Free Republic

President Joe Biden announced on Thursday that he was granting 39 pardons and 1,499 commutations in what his administation called the “largest single-day grant of clemency in modern history.” But it’s not Thursday’s set of commutations that have caught the attention of concerned Americans — it’s those that were quietly given weeks ago to Chinese spies.X user Nick Sortor posted that “Joe Biden just pardoned multiple Chinese spies and an individual convicted of possessing child p*rnography. WHY?”But the thing is, Biden didn’t “just” commute the sentences for these criminals — he did it quietly only days before Thanksgiving.While most Americans...

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) met with President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, for a meeting that brought together two distinct political perspectives. The meeting marked the first Democratic senator to meet with the former Fox News host to find common ground between the two party’s policies. Known for his progressive views and relaxed style, Fetterman’s meeting with Hegseth was a rare bipartisan exchange considering the nation’s polarized political landscape. The Pennsylvania Democrat said he suspects that he and Hegseth will have things in common regarding the military on issues such as China, Russia, Israel, or Ukraine. Critics...

Food workers in Washington, D.C., pledged to refuse service and cause other inconveniences for members of the incoming Trump administration when they dine out over the next four years. Industry veterans, bartenders and servers in the nation's capital told the Washingtonian that resistance to the Republican figures in the progressive city was inevitable and a matter of conscience. [snip] "There’s a lot of opportunities for us as workers to feel like we’re taking our power back, while not necessarily ruining someone’s life. Giving them a subtle inconvenience feels like a little bit of a win for us," she continued. Nancy...

A GiveSendGo campaign has raised more than $50,000 for the legal defense of 26-year-old Luigi Mangione, who was arrested and charged with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, as others have been yanked offline after raising thousands of dollars to support the Ivy League graduate. As of Thursday afternoon, the GiveSendGo campaign had raised more than $54,000 of a $200,000 goal. "This is a preemptive legal fundraiser for the suspect allegedly involved in the shooting of the United Healthcare CEO. We are not here to celebrate violence, but we do believe in the constitutional right of fair legal representation,"...

Mine Hill mayor, Sam Morris called out John Kirby's White House press briefing remarks about drone sightings in New Jersey as inaccurate.

It’s tempting, especially for a libertarian-verging-on-anarchist like me, to just assume government functionaries are inherently bad people who like doing bad things to good people. It’s not really true — in general, people in government are doing what they think is good. So why does it seem like it’s true? Why does it so often seem that what government does is at best useless, often counterproductive, and sometimes actively harmful? Elon Musk posted something on X a few days ago that struck me: incentives drive outcomes. The “save the homeless” NGOs are often paid according to how many homeless people...

He may not have ruled the Roman Republic for very long, but Julius Caesar left behind a towering legacy. From his early days as a young aristocrat to his rise as a triumphant military leader, Caesar’s lofty aspirations, unrelenting conquests, and political reforms made him a revered leader. Almost as quickly as he ascended to unrivaled authority, he was dramatically assassinated, leading to civil upheaval and the demise of the Roman Republic — which ultimately heralded the start of the Roman Empire. Caesar remains respected for his strategic brilliance and studied for the far-reaching implications his actions had on Western...

The winners of this year’s Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute “Peace Through Strength Award” are none other than Biden administration Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY).Austin, who has been criticized for implementing “woke” military policies as the Department of Defense (DOD) leader, and McConnell, who just went through yet another major health scare while on the job at the Capitol, were recognized for their “extraordinary contributions to the state of our national defense” in a press release from the Reagan institute. “After his service in uniform, Secretary Austin continued to serve his country, leading our military...

John Solomon @jsolomonReports Trump warns bringing grocery prices down will be 'difficult' but expresses optimism about doing so

Most prenatal supplements lack the amount of omega-3 fatty acids that could help prevent preterm birth, meaning delivery before 37 weeks' gestation. This is a key finding of a new study, published by my team. Omega-3 fatty acids are essential nutrients that are found largely in fatty fish. They help prevent inflammation and, by doing so, decrease the risk of preterm birth. Our study, however, showed that roughly 1 in 6 prenatal supplements on the market in the U.S. that contain omega-3 fatty acids provide the amount that is needed by most pregnant women. My colleagues and I used the...

The US Defense Department announcing the successful test of a hypersonic... Rising tensions in the conflict between Israel's legal system and elected government... Reports of sexual harassment and assault at the three major US military academies... An explanation for 'drone drama'... word that a new prime minister will be appointed tomorrow by President Emmanuel Macron... new Israeli airstrike reported in Gaza tonight with at least 20 killed... Brazil's President Lula da Silva recovering after a second surgical operation this week... A Wall Street Journal report claims that President-Elect Donald Trump wants European troops...cease-fire...Russia and Ukraine... Israel sees an opening to...

MOSCOW, Dec 11 (Reuters) - The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that Moscow was not ready to make concessions when it came to Ukraine and that President Vladimir Putin's own proposals on how to end the conflict needed to be implemented. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova made her comments in the context of a call by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday for an immediate ceasefire and negotiations between Ukraine and Russia to end "the madness." Zakharova said Russia was ready to engage with the new U.S. administration on Ukraine, but had not yet received any serious, workable...

(Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's chief of staff said in an interview broadcast late on Thursday that Kyiv was not yet ready to start talks with Russia as it lacked the weapons, security guarantees and international status that it sought.Andriy Yermak's comments to public broadcaster Suspilne come as Zelenskiy publicly considers the possibility of a negotiated settlement to the war with Russia, launched by Moscow's full-scale invasion of its neighbour in February 2022."Not just yet today," Yermak told Suspilne, when asked whether Ukraine was ready to embark on talks."We don't have the weapons, we don't have the status that...

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte expressed concern about the idea of conducting peace negotiations in the nearly three-year-long Russia-Ukraine war without Russian President Vladimir Putin “at the table,” calling the move “risky.”“It is crucial that whenever there is a deal that it is a good deal, with all the elements in there,” Rutte said during a discussion Wednesday at Carnegie Europe think tank in Brussels.“I think these were very good considerations, but again, for me to start to discuss this, we start a sort of debate amongst ourselves, within the alliance, with our European partners, without having Putin at the table,...

A man accused of punching a clerk at a New Mexico gas station and then fatally shooting a Good Samaritan who tried to help her was sentenced to 26 years behind bars, prosecutors said.

With students at many colleges wrapping up final exams this week and preparing for their winter break, a number of schools, including Harvard, U.S.C. and Cornell, are advising their international students to return to campus before President-elect Donald J. Trump is inaugurated on Jan. 20. During his last administration, Mr. Trump imposed restrictions on entry to the United States from seven majority-Muslim countries, a policy that stranded thousands of students who were abroad at the time. Later in his term, Mr. Trump added more countries to the restricted travel list. And he has spoken of wanting to reimpose those restrictions...

In case you missed it, talk of preemptive presidential pardoning has become all the rage over in Democrat Land. Joe Biden's pardon of his blow freak mediocrity Hunter got the Dems and their flying monkeys in the mainstream media busy making holiday wish lists filled with potential pardon recipients who President-elect Donald Trump and his America First administration might go after once in office. The people being mentioned as being in need of "Get Out of Jail Free" cards in the next month haven't been publicly lobbying for themselves, but it's an almost certain bet that they're jumping up and...

Mystery surrounds a female celebrity who is alleged to have watched rappers Sean "Diddy" Combs and Jay-Z rape a 13-year-old girl. The female celebrity is not named in an amended lawsuit, which was filed in New York federal court on Sunday. The alleged victim says that she instantly recognized the female celebrity when she came into the room with Combs and Jay-Z, a Grammy-award winning rapper whose real name is Shawn Carter. Carter strongly denies the allegations. The accuser claims she was sexually assaulted by the two rappers at an after-show party following the Video Music Awards in 2000. The...

It wasn't all that long ago that casinos had fairly inexpensive buffets. For example, here in Broward County, Florida the old Hollywood Seminole Casino (still there) had $6.99 prime rib buffets. And most days had theme days so in addition to buffet prime rib on Asian theme day you got a variety of Asian food or there was Latin theme day with Spanish type food to go with your buffet. Oh, and when you swiped your Player's card a lot of times you got half price prime rib buffets or free prime rib buffets. Then the prices started slowly rising...

End Wokeness @EndWokeness Holy shlit. Crystal Mangum just admitted after 18 years that she made up the r*pe allegation against the 3 Duke Lacrosse players. She deserves life in prison.