Free Republic

No, this is not about politics, or tit-for-tat. Fired former FBI Director James Comey, who was yesterday indicted for lying to Congress, has always put on the public persona of a "Boy Scout," apolitical, only concerned with honesty and honor. Maybe even "the last Boy Scout." His media allies, after all, say so -- over and over. And in the narrative of some, Comey was this poor thing, so honorable, so guileless, so noble (pay no attention to that "86 47" assassination threat he put out there), who could be no match for the wily and unscrupulous Trump. Get a...

News broke recently that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation would sever ties with the shadowy consulting firm Arabella Advisors and its “nonprofit network closely associated with the Democratic Party.” The Arabella network has received over $450 million in grants from Gates over the years, so this announcement comes as a devastating blow to Arabella’s billion-plus dollar network. But it may also be a sign that our hyper-politicized charitable sector has reached an inflection point. An institutional realignment may be coming that will leave the left in the lurch and change American philanthropy for the better. My organization was the...

Trying to find out information about how Des Moines hired an illegal alien with a criminal history, Ian Robert’s, as leader of its schools. One comment online said rhe board voted him in during a closed session after being made aware of his illegal status. Link shows he highlighted his immigrant background in his bio and the public announcement was done in English and then in Spanish to local media. It’s also an educationally failing school district. Any locals with info please share. It’s a key state for national elections.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has fired as many as 20 FBI agents, including a group associated with a 2020 incident in which agents were photographed kneeling with demonstrators at the height of protests over the police killing of George Floyd, two people briefed on the matter said. The latest round of dismissals at the bureau came at the end of a review by the FBI’s inspection division and recommendations evaluated by the bureau’s general counsel’s office, one person briefed on the matter said. As many as 20 people were terminated in the latest round of ousters, including about 15...

***** Tunes For Our Troops ~ Class of '69 ~ *****~ Support The Artists ~ ***** Warning: Not all music may be appropriate for children! Please click with caution. Thank you! Tunes For The Troops This music is provided for the entertainment of our Troops, Veterans, Allies & their families! Enjoy the variety of musical selections that the Canteen DJs provide throughout the thread. Please ping any DJ with your requests for the Troops! All music is removed on Monday.Thanks to all the DJs for their time & effort providing entertainment for the Troops! *Canteen Mission Statement* Showing support...

Millions of dollars sent to Barack Obama’s foundation has ended up being donated to a progressive fund that supported anti-Israel groups, accused of setting up encampments at Ivy League universities, according to public documents. Donations to the Obama Foundation, set up by the former president to build a 19-acre campus including a museum, athletic facility and fruit and vegetable gardens in Chicago, totaling $2 million were instead sent on to Tides Foundation in 2022 and 2023, according to its latest available federal tax filings. The cash was earmarked to “support local organizations that are working to reduce violence in communities,”...

Sir Tony Blair wants to run Gaza once the war between Israel and Hamas is over. The former prime minister has spearheaded a plan to end the war through his think tank, the Tony Blair Institute (TBI). The Telegraph understands that Sir Tony, 72, offered to head an interim government in Gaza on the proviso that power eventually would be handed over to the Palestinian Authority, which controlled the Gaza Strip until 2006. He has the support of several powerful figures, including Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law and a former Middle East adviser, and Steve Witkoff, the US president’s special...

Alcohol raises the risk of dementia regardless of whether people are genetically predisposed to the neurodegenerative condition, a large new study suggests. It is the latest research to confirm that even moderate alcohol consumption can pose health risks. Despite the occasional headline about the benefits of low-level drinking, research has repeatedly shown that no amount of alcohol is safe for our health. “For anyone who chooses to drink, our study suggests that greater alcohol consumption leads to higher risk of dementia,” Stephen Burgess, a statistician at the University of Cambridge, said in a statement. The study, which was published in...

The Weekly Wrap: Trump Derangement Syndrome Visits The Supreme CourtWelcome back to Friday! This week the grand poobahs of the U.S. economy gathered together in a friend-of-the-court brief to let everyone know they still really do not like what Trump is up to. The prices of goods affected by tariffs fell in August, crushing the hopes of everyone at the Cato Institute. And Americans once again made it clear that they really, really don’t like Democrat economic schemes.Here’s this week’s pain-free roundup of the economic news—no Tylenol necessary.A Supremely Unpersuasive Amicus BriefEvery living former Federal Reserve chair, former Treasury secretaries...

Researchers said the supercentenarian’s longevity shows how old age and disease can ‘become decoupled’ at times. Maria Branyas was the oldest person in the world when she died at 117 in Spain last year – but a look at her genome suggests that her biological age may have been much younger. Health experts and the public alike have long been fascinated with supercentenarians – those who live to at least 110 – and what their longevity reveals about the keys to ageing well. Before she died in August 2024, Branyas agreed to help a group of Spanish scientists find out....

N.C. Senate leader Phil Berger said Thursday that the legislature might redraw the state's Congressional districts in response to partisan gerrymandering efforts in other states. Berger, posting on the social media site X, pointed to efforts by California Gov. Gavin Newsom to redraw districts there and said "we have drawn four Congressional maps in the last six years in redistricting fights with Democrats because of their sue-until-blue strategy. If we have to draw one more map this year, we will." But Berger denied a rumor posted by a left-leaning group — and a subsequent report from CBS 17, which cited...

OCALA, Fla. (WCJB) - Marion County Sheriff’s deputies located Caden Speight, 17, of Dunnellon, on Friday afternoon in Williston following an overnight search and Amber Alert. Officials say initial claims about a Caden being shot and abducted were unfounded. Marion County Sheriff’s deputies no longer believe Caden Speight, 17, of Dunnellon, was taken by four Hispanic men as originally reported in an Amber Alert on Thursday night. His disappearance was connected to a shooting in Dunnellon; however, the teen wasn’t wounded. Authorities say they have new evidence that contradicts previously reported facts. Now, deputies say Caden may have left the...

Assata Shakur, a fugitive Black militant who was given political asylum in Cuba after her 1979 escape from a U.S. prison where she had been serving a life sentence for killing a police officer, has died, her daughter and the Cuban government said.

Henry McVey, KKR CIO of balance sheet, joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss the state of the economy, the Fed's interest rate outlook, latest market trends, opportunities in the Asian markets, and more. There's a productivity boom in the U.S. similar to the 1990s, says KKR's Henry McVey | 9:06CNBC Television | 3.23M subscribers | 38,798 views | September 25, 2025

U.S.Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth delivers a speech during a ceremony marking the 24th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States at the Pentagon, in Washington D.C., U.S., September 11, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tabWASHINGTON, Sept 26 (Reuters) - U.S. military leaders deployed around the world have started to prepare to travel to Virginia for a meeting with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth next week, which some officials on Friday billed as a gathering focused on the "warrior ethos."Hegseth has summoned U.S. generals and admirals from around the world to a meeting in...

After signing an executive order to preserve TikTok in the U.S, President Trump jokes he would make the algorithm "100% MAGA" if he could, and then continues on, saying, "Everyone is going to be treated fairly."

OREM, Utah (KSL) – Students from a school in Utah are traumatized after a classmate brought a gun on a field trip and shot themselves in front of others. Police said the ninth grader from Canyon View Junior High shot themselves while on a field trip at South Fork Park. That student was flown to a local hospital, where they died. KSL does not normally report on suicides, but because the student brought a gun to school and fired it in front of other students, it brings it to another level. A group of ninth grade students put up a...

European officials fear that US President Donald Trump's new rhetoric on Ukraine is aimed at shifting blame to Europe. Trump is calling on the EU for tougher sanctions against Russia and tariffs on China and India, which Europeans consider unfeasible.European officials fear that US President Donald Trump's latest rhetoric on Ukraine "is intended to set them an impossible mission" that will allow the American leader to "shift the blame from Washington if Kyiv fails in the war or runs out of money," the Financial Times reports, writes UNN.Details As the publication writes, "after months of pressuring Ukraine to settle with...

[Catholic Caucus] Head of German Bishops demands rainbow flag be hung in German ParliamentRainbow flag at the Bundestag? Julia Klöckner counters Bätzing's criticismBishop Georg Bätzing had said he would have liked to see the rainbow flag at the Bundestag. The President of the Bundestag poses a counter-question.President of the Bundestag Julia Klöckner (CDU) rejects Bishop Georg Bätzing's criticism of the handling of the rainbow flag in the Bundestag. "The bishop's regret is astonishingly selective. Did the Vatican or did all bishoprics raise a rainbow flag on Pride Day?" she asks in the weekly newspaper "Die Zeit."Bätzing, the chairman of the...

An impending government shutdown presents an opportunityThe U.S. government is about to run out of money. If Congress does not pass a spending bill -- or a short-term continuing resolution that keeps money flowing temporarily -- there will be a federal government shutdown this coming Tuesday. Moments like these are rare opportunities for the party that is not in control of Congress. As the New York Timesopens in a new tab or window described it, "...passing a government spending bill that can win the necessary 60 votes depends on attracting at least a small amount of Democratic support. That will...