Free Republic

No one will be shocked to learn that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's pied-a-terre tax is more expansive than he let on. Mamdani said the tax only applied to wealthy people who owned secondary homes in the Big Apple that are worth more than $5 million. But if you read the actual tax, that $5 million value only applied to one-, two-, and three-family homes. Condos and co-op units that are secondary homes are also taxed, and starting at a value of $1 million, or more. That explains why there are 31,000 properties subject to the tax. HOLDUP. Zohran’s...

On the day before Anthony Fauci came to the Senate for a congressional hearing, the Trump-Bhattacharya National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced a new policy to prohibit gain-of-function research like the kind that led to COVID-19.Fauci’s NIH subsidiary directed millions of dollars in funding to the Wuhan, China, lab where it is almost certain scientists manufactured and leaked the COVID-19 virus. In fact, the Biden autopen pardon for Fauci covers all the way back to 2014 because that is precisely when Fauci began funding bat coronavirus research in Wuhan. Bureaucrats and petty dictators shut down our country and disrupted our...

It's not just Canada, of course. Fewer and fewer countries are safe havens for Jews anymore. The Jewish exodus from European countries to Israel or, in some cases, to the United States seems to be accelerating as Muslim migration has been picking up for years in the same countries. More Muslims, fewer Jews can feel comfortable. A shooting at a Jewish bakery is only the latest in a wave of antisemitic attacks causing a growing number of Canada’s Jews to flee, @DrCaseyBabb writes.“They are a warning sign,” he argues.Read the full analysis here: https://t.co/nUJnRjOx5Bpic.twitter.com/SGQQzsOy2G— The Free Press (@TheFP) July 28,...

Donald Trump piled more pressure on Andy Burnham to open up the North Sea for oil and gas drilling, before launching into a racist diatribe about the UK. Trump has seized upon reports that Burnham is considering granting new licences for drilling - an issue the US President has long been vocal about. Asked for his impressions of the new Prime Minister, Trump said: "He did say one good thing, he said he's going to open up the North Sea. If he does that, you're going to be a wealthy country, if he does that reasonably." Trump's desire to see...

Germany, proud parent of the 'Destroy Your Economy and National Standard of Living Through the Climate Cult Fever Dreaming School,' has been wallowing in its own pond scum colored green glory lately.There is not a single week without a German company announcing mass layoffs or closures.Germany is in the deepest structural crisis since WWII. Government spending masks the real magnitudeIt can’t continue forever, governments need taxes from the real economy to keep spending. pic.twitter.com/DuBjY173ys— Michael A. Arouet (@MichaelAArouet) July 26, 2026Now the poster child for the horrors of life under deindustrialization (not that Britain isn't giving them a run for...

California Forever, a controversial project with aspirations to expand Solano County by up to 400,000 residents, was dealt a blow last week as a $3 billion contract went to Texas instead. California Forever first became known to the public in 2024, when reports surfaced that a shadowy group of billionaires had purchased 65,000 largely rural acres around Suisun City and Rio Vista, making it the largest landowner in Solano County. The group announced it planned to build a new city with its acquisitions, but the idea was widely unpopular in the county. Amid dire polling numbers, California Forever pulled a...

In August 2024, candidate Donald Trump told a rally crowd that Joe Biden was "using the strategic reserves, which is meant for military, which is meant for war," and pledged that "We have to fill up the strategic reserves immediately." Two years later, with the United States locked in a protracted conflict with Iran, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is doing the opposite of filling up. According to figures circulated by Geiger Capital and Hedgeye, the SPR has fallen roughly 25% in recent months and now sits at its lowest level in about 43 years, covering an estimated 16 days of...

Trump says he will "respect" Joe Biden's pardon of Dr. Anthony Fauci and will no longer challenge its validity. https://x.com/ImBreckWorsham/status/2082592989222752622

Stop me if you've heard this before, but Florida just gave the nation a glimmer of hope. Once again, Florida is leading us in the fight against Fauci's medical tyranny. And you love to see it. Fauci lied about funding the research in Wuhan that created the Covid virus, lied about the lab leak, lied about the mortality rate, lied about shutdowns and social distancing and the vaccine, and did it all while he was star-struck by the image of himself in the mirror. Oh, he also seems to have bragged about how much money he made from tanking the...

Zohran Mamdani called it an affordability win, but New Yorkers ordering takeout paid for it. At a Wednesday press conference, the New York City mayor touted a city report showing delivery workers collected an additional $104 million in tips over six months. Customers supplied every dollar. Mamdani credited city rules that require apps to show a tip option before checkout, including a selectable 10 percent tip. He also claimed Uber Eats and DoorDash hid their tip buttons and set default tips below 10 percent, causing delivery-worker tips to fall 79 percent. Then he took credit for forcing the companies to...

The former White House coordinator of the COVID Task Force says the contentious Senate hearing that put Dr. Anthony Fauci and his diary under scrutiny shows there is still "persistent anger" over the government's handling of the pandemic. In an interview on CBS News' "The Takeout," Dr. Deborah Birx said she thought Democratic Sen. John Fetterman, who was Pennsylvania's lieutenant governor during the pandemic, "got it the most right for all of us." He wondered, she said, "Did I get the balance right between saving lives and preserving people's livelihoods?" "That is a very deep question, and I think what...

The US military says it’s launching strikes on Iranian targets in response to Tehran’s attack on American forces a day earlier. US Central Command said the strikes are “a powerful response to yesterday’s attempted Iranian attack” and that they began Wednesday evening, in a post on social media. It’s a further escalation after a period of calm, with the U.S. saying it had intercepted strikes from Iran a day earlier and carried out separate strikes alongside Saudi Arabia on Tehran-backed militias in neighboring Iraq.

Willie Nelson urged Americans to think again when it comes to building the future. Nelson, 93, encouraged followers to “fight against data centers invading our land” in a social media plea shared Tuesday. The country music legend reflected on being able to see “stars at night” in his Texas hometown, but that light pollution and “water thieving” were imminent in a looming industrial climate. “I grew up in Abbott, and I still have a home there with farmed land where I can still see stars at night,” Nelson told his followers. “And now our community, like many others, needs to...

New York City business leaders aren’t inclined to go to war with Zohran Mamdani – but his latest stunt surrounding the controversial pied-à-terre tax is forcing them to reconsider, On The Money has learned. This week, our Marxist mayor released the names of taxpayers who are being subjected to his idiotic levy on owners of apartments worth $5 million or more that are not their primary residences. It’s idiotic partly because these wealthy out-of-state residents don’t use our services, but nevertheless already pay plenty of state and city taxes – the lion’s share in fact. They might decide to buy...

Black Lives Matter and Antifa protesters have blockaded two trendy blocks in downtown Madison, Wisconsin a week after armed serial felon Corey Ruiz was shot and killed by police — erecting barricades similar to the infamous 2020 “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone” (CHAZ) in Seattle And the city of Madison — home to the state capitol and the University of Wisconsin — is helping them by providing portable toilets and other resources. Neighbors have had enough, telling WMTV 15 News they feel “trapped” by the rapidly expanding protest zone. “I feel the protest has turned into a very disrespectful occupation focused...

THE ORIGIN “The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2” publication — which was used repeatedly by public health officials and the media to discredit the lab leak theory — was prompted by Dr. Fauci to push the preferred narrative that COVID-19 originated naturally. 1. The virus possesses a biological characteristic that is not found in nature. 2. Data shows that all COVID-19 cases stem from a single introduction into humans. This runs contrary to previous pandemics where there were multiple spillover events. 3. Wuhan is home to China’s foremost SARS research lab, which has a history of conducting gain-of-function research (gene altering...

The Ukraine war has evolved into an innovation contest since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Faced with a larger adversary that it can’t match tank for tank or aircraft for aircraft, Kyiv has compensated with ingenuity—adapting commercial tech for military purposes, pioneering new applications for drones, and refining battlefield tactics for maximum effect. The result has been a conflict in which information is as crucial as firepower. Ukraine is now exploiting that advantage in a new way. This summer, President Volodymyr Zelensky launched an online platform called TrophyLab, a digital repository devoted to the analysis of captured Russian military equipment....

~ The FReeper Canteen Presents ~ ~ Remembering Our Troops!! ~ We Kick Your Butt In Person & Online! Pictured from left to right; Staff Sgt. Charles Cook, Sgt. Michael Escutia, Esports coach Nick "Ashes" Ridgeway, Staff Sgt Christopher Caudillo, and Spc. Francis Ramos celebrate their win at the Armed Forces Esports Championship at Frisco, Texas. Competing in Esports tournaments allows the Army to showcase its talent, skill, and competitive spirit on a public platform. It serves as a means of representing the Army within the broader gaming community and highlighting the diverse interests and capabilities of its personnel....

We went undercover inside smoke shops and bodegas across New York City to answer a simple question: Would retailers accept taxpayer-funded EBT benefits to pay for alcohol or drugs? Store after store attempted to process EBT cards for kratom, a psychoactive substance that is not eligible for purchase with SNAP or EBT benefits. One clerk attempted to process the purchase as “EBT Cash.” Another processed it as “EBT Food”, treating kratom as if it were groceries. Federal law 7 CFR 278 and 7 U.S.C 2012 prohibits retailers from accepting SNAP or EBT benefits for non-food items, including drugs, alcohol, and...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday said he'd asked President Trump for a "winter package" consisting of 300 Patriot interceptors to fend off the Kremlin amid Kyiv's war with Russia.The request follows Trump's approval for Ukraine to manufacture its own interceptors earlier this month. However, Zelensky said the process would take too long. "We need the Patriots yesterday," Zelensky said in an interview with Axios. The Ukrainian president remains committed to providing satellite imagery, intelligence or acquiescing to any other ask in exchange for the U.S. defense weapons, according to the outlet. However, the Trump administration has maintained that its...