Free Republic

How Corrupt Is Our Current Situation? It’s Worse Than Most Can Fathom…May 4, 2023 | Sundance | 309 CommentsThe football spiking by AG Merrick Garland today deserves some context, and I am going to take you through a story that will highlight just how bad the situation really is.Everything that preceded the 2020 federal election was a complex system of control by a network of ideologues, federal agencies, allies in the private sector, financial stakeholders and corrupt interests all working toward a common goal. There’s no need to go through the background of how the election was manipulated and how...

What if I told you the Supreme Court often does too little, not too much? That accusation usually comes from liberals who see the judiciary as philosopher-kings enacting social justice over and against the will of a bigoted public. But a conservative case exists for making the same accusation, just on different grounds. For the Right, the court has abdicated too much of its power to the administrative state, letting its interpretations of law function over and above the justices’ constitutional power. That abdication may be ending. On Monday, the justices added to their docket Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo....

The Woke U.S. Army has lost its grip on reality. How many rank and file still have confidence in their leadership? What's the cost of losing your grip on reality? Or is there no difference between relying on the Wokish alternative of confused pronouns and cross dressers rather than old-fashioned sweat and intellect? Back in the day, every reporter knew immediately which editors didn’t have a clue about how to be a journalist. Thankfully, the least competent were eventually assigned inconsequential duties or quit and went into PR. But as long as incompetents remained in the newsroom, reporters lost whatever...

The military operations which have been in progress on the line of the Rappahannock for a week past, have to-day culminated in what, if not precisely a great battle, only escapes that designation because we all feel that greater, by far, remains behind. Gen. HOOKER, by a series of brilliantly audacious manoeuvres and movements, of a celerity wholly unmatched in this war, has succeeded in crossing the Rappahannock River, and gaining for his army a position ten miles west by south, and in the rear of Fredericksburgh. Gen. LEE, at first completely surprised by this move, and utterly puzzled as...

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The leader of Russian paramilitary group Wagner threatened to withdraw his troops from the front line in Ukraine, citing growing losses, in a move that raises fresh tensions between Moscow’s military leaders ahead of an expected offensive by Kyiv’s forces. Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said his forces would leave their positions in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut on May 10 after delivering an expletive-riddled broadside against Moscow’s military leadership, which he accused of withholding ammunition.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of Russia's Wagner Group mercenary force, said in a sudden and dramatic announcement on Friday that his forces would pull out of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut that they have been trying in vain to capture since last summer. Prigozhin said they would withdraw on May 10 - ending their involvement in the longest and bloodiest battle of the war - because of heavy losses and inadequate ammunition supplies. He asked defence chiefs to insert regular army troops in their place. "I declare on behalf of the Wagner fighters, on behalf of the Wagner command, that on...

Burger King has estimated that the fast food giant will have to shutter up to 400 locations across the country this year. The iconic burger chain said that underperforming stores will be the first to go. Following the announcement of the company's first quarter results, CEO Joshua Kobza said the chain expects to shut between 300 and 400 locations in 2023. This is a historic high - the company usually closes a couple of hundred stores annually, Kobza said. According to its earnings release, Burger King axed 124 locations in the year up to March, leaving 6,964 restaurants. Not all...

Former President Donald Trump called the infamous 2005 “Access Hollywood” tape of himself “very old news” when questioned by lawyers for rape accuser E. Jean Carroll, according to a video of his deposition played in Manhattan federal court Thursday. The jury overseeing Carroll’s ongoing civil trial against Trump, 76, on Thursday morning heard — for the second time — the notorious recording of the 45th president saying he would grab women “by the p—y” and they let him because he’s a star.“This is very old news, fully litigated,” Trump told Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan at the Oct. 19, 2022 deposition,...

If Jamie Dimon was pondering a career change as a fortune-teller, he’d be wise to stick to the day job. On the other hand, if someone of Dimon’s stature could be so wrong about the banking turmoil that continues to sweep across the US, a cynic might ask whether he was still the right person to be running one of the world’s largest financial institutions, particularly when that organisation is right at the centre of Government-led efforts to prop up the whole system. Having ridden to the rescue of California lender First Republic over the weekend, JP Morgan’s superstar boss...

Standing in a field of corpses, Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin on Friday published an expletive-ridden video personally blaming top defence chiefs for losses suffered by his Wagner Group fighters in Ukraine. Prigozhin's tirade reignited and escalated a long-running feud with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov, whom he has repeatedly accused of starving his forces of ammunition. Prigozhin appeared next to dozens of bloodied corpses that he said were those of Wagner fighters. His expletives were bleeped out in the video published by his press service. "We have a 70% shortage of ammunition. Shoigu!...

I've always wondered why liberals would support legislation that obviously harms them. Tax increases, open borders, defunding the police, weakness abroad, eliminating gas-powered cars — these measures harm most people, including liberals, but as California shows, they continue to garner majority support from the liberal base. There was a time when the cardinal rule of politics was never to admit to supporting a tax increase. Higher taxes, even on "the rich," hurt everyone because they are passed along from the rich to the less affluent. The electorate understood this, and they punished candidates like George H.W. Bush, who lost to...

On April 26, 2023, Governor Gianforte (R) of Montana signed bills HB 356, SB 359, SB 400, and HB674 into law. HB356, known as the FIND Act, prevents state agencies from doing business with financial institutions which discriminate against the firearms industry. SB 359 prevents financial institutions from requiring the use of firearms codes by retailers. SB 400 increases the term of a concealed carry permit from four to five years. SB 674 is a moderately complicated bill that sets up an enhanced Montana carry permit. It is designed to meet the requirements for five states’ reciprocity requirements, but there...

5 May 2023Friday of the 4th week of Eastertide The Edmund Rice Centre, Waterford, Ireland Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: A(I).First readingActs 13:26-33 ©God has fulfilled his promise by raising Jesus from the deadPaul stood up in the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia, held up a hand for silence and began to speak: ‘My brothers, sons of Abraham’s race, and all you who fear God, this message of salvation is meant for you. What the people of Jerusalem and their rulers did, though they did not realise it, was in fact to fulfil the prophecies read on every sabbath....

Academic and government elites who push for communism through “climate change” find the perfect exploitable opportunity in the booming field of technology — and capitalize. Technology defines our contemporary society. Put aside any thought of a quieter time when families came first, and we were much more of a unified and metamorphic society. The genie is out of the bottle, and we are married to technology, for good or bad. Have you ever heard of Moore’s Law? In 1965, Gordon Moore claimed that the number of transistors on each integrated circuit would double yearly. To an incredible degree, Moore proved...

NEW YORK (AP) — Recent turmoil in the banking industry may have you worried about your money. Since March, three regional banks have failed — Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic Bank. If the recent bank collapses have you worried about the safety of your money, here’s what you need to know: IS MY MONEY SAFE? Yes, if your money is in a U.S. bank insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and you have less than $250,000 there. If the bank fails, you’ll get your money back. Nearly all banks are FDIC insured. You can look for...

A California professor who claimed she was Native American for her entire life has revealed she is white, apologizing for breaking the trust of the Native communities she lived alongside. Elizabeth Hoover, an associate professor in the Environmental Science and Policy Management department at UC Berkeley, said she “incorrectly identified” herself based on “incomplete information, according to a statement posted to her personal website on Monday. “In uncritically living an identity based on family stories without seeking out a documented connection to these communities, I caused harm,” Hoover said. Hoover, who has published books and articles about Native American food...

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster signed a measure to create scholarships for select elementary and secondary students aimed at covering education expenses so they can attend the school of their choice. Under S.39, the Educational Scholarship Trust Fund, eligible students — state residents with "a statement of Medicaid eligibility" — can receive scholarships of up to $6,000. They can use the money to cover instructional materials, tutoring, computer hardware, assessments, transportation, tuition and fees. According to lawmakers, the scholarships will be funded directly from the state budget, and lawmakers said they did not take any money from public school funds...

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Conservatives were facing a bleak set of local election results with voters punishing his party over political scandals, sluggish economic growth and high inflation, early results showed on Friday. While governing parties often struggle at mid-term elections, the council results in England will be the largest, and possibly last, test of voter sentiment before the next general election which is expected to be held in 2024. The Conservative Party suffered a net loss of 144 seats on local councils that were up for re-election, the early results showed. The main opposition Labour Party, which is...

The smash television zombie show The Last of Us was too close for comfort for food scientist Sarah Gurr. While the apocalyptic HBO drama focussed on fungal infections turning mankind into crazed zombies, the more pressing threat is how they ravage what we eat, she says. The University of Exeter expert warns of a 'devastating' impact on wheat, rice, corn, soy beans, potatoes and other crops that keep the planet's 8 billion people alive. Dangerous fungi are spreading north as the planet heats up, and the fungicides farmers use against them are getting less effective as they adapt to resist...