Free Republic

WASHINGTON, D.C.—President Barack Obama has returned to the White House after growing tired of working remotely. The President said it was time to work in the Oval Office once again, after over a year of being the president from his Martha's Vineyard estate. "Normally, a President can only hold office for 2 terms," said Barack Obama to other elites gathered at the White House. "But we found this little loophole where you just take a 3rd term anyway by working online." According to sources, Obama explained that working from home was fun for a while, but he just needed to...

In one of the most famous paintings in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy, Federico da Montefeltro gazes at his wife, Battista Sforza, as they stand in front of the landscape over which they ruled. Undulating hills rise to volcano-like peaks on which towns perch. The ragged Apennine mountains stalk the horizon, and what’s thought to be the Metauro river swirls below. Painted by Piero della Francesca in 1472, it’s one of the iconic artworks of the Renaissance. And yet few international visitors to the Uffizi know the area which gave Piero della Francesca, the artist, his inspiration. Today, Urbino...

Sarah Lawrence College sex-cult leader Larry Ray was convicted Tuesday afternoon on all counts by a Manhattan jury — ending a yearslong prosecution launched after the fiend’s tyrannical abuse of a group of young people was exposed in a magazine article. Ray, 62, faces life in prison when he is sentenced by Manhattan federal Judge Lewis Liman later this year. Throughout the monthlong trial, prosecutors and victims painted Ray as a calculating predator who asserted control over a group of college students and others to enrich himself as the leader of a criminal organization he dubbed “The Ray Family.”

Federal Reserve officials agreed to shrink the central bank’s balance sheet by a maximum of $95 billion each month, minutes from the March meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee revealed on Wednesday. Fed officials in March hiked the target for overnight lending and the interest paid on reserves by a quarter of a percentage point, to a range of 0.25 to 0.5 percent. The minutes released Wednesday revealed previously undisclosed details about the Fed’s plans to shrink its enormous stockpile of bond holdings.

Joe Biden was captured on camera standing alone and looking frustrated as officials swarmed around Barack Obama during his first return trip to the White House since leaving office.Biden was filmed raising his hands in the air in apparent frustration as he was sidelined for his predecessor at the event on Tuesday.

On Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “MTP Daily,” Senate Majority Whip Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) argued against voting on an amendment to the coronavirus spending bill on Title 42 by stating doing so would delay passage of the spending bill that he hopes “would have a sense of urgency and emergency” to it. Host Chuck Todd asked, “COVID relief funding is something that’s needed. I know you’re going to say they’re playing politics here, you know there are some Democratic votes for this. Why not include the amendment on Title 42, what’s the downside?”

Russia edged closer to a potential default on its international debt on Wednesday as it paid dollar bondholders in rubles and said it would continue to do so as long as its foreign exchange reserves are blocked by sanctions. The United States on Monday stopped Russia from paying holders of its sovereign debt more than $600 million from frozen reserves held at U.S. banks, saying Moscow had to choose between draining its dollar reserves at home and default. Russia has not defaulted on its external debt since reneging on payments due after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, but its bonds have...

Captain James T. Kirk didn't often endure unhappy endings before the first generation of Star Trek movies arrived. He did, however, in “The City on the Edge of Forever” from the series' first season. Often named as the best story in the entire franchise, the April 6, 1967 episode is also star William Shatner’s personal favorite. Dr. McCoy is accidentally injected with a dangerous drug that drives him insane. He evades attempts to capture him, instead beaming down to a planet the crew was scanning since it showed signs of emitting time-changing energy. Kirk, Spock and others follow McCoy down...

Nicolle Wallace tied the knot with Michael S. Schmidt over the weekend, Page Six can exclusively reveal. The MSNBC anchor and Schmidt married on Saturday in an intimate ceremony surrounded by immediate family, a spokesperson for the network confirmed to Page Six.

Wisconsin's Kenosha County executive flipped red for the first time in decades after the city gained widespread attention amid damaging riots and the Kyle Rittenhouse trial. Voters elected Samantha Kerkman on April 5th as the county executive. -excerpt- It is the first time a woman will serve in the position and the first time since at least 1998 that a Republican has been elected.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Merrick Garland has tested positive for COVID-19 and will quarantine at home for five days, the Justice Department said Wednesday.Garland is the second Cabinet official to announce a positive test result on Wednesday. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo also tested positive for the virus using an at-home antigen test.

Footage shows a lone Ukrainian tank ambushing Russian vehicles in Nova Basan The T-64 was able to fire several rounds at the invaders, destroying two vehicles It concealed itself behind a house and thread its shells between other buildings Kyiv claimed close to 20,000 Russian troops have now been killed since Feb. 24 Incredible video footage has emerged of what appears to be a lone Ukrainian tank destroying several Russian armoured vehicles less than 50 miles from Kyiv. The footage, collected by a drone and published by a Ukrainian volunteer unit on Telegram, shows what appears to be a single...

Sometimes, it pays to come in last. Just ask Stacey Abrams.As the Democratic nominee, she took a shot at becoming Georgia’s governor in 2018.Upon final count, she’d been bested by Republican Brian Kemp.But why let a loss affect whether one wins? She simply refused to speak failure into existence. “Is [Brian] the legitimate governor-elect of Georgia?” Jake Tapper asked her at the time.She didn’t say yes:“He is the person who won the adequate number of votes to become the governor. … Words have meaning. I spent my lifetime, not only as an attorney, but as a writer. And I’m careful...

"Welcome to Horizon Worlds, a social experience where you can explore, play and create. With new worlds in the making, you can join together with people around the world in ever-expanding adventures and amazing experiences. Discover new places with friends, solve interactive puzzles or form teams to compete in action-packed games. You can even design worlds of your own or get to know other members of the community and be inspired by their creations. In Horizon Worlds, you're not just a visitor. You're part of what makes it great."

A historically intense April cold snap has descended on Europe, with temperatures plummeting to 20 to 30 degrees (11 to 18 degrees Celsius) below normal. The record-breaking cold has triggered harsh frosts, shocking early-blooming plants and crops in several countries. The unseasonably cold weather, which arrived over the weekend, follows warmer-than-normal temperatures in previous weeks that caused a rapid greening of flora — particularly in France’s agricultural regions. “It’s still difficult to evaluate the [damage] caused by the frost, but orchards (‘stone fruits’ such as plum trees, apricot, cherry) and vineyards have been impacted,” Jean-Marc Touzard, director of research at...

Leading Democrats advocate rule by their President through executive order without resort to Congress. They favor elimination of the electoral college as “anti-democratic.” They favor adding to the number of justices on the Supreme Court those preferred by Democrats until they dilute the conservative majority and render the Court reflective of the will of Congress and no longer independent. They support speech codes on college campuses to eliminate dissenting conservative views. They support cancel culture and Big Tech censorship as a means of ensuring that voices dissenting from their orthodoxies are suppressed. They support expansion of administrative state regulation to...

ABC legal analyst Sunny Hostin advised her co-hosts of "The View" and the audience to support rule by executive decree. Guest-host Tara Setmayer objected "that's not the way democracy works. Representatives of the people are elected to Congress. They have to be involved in the process of governing." Hostin insisted that "you can't build consensus with crazy people. You can't build consensus with insurrectionists. One-man rule is the only feasible way to move this country forward. I know what I'm saying sounds Stalinistic, but who can deny that his style of governing was successful? He transformed Russia from a bucolic...

The source who distributed Hunter Biden's laptop to congressmen and media has fled the US to Switzerland, saying he fears retaliation from the Biden administration. Jack Maxey gave DailyMail.com a copy of the hard drive from Hunter's abandoned laptop in the spring of 2021. He also gave copies and material from it to the Washington Post, New York Times, and Senator Chuck Grassley in his role as ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee – but he claims they all sat on it for months. For the past two weeks, Maxey has been in hiding in Zurich, working with IT...

Three people have been charged with capital murder in the fatal shooting of an off-duty Texas deputy, authorities said. The incident occurred Thursday night around 8:30 p.m. outside a grocery store in North Harris County. Harris County Deputy Darren Almendarez, 51, and his wife were walking to their car from the store when he saw two men under his truck allegedly attempting to steal the vehicle's catalytic converter, authorities said. Almendarez told his wife to run. As he approached his truck the suspects began firing at him, according to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez. Almendarez returned gunfire, striking two of...

Those trusting the Fed to be visibly weak, corrupt and incompetent forever might be in for an unwelcome surprise.When even the crash test dummies are nervous, it pays to pay attention. Being in a mild crash isn't too bad if all the protective devices inflate as intended. But in a horrific crash where nothing goes as planned, it's like speeding in a ready-to-explode Pinto and being side-swiped by a semi on Dead Man's Curve. The stock market is in the Pinto, and the smell of gasoline is so strong it's overpowering the smell of old Cheetos and stale beer. The...