Free Republic

Newly minted felon New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez has told allies that he plans to resign following his conviction on federal bribery charges, according to a report Wednesday. NBC News, citing two unnamed sources “directly familiar with those conversations,” reported that the three-term Democrat voiced his intent to call it quits. Menendez, 70, was convicted by a Manhattan federal jury Tuesday of 16 counts for trading his political power to benefit three Garden State businessmen and the governments of Egypt and Qatar in exchange for hundreds of thousands in cash, gold bars and gifts. He refused to say whether he...

A leftist activist has been arrested for burning down a gun shop owned by Cornel Rasor, a Republican candidate for the Idaho State House of Representatives, on the Fourth of July. The activist, Jennifer S. Meyer, is accused of burning down Cornel Rasor’s Army Surplus Store in Sandpoint, prompting celebrations from her fellow leftists. Meyer has reportedly made signs for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and a local arts commission. It appears the fire that consumed Cornell Razor’s Army Surplus store (located just 1 block away from where Sandpoint Pride is held) was ARSON, not a “stray firework.”...

Joe Biden's pitch to voters is increasingly reminding me of a used car salesman desperate to stop a prospective buyer from leaving the lot. "Sure, this ride may not sound great. It's slow and runs inconsistently, and it definitely has a few more miles on it than you'd like, but if you buy it we'll throw in Supreme Court reform free of charge. And have I mentioned that we'll expunge the records of anyone convicted of marijuana possession just as soon as your check clears (and we have the votes)?" President Biden @POTUS I'm making sure no one goes to...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A former CIA employee and senior official at the National Security Council has been charged with serving as a secret agent for South Korea's intelligence service, the Justice Department said. Sue Mi Terry accepted luxury goods, including fancy handbags, and expensive dinners at sushi restaurants in exchange for advocating South Korean government positions during media appearances, sharing nonpublic information with intelligence officers and facilitating meetings between U.S. and South Korean government officials, according to an indictment filed in federal court in Manhattan. She also admitted to the FBI that she served as a source of information for...

NASHVILLE, Ill. — Emergency officials said residents in some neighborhoods of Nashville, Illinois, are being urged to evacuate after a nearby dam is imminently failing. Recent heavy rains triggered Flash Flood Warnings in the region Tuesday morning, and flood waters overtopped the dam behind the Nashville City Reservoir. "Attention the failure of the Nashville dam is imminent," Washington County (Illinois) emergency managers wrote, adding a map shading an area at risk of flooding downstream. "If you are in the grey box, you need to evacuate now!" Two shelters have been opened in the area.

NEW YORK, July 16 (Reuters) - The jury has reached a verdict in U.S. Senator Bob Menendez's criminal trial on charges of selling his power in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes including gold bars and cash, a court official said on Tuesday. The verdict is expected to be read shortly in Manhattan federal court. Menendez, 70, has pleaded not guilty to 16 criminal counts including bribery, fraud, acting as a foreign agent and obstruction. Federal prosecutors argued during the trial that the New Jersey Democrat sought to help Egypt secure billions of dollars in U.S. military...

Jack Smith should be writing a thank you note to U.S. District Court Judge Aileen M. Cannon right about now. By dismissing the so-called classified documents case against Donald Trump and his two co-defendants, Cannon just spared the special counsel and his team months of continued humiliation in her Florida courtroom and, eventually, in front of the nation. In a 93-page order issued on Monday, Cannon, in her typically cautious and detailed manner, explained why Smith’s appointment violated the Constitution; Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith in November 2022 to take over the Department of Justice’s existing investigations into Trump’s...

As the investigation into Saturday’s assassination attempt against former President and newly-minted GOP nominee Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally intensifies, the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced Monday that they have successfully gained access to the suspected shooter’s phone. They have not revealed what information they’ve found on the device, but it is likely to contain a trove of information about the deceased suspect, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks. The FBI has not detailed any of the information contained in the phone. The agency began its investigation into Crooks and the shooting shortly after the Saturday attack. Agents went to Crooks'...

The Trump rally gunman was laid out on his belly, took aim and fired shots into the crowd before he got met with incoming bullets that killed him ... and TMZ has it all on video.We've obtained an incredible clip that shows the moment the gunman opened fire at the Butler, PA rally Saturday -- and you can see the guy looking through either a scope or iron sights on a roof ... with people watching down below and freaking out, their panic palpable.The guy has longer brown hair, and he seems to be wearing a grey shirt/khaki pants --...

Nearly half of 80,000 small businesses surveyed say they won’t survive the current economic climate, ongoing inflation or another four years of Biden administration policies, according to the survey conducted by RedBalloon and Public Square. Their May Freedom Economy Index found that small businesses “remain in survival mode,” with 40% delaying paying bills to manage cash flow and 70 percent putting staffing plans on hold, neither hiring nor reducing staff, “the highest reading … over the past year,” the report states. Among those surveyed, 64% said the U.S. is headed toward stagflation, when inflation continues to climb and the economic...

Paris — The famous medieval cathedral in the city of Rouen in western France was evacuated Thursday when a fire broke out in the spire. The Notre Dame of Rouen Cathedral is undergoing renovations and video from the scene showed thick smoke rising from the spire, which is partially covered in scaffolding. Fire trucks raced to the scene to save the cathedral, made famous by impressionist painter Claude Monet who depicted the imposing structure in a series of paintings in the 1890s.

NASCAR debuted what it claims is the future of racing, its electric ABB NASCAR EV Prototype, at the Chicago Street Race event on Saturday, but fans were not impressed.The vehicle was developed in partnership with Chevrolet, Ford, Toyota, and electric vehicle (EV) developer ABB, all in an effort to reach NASCAR’s “sustainability” goals. One of those goals is to reach “net-zero” operating emissions in the next ten years, the racing organization said in its press release:While NASCAR is committed to the historic role of the combustion engine in racing, it is also committed to decarbonizing its operations and reducing its...

Walter Ringfield Jr., the 27-year-old man accused of stealing an electronic tabulator key from the Maricopa County Elections Department last month, has been charged in three other thefts within the past year. Ringfield on Tuesday pleaded not guilty in Maricopa County Superior Court to one count of computer tampering for allegedly stealing the ballot tabulator key from Maricopa County on June 20, while he was employed as a temporary elections worker. In the other cases, Ringfield has been indicted by a grand jury for theft and burglary, both felonies, as well as criminal trespass, a misdemeanor. [snip] Days later, police...

(The Center Square) – In June, nine Illinois companies announced a total of 1,017 jobs affected by mass layoffs. A policy analyst and economy expert says more people are relying on themselves for employment. A “mass layoff” under the Illinois Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act is a reduction in force at a single site of employment of 25 or more full-time employees if they constitute one-third or more of full-time employees at the site, or 250 or more full-time employees. Director of Fiscal and Economic Research at Illinois Policy Bryce Hill said Illinois has the least business-friendly state of...

A national election watchdog group has joined a pair of New York Republican Congresswomen challenging the state's mail voting law in court. The Public Interest Legal Foundation filed an amicus curiae brief with the state Supreme Court supporting Rep. Elise Stefanik, Rep. Claudia Tenney, and other New York elected officials in their lawsuit challenging a state law allowing universal mail voting. The Democratic-controlled New York legislature approved a law in 2021 allowing New York voters to cast ballots through the mail. Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, signed the measure into law. The move followed the rejection of a constitutional amendment...

The leader of the World Federation of Advertisers' Global Alliance for Responsible Media falsely claimed it did not direct its members to blacklist Twitter after Elon Musk purchased the platform, since renamed X, according to a House Judiciary Committee GOP interim staff report. Rob Rakowitz's claim during his transcribed interview with the committee is contradicted by a GARM member's documentation of "discussions about the boycott, noting that the company had pulled advertisements from Twitter based on GARM's recommendations," a committee press release Monday says. The report documents how GARM "participated in boycotts and coordinated action to demonetize platforms, podcasts, news...

The Arizona rancher who became the face of the border crisis when he was charged with killing a migrant on his land will not face trial again, a judge has ruled. George Alan Kelly, 75, was charged with the killing of Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea, a Mexican national found dead on Kelly's sprawling ranch in January 2023. The case led to a mistrial in April when jurors failed to reach a verdict after one hold-out refused to acquit. Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Thomas Fink denied the prosecution's request to keep the case open on the possibility that new witnesses could...

Officers should have known that handcuffing a compliant 10-year-old is unnecessary, the court ruled. In an unpublished opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled that the officers were not entitled to qualified immunity, a judicial doctrine that shields government officials from civil suits in cases where the rights they allegedly violated were not clearly established by prior case law. The doctrine protects a wide variety of abusive officials from legal consequences and makes it harder for victims to hold them accountable. Citing previous rulings holding that handcuffing a complaint child surrounded by adults constituted excessive force,...

Joe Biden's future continues to hang in the balance after his debate performance spurred a chorus of calls from Democrats demanding he drop out of his reelection race. The president arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Sunday morning to rally support at a church after bombing his 'make or break' ABC interview.The post-debate sit-down aired Friday and was meant to quell concerns, but only led to more worries within the Party with just weeks until the Democratic National Convention. Radio station with Biden's first post-debate interview FIRES host for using questions provided by president's team.The host of Joe Biden's first post-debate media...

A coalition of energy, biofuel and agriculture groups, – including the Illinois Corn Growers Association – are taking their challenge of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s emissions mandate to the nation’s highest court. The group filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court challenging the EPA’s decision to grant a waiver to California for its 2021-2025 electric vehicle mandate. Illinois lawmakers have considered adopting California’s strict EV policies. The petition asks the high court to throw out an appeals court decision that rejected legal arguments by 17 states over California’s EV mandate. The states had...