Free Republic

The New York City subway incident in which former Marine Daniel Penny, whose chokehold inadvertently killed career criminal and homeless vagrant Jordan Neely quickly became front-page news. Matters exploded when Alvin Bragg, Manhattan’s Soros-funded district attorney, charged Penny with second-degree manslaughter. Presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis made reference to at a campaign rally, and Penny’s defense fund has thus far raised more than two million dollars from 42,000 contributors Hard to say where it will end, but the incident has obviously touched a public nerve. There’s something about the episode that transcends the simple facts of a good Samaritan’s intervention going...

LONDON (AP) — Deutsche Bank has agreed to pay $75 million to settle a lawsuit claiming that the German lender should have seen evidence of sex trafficking by Jeffrey Epstein when he was a client, according to lawyers for women who say they were abused by the late financier. A woman only identified as Jane Doe sued the bank in federal district court in New York and sought class-action status to represent other victims of Epstein. The lawsuit asserted that the bank knowingly benefitted from Epstein’s sex trafficking and “chose profit over following the law” to earn millions of dollars...

A dozen poor countries are facing economic instability and even collapse under the weight of hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign loans, much of them from the world’s biggest and most unforgiving government lender, China. An Associated Press analysis of a dozen countries most indebted to China — including Pakistan, Kenya, Zambia, Laos and Mongolia — found paying back that debt is consuming an ever-greater amount of the tax revenue needed to keep schools open, provide electricity and pay for food and fuel. And it’s draining foreign currency reserves these countries use to pay interest on those loans, leaving...

Visit Asia's emerging megacities and you’ll quickly notice that scooters and motorbikes vastly outnumber cars. Before long these fleets of two-wheelers will become battery-powered, always-connected, semi-autonomous machines that offer an even more potent alternative to their four-wheeled rivals. The reasons powered two-wheelers dominate nations such as India, Indonesia and Vietnam – with a combined population over 1.75 billion – are simple: cars are unaffordable on local wages, few urban homes have space to store them, and warm climates make two-wheelers viable year-round. Plus, many of them sell for less than the equivalent of $1,000 apiece. The industry has decided many...

The recurring themes at this blog all concern one or another badly misguided government policy that ends up being counter-productive or even greatly destructive of the welfare of the people. Examples include: undermining a functioning energy system in a delusional attempt to control the weather; spending vast sums on “anti-poverty” programs that never reduce poverty even a little; or indoctrinating young children and university students with idiotic and failed Marxist dogma. All of these themes (and many others that I have covered) are individually important, even very important, measured by potential harm to the well-being of the people. But, however...

Representative Nancy Mace (R-SC) said Wednesday on CNN’s “The Lead” that the Republican Party will “suffer” in the 2024 election because of several red state legislatures’ abortion bans. Anchor Jake Tapper said, “Do you think your party will face any sort of electoral blowback for these bans, many of which do not align with polling in terms of what people want, even in conservative states people want in many polls some sort of middle ground, maybe a 12-week ban, a 15-week ban, no ban for victims of rape and incest. Do you think your party will suffer at the polls?...

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Arey Island is a seven-mile-long barrier island in the Southern Beaufort Sea off the coast of the north slope of Alaska. It is a flat, barren island that is mostly privately owned. During August of 2014 two United States Fish and Wildlife personnel were on duty on the west end of Arey Island, recorded as off the mouth of the Hula Hula and Okpilak Rivers, 8.5 miles WSW of Kaktovik. 70 deg 05’23.67″ N, 144 deg. 00’43.12″W. One of them defended themselves against a polar bear on August 16, at about 9 a.m. The incident was recorded as number 549...

“Do you know where people get thrown in jail for their social media posts? In China. In Saudi Arabia. In Russia. Not in the United States of America — or so we always thought. Until now.”

The Pentagon released a video of a UFO flying over an active conflict zone in the Middle East in 2022, and its mere existence creates “the probability of unintended crossfire,” according to an expert.The short clip of a metallic-looking orb flying at a fast pace was shown during Wednesday’s hearing before the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities.

Tomi Lahren has shared a claim on social media that "mass layoffs" are on the horizon at Bud Light, as the brand faces continued backlash over its collaboration with TikTok personality Dylan Mulvaney. Taking to Twitter on Tuesday, the Fox Nation host wrote: "A current Bud Light employee reached out to tell me things are BAD and mass layoffs are expected. Production is stalled. They can't give the stuff away. Would be so easy if execs would acknowledge their TRANSgression and issue a true apology." "A current Bud Light employee told me it's not necessarily [Anheuser-Busch] that's woke, but rather...

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Pitched battles over social issues on school boards will continue through November election, according to unofficial results from Tuesday's primary election. Conservative Republican slates of candidates targeting LGBTQ issues and library books swept GOP primary races in the East Penn, Parkland and Southern Lehigh school districts, even as the Democrats and moderate Republicans who opposed those platforms landed victories on the Democratic tickets. Each district has five to six seats open; with school boards comprised of nine people, one slate controlling a majority of the seats could mean they will control the kinds of rules teachers and...

The Bahrain-based U.S. fleet continues to monitor the situation in the Persian Gulf. Over the past two years, Iran has attacked, interfered with or harassed the navigational rights of 15 internationally flagged commercial vessels, U.S. officials have revealed. Late last month, Iran’s state television showed footage of the country’s navy commandos in a helicopter operation boarding the Marshall Islands-flagged tanker Advantage Sweet. The Turkish-operated, Chinese-owned tanker was reportedly bound for Houston, Texas carrying Kuwaiti crude oil for U.S. energy giant Chevron Corp. (NYSE:CVX). Iran claimed that the tanker collided with an unidentified Iranian vessel hours prior to its seizure, with...

A recently resurfaced image from the children's show Blue's Clues and You! shows transgender beavers at a pride parade. No, that sentence wasn't written by AI after typing in, "What would a show for 3-year-olds look like at peak woke?" The episode, released nearly two years ago at the start of Pride Month 2021, features various styles of families floating by in a pride parade emceed by a drag queen (voiced by a real drag queen and "queer activist"). The drag queen begins the clip by boasting, "Look at all these families!" Animated animals bear the lesbian flag, the gay...

Caitlyn Jenner has said the number of people openly identifying as transgender is "skyrocketing" at a "disturbing" rate, blaming "indoctrination" and an "oversaturation of the topic." The 1976 Olympic gold medalist, who came out as transgender in 2015, has been an outspoken critic of transgender women competing in sports against other women. Her stance aligns with the views of some conservative commentators. The Fox News contributor stepped up her efforts in April by announcing the launch of an initiative called Fairness First. The political action committee describes itself as "a big tent movement, non-partisan in nature, with the intention of...

A character in the Archie Comics universe is getting a transgender rebrand as part of an effort to make the series "a little bit more queer." In the new series starring "Strange Science" character Danni Malloy, who was known as the love interest to main character Dilton Doiley and sidekick Jinx Holliday, will be now be a transgender woman in a new comic. Publisher Archie Comics announced on May 15th that Malloy would be making an appearance in its Chilling Adventures anthology, according to a Gizmodo’s io9 report. The series is written by trans comic writer Magdalene Visaggio and illustrated...

Adidas has sparked calls for a boycott after launching a new range of women's swimwear using what appears to be a man as the model. The company was accused of 'erasing women' and is the latest target of conservative anger over 'woke' marketing, after Bud Light saw sales drop last month following outrage over its partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. The swimsuit range is part of Adidas's 'Pride 2023' collection, and is for sale on the website in the women's section. However, the model showing off the swimwear has a hairy chest and a bulge in the crotch area....

Renowned academic and political activist Noam Chomsky sought sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's help with managing financial transactions totaling over a quarter million dollars, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. In late April, the Journal revealed that Chomsky and Epstein met multiple times, even after Epstein pled guilty in 2008 to soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution. New reporting from the outlet highlighted that beyond a group dinner with Woody Allen, Epstein helped Chomsky move large sums of money, which the academic said was for a "technicality" related to distributing funds from a previous marriage. Chomsky confirmed to the...

The Main Customs Administration of the People’s Republic of China has included the port of Vladivostok in its internal logistics. It is assumed that cargo from the northern provinces will be delivered to the southern ones through the seaside hub, the Foreign Ministry office in Vladivostok reports. The news was picked up by the Western media, which obviously hastened to interpret the “threat”. The innovation will significantly reduce and reduce the cost of the delivery shoulder. Now the transportation of goods from the provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang to the south of China is carried out through the ports of...

Xi Jinping is rolling out the red carpet for CentralAsian nations this week as Beijing attempts to expand its reach into region that long been regarded as Russia’s sphere of influence. The leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are gathering in the central Chinese city Xi’an for a summit that began Thursday. It is the first in-person meeting of the heads of state together with China since they established diplomatic relations after the fall of the Soviet Union, according to China’s state media, and comes as the region grapples with the knock-on economic effects of neighboring Russia’s...