Free Republic

The economic recovery gained momentum in the spring as buoyant consumer spending and resurgent business investment helped, once again, to keep a recession at bay. Gross domestic product, adjusted for inflation, rose at a 2.4 percent annual rate in the second quarter, the Commerce Department said Thursday. That was up from a 2 percent growth rate in the first three months of the year and far stronger than forecasters expected a few months ago. Consumers led the way, as they have throughout the recovery from the severe but short-lived pandemic recession in 2020. Spending rose at a 1.6 percent rate,...

Black Americans are under attack, members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) said Thursday, arguing that a slew of efforts from Republicans across the country are an assault on their rights. “Black people are under attack in America, but we are not victims and we are not powerless,” CBC Chairman and Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) said at a Thursday press event from the Capitol. “Our fundamental rights are under assault and our very history is being denied. But we will not stand by quietly as it happens. We will never give up when so many people are counting on us...

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) gave up the game today when she fumbled her way through a hearing only to be interrupted by her staffer and get told to ‘just say aye’ by Dem Senator Patty Murray. Feinstein happily complied with a smile usually seen on a puppet or trained seal. Ryan Fournier, founder of Students for Trump, said: “Someone needs to do something. This is not acceptable.” Feinstein is the oldest member of Congress is also suing her late husband’s estate. She claims she’s being denied payments for ‘significant’ medical bills. Feinstein, 90, was born in 1933 and has been...

During a Senate hearing Wednesday, Mitt Romney argued against an amendment proposed by Rand Paul to make it illegal for government to use social media and big tech companies to censor the views of Americans. Paul put forth the case that “the First Amendment really isn’t about protecting the speech of government workers the First Amendment says Congress shall make no law it’s about limitations on government involvement with speech.” Paul continued, “if Twitter says bad things about me and puts up bad things and takes me down I have no recourse against Twitter, same with Facebook. I’m mad, I...

A scissor-wielding man slashed two people in apparently random attacks in the West Village Thursday morning — and then bolted to Midtown, where he was arrested, cops and law enforcement sources said. The 48-year-old assailant described as an emotionally disturbed person, targeted the victims on Hudson Street, at Christopher and Bleecker Streets around 9:30 a.m., police and sources said. He first approached a man and slashed him once in the neck with the scissors, authorities said.

A five-year-old boy high on cocaine shot his toddler brother in the head, and prosecutors have charged their parents with neglect. The boy, who has not been named, shot and killed his little brother, Isiah Johnson - who had marijuana in his system - back in March at the family's home in Lafayette, Indiana. Deonta Jermaine Johnson, 27, and Shatia Tiara Welch, 24, have been charged with neglect and various drug charges after cops swooped on their property. Prosecutors say little Isiah, 16 months, died from a gunshot wound to the head and had marijuana in his blood, while his...

One evening this spring, I was out to dinner when a curious thing caught my attention. The Weather Channel was on TV in the background, and every few minutes the camera cut to a radar shot of Fort Lauderdale, where a lone storm cell sat stationary over the city. There it continued to sit, refusing to move inland to dissipate or blow out to sea. I had never seen anything like it. Neither had Fort Lauderdale, where on that day, April 12, nearly 26 inches of rain fell in approximately 12 hours. Fort Lauderdale is not a one-off. In too...

Apparently it was banned from YouTube

Mark July 26 on your calendar. It's the day Beltway journalists realized they can't dismiss President Joe Biden's son Hunter's legal problems as a GOP chew toy. Wednesday morning when he showed up at a federal court in Wilmington, Hunter Biden, 53, expected to plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of failing to pay his taxes for 2017 and 2018. (He later paid the taxes due.) Prosecutors would recommend a sentence of probation, according to The Washington Post. A side deal included a diversion agreement for a third charge, unlawful possession of a firearm, a felony that can result in...

Hunter Biden claimed under oath that he has not taken illegal drugs since June 2019, though he was recently spotted visiting his lawyer, who was smoking a water bong. During Wednesday’s court appearance, U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika questioned Hunter Biden about his sobriety, according to the hearing transcript obtained by the nonprofit research group Marco Polo. “When was the last time that you used, ingested, or were under the influence of any drug, legal or illegal, medication, or alcoholic beverage of any kind?” the judge asked. “June of 2019, Your Honor,” Hunter replied. “All right. And so, just to...

On June 28, 2023, King Charles III and London Mayor Sadiq Khan activated a “climate clock” with the warning that there are 6 years and 24 days left to limit global warming before it brings doom upon the world. Remarkably, the king included minutes and seconds in his countdown to the ruin of the world due to climate change. Despite the lengthy history of planet earth, King Charles III apparently knows to the second how much time we have left before the doom of civilization due to global warming. Amazing! He emphasizes “global renewables,” however, the means of capturing such...

The Northeast is bracing for two sets of weather extremes Thursday. On top of dangerous heat and humidity levels expected from Maine to Virginia early in the day, strong to severe storms are forecast just in time for the evening commute. “Serious winds could come along with these storms on Thursday afternoon,” said FOX Weather meteorologist Amy Freeze. “You’re looking at a Level 2 threat there from D.C. all the way up into Boston, where we’re looking at strong thunderstorms with potent winds above 60 mph.” A warm front will cross the Northeast Thursday, funneling the heat and humidity into...

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Matthew 13:10–17Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus explains that he speaks in parables to baffle the crowds, who “look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.” The parables of Jesus are often exercises whose purpose is to confuse and confound the hearer, overturning her expectations and upsetting her theological convictions.God is just, but in light of the parable of the vineyard owner, one realizes that the ordinary notion of justice only vaguely indicates what divine justice is like. God is compassionate, but after hearing the story of the prodigal son, one...

Time is running out for the Democratic Party to find an alternative candidate to incumbent President Joe Biden — if he decides not to run after all, either for health reasons or because of the growing Hunter Biden scandal. Wednesday’s decision by a federal judge in Delaware not to approve a plea deal between Hunter and federal prosecutors, which would have shielded him from further prosecution relating to business deals in which his father may have been involved, created new potential legal troubles for the president. His claim not to have spoken to Hunter about his business affairs has been...

A California family that earned millions of dollars just by recycling cans and bottles has now been accused of multiple felonies that could lead to years behind bars. In a felony complaint filed this month, state prosecutors charged eight family members in Riverside County with defrauding the state by importing used bottles and cans from Arizona — some 178 tons in 8 months — and recycling them in California. The recycling operation earned the family $7.6 million, according to a statement from the office of California's Attorney General, Rob Bonta. Investigators also found a stash of "illegally imported beverage containers"...

VIDEOIt was the Mother of all CORRUPT sweetheart deals. Unfortunately what was supposed to be a joyous day for the media in which Hunter Biden would only get an incredibly mild slap on the wrist turned out to be a disaster when the plea deal collapsed because one judge they thought could be relied upon to rubber stamp it turned on them in a surprise move. Watch the tragic faces of the media due the the plea deal collapse.

Former National Intelligence Director John Ratcliffe criticized former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta for saying he does not regret signing the letter suggesting the Hunter Biden's laptop story was "Russian disinformation." Ratcliffe said, "everyone knows" Panetta and other former intelligence officials "made a mistake" with their declaration before the 2020 election. Ratcliffe said on "Fox & Friends," that the officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, were running a "political interference operation." "JOHN RATCLIFFE: I appreciate Secretary Panetta's prior service to the country, but everyone knows that he did make a mistake. Everyone knows that he was wrong. Everyone knows that...

BAYTOWN, TEXAS – Two Texas teachers have been fired after attending a drag show in downtown Houston earlier this month. Kristi Maris and an unnamed coworker were both let go after attending a drag show on July 13 at Hamburger Mary’s, according to multiple reports. Maris, who has been a teacher at First Baptist Academy for 19 years, told KTRK that after she posted photos and videos of her visit to the popular venue, she and her coworker were fired. “I feel like we were treated like criminals,” Maris said. “They’re entertainers. I would’ve never thought in a million years...

Conservatives were handed another win by the Supreme Court on Thursday when they reversed a ruling by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, allowing the Mountain Valley Pipeline to move forward with construction. At a time when energy independence is slipping from America’s fingers under the Biden-Harris regime, at least one Democrat is pleased by the decision. Senator Joe Manchin has fought to keep the pipeline going, including his spearheading of legislative efforts to improve it in the first place. The story isn’t just good news for Republicans fighting for improved domestic energy production. It also marks another point for...

The plea agreement fell apart Wednesday when Hunter’s lawyers realized it wouldn’t grant broad immunity for other crimes.