Free Republic

Many Americans who return home after being illegally detained overseas arrive to find they've been billed thousands of dollars by the IRS—including late fees for unpaid taxes. That's the bizarre situation in which hostages Evan Gerskovich, Paul Whelan, and Vladimir Kara-Murza found themselves after they were released from detention in Russia last month. All three men say they faced a battery of surprise financial issues after returning home, including tax charges and hits to the credit stemming from bills they were unable to pay while behind bars. "I got one of those bills from the IRS saying, you owe this...

While Americans have been focused on the election, the European Union has been in the process of passing a new law. It’s called the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, and its reach will go far beyond European borders. In fact, “It’s going to impact every single American,” Justin Haskins, author and editorial director of the Heartland Institute, tells Allie Beth Stuckey. “Essentially, what it does is create ESG social credit scores for companies. ... These ESG scores are designed to transform the way companies operate, the kinds of products and services that they can sell, and then, by extension, transform...

Lawyers for the federal government are asking for a judge to hold 23 coal companies owned by Gov. Jim Justice and his family in contempt, saying they failed to meet the terms of a settlement agreement over mine safety fines, continually made payments late and whiffed five months ago on paying the final amount of nearly a half-million dollars. The Tuesday filing in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia includes emails from federal officials continually reminding a lawyer for the Justice companies that payments are overdue or missing.

A stay-at-home mother in Texas said she was shocked when she was informed that there was a warrant out for her arrest over an unreturned library book. Kaylee Morgan said it was an oversized book for home-schooling about Vincent Van Gogh that she borrowed in 2023. She got the bad news after trying to get her driver's license renewed and was rejected. "When I get there, they told me they can't renew it because I have a warrant out for my arrest," the mother of five children told KPRC-TV. "I am just shocked. I literally laughed out loud. I said...

BEAVERTON, Ore. — A group of Beaverton homeowners, facing thousands of dollars in fines from their neighborhood's HOA board, tried to remove their board president from his position — only for the board to change the neighborhood's bylaws the very next day, making it "essentially impossible" to be removed from power. An attorney representing the HOA board told KGW that the homeowners' actions don't represent the entire community, as some people have been pleased with the 'clean-up' of the neighborhood, but the conflict highlights the delicate balance of power between neighborhoods and the associations that run them. Homeowners associations, or...

On February 16, 2024, a judge in New York State imposed fines totaling just over $360 million on former president Donald J. Trump, The Trump Organization, and several related Trump companies and trusts in the civil case brought by the New York attorney general. President Trump’s sons Donald Trump, Jr. and Eric Trump were fined just over $4 million each. The court imposed additional sanctions, including injunctions against former president Trump; Donald Trump, Jr.; and Eric Trump from serving as officers or directors in New York corporations for specified numbers of years, among other sanctions.The media reporting on the court’s...

In a bold move that is raising eyebrows and concerns, the Liberal government of Canada has unveiled its plan to combat what it deems “online hate.” At the center of this initiative is the proposed Online Harms Act, also known as Bill C-63, and it’s stirring up quite the controversy. The bill, detailed in a technical briefing released to reporters, outlines hefty fines for online speech and stringent punishments, including the possibility of life imprisonment for hate crimes. The aim is clear: curbing the spread of harmful content, including materials that incite violence, promote terrorism, or fuel hatred.

“President Trump has an 8th Amendment challenge to the unconstitutional fines levied against him by a rogue judge,” Constitutional Scholar Mark Levin noted Tuesday, commenting on the extraordinary $370 million fine (including interest) imposed by a New York judge. Later that day, former President Trump posted the text of the 8th Amendment on TruthSocial.com platform, later linking to the same article linked by Levin in his comment posted on X (formerly Twitter). […] As Levin, (Arthur) Fergenson, (Jonathan) Turley, (Steven) Calabresi and a host of other constitutional experts have noted, the fine is extraordinary not only because of its unprecedented...

Biden’s Department of Justice has slapped a whopping $700,000 fine on Covenant Transport Inc. and the affiliated Transport Management Services LLC, both stellar examples of Tennessee’s robust transportation sector.The recent decision by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to impose a $700,000 fine on Covenant Transport Inc., a Christian trucking company based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, raises significant concerns about the overreach of federal power and the disregard for the realities faced by businesses in regulating their workforce.The DOJ, under Joe Biden’s regime, claims this measure is to resolve alleged violations of the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA)...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The country’s largest Christian university is being fined $37.7 million by the federal government amid accusations that it misled students about the cost of its graduate programs. Grand Canyon University, which has more than 100,000 students, mostly in online programs, faces the largest fine of its kind ever issued by the U.S. Education Department. The university dismissed the allegations as “lies and deceptive statements. “Grand Canyon University categorically denies every accusation in the Department of Education’s statement and will take all measures necessary to defend itself from these false accusations,” the school said in a five-page statement....

Candy companies will be forced to change their recipes within three years in California or face fines after a new bill was passed in the Golden State. Gavin Newsom signed the so-called 'Skittles ban' Saturday, which outlaws four popular additives that have been linked to cancer, disease and mood disorders. The bill gives food companies three years to strip the ingredients from their products or face fines of up to $10,000. Supporters have heralded the bill as an 'important stand' against 'toxic' chemicals but food companies have hit back, blasting the move as confusing and threatening to raise food prices....

Former President Trump slammed the House Republicans who voted with Democrats to block the resolution that would have censured Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.). Trump said in a Truth Social post on Friday that any Republican who opposed the censure resolution should face a primary challenge for the GOP nomination for their next election.

As parents and educators fight over book bans, five states have enacted criminal punishments for librarians who allow children to access 'obscene' materials - with a dozen states considering similar actions. The laws could subject librarians to significant penalties, including imprisonment and hefty fines, for providing sexually explicit, obscene or books deemed 'harmful' to children. At least seven state legislatures have passed these laws over the past two years, with six of them doing so in the last two months, although the governors of Idaho and North Dakota vetoed similar legislation. The laws are pending in nine other states but...

New York City council is considering a plan to impose fines for parking and other violations that are adjusted based on the income of the offender. Depending on one's point of view, it's either a step toward more proportionate justice or a deeper embrace of Marxism. The proposal for a pilot program to test the concept comes from South Brooklyn Councilman Justin Brannan, whose colorful background includes being a hardcore punk guitarist for the bands Indecision and Most Precious Blood, and working in alternative-energy venture capital at Bear Stearns. New York City Councilman Justin Brannan (Matt Miller via New York...

Calvary Chapel in San Jose, Calif., is a large evangelical church that defied state and local orders to mask up during services and maintain “social distancing.” Of course, we now know that mask-wearing was about as effective against spreading COVID-19 as wearing a necklace of newt entrails and “social distancing” was a bad joke. But it’s not the science. It’s that the church defied authorities. So now Calvary must pay the state of California $1.2 million in fines because they got bureaucrats mad at them. So there. Is there anyone who doesn’t think $1.2 million for not wearing masks is...

The "I'm here so I don't get fined" phrase didn't work very well for Marshawn Lynch. The former Seattle Seahawks running back has now revealed the amount he needed to pay for refusing to speak to the media. One of the most memorable phrases in recent NFL history comes from Marshawn Lynch, who thought he could get away from interviews by saying "I'm here so I don't get fined". Now, he has revealed the amount he was asked to pay by the NFL for refusing to speak to the media. Marshawn Lynch is one of the most dominant running backs...

The National Enquirer was fined $187,500 by the Federal Election commission for squelching a story about Donald Trump because they said it was a prohibited in-kind contribution to influence an election. Here's the story from the Associated Press:National Enquirer, caught in ‘catch-and-kill’ scandal, soldThe National Enquirer, the scandal-plagued tabloid that engaged in “catch-and-kill” practices to bury stories about Donald Trump during his presidential campaign, has been sold.The Federal Election Commission fined a360 Media $187,500 in June 2021 for squashing the McDougal story. The FEC said the publisher’s “payment to Karen McDougal to purchase a limited life story right combined with...

A California church that defied safety regulations during the COVID-19 pandemic by holding large religious services won't have to pay about $200,000 in fines, a state appeals court ruled. Calvary Chapel San Jose and its pastors were held in contempt of court and fined in 2020 and 2021 for violating state and county limits on indoor public gatherings. The rules were aimed at preventing the spread through close contract of the virus, which has caused more than 10 million confirmed cases and more than 93,500 deaths since the pandemic began in mid-2020, according to state public health figures.

Special Counsel John Durham on May 2 alerted the judge presiding over the case against a former Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer of fines the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) paid after a federal body found probable cause that they violated election laws. Durham filed the Federal Election Commission (FEC) opinion and conciliation agreements that the campaign and the DNC entered into with the FEC along with paying the fines for what the FEC described as probable violations of laws governing the reporting of political entity disbursements. At issue is the Democrat entities’ ties to Fusion GPS, a...

A Florida lawmaker is considering legislation that would cut funding for school districts that implemented mask mandates despite a recent executive order, the Tampa Bay Times reported Monday. State Rep. Randy Fine, who chairs the PreK-12 Appropriations subcommittee, proposed a move that would punish the dozen districts that mandated masks, the Times reported. He said the school districts should have $200 million taken away and given to the 55 other districts that adhered to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ order. DeSantis passed an executive order banning mask mandates in schools as part of a “Parent’s Bill of Rights” that he signed into...