Free Republic

WASHINGTON — The $1.7 trillion government funding bill released Tuesday includes extra money for the Justice Department to prosecute Jan. 6 cases. Congress is hoping to pass it this week. The package gives U.S. attorneys a budget of $2.63 billion for the coming fiscal year, a $212.1 million boost above current levels. One reason for the additional money is “to further support prosecutions related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and domestic terrorism cases,” according to a summary provided by the House Appropriations Committee. As NBC News reported in October, the department said it was in critical need...

The YouTuber Auto Archaeology muscle car gold on his drive home to Wisconsin. parked white 1969 Oldsmobile Hurst/OldsYouYube Channel Auto Archaeology The most satisfying finds are those that you're not even looking for. Whether it is a 1968 Plymouth Road Runner for $250, or a few Shelby Mustangs in an airport hanger, sometimes great classic cars appear almost out of nowhere. That's what happened to Ryan Brutt from the YouTube channel Auto Archeology on his drive home to Wisconsin recently. When passing by a stranger's garage, Ryan noticed a 1969 Dodge Super Bee and a 1969 Oldsmobile Hurst/Olds, both of...

The flu season is off to an alarming start. Hospitalizations from influenza are at their highest levels in the last decade, and case counts are rising across the country. Meanwhile, vaccination rates have fallen well below historical trends. This, plus a surge of other respiratory viruses, has contributed to what some are calling a pediatric care crisis in many parts of the country. Thankfully, some members of Congress are taking long-overdue action to improve the way our country prepares for and responds to seasonal and pandemic flu. Public health experts typically look to the Southern Hemisphere for a signal of...

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is urging her troops to get behind a massive bill to fund the government through most of next year, touting new funding for Democratic priorities and citing an urgency to get the package to President Biden’s desk before a potential shutdown at week’s end. In a letter to fellow Democrats, the outgoing Speaker cited a number of Democratic victories in the package, including provisions to hike nutrition funding for low-income children, provide a huge increase in money for veterans health care, and lend assistance to the victims of natural disasters around the country.

Natural gas has crashed by about 25% over the past week, from $7 to $5.38, and has been practically cut in half since $10 since Aug/Sept. What happened? Nothing unusual, producers got off their butts and overproduced while prices were high and killed the shortage. But the shortages in NE are due as much or more due to the lack of transport infrastructure to that region than actual shortage of the commodity...which is measured at salt dome/storage in TX and the midwest, NOT at the end of the pipe in Billerica, MA. This is a perfect example of the folly...

Growing up in St. Petersburg, Dasha, a 29-year-old marketer and artist, dreamed of having a “complete family.” Raised by her mother and grandmother, her father left when she was in elementary school. ”I grew up thinking that I would be married and have a family of my own before I turned 25,” she told Fortune. But Russia’s political instability and financial uncertainties have recently led her to renounce having kids. In Dasha’s lifetime, Russian President Vladimir Putin has invaded Ukraine twice; the war’s consequences have taken a heavy toll on everyday Russians like her. Life in Russia has become “too...

Concerns over a new multi-front Russian offensive in Ukraine are legitimate but exaggerated. Lukashenko is deeply hesitant to participate in Putin's war. The dictator has so far resisted significant pressure from Putin to join. Lukashenko recognizes the battlefield crisis facing Russia and wants to avoid further Western sanctions against his struggling country's economy. Even if he is an odd character, Lukashenko is not stupid. He knows that the war unpopular in Belarus, and the Belorussian military is relatively small. If the Belorussian military enters the war and suffers major losses, Lukashenko risks losing his means of controlling restive population. That...

There were explosions in the Russian city of Shebekino, Belgorod Oblast, which is not far from the border with Ukraine. Part of the city has been left without electricity, and there is a wounded person.Source: Russian Telegram channels; Vyacheslav Gladkov, Governor of Belgorod Oblast, on TelegramQuote from Gladkov: "The Shebekino City district is being shelled. According to preliminary information, there is one casualty, a man with fractured forearm bones.The power supply has been disrupted as a result of the shelling. One-third of the city’s residents are left without power.", ' , , . ³ Telegram- pic.twitter.com/aon4roTaD1— ✌️ (@ukrpravda_news) December 20,...

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) requested at least 19 earmarks totaling over $60 million in the $1.7 trillion, 4,155-page omnibus bill. If the bill passes both chambers of Congress, Murkowski’s state of Alaska will be granted by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), on behalf of American taxpayers, $60,852,000 worth of pork for housing and urban development, along with infrastructure. The specifics of the many line items include: Providence Alaska-Permanent Supportive Housing for Providence Alaska Foundation ($7,500,000) Cabin Community Projects for Sitka Homeless Coalition ($1,000,000) Rehabilitation of Bering Sea Women’s Shelter for Bering Sea Women’s Group ($2,000,000) Norton Sound Health Corporation Housing for...

Outgoing Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Richard Shelby (R-AL) slipped $656 million worth of earmarks into the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill. Congressional leaders dropped the $1.7 trillion, 4,155-page omnibus spending bill at 1:30 a.m. ET, giving lawmakers little time to digest the implications of the mammoth legislation. While the bill may have many major reforms that are readily apparent, lawmakers also slipped hard-to-find earmarks into the bill. Many lawmakers, such as Shelby, are retiring and face few political repercussions for pushing a bill that contains many special interest carveouts and increases the deficit.

Vladimir Putin on Tuesday angrily gave marching orders to Russia’s security forces to redouble their efforts to root out traitors and spies working to undermine his regime. -snip- “Maximum composure, concentration of forces is now required from counterintelligence agencies, including military intelligence,” Putin said. “It is necessary to harshly crack down on the actions of foreign special services, promptly identify traitors, spies and saboteurs.” In an uncharacteristic break from the official line that the so-called “special military operation” is going according to plan, Putin admitted the situation was “difficult” in the four regions of Ukraine that were illegally annexed by...

Three people have died after a blast tore through a pipeline near the Russian–Ukrainian border in the third explosion to hit infrastructure in days. Photos and video today showed pillars of fire erupting from the Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod pipeline in the Vurnar district of Chuvashia, Russia, per Reuters. Local officials on Telegram and the TASS news agency said the flow of gas through the pipeline has been cut off as of 1:50pm local time. Three people have died and one has been injured, emergency services told TASS. The Chuvashia regional Emergencies Ministry said the pipeline blew up during planned upkeep work new...

I miss Rush so much. There are a few people in my life who constantly look to me to inspire them, tell them there is hope, encourage them. But the person who did that for me was Rush Limbaugh. “I’ll tell you when it’s time to panic,” he used to say. Except you know what? Deep down, Rush was never going to come to that point where it was time to panic. He had a deep-seated, abiding faith in America and her institutions; of her founding by God; of her (still) unique place in all the world. For those reasons,...

All of North Korea’s ICBM tests have been performed at a steep angle to avoid neighboring countries. Some experts have said without the standard-trajectory launch of ICBMs, the reliability of North Korean weapons cannot be guaranteed. Touching upon those doubts, Kim Yo Jong suggested North Korea might fire an ICBM at a normal trajectory, a launch that could be considered as a much bigger provocation to the U.S. as the weapon would fly toward the Pacific Ocean. “I can clear up their doubt about it. They will immediately recognize it in case we launch an ICBM in the way of...

OUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Police charged a 26-year-old man with murder after a former Eastern High School student was killed in a wrong way crash on Hurstbourne Parkway over the weekend. According to Alicia Smiley, a spokeswoman for the Louisville Metro Police Department, Porfirio Cruz Hernandez is charged with murder, wanton endangerment, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and operating a motor vehicle without a valid operator's license. As of Monday afternoon, Hernandez remained hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. The crash took place around 4 a.m. Sunday at the intersection of South Hurstbourne Parkway and Fegenbush Lane. Police said...

Carina Nebula (NGC 3324) captured by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) (NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI) The powerful James Webb Space Telescope is a mighty technological tool. Astrophysicists first conceived it over 20 years ago, and after many twists and turns, it was launched on December 25, 2021. Now it's in a halo orbit at the Sun-Earth L2 point, where it will hopefully continue operating for 20 years. It's only been a few months since its first images were released, and it's already making progress in answering some of the Universe's most compelling questions. In a newly-released image, the JWST peered deep inside massive clouds...

What can regular people do to take back their country from woke radicals? Take over local institutions, one at a time. One of the things I get asked from time to time by readers is, what can ordinary people on the right, Christians and conservatives, do to help save the country — besides voting on Election Day? It’s a good question, and it comes from the very understandable feeling of helplessness many people feel about the direction of the country and, let’s be honest, the collapse of Western civilization that’s now well underway. It’s especially easy to get frustrated after...

Ukraine’s Ministry of Finance has announced that it received $2 billion from the US, allocated through the World Bank (WB) mechanism to support the Ukrainian state budget, Report informs with reference to TASS. “The state budget of Ukraine received grant funds in the amount of $2 billion from the World Bank trust fund,” the country’s Ministry of Finance said in a statement. “The funds were provided by the United States through a World Bank Trust Fund under the Public Expenditure Support for Sustainable Governance in Ukraine project,” the agency added.

Maybe you've read of the often life-threatening plight of Americans who've been injured by COVID-19 vaccines, and you want to help. Please start by giving generously to React19, an organization that represents more than 20,000 COVID-19 vaccine–injured Americans. Founded in November 2021 by a small group of vaccine-injured folks, React19 is a nonpartisan organization raising awareness of the struggles of vaccine-injured people by telling their stories, offering support, and lobbying elected officials. While the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System has tallied more than 400,000 people who've been injured by these vaccines, the government hasn't developed a plan to study them....

The White House press office declared a mid-morning “lid” on Tuesday as the Supreme Court weighs the fate of the Title 42 pandemic migration policy — while border communities and major US cities brace for a potential humanitarian crisis. A White House pool report sent at 10:35 a.m. relayed that President Biden’s staff declared the lid, which means that no public events are planned or likely to happen. It’s unusual to call a presidential lid so early in the day, since major domestic or international news could prompt schedule changes. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts paused plans Monday to...