Free Republic

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) — A lead investigator in the alleged plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer pleaded no contest Monday to assaulting his wife, though he said he has no memory of it.Kalamazoo County prosecutors struck a deal with former FBI agent Richard Trask after his wife declined to cooperate further.Trask was accused of assaulting his wife at their Kalamazoo-area home in July. She had lacerations on her head and blood on her chest, arms and hand, sheriff’s investigators wrote.Gov. Gretchen Whitmer reacts to Enbridge lawsuit "I take full responsibility for my actions which caused pain and suffering to my...

John Thune’s Senate career began with a thunder when he defeated Democratic Leader Tom Daschle in 2004. Now, it may end with a whimper. There is growing speculation that Thune might not run for re-election in 2022. Even if he does run again, the thought of Thune retiring at some point in the future is a wake-up call for the South Dakota Republican Party, which has enjoyed an era of peace and prosperity since Thune won his seat in 2004. More on that in a moment. For some, talk of Thune retiring is akin to a poker player folding when...

Taco Bell, the restaurant known for having ground beef that's utterly indescribable, reportedly told Beyond Meat that its version of carne asada wasn’t good enough to serve. According to Bloomberg, the chain canceled a test product that featured Beyond’s plant-based steak after samples failed to live up to its standards. Beyond Meat denies the report — Shira Zackai, head of communications at the company told The Verge in an email that “the test between Beyond Meat and Taco Bell was not canceled. Our partnership is strong, and we are actively working together to create a plant-based protein that’s completely new...

Florida Rep. Stephanie Murphy announced Monday that she will not seek a fourth term in Congress, the latest in a rapid series of retirements within the Democratic ranks that suggest momentum is moving heavily against the party as it seeks to hold on to its razor-thin majority next November. Murphy's decision came less than 24 hours after New Jersey Rep. Albio Sires said he would be retiring at the end of this Congress. And, just before the Sires' news, California Rep. Alan Lowenthal said he, too, would be stepping aside. All together, there are now 22 Democrats retiring or running...

Former President Trump is calling for China to pay $60 trillion in “reparations” over the COVID-19 pandemic. Appearing with Maria Bartiromo on Fox News, Trump said “China has to pay, they have to do something. “I believe that worldwide, I’m not just talking about the United States, but worldwide [its] $60 trillion of damage,” he continued. “China doesn’t have $60 trillion, but they have to do something to make up for what they’ve done.” “What they’ve done to the world is so horrible,” Trump added. “It’s been horrible all over the world and it doesn’t stop.” “I think the origins...

In March 2020, a profile of the typical Covid victim emerged from Italy. The average decedent was eighty years old, with approximately three comorbidities such as heart disease, obesity or diabetes. The young had little to worry about; the survival rate for the vast majority of the population was well over 99 percent. That portrait never significantly changed. The early assessments of Covid out of Italy have remained valid through today. And so it will prove with the Omicron variant. The data out of South Africa, after five weeks of Omicron spread, suggest that Omicron should be a cause for...

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) is calling for federal officials to help her curb gun violence in the city and target its root causes. In a speech on Monday, Lightfoot urged U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to utilize agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to address illegal firearms and for more prosecutors to bring criminal cases, according to The Chicago Tribune. “Keeping you safe is my priority — not one of, but the first and primary priority,” Lightfoot said to the citizens of Chicago. “I wake every morning with this as my first concern and I...

The Afghan news agency Khaama Press, citing the BBC, reported on Tuesday that the administration of President Joe Biden may soon unfreeze Afghan government assets, allowing the Taliban to access them, in the name of helping the impoverished people of the country. The Taliban does not currently have access to Afghan government assets in American banks. Global institutions like the World Bank and International Monetary Funds (IMF) have also barred the jihadist terrorists from accessing funds that belong to the government of Afghanistan. The formal government of Afghanistan collapsed in August, however, leaving Taliban terror leaders in charge of the...

ATLANTA - One man is recovering in the hospital after a shooting at a Buckhead movie theater late Monday night. Shortly before 10:45 p.m. Monday, Atlanta police were called to the movie theater inside Phipps Plaza on Peachtree Road. According to officers, the gunman was angry about where the victim was sitting in the theater. An argument between the two men got heated, and the gunman opened fire, officials say.

It’s no secret that Sen. Mitt Romney is exceedingly wealthy. He famously installed an elevator for cars in a home he owned in California. But, for all of his business success in the private sector, he’s amassed only the seventh-largest fortune among the 535 members of Congress. Insider analyzed thousands of pages of financial disclosures to calculate the wealth of nearly every member of Congress. Romney’s wealth is estimated to be just north of $85 million. Most of that comes from his time with the private equity firm Bain Capital where he rose to CEO of the firm. He also...

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- The European Union’s drugs regulator gave the green light Monday to a fifth COVID-19 vaccine for use in the 27-nation bloc, granting conditional marketing authorization to the two-dose vaccine made by U.S. biotech company Novavax. The European Medicines Agency decision to recommend granting conditional marketing authorization for the vaccine for people aged 18 and over, which must be confirmed by the EU’s executive commission, comes as many European nations are battling surges in infections and amid concerns about the spread of the new omicron variant. Novavax says it currently is testing how its shots will hold...

Mohamed Al-Amir Atta: Muslim Brothethood fanatic. He maliciously invented in Sep 2001 the lie, blood libel on supposed "dancing J..." The racist Arab-Muslim used the term 'Jews' in his lie. Lied that he "spoke" to his son right after his son was killed in the mass murder 911 massacre. On Bin Laden boasting... he had not seen the tape but "knows" it's "fake..." In 2004 he was still erratic jumping between trying to pin on the mosad and justifying it... By 2005, finally took off his denial cover, he already admitted and even justified Muslims' terror. El-Amir said the attacks...

Pray For The Peace of JerusalemLuke 18The Parable of the Persistent Widow 18 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ 4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet...

Is the man who wanted Donald Trump to declare martial law prepping for some American Armageddon? Or is he doing something more subtle that the press is missing entirely? Apocalypse Now played on my iPod as my flight lifted off from Arkansas. Watching Willard cruise up the river to kill Kurtz for most of the flight put me in the right frame of mind on the long arc that took me over Mississippi (state and river), Alabama, Florida, and Joe and Mika’s house with its conveniently attached Morning Joe studio garage on the Atlantic Coast. I pulled a manila envelope...

The guy should be fired on the spot," says Dr. Fauci about FOX News entertainer Jesse Waters. Yesterday, Waters told a crowd to "ambush" Dr. Fauci with a "kill shot" so he "doesn't see it coming."

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) on Monday flagged the possibility of a series of harsh restrictions to be imposed on revelers heading to Times Square to welcome in the New Year. The crackdown threat follows an announcement last month from de Blasio that prohibited unvaccinated individuals from attending the annual mass public event. “Right now, it is on, fully vaccinated, outdoors of course,” de Blasio told ABC on Monday. “That’s the plan. And if we need to make any more modifications, we will decide that within the course of this week.” De Blasio is an avid supporter...

On this date in 1936, Italian forces consolidating control of occupied Ethiopia mopped up a couple of royal relatives who had resisted a bit too long. Brothers Aberra Kassa and Asfawossen Kassa had briefly become, with the flight to exile of their ally Haile Selassie, symbolic leaders of Ethiopia’s domestic resistance to Mussolini’s imperialism. Along with another brother, these sons of Ras Kassa mounted an abortive July 1936 attack on Addis Ababa, precipitating a furious Italian response. The rebels were hunted to their retreat: the other brother was caught in a cave and summarily executed, which must have been at...

Iranian envoy in Yemen is dead - and why that is important news Yoni Ben Menachem 15:00 an hour ago Said Khatibzadeh, a spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, announced this morning the death of Hassan Arlo, his country's ambassador to the Houthis in Yemen, due to "complications of contracting the corona virus." Khatibazadeh said Arlo contracted corona in Yemen "but returned to Iran in poor health because some countries refused to cooperate to bring him back to Iran for treatment." This is a severe blow to Iran, this man has waged an entire campaign in Yemen and not only,...

Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell said the GOP would “certainly welcome” West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin “if he was so inclined” to flip parties. Manchin has been bashed by his partisan colleagues for pledging to vote against President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan. Speaking on Fox News’ “The Guy Benson Show” podcast, the Kentucky senator called Manchin’s no vote “the single greatest favor Joe Manchin could give this country,” amid rising inflation costs. McConnell said he wasn’t sure how Manchin would vote but is pleased that his decision effectively ends any chance that the bill will get the...

Biden is set to address the nation Tuesday afternoon to lay out his administration’s strategy to fight COVID-19 as the new omicron variant rages throughout the nation. is set to deliver remarks just hours after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that omicron variant is now the dominant strain of the coronavirus in the United States, making up 73.2% of new infections in the week that ended Dec.18—up from just 12.6% the prior week. Across the country, schools are beginning to shift to remote learning, restaurants are closing their doors to the public, and events are once...