Free Republic

One of the things you learn as a litigator is not to make promises to the jury unless you’re certain you can deliver on those promises. The prosecutors in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial forgot that rule. Not only did they fail to deliver on the promises in their opening statement, but they also lied in their closing statement (along with insulting the jury and misstating the law, all of which are big no-noes). Before getting to the lawyer stuff, the judge did something important, which was to dismiss the gun charge against Kyle. Contrary to every mainstream media outlet in...

West Flanders has the highest vaccination rates in Belgium, according to data from Sciensano, but the province is struggling with some of the highest numbers of Covid-19 cases since the pandemic first began. Koksijde, Middelkerke and De Haan are at the top of the list of the most vaccinated municipalities, with 88, 87 and 86 percent of their population fully vaccinated, reports RTBF.

NEW YORK - New York City has seen an uptick in coronavirus cases in recent days, which doesn't surprise city officials. That is because COVID-19 cases are likely to rise as temperatures drop and people spend more time indoors, health experts say. So now the city is recommending that all vaccinated adults - anyone 18 years or older - get a COVID-19 vaccine booster, too, if they feel they are at risk. The CDC has approved boosters for people who received the Pfizer and Moderna series if they are 65 or older, 18 or older who lives in long-term care,...

Ex-Trump White House adviser Stephen Bannon threatened to make the charges against him “the misdemeanor from hell” for the Biden administration as he exited his first court appearance after being indicted for defying a congressional subpoena. The Department of Justice on Friday scored an indictment against Bannon after filing two charges of criminal contempt of Congress, saying the former Trump staffer failed to “comply in any way” for a request for documents and a deposition from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. “I'm telling you right now, this is going to be the misdemeanor from...

What with middle-class Americans starting to reject the woke rule of the educated and credentialed class, does that mean America is ready for a new “fusionism” -- a combination of traditionalism and capitalism of the kind put together by Frank Meyer under the patronage of William F. Buckley half a century ago? That’s what Donald Devine asks at the American Spectator in “Is Conservative Fusionism Dead or Simply Confronting Changing Times?” And he has a book out, The Enduring Tension: Capitalism and the Moral Order, that according to Amazon’s “look inside,” digs into critiques of capitalism and the western social...

I am a Jew, and like many Jews, I fled the land where I was born. That was the Soviet Union. I am far from alone. Seems that at every stage of history, someone has been sure to throw the Jews into the sea. The Jews, however, had already been to the sea – when they left Egypt – and got out safely. That sea was the Red Sea. When I got out of the red, socialist sea, I found a sea of democracy in Israel. And here is what I have since learned: Under Soviet socialism, there was no...

It's a local version of the oldest rule in international affairs: the path to peace is by maintaining the most imposing military in the region. Nobody will attack you if your army is the best. “If you want peace, prepare for war.” The theory motivating Rittenhouse and his comrades that day was the same universally-accepted principle, writ small. The Left has now redefined this concept as “provocation:” He shouldn’t have gone there in the first place.The murder trial of young Kyle Rittenhouse, the only noteworthy prosecution to come out of the 2020 Kenosha riots, has become a surrogate for a...

The American landscape is littered with so many ongoing and predesigned crises, as well as the never-ending falsehoods and illegalities of the Biden Administration, it is nearly impossible for the average American to keep up with all the facets of the Covid-19 quagmire. As the propaganda arm of the Democrat party, the so-called “mainstream media” is regurgitating the approved government talking points, herewith is an update. The efficacy of the vaccinesOnce in office, Joe Biden and his administration openly and vociferously claimed that once people are vaccinated, they would not be susceptible to Covid-19. In this same timeframe the media,...

The wife of a major Democratic donor who landed in hot water for contributing to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s controversial “pay-to-play” nonprofit is in line for a plum post as US ambassador to Portugal — after helping raise more than $100,000 for President Biden’s campaign last year. Randi Charno Levine’s nomination to be the top-ranking diplomat to the scenic Mediterranean country was sent to the US Senate for confirmation earlier this month following Biden’s announcement of her appointment on Oct. 29.... ...It’s unclear when the Senate will take up Randi Levine’s nomination, as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has reportedly been...

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media. I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone: for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. ~ 1 Timothy 2:1-2 Religion Forum Threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate of any kind. “Do not be afraid of them. REMEMBER THE LORD, who is GREAT and AWESOME. So fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters,...

The U.S. government is curtailing admissions of refugees to focus on the massive effort to process and resettle tens of thousands of Afghan evacuees, the State Department said Monday. Through January 11, the U.S. will stop booking travel for refugees who don't qualify for certain exceptions. Refugees who need to reunite with family in the U.S., who are travel-ready, who have "urgent cases" or whose medical and security screenings are set to expire soon will continue to be resettled, the State Department said. The limits on refugee admissions were requested by the local nonprofit refugee resettlement agencies that partner with...

The number of migrants taken into U.S. custody along the border with Mexico decreased for a third consecutive month in October after skyrocketing this summer, according to government data published on Monday... Roughly 57% of the migrants encountered by U.S. border agents in October were expelled to Mexico or their homelands under a Trump-era emergency policy known as Title 42 that the Biden administration has retained.... ...Nearly 30% of the migrants encountered in October had been previously processed by U.S. authorities in the past 12 months, CBP said. Approximately 70,000 of the migrants who entered U.S. border custody in October...

After a week shivering in sodden woodland, the largest group of migrants stuck between the serried ranks of Belarusian and Polish border guards decided to move. We were en route to their camp but they had other plans. "It's too cold and we are in a place that's quite open, we have no protection from the rain and snow. And all the children are coughing because of smoke," a contact, Dino, told me by voice message as I tried to arrange our meeting. ... The EU was actually deliberating tougher sanctions on the Belarusian regime. An attempt to hold those...

The prosecution's star witness in the Kyle Rittenhouse case had a criminal charge dismissed just six days before the trial's start, meaning the jury had no insight into his extensive criminal record nor his history of lying to police, DailyMail.com can reveal. Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger was well aware of this when he paraded Gaige Grosskreutz, 28, the third man shot on the night of August 25, 2020, as a paragon of selfless virtue. He was a paramedic, the court heard, just there that evening to provide medical aid, as he claimed to have done at countless other protests...

NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- The New York City Public Design Commission voted unanimously Monday to approve the long term loan of the controversial Thomas Jefferson statue in the Council Chambers at City Hall to the New-York Historical Society... ...Some commission members were concerned with putting it at the New-York Historical Society because it is privately run and charges a $22 admission fee for adults. They wanted it to be at a location that is free for entry, like another part of City Hall.... ...Once moved, the statue will be displayed in the museum's first-floor lobby for approximately six months...

A discussion between pupils over the types of pronouns that could be used to describe people in the Spanish language on a bus ride home got out of hand and ultimately led to a student being suspended, with the school now being sued by the teen. The New Hampshire student-athlete together with his mother is suing his school district after he was suspended from a football game for expressing his views that there are 'only two genders.' The student is seeking nominal damages against New Hampshire School Administrative Unit 16 (SAU16) and Exeter High School Assistant Principal Marcy Dovholuk. The...

U.S. officials say Russia destroyed a retired satellite in an anti-satellite weapon test, creating a cloud of debris that prompted the seven-member crew of the International Space Station to take shelter in their Crew Dragon and Soyuz spacecraft early Monday as a precaution. "I'm outraged by this unconscionable action," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement.... State Department spokesman Ned Price said the Russian Federation "recklessly conducted a destructive satellite test of a direct ascent anti-satellite missile against one of its own satellites." "The test has so far generated over 1,500 pieces of trackable orbital debris and hundreds of...

Prosecutor Thomas Binger told Kyle Rittenhouse: "You understand that when you point your AR-15 at someone, it may make them feel like you are going to kill them, correct?" Problem is, it wasn't an AR-15, and secondly, here is the sequence of events that night: Rittenhouse is headed to put out a fire. Rosenbaum sees him and begins to chase him. Rittenhouse flees. Rosenbaum keeps pursuing. Rittenhouse points his gun at him but doesn't shoot. Rosenbaum keeps after him. Rittenhouse turns to face Rosenbaum, Rosenbaum lunges for his gun, gets shot. Rittenhouse didn't provoke him as Rosenbaum began to chase...

“The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD. All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits. Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established” (Proverbs 16:1-3).

Representative Karen Bass (D-CA) said on CNN that the two white men killed by Kyle Rittenhouse were like white Civil Rights activists killed in the 1960s. Asked about the trial on the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, Bass said, “I think that particular trial is off to a bad start just like the trial of Rittenhouse is off to a bad start. The Arbery trial, is a trial of a lynching. That is exactly what happened in that case and look at Rittenhouse. Both of those trials were based in race.” Jake Tapper said, “Kyle Rittenhouse is a white man accused...