Free Republic

James Biden secretly negotiated a $140 million settlement deal in 2012 between a U.S. company and the Saudi Arabian government due to his relationship with then-Vice President Joe Biden, court documents reveal. The revelation represents one more instance of the Biden family business peddling influence while President Joe Biden was an elected official. House Oversight Committee James Comer (R-KY) reportedly already has copies of the court documents and is investigating the scandal as a part of his probe into the Biden family for nine violations, including wire fraud, tax evasion, and money laundering. In 2011, upon the Saudi’s refusal to...

A high-ranking Russian defense official in the war against Ukraine was found dead Wednesday after falling from a 16th-floor window in an apartment building. Marina Yankina, 58, was discovered by a passerby at the entrance of a high-rise on Zamshina Street in St. Petersburg, Russian news Telegram channel Mash reported. She is believed to have fallen 160 feet to her death. Her personal belongings and documents were found on a 16th-floor balcony in the building. According to a preliminary investigation, it is believed Yankina committed suicide. Mash reported that a few minutes before allegedly taking her own life, Yankina called...

Even while gangs increasingly mug, carjack, and gun people down on the streets of many major cities, fentanyl poisoning deaths take 100,000 American lives, and mass murder incidents happen with unsettling regularity, perceptions of crime are highly influenced by partisanship. Gallup finds that when a Democrat is president, Republicans see crime as more of a problem than do Democrats, with the reverse happening when a Republican is in the White House.

Video

Priest charged after praying outside abortion clinic decries criminalization of thoughtsHis lawyer calls the situation 'sinister'A U.K. priest charged after praying outside of an abortion clinic said free speech is being threatened in his country. "Nobody should be criminalized for the thoughts that they're having in their own head, and this is what I was threatened with arrest for," Father Sean Gough told "Tucker Carlson Tonight" on Wednesday. "I wasn't actually arrested, but I was interrogated for it and questioned about the thoughts that I was having in my own head, my prayers to God, and then I was charged...

Emergency personnel are responding to a warehouse fire that started on Thursday in Kissimmee, Florida, that is causing massive plumes of black smoke to rise into the sky. Fire crews from Osceola County, Orange County, and Kissimmee Fire Department are working to subdue the blaze, which started after five acres of plastic planters caught fire at a nursery supply company, according to a report from WFTV, which added that authorities are tracking air quality in the area. Phylicia Ashley, a reporter with WFTV, shared footage depicting a massive amount of black smoke visible from two miles away.

President Joe Biden signed a new executive order to address racial inequity on Thursday. The Further Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government is designed to address systemic barriers that hold communities of color back from prospering. The order is Biden’s second racial equity executive order. On his first day in office two years ago, Biden signed Executive Order 13985, which saw funding go to places like Historically Black Colleges and Universities and indigenous tribes and new programs to help close racial disparities in job and housing opportunities. Biden also a pardoned all federal offenses...

Biden will use his address to explain how the administration intends to deal with aerial balloons and other objects spotted in the future, based on a study conducted by a series of government agencies. The exact timing of Biden’s remarks has not yet been settled. The president is due to take a physical exam Thursday that could last several hours.

Data from the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) reveal that Total Snow Mass for the Northern Hemisphere has comfortably held above 1982-2012 average ALL season and is now also punching above the standard deviation. Feel free to shovel this fact down the throats of those mindless, unquestioning and narrative-trusting fools that still believe the world is burning up and that snowfall is a thing of the past: ... this trend of growth appears to have commenced back in 2017. ... Clear for all to see–and for all climate alarmists to ignore–Northern Hemisphere snow mass is on the uptick, consistently running well-above...

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) is reintroducing legislation to require background checks on all commercial gun purchases in the aftermath of the Michigan State University shooting that left three students dead. Murphy has pushed for stronger gun control legislation throughout his time in Congress, and is now once again calling for mandatory background checks for every firearm sale. If the measure became law, prospective gun buyers would need to undergo a background check for the sale or transfer of guns, including online sales, purchases at gun shows and through unlicensed sellers, according to the bill. Murphy told Poppy Harlow on “CNN...

While most of the world lost ground in defense spending in 2022—mainly due to inflation—both China and many nations in Europe achieved real growth, and China’s spending level set a record, according to analysis by the independent, London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies. China’s spending and “military modernization remains the principal area of concern for Washington,” the IISS said in a summary of its findings. The seven percent increase in China’s defense spending from 2021 to 2022 is its largest in “absolute terms” going back 30 years, according to the report. In real terms—accounting for inflation—China spent $16 billion more...

President Joe Biden's demands for a ban on assault weapons were called irresponsible and unconstitutional by 16 state attorneys. The coalition of attorneys general, led by Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, sent a letter to the president saying his reasons for banning assault weapons have many "flaws" and could create a potential danger. "The right to keep and bear arms in self-defense guards and protects the right to life, the first and most fundamental God-given right recognized in the Declaration of Independence," the letter stated. "And, needless to say, your repeated attempts to deprive law-abiding Americans of guns that are...

Some of the most memorable moments in Chicago football history have been played in snow, wind, cold and fog, but Bears quarterback Justin Fields hopes that all comes to an end. Fields said on Pardon My Take that the weather in Chicago makes his job much more difficult, and he’d rather play indoors.

January’s producer price index, another inflation measure, rose 0.7% on the month while economists surveyed by Dow Jones expected a 0.4% increase. Initial jobless claims unexpectedly fell for the week ending February 11, per a Labor Department report. The new data comes after January’s consumer price index and retail sales report were both higher than expected, suggesting that the Federal Reserve may have further to go in its efforts to tame inflation. “Both inflation readings this week point to the stickiness of inflation and that the fight isn’t over, especially when considering today’s PPI reading was the highest month-over-month increase...

At least one person was killed after a gunman opened fire in a Texas mall food court Wednesday, cops said. Police said the shooting started around 5 p.m. at the Cielo Vista Mall in East El Paso. Officers said that four people, all men, were shot, one fatally. Two of the victims were rushed to the hospital in critical condition. The condition of the third victim was not immediately known. Police said two men were taken into custody. A weapon was also found at the scene.

Tachles: A modern Hebrew word of Yiddish origin that means “to the point.” Are the horsemen of the apocalypse on their way yet? Israeli commentator Amnon Abramovich this week compared Justice Minister Yariv Levin, MK Simcha Rothman and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to those end-times figures. All three are at the center of the political storm currently engulfing Israel. All three politicians are pushing for a right-wing revolution in Israel, and are racing to enact their policies without taking into account the mood of Israeli society. They don’t even want to hear the voices of right-wing voters. According to...

Springfield police are investigating a report from Kenwood Elementary School that allegedly involved several students and a racial incident. Officers were called to the school around 10 a.m. Monday about an incident that happened Friday during recess on the playground, according to the police report, which states assault and menacing as the potential offenses. The school principal told officers that a group of Black students gathered several white students on a spot of the playground “and forced them to state, ‘Black Lives Matter,’ against their will,” the report stated. The principal said a few of the students who tried to...

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...

Brent Eldridge had heard that prices for natural gas were high this winter, but nothing prepared him for how bad it could be. When he opened the envelope from Long Beach’s utility department, he couldn’t believe the total: $907.13, nearly eight times higher than his bill at the same time last year. “It made me want to puke,” said Eldridge, 48, a pastor. Household budgets in the Golden State, already stretched thin as prices soar for everything from rent to eggs, are being pummeled by monster gas bills. Southern California Gas Co. and Pacific Gas & Electric began warning customers...

I guess there is nothing to see here, an Executive at JP Morgan and Jeffrey Epstein's personal banker exchanged emails with Epstein where he said, "That was fun, Say Hi to Snow White", to which Epstein replied, "What character would you like next". In addition, Epstein sent pictures of young women in suggestive poses to this Executive using a JP Morgan email account. Ghislaine Maxwell is in prison for trafficking underage women, yet no one has been arrested for abusing these women...The Virgin Islands is suing JP Morgan over their dealings with Epstein and this just one exchange of emails,...