Free Republic

A man accused of raping and impregnating a 10-year-old Ohio girl was ordered Thursday to be held without bond by a judge who cited the horrendous violence of the crime and the fact that he had been living in the same home as the girl and her mother. Fuentes, 27, is charged with two felony counts of rape of the child who traveled to Indiana for an abortion that became a flashpoint in the national debate over access to the procedure. He has pleaded not guilty. Franklin County Judge Julie Lynch ruled on Thursday that Fuentes will be held without...

Isimemen Etute, the former Virginia Tech linebacker recently acquitted of second-degree murder, will be playing football at Iowa Community college this fall. The fact that Etute is free at all, let alone playing football, is quite astonishing in today's political climate. The entire Etute case — from his defense to the media's coverage of it — doesn't pass the smell test. It stinks of left-wing double-standards and selective morality, and anyone interested in true justice should be concerned over the turn of events.

“Another of the disciples said to Him, ‘Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.’ But Jesus said to him, ‘Follow Me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead’” (Matthew 8:21–22). Like the scribe, this second man disappears from the record after approaching Jesus. Evidently the Lord’s discipleship demands were too strict and the appeal of discipleship vanished (cf. Matt. 19:16–22). Christ’s instruction to follow Him simply means, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me” (Matt. 16:24). The Lord Jesus always made it clear...

As Christians, we are quick to offer the grace of our Lord to the world, but we often parcel it out meagerly to ourselves. To me, this is the most difficult part of forgiveness. Consider King David, who committed adultery and then murdered the husband to cover up his offense. When his sin was exposed, David repented, and the Lord sent the prophet Nathan to tell him, “Your sin has been pardoned.” Even though David knew he was forgiven, he had lost his joy. He prayed, “Make me hear joy and gladness, that the bones you have broken may rejoice....

The GDP shrank by 1.6 percent in the first quarter of 2022. IT'S OFFICIAL: Second Quarter GDP Comes In at Negative 0.9 Percent -- US OFFICIALLY ENTERS BIDEN RECESSION (Video) The Atlanta Federal Reserve announced earlier this month that the second quarter of 2022 saw a GDP of minus 2.1 percent. The historic definition of an economic recession is two quarters of negative economic growth.

Federal prosecutors want to keep key details about the planning and execution of the March 2021 raid at U.S. Private Vaults out of the public's sight.First, the FBI raided a private business to seize safe deposit boxes and assets belonging to hundreds of people who were not suspected of having committed any crimes.Now, prosecutors are trying to keep the public in the dark about why the brazen forfeiture effort was undertaken in the first place—and are offering little justification for why such secrecy is necessary.Four depositions that could be crucial to understanding the motivations and intentions behind the FBI's March...

Without officially declaring for a 2024 presidential campaign Friday night in Las Vegas, Nevada, former President Donald Trump laid out a platform of strong-on-crime policies to "liberate our communities from the scourge of crime," "protect the innocent," "deliver justice to the guilty," and "defend our police.""Law and order is at the very heart of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," Trump told the crowd at a midterm campaign event at Treasure Island Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. "Without law and order, there is no justice, there is no safety, there is no prosperity, and there is no...

Naomi Biden will be the first member of a first family to be married at the White House since 1971

Sprite is retiring its green plastic bottles after more than 60 years. Coca-Cola said Wednesday it's changing the packaging from green to clear plastic beginning August 1 as part of broader efforts to become more environmentally responsible. Sprite's current plastic contains green polyethylene terephthalate (PET), an additive that can't be recycled into new bottles, a key initiative for the company as it looks to reduce plastic waste. "Taking colors out of bottles improves the quality of the recycled material," Julian Ochoa, CEO of R3CYCLE, a plastic group helping Coca-Cola improve its recycling, said in a statement. "When recycled, clear PET...

Gov. Tom Wolf is taking the Republican-controlled General Assembly to court over its approval of a proposed constitutional amendment that could lead to erosion of abortion rights in Pennsylvania. In the lawsuit filed on Thursday in the state’s Supreme Court, Wolf maintains that the state constitution explicitly recognizes a personal right to privacy including the right to terminate a pregnancy. He claims the proposed amendment violates that right. The abortion-related amendment was included as part of a package of unrelated proposed amendments identified as Senate Bill 106 that received its first airing in a late-night Senate committee meeting on July...

Former President Donald Trump appears to be on his way to another election endorsement victory.According to a survey by polling firm Data Orbital that was on Monday, former Phoenix-area newscaster Kari Lake has taken a massive double-digit lead over the next-closest candidate vying for the Republican Party gubernatorial nomination.Arizona’s primary election is on Aug. 2.“With mail-in ballots already being returned, Kari Lake shows a commanding 11-point lead over Karrin Taylor Robson. Lake is pulling away from the field as a poll conducted by Data Orbital earlier in July showed Lake only 4 points ahead of Taylor Robson,” the polling firm...

Uprising Bakery & Cafe in Lake in the Hills, which closed Saturday after its front windows were smashed and epithets written on the walls, re-opened Sunday and Monday to long lines and community enthusiasm. The cafe had planned an all-ages drag show Saturday night but had experienced backlash over the previous few weeks. The cafe and the performers were committed to putting on the show, right up until their hands were forced by the overnight destruction. On Monday morning, cafe owner Corinna Bendel-Sac released a video message on Facebook thanking the community and the Lake in the Hills police for...

A federal judge handling the re-trial of two men charged in connection to an alleged kidnapping plot of Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer decided Tuesday that information about the first trial, the acquittals of two other men and text messages with an FBI informant cannot be included as part of the evidence presented before the jury during the second trial slated to begin next month.

Conflicting timeline reports and identical language used by numerous officers in separate reports raise questions.. A 104-page report issued three months after the events at the Capitol Building on Jan. 6, 2021, said the Capitol Police’s Civil Disturbance Unit (CDU) was ordered by supervisors not to use “heavier, less-lethal weapons,” like flash bangs. However, video evidence—along with Capitol Police Use of Force Reports obtained exclusively by The Epoch Times—exposes conflicts in timelines, the brutality of the unprovoked attacks against Jan. 6 protesters, and how leadership ordered the deployment of munitions on a peaceful crowd. The Video Evidence.. Victoria White.. According...

Elon Musk is pleading for more investment in lithium, the silvery-white metal that's crucial to making electric-car batteries. He recently complained about the metal's "insane" costs and said anyone who enters the refining business basically gets a "license to print money." The billionaire has a point. As the auto industry shifts away from dirty fossil fuels and toward cleaner battery power, lithium is in the spotlight. Demand for the metal has skyrocketed in recent years, as has its price. Questions still remain about whether the world will manage to mine, refine, and ship enough lithium to support the green revolution...

After telling an adult female prosecutor that courts didn’t let “girls” litigate in the “old days,” a federal judge tried to ban her from his courtroom for life. An appellate court unanimously reversed that prohibition, and one Donald Trump appointee called him out for behavior “beneath the dignity of a federal judge.”U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes, an 80-year-old Ronald Reagan-appointee to the Southern District of Texas, imposed the sanction on a Assistant U.S. Attorney after the lawyer made errors that resulted in the dismissal of an indictment. The 5th Circuit ultimately reversed Hughes’ ruling. Hughes rebuked the prosecutor: “You’re supposed...

Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser is asking the National Guard to mobilize in an effort to deal with the migrants that are being bused to the city from southern states. The mayor, who has championed accepting migrants entering the country illegally as a human rights issue, requested the DC National Guard be activated indefinitely to assist with what she called a "humanitarian crisis." Bowser is asking that the DC Armory be used as a processing center and DC National Guard resources be used to help field migrants as they arrive by bus. Migrants by the busloads have been sent to...

Chevy Silverado EV enjoys strong demand The Chevrolet Silverado EV – GM’s direct competitor for the Ford F-150 Lightning – won’t go on sale until the spring of 2023 but the truck already enjoys a solid interest from potential customers. The electric pickup is part of General Motors’ plan to produce 400,000 electric vehicles between 2022 and 2024, and it is apparently doing a great job of attracting attention from future EV owners. GM’s CEO Mary Barra spoke earlier this week during an investors’ call following the release of the automaker’s second-quarter financial results and unveiled the Silverado EV enjoys...

Video at link................ Empty dealer lots, above-sticker prices and online sales—supply-chain issues and a shift toward electric vehicles have accelerated changes in the car-buying process. We visit a car dealer to see how consumers and sellers are adapting and what changes might be here to stay. Photo: Adam Falk/The Wall Street Journal The Senate deal to create a package of climate and healthcare spending measures would preserve—and in some cases expand—tax credits for electric-vehicle purchases, a potential boost for Tesla Inc., TSLA 1.86%▲ General Motors Co. and other auto makers. The surprise agreement struck late Wednesday between Sen. Joe Manchin...

Former Dallas Federal Reserve President Richard Fisher told CNBC's "Squawk Box" Thursday that it appears that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her husband Paul have engaged in insider stock trading."Paul Pelosi is getting a lot of attention," Fisher said, when asked about a report from Punchbowl News that House Democrats plan to announce a proposal next month that would ban lawmakers, their spouses and senior staff from trading stocks...."I'm sorry to see that Paul Pelosi and Nancy Pelosi and others appear ... to have taken advantage of inside information. Something needs to be done."