Free Republic

How Putin is selling Russians a bitter pill in sweet coating - NEW TAXES WILL BE FAIR FOR THE POOR! Half hour of monologue, rest will be Q&A with comments. Details of growing up in Russia, 1991 collapse of USSR, taxes in Russia and what it goes to in USSR.

PROSECUTORS HOLD a lot of power. They determine criminal charges, recommend bail and sentences, accept or reject plea deals. Their actions, or inaction, affect millions of Americans each year.But until fairly recently, elections for the more than 2,300 DA offices across the country were low-profile, down-ballot affairs. Candidates worked the radio circuit and hammered signs on street corners. They ran ads and shook hands. But campaigns started to change in 2015 when outside money poured into the Red River bottom lands of Caddo Parish, La., the spot George Soros selected for a test run of his new philanthropic plan. Soros’...

A gag order issued Tuesday in the New York hush money case bars Donald Trump from popping off against witnesses, jurors, and "court staff" — but it makes no mention of the judge and members of his family, who remain fair game. Trump wasted little time exploiting that loophole Wednesday, when he used his Truth Social account to take aim at both state Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan and the judge's progressive daughter, Loren Merchan. The daughter is a Democratic political consultant whose social media has been critical of Trump, including during his administration, when she condemned his family-separation border...

The ex-wife of billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, MacKenzie Scott, has dumped the majority of her whopping $640 million in donations to left-wing causes. Scott announced she donated $640 million to 361 nonprofits through her philanthropic organization, Yield Giving. Two hundred seventy-nine nonprofits received $2 million from Scott, while two organizations were gifted $1 million each.

A group of progressive lawmakers is renewing its push to increase taxes on the country’s wealthiest people. The proposal, reintroduced Tuesday, would create a 2 percent tax on households that are worth more than $50 million and a 3 percent tax on households worth more than $1 billion. It would affect the wealthiest 100,000 households in the country, according to the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), USA Today first reported. “Today I’m re-introducing my Ultra-Millionaires Tax so that when someone makes it really big—earning over $50 million—they have to chip in 2 cents on the next dollar,” Warren said...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing a barrage of super PAC money, more than 20 progressive groups are coming together to forcefully counter pro-Israel groups’ efforts to primary challenge liberal members who’ve been critics of Israel’s blistering military offensive in Gaza. The coalition, called Reject AIPAC, includes Jewish peace organizations and Arab American and Muslim groups that have been organizing in record numbers since the Israel-Hamas war began in October. Their efforts are a direct response to pro-Israel political action committees like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, better known as AIPAC, that are pledging or planning to spend tens of millions...

A comedy club in Seattle has canceled four comedians after the venue decided their acts did 'not align with the neighborhood's progressive values.' It might seem like a bad joke, but the Capitol Hill Comedy Bar, known for promoting the voices of the queer community, had booked comics Jim Florentine, Dave Smith, Luis Gomez and Kurt Metzger for some upcoming shows before scrapping them. But Florentine, known for his edgy and outspoken style, is among the foursome whose shows were scrapped. He is now predicting the club will ultimately close down following the decision. 'We got this email saying, listen,...

Three dozen progressive House Democrats, led by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., voted against a bipartisan bill that would streamline the federal permitting process for nuclear energy development. The House passed the so-called Atomic Energy Advancement Act — which was authored by Reps. Jeff Duncan, R-S.C., and Diana DeGette, D-Colo. — in a 365-36 vote Wednesday evening, with 199 Republicans and 166 Democrats voting in favor. However, all 36 nay votes were cast by progressive Democrats who have pushed green energy and, in the case of Ocasio-Cortez, pushed the Green New Deal. "Nuclear power delivers reliable, affordable, and clean energy to...

The Democratic Party is a group of insufferable children, spoiled and entitled, throwing a constant series of temper tantrums without interruption. They are the brat kid in your child’s class, constantly indulged with hugs and reassurances that they’re “special” and important, when what they really need is a butt-reddening series of spanks that make it difficult to sit for a week. That won’t happen because leftists don’t have any adults on their side. Well, maybe that’s overstating it a bit – they have adults, but they aren’t interested in acting like one. They are more interested in an agenda über...

Brandon Johnson has refused to state whether he'll raise his city's taxes to pay for the migrant crisis - despite being asked three times in a new interview. The Windy City's mayor made the comments - or lack thereof - during a sitdown with CBS 2's Sabrina Franza Thursday, where talks hovered around the yearly task of setting a city budget. The discussion, however, quickly turned to his predecessors' pledge to house arriving asylum seekers - a promise he has vowed to continue, after an estimated 20,000 entered Chicago last year alone. As the two spoke, more than 500 migrants...

The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion,1 which seeks to promote understanding of the natural sciences to Christian believers, has supported the publication of a new book aimed at children (7–14 years). Regrettably, God’s Cosmic Cookbook: Your complete guide to making a universe is directed towards the teaching of millions-of-years and evolution to children.2 A sizeable 192 pages, it has been written by Elizabeth Cole, with colourful cartoon illustrations by Patrick Laurent, while the Institute has “helped in every part of the process to ensure our science and theology are in line with current understandings and discoveries.”3The marketing information tells...

After calling himself a progressive Democrat for several years, Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania is renouncing that label, as he has come under attack from the left wing of his party in recent months. “I would just call myself a Democrat,” he told CNN’s Jake Tapper earlier this month. “And I believe that I’m on the right side of issues, whether that’s being very pro-choice, maybe that I believe that is being pro-union, and if I believe that’s pro-Israel as well, too.” Fetterman’s comments come as he has faced attacks from the left wing of his party over his...

These self-styled 'progressives' are in reality trying to reverse four centuries of progress, taking us back to a time when a small cadre of elites ruled the world and everyone else basically lived as a serf. ... However else we might define “wokeness”--using terms like “leftist,” “Marxist,” or “progressive,” all of which are accurate enough—it is without question anti-Enlightenment, an explicit repudiation of Western, Judeo-Christian values. That is unfortunate. We call it the “Enlightenment” for a reason. Humanity emerged (in Europe, at least) from 1500 years of moral, intellectual, and spiritual darkness, where the vast majority of people lived short,...

Stacy Davis Gates owes more than $5,500, but makes more than $289,000 ... The progressive president of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) owes thousands in unpaid utility bills despite making an eye-popping salary ... Stacy Davis Gates owes the city of Chicago $5,579 in unpaid water, sewer and trash bills as of Nov. 7, 2023, despite bringing home "at least" $289,000 a year. Documents uncovered by the group show Davis Gates started a payment plan for the amount in July 2023, but quickly defaulted. ... This latest revelation adds to the mounting evidence of her hypocrisy. She spurns responsibility and...

Israel says 18 female hostages remain in Gaza, most of whom were taken from a music festival. ... Hamas is refusing to release its remaining female hostages is to prevent them from revealing the horrors they experienced in captivity. Israeli officials believe Hamas still has roughly 18 women in custody, most of whom were kidnapped from an Oct. 7 music festival near the Gaza border, ... Matthew Miller says that Hamas' refusal to release the women led to the collapse of the cease-fire on Friday. "It seems that one of the reasons they don't want to turn women over that...

A North Carolina Democratic progressive caucus leader has come under fire for declaring that allowing a Jewish caucus would “end” the party because “they control everything.” Ryan Jenkins, who is president of the state party’s progressive arm, took aim at the North Carolina Democratic Jewish Caucus after Democrats voted last week against recognizing the group as an affiliated organization, WFAE reported. “If the Democratic Party caves to it, that’s the end of the Democratic Party. We’re not Democrats, we’re the Jewish Caucus. We’re a Zionist group. Because they control everything,” he told the outlet Friday regarding the vote.

Progressive political commentator Ana Kasparian pulled no punches in her assessment of how bad liberal mecca San Francisco has become thanks to rising crime, homelessness, and Democrat policies. During the latest episode of businessman and commentator Patrick Bet-David’s podcast, the "Young Turks" co-host called the California city a "nightmare" and warned visitors, "Your car’s going to get broken into, okay? You’re going to get robbed." The conversation began with Bet-David bringing up Kasparian’s X post from last month in which she claimed, "California is *without question* a shit show under Newsom. But I guess propping up proven failures is what...

While conventional wisdom has long held that Republicans, and particularly evangelicals, are the staunchest allies of Israel in the U.S., the latest bloody exchanges between the state and Hamas militants have revealed fault lines in that critical base of support. Rather than close ranks to back Israeli attacks on Gaza, some right-wing influencers have turned on each other. For instance, Islamophobic conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer and pro-Russia MAGA influencer Jackson Hinkle, who mere weeks ago appeared to have a friendly relationship on X (formerly Twitter), are now sniping at each other over the conflict. Loomer, who is Jewish, has endorsed...

Last week, in this column, I argued, “What happens in Israel will not stay in Israel.” I went on to warn that “the next shoe to drop may be in Galveston rather than Gaza.” Is this warning a bit over the top, or is there a reason to take it seriously? Well, if Solomon was right when he said, “As a man thinketh, so he is,” let’s consider what the people who fancy themselves the moral conscience of America and the West actually think and say. Here’s a short summary. “White people are a genetic defect of blackness. Whiteness is...

More than 50 progressive activists marched across Capitol Hill on Wednesday to protest the war in Ukraine and call on lawmakers to push the Biden administration to negotiate an end to the war. At least 11 of the protesters were arrested outside the office of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) after congressional aides demanded they leave a sit-in inside the senator’s office. Several senior citizens, including a handicapped elderly woman, were either handcuffed by officers or escorted out. The protest movement, organized by the nonprofit organization Code Pink and the Peace in Ukraine Coalition, entered 12 congressional offices, all progressive and...