Free Republic

A two year federal probe found that Alexandria Ocasio Cortez’s campaign did not “properly” disclose some of its expenses — but the Federal Election Commission voted to give her a pass, according to filings made public this week. The FEC found that two political action committees — Brand New Congress and Justice Democrats — “did not properly disclose the purpose of the disbursements” to similarly named shell companies set up by AOC’s former chief of staff Chaikat Sakrabarti during her first run for Congress in 2018. Despite the findings, the FEC’s six-member panel voted to dismiss a government watchdog complaint...

America had a record number of tornadoes in March. At least 219 were reported last month — more than any other March on record, twice the average and 21 more than last year, Fox Weather reported, citing the National Weather Service.

A New Jersey man who conspired with his then-girlfriend to cook up a feel-good story about a helpful homeless man and then used the lie to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations online was sentenced in federal court Friday to more than two years in prison. Mark D’Amico will also have to serve three years probation once he completes his 27-month term. He also must pay restitution and undergo gambling, drug and mental health counseling.

Gender rights activists today gathered in London to protest as they urged politicians to protect single sex services and spaces. Around 100 protesters wearing the purple, white and green of the suffragettes launched their new movement. The protest was led by three main groups called Sex Matters, Women's Rights Network and Women Uniting. Campaigners said that their movement is growing 'exponentially' but has remained largely underground and online until now. Protesters marched from the statue of Emmeline Pankhurst in Victoria Tower Gardens to a sculpture of Milicent Fawcett in Parliament Square. They chanted the slogan of their campaign 'Respect my...

-The family of a high school track star who was sucker-punched during a race say they had wanted to press charges against his attacker, -However, the family's attorney said deputies had threatened to arrest their son if they'd done so: -Now, they're looking into potentially filing a lawsuit. -The high school runner was punched in the head during his 1,600m race last Saturday at the Tohopekaliga Tiger Invitational in Kissimmee, Florida. -The athlete who threw the punch had earlier got in the way of the lead runner. -After still obscuring the track, the runner pushed him out of the way....

s it officially against the law to criticize Mayor Michelle Wu yet? Maybe not, but I’m sure City Hall is working on it. Because … diversity, or something. So now the Boston City Council has by a 9-4 vote basically shooed away the early-morning protesters from her home in Roslindale. Granted, these demonstrations — I’m surprised the alt-left media aren’t calling them insurrections — must be frustrating if you’re one of her neighbors. But in the past, there have been much more exasperating demonstrations by Michelle Wu’s card-carrying fellow travelers, and no punishment has ever been meted out to any...

WASHINGTON — Immediately after Merrick B. Garland was sworn in as attorney general in March of last year, he summoned top Justice Department officials and the F.B.I. director to his office. He wanted a detailed briefing on the case that will, in all likelihood, come to define his legacy: the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol. Even though hundreds of people had already been charged, Mr. Garland asked to go over the indictments in detail, according to two people familiar with the meeting. What were the charges? What evidence did they have? How had they built such a sprawling investigation,...

BERKELEY, Calif. — If, in the fall of 1987, you found yourself at the University of California, Berkeley, and you made your way through the sloping, verdant campus to Moffitt Library, you could walk through the doors and take two flights of stairs down to the basement. Turn right and you would find a door tucked in the corner — room 224, though the placard isn’t written in braille. After unlocking the door using a key with a ridged top, you’d walk through a small lobby with tables, chairs, and a “sofa” made of seats pulled from a van. The...

A peer-reviewed study finds more than 250,000 excess votes for Joe Biden across six battleground states. Anyone with a lick of curiosity or common sense knew it just didn’t add up. And the latest evidence, which comes in the form of a peer-reviewed report on voting discrepancies in six battleground states, merely adds to the suspicion. More on that report in a moment. Vindication has come much too slowly for the tens of millions of Americans who just knew in their gut that something wasn’t right, even though Fox News and the other corporate media organs were shamefully quick to...

Lent is drawing to a close. This week we celebrate the last Sunday of Lent before the beginning of Passion Week. This Sunday is period of “quiet” between Laetare Sunday and Passion/Palm Sunday, our last opportunity to meditate on the ‘ordinary’ struggle of Lent before the intensity of the events in the last week of Our Lord’s life. Let’s use it well! The Readings for this week focus on the theme of a “New Exodus.” Just as Moses was a savior figure who lead Israel to freedom through the Red Sea, so Jesus leads us to freedom through the waters...

National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) director Dr. Anthony Fauci is stonewalling Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., on his questions for the record regarding the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) gain-of-function research funding, the senator says. Paul sent 11 "yes or no" questions for the record after Fauci’s explosive Jan. 11 testimony to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. The Kentucky Republican has seen no response from Fauci since sending the questions almost three months ago, according to his office. "While Dr. Fauci has been MIA for the past few months, he still owes the American...

In the best of times, the Internal Revenue Service is tough to deal with, and tax season is never fun. But the past few years have seen the IRS lurch from one crisis to another. And things are about to get much worse for millions of taxpayers. In 2021 Congress expanded the reporting requirements of the obscure Form 1099-K. This information-reporting form tracks business transactions done with a credit or debit card or such peer-to-peer services as Venmo and Paypal. Prior to the change, taxpayers received a 1099-K only if they processed more than 200 business transactions, amounting to more...

Senators have cut a deal with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) aimed at breaking the logjam over legislation to limit trade with Russia. The agreement — confirmed by Paul and Sen. John Thune (S.D.), the No. 2 Senate Republican — would clarify what qualifies as a violation of human rights under a U.S. law named after Sergei Magnitsky, a Ukrainian-born Russia who died in police custody more than a decade ago in Moscow. Senators are using the House-passed bill ending normal trade relations with Russia to reauthorize the Magnitsky Act sanctions. “They will include specific language defining what human rights abuses...

[Catholic Caucus] "In black and white": Archbishop Aguer on tradition versus relativism"In black and white": Archbishop Aguer on tradition versus relativismPublished at InfoCatólica on March 30, 2022. Translated for Rorate.The title that heads this note does not refer to the cinema before the invention of technicolor, but to the astonishing criticism of current ecclesiastical officialdom that is directed against the members of the Church who love the great Catholic Tradition, and who recognize that homogeneity is what should characterize the development of ecclesial realities: dogma, liturgy, law, institutions. I have often quoted St. Vincent of Lerins and the formulas...

On Wednesday (March 30, 2022), at a meeting of the U.S. Senate Committee on Budget, Sanders raised an issue that’s been a regular part of his political platform for many years: wealth distribution. “Anyone who thinks we do not have an oligarchy right here in America is sorely mistaken,” he said. “Today in America, multibillionaires like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson are off taking joy rides on their rocket ships to outer space.” Sanders appeared to be citing the three billionaires’ spaceflight companies: SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, respectively. All three U.S.-based businesses have played a large part...

Japan's economy minister has reiterated that the country will not withdraw from oil and natural gas projects in Russia's Far East. Hagiuda Koichi says they are essential to securing energy supplies. He told reporters on Friday "Japan has stakes in both projects and has secured long-term supplies. The projects provide our country with energy at below-market prices, and soaring energy costs are making the projects more important." Hagiuda also said that Japan imports about 90 percent of its crude oil from the Middle East, and that the Sakhalin-1 project is an important energy source outside that region. He adds that...

Once-bustling highways on the outskirts of Kyiv have now become a graveyard for scores of Vladimir Putin's tanks as the Ukrainians continue their successful counterattacks around the capital. Columns of Russian armoured vehicles have been reduced to rubble as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's troops continue to repel Russian forces, and in some instances recapture roads and settlements near to Kyiv. As Ukrainian units advance, they're met with burned-out tanks and heavily-armoured personnel transport vehicles that line the roads once populated by commuters that would have been heading in or out of the capital. But far more grisly finds are being discovered...

VIDEO"WORSE THAN WATERGATE!!!"Oh how the media loves to blurt out that worn phrase out every time there is a supposed conservative or Republican scandal. And among those was CNN's John Avlon who loudly proclaimed this to his dozens of viewers on March 30 in regards to a supposed gap in President Trump's phone log on January 6, 2021. Avlon and the rest of the media had already declared Trump guilty of something when just two days later Avlon's own network made a fool out of him and the others when on April Fools Day they issued a report that declared...

MIAMI The tennis world reacted with shock after favorites Paula Badosa and Jannik Sinner had to retire during the quarterfinals of the Miami Open. Badosa, soon to be the number three in the world, became unwell during her match against Jessica Pegula and left the court in tears. Badosa, who was comforted by her American opponent, decided to stop after consultation with her physiotherapist. Pegula reached the semifinals of the Miami tennis tournament for the first time in her career after Badosa’s resignation, reported Yahoo Sports. In the men’s tournament, the Italian phenomenon Jannik Sinner was forced to withdraw. He...

More than 400 Yale Law School students — over 60 percent of the school’s student body — signed an open letter against free speech and a police presence on campus after hysterical woke students shouted down a bipartisan panel about civil liberties featuring the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). Last month, nearly 120 woke Yale Law School students disrupted a bipartisan panel by trying to shout down and intimidate the speakers, who later had to be escorted out of the building by police. One of America’s best and brightest future Ivy League graduates screeched at the ADF representative: “I will literally...