Free Republic

Venture capital dealmaking in the United States dipped in the first half of 2022, as investors shied away from signing large checks for startups due to uncertain macroeconomic conditions and market turmoil, according to a report on Thursday. The value of deals struck in the first half of 2022 dropped to $144.2 billion, due to an ongoing stock market rout driven by fears of a looming recession, raging inflation and aggressive rate hikes, from $158.2 billion over the same period last year. VC dealmaking hit an all-time high of over $340 billion in 2021, as firms ramped up bets on...

A federal judge on Wednesday convicted a Confederate flag-toting man and his son of charges that they stormed the U.S. Capitol together during the riot on Jan. 6, 2021, to obstruct Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s presidential victory. U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden delivered the verdict from the bench after hearing two days of testimony without a jury for the trial of Kevin Seefried and his adult son, Hunter. McFadden convicted both Delaware men of a felony count: obstruction of an official proceeding, the joint session of Congress for certifying the Electoral College that day. The judge also convicted the...

Pakistan faces potential economic collapse as inflation jumps and widespread civil unrest could be nearing. The latest sign the South Asian country is spiraling into the abyss is rising electricity costs that threaten to close tens of thousands of businesses. Bloomberg reports that as many as 40,000 factories in Karachi, the country’s commercial capital, are being slapped with high power costs that make operating near impossible. Rising power costs are so severe that nine business groups in Karachi told the government that an immediate plan needs to be formulated to lower power costs or face economic disaster. Any shuttering of...

U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) sent more than a few pulses racing on Wednesday when they evacuated the Capitol Building over a suspicious aircraft that they later cleared as a “no threat.” “The USCP is tracking an aircraft that poses a probable threat to the Capitol Complex,” said the initial announcement that sent Twitter into a fury

After starting with 150 trucks in southern California on February 23, the convoy has grown to over 250 trucks and is on track to reach the Capital Beltway by March 5.. The U.S. cross-country trucker convoy, which was organized to call for an end to all authoritarian COVID mandates and restrictions, is on track to reach the outskirts of Washington, D.C. as planned on March 5. After passing through Texas and Oklahoma over the weekend, the so-called “People’s Convoy,” which began in southern California on February 23, reached Cuba, Missouri for an overnight stay Monday night. The truckers will then...

My Rumble interview with @DarrenJBeattie, the first to break the story about the significant evidence showing FBI tentacles in at least 3 of the key groups behind 1/6, has been watched by more than 1.3 million people. It's more relevant now than ever: When former Trump speechwriter Darren Beattie reported in June that there was evidence suggesting FBI foreknowledge of the January 6 protest at the Capitol, if not active involvement, the corporate media mocked him and others who took it seriously for being deranged conspiracy theories. But now, the New York Times just reported that the FBI had at...

Newsmax is pleased to announce that its new documentary “Day of Outrage,” premiered Wednesday at 9 p.m. Eastern — the eve of the first anniversary of Jan. 6. Look for it to re-air Sunday at 8 p.m. See trailer here. “Day of Outrage” was produced by Newsmax to accurately and fairly detail the events related to the Capitol siege of Jan. 6. The film includes powerful video footage of the protests and riots that took place on that fateful day, as well as a careful examination of events that led up to it. The program includes exclusive interviews with Greg...

The media have been making a big deal over a Washington Post/University of Maryland poll which finds that 34 percent of Americans believe violence can be justified against the government. It’s a poll meant to feed the hysteria over the Capitol Hill riot and embarrass Republicans into supporting “voting rights” bills and so on... It’s a failure of our civic education that 100 percent of respondents didn’t answer yes. The ability to resist a tyrannical government is a foundational American idea. It was the justification for the founding revolution. It, not hunting or skeet shooting, is the core reason for...

Six weeks ago, Revolver News published a blockbuster investigative report on Ray Epps — a man who, more than any other individual, appears to be the key unlocking the question of active federal involvement in the so-called “Capitol Siege” of January 6th. Out of all of the thousands of January 6’s protesters, and the thousands of hours of publicly available footage from that fateful day, Ray Epps has turned out to be perhaps the only person nailed dead to rights confessing on camera to plotting a pre-planned attack on the Capitol. On both January 5 and January 6, Epps announced...

A left-wing protest in Washington, D.C., is blocking traffic in the nation's capital to demonstrate against an administration and lawmakers they believe have failed them by not delivering on various promises. The initiative, dubbed "Shutdown DC," is a joint effort from several activist organizations that are each conducting blockades at different spots near the Capitol building.

Bars and restaurants in Auckland, New Zealand, have reopened after almost four months of lockdown as the country eases COVID-19 measures and enters the first phase of its new "traffic light" system. The new system being implemented is intended to curb the spread of coronavirus while stopping short of lockdowns. It will require that people be fully vaccinated to do certain things, the Associated Press reported. It quoted Auckland Business Chamber chief executive Michael Barnett as saying that many bar owners were figuring out how to comply with new rules that they require employees to check their patrons vaccine status...

Who is Ray Epps? And why did he spend two days inciting Trump supporters to go inside the Capitol? Here’s what we know. 100 Percent Fed Up reports – Ray Epps was the president of the Oath Keepers in Arizona. The night before the “insurrection,” Epps appeared to be encouraging Trump supporters gathered near BLM Square in Washington DC to join him, as he announced that he planned to go “inside the Capitol.” Epps told an unidentified male (fed agent?) “In fact, tomorrow—I’m not even gonna say it because I might be arrested, but tomorrow—We need to go INTO the...

Despite recent hedge fund disasters and almost every economic indicator pointing to a potential stock crash, Biden’s administration has completely ignored a potential equities bubble.Since March 2020, $5.9 trillion in so-called relief spending authorized by Congress, as well as $3.3 trillion in quantitative easing from the Federal Reserve, has been pumped into the U.S. economy. America’s pandemic response resulted in 22 million jobs lost in a matter of months, and we still have 10 million fewer jobs than before March of last year. The fiscal and economic repercussions of going from stronger than expected job and wage growth in January...

A federal judge tore into a low-level defendant in the Capitol Riot Friday, moments after the man entered a guilty plea to a misdemeanor charge stemming from the Jan. 6 unrest. “You’ve disgraced this country in the eyes of the world and my inclination would be to lock you up, but since the government isn’t asking me to do that ... I won’t,” U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton shouted at Fort Pierce, Fla., resident Anthony Mariotto during a video hearing. “I find it outrageous that American citizens would do what you did, so you better walk the straight and...

Former President Donald Trump on Monday lashed out at George W. Bush for his 9/11 20th anniversary speech in which he appeared to compare the Jan. 6 rioters to foreign terrorists, saying the 43rd president, who was in office when the 9/11 attacks happened, “shouldn’t be lecturing anybody!” “​So interesting to watch former President Bush, who is responsible for getting us into the quicksand of the Middle East (and then not winning!), as he lectures us that terrorists on the ​’​right​’​ are a bigger problem than those from foreign countries that hate America, and that are pouring into our Country...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Law enforcement officials concerned by the prospect for violence at a rally in the nation’s capital next week are planning to reinstall protective fencing that surrounded the U.S. Capitol for months. Nancy Pelosi hinted during her weekly press conference Wednesday at extra safety precautions for the Sept. 18 rally by saying: “We intend to have the integrity of the Capitol be intact.” A security plan that is being finalized calls for a fenced perimeter on the streets immediately surrounding the Capitol building and the Supreme Court, though not around the congressional office buildings nearby. The Capitol Police...

WASHINGTON D.C. (KUSI) – The FBI has found little evidence that the Jan. 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol was coordinated on a large scale, according to reports.A source told Reuters that “Ninety to ninety-five percent of these are one-off cases”, while a small percentage came from “militia groups that were more closely organized”.The official said “there was no grand scheme with Roger Stone and Alex Jones and all of these people to storm the Capitol and take hostages.”Reuters reported, “spokespeople for the Justice Department and U.S. Attorney’s office in Washington, which is leading the Jan. 6 prosecutions, declined to...

A New Jersey gym owner and a Washington state man on Friday became the first people charged in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol to plead guilty to assaulting a law enforcement officer during the deadly siege. The pair of plea deals with federal prosecutors could be a benchmark for dozens of other cases in which Capitol rioters are charged with attacking police as part of an effort to halt the certification of President Joe Biden’s election victory. Both defendants face more than three years in prison if a judge adheres to estimated sentencing guidelines spelled out in...

A man was arrested Wednesday for storming the US Capitol dressed in a George Washington costume during the January 6 insurrection. Isaac Yoder, a locksmith from Nevada, Missouri, earlier admitted that he entered and exited the Capitol through a 'west facing door'. Federal agents used phone tracking and facial recognition to arrest Yoder following the riot on January 6. In footage from the incident, people appear to push past police officers and fight with law enforcement to gain unlawful entry to the Capitol, which Yoder denies is something he would have done. He said: 'If there's a police officer standing...

Since supporters of then-President Donald Trump swarmed the US Capitol on January 6 — forcing Congress to go into lockdown and damaging the halls of government — 599 people have been arrested and charged with crimes. The FBI is seeking the public's help to identify people who took part in one of the most documented crimes in US history. But since many rioters were allowed to walk free on January 6, it's taking some time to track them down. This table includes the names, charges, and links to court documents of all the people charged so far. We're keeping it...