murrell-Rosario for “willfully failing to develop and implement measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.” Murrell-Rosario is the owner of Liberty Tax Service. “I believe that the masks are actually the potential source of the spreading,” Murrell-Rosario told WBZ-TV She told OSHA investigators she believed making her employees wear masks for long shifts would...

A controversial live stream binge drinking boom in China has attracted millions of fans but has mainstream media seriously alarmed about health impacts . Although the trend appeared a few years ago, the videos in which bloggers drink excessive bottles of alcohol including beer, liquor, wine and spirits, have only gained momentum since the beginning of last year. n 2019 a man died after filming himself drinking alcohol and things like cooking oil every day for three months in a bid to make money online. Many binge drink streamers now have millions of fans. Some may do binge live streams...

A white active-duty soldier who was seen in a viral video berating and shoving a Black man in a South Carolina neighborhood has been charged with third-degree assault and battery, according to the Richland County Sheriff's Department. "The first time I saw the video, it was terrible," Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said at a press conference Wednesday evening. "It was unnecessary. It was a bad video -- young man was the victim, the individual that was arrested was the aggressor, and he's been dealt with accordingly." ...According to the sheriff's department, the victim "approached several neighbors in a threatening...

For 12 years, business journalist Jim Campbell has interviewed members of Bernie Madoff’s family and exchanged letters with the fraudster himself in prison. His new book, “Madoff Talks,” comes out in two weeks. Here, Campbell reveals some of what he learned about the notorious case.“Jim, I have no problem with what you have laid out,” Bernie Madoff wrote to me from prison, in exquisite cursive, about my request for an interview. “I must add that both Andy and Ruth felt good about your sincerity.” I never imagined becoming pen pals with perhaps the most vilified person on the planet. Nor...

(...) Over the past year political biases prevented the American medical community from promoting potential treatments like Hydroxychloroquine from treating the coronavirus. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the media, and the American medical community shot down its effectiveness early last year after President Trump promoted the drug. This was despite this proof of its effectiveness in treating the virus. (...)

A Raleigh teenager is in shock after one of his neighbors called police on him as he practiced an ROTC routine with a replica rifle. Jathan Walthour recently joined the team at Sanderson High School in Raleigh. Tuesday night at about 9 p.m. he decided to practice outside in his neighborhood. "I was walking throughout the road, I was marching down the street, as I saw the police arrive, I had my rifle on my shoulder," Walthour described. A neighbor called police on the 16-year-old Black student. “There is a man outside with a gun walking up and down our...

Geraldo Rivera had an extraordinary meltdown during a screaming match with Dan Bongino on Hannity over policing and protests in the wake of the death of Daunte Wright on Wednesday. During the exchange, Rivera called Bongino a 'son of a b***' and a 'punk' after his fellow guest said that Rivera wanted to see the country burn, Mediate noted.