Free Republic

Former President Donald Trump did not hold back his praises to some of the world's authoritarian leaders in a new media appearance. In his interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Trump shared his admiration for the leadership styles of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un. "They're all top of the line," Trump said. The former president described Xi as a "brilliant man" and recalled meeting with him in his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida in 2017. "President Xi is a brilliant man... The look, the brain, the whole thing. We had a...

Alek Minassian, the 25-year-old man accused of steering a rental van into pedestrians Monday in North Toronto, killing 10 people and injuring 15, was charged on Tuesday with 10 counts of first-degree murder and 13 counts of attempted murder.

The publisher of Newsweek and the International Business Times has been engaging in fraudulent online traffic practices that helped it secure a major ad buy from a US government agency, according to a new report released today by independent ad fraud researchers. IBTimes.com, the publisher’s US business site, last year won a significant portion of a large video and display advertising campaign for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a federal agency. Social Puncher, a consulting firm that investigates online ad fraud, alleges in its report that the ads were displayed to an audience on IBTimes.com that includes a significant amount...

With rising sea levels and increased rainfall, experts agree, climate change made the flooding from Hurricane Harvey far worse than it would have been even a decade ago. The Texas legislature had multiple opportunities to create a “climate adaptation plan” that could have resulted in preparations, but the bills were killed every time. The sponsor of the legislation told International Business Times that former Texas Gov. Rick Perry made sure that the climate adaptation bills would not pass. “When I filed that legislation, then-Governor Perry’s legislative staff told me that no legislation that had climate change in it would get out...

glaringly missing from the summary was mention of $15 million in fees paid by Burkle's Yucaipa Global Opportunities Fund since 2002

A bill passed by the Kansas House of Representatives that could legalize discrimination against gay couples seems unlikely to pass in the state Senate, according to Kansas lawmakers. On Wednesday, the Kansas House voted 72-49 to approve HB 2453, which offers legal protection to individuals and businesses that refuse service for same-sex couples, specifically those looking to get married. Under the bill’s language, individuals, businesses and government employees would be immune from legal reprisal for refusing service if they have “sincerely held religious beliefs” opposing customers’ marriages. Though the bill is described as protecting religious freedom, LGBT organizations see it...

  There are few things quite like a mass arrest to serve as a reminder of the Mafia's continuing presence in American life. The mob roundup last Thursday morning, the largest in U.S. history, at once underscores the large dent that the Justice Department has been making in organized crime and how entrenched many of their operations have been. Some 800 FBI agents, U.S. marshals, state police and New York City cops fanned out and arrested nearly 120 wise guys and associates named in an 82-page, 16-count indictment for acts of murder, racketeering, money-laundering, loan-sharking, extortion and other offenses...

WASHINGTON - The main national carpenter's union is joining a coalition of some of the nation's largest unions challenging the AFL-CIO's approach to leading the labor movement. The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America broke away from the labor federation in 2001, saying it was shifting more of its resources to organizing and was impatient for the AFL-CIO to do the same. "The Carpenters' Union is proud to join with the most dynamic unions in the country," President Doug McCarron said in a release obtained by The Associated Press. A formal announcement was planned for Monday. The carpenters...