Free Republic

Mykalai Kontilai, the broadcast executive-turned-entrepreneur who bought Jackie Robinson's first major and minor league professional contracts and then used them to launch a sports memorabilia/auction business, pleaded guilty to wire fraud Thursday in Las Vegas. He will be sentenced Dec. 4 and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, according to the Department of Justice. Kontilai, 55, purchased Robinson's Montreal Royals contract for the 1946 season and Robinson's 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers contract for $2 million in 2013, subsequently using their purported value to lure investors into his sports memorabilia/auction business called, at various times, Collector's Café or Collector's...

Chuck Woolery, the charismatic game show host who kicked off the long run of Wheel of Fortune before spending 11 years playing matchmaker on Love Connection, has died. He was 83.

As a guide dog handler of 25 and a half years, I’ve had hundreds of experiences of being refused service - but online threats and increasing hostility towards disabled people mean I’m giving up on asking publicly for equality and respect. The last straw came about a week ago. I was already reeling from a number of refusals by restaurants and shops when, once again, I was refused entry because I have a guide dog. I visited the restaurant, which I have chosen not to name, but was told I couldn’t enter as people could have allergies. This, by the...

The U.S. nuclear triad must be modernized to keep pace with changing threats in the future, the nation’s senior officer in charge of strategic forces said on Tuesday. Air Force Gen. Anthony Cotton, speaking at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event, added “for the United States nuclear deterrence is baseline strategy” stopping adversaries from crossing thresholds because they know American capability to respond. China, being a nuclear power and rapidly expanding its arsenal, changes the strategic equation from the Cold War with the Soviet Union, he said. Where there was little economic interaction between Moscow and Washington in...

@amaryllisfox In "standing with" Ukraine, the Biden-Harris administration convinced them to abandon a peace deal that would have ceded only half of the territory that Russia now occupies. And for that opportunity to lose twice as much of their homeland, they paid with tens of thousands of innocent lives. We did this to control the $11 trillion of minerals under the Donbas. We did it to grind down the Russian war machine on the grist of Ukrainian teenagers. We did it to hand out hundreds of billions of dollars to US hedge funds, who are, as we speak, carving up...

The body of Rabbi Zvi Kogan, a Chabad-Lubavitch emissary to Abu Dhabi who went missing last week, has been found, the Prime Minister's Office confirmed Sunday morning. Authorities in the United Arab Emirates announced this morning (Sunday) that a body had been found in the country and that the identity of the deceased was in the process of being verified. The Prime Minister's Office and Foreign Ministry stated, "The UAE intelligence and security authorities have located the body of Zvi Kogan, who has been missing since Thursday, 21 November 2024. The Israeli mission in Abu Dhabi has been in contact...

Republican state legislators in North Carolina are moving quickly to pass measures to restrict Democrat power over elections after likely losing its veto-proof majority in the state House. While Republicans will maintain control of both the House and Senate in North Carolina, if election results remain where they are, the party is one seat shy of its veto-proof majority in the House. Additionally, Gov.-elect Josh Stein looks poised to be able to exercise more authority than his Democrat predecessor, Gov. Roy Cooper. Both chambers passed a bill that would weaken the governor’s ability to oversee elections, in particular transferring the...

Sibanye Stillwater, the South African company that operates the nation’s only major palladium mine in south-central Montana, said Thursday that it plans to lay off about 40% of its Montana workforce as it scales back its operation in an effort to offset losses caused by low metal prices. In a letter to workers, U.S. Executive Vice President Kevin Robertson said the company will halt mining at the west section of its Stillwater mine southwest of Columbus until prices rise. It also plans to restructure operations at its East Boulder mine south of Big Timber and its Columbus-area processing and recycling...

Despite claiming years ago to have “the best words,” President-elect Donald Trump is something less than a flawless orator. Consider his remarks during an on-stage appearance this past summer at the annual convention of the National Association of Black-Journalists: “I will tell you that coming from the border are millions and millions of people that happen to be taking black jobs.” Democrats and the media panned then-nominee Trump for appearing to suggest that some jobs are inherently “black.” But they failed to address his intended point: illegal immigrants are competing for, and in some cases taking, jobs held by African-Americans....

The first song this week I have memories of hearing on the radio even back when it was first on the radio in 1965... It's time for a Kim Jong-Un Update Sir Elton John sings "Rocket Man"... Israel never joined the arms supply orgy in Ukraine even when it wasn't at war. Ukrainian nationalism was a Handmaiden of the Holocaust. How does the modern Western World resemble Nazi Germany? "Nazi art drew from two themes, and two alone; Pornography and Militarism" Journalist Howard K. Smith "Last Train From Berlin"... one should not make the mistake and I don't think many...

A transgender activist interrupted an event featuring Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), and upon his forced exit, Mace made it clear that God loves him but “his penis is not going to be in my bathroom.” Video shows the transgender activist — a man wearing a skirt — standing up during the event — Georgetown University’s “Summit on the Future of the Internet” — holding a “Progress Pride” flag, which includes additional colors for transgender individuals and minorities. “This is ridiculous. It is the day after Trans Day of disability,” he said, before accusing Mace and those who believe like her...

If the NBA was looking to score a big ratings windfall to kick off a new season, this wasn't it. Viewership for NBA games has dropped by double-digit percentages through the opening weeks of the regular season, according to Sports Media Watch. Compared to the same juncture in the 2023-24 NBA calendar, NBA ratings on ESPN are down 28 percent year over year. Ratings for the 2024 Boston Celtics-Dallas Mavericks Finals were reportedly the lowest the league has seen in three years. Viewership for most live sporting events has tailed off in the cord-cutting era. Traditional ratings metrics are still...

On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill into law that prohibits the adoption of Russian children by citizens of countries where gender transition surgery is legal. Russian lower house Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, who was one of the authors of the bill, in response to Putin signing the bill into law, shared, “It is extremely important to eliminate possible dangers in the form of gender reassignment that adopted children may face in these countries.” The adoption ban would apply to 15 countries, including Australia, Argentina, Canada, and several European countries. Russia previously banned citizens from the United States from...

Dozens of protests by French farmers this week seeking to shut down a planned European Union 'free trade' deal with the MERCOSEUR nations of South America. Cheaper South American agricultural products a direct threat to the livelihood of French farmers already feeling the impact of imported food items in grocery stores... Protest signs and flags as the band of demonstrators made their way through the streets... Saturday is almost always a day for all kinds of protest across France. The loudest and most vocal demonstrations today the feminist ones of outrage regarding the "Mazan Rapes" case. It's the story of...

An Idaho teenager has been arrested for allegedly leaving a dead baby in a Safe Haven Baby Box over a month ago. Angel N. Newberry, 18, of Twin Falls was taken into custody by the Blackfoot Police Department on November 21 for reportedly leaving a newborn girl in the box at the Grove Creek Medical Center in Blackfoot. While the baby girl was removed from the box 'within a minute' of the clinic receiving the alarm on October 13, staffers soon realized that the newborn had been dead long before being left. 'The medical team removed the infant from the...

By Dr. John BergsmaThis Sunday is the 34th Sunday of Ordinary Time, and as everyone knows, that means it is the Solemnity of Christ the King! This is the last Sunday of the liturgical year. I give thanks to God for many things at this time of year, including the joy of living the liturgical calendar, which is such a consolation and guide for one’s spirituality through the seasons of life and the seasons of the year. Each liturgical year is like a whole catechesis of the Christian faith, as well as a kind of microcosm of the entire life...

This link to the Internet Archive proves that MSNBC chose to give one of its news articles the heading, “Laken Riley’s killer never stood a chance.”https://web.archive.org/web/20241122002957/https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/analysis/nursing-student-laken-riley-murder-guilty-jose-ibarra-rcna181256I also took this screenshot from that same link:

Praying daily since 2015:Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media. I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone: for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. ~ 1 Timothy 2:1-2 Religion Forum Threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate of any kind.

[Catholic Caucus] A Cristero Story: 27 Martyrs of SahuayoRivers of blood will flow through the streets of Sahuayo. – Jacobita Zepeda del Toro, Seer of SahuayoA COLUMN OF Mexican federal troops descending a mountain slope in Jiquilpan, heading toward Cotija, stumbled upon a platoon of Cristero soldiers.Immediately, a skirmish broke out that lasted for three days – from March 16 to March 19, 1928 – between the two factions: federal versus faithful. On the 19th, the group of 35 Cristeros retreated to El Moral, a cave where they sought refuge after two of their men – Jesus Zambrano and Juan...