Free Republic

A Latvian-American businessman who made his money in Russia before becoming a critic of Putin has been found dead in the US, Russian media has claimed. Dan Rapoport, an investment banker, is said to have killed himself in Washington DC in recent days - with the former editor of Russian Tatler magazine claiming Tuesday that his dog was found in a nearby park with money and a suicide note. But widow Alena, a Ukrainian virologist, has denied he killed himself - saying 'there was no note, no suicide'. She claimed that an investigation has been launched into his death, but...

Streaming service Disney+ has hired a prominent Chicago Area drag queen to appear in a new superhero show aimed at youngsters. 33-year-old Jaren Kyei Merrell, known better by his stage name Shea Couleé, will be a part of the new show Ironheart, a part of Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), with the show set to begin streaming next year. Ironheart will focus on a teenage superhero who creates a suit similar to the one in Ironman. Couleé is a former winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race, a reality show featuring men dressed as oversexualized women competing for money and prizes such...

... Columbus City Schools, the state’s largest district with some 47,000 students, plans to start the school year remotely using non-union substitute teachers if CEA were to strike if a new contract agreement is not reached before school starts Aug. 24. District spokeswoman Jacqueline Bryant said the district has 600 substitutes who would be given the curriculum to teach remotely, according to information on a district webpage. ...

CHELSEA, NY — Desus Nice and The Kid Mero's pursuit of new "creative endeavors" after their high-profile split unfortunately will force dozens of workers to search for new gigs.The end of Showtime's "Desus & Mero Show" will lead to the permanent layoff of 73 employees starting Aug. 15, according to a dislocated workers notice filed with the state.

WASHINGTON, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Some Black farmers say they are disappointed by a new U.S. agriculture debt relief program that stands to save thousands of farmers from foreclosure, after the plan failed to specifically target minorities as they had hoped. The program, included in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) signed by U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday, follows an earlier debt relief program that provided aid based on race but ended in a web of litigation after white farmers sued to stop payments. The new program, which makes farmers eligible for relief based on economic precariousness rather than race,...

Mass formation-they show a cruelty toward people who do not buy into the narrative. Could this be why people not wearing masks were physically assaulted during the pandemic? It also explains why people have been assaulted and even killed for the simple act of wearing a MAGA hat. Being blinded to the riots, looting, killing, and arson committed across the country last year by BLM and Antifa, while calling for the harshest of punishment for the January 6 demonstrators is a perfect example of mass formation. COVID jab deaths and injuries are simply unrecognized. People will get the vaccine, suffer...

This list only includes destroyed vehicles and equipment of which photo or videographic evidence is available. Therefore, the amount of equipment destroyed is significantly higher than recorded here. Small arms, ATGMs, MANPADS, loitering munitions, drones used as unmanned bait, civilian vehicles, trailers and derelict equipment are not included in this list. All possible effort has gone into avoiding duplicate entries and discerning the status of equipment between captured or abandoned. Many of the entries listed as 'abandoned' will likely end up captured or destroyed. Similarly, some of the captured equipment might be destroyed if it can't be recovered. When the...

History of National Black Cat Appreciation Day Have you ever feared a black cat crossing your path? This is from ancient superstitions where people thought this meant bad luck. For many cultures and historical settings, black cats were actually meant for positive things. So, to try and dispel these myths about black cats, National Black Cat Appreciation Day was created to be celebrated on August 17 every year. Today, pop culture loves black cats. There’s the sarcastic Thackery Binx in “Hocus Pocus”, Salem, in “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch” and Pyewacket in the classic “Bell, Book and Candle,” and we can’t...

Historically, the problem with the Federal Bureau of Investigation has not been one of leadership but of culture. Directors come and go; the culture remains. That culture is one of “us versus them,” very insular, functioning under its own unwritten rules. There are periodic calls for reform, but these are Band-Aids covering a serious gunshot wound. As an experienced criminal defense lawyer, I’ve concluded that the FBI must be abolished and its duties assigned to a new agency. Consider an example from my own law practice....

John Couvillon is a DemoKKKrat analyst but pretty objective. He has already run primary analysis of other elections in New Jersey and elsewhere. With the exception of Kansas, most of them look like this: GOP turnout up, DemoKKKrat turnout down (or not up nearly as much as Republican turnout, as in AZ) Here is his posting for the combined Alaska/Wyoming primary (He says AL but I'm pretty sure he means AK).

Why is it the politicians who hate Trump most all had exponential growth in personal wealth from their "public service"? I came across many of these on the internet: Why were Casinos open but churches closed during COVID? If there are more than two genders, why are there only two choices for gender reassignment surgery? How will we ever know who the First Female President is without a biologist? What is a woman? If USA is so racist, then why do so many people of color want to come here? What questions can you add?

Chicago police have launched an internal investigation into a series of incendiary posts by a person claiming to be an officer in an online forum regarded as one of the darkest corners of the web. Many of the posts on 4chan’s /pol/ board are racist and homophobic. They include photos of Chicago police uniforms, a city-issued ID badge and a gun — all covered by post-it notes with the forum’s name and a date written on them. The person making the posts claimed to be a military veteran and a beat cop who worked in the Rogers Park and Chicago...

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Representative Liz Cheney said early Wednesday that she was “thinking” about running for president in 2024, a prospect that would test the national viability of a conservative, anti-Trump platform that failed resoundingly in Wyoming. Ms. Cheney — who lost her House primary by more than 35 percentage points on Tuesday to a challenger, Harriet Hageman, endorsed by former President Donald J. Trump — also announced the formation of a political action committee, the Great Task, that would educate Americans about threats to democracy and oppose any effort by Mr. Trump to return to the White House. The committee filed a...

A Florida judge ruled that a 16-year-old pregnant girl could not receive an abortion because she was not "sufficiently mature" enough to terminate her pregnancy. An appellate court on Monday upheld a lower court ruling prohibiting the girl, referred to as Jane Doe 22-B in court papers, from receiving the procedure, according to a court ruling from Judge Jennifer J. Frydrychowicz. The parentless teenager was seeking a waiver from a state law requiring minors to get parental consent for an abortion. She had told the lower court she was not ready for a baby, did not have a job and...

These days, the website PredictIt is about the only place to go for unfiltered opinions of everyday Americans speculating on the future of U.S. politics. PredictIt users have registered their collective opinion that Joe Biden has only a 20 percent chance of being reelected in 2024—a staggeringly low number for a president who’s barely a year and a half into his term. Naturally, the Biden Administration wants to shut it down. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), headed by Biden appointee Rostin Behnam, has decreed that PredictIt must cease operations by February 15, 2023. The reason is unclear. The CFTC’s...

A California church that defied safety regulations during the COVID-19 pandemic by holding large religious services won't have to pay about $200,000 in fines, a state appeals court ruled. Calvary Chapel San Jose and its pastors were held in contempt of court and fined in 2020 and 2021 for violating state and county limits on indoor public gatherings. The rules were aimed at preventing the spread through close contract of the virus, which has caused more than 10 million confirmed cases and more than 93,500 deaths since the pandemic began in mid-2020, according to state public health figures.

After being married for 30 years, a wife asked her husband to describe her. He looked at her for just a moment and said, “You’re an alphabet wife…..A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K.” The wife then asks, “What does that mean?” He said, “Adorable, Beautiful, Cute, Delightful, Elegant, Fabulous, Georgeous, and Hot.” She smiled happily and said, “Oh that’s so lovely but what about I,J,K?” He said, “I’m Just Kidding!”

The first half of a massive double Social Security payment for September is set to go out in just 16 days. The first payment for eligible individuals, worth $841, will arrive on Sept. 1, while the second one, worth the same amount, will be given at the end of the month. Because some months start on a Sunday, there are three months in 2022 that gave or will give recipients a paycheck twice in one month. The three months are April, September, and December. However, the funds do not change the total amount a person gets. The Social Security benefit...

“‘But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast’” (Matthew 9:15). Fasting is meaningless if done merely from habit and if it doesn’t derive from a deep concern over some spiritual need. And as we saw yesterday, even the best and most foundational spiritual practices, if not done with sincere motives and right purposes, are only hypocritical and pretentious. Jesus was obviously referring to His crucifixion when He said He would be taken away from the disciples. From that time on, it would be fitting to fast and mourn. Fasting naturally...