Free Republic

The Supreme Court’s decision on Friday in Fischer v. U.S. struck down one of the most common charges against January 6 defendants. “Obstruction of an official proceeding” had been used in hundreds of cases, and those convictions are now invalid. But the biggest impact of the decision may occur elsewhere. For years, calling January 6 an “insurrection” has been a litmus test for press, pundits and politicians. Members of Congress such as Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) claimed a conspiracy of “armed and organized insurrectionists.” The claim is legally absurd but politically advantageous. It now seems like the insurrection increasingly looks more...

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Monday called for lawmakers to approve an aid package for Ukraine, even as newly elected Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) prepares to put a bill containing only money for Israel on the floor. “This is a moment for swift and decisive action to prevent further loss of life, and to impose real consequences on the tyrants who have terrorized the people of Ukraine and of Israel,” McConnell said while introducing Oksana Markarova, the Ukrainian ambassador to the U.S., at an event at the University of Louisville. “Right now, the Senate has a chance to...

The discovery of a black market Chinese biolab operating in California, and the subsequent investigation into it, has exposed a tangled web of shell companies obscuring ownership and loopholes that caused delays in cleanup and informing the public. The public found out in March about a secret biolab operating in a warehouse in Reedley, California, about 25 miles southeast of Fresno. But the warehouse and its biological hazards were discovered months earlier, on Dec. 19, 2022, by Jesalyn Harper, a code enforcement officer with the City of Reedley Fire Department. Responding to an anonymous tip about the supposedly vacant warehouse,...