Free Republic

ALBANY – Gov. Kathy Hochul and her husband, Bill, brought home much more bacon in 2023 than the year before. The couple made around $2 million in adjusted gross income in 2023, up a staggering $1 million from 2022, media reports covering the pair’s tax returns indicate. The tax return reportedly shows Hochul, who is in the second year of her first full term, and her husband paid $610,000 in federal taxes and $123,090 in state taxes.

Far-left “Squad” member Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) is down double digits in his primary race, according to a poll first obtained by the New York Post. Bowman, who has the backing of fellow “Squad” members Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Cori Bush (D-MO), and Ilhan Omar (D-MN), is facing off against primary challenger Westchester County Executive George Latimer. Latimer is backed by State Sen. Shelley Mayer as well as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Jewish Democratic Council of America, and Democratic Majority for Israel PAC. The latest poll of the race between the two found the incumbent...

This is the moment Vladimir Putin warns that Ukraine 'has no future' while sipping champagne at a Kremlin awards ceremony for troops as fears are growing that Western support for Kyiv is fading. In footage posted to X, the Russian president assured attendees Russia's defence plans were 'working more and more competently', with the country's arms industry allegedly producing 'several times more'. He claimed that meanwhile Ukraine was running out of weapons. 'They don't have their own foundations,' Putin added.

CNN — The federal budget deficit is expected to balloon to about $2 trillion for fiscal year 2023, roughly double what it was in the previous fiscal year, according to a government watchdog group. The surge stems largely from a sharp decline in tax revenues, coupled with an increase in mandatory spending on Social Security, Medicare and interest payments, as well as in other areas. It follows a sharp drop in the budget shortfall in fiscal year 2022 after two years of giant deficits swollen by record government spending on Covid-19 pandemic relief measures.

Doubling support for war-torn Ukraine is the "single best thing" to help the global economy.Source: US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Sunday, 16 July, speaking on the sidelines of the G20 Finance Ministers' Summit in India, as reported by European Pravda, citing AFP.Details: Yellen said a "key priority" is to "redouble our support for Ukraine" as it defends itself against Russia.Following a visit to Kyiv in February, Yellen said she had seen first-hand the "huge difference" made by foreign aid to both civilians and the Ukrainian military.

Anti-woke businessman Vivek Ramaswamy broke into double digits in the Republican primary race, the latest Echelon Insights survey found. Similar to other national surveys, the poll finds former President Donald Trump with a strong lead in the primary race at 49 percent support. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis falls 33 points behind with 16 percent support. Ramaswamy comes in a close third place at ten percent support, just six points behind DeSantis, making him the only other candidate to break into double-digit territory.

Attorney General Merrick Garland implied Hunter Biden’s plea deal with United States Attorney David Weiss did not involve a double standard of justice. While attending the EU/US Justice and Home Affairs Ministerial meeting in Stockholm, Sweden, a reporter asked Garland if he thought the Hunter Biden plea deal reflected “a different standard of justice depending on political leanings. Garland replied: As I said from the moment of my appointment as attorney general, I would leave this matter in the hands of the U.S. attorney, who was appointed by the previous president and assigned to this matter by the previous administration,...

Is he Putin on a front? A top adviser to the Ukrainian government stoked conspiracy theories Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been using body doubles to attend public events in his place. Anton Gerashechenko, an adviser to the minister of internal affairs of Ukraine, shared three recent photos of the Russian leader on Twitter — including two that were supposedly taken during a trip this weekend to Ukrainian territories. The side-by-side images feature red circles around the neck and chin area of the man in each photo, seeming to suggest not all three men pictured are Putin. An...

Attorney General Merrick Garland, the nation’s chief law enforcement officer, claimed on Monday his department has not applied a double standard of justice to President Joe Biden’s classified document scandal after reportedly agreeing with Biden’s personal lawyers to hide the scandal from the American people. “We do not have different rules for Democrats or Republicans, different rules for the powerful or the powerless, different rules for the rich and for the poor, we apply the facts, and the law in each case in a neutral, non-partisan manner,” Garland alleged to reporters during a press availability at Justice Department headquarters. “That...

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, set a record in 2022 with 224 homicides for the year, more than double the number of homicides witnessed in 2019. FOX 6 reported that Milwaukee was at 214 homicides as of December 28, 2022, a figure which already doubled the 97 homicides of 2019. Milwaukee ended 2022 with 224 homicides, The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel noted, exceeding the homicides in 2020 or 2021.

During an interview with ABC News on Tuesday, DNC Chair Jaime Harrison vowed that even if Republicans take control of Congress in the midterm elections, “we are going to continue to double down in terms of the efforts” that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris “are trying to make in order to improve this country, to give relief to hardworking Americans.” Host Diane Macedo asked, “Now, Jaime, if Republicans do take control of Congress, how will you re-examine Democrats’ strategy ahead of 2024?”

Russia has nearly doubled its revenues from selling fossil fuels to the EU during the two months of war in Ukraine, benefiting from soaring prices even as volumes have been reduced.Russia has received about €62bn from exports of oil, gas and coal in the two months since the invasion began, according to an analysis of shipping movements and cargos by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.For the EU, imports were about €44bn for the past two months, compared with about €140bn for the whole of last year, or roughly €12bn a month.The findings demonstrate how Russia has...

As he drives his golf cart around his small, immaculate desert ranch, Ray Epps appears at ease. He walks through the property he has transformed into a thriving wedding venue business, emphasizing the rustic charm of the location. The peaceful scene just outside Phoenix, Arizona, could not be more different from another incident where he was involved – the storming of the Capitol Building on January 6. Epps, 60, is not only a genial wedding host for rural areas, he is also the former president of the largest chapter of the Oath Keepers. In video footage taken on the day...

South Africa’s coronavirus cases have doubled in a 24-hour period following the first detection of the omicron variant in the country last week. Authorities said there were 8,561 news cases recorded in South Africa on Wednesday, up from 4,373 on Tuesday, The Associated Press reported. Although it is too early to tell if the surge is due to the omicron variant, scientists say it is possible the new strain could be a factor.

Republicans nearly doubled their counteroffer to $1 trillion in negotiations with President Joe Biden over his infrastructure package. “We’re not going to disturb the 2017 tax bill, which was the best economy of my lifetime,” Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) said. “We’re going to make it eight years, as the President said he would accept. We’re going to hit a figure, very close to what the President said he would accept.”

New York City’s Health Department is now recommending that Big Apple residents wear two face masks instead of one to fight back against the spread of COVID-19. “We know that even as the vaccine is here the need to keep wearing a mask is paramount, it’s crucial. It’s amazing of how all the things that we’ve learned in this crisis, maybe the most profound is the power of a mask,” de Blasio said during a City Hall press briefing Thursday as the new mask guidance was announced.

Dr. Anthony Fauci revised his recommendation that Americans wear two masks to further protect themselves from the coronavirus. Fauci spoke about double masking in a video livestream interview with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) on Thursday.

Initial jobless claims surged to more 6.6 million last week, the Labor Department said Thursday. That brings the two-week total to about 10 million due to the coronavirus-induced economic shutdown. The torrent of Americans filing for unemployment insurance skyrocketed last week as more than 6.6 million new claims were filed, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That brings to 10 million the total Americans who filed over the past two weeks. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had expected 3.1 million for last week, one week after 3.3 million filings in the first wave of what has been a record-shattering swelling of...

I remember that old saw: "just because you're paranoid that don't mean they're not out to getcha." Well, just because it's an internet meme, that don't mean Hillary ain't got a body double. I viewed the video at the New York Post thinking I'd get a laugh at the expense of conspiracy nuts, but what I got was a shocking wake-up! My old eyes and mind are no longer sharp enough to pick up all the nuances of facial and earlobe comparisons, but what really caught my attention was the absence of a Secret Service detail, of police protection, of...

The Prime Minister’s Office dismissed as “unacceptable and wrong” uncharacteristically sharp public criticism of Israel’s legal standards leveled Monday by US envoy Dan Shapiro, who said at times there seemed to be one standard of law in the West Bank for Israelis, and another for Palestinians. “As Israel's devoted friend, and its most stalwart partner, we believe that Israel must develop stronger and more credible responses to questions about the rule of law in the West Bank,” Shapiro said during an address at the annual Institute for Strategic Studies (INSS) Conference in Tel Aviv. Noting that the recent indictments in...