Free Republic

By Adam Andrzejewski, CEO/Founder of OpenTheBooks.com | Published at Substack The University of Virginia (UVA) has at least 235 employees under its “diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)” banner — including 82 students — whose total cost of employment is estimated at $20 million. That’s $15 million in cash compensation plus an additional 30-percent for the annual cost of their benefits. In contrast, last Friday, the University of Florida dismissed its DEI bureaucracy, saving students and taxpayers $5 million per year. The university terminated 13 full-time DEI positions and 15 administrative faculty appointments. Those funds have been re-programmed into a “faculty...

Donald Trump has confused Joe Biden for Barack Obama for the third time in less than six months at a rally in Virginia. The mistake came as Trump was addressing a crowd of thousands of supporters at the Greater Richmond Convention Center on Saturday night. He was urging voters to show up at the polls to vote for him, despite his double loss in the blue-trending state in 2016 and 2020. When discussing his Democrat opponent, he attempted to take aim at Biden for not having the respect of Putin - but missed the punchline by mixing up his presidents....

In a fiery exchange last month, CNN anchorwoman Abby Phillip told GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy that there was “no evidence” to support his claim that federal agents abetted protesters at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.Ramaswamy shot back that the FBI conspicuously has never denied that law enforcement agents were on duty in the crowd. He argued that federal officials have repeatedly “lied” to the American people about not only that investigation but one that has gotten much less attention: the alleged failed plot to kidnap and kill Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan in 2020.“It was entrapment,” Ramaswamy...

Biden 47%, Trump 43%

Virginia Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears spoke to the legislature about “respect and dignity” after a state senator walked out of the chamber during a session. That senator was Democrat Danica A. Roem, 39, who became the first transgender member of the House of Delegates upon being elected in 2017. Roem’s exit came after being referred to as “sir” by Earle-Sears during an exchange about the number of votes needed to pass a new bill. “Madame President, how many votes would it take to pass this bill with the emergency clause?” Roem is heard asking Earle-Sears who was presiding over the...

Anthony Johnson was a man known for achieving wealth in the early 17th-century Colony of Virginia. Born in Angola, he was one of the first African Americans whose right to own a slave for life was recognized by the Virginia courts. Held as an indentured servant in 1621, he earned his freedom after several years, and was granted land by the colony. He later became a tobacco farmer in Maryland. He attained great wealth after completing his term as an indentured servant, and has been referred to as "'the black patriarch' of the first community of Negro property owners in...

Fairfax County, VA – Yesterday, detectives from our Fugitive Tracking and Apprehension Unit arrested Rickey Lowe, 32, of Manassas for stealing a medical transport vehicle Monday night. Rickey Lowe Lowe was one of the occupants in a Toyota Corolla that was reported stolen from Prince William County on February 14. The driver of the stolen Corolla, Xxeavius Romoance Marlow, 29, of Manassas crashed after seeing officers in the area of Route 50 and I-66. All five occupants were transported to the hospital for injuries sustained in the crash. Xxeavius Romoance Marlow After receiving treatment, Marlow was taken to the Fairfax...

Abraham Lincoln didn’t just free the slaves and preserve the Union. America’s 16th (and arguably greatest-ever) president also pardoned the current chief executive’s paternal great-great-grandfather after he was sentenced to hard labor at a military prison, newly unearthed documents show. President Biden’s ancestor, Moses Robinette, was put in the dock after he came to blows with one John Alexander, a fellow civilian employee of the Union Army, on March 21, 1864, according to records found by the Washington Post. Alexander, a brigade wagon master, was left bloodied by wounds that came from Robinette’s pocket knife and the presidential forebear was...

Documents discovered at the National Archives in Washington show that former President Abraham Lincoln pardoned the great-great-grandfather of President Joe Biden, a Union Army civilian employee named Moses Robinette, The Washington Post reported Monday. Joseph Robinette Biden's ancestral line has long been known and includes Moses Robinette among his paternal ancestors from western Maryland, but little has been chronicled about the man until his court-martial records were discovered. The story dates to March 21, 1864 during the Civil War, when a fight broke out in one of the mess tents near Beverly Ford, Virginia, between Robinette and Union Army civilian...

A Virginia firefighter was killed and others were injured after a house exploded Friday evening, officials said. Loudoun County Fire and Rescue responded to the home in Sterling around 7:40 p.m. for an investigation, and firefighters were inside when the home exploded, Fire and Rescue Assistant Chief of Operations James Williams said. "Total devastation," is how Williams described the scene and damage. "There's a debris field well into the street and into the neighboring homes." Officials initially said nine firefighters suffered injuries that ranged from serious to less severe. Loudoun County Fire said Saturday that 11 first responders and two...

Deep underground, encased by the rolling hills of North Virginia, lies a subterranean paradise and musical marvel. The Luray Caverns boast the most extensive cave system in the eastern United States, but for the millions of visitors who flock there each year, it’s not just the beautiful rock formations that reel them in. These natural walls also house the eerie vibrations that emanate from the world’s largest musical instrument. Locked away, deep in the labyrinthine passages of the Luray Caverns, is The Great Stalacpipe Organ. This instrument is a natural wonder that brings a new meaning to “rock music”. The...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A federal grand jury returned an indictment yesterday charging two Maryland residents with the burglary of a federal firearms licensee (FFL), conspiracy to steal firearms from FFLs, and interstate transportation of stolen firearms and stolen vehicles. According to allegations in the indictment, Cedric Minger, 21, and Victor Jones, 22, stole more than 50 firearms—including pistols, rifles, short-barreled rifles, and silencers—from Dominion Defense, an FFL in Springfield, Virginia, on April 29, 2023. According to the indictment, Minger, Jones, and two co-conspirators traveled from Washington, D.C. to Dominion Defense in a stolen Acura ILX. After breaking the business’s exterior...

A Virginia woman is facing charges after she allegedly swung a medieval sword at a police officer and another person. The Leesburg Police Department announced on Monday that officers responded on Feb. 8 to the 800 block of Edwards Ferry Road to serve a warrant on 35-year-old Alexandra C. Hopkins. After officers encountered Hopkins, she swung at one of them with a sword that was more than a foot and a half long before fleeing into a residence, police said in a news release.

Two men have been arrested in the theft of LGBTQ Pride flags from outside a queer couple’s home in Arlington, Virginia, over several months. Matthew Henshaw, 20, was arrested and charged in three of the five thefts that occurred from September to January; he was charged with three counts of bias-motivated unlawful entry and three counts of petit larceny, the Arlington County Police Department said in a statement Friday. Joseph Digregorio, 23, was charged with one count of petit larceny in connection with one of the thefts. The men are both active members of the U.S. Army with the 3rd...

Six Loudoun County residents who allegedly tried to vote twice in last year’s election are under investigation by Virginia State Police. Samantha Shepherd, a spokeswoman for the Loudoun County Office of Elections and Voter Registration, said the voters may have forgotten they voted early or by mail when they showed up at the polls on Election Day. Shepherd said the voters were issued provisional ballots, but their ballots weren’t counted when officials found they had already voted. A total of 141,012 voters casts ballots in Loudoun in November. “It’s not anything that diminishes the integrity of the system or the...

A former FBI agent has revealed that the bureau tied the suspect wanted in connection to pipe bombs planted at both the Republican and Democrat National Committee buildings in DC before January 6, 2021, to a DC Metro fare card and a license plate, but his team was prevented from interviewing the person of interest. After over three years, the person wanted for placing the pipe bombs in these locations has yet to be found Former leader of FBI surveillance teams Kyle Seraphin told the Daily Wire that shortly after January 6, a counterintelligence team met Seraphin at a Falls...

A Fairfax County man was sentenced to 100 years in prison Tuesday for fatally stabbing a Target co-worker in a parking lot at the store in the Baileys Crossroads area. Bazen Berhe, 25, pleaded guilty in October to first-degree murder in the April 17, 2021, killing of Hernan Leiva, 58, in what Berhe described to a judge as a fit of rage. Authorities said Berhe, then 22, attacked Leiva with knives and a hammer when the victim arrived at work that morning. In an unusual statement to Judge Robert J. Smith in Fairfax Circuit Court, Berhe pleaded for a stiff...

A car drove off the end of the Virginia Beach pier and plunged into the sea, sparking a rescue effort by police. Around 6.50am Saturday, a car crashed through the barriers of the 14th Street pier and sped down the length of it. It braked briefly before driving through the wooden balustrade at the end of the pier and over the edge, as police say it is now 'at the bottom of the ocean.' A young woman standing on the beach caught the incident on camera when she heard a loud crash and started filming. Virginia Beach police are working...

The gatekeepers opened the gate and divided Western nationsThe Hill reported, “Republican governors are backing Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) in his standoff against the federal government over border authority.“On Tuesday, the Texas National Guard appeared to ignore a Supreme Court decision and continued building razor wire barriers on the U.S.-Mexico border, preventing the federal Border Patrol from doing their jobs.“In a statement Wednesday, Abbott justified the actions by claiming his authority to combat an invasion of the state supersedes federal law. “GOP Govs. Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma, Kristi Noem of South Dakota, Ron DeSantis of Florida, Glenn Youngkin of...

President Joe Biden holds just a three-point advantage over former President Donald Trump in Virginia — a state Trump plans to make a “heavy play” for, assuming he wins the nomination — in a hypothetical two-way general election race, according to a Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) poll. The poll, published on Tuesday, shows that 43 percent of the 812 registered voter respondents would back Biden versus 40 percent who would support Trump. Four percent would vote for someone else, five percent would not vote, and six percent would remain undecided. Biden’s lead falls within the plus or minus 5.46 percent...