Free Republic

Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins had 10 different substances in his system when he died, Colombia's attorney general said Saturday in a statement. Hawkins, 50, was found dead in his hotel room in Bogotá on Friday night, shortly before the band was set to perform in the capital city. Among the drugs found by a urine toxicological test performed by officials were marijuana, opioids, antidepressants and benzodiazepines, the statement said. An exact cause of death was not announced, and the National Institute of Forensic Medicine continues to investigate, the attorney general said. The band said in a statement Friday that...

To many, it’s a fun fairytale to lure tourists; to others, it’s a genuine mystery – or just a silly hoax. But to woke education chiefs, the Loch Ness Monster is a potent symbol of England’s domination of Scotland – a theory which will now be taught in schools. Pupils north of the border are to be told how the mythical beast reinforces negative stereotypes and ingrains bias about the Scots. Schoolchildren will be taught how the class structure had a role in the creation of the legend, and how stories surrounding the creature relate to debate on Scottish Independence...

the worlds richest men, including Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, have much of their wealth in the form of stock. As their stock rises in value, they are able to finance lavish lifestyles by taking out loans secured by their stock holdings. But loans are not taxed as income, and in many cases the interest payments are tax deductible. The rising value of stock holdings -- known as unrealized gains -- is also not taxed as income. Capital gains taxes are only imposed when the stock is sold. s a result, some 400 billionaire families paid an average federal tax...

In the Jewish town of Kedumim in Samaria, residents were forced to close themselves in their homes due to severe air pollution from the nearby Arab village, Kafr Qaddum. For over a decade, violent riots have taken place in Kafr Qaddum, especially on weekends. The riots receive the support of local anarchists. On Saturday afternoon, the Arabs burned a large amount of tires, and residents of Kedumim, who suffer through the riots each weekend, were forced to remain inside and close their doors and windows. "This is an outrageous and abnormal existence," the town said. "[Central Command Commander] Major General...

It's easy to forget that the years after the end of World War Two in America weren't just a quick change of gears from the arsenal of democracy to the economic boom. This uneasy, decade-long period might have been forgotten if weren't for film noir. Even though it had its genesis in pictures like The Maltese Falcon (1941), Shadow of a Doubt (1943) and Double Indemnity (1944), it was a genre in search of an era, and it found it with the return of the first demobbed G.I. Former soldiers appreciate Nick Garcos in Thieves' Highway, director Jules Dassin's 1949...

British -made anti-aircraft missiles are about to be deployed by Ukraine in the conflict for the first time, threatening to heap further humiliation on Vladimir Putin over his disastrous invasion. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told The Mail on Sunday that the Starstreak system – a shoulder-mounted missile that travels at more than three times the speed of sound to take down low-flying enemy jets – was ready to be used imminently. The news came as Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that Putin was scaling back the invasion because he was reeling from ‘powerful blows’ and had lost more than 16,000...

Russian morale is rock bottom, but they are adapting. As they dig in, they resort to laying reams of mines alongside roads and around their positions. The Ukrainians, who lack mine-clearing equipment, find themselves now unable to get close enough to use some of their much-vaunted anti-tank systems. The British-made NLAW, for instance, which has done sterling work throughout the campaign so far, has an effective range of only 500 meters in the hands of a good gunner (this despite what the manuals say, since feedback from the field is just that). Assets such as small drones, which are regarded...

WASHINGTON, March 26 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden will propose a minimum tax on billionaires as part of the fiscal 2023 budget that is expected to be unveiled on Monday, a document released by the White House showed. Biden's "Billionaire Minimum Income Tax" would set a 20% minimum tax rate on households worth more than $100 million, in a plan that would mostly target the United States' more than 700 billionaires, according to a White House fact sheet released on Saturday. The plan would require such households to pay the minimum tax of 20% on all of their income...

Public health officials are alerting Sunlife Organics juice bar customers in West Hollywood of a possible hepatitis A exposure.

Senate Judiciary Committee member Ben Sasse (R-NE) announced Friday night he will vote “no” on Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court nomination, threatening the committee’s approval of the judge. If a majority of Judiciary Committee members do not vote to approve Jackson’s nomination, the vote may result in an 11-11 tie between Republicans and Democrats, forwarding her nomination to the Senate floor with additional procedural steps, meaning the nomination does not have the committee’s recommendation, which under other circumstances is often fatal. A full Senate vote could then mean moderate Democrats may oppose Jackson’s nomination because of her record of soft...

On Friday’s broadcast of the Fox Business Network’s “Evening Edit,” Rep. Rick Crawford (R-AR) said that the U.S. already faces a food shortage due to supply issues making food more difficult to find at the grocery store and increased prices for food. Crawford said, “I was just in our grocery store, literally half an hour ago, and we do have a food shortage. I mean, if you can find meat, it’s more expensive. The shelves are a little bit more bare on essential items like beans and canned vegetables and things like that. So, yeah, that is reality for us...

On Friday’s “PBS NewsHour,” New York Times columnist David Brooks stated that President Joe Biden’s poor approval numbers on his handling of Ukraine are a reflection of partisanship and “we’re just not as resilient a country as we were when you could get beyond party labels.” Host Judy Woodruff stated, “48% — by 11 points people disapprove of his handling, compared to 37% approve. But when you ask people what about the specifics of the administration’s policy, namely, should we be sending armed forces, 70% say no. That’s the president’s policy. Should we provide weapons? 72% say yes. That’s the...

Joe Biden really put his foot in his mouth this week. Twice. Earlier this week, Biden quite literally said that NATO would respond to a chemical attack by Russia on Ukraine with a chemical attack on Russia. “If chemical weapons were used in Ukraine, would that trigger a military response from NATO?” Cecilia Vega of ABC News asked Biden during a press conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels. “It would re- — it would trigger a response in kind,” he said, “whether or not — you’re asking whether NATO would cross; we’d make that decision at the time.” Then on...

The moment he said it I thought, “Did the White House deliberate over this and conclude that calling for regime change was advisable? Or did Biden ad lib a line this fraught with danger?” We already have an answer. If you think he’s been too weak in his response to Russia, here’s some good news, I guess. It doesn’t get any tougher (rhetorically) than ending a speech in Warsaw by calling for Putin to be deposed. His speech today was shot through with bravado (“Don’t even think about moving on one single inch of NATO territory!”) but the line about...

EXCLUSIVE - The embattled national Black Lives Matter group used its charitable resources to solicit funds for its affiliated political action committee Tuesday, a move one expert called a "clear violation" of IRS charity rules. The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, the charity that represents the national BLM movement, voluntarily shut down its ability to raise money Feb. 2 following a Washington Examiner investigation into its lack of financial transparency that prompted multiple states to issue demands to the group to cease its fundraising activities. Since then, BLM had refrained from using its email list to solicit contributions -...

Official says the fire was likely started by an illegal campsiteA tragic loss in the North Bay, where one of the last remaining old growth redwoods in Marin County was destroyed by a fire this week. The Pioneer Tree inside Samuel P. Taylor State Park was hundreds of years old. Fire officials believe an illegal campsite could be to blame. "It's lost forever," said Marin County Fire Chief Jason Weber. Fire crews were still on scene of a blaze on Friday which destroyed an iconic piece of Samuel P. Taylor State Park, known as the Pioneer Tree. The loss is...

Everyone must read this, we have to stand up to this- Mayorkass is bypassing congress and granting citizenship to everyone who crosses into our country illegally. Please read this, as it details his plans to destroy this nation, it can’t be easily undone. “What they’re doing is giving low-level bureaucrats authority equivalent to Congress as a whole to decide how many foreigners should move to the United States and become American citizens,” said Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies. Officials “say it’s streamlining the process, which it is truly not,” Krikorian said. “The goal of the regulation...

The Russian armed forces were able to take over a Ukrainian military command center in Nikolaevka, a town in the suburbs of Kiev, the Russian Defense Ministry announced Saturday. The command center, according to Moscow, was a fortified and protected underground facility, and it had 61 Ukrainian soldiers. Moscow's defense ministry said most of the Ukrainian servicemen were senior officials in the country's armed forces, and they all surrendered to the Russian forces. The Russian defense ministry also said all of the Ukrainian servicemen laid down their arms because of the mass shortage of equipment, munition, and food. "All of...

The White House has been forced to walk back or clarify multiple remarks made by President Biden during his trip to Europe On Saturday, Biden appeared to call for regime change in Russia, declaring that Russian President Vladimir Putin "cannot remain in power." On Friday, Biden was speaking to U.S. troops in Poland, and he said that Ukrainian people "have a lot of backbone" before appearing to suggest that the troops would soon be in Ukraine itself On Thursday, Biden was asked if the U.S. would respond if Russia were to use chemical weapons as part of its invasion of...

Results of radiation on the human body.