Free Republic

If the latest employment trends continue and economists' forecasts prove true, Friday's jobs report could bring back that pre-pandemic feeling. Economists expect the US economy to have added 180,000 jobs in April, according to consensus estimates on Refinitiv. Excluding the losses during the first year of the pandemic, that would be the smallest monthly gain since December 2019. It could also hammer home the fact that the US labor market has indeed cooled down from its red-hot recovery over the past two years. Earlier this week, the latest labor turnover report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics — the Job...

A group of attorneys general from across the U.S. is going after one of the country’s largest banks, which it claims treats some Christians unfairly. In a letter recently sent to JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, the groups said the bank preaches “openness and inclusivity,” but it has “persistently discriminated” against some religious liberty groups. “Chase cannot call itself ‘inclusive’ and say that it ‘opposes discrimination in any form’ while simultaneously disenfranchising its clients over religious and political differences,” Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who took the lead in the effort, said. “I’m leading this coalition to stand up...

A Ghana national pleaded not guilty in federal court Wednesday to stealing about $2.4 million from the Wisconsin Republican Party in a wire fraud scheme. Paul Williams Anti, 59, was charged in February with embezzlement, online court records show. According to court documents, scammers manipulated state GOP employees’ email accounts in October 2020 to divert funds meant for vendors into the scammers’ bank accounts. Williams Anti allegedly controlled two of those accounts. A cybersecurity firm that the state GOP hired to investigate found that an employee's email account had been altered so that any message with the words “invoice,” “wire...

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, said he will veto a proposed bill that would ban abortions after 12 weeks. According to House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate leader Phil Berger, House and Senate Republicans came to a consensus on legislation that would enact the legislation. Currently, state law prohibits abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy with the exceptions of circumstances involving rape, incest, fetal abnormality, or when the life of the mother is at risk. Those exceptions remain in the new legislation, which Cooper has called an attack on women’s freedom to choose. “It will effectively ban access...

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VIDEOWARNING! If you vote a certain way in 2024, it could result in MSNBC's Mike Barnicle reaching for his pill bottle and swallowing it whole. If you think this is an exaggeration, you won't after watching this clip of Barnicle moaning how deeply deeply DEPRESSED he is over a certain Orange Man who ruined his life. Yes, it appears that poor Mike is suffering from terminal TDS to the extent that the Mean Tweeter has such complete control over him that it has removed any trace of happiness from his life resulting in sending Barnicle into a deep, deep depression.

Elon Musk completed his acquisition of Twitter in October 2022. Prior to Musk’s taking control, there had been many complaints, particularly from the right, of Tweets getting suppressed, down-graded, “shadow-banned,” or the like, but without anyone having detailed information of exactly what Twitter was up to. Then in December 2022 a group of journalists recruited by Musk — e.g., Matt Taibbi, Bari Weiss, Glenn Greenwald, Alex Berenson — started releasing lengthy Twitter threads documenting exactly how pre-Musk Twitter had “moderated” politically sensitive content to manipulate the public discussion. The releases, known as the Twitter Files, show Twitter executives in the...

The World Health Organization has fired a senior scientist who had a heavy role in claiming the COVID lab-leak theory was 'unlikely' over sexual misconduct accusations. The agency said Peter Ben Embarek, a Danish scientist who previously headed up its 'One Health' initiative on diseases jumping from animals to humans, was removed from his post last year. 'Peter Ben Embarek was dismissed last year following findings of sexual misconduct against him that were substantiated by investigations, and corresponding disciplinary process,' said WHO spokesperson Marcia Poole. In a statement, Ben Embarek said he contested the accusation of harassment and was challenging...

Jamie Foxx remains hospitalized more than three weeks after suffering a medical emergency. While Foxx's exact condition remains unknown to the public at this time, sources close to the 55-year-old actor echoed this plea, per TMZ: "Pray for Jamie"—a possible indication that things with the actor's health may be more complicated than fans had hoped they would be. His daughter and Beat Shazam co-host/DJ Corinne originally announced on April 12 that her father—star of Ray, Just Mercy, Django Unchained, Disney's animated flick Soul, and countless other blockbuster hits—had experienced a "medical complication" the day prior. The Hollywood heavyweight was in...

A chain of undersea volcanoes, also known as seamounts. (NOAA Ocean Exploration) Less than one-quarter of Earth's entire ocean floor has been mapped, leaving gaping holes in our understanding of the underwater realm. Accidents await in the void: undiscovered seamounts – ancient mountains formed by volcanic activity – can rise thousands of meters in the darkness, putting unsuspecting submarines at risk. Led by earth scientist Julie Gevorgian of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California, a team of scientists has just discovered more than 19,000 new seamounts using a new batch of satellite data. That so many underwater peaks have...

Going woke means more than, as the saying says, going broke. It also means the ultimate loss of life. The grip of wokeness on our society will eventually kill Americans. Let’s begin with health care. Medical school students, whose learning should be focused on the healing arts, are being taught social justice ideology. Apparently, white supremacy, oppression, and structural racism must be addressed by America’s doctors-to-be, as well as the sin of being white. Diversity, equity, and inclusion studies are being required at some schools, which of course crowds out time used in the past to acquire the knowledge and...

Russia claimed Thursday that the United States was behind an alleged drone attack on the Kremlin that it said was a Ukrainian attempt to assassinate President Vladimir Putin. The accusation, made without citing evidence, comes less than 24 hours after Moscow said that it had foiled an overnight drone strike on the building that acts as the heart of the country’s government and Putin’s residence — something Kyiv strongly denied. But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov went further Thursday, claiming Washington had masterminded the incident. The U.S. swiftly rejected the accusation, saying it had nothing to do with it. “We are...

School board chair Dr. Kelly Coker said Greene told her as early as April 17 that she was considering retirement. That conversation came about a month after the Duval County School Police Department arrested a longtime music teacher at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts accused of lewd conduct involving a student and removed three other DA teachers from classrooms as part of a probe at the school into claims that abuse had been tolerated for years.

"THIS IS GETTING RIDICULOUS." Off the Charts Scientists are alarmed as ocean surface temperatures have continuously set new record-breaking highs over the last month. According to data analyzed by the University of Maine's Climate Change Institute, daily ocean surface temperatures breached historical record highs since at least 1982 in April. That means we are in uncharted territory as global warming continues to take its toll with extreme weather events becoming more common by the year — and scientists are clearly shaken by the spiking temperatures. "This is getting ridiculous," physicist and climate change expert Rober Rohde tweeted. "For the last...

As Connor MacLeod said in the film Highlander, “There can only be one!” The US banking system under Joe Biden’s Reign of Error is like the film Highlander: apparently, there can only be one bank. And it is likely JP Morgan Chase. Take the JP Morgan Chase (JPMC) acquisition of First Republic Bank: In Acquiring First Republic Bank, JP Morgan Has: Bypassed laws against acquiring bank while controlling 10%+ of US deposits Shared $13 billion in losses with the FDIC Received a $50 billion loan from the FDIC Effectively bought back its own deposits Expects to profit $5 billion+ over...

In March of this year, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit heard oral arguments in the appeal of Maryland Shall Issue v Hogan. The case of Maryland Shall Issue v Hogan (Governor of Maryland), has been in the courts since 2013, when the case was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. In 2013, Maryland passed the Firearm Safety Act of 2013, which contained a Handgun Qualification License (HQL) provision which forbids the sale, transfer, rental, purchase, or receipt of a handgun by any person who does...

"Having summoned His twelve disciples, [Jesus] gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. Now the names of the twelve apostles were these" (Matt. 10:1-2). Every disciple must also be a discipler. Have you ever met someone who constantly absorbs what the church has to offer, yet never seems to plug into a ministry where he can give to others? I've met many people like that. Some have attended church for many years, and have even taken evangelism and other special training classes. But they never...

Two trend lines extend into the future. One tracks government's increased oppression, surveillance, and social control. The other tracks people's rising spiritual faith, desire for personal freedom, and determination that government should leave them alone. This is our reality. It also exposes the chink in totalitarianism's armor. The greater the government's coercion, the more convinced a growing share of the population becomes that illegitimate government must go. The same tug of war has played out time and again. With the luxury of hindsight, there is a clear trigger point when governing authorities cross a line into such unacceptable tyranny that...

PHILADELPHIA, Sunday, May 3. The following statement is derived from gentlemen who left the Rappahannock on Saturday: It is already known that our troops have crossed over with less opposition than was anticipated. The enemy massed a considerable force on their front on Thursday, and at night there was some artillery practice between our own and the rebel guns at long range. As soon as the rebels learned on Wednesday that our forces had crossed above, they commenced moving troops out to intercept our advance, and continued it all night and the next day. Trains have been running constantly with...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris will meet on Thursday with the CEOs of four major companies developing artificial intelligence as the Biden administration rolls out a set of initiatives meant to ensure the rapidly evolving technology improves lives without putting people’s rights and safety at risk. The Democratic administration plans to announce an investment of $140 million to establish seven new AI research institutes, administration officials told reporters in previewing the effort. In addition, the White House Office of Management and Budget is expected to issue guidance in the next few months on how federal agencies can use...