Free Republic

Before looking at the absurdity of the International Criminal Court (ICC) position, it is worth noting that Russia, Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, India, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, the United States and China do not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC and are not member states in the organization {LINK}. Additionally, I doubt the countries of Kiribati and Malawi are going to launch a military offensive against Russia; so, one has to ask, exactly what is this latest production about – amid the theater of World War Reddit.The essential accusation is that Vladimir Putin took orphans out of orphanages in the Ukraine war...

Opposite sides of the political spectrum are in agreement that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg seeking to indict former President Donald Trump will ultimately only make him stronger in his 2024 presidential campaign. Reaction included shock, including anti-Trump Twitter CEO Elon Musk, who has said he will be backing Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis in the 2024 presidential election cycle. "If this happens, Trump will be reelected in a landslide victory," Musk tweeted. Musk's prediction was shared by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who tweeted similar sentiment as Musk, saying this continued search for a crime of Trump will only...

An article on citizenship kinds, especially for St. Patrick’s Day (Mar. 18, 2023) — (17 Mar 2023) — Regarding the term “natural born citizen” (NBC) in our U.S. Constitution’s presidential eligibility clause and Principles of Natural Law, it is not a very limited club and category of citizenship. In fact it is exactly the opposite. NBCs are the most common, garden variety, most populous group or kind of citizenship that exists in a typical nation and is typically by far the most populous kind, group, or class of citizenship in virtually all nations. Thus in our United States, we have...

BlackRock is walking a fine line in what has become one of the most hot-button culture war issues that red America calls woke capitalism. The world’s largest asset manager is tamping down the rhetoric on its support for so-called ESG investing that takes climate risks and social justice politics into consideration, while making clear it has no intentions of ditching the controversial financial strategy.In his annual letter to investors, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said it is not the role of private companies “to be the environmental police.” But he said it is “still the case” that the company views “climate...

Is there anything more Soviet than a bank that lends money to companies making things no one wants to buy? That's the missing puzzle piece on why Silicon Valley Bank went belly up, and Kimberly Strassel of the Wall Street Journal has found it: the failure of the bank was premised on ESG, which descended into wokester lending priorities, creating the abnormal conditions that left the bank ripe for a meltdown. Strassel: Most of these companies weren’t filling some vital market need. Rather, as the Journal reported, SVB was beloved for its willingness to offer “banking services to startups that...

A school system in Maine has instituted its own burgeoning Red Guard called the “Civil Rights Team.” This benign-sounding organization of kids is supposed to ensure that student rights are upheld. What has happened instead led to parents sounding off at the latest school board meeting to complain that the Civil Rights Team is just a bullying organization with an agenda. The Maine Wire covered the story: "Kristen Day said students affiliated with one of RSU 14’s Civil Rights Teams harassed her daughter. When her daughter refused to speak about her sexuality, two students affiliated with the club began to...

A Rhode Island woman who lied about being an injured Marine Corps veteran diagnosed with cancer was sentenced to nearly six years in prison and ordered to pay back full restitution on Tuesday. Sarah Jane Cavanaugh, 32, collected more than $250,000 in charitable contributions, veteran benefits, and donations during her stolen valor run. “Today’s sentencing sends a strong message to those who would represent themselves as something they’re not in order to profit from the kindness and respect shown to our nation’s deserving veterans,” Special Agent in Charge Christopher Algieri of the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General’s...

Luke 18:9-14 Friends, today’s Gospel compares the self-centered prayer of the Pharisee with the God-centered prayer of the tax collector.The Pharisee spoke his prayer to himself. This is, Jesus suggests, a fraudulent, wholly inadequate prayer, precisely because it simply confirms the man in his self-regard. And the god to which he prays is, necessarily, a false god, an idol, since it allows itself to be positioned by the ego-driven needs of the Pharisee. But then Jesus invites us to meditate upon the tax collector’s prayer: he “beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’” Though...

President Joe Biden denied the allegations that he and members of his family received money from an energy firm in China via an associate of his son Hunter Biden. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky) earlier this week released a summary of the first bank records showing how a $3 million payment from a Chinese company came into the United States, was broken up and eventually $1.3 million of the payment went into the accounts of President Joe Biden's family members shortly after he left office as vice president.A reporter from the Epoch Times' sister media NTD questioned President...

Former U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton said Saturday on CNN that if prosecutors indict President Trump but fail to convict him, he could get back in the White House. "Having very much in mind the one rule of law for everybody, if they indict and fail to convict in New York, I think historians will look back and say that this is the act that re-elected Donald Trump president," Bolton said."So I hope those prosecutors in New York are very, very certain of their case," he continued.Trump made an announcement on his Truth Social platform Saturday that said he...

In response to news that Trump may be arrested next week, Trump supporters posted on Twitter to show their support for the America First leader. #TrumpIndictment began trending early Saturday morning, and the majority of users offered their support against a two-tiered justice system. Lawyer Jenna Ellis noted, “The goal isn’t the political fallout. They know he isn’t going to exit the race, nor is he constitutionally required to. The goal to keep him from being able to raise enough money for a serious campaign.” Here’s what you need to know about the possible Trump indictment:The goal isn’t the political...

Our guest on this week's #SWYSI is author & Unherd columnist Mary Harrington, author of the new book: Feminism Against Progress. Harrington argues that the industrial-era faith in progress is turning against all but a tiny elite of women. Women’s liberation was less the result of human moral progress than an effect of the material consequences of the Industrial Revolution. We’ve now left the industrial era for the age of AI, biotech and all-pervasive computing. As a result, technology is liberating us from natural limits and embodied sex differences. Although this shift benefits a small class of successful professional women,...

Hunter Biden’s investment firm helped broker a 2016 deal that gave a Chinese state-backed company control of a massive African mine rich in cobalt — a mineral essential for the production of electric car batteries. The deal, first reported by the Washington Free Beacon during the 2020 presidential campaign, was spotlighted by the New York Times Saturday as Congress inches closer to approving President Biden’s $2 trillion social spending plan, which earmarks billions of dollars to promote electric vehicles. In 2016, an investment firm founded by Hunter Biden with several Chinese partners was cut into a complex $3.8 billion transaction...

President Trump called for the release of patriotic Americans who were protesting a “stolen election” on Friday, drawing attention to the ongoing plight of the Jan. 6 political prisoners being held in Washington, D.C.“Patriotic Americans are being prosecuted for peacefully protesting a stolen election,” Trump said in a new statement. “LET THEM GO! They were convicted, or are awaiting trial, based on a giant lie, a radical left con job. Thank you to Tucker Carlson and Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy for what you both have done. New video footage is irrefutable – absolutely irrefutable. Thank you very much.”President...

Former President Donald Trump expects to be arrested Tuesday in a case brought by the Manhattan district attorney’s office and called on his supporters to protest in a Truth Social post Saturday.“Illegal leaks from a corrupt & highly political Manhattan district attorney’s office, which has allowed records to be set in violent crime & whose leader is funded by George Soros, indicate that, with no crime being able to be proven, and based on an old and fully debunked (by numerous other prosecutors) fairytale, the far & away leading Republican candidate & former president of the United States of America,...

A former federal prosecutor said Saturday that former President Donald Trump's post on Truth Social sharing details of his arrest could affect his chances of getting bail and his conditions for release. Trump claimed on his Truth Social account that the Manhattan DA's office will arrest him on Tuesday - and branded the probe 'corrupt and highly political', calling the alleged hush money payment an 'old and fully debunked fairy-tale.' Glenn Kirschner, an MSNBC legal analyst, went on the network Saturday and compared the all-caps rant to his posts leading up to the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021 and...

45th President Donald Trump announced that he will be holding his first “Make America Great Again” rally of the 2024 campaign cycle in Waco, Texas.Trump will speak to supporters at the Waco Regional Airport on Saturday, March 25, 2023. 45th President of the United States Donald J. Trump to Hold the First 2024 Campaign Rally in Texashttps://t.co/VzHMGBJbUO pic.twitter.com/n7dVUMaeFE— Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) March 17, 2023Tickets for Trump’s rally can be found HERE. Doors will open for attendees at 12:00 p.m. CT, and the 45th president will deliver remarks at 5:00 p.m. CT. The 45th president has been ramping up his public...

The Department of Justice is gearing up to prosecute up to 1,000 more people on charges related to the Jan. 6 Capitol incursion, according to a letter from a U.S. attorney obtained by Bloomberg. United States Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves sent a one-page letter to Chief Judge of the D.C. District Court Beryl Howell on Oct. 28, estimating cases could be filed for between 700 and 1,200 additional defendants as the department was already near making its 900th arrest, Bloomberg reported.

My wife and I run a micro-school in Mumbai, India. We recently celebrated its one-year anniversary. Our kids go there along with 15 others. As we like to joke, we are doing small-batch, locally sourced, artisanal education. I also run a tech startup where we are building a product in the learning space. Both of these were born as a result of the pandemic when schools shut down and we saw up close what happens in the name of education.

The British arm of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB UK) has handed out millions of pounds in employee bonuses just days after its insolvency was averted through a Bank of England-orchestrated rescue deal. Sky News has learnt that the payouts to staff including its senior executives were signed off by HSBC, SVB UK's new owner, earlier this week. Sources described the bonus pool as "modest", and said it totalled between £15m and £20m. It was unclear on Saturday how much had been awarded to Erin Platts, the UK bank's chief executive or her senior colleagues. One insider said the bonus payments...