Free Republic

It struck me earlier today that I have NOT written a regular check in years. Yes, I have written a few bank checks but as far as personal checks I can't think of any that I have written any in at least 5 and more likely 10 or more years. At one time in my life and in the lives of many others, writing checks were a frequent activity. However, after the onset of the Internet and doing transactions over the web my check writing activities dwindled further and further until it has reached ZERO except for the few times...

Talk about some dirty diamonds. A descendant of the Cartier jewelry dynasty was sentenced to eight years in federal prison after confessing to running an unlicensed cryptocurrency exchange that laundered more than $470 million in drug trafficking proceeds. Maximilien de Hoop Cartier, a resident of France who moonlights as a singer under the name “Max Cartier,” was sentenced in Manhattan federal court Tuesday after pleading guilty in October to operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business and conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Cartier, 58, funneled the money through a web of US shell companies disguised as fake software and tech firms —...

Ilhan Omar is claiming the $30 million “error” on her congressional financial disclosures was a simple mistake — but lawmakers aren’t buying it. They point to the Democratic firebrand and her current husband’s curious history of making money conveniently appear and disappear when it suits them, at least on paper. House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) said Omar could be hit with felony charges if she is found to have lied about the cash. Minnesota Rep. Omar’s financial disclosures for 2024, filed last year, initially valued her husband Tim Mynett’s businesses at between $6 million and $30 million. This...

Jill Biden bid a whopping $35,000 for a cameo in Season 2 of “Heated Rivalry,” but was outbid by some more diehard fans of the show. The former first lady tried her luck at securing a walk-on role on the HBO Max sports romance during the NYC LGBT Center’s annual Center Dinner gala Thursday night. “Dr Jill Biden was a surprise guest tonight – and just bid $35k for a walk on [sic] role in Heated Rivalry season 2!” former Teen Vogue editor-in-chief Versha Sharma tweeted after the event. However, the 74-year-old educator was ultimately outbid by $90,000. “Final winners...

A generally good summary into some of the financial issues happening in the background of the dire Straits of Hormuz. Susan Kokinda highlights UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer declining to join an American blockade and claims Britain has lost control of the choke point. She details financial actions targeting Iranian money flows, including UAE arrests of IRGC-linked money changers, Treasury Secretary Bessent using Patriot Act Section 311 against a Zurich bank, and scrutiny of London-based crypto exchanges and Santander UK. She cites a UK military chief admitting Britain’s war planning has lapsed since the Cold War and links fuel disruptions...

Greece is ushering in a significant overhaul of its rental system, with new legislation set to eliminate cash rent payments entirely and move all transactions into the banking system. From April 1, 2026, tenants across the country will be required to pay rent exclusively through electronic means, in a move designed to improve transparency, combat undeclared income, and bring the housing market in line with modern financial practices. End of cash-in-hand rent The new rules mean that cash payments between tenants and landlords will no longer be legally recognised under any circumstances. Whether renting a city apartment, a holiday home,...

An Iranian negotiating delegation led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqher Ghalibaf arrived in Islamabad Friday ahead of Saturday’s peace talks with the United States, which Ghalibaf demanded accept Iran’s “preconditions” before talks could begin. Speaking from Islamabad, Ghalibaf claimed Iran had goodwill toward negotiations but no trust in the United States, adding that the Islamic Republic was ready to reach a deal if Washington offered what he described as a genuine agreement and granted Iran its rights, Iranian state media reported. Ghalibaf stated earlier that Tehran’s demands include a ceasefire in Lebanon, which Iran and mediating Pakistan have stated was...

Democrats are united in their opposition to President Donald Trump and his unprecedented second-term agenda. But as the Democratic National Committee (DNC) huddles in New Orleans for its spring meeting, the party is once again coping with deep internal divisions over Israel's military actions and a powerful pro-Israel lobbying group's recent meddling in Democratic Party primaries. The DNC's Resolutions Committee debated and held test votes Thursday on resolutions recognizing a Palestinian state, putting limits on military aid to Israel and taking aim at what one resolution calls the "growing influence" of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which is best...

President Trump expressed optimism Wednesday that the Iran war cease-fire agreement will usher in a “Golden Age” in the Middle East. “A big day for World Peace!” Trump wrote on Truth Social following the two-week cease-fire announcement. “Iran wants it to happen, they’ve had enough! Likewise, so has everyone else!” The commander in chief said the US “will be helping with the traffic buildup in the Strait of Hormuz” and “loading up with supplies of all kinds, just ‘hangin’ around’ in order to make sure that everything goes well.” Trump indicated he felt “confident” the reopening of the key waterway,...

The Scriptures are quite clear about the nature of Judas betrayal: he was a thief and he did it for money. Then one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, who would betray Him, said, “Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it. (Joh 12:4-6 NKJ) It’s fairly banal and prosaic. People do bad stuff for money all the time. The...

Even while faced with a Russian invasion of their nation, some elements in the Ukrainian government were plotting to help the Biden re-election campaign — with U.S. taxpayer money. That was the gist of an explosive article Thursday from the Washington-based website Just the News, citing a declassified intelligence report. And Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is reportedly on the case. The Just the News report was authored by website founder John Solomon, a veteran, highly respected D.C. journalist, and Just the News chief investigative correspondent Jeff Dunleavy. It claimed that U.S. intelligence intercepts had revealed that personnel in...

U.S. INTERCEPTED UKRAINE MESSAGES OF PLOT TO ROUTE MONEY TO BIDEN CAMPAIGN “The United States government, the National Security Agency, intercepted conversations of President Zelensky's government in Ukraine in 2022...conspiring with federal workers at the USAID to come up with a plan to take $200 million dollars of USAID money, that is your money folks, taxpayer money, route it through a series of transactions, move it into the United States, and launder it into Joe Biden's 2024 campaign and the Democratic National Committee.” - 2 min video https://x.com/realamvoice/status/2037292005105996157?

Date: March 20, 2026 Source: University of Sydney Summary: The largest review of medicinal cannabis to date found it doesn’t effectively treat anxiety, depression, or PTSD—despite millions using it for those reasons. Researchers warn it could even make mental health worse, raising risks like psychosis and addiction while delaying proven treatments. Some limited benefits were seen for conditions like insomnia and autism, but the evidence is weak. The findings are fueling calls for stricter oversight as cannabis use continues to rise. Cannabis Fails for Mental Health A sweeping new analysis finds medicinal cannabis doesn’t work for anxiety, depression, or PTSD—and...

The United States is allowing Iranian oil tankers to transit the Strait of Hormuz, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC on Monday.“The Iranian ships have been getting out already, and we’ve let that happen to supply the rest of the world,” Bessent said in an interview CNBC’s Brian Sullivan in Paris. The Treasury secretary is in France to hold trade talks with China. *** “We think that there will be a natural opening that the Iranians are letting out, and for now we’re fine with that. We want the world to be well supplied,” Bessent said. President Donald Trump is...

Months after the last of the United States' 1-cent coins were pressed, some states are beginning to offer their own 2 cents on the penny problem by setting rounding guidance for cash purchases. President Donald Trump announced early last year an end to penny production, saying it was wasteful. It cost 3.7 cents to make each 1-cent coin in 2024, according to the U.S. Mint. The move led to a shortage of pennies in cash registers last summer, forcing consumers and businesses to confront a penniless future in which making exact change would be difficult. The Treasury Department has said...

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie has revived a controversial benefit program once lauded as a step toward “reparations” for black San Franciscans. Known as the Dream Keeper Initiative, the relaunched program will grant $36 million to “community-serving organizations,” including some that have offered “Afri-centric” mental-health services, African ancestry DNA testing, and free doulas for “African American birthing people.” The Dream Keeper Initiative was founded by former San Francisco Mayor London Breed in 2021, fulfilling her promise to redirect police funding to “the African American community” in the aftermath of George Floyd’s 2020 death in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In February 2021, Breed...

How Central Banks Plan to Control You | Catherine Fitts Interesting talk about money and power. Would like freeper input. What is to stop people from banding together and forming private bank entities like the Chinese do on chinatowns?

"Foundation For Freedom Online" founder Mike Benz tells Benny Johnson that the best way to understand both Jeffrey Epstein's criminal network and bitcoin is as methods for money laundering used by and for intelligence agencies. "If Venezuelan counterintelligence sees money hit your bank account from a U.S. source or a U.S. bank, they treat it as a CIA intervention and arrest anyone who receives it," Benz explained. "So what the mystery U.S. government agency came up with was the idea to use stablecoins — the undergirding architecture of Bitcoin — to launder money into Venezuela without the Venezuelan government being...

Latest commentary details ambitions for ‘powerful currency’ to play a greater role in trade and forex. .....Xi Jinping has called for the renminbi to become a global reserve currency, in some of his clearest comments on his ambitions for China’s currency as Beijing seeks to play a greater role in the international The publication of Xi’s comments comes amid heightened uncertainty in global markets as a weaker US dollar — which President Donald Trump last week called a “great” development — a change in leadership of the Federal Reserve and geopolitical and trade tensions have prompted central banks to rethink...

RAY DALIO SAYS THE MONETARY ORDER IS BREAKING DOWN AND FIAT IS NO LONGER A CENTRAL BANK ASSET. GOLD AND SILVER BECOME THE ANCHOR WHEN PAPER CONFIDENCE CRACKS.