Free Republic

Held fruitful negotiations with the Prime Minister 🇮🇱 @naftalibennett. Congratulated him and the people of Israel 🇮🇱 on Independence Day! Have informed him about countering the aggressor and about the critical situation in Mariupol.— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) May 4, 2022

David Wright is known for his ability to lead his funds through periods of intense volatility, like 2008, where his fund nearly broke even on the year while the major equity index shed half of their value. His losses during the COVID rout of 2020 were also relatively mild. But those market ructions will likely be remembered as relatively staid in comparison to the selloff that’s just around the corner. According to Wright, who shared his thoughts on the market during an interview with Bloomberg, both of these periods – along with the dotcom crash – both had nothing on...

WASHINGTON — A North Carolina member of the Oath Keepers on Wednesday pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy and obstruction of an official proceeding in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. William Todd Wilson, the 44-year-old former leader of the Sampson County chapter of the far-right militia group, pleaded guilty to the charges during a hearing before U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta of D.C. As part of a plea deal, he has agreed to cooperate with the government's ongoing investigation, according to the Justice Department. Wilson conspired with Oath Keepers founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes to...

Since she was 18, Maxine Moul has been a registered Democrat. She remained a Democrat while serving as Nebraska’s first female lieutenant governor under Gov. Ben Nelson in the 1990s and during a run for Congress in 2006. Not now. Moul recently switched her political party registration to Republican, joining what appears to be a small, but possibly significant shift to vote in a hotly contested gubernatorial primary.

The judge in the case of Democratic cybersecurity lawyer Michael Sussmann has agreed to review dozens of records currently withheld because of assertions of attorney-client privilege by Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign to see if they have been improperly concealed. The agreement is a win for special counsel John Durham in his case against Sussmann, who has been indicted on charges of concealing his clients, the Clinton campaign and tech executive Rodney Joffe, from FBI general counsel James Baker when he pushed eventually debunked claims of a secret backchannel between the Trump Organization and Russia’s Alfa Bank. Judge Christopher Cooper...

Still, McKinley said he would support McCarthy if the GOP wins back the House and McCarthy was the candidate for speaker. “If Kevin McCarthy is the candidate, I’m going to be voting yes,” McKinley said. West Virginia is in dire need of infrastructure improvements, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers. The group gave the state’s infrastructure a “D” on its 2020 report card, noting that many existing public works are deteriorated and that new construction, replacement and repair efforts have not kept up with what is needed. West Virginia would expect to get around $3.8 billion in formula...

Children with ADHD and emotional dysregulation who were given a micronutrient-dense formula made of all known vitamins and essential minerals were three times more likely to have better concentration and improved moods, research found. In the study, 54% of the children who were given supplemental vitamins and minerals showed improvement in their symptoms, versus 18% in the placebo group. "These findings, replicating results of a previous randomized trial of micronutrients in children with ADHD conducted in New Zealand, confirm that supplementation with a broad range of nutrients may benefit some children," said Jeanette Johnstone, Ph.D. "ADHD is a common diagnosis,...

Biden just yelled "don't jump" while taking a picture with Paralympic athletes.

In Nebraska Trump has endorsed Charles Herbster for Governor In West Virginia, Trump has endorsed Alex Mooney over David McKinley. West Virginia lost one seat in the census, pitting two incumbents against each other. Joe Manchin, Democrat, is backing David McKinley

Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense has announced a years-long delay for the delivery of U.S. howitzers, citing limited American production capacity, in a blow to the island democracy’s military upgrades. A second delivery of Stinger antiaircraft missiles may also be affected. Neither delay has been directly connected to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but American military aid to Kyiv’s forces is reportedly depleting weapons stockpiles and straining production. Unless an alternative is agreed to, delivery for the first batch has been pushed back from 2023 to 2026 at the earliest, during which Taiwan would remain reliant on decades-old artillery systems. Recently...

Explanation: The early morning planet parade continues. Visible the world over, the planets Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn have been lining up in the pre-dawn sky since mid-April. In the featured image taken last month, these planets were captured over the Step Pyramid of Djoser, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Located in the Saqqara necropolis of Egypt, the pyramid was constructed in the 27th century BC and is one of the oldest pyramids known. The two-image composite includes a foreground image taken during evening blue hour, and a background image captured from the same location the following morning. The morning...

There wasn’t much left of Russian army Sgt. Andrei Akhromov’s body when it arrived in a zinc coffin at his hometown, a four-hour drive south of Moscow, relatives said. The 21-year-old died in April near the Ukrainian city of Chernihiv when his tank was hit by enemy fire. Sgt. Akhromov’s cousin, Sergei Akhromov, said a representative of the regional governor’s office told the family it took the armed forces three weeks to identify what remained of him using DNA analysis. Loved ones didn’t look into the casket before burying him last week, he said. “I only blame America—not Ukraine, not...

Georgia election operative Wandrea “Shaye” Moss was recently awarded the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for “protecting democracy.” Moss was seen in surveillance footage pulling suitcases full of ballots out from under tables to be tabulated. Moss’ mother, Ruby Freeman, was also caught on video shoving stacks of ballots through the voting machines numerous times late at night after all of the election observers were sent home. The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation issued a statement on April 21 praising Moss for continuing to work as an election processor despite backlash from being caught on camera ballot harvesting...

Not wanting to see Ukraine return to being under the sway of Moscow, Washington found willing allies in the Ukrainian people. If the West, as led by the United States, could provide military assistance in the form of weapons, intelligence, and medical support, the Ukrainians would do the fighting — and dying — against the Russian Army that had invaded their lands. United States and its NATO allies did just that: They overwhelmed Ukraine with a consistent supply of the weapons that Kyiv’s defenders would need to beat back the Russian advance (Stingers and Javelin anti-tank systems being the most...

"Toddlers and Tiaras" star Kailia Posey tragically took her own life at the age of just 16, her family says, in a gut-wrenching statement. Posey's family tells TMZ, "Although she was an accomplished teenager with a bright future ahead of her, unfortunately in one impetuous moment, she made the rash decision to end her earthly life." The family is devastated, listing everything Kailia had ahead of her and her accomplishments during her 16 years, saying, "She won countless crowns & trophies after competing on the pageant circuit her entire life ... Her highly acclaimed talent as a contortionist had already...

The CDC Surveilled for Lockdown ComplianceA missing piece of the great lockdown plot was enforcement. How precisely were authorities going to know the whereabouts of hundreds of millions of people without a veritable army of snoops? Yes, there were some arrests and media reports and some private drones flying here and there to snap pictures of house parties to send to local papers for publication. Public health authorities were flooded with calls from rats coast to coast. But in general, the plan to muscle the entire population in the name of virus mitigation had vast holes.For example, for many months,...

For nearly two months, Maria Torres has lived day by day on $200 a week from her job while she recovers from a medical procedure. The single mother is now three months behind on her $900 monthly rent, but she said she’s hopeful a new program that would provide some residents with $500 monthly payments for 12 months can help her stay afloat. She walked into the basement of St. Paul’s Catholic Church in Pilsen last week as Rush University Health Center workers helped her and others apply for the program. Torres doesn’t know how to operate a computer and...

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Chicago enjoys plenty of fresh drinking water thanks to its location on Lake Michigan. Now, Mayor Lori Lightfoot's Office plans to tie the city's brand to the lake by putting Chicago's tap water in cans under the name "Chicagwa." The cans feature six designs touching on the city's history alongside the Great Lakes. "From the beginning of my administration, I've made it a priority to ensure that every resident has access to high-quality drinking water," said Mayor Lightfoot. "Together, we've ended water shutoffs for nonpayment and introduced legislation in City Council to protect water affordability. Now it's...

Russia is planning a military parade in the embattled city of Mariupol, Ukraine's intelligence service said on Wednesday. The parade is set to be held in the south-eastern Ukrainian city on 9 May to coincide with Moscow's Victory Day Parade, which celebrates its victory over Nazi Germany in the Second World War. Mariupol "will become the centre of celebrations", said the Ukrainian Military Intelligence (GUR) in a statement published on Telegram. (snip) Audiences in Russia will also be shown footage of Mariupol rejoicing at having Russian troops in their city, it continued.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, according to a statement from the State Department. The department says Blinken is only experiencing mild symptoms as he has received the COVID-19 vaccine and booster. He will work virtually for a week, in line with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, before resuming his in-person duties and traveling.