Free Republic

The remarkable thing about Russell Rickford is that there is nothing extraordinary about him. The Cornell University prof gained notoriety in the immediate aftermath of Oct. 7 by declaring that he found the terror attack “exhilarating.” Afterward, Rickford apologized for his “horrible choice of words.” After the controversy over his warm words for Oct. 7, Rickford took a “voluntary leave” and is now back in the classroom. What’s outrageous isn’t that he hasn’t been disciplined by the school, but that he fits in so seamlessly. If Rickford, a history professor, went somewhere else to ply his wares, he’d in all...

There have been recent reports of pet cats injured, or worse, in the Ithaca area, with animal predation one of the possible causes, and pet welfare experts suggest keeping cats indoors will help keep them safe, from foxes or coyotes or birds of prey, among other risks of harm. “It’s extremely difficult to tell” what harmed or killed a particular cat without witnessing an incident, says Dr. Bruce Kornreich, the director of the Cornell Feline Health Center and a cardiologist in the Department of Clinical Sciences at Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. He’s skeptical of anecdotal reports that cats...

Former President Donald Trump said that he plans to stay off the campaign rally circuit until after the Democratic National Convention, which ends on Aug. 22. The pace and the plan for the Republican nominee’s August this year is a stark departure from what Trump’s schedule looked like in August of 2016, the last time he campaigned in person for president. Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, — as well Trump’s running mate JD Vance, — have all spent the week barnstorming presidential battleground states.

<p>President Biden held a “tense” Zoom call with dozens of moderate Democrats that was “even worse than the debate” — less than an hour before the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.</p><p>In one particularly testy exchange, sources recalled Biden ripping into Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) after the congressman had asked him about the importance of national security to voters.</p>

Have you ever wondered whether the group known as 'Patriot Front', which declares itself a white supremacy organization, is a genuine extremist group or merely a psyop funded and organized by federal authorities? I have questioned this as well. The group emerged roughly six years ago following the participation of its founder, Thomas Ryan Rousseau, at the infamous Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. Intriguingly, Rousseau tends to recruit exceptionally fit and disciplined individuals, the likes of whom would be ideal candidates for the FBI, HSI, or the USMC. Many, including myself, are skeptical that a 25-year-old without formal education...

The Florida supreme court on Thursday upheld Governor Ron DeSantis’s decision last year to suspend progressive state attorney Monique Worrell, who claims she was unjustly fired for political reasons. The court’s justices voted 6-1 to keep the suspended attorney out of a job. Worrell, who is running for office in November to regain her Orlando-area position, argued that the DeSantis’s justification for suspending her was too vague and that the decision infringed on her prosecutorial discretion. Most members of the court, five of whom were appointed by DeSantis, disagreed. DeSantis suspended Worrell last August through an executive order on grounds...

<p>Authorities in the city of Auburn have arrested a Mexican citizen following an investigation into course of sexual conduct with a minor.</p><p>According to law enforcement, the victim was under 11 years old, and the suspect, identified as Santiago Hernandez Huerta, was taken into custody on May 30.</p>

President Donald Trump’s national polling advantage has narrowed to less than one percent since he became the presumptive Republican nominee in the race for the White House. In two Southern battlegrounds, Georgia and North Carolina, his lead looks stronger at five-and-a-half points and six points, respectively. But can the region be written off as solidly Trump? The answer isn’t so obvious in key cities, counties, and polling places.... On the ground, conservatives sense weakness. “Republicans have got to organize the grassroots to the same level [as] the Democrats,” a local GOP insider told The Epoch Times. That sentiment was echoed...

After Reacher star Alan Ritchson made the claim that the police “get away with murder all the time,” the Fraternal Order of Police organization took some time to address the actor’s inflammatory comment, encouraging him to mind his own business. “While Mr. Ritchson gets his face and forehead powdered on set, our officers are out doing a job he doesn’t have the courage to do,” the organization prefaced. “While he gets to hear loud pops and have blanks fired at him, our officers feel the heat of the bullets as they pierce their skin.” The statement continued, “There are no...

Epstein was a disgraced billionaire who died in prison after being arrested on suspicion of child sex trafficking (and who previously had been convicted of child sex offenses). He owned a small island in the U.S. Virgin Islands named Little St. James. On a webpage last updated in 2018, a website unaffiliated with Disney advertised several purported optional excursions available to people on Disney cruises that stopped at St. Thomas and St. John Islands. One of the trips, “Captain Nautica’s Snorkeling Expedition,” advertised for children 8 and up, included this description: "Be whisked away aboard the captain’s RIB power boat...

Note, however, that no mainstream fact-checking organization or misinformation watchdog group is springing into action to correct their claims. Liberal news outlets reported on the interview—The Huffington Post cheered Pelosi for putting Trump "on blast"—without calling it into question whatsoever. It's very telling what gets counted as misinformation and what doesn't. Pelosi was, until very recently, the third-most-powerful Democrat in Washington, D.C., yet her brand of conspiracy theorizing received little pushback. Psaki certainly didn't do her part.

After a year of getting roundly humiliated by Donald Trump and failing to unseat him as the leader of the Republican Party, Ron DeSantis finally dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump’s bid to reclaim the White House. But while the former president publicly retired his “DeSanctimonious” nickname, Trump has privately made clear over the past two weeks that he’s not ready to let go of his grudge against the Florida governor and former ally. One of the sources, who has spoken to the ex-president about this topic recently, bluntly characterizes Trump’s attitude on DeSantis’ future as wanting to...

Joe Biden’s cognitive decline is not new, and it certainly wasn’t a secret. Jill Biden knew. His aides knew. Heck, James Clyburn, the entire Democratic establishment knew. Yet, terrified that Bernie Sanders would win the nomination and then fail to take down their mortal enemy, Donald Trump, they propped up Biden like he was a Potemkin candidate — or, more accurately, “Weekend at Bernie’s” — to try to capture some Obama nostalgia. With the benefit of pandemic lockdowns, they could imprison Old Joe in the basement, limit his interactions with the press, and keep him tied to a teleprompter between...

even if Trump, 77, fights the verdicts and appeals, he would still have to front a potential $453 million total as an “undertaking,” or security, in the two cases, according to legal experts. Under New York law, Trump — should he fight the verdict as his attorneys have indicated he will — would for instance have to turn over the full amount he owes Carroll for a court to hold in escrow until the appeal was resolved. He’d also have to pay a hefty interest rate if he eventually lost the appeal. Trump could seek a security bond to help...

"Anheuser-Busch is a Great American Brand that perhaps deserves a Second Chance?" Trump wrote. "What do you think? Perhaps, instead, we should be going after those companies that are looking to DESTROY AMERICA!" The company, which owns and distributes dozens of alcoholic beverage brands, caught flack from conservatives last summer when it partnered with the popular transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney to promote its Bud Light products. Despite the partnership amounting to one short TikTok video in which the company provided the creator with one custom can of the product, it generated widespread antipathy among conservatives amid the Republican...

A lawyer for Donald Trump on Tuesday backed off her suggestion that the judge who oversaw E. Jean Carroll's two successful civil defamation trials against the former U.S. president might have had a conflict of interest. In a letter to U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan, Trump's lawyer Alina Habba said she was satisfied that the judge and Carroll's lawyer Roberta Kaplan, who is not related, did not have a "mentor-mentee relationship" when they worked at the same law firm three decades ago.... "The point of my January 29 letter was to verify whether the information contained in the...

The Iowa gunman who opened fire on Perry High School last week appeared to have an active account on the internet chat platform Discord where he previously discussed school shootings and described “gearing up” moments before Thursday’s attack.... (A) Discord user said they had flagged the chatroom to the FBI in November, after which an FBI agent reached out over email and asked for more information. The user emailed the FBI agent screenshots of the server but did not hear back. The user said their report to the FBI did not include mention of the user “took2much.” The chatroom was...

The FBI Headquarters should not be moved to a far away location, but should stay right where it is, in a new and spectacular building, in the best location in our now crime ridden and filthy dirty, graffiti scarred, Capital. They should be involved in bringing back D.C., not running away from it, especially the violent crime. An important part of my platform for President is to bring back, restore, and rebuild Washington, D.C., into the “crown jewel” of our Nation. We will make it crime free and GREAT AGAIN. The FBI should not be fleeing for safer, yet much...

A New York appeals court has again upheld a gag order that bars Donald Trump from commenting about court personnel in his civil fraud trial, ruling Thursday that the former president’s lawyers used the wrong legal mechanism to fight the restriction. A four-judge panel in the state’s mid-level appellate court ruled Thursday that Trump’s lawyers erred by suing trial Judge Arthur Engoron, who imposed the gag order in October after Trump disparaged his law clerk. Instead, the appellate judges wrote, Trump’s lawyers should’ve followed the normal appeals process by asking Engoron to reverse the gag order and then, if denied,...

Trump argued that he was immune from E. Jean Carroll’s defamation suit because of presidential immunity. This was always a questionable argument: While Carroll sued Trump over statements Trump made while he was president, immunity would require Trump to act in his official capacity as president in claiming that Carroll was making up her story of being sexually assaulted by Trump in the 1990s. The controversy, like Paula Jones’s lawsuit against Bill Clinton, involved an alleged sexual assault that happened before Trump was president, so the argument would have to be that the president’s defense of his personal reputation is...