Free Republic

NEW YORK (AP) — The No Labels group said Thursday it will not field a presidential candidate in November after strategists for the bipartisan organization failed to attract a high-profile centrist willing to seize on the widespread dissatisfaction with President Joe Biden and Donald Trump. “No Labels has always said we would only offer our ballot line to a ticket if we could identify candidates with a credible path to winning the White House,” Nancy Jacobson, the group's CEO, said in a statement sent out to allies. “No such candidates emerged, so the responsible course of action is for us...

The bodies of eight Chinese nationals have been found on a beach in the Mexican state of Oaxaca after their boat capsized, officials say. The bodies were found on Friday along a route used by illegal migrants trying to reach the United States. The seven women and a man were on board a boat operated by a Mexican that set off from Chiapas state, on the border with Guatemala, on Thursday. One other person survived. It was not clear what happened the boat's driver. The prosecutor's office in Oaxaca said the bodies were found near a beach in the town...

A 22-year-old man has been arrested in connection with a stabbing spree Wednesday afternoon in Rockford, Illinois, that left four people dead, including a U.S. postal worker and a teenage girl, and seven other victims injured, police said. The suspect, Christian Soto, was arrested in the frenzied attack, according to the Rockford Police Department. Soto faces four counts of murder and seven counts of attempted murder, as well as two counts of home invasion with a dangerous weapon, authorities said. A motive for the attack remains under investigation, police said. The names of the slain victims were not immediately released,...

PITTSBURGH — An employee at a Sunoco gas station is facing charges after an altercation inside the store Monday night. Pittsburgh police were called to the 100 block of North Craig Street for reports of a fight. The fight started when a man threw a banana at employees and they threw it back. Court documents say several bananas were thrown back and forth between the man and the employees. The man punched one of the employees in the face. One of the employees, Yubaraj Budhathoki, allegedly chased the man into the parking lot and hit him in the head repeatedly...

Behind a West Loop migrant shelter, dozens of cars sit without license plates. Several of their owners stand nearby, acknowledging they lack licenses to drive them. But they increasingly have been driving, according to a Chicago Tribune analysis of police data that suggests sharp rises in arrests among migrants for breaking traffic laws. The analysis found many are now being detained in Chicago each week for driving- or vehicle-related infractions, roughly at five times the rate from last summer. “Start where you are. Do what you can. Use what you have,” said Jose Fernandez, 30, from Trujillo, Venezuela. It’s difficult...

SEATTLE (KOMO) — The leader of a fraud ring that stole more than $6.8 million in pandemic benefits from nearly every major COVID-19 pandemic assistance program was sentenced to prison. According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), 29-year-old Paradise Williams personally received more than $2 million in fraudulent proceeds and spent the money on luxury cars, lavish trips, cosmetic surgery, jewelry and designer goods. The DOJ said Williams was sentenced to five years in prison for wire fraud and money laundering. “Paradise Williams was relentless in her efforts to steal pandemic benefits throughout the entire duration of our national emergency,...

A transcript of President Joe Biden's interview with the special counsel who investigated his handling of classified information contradicts the president's characterization of an exchange about the death of his son, Beau Biden, from brain cancer. "There's even a reference that I don't remember when my son died," a visibly irate Biden told reporters hours after special counsel Robert Hur's report was made public last month. "How in the hell dare he raise that? Frankly, when I was asked the question, I thought to myself: It wasn't any of their damn business." But according to an ABC News review of...

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Marcia Fudge announced Monday that she is stepping down from her cabinet position later this month -- marking only the second cabinet secretary to do so during the Biden administration. "From her time as a mayor, to her years as a fierce advocate in the U.S. House of Representatives, Marcia's vision, passion, and focus on increasing economic opportunity have been assets to our country. I'm grateful for all of her contributions toward a housing system that works for all Americans, and I wish her well in her next chapter," President Joe Biden wrote in...

CHICAGO – Vicenta Buitrago stood in line for three hours at the Sheridan Market food pantry on a recent afternoon. The small waiting room was packed, and guests spilled out the front door onto the sidewalk. Despite the wait, the Colombian migrant left beaming, pushing a grocery cart piled high with an assortment of produce and other goods. A pot of red tulips from Trader Joe’s was perched above her bags. “Mira, que bonito. Look, how beautiful,” Buitrago, 59, said. “It’s been so long since I’ve had flowers.” For many nonprofit food distributors, hourslong lines have become the norm. Food...

Katie Porter has claimed that California's Senate primary race was "rigged" after she lost a vote on Wednesday. Porter, a progressive Democrat, came third in the non-partisan primary, losing out to Adam Schiff, a centrist Democrat who has been vocal in his support for Israel. In response to the results, she blamed billionaires for spending money on attack adverts against her. Newsweek contacted representatives for Porter by X to comment on this story. The Senate seat has become available after Dianne Feinstein, the longest-serving woman in the U.S. Senate, died in September 2023. Porter, who has represented Orange County, California,...

WHITE TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Three men are facing charges after they allegedly passed counterfeit $100 bills at several businesses in Indiana County over the weekend. Pennsylvania State Police said the following businesses in White Township had instances of counterfeit $100 bills being passed or attempting to be passed: Advanced Auto Parts, Aroma Joe’s, AutoZone, Bath & Body Works, Dunham’s Sports, Harbor Freight Tools, Kohl’s, Staples Police say three men suspected of passing the counterfeit money were arrested at various locations. Two of them were identified as Brian Stalin Castro-Ortega, 22, from Flushing, New York, and Jordan Alexan Alvarado-Garrido, 21, with...

March 3 (UPI) — This weekend’s edition of Saturday Night Live opened with a comedy sketch mocking defenders of U.S. President Joe Biden’s age, energy, and acuity. The 5-minute segment showed CNN anchor Dana Bash (played by Heidi Gardner) interviewing California Gov. Gavin Newsom (Michael Longfellow) about polls that suggest many Americans don’t think that Democrat Biden, 81, is sharp enough to lead the country for another four years if he wins re-election in November against presumptive Republican candidate and former president, Donald Trump, 77. The sketch also includes on-camera remarks from White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre (played by...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) was booed during former President Trump's remarks Saturday following his projected South Carolina primary victory. The big picture: It's not the first time the South Carolina senator, who has relatively low approval ratings in his state, has faced an unfriendly Trump crowd, particularly in his home state. Graham was met with boos from the crowd while appearing on stage beside Trump in Columbia after he was projected to beat former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley. "I love him, he's a good man," Trump said. "We have a highly opinionated group of people here." Graham during his brief...

Britain’s decline over the past 25 years has been staggeringly rapid. Almost everything is getting worse, and almost nothing is getting better. Our public and private institutions are broken, presided over by an incompetent, selfish and narcissistic ruling class. Living standards, when adjusted properly for living and property costs, are declining. Even the simplest things don’t work any longer. Queuing, scarcity and congestion are rife, our infrastructure is embarrassingly poor, and the honest and hardworking face endless bureaucratic battles to obtain what they are due. Free riding, crime, disorder, fraud, littering and generalised rule-bending are rife, and all too often...

CLAIM: New York City is giving credit cards to migrants living in the U.S. illegally. AP’S ASSESSMENT: Missing context. The city is launching a pilot program that will provide migrants with prepaid debit cards to buy only food and baby supplies, according to a spokesperson for the mayor. Participants will be allowed to shop with the cards at bodegas, grocery stores, supermarkets and convenience stores. The goal is to cut costs, officials said. THE FACTS: Amid a massive influx of migrants to New York City, social media users are misrepresenting the new program with false claims about the type of...

Pittsburgh Allegheny County dispatchers say police and medics were called to the Worship and Community Service Center on Broadhead Fording Road at 6:15 p.m. on Saturday. Pittsburgh police say the call to dispatchers reported 6 to 7 gunshots inside the building where the baby shower was taking place. Authorities say the shooting happened in the men’s restroom of the building. One man was found dead inside and another was taken to a hospital in critical condition.

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...

Former Queens city Councilman Paul Vallone — a member of a long line of local leading public servants — died unexpectedly Saturday evening. He was 56. Vallone, who was currently serving as New York City’s Veterans Services deputy commissioner, suffered a fatal heart attack at his home and was rushed to a Flushing hospital but could not be revived, sources close to his family told The Post on Sunday. The married father of three was “upbeat” and “happy” the day before he died, Queens Civic Congress President Warren Schreiber told the Queens Chronicle. “It’s a big blow to the community,”...

Authorities have confirmed the presence of members of the dangerous Venezuelan gang the Tren de Aragua in the Chicago area. This transnational criminal organization, which has managed to spread its terror very quickly throughout South America, is in the United States, according to intelligence reports from local agencies. Since at least October 2023, intelligence divisions of the Cook County Sheriff's Office confirmed through internal emails obtained by Telemundo Chicago that members of the Aragua Train are in Chicago. Garry McCarthy, police chief for suburban Willow Spring and former police superintendent for Chicago, calls the Aragua Train a criminal enterprise and...

Three of the five former Presidents of the United States have started a new non-governmental organization (NGO) with the explicit purpose of chartering flights to import illegal aliens into the United States. As reported by Just The News, the NGO Miles4Migrants, founded by former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton, is teaming up with two other organizations, American Express Global Business Travel and Welcome.US, to expand upon a previous effort that focused solely on Afghan refugees following the disastrous withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan in 2021. Welcome.US was originally launched for the purpose of bringing in...