Free Republic

Did FBI headquarters bury Hunter Biden laptop in “Prohibited Access” black hole? The United States attorney screening evidence related to Ukrainian corruption in the lead-up to the 2020 election did not know the FBI’s Sentinel case management system had a stealth feature to render files invisible during search queries. Nor did anyone from FBI headquarters reference the existence of such “Prohibited Access” files during discussions over access to relevant material related to Burisma and Hunter Biden. These new facts add to the growing scandal surrounding last week’s revelation that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team placed documents related to the Russia...

Russian authorities formally classified recent bombings targeting railway infrastructure in the Bryansk and Kursk regions as acts of terrorism on Tuesday, following deadly explosions between May 31 and June 1. "The Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of Russia has classified the bombings of sections of the railway and bridge structure in the Bryansk and Kursk regions... as terrorist acts," Investigative Committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko told reporters. "It is obvious that the terrorists, acting on the instructions of the Kiev regime, planned everything with maximum precision so that hundreds of civilians would be hit," Petrenko emphasized. According to investigators,...

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said the debt limit increase included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is still a deal-breaker for him, saying it goes against conservative values, despite discussions with President Donald Trump about his concerns. Paul told reporters on Monday that the bill will increase the debt ceiling by $5 trillion, the largest debt increase in the U.S."We have never raised the debt ceiling without actually meeting that target," he said. "So you can say it doesn't directly add to the debt, but if you increase the ceiling $5 trillion, you'll meet that. And what it does...

One of the 10 inmates who broke out of a New Orleans jail has posted a video while still on the run, begging President Trump for help. The US Marshals Service confirmed to NOLA.com that it is investigating the video, which was first posted on Instagram Sunday by a man confirming he was accused kidnapper and rapist Antoine Massey, 32, one of two escapees still at large. “They say that I broke out. I didn’t break out — I was let out,” implored the man, whose distinctive face tattoos also match those of the fugitive who escaped with nine others...

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — A cockpit emergency over the waters of Long Island sound ended with a pilot’s quick thinking this weekend.The pilot is credited with saving himself and his young passenger. Experts say that this could’ve ended much worse.

Three-year-old Madeleine McCann vanished from a Portuguese holiday apartment 18 years ago. In the intervening years, a huge, costly police operation has taken place across much of Europe and Madeleine has became one of the most high profile missing people. Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry, say all they have ever wanted is to find their daughter. Now German police investigating her disappearance are holding fresh searches in Portugal. 2007On 3 May Madeleine, from Rothley, Leicestershire, is on holiday with her family at the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz, Portugal. • Her parents go for dinner with a group of...

A Native American Church affiliate in Southern California says a sheriff’s department seized and destroyed “thousands” of psychoactive plants revered as sacred, interfering with members’ religious practices.

Daily Readings from the USCCB“I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do. Now glorify me, Father, with you, with the glory that I had with you before the world began.” John 17:4–5Saint Ignatius of Loyola bases his spiritual masterpiece, The Spiritual Exercises, on one basic premise: Man is created to praise, reverence, and serve God our Lord, and by this means to save his soul. This is the essence of what Ignatius calls the “Principle and Foundation” of our lives. In other words, our goal in life is twofold: First, we must seek...

A Supreme Court more interested in playing politics than faithfully upholding the Constitution is one that will lose Americans’ trust. If there was any doubt left that a majority of Supreme Court justices are more interested in playing politics than upholding Americans’ constitutional rights, it was all flushed down the drain following the Monday release of the high court’s weekly order list. A week after refusing to defend the free speech rights of a Massachusetts minor, the nation’s highest court declined to take up two pertinent cases involving the Second Amendment. As The Federalist’s Jordan Boyd reported, one involved a...

I wrote an article that I want to submit to a publisher. The subject is politics and history. I would appreciate it if some fellow freepers would review it and give me their frank opinions.Let me know and I will forward it to you.

Key Points The Party for Freedom will be departing the ruling coalition over the alliance's lack of support for their asylum proposals. The PVV won a landslide victory in the Netherlands' general election in 2023, knocking former Prime Minister Mark Rutte's party off the top spot. ======================================== The Dutch government collapsed on Tuesday after disagreements over immigration proposals led to far-right leader Geert Wilders withdrawing his party from the ruling coalition. Wilders said in a CNBC-translated post on the X social media platform that his Party for Freedom (PVV) party would be departing over the alliance's lack of support for...

Risk tolerance, the River, and why Democrats struggle with young men Carrie Levande asks: "SBSQ submission: as you noted in Risky Business, the Democrats’ groupthink around protecting Biden is emblematic of their Village tendencies. Lately I’ve been feeling like a lot of the country’s rejection of the Democratic Party can be traced back to their Village-ness: seeming “fake”, the groupthink they foster in cultural institutions and the media, wokeness (and the forces that created it), generally being insufferable. I’m curious your take on viewing today’s political climate through the village/river lens. Do you think the rise of trump and tech...

Russian forces have continued to advance in the northern Ukrainian region of Sumy, bringing the regional capital within range of their drones and artillery, according to Ukrainian officials and analysts. A spokesman for the Ukrainian military in the area, Ivan Shevtsov, said that in addition to trying to advance towards Sumy city, Russian forces were constantly shelling the area and more evacuations of civilians were taking place. “At the moment, the territory that the enemy has already occupied is about 15 kilometers along the front line and about 6-7 kilometers deep,” Shevtsov said. He added that the Russians were trying...

============================================================= NATIONAL EGG DAY National Egg Day falls on June 3 on the National Day Calendar and it's a perfect time to get a crack on celebrating this food holiday. #NationalEggDay Eggs are a nutrient-rich food that has gone back and forth with science and nutritionists over the decades with people asking how many eggs are too many for a healthy diet. Whatever the decision is this year, we know one egg provides an excellent source of protein and vitamin D. At 75 calories and 5 grams of fat, it's an easy choice to satisfy hunger, too. 5 Egg-celent Facts...

While Spiderweb played out on Telegram and television, Russian forces continued to advance – slowly, methodically, and without spectacle. Around Chasiv Yar, in the ruins of Avdiivka, and along the land bridge to Crimea, Moscow is doing the work that wins wars. It’s pushing lines. It’s holding ground. It’s breaking down Ukrainian defenses by weight of numbers, firepower, and time. That kind of warfare doesn’t trend on social media, but it changes maps.

The U.S. Army has announced that the MARS Inc, Barrett team has been selected as the winner of the xTech Soldier Lethality competition. The competition was done on a highly accelerated basis over six months. The system of semi-automatic launcher, optic, and projectiles is known as the Precision Grenadier System or PG22. The rifled grenade launcher prototype will fire a 30x42mm sophisticated grenade cartridge. The projectile will be capable of being programmed while loaded in the rifle. The rifle is semi-automatic with a five-round magazine. The rifle weighs just short of 14 lbs, without the optics.The weight of the XM...

ATLANTA (AP) — Before the oppressive summer heat descends on Atlanta, therapist Brittanee Sims usually gets her thick, curly hair braided at a salon to preserve her healthy mane. But it’s more expensive this year. So she’ll only pay for her teenage daughter and son to get their summer hairdos. Not having braided hair “creates more of a hassle for everything,” said Sims, who counts herself among the tens of millions of women who regularly spend on the Black hair care industry. Now, she said, she has to “go home and figure out what I’m gonna do to my hair...

The U.S. Department of Energy has ordered another power plant, this time an oil and gas plant in Pennsylvania, to keep its turbines running through the hottest summer months as a precaution against electricity shortfalls in the 13-state mid-Atlantic grid. The department’s order to the grid operator, PJM Interconnection, regarding the Eddystone power plant just south of Philadelphia on the Delaware River, is the department’s second use of federal power under President Donald Trump to require a power plant to keep operating on the mainland United States. Constellation Energy had planned to shut down Eddystone’s units 3 and 4 on...

Disturbing surveillance video obtained by The Post shows a city-funded babysitter repeatedly walloping three little kids with a belt and donning a creepy Santa Claus costume to scare them — and the horrified family is now demanding answers. La’keysha Jackson, 24, began working for Bronx mother Geraldine Jaramillo a year ago via a contractor paid for by the city’s Administration for Children’s Services that provides struggling families with babysitters to help with caretaking. The single mom said she discovered the violent treatment last month when the kids’ Pennsylvania-based grandma checked a home surveillance camera in the bedroom — and was...

Tapper and Thompson's mass media apologia is leaps and bounds more demented than the book's subject, Joe BidenI wasn’t going to do it, really. After stepping to the edge of nervous collapse of late, I promised, no more Conventional Wisdom Bestsellers. I saw Abundance in an airport and turned away before registering cover art. I had the same plan for Original Sin, the “controversial” book in which CNN’s Jake Tapper teams with Alex Thompson of Axios to get real about the media and Joe Biden’s health. One moment of late-night weakness later, I was reading from Chapter One, “He...