Free Republic

One of my favorite lines in movie history—full disclosure, I love silly comedies—is when Leslie Nielsen, portraying the unbelievably inept Lt. Frank Drebin in 1988's "The Naked Gun," stands in front of a flame-engulfed fireworks store as massive explosions burst around him and loudly declares, "All right—move along—nothing to see here! Please disperse! NOTHING TO SEE HERE!" That's how I feel when I read that ultra-left-wing billionaire George Soros is preparing to take a massive stake in the nation's second-largest chain of broadcast radio stations, the currently bankrupt "Audacy." Even though the move hasn’t attracted a ton of attention, it's...

Our Most Serious National Security Threat Isn’t Russian Nukes In Space, It’s Intelligence Agencies In WashingtonThe hysteria on Capitol Hill over Russian nukes in space was a cheap ploy to ram through Ukraine aid and kill FISA reform.It was a busy day in Washington on Wednesday as the intelligence bureaucracy tried to foment a national security panic over Russian nukes in space in hopes of ramming through the Ukraine aid package and killing reforms designed to curb its power to spy on Americans.Lest you think that sounds crazy, consider the timing of the panic provocations, which came almost immediately after...

Police are searching for a woman who allegedly stole thousands of dollars worth of chewing gum in Orange County. On Jan. 27, the woman was captured on surveillance cameras stealing around $1,800 worth of gum from a store in Irvine, according to the Irvine Police Department. After loading up her cart with the stolen items, she exited the store without paying, authorities said.

The steamship Morning Star, Capt. J.M COURTSNAY, from New-Orleans and Havana, arrived at this port last evening. The Morning Star left New-Orleans Sunday, Feb. 7, arrived at Havana Feb. 9., and left next day. The steamship Creole arrived at New-Orleans on the 5th, and the George Washington on the morning of the 7th. The steamship Havanna was to sail for New-York, via Havana, on the 5th inst.; but owing to an accident to her machinery, she would not be able to leave until Tuesday, 9th inst. The Spanish war steamer Neptunio arrived at Havana on the morning of the 9th...

KEY POINTS Advance retail sales declined 0.8% for January, down from a 0.4% gain in December and worse than the estimate for a 0.3% drop. Sales at building materials and garden stores were especially weak, sliding 4.1%. Miscellaneous store sales fell 3% and motor vehicle parts and retailers saw a 1.7% decrease. Also, initial claims for unemployment insurance totaled 212,000 for the week ended Feb. 10, a decline of 8,000 from the previous week’s upwardly revised total and below the estimate for 220,000.

Where’s the binder? That’s the burning question echoing through the swampy marshes of DC, and it’s been hanging in the air for some time. Rumor has it, this binder is packed with the real story behind the Russia Hoax—a narrative that deviates sharply from the widely reported “tip” originating from our Australian pals. Insiders suggest this saga didn’t kick off on some whim but was a coordinated effort by the CIA, Obama, and the FBI. CNN, of course, spins it as a dossier uncovering Russia’s plot to meddle in elections. Yet, the buzz among those in the know hints it’s...

A leftist legal group heavily funded by leftist billionaire George Soros is trying to convince a federal appellate court that the First Amendment right to free speech doesn’t necessarily protect … free speech. The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (LCCRUL) actually argued that if the speech in question could be considered to constitute the murky concept of “harmful election disinformation,” First Amendment protections should be tossed to the curb. The group broke down its dystopian stance in a press release summarizing the sentiment of an amicus brief it filed with the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals for...

More than 30 pro-Palestinian Harvard students participated in a 12-hour hunger strike Friday in solidarity with 17 students at Brown University who refused to eat for eight days to pressure the Brown Corporation to divest from Israel. Nineteen students at Brown began the strike — which was originally indefinite — on Feb. 2, ahead of the Brown Corporation’s planned meetings beginning Feb. 8. The students intended to strike until the Brown Corporation considered a resolution to divest from “companies which profit from human rights abuses in Palestine,” but they ended the strike after Brown University president Christina H. Paxson denied...

On Wednesday’s broadcast of “CNN News Central,” Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL) stated that “the fact that this is an extraordinarily strong economy” is one key factor in recent wins by Democratic candidates in recent special elections in Ohio, Wisconsin, and New York. Quigley said, “I think you have to look beyond just that special election [in New York] to the recent elections in Ohio and Wisconsin. I think the fact that the economy is very strong, and the fact that, when choice is on the ballot, Democrats win, all add to this. And I do think the fact that Speaker...

President Joe Biden retained documents related to Ukraine that were classified as “secret” and “confidential,” according to a report by Justice Department’s special counsel Robert Hur, released on Feb. 8. The 388-page report states that the FBI found a folder labeled “VP Personal,” containing two documents—a telephone call sheet and talking points for a call with then-Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, which occurred on Dec. 11, 2015—marked as “secret.” There is a handwritten note from President Biden in the upper-right corner of the sheet asking his executive assistant to “get [a] copy of this conversation from Sit Rm for my...

The U.S. Intelligence Community asked fellow members of the “‘Five Eyes’ intelligence alliance to surveil Trump’s associates and share the intelligence they acquired with US agencies,” sources told a small team of independent reporters who broke the story yesterday. In “CIA Had Foreign Allies Spy on Trump Team, Triggering Russia Collusion Hoax, Sources Say,” journalists Michael Shellenberger, Matt Taibbi, and Alex Gutentag reported that top-line takeaway, along with several other key details. According to the authors, “multiple credible sources,” said that “the United States Intelligence Community (IC), including the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), illegally mobilized foreign intelligence agencies to target...

Ukraine said on Thursday it was withdrawing troops from some parts of the eastern town of Avdiivka to better positions after months of heavy fighting, and battle-hardened reserve fighters from a crack brigade have joined the battle.

Last week, the 21st century’s trial of the century came to a similarly ignoble end, but nearly without coverage, without interest, without outrage. Polymath Mark Steyn, appearing pro se, lost a defamation suit (ironically) defending against Michael Mann when a DC jury ordered Steyn to pay damages of $1 but imposed staggering punitive damages of $1 million. Some background: Michael Mann co-wrote a paper in 1999 using tree-ring data as a proxy for temperature (thicker rings, warmer temperatures) to show that over the last 1000 years, temperatures declined slightly until 1960 when they dramatically spiked up—the shape of what would...

The foreign ministers of Britain and Poland appealed on Thursday to the U.S. Congress and personally to the House speaker to take the “epoch-making” decision and approve the $60 billion in aid for Ukraine. Britain’s David Cameron and Poland’s Radek Sikorski stressed that approving aid for Ukraine as it fights a war against Russia’s aggression is a matter of U.S. credibility among its allies in NATO and the world. “This is our joint appeal to the U.S. House of Representatives and personally to Speaker Mike Johnson to submit the Ukraine aid package to a vote,” Sikorski told a news conference

Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem (2/15/24)[Prayer]The Names and Titles of God (Adonai)Genesis 15:22 And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?(King James Version)______________________________________________God Bless America.ML/LTOS

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAffee will hear evidence on the Michael Roman motion to disqualify District Attorney Fani Willis and Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade from prosecuting the Trump election interference case. Watch LIVE on RSBN on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024, at 9:30 a.m. ET

This post reports on two new instances of people applying a little critical thinking to the issue of using so-called “green” hydrogen as an essential piece of a future de-carbonized energy system. This is a subject that I have previously addressed, here in a post of June 13, 2022, and here again in my energy storage Report of December 1, 2022. The two new pieces covered in this post are (1) a February 1 Report for the Manhattan Institute by Jonathan Lesser titled “Green Hydrogen: A Multibillion-Dollar Energy Boondoggle,”, and (2) a February 13 article in the Washington Examiner by...

The Ukrainian military's Group 13 unit claims to have sunk another Russian landing ship, adding to a growing tally of losses for the Black Sea Fleet. On Wednesday morning, the group released a video appearing to show its suicide drone boats approaching a vessel near shore. The ship - identified by Group 13 as the Caesar Kunikov - has the distinctive open foredeck and tall deckhouse of a Ropucha-class landing vessel. In succession, multiple drones appeared to approach the vessel's hull and detonate, with the explosions captured on camera by subsequent inbound drone boats. The video ends with the vessel...

Special Counsel Jack Smith’s rush to try Donald Trump violates Justice Department rules and presents tricky issues for the Supreme Court on the immunity issue.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed he 'didn't get complete satisfaction' from his interview with Tucker Carlson as the fired Fox News host failed to challenge him. Putin, 71, appeared on Russian state TV Wednesday, sitting down for an exchange with propagandist Pavel Zarubin. 'To be honest, I thought he would be more aggressive and ask tough questions,' the autocrat said of 54-year-old Carlson. 'And I wasn’t just ready for that, I wanted it, because it would have given me the opportunity to respond sharply in kind, which, in my opinion, would have added certain specificity to our conversation. But...