Free Republic

A growing list of municipalities across the U.S. are looking to set up reparations programs for Black residents, and some of them are considering using COVID-19 relief funds to pay for the initiatives. Critics argue using funds from the American Rescue Plan (ARP) to bankroll social justice initiatives are a misuse of federal taxpayer dollars, but proponents are defending the use of pandemic money as a way to reduce disparities when it comes to housing and narrowing the wealth gap.

A State Department-backed group is severing its connections with a disinformation index group also backed by progressive megadonor George Soros following reports about the group's efforts to muzzle conservative media outlets by blacklisting them with advertisers. The National Endowment for Democracy, a private foundation created by Congress whose funding is part of the State Department budget, said it will no longer provide grants to the Global Disinformation Index, according to The Washington Times. "Recently, we became aware that one of our grantees, the Global Disinformation Index (GDI), was engaged in an initiative, funded by a different donor, that focused on...

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., has narrowed down his options concerning his political future for the 2024 election cycle, announcing Wednesday his decision not to run for president. "I'm not running for President of the United States," Manchin told MetroNews during a radio interview broadcast from the State Capitol in Charleston, West Virginia. The two-term senator and former governor of the state wouldn't say, however, if he had decided to run for re-election to keep his seat in the U.S. Senate, as Republicans eye the seat as a top target to flip in the 2024 election cycle.

More than $200 million worth of Covid-19 gear purchased by New York City to battle the pandemic was auctioned off for a small fraction of the cost – $500,000, according to reports. The equipment includes thousands of ventilators commissioned by then-Mayor Bill de Blasio for $12 million that were auctioned off for scrap metal for less than $25,000, The City reported. The auction ended on Jan. 24. A Long Island junk dealer took the whole $12 million in ventilators, at just about $8 per device, the report said. An investigation by the news outlet found the city's Department of Citywide...

‘Blasphemous’: Christians condemn Amazon’s new ‘Holy Spirit’ Ouija boardAmazon is playing with hellfire by promoting a recently released product: the “Holy Spirit” Ouija board. In 2022, Amazon began selling this horrendous new product, created by an obscure online website called Holy Spirit Games. The object, marketed by Amazon as the “Holy Spirit Board,” is a “Christian Religious Talking Board for Seance with Planchette.” The manufacturer claims their product will allow Christ-loving individuals to get in contact with Jesus directly, by providing them with “a fool-proof way of understanding the Lord’s will.”

(CNN) - The U.S. military is telling active-duty soldiers to stop eating poppy seed bagels, pastries and other foods with poppy seeds.The top Pentagon official for personnel sent a memo warning service members that eating poppy seeds could cause them to fail drug tests

This video was publicly promoted a little less than two years ago. They told us what they’d do. Did you believe them yet? “We’re Coming For Your Children!”, A message from the Gay Community performed by the San Francisco Gay men’s Chorus

President Donald Trump addressed the concerns of millions of Americans on Monday night during remarks delivered at the newly renamed “Club 47” in West Palm Beach, Florida. The president specifically spoke to the election processes in the United States, calling for the prioritization of “free and fair elections” on the road to 2024.“Yeah, we want to have free and fair elections,” he said. “We want to have voter ID, we want to have all of the things…we don’t want to have elections that last for 62 DAYS. We don’t call it Election Day anymore; we call it Election Period.”He added,...

Donald Trump said that "nuclear" is one of two n-words in the English language which shouldn't "ever be mentioned," adding "you know what the one is" in reference to the second, in a speech in West Palm Beach, Florida on Monday. The former president was addressing a meeting of Club 45, which describes itself as an "independent club" formed to support Trump in January 2018. During his address, the former president discussed the threat of nuclear war following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

A former Clinton aide who signed Jeffrey Epstein into the White House multiple times was found dead in 2022 with a gunshot wound to his chest, an extension cord tied around his neck and attached to a tree. No gun was found in the vicinity. But his death now has been determined to be a suicide, according to a report assembled by the Daily Mail. It’s just one of a long list of suspicious deaths that have been documented among those who were in the circle of people that included Bill and Hillary Clinton. The report on the death of...

Companies can no longer offer severance agreements that prevent employees from making disparaging remarks about their former employer, the National Labor Relations Board ruled Tuesday. The big picture: The federal agency said these agreements require employees to waive their rights under the National Labor Relations Act, and that such policies are a violation of the act. According to the NLRB, "the employer’s offer is itself an attempt to deter employees from exercising their statutory rights, at a time when employees may feel they must give up their rights in order to get the benefits provided in the agreement." Employees also...

National Public Radio is cutting around 10 percent of its workforce amid falling ad revenue and economic uncertainty, its CEO John Lansing announced Wednesday. The nonprofit media organization’s financial outlook “has darkened considerably” in recent weeks, Lansing wrote in a memo to staff, shared with The Hill, as it faces a “sharp decline” in revenues from corporate sponsors in a weakened ad industry. “We had created a plan to address a $20M sponsorship revenue falloff for FY23 but we are now projecting at least a $30M shortfall. The cuts we have already made to our budget will not be enough,”...

Three days into Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a huge 10-mile (15.5km) line of armoured vehicles was spotted by a satellite in the north of the country. The very same morning in Bucha, just outside Kyiv, 67-year-old Volodymyr Scherbynyn was standing outside his local supermarket when more than a hundred Russian military vehicles rolled into town. Both Volodymyr and the satellite were witnesses to a key part of President Vladimir Putin's plan for a quick and overwhelming victory. They were also witnesses to its failure. The western media called it a convoy. In reality, it was a traffic jam and a...

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2023/02/21/how-wall-street-bought-single-family-homes-and-put-them-up-for-rent.html KEY POINTS • Corporations backed by private equity groups such as Blackstone and Pretium Partners bought tens of thousands of homes across the U.S. Sun Belt. • Prices for detached homes have increased faster in key Sun Belt states than the national average. • Institutional investors do not yet control a large market share in housing, but analysts writing at MetLife Investment Management suggest they could by 2030. Institutional investors may control 40% of U.S. single-family rental homes by 2030, according to MetLife Investment Management. And a group of Washington, D.C., lawmakers say Wall Street needs to back...

MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell said Wednesday on her show “Andrea Mitchell Reports” she was “imprecise” to claim Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) does not want slavery taught in Florida schools. Friday, while interviewing Vice President Kamala Harris, Mitchell asked, “Let me ask you, what does Governor Ron DeSantis not know about black history and the black experience when he says that slavery and the aftermath of slavery should not be taught to Florida schoolchildren?” Harris responded, “I don’t know what he knows and what he doesn’t know, but I know this, any push to censor America’s teachers and tell them what...

Just started speaking.......

Malcolm X’s family announced on Tuesday — the 58th anniversary of his assassination on February 21, 1965 — their plan to sue the CIA, FBI, New York Police Department (NYPD), and other institutions “for their handling” of his murder. Benjamin Crump — an attorney known for his involvement with deaths focused on by news media, such as those of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and George Floyd — joined two of Malcolm X’s daughters for a livestreamed announcement of the family’s planned lawsuit.

NEW VIDEO of Ray Epps Hurling GIANT Trump Sign at Police on Jan. 6 But Was Never Arrested Like Several Trump Supporters Who Touched that Same Sign (VIDEO)Charles Bradford (Brad) Smith was a 24-year-old young patriotic American when the FBI raided his family’s home in September 2021. Brad has been held in the FCI Elkton Federal Correctional Institution in Lisbon, Ohio. He was sentenced to 41 months in prison for touching a sign and for several made-up charges by the DOJ-FBI. On January 6, 2021, Brad Smith stood outside the US Capitol. At one point a giant Trump sign passed...

“The Ten Commandments: Curb, Mirror, and Guide” Today we begin a series called “A Catechetical Lent.” In our six Wednesday services we will be looking at the six chief parts of the Small Catechism: the Ten Commandments, the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, Confession, and the Sacrament of the Altar. These are the basics of Christian faith and life. Whether you’re learning the catechism to become a communicant member--and we have catechumens right now at both congregations, St. Matthew and Grace--or whether you are a lifelong Lutheran, it’s always good to come back to the basics....

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Moscow, just days after the U.S. warned that Beijing may increase support for Russia’s war in Ukraine. “We are expecting the President of the People’s Republic of China in Russia,” Putin said during a visit from China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, on Wednesday. On Saturday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused China of “strongly considering” providing Russia with “lethal assistance” for its war in Ukraine, which is set to reach the one-year mark on Friday. Blinken reportedly warned Wang against such a move when the two...