Free Republic

A Trump-aligned super PAC released a new attack ad on Ron DeSantis, which mocks him for eating pudding with his fingers and hammers him on his record of voting to cut Social Security, Medicare, and increasing the retirement age to 70.

Mercer University’s Baba Agbaje, a 21-year-old student athlete on the Mercer Bears soccer team, passed away last week after suffering a heart attack during a game, according to the coroner for Macon-Bibb County in Georgia. WGXA confirmed cardiac arrest as the cause of death Monday, citing coroner Leon Jones, but WXIA-TV, reporting the following day, no “official cause of death has yet been determined, as an autopsy has not yet been performed.” What appears not to be in doubt, however, is how much Agbaje was loved by those who knew him.

Lu Jianwang, 61, of the Bronx, and Chen Jinping, 59, of Manhattan, were both arrested on Monday morning at their addresses in New York. They have been charged with conspiring to act as agents for the Chinese government, and are expected to appear in federal court in Brooklyn. Prosecutors say Jianwang tried to persuade a Chinese fugitive to return home, and continually 'harassed and threatened' the individual in 2018. In 2022 China's government asked Jianwang to locate a pro-democracy Chinese activist living in California. The pair admitted to the FBI that they deleted their communications with a Chinese government official...

Three electric utility companies in California proposed a fixed-rate billing plan under which high-income households would pay more than low-income households. California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill last summer requiring energy utilities to impose a “rate component” in their power bills to collect revenues to fund the state’s energy infrastructure. According to the Los Angeles Times, the law requires “a fixed monthly charge based on household income.” Pacific Gas and Electric, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas and Electric recently introduced a proposal intended to reduce fees for most households by imposing higher costs on wealthier families,...

Classified documents allegedly leaked by a 21-year-old Air National Guardsman indicated that 14 U.S. Special Forces troops were operating in Ukraine, something that came as a surprise to some members of Congress. But over the weekend, two Republican congressmen downplayed the information: "We -- without getting into classified -- at the classified level, it has been publicly stated by John Kirby and it's been reported that there are essentially 70 or so NATO forces, special operators, 14 American, to provide oversight on the military aid that's going into Ukraine to ensure fidelity that it goes to the right place," Rep....

Hurts' average annual value of $51 million is more than any other player in league history Jalen Hurts has parlayed his breakout season into a history-making contract. The Philadelphia Eagles quarterback has agreed to a five-year contract extension worth $255 million, according to CBS Sports Lead NFL Insider Jonathan Jones. The deal, which reportedly includes $179.304 million in guarantees and a no trade clause, makes Hurts the highest-paid player in NFL history in terms of average annual value. Hurts was heading into the final year of his rookie contract. A second-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, Hurts helped the...

Video has emerged of a Cargolux plane in a dramatic aborted landing at Findel Airport on Saturday evening. The cargo plane was scheduled to arrive in Luxembourg from Dubai at around 6:30 p.m. on Saturday. But the aircraft bounced on landing, hitting the runway with its left engine. Cargolux 747 damaged during a landing incident at Luxembourg Airport. The aircraft went around and landed safely moments later. 📹 kyanspotting pic.twitter.com/aIVTdghLnz — Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) April 16, 2023 The pilot was forced to abort the landing and make an additional loop over Luxembourg. The aircraft finally did manage...

Builders of the Mountain Valley Pipeline says they’ve completed most of the 304-mile project, but Wild Virginia’s David Sligh says the hardest part has yet to begin. “They have not crossed hundreds of streams, and they have not crossed the national forest and some other areas that are particularly difficult for them to do construction, and those areas are going to be some of the most difficult they have,” he explains. A coalition of environmental groups will again challenge a permit to build through three and a half miles of the Jefferson National Forest. Late last week the forest service...

A transgender teacher has been removed from a school after allegedly threatening to 'shoot some students' days after seeing social media posts discussing her sexual orientation. The teacher from Florida who uses she/her pronouns has been removed from a classroom int he Hernando School District (HSD) and police have seized three firearms and ammunition from her home. The Fox Chapel Middle School teacher is allegedly transgender and recently learned of a social media post discussing her sexual orientation negatively. The teacher was sent to the school guidance counselor's office on March 24 after she said she was having 'bad thoughts',...

A Manhattan federal judge on Monday denied former President Donald Trump’s bid to delay his civil trial on allegations he sexually assaulted and defamed advice columnist E. Jean Carroll — with jury selection set to begin next week. US District Judge Lewis Kaplan shot down Trump’s argument that a month-long “cooling off” period was necessary because of intense media scrutiny following his criminal indictment in New York state court. “There is no justification for an adjournment. This case is entirely unrelated to the state prosecution,” Kaplan wrote in an order denying the request. “The suggestion that the recent media coverage...

Introducing CNN This Morning's segment today on the 10th anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing, co-host Poppy Harlow said: "This is a day to not forget. To never forget what happened." Except that CNN did "forget" to mention a central fact about "what happened" that day! The attack, which resulted in the deaths of five people and injured hundreds, was perpetrated by two Chechen jihadi terrorist brothers, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Their family entered the United States on a tourist visa, was eventually granted asylum and received welfare benefits for many years. Ilhan Omar infamously described 9/11 as "some people...

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) delivered remarks at the New York Stock Exchange on Monday morning that warned of the brewing debt ceiling showdown and torched President Joe Biden for being unwilling to work toward a solution. McCarthy pointed out that the economic woes facing Americans today are the result of "two short years" in which President Biden and Democrats in Congress added trillions of dollars to the nation's debt and undermined programs such as Social Security and Medicare. “We are seeing, in real-time, the effects of reckless government spending," McCarthy said in New York. "Record inflation, and...

(Last Updated On: April 12, 2023) NATIONAL HAIKU POETRY DAY Observed annually on April 17, National Haiku Poetry Day encourages all to try their hand in creativity. Haiku poetry is a form of Japanese poetry that is non-rhyming and usually consists of 3 lines with a syllable pattern of 5-7-5. Usually, an element of nature, a season, a moment of beauty, or an individual experience inspires haiku poems. Sensory language is used to capture a feeling, image, or moment. #NationalHaikuPoetryDay From Haiku: This Other World Richard Wright (1908-1960) Whitecaps on the bay: A broken signboard banging In the April wind....

The mother of YouTube star Piper Rockelle, 15, is facing allegations that she emotionally and physically abused children, including touching their buttocks and even mailing her daughter's underwear to a male fan to 'sniff it.' In a complaint filed in January 2022, 11 teens from the 'Piper Squad' say that Tiffany Smith, 41, would inflict distress and urge the minors to try oral sex and wear revealing clothes to accentuate 'bulges' in videos posted online. Smith, who allegedly bragged that she 'makes kiddie porn,' encouraged the minors to be 'sexy' and subjected them to 'harassment, molestation, and abuse,' according to...

Legislation (Senate Bill 94) authored by Senator Dave Cortese (D-Santa Clara) would allow murderers sentenced to death or life without parole (LWOP) for killings committed before June 5, 1990 to receive a lesser sentence. An example of the type of murderer eligible for this leniency is Tiequon Cox. In 1984, Cox went to the wrong address to carry out a gang revenge murder and ended up killing a mother, daughter, and two grandchildren. While on death row, Cox stabbed another death row inmate and attempted to escape. Cortese was undaunted by the cruelty of crimes like the ones Cox perpetrated,...

Despite what many in the woke media like to claim, Jesus Christ wasn’t an open-borders socialist. And despite what Representative Tony Gonzales likes to claim, there’s nothing “unchristian” or “anti-immigrant” about securing the border and closing off the gaping asylum loopholes that undermine the social fabric of our nation.In case you missed it, the Nikki Haley-appointed “Border King” recently fired off a tweet that managed to misrepresent Christianity and his fellow Texas Congressman Chip Roy’s border security bill at the same time. Gonzales said, “Bring unchristian anti-immigrant bills to the floor and I am a NO on the debt ceiling.”What...

If the Chinese yuan were to become the global reserve currency, it would, in essence, give the CCP the ability to cripple entire nations.In July 1944, 44 delegates from Allied countries came together during World War II in Bretton Wood, New Hampshire. The goal? Devise an international currency system to manage foreign exchange that would disadvantage no country and effectively facilitate post-war rebuilding and commerce. The outcome: The U.S. greenback would be the world’s reserve currency.It has been almost 80 years since, and all nations have been better off with a United States dollar-dominated world. World gross domestic product (GDP)...

A mysterious car bearing the markings of a Chinese police vehicle has been spotted in Melbourne, sparking fears of Chinese Communist Party intimidation tactics. It comes after reports of undercover Chinese police stations being set up in major cities across the world including London, Glasgow, New York and Toronto. The Victoria-registered 2015 silver Nissan Maxima has been fitted out with Chinese police decals, and text on the rear passenger door claims it is 'Special Police'. The vehicle also bizarrely has a cuddly toy and box of tissues on the dashboard, and what appears to be a disabled parking permit hanging...

Decriminalizing marijuana, we’ve been told to the point of stupor for years, would simply be a matter of recognizing the way society has changed and coming to a mature accommodation of a widespread current practice. It would free up valuable police resources to deal with actual crimes and real criminals, and end a longstanding injustice in which — you guessed it! — people of color were, we were told, disproportionately targeted for arrest and prosecution. So the state of New York has legalized marijuana, and how’s it going? Doritos and Patchouli oil sales through the roof? Maybe. But there have...

Pretty much everybody knows the old expression that says a prosecutor can even persuade a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich because the defendant hasn't been allowed his day in court and the testimony presented is all one-sided. Ironically, it was none other than former New York state chief judge Sol Wachtler who famously uttered those words in a 1985 interview with the New York Daily News, long before Donald Trump became an unstoppable force in American politics.For the first time in history, a state prosecutor has filed criminal charges against a former U.S. president. Alvin Bragg has charged...