Free Republic

“Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.” — Ian Fleming, Goldfinger “…probabilities cannot be bribed to deceive, and … they cannot be convicted of bearing false witness.” — Aristotle, Rhetoric, Book 1, Chapter 15 On July 13, 2024, 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, before witnesses and unimpeded by law enforcement, climbed onto the roof of the American Glass Research (AGR) building at the Butler Farm Show. He was 441 feet away from the stage on which candidate Donald Trump was addressing 15,000 enthusiastic supporters. From that perch, Crooks used a semi-automatic rifle to rapidly fire eight rounds at...

The United State’s capital is nearly dry of gasoline Friday morning while states such as North Carolina and Virginia are also struggling, according to recent data. According to GasBuddy data posted at 9:33 a.m. ET, D.C. is experiencing an 88 percent outage, with North Carolina at 67 percent, and Virginia at 50 percent.

Columnist and admitted Meryl Streep fan Piers Morgan said the actress’ anti-Donald Trump rant delivered during Sunday night’s Golden Globes was “easily” the worst performance of her career. In his column Monday for The Daily Mail, Mr. Morgan lamented the “stench of hypocrisy” throughout Ms. Streep’s speech that condemned the president-elect and accused him of bullying others. “She began by saying that Hollywood, foreigners and the press are ‘the most vilified segments of American society right now,’” Mr. Morgan wrote. “At which point the cameras panned out to hundreds of the richest, most privileged people in American society sitting in...

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- In this bloody free-for-all of a recession, Americans in their 50s are really taking it hard on the chin. Their 401(k)s have been cut down to 201(k)s. Their pensions have been frozen, or worse. Their home equity has evaporated just as their kids' college bills come due. And while younger workers may have been hit harder by unemployment, 50-something Americans who get laid off are stuck in jobless limbo longer than any other age group.

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Silicon Valley is bracing for even deeper cuts to community programs after politicians announced Friday that property values and tax revenues had shrunk dramatically for the second straight year. The Santa Clara County Assessor's Office said the assessed prices of industrial and commercial property in San Jose - the nation's 11th largest city and epicenter of the global technology industry - fell below prices that owners paid for them. When that happens, a state law goes into effect that allows owners to pay taxes on the lower value. Assessed property values in San Jose redevelopment...