Free Republic

Days after announcing on social media that he planned to open a music store in Williamsburg, Virginia, John Hinckley Jr. told News4 that his plan had changed. Hinckley — who shot President Ronald Reagan in a 1981 assassination attempt outside the Washington Hilton — spent nearly 30 years in psychiatric care before his release. He has lived in the Williamsburg area since then. Hinckley announced his business plans on social media Monday, writing on X, "I’ll be opening a music store in Williamsburg, Va. The address is 455 Merrimack [sic] Trail. Grand opening is in a week or two!" The...

Former President Barack Obama moderates a conversation with Manu Meel, Co-Founder and CEO of BridgeUSA, Ainka Jackson, Founding executive director of the Selma Center for Nonviolence, Truth, and Reconciliation and Nika Kovač, Director of Slovenia-based Institute 8th of March during the Obama Foundation's 2024 Democracy Forum on December 5, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. (Scott Olson / Getty Images)It’s not election disinformation, apparently, if Barack Obama does it.During the keynote speech at the Obama Foundation’s 2024 Democracy Forum on Thursday, the 44th president made what, out of the mouth of a Republican, would be called “wild asserts,” “irresponsible disinformation” and “false...

Tens of thousands of people are fleeing Syria's third-largest city Homs amid reports that rebels are closing in, just over a week since they launched their lightning offensive. The rebels seized Hama to the north on Thursday, a second major blow to President Bashar al Assad who lost control of Aleppo last week. The leader of the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani, told residents of Homs "your time has come". Rebel forces began the biggest offensive against Syria's government in years last week. They have been advancing south, and Homs would be the next stop...

Esquire has deleted a column that used a false claim about former President George H.W. Bush as the basis to justify President Biden's decision to pardon his son, Hunter. In a Tuesday column, liberal pundit Charles P. Pierce claimed that Hunter Biden was not the first presidential son caught up in controversy, asking readers, "Anybody Remember Neil Bush?" "Nobody defines Poppy Bush's presidency by his son's struggles or the pardons he issued on his way out of the White House. The moral: Shut the f--- up about Hunter Biden, please," he wrote in the sub-headline. "[The] lucky American businessman['s]… father...

A former Kentucky sheriff was indicted last week in the slaying of a judge who was gunned down in his courthouse chambers two months ago, shocking a tiny Appalachian community. NewsNation investigative reporter Allison Weiner reveals exclusive recordings involving Judge Kevin Mullins and alleged victims.

SNIP Today sadly all too much now reprises the 1930s, with governments standing by as rioters deface Jewish institutions across the country. Some of this comes from political extremists, but a key driver has been poorly vetted immigrants from countries with very different traditions. In what is the fourth-largest Jewish country (after Israel, the United States and France), 82 per cent of Canadian Jews feel less safe today than before the October 7 pogrom. The Jews of Canada have been abandoned by the very forces — the Liberal party, the big cities and the universities — which once nurtured them....

The Manhattan jury deliberating Daniel Penny’s case in the chokehold death of Jordan Neely on a New York City subway last year is deadlocked on the manslaughter charge, according to a note the panel sent to the court Friday. The 12-person jury sent the note marking its impasse after 16 hours of deliberating since they got the case Tuesday afternoon. The judge and the parties are conferring over how to respond.

One of the teens found guilty of the murder of 64-year-old Reggie Brown back on Oct. 17, 2023, was sentenced Wednesday. A 13 and 14-year-old girl were in court throughout October, accused of joining several other girls in chasing the 64-year-old man and beating him to death. During a hearing Wednesday, the 13-year-old was sentenced until her 21st birthday, in restrictive commitment at DYRS.

Some union leaders are self-destructive idiots. America's ports have fallen behind. Not a single one ranks in the top 50 worldwide. A big reason is that dock unions stop innovation. Advertisement This fall, the International Longshoremen's Association shut down East and Gulf coast ports, striking for a raise and a ban on automation. They got the raise. Now union president Harold Daggett says longshoremen will strike again in January if they don't get that ban on automation. His statement in my new video makes it clear that he knows how badly his strike would damage other Americans. "Guys who sell...

Daily Readings from the USCCBAnd their eyes were opened. Jesus warned them sternly, “See that no one knows about this.” But they went out and spread word of him through all that land. Matthew 9:30–31Who is Jesus? This question is much more easily answered today than it was at the time Jesus walked the Earth. Today we are blessed with countless saints who have gone before us who have prayerfully and intelligently taught much about the person of Jesus. We know Him to be God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, the Savior of the World, the promised Messiah,...

[H/T azkathy]Reports it took over $6 Billion in profit out of healthcare for Wall Street in Q3 2024 release. Trump’s Project 2025 would DOUBLE UnitedHealth’s privatized Medicare revenue and profit.Due to Trump’s Project 2025 implementationThe number of people denied care by UnitedHealthcare’s Medicare Advantage plans would jump to 5.2 million people annually.UnitedHealthcare would likely take in $274 billion annually from privatized Medicare alone. UnitedHealth Group, the parent company of UnitedHealthcare, would likely gain more revenue and profit due to Project 2025 implementation than any other health corporation.Summary: UnitedHealth would be one of the largest financial beneficiaries of Project 2025, since...

Sources within the police community told the New York Post that the UnitedHealthcare CEO’s killer traveled to NYC on a Greyhound bus from Atlanta last month. The bus on which the killer is believed to have traveled originated in Atlanta, however, authorities are not certain as whether the killer boarded the bus there or climbed aboard at a stop along the way. Breitbart News reported 50-year-old Thompson was shot and killed outside the Hilton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan just after 6:45 a.m. on Wednesday. A manhunt for the killer was immediately launched and today marks the third day of the...

Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan announced Friday that he is stepping aside in his bid for another term as leader. The move follows months of escalating criticism from MAGA conservatives within his party, who have sought to remove him from power and reshape the House’s leadership. Phelan, who claimed he had the votes to fend off a challenge from former ally Rep. David Cook, withdrew just a day before the GOP caucus was set to choose its speaker nominee regardless. Infamously, Phelan assisted the failed plot to impeach and remove the Lone Star State’s America First Attorney General, Ken Paxton.

One key motivation for imposing tariffs on imported goods is to protect U.S. firms from foreign competition. By taxing imports, domestic prices become relatively cheaper, and Americans switch expenditure from foreign goods to domestic goods, thereby expanding the domestic industry. In a recent Liberty Street Economics post, we highlighted that our recent study found large aggregate losses to the U.S. from the U.S.-China trade war. Here, we delve into the cross-sectional patterns in search of segments of the economy that may have benefited from import protection. What we find, instead, is that most firms suffered large valuation losses on tariff-announcement...

“As above, so below” There are many more swamps to drain than the huge one in Washington DC. Every state, county and municipal government agency has one. These agencies are riddled with inefficient work processes and entrenched slackers. People interact with these bureaucracies far more often than the federal ones. So why not apply DOGE principles to these bureaucracies? It is fitting and proper to do so. For example every day normal Americans go to the DMV and Post Office and come away feeling like victims. Routinely there is a line at a post office with ten people in it...

A study team led by researchers from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) says that a 7,000-year-old weapon kit consisting of two bowstrings believed to be the oldest ever found in Europe and a set of three wood arrows discovered in the Cave of Los Murciélagos in Albuñol, Granada, reveals an “unprecedented degree of precision and technical mastery” in their construction. When describing the complexity of the bowstrings, which were woven together from the tendons of three different animal species, Raquel Piqué, a researcher in the Department of Prehistory of the UAB and coordinator of the study, said that “this...

The family of a Missouri teen who fell over 200 feet to his death while riding a Florida amusement park thrill attraction was awarded $310 million for the 2022 freak accident, as the heartbroken parents blasted the ride maker for not showing up at the trial. Tyre Sampson’s grieving parents sat inside an Orlando courthouse Thursday as Austrian-based amusement ride manufacturer Funtime Handels was ordered to pay for the teen’s wrongful death. The family emotionally celebrated as the verdict marked the end of the nearly three-year court ordeal. “Today we got our day in court — this $310 million verdict...

A visit to Russia by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is being prepared, but there is no clarity yet on when it will take place, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday. Peskov said it was unclear whether the visit would happen this year, but that a date for the trip could be agreed very quickly if necessary. "Such a visit is being prepared, preparations are underway," Peskov told reporters at a daily briefing when asked about the matter. Moscow is preparing to sign a new bilateral treaty with Tehran that will include closer defense cooperation, the kind of treaty that...

Michael Byrd, the Capitol Police officer who shot and killed Jan. 6 demonstrator Ashli Babbitt, is being promoted. (@NBCNightlyNews / X screenshot; @ForgiatoBlow47 / X) The official narrative behind US Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd just got much more interesting. On January 6, 2021, video evidence captured US Capitol Police Lieutenant Michael Byrd shooting unarmed Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt without warning as she attempted to climb through a narrow window near a barricaded entryway to the Speaker of the House’s office area in the U.S. Capitol. Following an investigation, Byrd was cleared of any wrongdoing, although questions remain about...

Vice President elect J.D. Vance poses for a family photo on Thanksgiving Day after winning the 2024 presidential election with running mate Donald Trump. India Today ran a segment on J.D.’s Thanksgiving Day photos with his wife, Usha Chilukuri, who hails from Andhra Pradesh and their family. The Indian internet is abuzz with news that the incoming vice president is married to a talented and beautiful Indian woman. Indians are connecting with the images, finding them relatable to their own family gatherings. The photos depict a scene many Indians consider typical of their own family celebrations, featuring silk sarees, close...