Free Republic

The police on Saturday detained for questioning a resident of Modi'in in his 60s on suspicion of spray-painting the words: "Levin - enemy of the people", on the wall of the home of Justice Minister Yariv Levin in the city. The police said that the suspect was identified thanks to video footage and forensic findings collected at the scene. The suspect denies any connection to the incident. While the person in question took part in demonstrations outside Levin's home, his defense attorney Gonen Ben Itzhak said his client "completely denies that he sprayed graffiti against the Minister of Justice." .....

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a measure granting every black resident $5 million in reparations for the slavery and discrimination suffered by blacks living within the current boundaries of the United States since 1619. Eric McDonnell, chair of San Francisco's African American Reparations Advisory Committee, admitted that "we made no effort to estimate the actual damages to any specific persons or their descendants at the hands of any specific white racists who caused the harm. That task is too daunting. A simpler formula that will be used. To be eligible for the $5 million a person must...

..... Dominic: I’ll be the first to say, yeah, people did some things that they probably shouldn’t have that day. But it was an emotional day. Tensions were high. There was a lot of rhetoric going around, stolen election and this and that. Whatever you believe, people had a right to be there and voice their opinion. But what didn’t need to happen and what I have seen over and over again in my own eyes was the police instigating a fight that day. What made the fight actually break out between them all? And they were trying to hide...

Is there a certain last name that you encounter more often than others? Maybe you work with a few unrelated Garcias, or your graduating class had a handful of Moores in it. Ancestry recently reviewed phone book listings from across the country to determine the three most popular last names in each state. Smith was far and away the most common nationwide, failing to land in the top three in just five states: California, Hawaii, Minnesota, New Mexico, and North Dakota. California’s most popular surname was Garcia, edging out Hernandez and Lopez. Garcia was most common across Southwestern states, including...

19 March 20234th Sunday of Lent (Laetare Sunday) St Cuthbert's Roman Catholic Church, Durham, UK Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Rose or Violet. Year: A(I).First reading1 Samuel 16:1,6-7,10-13 ©David is anointed by SamuelThe Lord said to Samuel, ‘Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem, for I have chosen myself a king among his sons.’ When Samuel arrived, he caught sight of Eliab and thought, ‘Surely the Lord’s anointed stands there before him,’ but the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Take no notice of his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him: God...

The city’s federal court system is bracing for many years more of trials stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, with new charges possible against as many as 1,000 more people. In recent months, law enforcement and judicial authorities have engaged in discussions to manage the huge volume of Jan. 6 cases without overwhelming the courthouse where pleas and trials are held, people familiar with the matter said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal operations. “It’s an enormous, enormous case and, by almost any measure, the largest case the Justice Department has ever...

ITEM 1: SVB invested most of its depositors’ money in government bonds. Bad idea. A reader wrote, “Just a take from a retired bank examiner.“SVB’s balance sheet as published in its 10-K is the worst I have seen in 40 years.“Just because you have no credit risk does not mean you are safe. There is also LIQUIDITY risk (excuse me for shouting). SVB had three quarters of its liabilities coming redeemable on any given day.“Bad enough for a bank with insured deposits. For a bank with almost all its deposits uninsured it was a bank run waiting to happen.”But fear...

When Vito Oliveri first tried nitrous oxide in his twenties he didn't expect a legal drug that gives a quick high to temporarily paralyze him and his fiancée years later, leaving them unable to walk their four dogs. As recently as early last year, Oliveri, 34, who lives in Portland, Oregon, near some of the best ski resorts in the US, would often ski or take trips to the lakes with his fiancée, Emily Shuford, 30. "I'd typically be on the mountain on a Monday like today, but we just can't. Emily uses a cane and I probably can't walk...

ome builders broke ground on more new houses than expected in February, a sign that higher interest rates are not weighing down the housing market as much as they were earlier. Housing starts jumped 9.8 percent in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.45 million. Economists had expected an increase of just 0.1 percent to 1.31 million after the very depressed January figure came in much lower than expected.

Dollar Tree, which sells most products for $1.25 and a small selection of items for $3 or $5, will stop selling eggs at stores because the company can't make money offering them at flat prices. SNIP Egg costs jumped 38% for producers annually in February and 55% for shoppers, although eggs are beginning to get cheaper. The average price for a dozen Grade A large eggs was $4.21 in February, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Most retailers have raised egg prices on customers to adjust for higher costs, but Dollar Tree doesn't have as much flexibility...

In 1965, a man named Lambros D. Callimahos was working as a cryptologist with the NSA. He produced a seminal paper on how the United States should, and indeed must, for the sake of national survival, study what was then known as the UFO (more recently UAP) phenomenon. As I read excerpts from that highly influential paper, I became struck as to how closely his words in the sixties could apply in the 2020s to the transgender movement — and, allow me to reiterate, apart from the moral and political aspects, which generate such intense emotion. First, Callimahos addressed the...

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...

Layla Jane, an 18-year-old who identified as transgender in adolescence before outgrowing it, plans to sue the hospital system and health care providers involved in her medical transition.

This week, a lot of attention has been focused on the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank. It is, in fact, a story of faulty accounting practices, poor government oversight, and the effects of government micromanaging markets at the same time that it fails in its oversight responsibilities. And you will be paying for it. Accounting ShenanigansOver at the Wall Street Journal, William L. Silber explains this better than anyone, and in terms anyone who ever purchased a government bond can understand. They are safe. The problem is liquidity:SVB held tens of billions of dollars in long-term government bonds. On...

President Joe Biden on Friday contradicted Hunter Biden’s confession the family business received payments funneled from communist China in 2017. “That’s not true,” Joe Biden protested to reporters when questioned about recent revelations the family’s bank accounts were enriched with funds from communist China. Despite Joe Biden’s claims, Hunter admitted on Thursday the family business did accept China money in 2017. Hunter not only admitted the Biden family business received China money, but he also acknowledged he, along with James, Hailie, and unknown “Biden,” all received $1.3 million collectively.

Rep. James Comer (R-KY) believes that there are 11 more deals between China and the Biden family, following a report from the House Oversight Committee that an associate of Hunter Biden linked to a Chinese company paid family members over $1 million. Comer, chairman of the committee, said they are unsure what the 11 other deals involved but believe bank records will show President Joe Biden and his family members received "millions and millions of dollars from our adversaries." "We're gonna follow the money. We knew there was a money trail, we've spoken to enough people that were involved in...

Former Vice President Mike Pence said continued rhetoric by former President Trump related to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol is the reason the two split despite leaving Washington after their first term “amicably.” “Despite the fact that the president and I actually parted amicably when we left the White House on Jan. 20,” Pence said in an interview with ABC’s “This Week.” “And spoke several times in the weeks that followed that. After I saw him return to that type of rhetoric in the spring of 2021, we’ve just gone our separate ways.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Sunday argued that the Federal Reserve should stop hiking interest rates in an effort to control high inflation. “I do not think he should raise rates,” Warren said of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “I’ve been in the camp for a long time that these extraordinary rate increases that he has taken on these extreme rate increases are something that he should not be doing.”

On Thursday, Ohio and Iowa made 7. Seven states have jumped off the sputtering, belching, off-gassing Titanic that is ERIC, the Electronic Registration Information Center. You see, ERIC hit an iceberg. Its name was Truth. Friday night, March 17, the Iowa Secretary of State issued a quiet Tweet: “My office will be recommending resigning our membership from ERIC.”

Prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney's office won't have much of a legal leg to stand on if they indict former President Donald Trump on violating campaign finance law, according to a legal expert and former member of the Federal Election Commission (FEC). "If the state charges are based on a supposed violation of federal campaign finance law, then the Manhattan DA is way off base," Hans von Spakovsky told Fox News Digital. Von Spakovsky's comments came shortly after Trump said Saturday that he expects to be arrested Tuesday amid reports saying the Manhattan district attorney's office is preparing to...