Free Republic

Today, we discuss updates from across the war zone; analyse the latest diplomatic news from the U.S. and Europe; and we speak about the rise and development of Russian fascism with historian Dr Ian Garner.

The founder and former CEO of collapsing crypto trader Sam Bankman-Fried is said to be holed up with members of his inner circle in the Bahamas while his empire collapses around him. Bankman-Fried, 30, resigned from FTX on Friday, as the crypto exchange filed for bankruptcy and reports emerged that up to $2 billion in client funds had vanished from the company's books in recent weeks. According to Coin Telegraph, the disgraced former CEO is holed up at the Albany Tower alongside FTX co-founder Gary Wang and the company's director of engineering Nishad Singh.

41% of Ukrainian territory is now under Russian control, and with massive electricity and internet outages across the rest of the country. But don’t worry, Ukraine President and former comedian Vladimir Zelensky is filming a Netflix programme with US talk show host David Letterman.Letterman is the latest A-List celebrity to have booked a space in the Ukrainian President’s diary, which appears to have a lot of available space in it for photo-ops considering the country is on the brink of total destruction, according to all independent military experts. Letterman was in Kiev for the filming of the episode for his...

Panning government policy in address to Haaretz event, Ukraine's leader says Israel must decide if it backs democracy or turning blind eye to "Russian terror', hails public support Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday tore into Israel over its stance towards his country and the Russian invasion, charging that Moscow would not have been collaborating militarily with Iran if Jerusalem had not decided against sending military aid to Kyiv...

Russian troops shot and killed an orchestra conductor who refused to perform at a concert Russia allegedly staged in the occupied southern region of Kherson, according to Ukrainian officials. The Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine said in a Facebook post that it confirmed Friday that Russian soldiers shot Yuri Kerpatenko in his own home. Kerpatenko, the main conductor of the Gileya Chamber Orchestra, refused a Russian invitation to perform a concert with the orchestra group “to demonstrate the so-called ‘improvement of peaceful life’ in Kherson,” according to the ministry. The late conductor was also affiliated with the...

Factories, businesses, and families across Europe are battling for survival as Russia’s chokehold on the continent’s natural gas supply sends prices to astronomical heights, unleashing a brutal economic storm that has tested European solidarity about Russia’s war in Ukraine and fueled fears of an impending recession. Crushingly high energy prices have soared to 10 times their average level throughout the past decade, leading to spikes that have throttled industries and left households scrambling to pay their bills. From the energy-intensive aluminum industry to fertilizer manufacturers, companies across Europe have been forced to slash production or even go bankrupt in the...

Barbra Streisand is using her voice to aid Ukraine in its war against Russia, saying she shares a strong connection with the country through her familial roots. The “People” singer connected with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday in a Zoom call to offer her support, according to the Ukrainian government’s fundraising platform, UNITED24. The 80-year-old Academy Award winner’s paternal grandparents emigrated to the United States from Ukraine. Given her family’s “Ukrainian roots,” Streisand said she felt “especially moved” by the country’s fight against Russia’s invasion, which began in February. “The capability and courage of the Ukrainian people is an...

never could stand this weird little creep...

Israel's Law on Reducing the Use of Cash came into force in 2019 and next week, on August 1, the threshold for cash transactions is set to drop from NIS 11,000 to just NIS 6,000.The best way to boil a frog is to do it slowly. The frogs will never know what happened.

(JTA) — Shira Berkowitz was building a career in Jewish camping when a camp told them not to return. “It got around that I was that was queer, and that that wasn’t appropriate for me to be a program director for girls,” Berkowitz said. “And that was really harmful to my identity. I went back in the closet for a few years.” Berkowitz’s career and personal identity recovered, and they went on to work at Camp Sabra, Missouri’s biggest Jewish overnight camp, which they described as far more accepting. “But I was also very aware that there was almost no...

Canadian Liberal MP Ya'ara Saks said that "Honk Honk" is code for "Heil Hitler" while testifying in parliament on Monday in defense of Trudeau invoking the Emergencies Act to crack down on Canadian freedom protesters. ---snip--- "Let's start with a classic and a new variant: 88 and "HH" phrases like "honk honk." They mean "heil hitler." H is the 8th letter of the alphabet, thus 88. "Honk honk" is associated with the honkler and is often used "ironically" by alt-right trolls."

Declassified papers show Israeli spy Jeffrey Epstein did not commit suicide. Evidence was skewed, material facts were overlooked, and key anomalies went unexplored and unpublicized along the way.Documents collected by the RT investigative unit The Detail under the Freedom of Information Act includes shocking information demonstrating how the US Bureau of Prisons (BOP) attempted to stifle all public debate concerning Jeffrey Epstein’s death. The Bureau made an announcement stating to journalists and Epstein’s family after he was found dead in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center on August 10, 2019 that he had committed suicide as shown in the...

After the ADL declared Arizona State Senator Wendy Rogers to be the most extremist politician in the country, Rogers thanked the ADL “losers” for the accolade. The report from the leftist, pro-Jewish Anti Defamation League, “Extremism on the Ballot in 2022,” was released earlier this week. An “analysis of extremist rhetoric in the elections,” as described by Tammy Gillies, the ADL’s Regional Director for San Diego and Phoenix, the report put Arizona State Senator Wendy Rogers “at the top of [the] list.” Rogers, one of the biggest proponents of the America First agenda in the country, was attacked by the...

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Thursday recounted being evacuated from the Senate chamber during the Jan. 6 attack, including a close brush with rioters who he was told made antisemitic remarks about him. "I was within 30 feet of these nasty, racist, bigoted insurrectionists. Had someone had a gun, had two of them blocked off the door, who knows what would have happened. I was told later that one of them reportedly said, 'There's the big Jew. Let's get him,' " Schumer said. "Bigotry against one is bigotry against all. And I saw something that I had been...

Jerusalem, Dec 31: Israel has recorded its first case of 'flurona'- the double infection from Covid and flu, local website Ynet reported on Thursday. The name is a mix of the words "flu" (flu in English) and coronavirus.

Irish author Sally Rooney is at the centre of a controversy after refusing to allow her new book to be translated into Hebrew by an Israeli company. The acclaimed writer said it was in support of calls to boycott Israel over its policies towards the Palestinians. She said it would "be an honour" to have Beautiful World, Where Are You translated into Hebrew by a company which shared her political position. A senior Israeli minister said such boycotts were a form of anti-Semitism.

Pastor Tupirani da Hora Lores preaches at his church in Rio de Janeiro, June 2020. (Courtesy of Sinagoga Sem Fronteiras via JTA) A Brazilian pastor prayed to God to “destroy the Jews like vermin” and bring about a second Holocaust during a sermon in Rio de Janeiro. “Massacre the Jews, God, hit them with your sword, for they have left God, they have left the nations,” Pastor Tupirani da Hora Lores shouted at dozens of congregants earlier this month at his Geracao Jesus Cristo church, a recording of the event shows. His congregants are heard repeating his words passionately. Fronteiras...

“A friend texted me today to tell me that a friend of her’s saw #KobeBryant at #Catholic Mass this morning,” Boston priest David Barnes said via Twitter on Sunday. “Mass is the worship of God. Heaven is the worship of God. Go to Mass here so that you can worship God forever in heaven.” In the wake of the fatal accident, fellow Catholic and singer Cristina Ballestero posted about an encounter she had with Bryant at Holy Family Cathedral in Orange, California, during a weekday Mass. I want to tell a story about the time I met Kobe Bryant. “I...

I want to start out by saying every state flag everything that is put on the flag has meaning. The organic American flag is known as a flag of peace. I was reading on this page someone made a statement as to what does it matter has a few adornments I'm it does matter because at the end of the day. If the government decided to add a color to the original flag it absolutely changes the meaning of things. The original colors meant this Red:Hardiness and Valor White:Purity and Innocence Blue: Viligiance, Perserverance; Justice. The United States Flag -...

As recently as a few years ago, the bowl cut was primarily known as an unfashionable hairstyle popular among toddlers whose parents cut their hair, and 1990s child stars. Over the past few years, however, the bowl cut has gone from shorthand for male uncoolness to a chilling symbol of racism and extremist violence, according to a recent report from the Anti-Defamation League. On Thursday morning, the ADL released its additions to its hate symbols database, a library of more than 200 symbols used by hate groups. In addition to entries such as the Happy Merchant, a meme of an...