Free Republic

The Belarusian government is struggling to thwart an internal guerrilla group that opposes Minsk’s assistance to Russia and has engaged in a sabotage campaign since the war in Ukraine kicked off. Earlier this week, opposition activists from the Association of Security Forces of Belarus (BYPOL), a group formed following the 2020 political turmoil in Belarus, attacked a Russian warplane outside the capital city using drones. "Belarusians will not allow the Russians to freely use our territory for the war with Ukraine, and we want to force them to leave," one retired Belarusian serviceman, who joined a group of saboteurs and...

Russian citizens are ratting each other out to authorities in droves for anti-war comments made in bars, beauty salons, and grocery stores in roughly a dozen cities across the country, according to a new report from the independent Russian news outlet Vrestka. Legal filings obtained by the outlet from Moscow, Bryansk, Novosibirsk, and other cities indicate that citizens have been turned in for “violations” as minor as cracking a joke about the war, listening to Ukrainian music, or even just talking about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion in a public space. Many of those jailed after being reported by other...

PRAGUE (AP) – Thousands of people in the Czech Republic rallied against the government Saturday, protesting high inflation and demanding an end to the country’s military support for Ukraine.A new political group, PRO, organized the rally at Prague’s Wenceslas Square as an anti-poverty event. As participants called on the coalition government to resign, party leader Jindrich Rajchl said they want “a government to care first of all about the interests of the Czech citizens.”His group, whose name translates in English to Law, Respect, Expertise, blames the European Union for soaring energy prices. Inflation slightly dropped to 16.7% in Czechia in...

Tensions between European telecommunications firms and U.S. Big Tech companies have crested, as telecom bosses mount pressure on regulators to make digital giants fork up some of the cost of building the backbone of the internet. European telcos argue that large internet firms, mainly American, have built their businesses on the back of the multi-billion dollar investments that carriers have made in internet infrastructure. Google, Netflix, Meta, Apple, Amazon and Microsoft generate nearly half of all internet traffic today. Telcos think these firms should pay “fair share” fees to account for their disproportionate infrastructure needs and help fund the rollout...

A “Climate Modifier” bonus for top executives is among the tactics being used to advance the Royal Bank of Canada’s (RBC) environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals, the bank revealed Monday, announcing the publication of its 2022 Climate Report and ESG Performance Report. “These reports reflect the importance that RBC places on identifying, understanding and responding to the ESG topics that matter most to our stakeholders and our business,” RBC explains in its press release. RBC goes on to tout its efforts to use its power as a financial institution to solve the world’s problems: “They also reflect our belief...

Shannon Joy hosts a 1 day conference in Rochester, New York called the Summit for Truth and Wellness. You can attend the event, which is being held from 11 AM to 4 PM ET, by showing up at Bethel Christian Fellowship. Tickets cost $34 and include world class presentations from Dr. Peter McCullough, Steve Kirsch, VAERS whistleblower Deborah Conrad, Brownstone Institute President Jeffrey Tucker, lawyer Bobby Ann Cox, and Blaze Host Daniel Horowitz.

A head of risk assessment at the beleaguered Silicon Valley Bank has been accused of prioritizing pro-diversity initiatives over her actual role after the firm imploded on Friday. Jay Ersapah - who describes herself as a 'queer person of color from a working-class background' - organized a host of LGBTQ initiatives including a month-long Pride campaign and implemented 'safe space' catch-ups for staff.

Leftist Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, also known as AMLO, threatened the Republican Party during a press conference on Thursday for wanting to use the U.S. military to destroy the nation’s powerful multi-billion dollar drug cartels. Obrador’s remarks come as Republican lawmakers and top former officials, like former Attorney General William Barr, have called for using the U.S. military in recent weeks to put an end to the billions of dollars worth of drugs pouring into the U.S., which are responsible for tens of thousands of deaths per year. The cartels made $13 billion last year from human smuggling...

Silicon Valley Bank employees received their annual bonuses Friday just hours before regulators seized the failing bank, according to people with knowledge of the payments. The Santa Clara, California-based bank has historically paid employee bonuses on the second Friday of March, said the people, who declined to be identified speaking about the awards. The payments were for work done in 2022 and had been in process days before the bank’s collapse, the sources said. -snip- A spokesman for the FDIC declined to comment on the bonuses.

DETROIT – General Motors will offer voluntary buyouts to a “majority” of its 58,000 U.S. white-collar employees, as it aims to cut $2 billion in structural costs over the next two years, according to a letter sent to workers Thursday from CEO Mary Barra. The “Voluntary Separation Program,” or VSP, will be offered to all U.S. salaried employees who have spent five or more years at the company as of June 30. Outside of the U.S., the automaker will offer buyouts to executives with at least two years of time at the company. GM expects to take a pretax charge...

South Dakota Republican Gov. Kristi Noem vetoed legislation that would have identified central bank digital currency as money with cryptocurrency being excluded. “At this moment in time, such a government-backed electronic currency has not yet been created,” Noem explained to lawmakers. “More importantly, South Dakota should not open the door to a potential future overreach by the federal government.” House Bill 1193 would have defined money as a “medium of exchange that is currently authorized or adopted by a domestic or foreign government.” The bill was passed 49-17 in the South Dakota House of Representatives and 24-9 in the Senate...

As the city of San Francisco debates how to pay for a legacy of racism, its slavery disclosure ordinance asking businesses that contract with the city for voluntary donations to "ameliorate the effects of slavery" has not received a donation in seven years. San Francisco's Human Rights Commission released a memo in December 2022 that advocated the city give $5 million to each eligible Black resident. The U.S. Census estimated about 42,390 Black residents in the city in 2021. The commission didn't say how many people would be eligible for the $5 million. In 2006, San Francisco created a "slavery...

Explanation: Put on your red/blue glasses and float next to asteroid 101955 Bennu. Shaped like a spinning toy top with boulders littering its rough surface, the tiny Solar System world is about one Empire State Building (less than 500 meters) across. Frames used to construct this 3D anaglyph were taken by PolyCam on the OSIRIS_REx spacecraft on December 3, 2018 from a distance of about 80 kilometers. With a sample from the asteroid's rocky surface on board, OSIRIS_REx departed Bennu's vicinity in May of 2021 and is now enroute to planet Earth. The robotic spacecraft is scheduled to return the...

Bud Grant, the Hall of Fame coach who led the Minnesota Vikings to four Super Bowl appearances, has died at the age of 95, the Vikings announced Saturday. In Grant's 28 seasons as a head coach in Canada and with the Vikings, his teams reached the playoffs 20 times, played in 10 championship games and won four titles. However, none of those titles came in the NFL, as he became the first coach to lose four Super Bowls. Grant was the first person to be inducted into both the CFL Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame....

"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be...

The judge in the picture above in Kyle Duncan. He is a sitting judge on the 5th Circuit Cour of Appeals. The hideous creature on the right is Tirien Steinbach. She is the Dean of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Stanford University (did you even know there was such a thing?) Duncan was invited by the Stanford Chapter of the Federalist Society to give a speech on guns, COVD mandates and Twitter. As he was to being speaking he was ambushed by the hideous creature who then spouted off about how terrible Duncan was. But she then launched into an...

Yes, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is running to be the Republican nominee for president. He just hasn’t made it official yet. Most political observers expect him to run and the general public is becoming interested in finding out who he is and what he offers. Case in point, the book sales for his memoir, “The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Survival,” outsold first week sales of books written by Trump, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama. Even the Washington Post had to admit that DeSantis is running, stating the obvious, and reporting he is beginning to staff up...

Twitter CEO Elon Musk has called for the release of “QAnon Shaman” Jacob Chansley after the release of the January 6th footage by Fox News Host Tucker Carlson. Musk posted “Free Jacob Chansley” on his Twitter page after footage of Chansley reading Former President Donald Trump’s tweet to the crowds on January 6th, telling them to “go home and remain peaceful.” Free Jacob Chansley https://t.co/8BbeXF2Fye — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 10, 2023 The billionaire went on to compare Chansley’s situation with the man who had assaulted Dave Chapelle during one of his shows.

Most Republicans and Republican-leaning voters want former President Donald Trump as the 2024 GOP nominee, a recent survey from The Economist/YouGov shows.“Who do you want to be the Republican Party’s nominee for president in 2024?” the survey asked both Republicans and Republican-leaners.The survey found that among both groups, 63 percent chose Trump, while only 20 percent said “someone else.” Another 18 percent said they are not sure.Sixty-one percent of Republicans, specifically, said they want Trump as the 2024 GOP nominee, and 69 percent of independents said the same. Additionally, 65 percent of Trump 2020 voters want the former president to...

SVB Financial Group faced a perfect storm, but there are plenty of other banks that would face big losses if they were forced to dump securities to raise cash Silicon Valley Bank has failed following a run on deposits, after its parent company’s share price crashed a record 60% on Thursday. Trading of SVB Financial Group’s SIVB stock was halted early Friday, after the shares plunged again in premarket trading. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said SVB was one of a few banks she was “monitoring very carefully.” Reaction poured in from several analysts who discussed the bank’s liquidity risk.