Free Republic

CHICAGO -- Twelve people were shot, five fatally, in Chicago weekend violence since Friday night. A 19-year-old man was found shot to death early Saturday in Belmont Cragin on the Northwest Side. About 1:25 a.m., officers responded to a call of shots fired in the 2200-block of North Lockwood Avenue and found the teen lying unresponsive on the sidewalk with gunshot wounds to the back and abdomen, Chicago police said. He was transported to Illinois Masonic Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. A 40-year-old man was fatally shot Friday night during an altercation in an Englewood apartment after he...

The Louisiana Legislature voted overwhelmingly Thursday to move approximately $300 million annually from a fund that pays for higher education and health care to a fund that pays for large transportation projects. Supporters have said the spending will not only improve the state’s infrastructure system, but that it will also create construction jobs. Critics are concerned the proposal would exacerbate an already expected budget deficit in July 2025 affecting state universities, hospitals and other health care programs. Gov. John Bel Edwards needs to sign the legislation for it to become law. Edwards hasn’t decided if he approves of the bill...

Back in February 2020 I had a post asking the question whether justice in this country is “dispensed impartially” as between Democrats and Republicans, at least in cases involving significant political issues. The post was inspired by a letter that had been written on February 11 by then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on the occasion of the sentencing of Roger Stone. Line Justice Department prosecutors had recommended a (wildly excessive) sentence of 7 to 9 years for Stone (for process crimes related to the Congressional investigation of the Russia collusion hoax), but top (political) Justice officials had just withdrawn that...

As a young child, my grandfather fled Communist Russia in the back of a horse-drawn wagon, hiding underneath a pile of hay—which a Bolshevik border guard stabbed with a pitchfork to prevent such escapes from totalitarianism. Fortunately, he was unharmed, and found refuge in America. It’s true that, once they arrived in the United States, Jews of my grandfather’s generation endured antisemitic slurs, were held back by quotas at universities, prevented from renting apartments and buying homes, and excluded from social organizations. Still, they knew with certainty that America was the land of freedom and opportunity. They grasped its fundamental...

In the boisterous protest which happened on the 6th of January 2021, this correspondent was privileged to cover the event for AmmoLand.Much has been written by the left claiming the 6 January event was an “insurrection” a “threat to democracy”, and other scurrilous claims.It was clear from the beginning only a few hundred people, at most entered the Capitol, out of perhaps half a million supporters of President Trump. Nearly all of those were well behaved and did minimal damage as they protested the highly contested election of 2020.There have been multiple claims of Agent provocateurs, people who were not...

Speaking to the nation’s largest teachers union, President Joe Biden said Friday that the pandemic has given America’s parents the “ultimate education” on the challenges of the teaching profession. But even more, he said, the last year has proved that teachers across the U.S. deserve higher pay.“You deserve a raise, not just praise,” Biden said in remarks at the National Education Association’s annual meeting in Washington. “Every parent in this country who spent the last year educating their children at home understands that you deserve a raise.”Biden made the case while selling his proposed legislative priorities and budget for next...

President Biden’s nominee to be the next ambassador to Germany is an Ivy League president whose university paid him nearly $1 million for an honorary professor gig where he was seldom seen, it was revealed Friday. University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann, who has headed the Philadelphia-based institution since 2004, is the first envoy to a G-7 nation to be nominated by Biden.

Olympic hammer thrower Gwen Berry's history of offensive tweets has been uncovered after she snubbed the American national anthem during trials last weekend. Berry, 32, made a variety of tasteless jokes and observations in messages dating back up to ten years, but which are still visible on her account. The athlete - who has insisted that the National Anthem is racist - posted tweets mocking Chinese, Mexican and white people.

Swimming caps designed for natural Black hair — and created by a Black-owned company — will not be allowed at the upcoming Olympic Games in Tokyo. The International Swimming Federation (FINA) rejected an application submitted last year by the British brand Soul Cap for its products to be officially recognized. The decision means the caps cannot be worn at the upcoming Games, the company said. Soul Cap makes swimming caps designed to protect thick, curly, and voluminous hair. FINA said the caps do not follow "the natural form of the head," Soul Cap told BBC News. "We hoped to further...

A reporter for a Ukrainian television network asked to interview me this week for a 4,th of July story they’re running on declining American patriotism. He had read a piece I wrote on the topic, and seemed genuinely baffled as to why so many Americans, like Olympians Gwen Berry and Megan Rapinoe and so many others, are down on their country. It’s easy to understand his confusion. In the last six years, nearly five million Ukrainians hoping to move to the U.S. have applied for our green card lottery. How could I explain to this man why so many Americans...

A New Orleans-based FBI agent arrested last week on numerous sexual misconduct charges involving children is now being held without bond in Ascension Parish jail. David Harris, 51, appeared in court Thursday morning for a bail hearing. Court records show the judge ordered him held without bond. Harris, who lives in Prairieville, was involved in multiple criminal acts involving adults and children across the state since at least 2016, according to the Louisiana State Police Special Victims Unit and the U.S. Department of Justice, which began investigating the agent after fielding a complaint about him in February. Harris was an...

NEW YORK - Jessica Stern, soon to become the State Department’s special diplomatic envoy for LGBTQ rights, sees a mix of promising news and worrisome developments almost everywhere she looks, both at home and abroad. In the United States, Stern’s admiration for President Joe Biden’s moves supporting LGBTQ rights is offset by her dismay at other developments. These include persisting violence against transgender women of color and a wave of legislation in Republican-governed states seeking to limit sports participation and medical options for trans youth. “I don’t think there’s a country or region that’s all good or all bad,” she...

@Nigel_Farage This video was taken in Dungeness yesterday. Would it be wrong to use the word invasion? Take a look for yourself. Video...

As leftists try to impose Orwellian restrictions to force vaccinations, we may find ourselves forced to use their “trans” ideology as a defense. The recent Bruce Springsteen concert celebrates the return to post-Covid normalcy...for some. Everyone attending this event was required to show proof of vaccination, which raises some uncomfortable “what if” questions. What if; -Forged vaccination documents were used to gain entrance? -A handful of people standing in line had a fever and were coughing violently, but carried written proof they’d received the Covid vaccine? -A dedicated Springsteen fan had religious, allergy, and medical reasons for not getting the...

By a vote of 6-3, the US Supreme Court overturned an appeals court decision invalidating Arizona's ban on ballot harvesting and the requirement that in-person voting must take place at the precinct where the voter is registered to vote. The majority opinion was written by Justice Samuel Alito who called the Arizona rules "appropriate measures for protecting election integrity." Justice Elena Kagan sharply criticized the ruling in her dissenting opinion. "There can be no question that having any rules will filter out the votes of residents who do not follow those rules," she wrote. "Barring ballot harvesting will reduce the...

Dr. Robert Malone, who identifies himself as a pioneer of mRNA vaccines, said that LinkedIn recently deleted his account after he made comments about mRNA COVID-19 vaccines and questioned whether they’re appropriate to give to certain groups of people. “My business pays for linked in premium. I have been deleted,” Malone wrote on Twitter this week. “Purchased a service from linked in to promote my company. This is very different from the YouTube or Twitter terms. This arbitrary and capricious action has damaged our business, and we deserve to be compensated.” It appears his personal account was removed earlier this...

Out-of-state rescuers turned away after testing positive for coronavirus SURFSIDE, Fla. – Search-and-rescue teams looked for survivors through the 9th night and into the 10th day of a delicate operation after the Champlain Towers South collapse formed a compact mountain of pancaked concrete in Surfside. There were 126 people who remained unaccounted for Saturday.

Tokyo (AFP) - Athletes at Tokyo 2020 will be allowed to "express their views" before and after competing -- but not on the podium -- after Olympics chiefs relaxed some of the rules for protests at the event. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) released new guidelines Friday softening a long-standing ban on political protests at the Games. It means athletes will now be allowed to take the knee before play begins to highlight racial injustice, speak to the media and post online about their views, or wear clothing with a protest slogan at a press conference. But political statements during...

In a San Diego Seabees battalion, the powers that be apparently let it be known that everyone who could had better march under the gay flag. When Winston Churchill was First Lord of the Admiralty and proposed some much-needed reforms, the pushback he received claimed the reforms ran afoul of Naval tradition. Churchill snapped back, “Naval tradition? Naval tradition? Monstrous. Nothing but rum, sodomy, prayers, and the lash.” More than 100 years later, it appears that the United States Navy is embracing that sodomy tradition. How else to explain that officers at a Naval Seabees unit allegedly forced everyone to...