Free Republic

A recently unsealed court document reveals for the first time that two top officials at a red-light camera company were caught on undercover FBI recordings talking about giving a suburban mayor campaign contributions and other perks at the same time their firm was pressuring the mayor to increase ticket revenue. The 2018 FBI search warrant, which sought court approval to search an email account of then-Crestwood Mayor Louis Presta, was part of the broad, yearslong investigation into corruption surrounding red-light cameras operated by SafeSpeed LLC, a probe that has netted charges against more than half a dozen public officials, businessmen...

On Thursday, a major whistleblower at the FBI announced his resignation from the bureau, with a final warning to Congress that the FBI has created a dangerous “quota” system for cases that incentivizes agents to artificially boost or decrease the number of cases they take on, purely for statistical purposes. As reported by Just The News, special agent and former SWAT team member Steve Friend resigned from the FBI after giving an extensive interview before the House Judiciary Committee earlier this week. Friend had previously been a key whistleblower on the civil rights abuses that many of the peaceful protesters...

A Farsi-language satellite news channel based in London long critical of Iran's theocratic government said Saturday it had moved its broadcasts to Washington “to protect the safety of its journalists” after reportedly being targeted by Tehran. The alleged targeting of Iran International comes as Tehran also has long harassed members of the BBC's Persian service for their work reporting on the country. -excerpt- Reached for comment, Iran International referred to a statement saying that “threats had grown to the point that it was felt it was no longer possible to protect the channel’s staff” or the public around its studio...

EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (WKBN) – East Palestine is known as “The Place to Be.” It’s way ahead of the curve on a program to provide better treatment for anyone in the event of an emergency. We learned how it works and how it could help everyone in East Palestine. “MyID” provides quick medical information for emergency responders. Darlene Chapman is the outreach coordinator for this project and she’s an EMT. If they’re in a situation where they can’t tell us or if they don’t have any family around, this is something that would make my life easier,” she said. MyID...

A Virginia school board is considering revising its policies on after-school clubs following conflict over a new “After School Satan Club.” The Chesapeake Public School Board previously allowed the Satan club to meet on school property, stipulating it pay over $600 for security for each meeting, something the district’s policy allows, local media reports. The likelihood of demonstrations is part of what makes securing the event so expensive, as Satan clubs are frequently protested. Last January, an Ohio superintendent was even reprimanded by the attorney general for discouraging parents from protesting the Satan club. However, Chesapeake’s school board put a...

President Biden admitted Thursday he had no idea what NORAD had detected in North American airspace last weekend when he ordered the military to use an estimated $1.6 million worth of Sidewinder missiles to down three UFOs now believed to have been harmless. “We don’t yet know exactly what these three objects were,” the president added. “But nothing, nothing right now suggests they were related to China’s spy balloon program, or that they were surveillance vehicles from any other country.” However, the White House had been warned two years earlier in a Congressionally-mandated report by the Office of the Director...

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Sen. Rand Paul is leading the charge to hold taxpayer-funded health institutions accountable for denying unvaccinated people critical care, including organ transplants. Legislation introduced Tuesday from Paul, R-Ky., would bar federal funds from going to health care facilities that have denied patients care based on their COVID-19 vaccination status. It would also protect the rights of patients to make decisions about their health without being penalized. "No American should be denied access to critical care based on a personal medical decision, yet tragically, many hospitals and other medical facilities continue to discriminate against those unvaccinated for COVID-19," Paul told Fox...

In his own time, Paul warned against becoming slaves of the elemental spirits. And with good reason since they can pass right through the earth, enter into animals and speak and act through them as easily as through water, trees, statues, and humans.

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Alternative suppliers and a warm winter have brought European gas prices below 50 euros per megawatt hour. That marks an 85% drop from the price peak last year, when Russia cut gas exports and sparked a price spike. Natural gas prices are now equivalent to $85 per barrel, nearly on par with Brent crude oil at around $83. Thanks to a warm winter and support from new suppliers, European natural gas prices have dropped below 50 euros per megawatt hour and hit the lowest level in 18 months. On Friday, the benchmark TTF contract fell 5% to a low of...

The most successful unity achieved by the Biden Administration is the unity of declining real wages. For the year 2022 real disposable income (i.e., income adjusted for the impact of inflation) was down 6.4%. This is the worst decline for wage-earners since the Great Depression. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen sees a "silver lining" in the declining purchasing power of the US dollar. "If you pay close attention you'll notice that at an 11.3% increase year-over-year, food prices are up more than most other prices," she pointed out. "At a personal level, this could provide an extra assist to...

The Biden White House reportedly denied Ohio officials’ requests for Federal Disaster Assistance following the train derailment and the toxic chemical mushroom cloud explosion. The Biden regime did not send any top official to the region since the chemical blast until Thursday when EPA Administrator Michael Regan toured the town, meeting with residents and officials. Regan reportedly turned down an offer to drink the tap water. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has not taken time out to visit the area. He did blame President Trump, though, for the chemical disaster. The Biden White House told FOX News FEMA is not equipped...

Artificial intelligence this year has been the technology at the center of all conversations in tech circles. The Silicon Valley luminaries say that the AI ​​era is about to begin as the technology takes a major leap forward in utility. For the general public, AI was limited to Siri and Alexa, respectively Apple's and Amazon's virtual assistants; the chatbots many call centers and customer-service spaces use; and the emails you get suggesting moments of memories from your photos. Some consumers had also been able to experiment with AI through the driver-assistance systems that now equip many vehicles. But on Nov....

An art advisor at the gallery backed up Gamson’s theory, telling the Herald it was just an accident. Fortunately, the sculpture was covered by insurance and didn’t cost the woman anything, the report said. The smashed sculpture was a miniature version of Koons’ famed 12-foot-tall Balloon Dog sculpture that’s made out of mirror-polished stainless steel and on display in Los Angeles. Koons has created a series of the pups between 1994 and 2000 in a variety of colors, sizes and material. The piece that was destroyed Thursday night stood about 15 inches tall, was blue in color and was made...

Standing outside the local police station in her village in northeast India, 19-year-old Nureja Khatun is anxious. Cradling her 6-month-old baby in her arms, she has been waiting to catch a glimpse of her husband before the police take him away to court. Nearly an hour later, she sees her husband, Akbar Ali, for just a few seconds when he is shuffled into a police van. An officer slams the door in her face before she is able to get any answers. “Please release my husband. Otherwise take me into custody as well,” she pleaded. Khatun’s husband is one of...

Presidents Day provides a moment to reflect on how America’s chief executives have shaped and reflected our history. But our presidents and first ladies have also been history makers overseas, symbolized by dozens of statues and monuments to American presidents in countries large and small around the world... Last year we were honored to set a wreath at the Abraham Lincoln statue in the Old Calton Burial Ground in Edinburgh, Scotland, the first erected in Europe to honor a U.S. president, in 1893. Lincoln did not live to visit Scotland as he hoped, but he loved to quote Robert Burns...

Justice Paul Rouleau, who led the probe into the use of 1988 Emergencies Act, called the decision a "drastic move" but not a "dictatorial one". The act bestows the government with added powers in times of crisis. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau used it on 14 February 2022... Mr Rouleau wrote in his Public Order Emergency Commission (POEC) report... Mr Rouleau said he did not come to the conclusion easily... Though the report says the use of emergency powers was necessary, it also suggests that Prime Minister Trudeau inflamed the situation with comments that called the movement a "fringe minority" which...

When Warner Brothers’ movie, “Casablanca,” was released nationally on Jan. 23, 1943, to coincide with a war-time meeting of President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in the same city, New York Times critic Bosley Crowther wrote that “The Warners . . . have a picture that makes the spine tingle and the heart take a leap.” After 80 years, the iconic film remains a masterpiece and, in my totally subjective estimation, simply the greatest movie ever made. I can still remember when I was in law school the Vogue Theater in St. Matthews showing “Casablanca” like it...

If you believe tweets from Michael Bloomberg’s The Trace and its employees, I am “one major factor” why the U.S. hasn’t passed stronger gun control laws and thus, they claim, responsible for mass shootings in the United States. These are becoming regular tweets after each mass public shooting. They are upset that I have quoted mass murderers on their decisions to target gun-free zones. Yet, statements such as, “Areas where CCW are outlawed or prohibited may be good areas of attack” are common among mass murderers. That doesn’t make sense to gun control supporters. Immediately after this week’s shooting at...