Free Republic

House Financial Services Committee Chair Maxine Waters told the panel’s Democrats she doesn’t plan to subpoena former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried to testify at a Dec. 13 hearing about the crypto exchange’s rapid demise, according to people with direct knowledge of the conversation. Waters informed committee members of her decision at a private meeting Tuesday with Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler on Capitol Hill, these people said, declining to be named in order to speak freely about the private discussion. Waters said she wants committee staff to try to persuade Bankman-Fried to voluntarily testify, those with knowledge of...

A six-year-old girl who was a member of the Richmond Raven U7 girls hockey team from Richmond, British Columbia, died suddenly last month after suffering from a massive stroke.

DENVER (KDVR) — A surge of migrants showed up in the Mile High City in the past week, and while the group’s origin is still unknown, assistance for them is being figured out. Over the past two months, 300 migrants have come to Denver but the recent surge was significant, Mayor Michael Hancock’s Chief of Staff Evan Dreyer said in a news conference Thursday. They were dropped off in various locations and in various ways including Denver International Airport, Union Station by bus or personal vehicles and made their way to the Denver Rescue Mission. The city is currently hosting...

'My Heart Will Go On' singer Celine Dion says she is postponing some tour dates due to health diagnosisFighting back tears, singer Celine Dion shared in a video to fans she has been diagnosed with an incurable neurological disorder. Speaking out on Instagram, the 54-year-old Canadian native said, "As you know, I've always been an open book. And I wasn't ready to say anything before — but I'm ready now. I've been dealing with problems with my health for a long time. And it's been really difficult for me to face these challenges and talk about everything that I've been...

A bill to rescind the Covid-19 vaccine mandate for members of the U.S. military and provide nearly $858 billion for national defense passed the House on Thursday as lawmakers scratch off one of the final items on their yearly to-do list. The bill provides for about $45 billion more for defense programs than President Joe Biden requested, the second consecutive year Congress significantly exceeded his request, as lawmakers seek to boost the nation’s military competitiveness with China and Russia. The House passed the bill by a vote of 350-80. It now goes to the Senate, where it is expected to...

WASHINGTON — White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre faced a barrage of questions Thursday about President Biden’s decision to release notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout as part of a prisoner swap for basketball star Brittney Griner — while leaving fellow Americans Paul Whelan and Marc Fogel behind. “It was either Brittney or no one at all and we’re not going to apologize for that,” Jean-Pierre said at her regular press briefing. Jean-Pierre added that the Kremlin was “not willing to negotiate in good faith” to release Whelan, who Russia convicted of spying, and side-stepped questions about Fogel — who, like...

(Reuters) - Globally, people are experiencing inflation at levels not seen for decades as prices surge for essentials like food, heating, transport and accommodation. And though a peak could be in sight, the effects may yet get worse. How did we get here? In two words: pandemic and war. A long and comfortable period of scant inflation and low interest rates ended abruptly after COVID-19 struck, as governments and central banks kept locked-down businesses and households afloat with trillions of dollars of support. That lifeline kept workers from joining dole queues, businesses from going broke and house prices from crashing....

A heartless Florida man allegedly broke into a home, grabbed a bite, stole a hat – and killed the family puppy with a machete. Alexander Hernandez-Delgado, 25, has been charged with aggravated cruelty to animals with a weapon and armed burglary in the break-in at the Dover home on Wheeler Road on Thursday. He allegedly entered the premises through an unlocked living room door, the Tampa Bay Times reported, citing the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. The apparently ravenous intruder helped himself to the family’s food at about 7 p.m. and proceeded to throw their belongings around the home, authorities said....

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol will release its list of criminal referrals alongside its final report on Dec. 21, the panel’s chair told reporters Thursday. “We will make that announcement on the 21st when we release the report,” said Chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.). The panel is meeting this Sunday to hash out what referrals it may make to the Department of Justice (DOJ), where the ultimate decision rests over whether to pursue any charges for the activity related to the effort to block the transfer of power. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) told reporters...

WASHINGTON, Dec 7 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden on Wednesday renewed vows to secure a new ban on assault weapons in the United States as he turns up heat on lawmakers to pass legislation before his party loses control of Congress next month. Lawmakers have shown little inclination to outlaw assault weapons since a ban on high-capacity firearms expired in 2004, but Biden is hoping to seize on outrage about the regularity of shootings to lead to greater pressure on them to change their mind. "We did it before," Biden said of the ban at a vigil for victims of...

Sabotage of infrastructure that serves human communities is always wrong. When two power substations in North Carolina were reportedly taken down by gunfire in an apparent “criminal act,” the establishment media went to work condemning that act. The gunfire caused “damage that could take days to repair and leaving tens of thousands of people without electricity,” reported the Associated Press, and most establishment media outlets echoed the sentiment. Yet the Associated Press had no condemnation for Joe Biden shutting down oil pipelines and drilling permits that ultimately provide energy resources for hundreds of millions of Americans. Similarly, there is no...

At the end of November Member of Parliament and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch met in London with Ukrainian officials to agree on a “ground-breaking digital trade deal” called the Digital Trade Agreement (“DTA”). As an example of the “need” for the digital trade deal the UK government website specifies: There is a critical need for people to be able to use digital solutions to prove they are who they say they are, despite the loss of critical documentation or displacement across borders. The agreement provides a framework for the UK and Ukraine to cooperate to promote compatibility between their respective...

A little more than a week ago, International Crimes Investigative Committee (“ICIC”), hosted by Dr. Reiner Fuellmich and Dr Mike Yeadon, held a discussion with four experts on nanotechnology and self-assembling structures in mRNA injections. The panel of experts comprised Dr. David Nixon, Dr. Ana Maria Mihalcea, Karen Kingston and Shimon Yanowitz. Yesterday, ICIC Dr. Fuellmich hosted a second discussion, following on from the first, to discuss with Holger Reißner and Klaus Retzlaff what the observed phenomena and structures in the blood of people who have had an mRNA injection are all about. As most will now be aware, there...

New York City Mayor Eric Adams was fined in May 2022, it was recently revealed, after health inspectors found “fresh rat droppings” at his Bedford-Stuyvesant, New York, townhouse earlier this year. Boston.com reports that Adams was issued a $300 fine after ignoring a summons and is now fighting the fine in administrative court. Adams allegedly told a hearing officer that he has spent approximately $7,000 in attempting to fight off the rodents, even using a trap he promoted in 2019 that lures rats in with food before incapacitating them with a deadly solution. At the time, Adams called it a...

An Outlaws Motorcycle Club member who was arrested during Biketoberfest when his motorcycle ran out of gas as deputies said he tried to flee from traffic stops is in more trouble. He was recently accused of grinding down identification numbers on the motorcycle’s engine and transmission, according to the Flagler County Sheriff's Office. Robert Patrick Wilson, a 31-year-old Ocala resident and Outlaws member, was charged with two felony counts of possession of a vehicle with altered vehicle identification numbers, according to a press release Wednesday from the sheriff’s office. Wilson has been locked up at the Flagler County jail since...

Former President Donald Trump slammed President Joe Biden’s Brittney Griner prisoner swap as “stupid” and “unpatriotic embarrassment.” Issuing the statement on Truth Social, Trump said the swap was a bad deal because Biden traded an ex-WNBA basketball star for notorious Russian arms dealers Viktor Bout, “one of the biggest arms dealers anywhere in the world.” Trump said the trade was especially grievous because Griner has been “openly” hateful towards her own nation.

The Canadian investor was grilled by CNBC’s “Squawk Box″ hosts over his failure to properly assess the risks associated with investing and promoting FTX. O’Leary said that he fell prey to “groupthink,” and that none of his investment partners had lost money. “Total deal was just under $15 million, all in,” O’Leary said. “I put about $9.7 million into crypto. I think that’s what I lost. I don’t know. It’s all at zero.”

President Joe Biden’s approval rating among independents is below 30 percent as he considers launching a reelection campaign in the coming weeks. Biden, who has said he has the “intention” to run for a second term, has a very low approval rating among independents, a key demographic in presidential elections. Just 28 percent of independents approve of Biden, while 61 percent disapprove, a Civiqs poll found Thursday.

Explanation: A camera on board the uncrewed Orion spacecraft captured this view on December 5 as Orion approached its return powered flyby of the Moon. Below one of Orion's extended solar arrays lies dark, smooth, terrain along the western edge of the Oceanus Procellarum. Prominent on the lunar nearside Oceanus Procellarum, the Ocean of Storms, is the largest of the Moon's lava-flooded maria. The lunar terminator, shadow line between lunar night and day, runs along the left of the frame. The 41 kilometer diameter crater Marius is top center, with ray crater Kepler peeking in at the edge, just right...

A new Yahoo News/YouGov poll finds that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis now leads former President Donald Trump by 5 percentage points in the race for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. Trump previously led DeSantis by double-digit margins among registered voters who describe themselves as Republicans or Republican-leaning independents. Meanwhile, DeSantis is ahead by even more — a whopping 11 points — among Americans who say they voted in a 2016 Republican primary or caucus in their state. The poll of 1,635 U.S. adults, which was conducted from Dec. 1 to 5, is one of the first to confirm how far...