Free Republic

In two particularly egregious cases, Schiff channeled millions in funding to Smiths Detection and Phasebridge, Inc., two defense companies within his district – with $6 million steered to Smiths Detection and $3 million to Phasebridge. Both moves would have been barred under reforms adopted in 2010. This financial maneuvering coincided with Schiff receiving $8,500 in contributions from PMA Group PAC and two family members of Paul Magliocchetti, founder and owner of the lobbying firm retained by both defense companies.

Kevin McCarthy just failed to win the votes needed to pass the rule beginning debate on the defense spending bill. The rule failed 212-214. This is a major setback to the Speaker.

CHICAGO - A resident who fatally shot Abnerd Joseph during a disturbance in their Loop high-rise building was released without being charged following the shooting, according to Chicago police. Family of the assistant school principal said Friday they are "left with questions and looking for closure." "We can’t make sense of it," said his sister Jeanna Joseph, who last spoke to her brother Wednesday, the day before the shooting. "We don’t really know what’s going on. … We have questions and we don’t have answers to those questions." The shooting happened about 7:30 p.m. on the 48th floor of the...

Joe Biden has reached his expiration date, and the Deep State is preparing to dump him in the compost pile. In a newly released study conducted by the RAND Corporation and funded by a host of entities related to the congressional–military intelligence–industrial complex, researchers posed this question: "Could Dementia in the National Security Workforce Create a Security Threat?" Now, whom in the world do these researchers have in mind? Let's just throw out a hypothetical: could a person with cognitive function so severely diminished that he regresses to a toddler-like state and poops his pants ahead of diplomatic talks, and...

In June of 2022, Gilbert Grooms was confronted and threatened at his job in the presence of his wife and children. He refused to fight hand-to-hand with a younger, brutal, and violent man. When the man continued to confront him and come at him, he used a shotgun to stop the assault.He was charged with six felonies. He chose a jury trial. He was found not guilty of all charges.From ruralradio.com:A South Dakota man facing six felonies in connection with a June 2022 shooting at the Sheridan County Livestock Sale Barn in Rushville has been acquitted.After a four day trial,...

A key Russian general who Russian president Vladimir Putin promoted this week said that Moscow's invasion of Ukraine is a mere "stepping stone" to further conflict with Europe. Vladimir Putin promoted lieutenant general Andrey Mordvichev to the rank of colonel-general after he had already been serving in the role of commanding the central military district and Russian central grouping of forces in Ukraine. In an interview with Moscow's state-run Russia-1, Andrey Mordvichev said that he believes Vladimir Putin's war will last quite a long time and expand in the future. "I think there's still plenty of time to spend. It...

If you think, like Elon Musk, that instead of fighting, Ukraine and Russia “should agree to a truce,” the recent interview with General Andrey Mordvichev, one of Russia’s top commanders in Ukraine, should give you pause. Asked about the war’s expected duration, he said the quiet part out loud: There is still “plenty of time.” According to him, “If we are talking about Eastern Europe, which we will have to, of course then it will be longer.” In other words, the Kremlin is in the conflict for the long haul. Not only it is committed, as Russian President Vladimir Putin...

BALDWIN COUNTY, Ga. (WGXA) - An arrest has been made in a Friday night shooting in Milledgeville. According to a media release, the shooting happened on Friday, September 1st, 2023, at around 9:15 p.m. Officers with the Milledgeville Police Department responded to multiple 911 calls reporting shots fired in the vicinity of Wray Homes. Upon arriving at the scene, officers discovered several witnesses in the 400 block of Earnest Byner Street. These witnesses informed law enforcement that they had been sitting outdoors when an armed man approached them and began shooting. In self-defense, one of the victims, who possessed a...

Gabriel Metcalf sits in jail, without the possibility of bail, for defending his mother, Vivian, and their home in Billings, Montana.Their modest home is across the street from the Broadwater Elementary School. Gabriel was keeping watch with a single-shot shotgun and a camera after numerous threats and attacks against him and his elderly mother. They had a restraining order (order of protection), to keep a former neighbor, David Lee Carpenter, from coming within 1,500 feet of them or their home. The complaint lists a number of threats from David Lee Carpenter and a person who was living with him at...

The suicide rate among U.S. veterans may be much higher than estimated by state and national data, according to a study conducted by the national nonprofit America's Warrior Partnership (AWP). According to the research, in the states examined—including Alabama, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, and Oregon—the daily rate of suicide among former service members was 1.37 times greater than previously reported by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). If the eight states collectively represented the national rate, the veteran suicide rate would be 2.4 times greater than previously reported by the VA, according to the study. That means that...

Modest home in Billings, Montana, where Gabriel (Gabe) Metcalf lives with his mother. On Wednesday, August 23, 2023, Gabe Metcalf was arrested by ATF agents outside his home. Metcalf was arrested by federal agents of the ATF for possessing a firearm in a federal Gun Free School Zone in Billings Montana. A search warrant was executed after the arrest. The warrant shows the agents seized a single shot, break-open shotgun, six rounds of ammunition, and a Samsung phone.Billings police had several contacts with Gabe prior to the arrest by federal agents. It has been reported Billings police stated he was...

Japan’s defence ministry on Thursday announced it will seek a record $53 billion budget for the next fiscal year on the back of regional tensions driven by an increasingly assertive China and unpredictable North Korea. The spending jump represents a 13 percent increase year-on-year, adding antimissile systems, more warships and boosting maintenance for a military that long skimped on basic functions. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida last year unveiled a major security overhaul including a pledge to raise defence spending to two percent of GDP by 2027, Reuters reports.

John Bolton, a former national security adviser to former President Trump, said Monday the former president “can spend a little of his own money” on his legal defense. “People who worry about whether poor Donald Trump’s going to have enough money for campaign purposes and legal bills … he’s a gazillionaire, ask him, he’ll tell you frequently. He can spend a little of his own money,” Bolton said in an interview on NewsNation. “Well it befuddles me why anybody would give a billionaire money to pay their own legal bills,” Bolton said. Trump’s campaign confirmed last weekend the former president...

A South Dakota man facing six felonies in connection with a June 2022 shooting at the Sheridan County Livestock Sale Barn in Rushville has been acquitted. After a four day trial, a Sheridan County District Court jury on Thursday found 45-year-old Gilbert Grooms not guilty of Attempted Murder, First Degree Assault, Terroristic Threats, plus three Felony Firearms charges that had been filed in the case. Investigators had said following a verbal altercation, the Oglala, South Dakota man retrieved a shotgun from his vehicle and shot a then-35-year-old person multiple times. In a statement following the end of the trial, defense...

CENTERVILLE, Texas – A patron at a smokehouse in Centerville shot a Houston man accused of attacking customers and knocking an elderly man unconscious Monday, the Leon County Sheriff’s Office said. Deputies received reports of shots being fired inside Woody’s Smokehouse #2 located at 947 W. Saint Mary’s St. around 12:04 p.m. When LCSO and Department of Public Safety troopers arrived at the scene, they were able to watch surveillance video of the incident. According to investigators, a suspect identified as Kevin Craig Anderson entered the business in a “harassing manner.” While inside, Anderson aggressively approached several customers inside the...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – Metro police are investigating a self-defense claim following a deadly Sunday night shooting that occurred at a gas station in the Bordeaux area. The shooting happened just after 11 p.m. at a gas station in 3900 block of Clarksville Pike on Sunday, Aug. 13. Authorities reported that 42-year-old Ricky Starks Jr. was shot and killed following a reported altercation that occurred at the store. According to Metro police, Starks was outside of the Citgo gas station when the incident occurred. Ricky Johnson Jr. — the man who allegedly shot Starks — told officers that he was...

A Washington County man was fatally shot Monday evening during an incident southwest of Salem. According to a news release from the Indiana State Police, detectives with the Jasper Post were notified at 6:32 p.m. that Washington County 911 had received a phone call regarding a shooting at 7783 S. Organ Springs Road. Washington County Sheriff’s Department responded to the scene and found Michael T. Chastain of Salem had been shot in the front yard of a residence at that address, according to a news release from Sgt. John Davis. Davis, the post’s public information officer, said the investigation yielded...

I ran across a reminder of why I reflexively defend Donald Trump against his critics, despite not liking the guy.The answer is simple: the people going after him are tyrannical liars, or at the very least so blinded by their hatred that they have abandoned reason. And because they hate Trump with a white-hot passion that outshines the sun they are willing to destroy America.Donald Trump is their Great Orange Whale, and they are determined to kill him whatever it takes. Law, truth and reason all must bend or be broken if the destruction of Trump is the end result.“Donald...

I have traveled, stayed, and worked in Japan quite a bit, and think I understand that land and its people about as well as a gaijin can. It’s a beautiful country, with (mostly) friendly people, wonderful food, a great culture based on respect and consideration, and even some pretty good beers and whiskeys. I wouldn’t want to live there permanently; I’m too indelibly a red state – and RedState – American for that. But I’m very fond of the Land of the Rising Sun, and so keep abreast of events that affect Japan. To that end, it was interesting to...

In Groesbeck, Texas (about a third of the way between Dallas and Houston), the Independent School District (ISD) has had a school guardian program in place for nearly a year. On July 17, 2023, the Groesbeck ISD issued a press release showing they had placed signs announcing the program. The Guardian program is a popular Texas program to enable local schools to have various members of their staff trained and armed, in order to respond to deadly threats in the school before police can arrive on the scene. The program is much more efficient than having School Resource Officers (certified...