Free Republic

The Georgia congresswoman suggested Hunter Biden had violated the Mann Act during a congressional hearing on his taxes “Before we begin, I would like to let the committee and everyone watching at home [know] that parental discretion is advised,” Greene said at the beginning of her allotted speaking time. The congresswoman went on to suggest that Biden’s relationships with sex workers and escorts potentially constituted human trafficking. Greene alluded to a flight Biden allegedly purchased for a woman: “If he was purchasing her a plane ticket for sex and traveling across state lines, do you believe that to be a...

Pregnant Russian women are reportedly fleeing to Argentina to make sure their newborn children are not born under the rule of Vladimir Putin, RadarOnline.com has learned. According to Daily Star, the phenomenon has been dubbed “birth tourism” because the majority of the mothers will leave Argentina and return to Russia shortly after their children are born. “5,800 of them were in the last three months, many of them declaring they were in the 33rd or 34th week of pregnancy,” Florencia Carignano, Argentina’s immigration office director, recently said.

One of the ringleaders in a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was sentenced to more than 19 years behind bars Wednesday — a day after an accomplice was slapped with a 16-year prison term, federal prosecutors said. Barry Croft Jr., 47, was handed the 19½-year sentence by Michigan federal Judge Robert Jonker four months after his conviction for conspiring to kidnap the Democratic governor from her Elk Rapids vacation cottage in 2020. Croft, a trucker from Delaware, was the fourth and final defendant in the plot to learn his fate. The judge described him as “the idea guy”...

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Former television newscaster and failed Republican candidate for governor Kari Lake hinted at violence to a crowd of thousands of conservative activists Sunday, continuing her claim that she had really won last month. “On Nov. 8, they committed highway robbery,” she said, to chants of “Kari! Kari!” Lake, who has sued elections administrators alleging fraud, called the Maricopa County elections system a “house of cards” that she promised to take down. “I’m not just going to knock that house of cards over. We’re going to burn it to the ground,” she said. “They messed with the wrong...

An elite Russian military brigade suffered so many losses while fighting in Ukraine that it was essentially "wiped out" and is expected to take a long time to rebuild, according to a new report. When it was first sent into Ukraine, the 200th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade, stationed in northwestern Russia near its border with NATO-leaning Finland, had more experience, newer equipment, and better training than many other Russian units, The Washington Post reported on Friday. But despite these advantages, the 200th suffered greatly in the months of combat that would follow. Shortly after the invasion, units belonging to the...

An alleged "torture chamber" that housed Ukrainian children has been uncovered in Kherson, according to a top Ukrainian human rights official Wednesday. Speaking during a presentation on human rights abuses committed against Ukrainian civilians, Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets said officials uncovered evidence of the chamber through their investigations. (snip) "In one of the torture chambers, we discovered a separate cell where children were kept," he continued. Lubinets said people who were held in the chamber described a room next to theirs where they knew children had been held and which Russian officials referred to as the...

MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell asked Outgoing National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci how difficult it was to stand next to then-President Donald Trump saying things that “are not accurate about public health,” Tuesday on her show “Andrea Mitchell Reports.” Partial transcript as follows: MITCHELL: So you are standing next to the president in all these COVID briefings. How difficult is it for you when you hear him saying things that you know are not accurate about public health? FAUCI: It’s difficult because I have a great deal of respect for the office the presidency of...

They just can’t quit Kyle Rittenhouse. Forget the guy was arrested, charged, stood trial, and was found innocent by a jury of his peers … no no, since he’s a straight, white, conservative male he will forever be the ‘villain’ to ignorant people who care more about politics than reality and facts. Like Soledad O’Brien. We’re pretty sure she didn’t think this tweet through though. But then again, does she ever? Just take a look at her timeline. *************************************** Soledad O'Brien @soledadobrien · Follow For killing people. Yes. Kyle Rittenhouse @ThisIsKyleR People need to start being held accountable. 9:25 PM...

Everyone knows that Hunter Biden left his infamous laptop at a computer repair shop in Delaware. The store owner even contacted Hunter to get him to pick it up, but he never returned for it, effectively forfeiting the device per the store’s policy — which Hunter Biden agreed to. But on Sunday, the New York Times bizarrely claimed the laptop had been “stolen” in a report about the release of the “Twitter files” by Elon Musk. “Mr. Musk and Mr. Taibbi framed the exchanges as evidence of rank censorship and pernicious influence by liberals,” Michael M. Grynbaum, a media correspondent...

The Ukrainian army’s newest howitzers also are among its oldest. On Sunday, the first video appeared online depicting ex-Lithuanian M101 howitzers in front-line use by Ukrainian forces, apparently somewhere in eastern Ukraine. The 105-millimeter M101 was the standard light howitzer for U.S. and allied forces ... in World War II. But the design’s age belies its effectiveness. The 2.5-ton M101 is a classic—an artillery piece that nearly perfectly balances weight, range and accuracy. The M101 was a battle-winner 80 years ago. In the hands of experienced, motivated gunners, it still can win battles today. Especially as those gunners combine the...

Russia's attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure amount to genocide, a top Ukrainian official says. Strikes on key facilities targeted "the full Ukrainian nation" and were an effort to force Kyiv to surrender, the prosecutor-general told the BBC. The term genocide refers to an effort to wipe out a group of people. Russia denies having any such aim. Millions of people across Ukraine are facing power cuts in freezing weather, following sustained Russian attacks. Efforts are ongoing to reconnect homes cut off from electricity. Officials say Kherson has now been fully resupplied, following the city's recapture by Ukrainian troops earlier this...

Defeated Republican Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake’s campaign has sued Maricopa County and its election officials, demanding they respond to the campaign’s public records requests about malfunctions on Election Day before the county certifies its vote canvass on Monday. Maricopa County, which spans the Phoenix area and comprises about 60 percent of Arizona’s population, has become the epicenter of election challenges this cycle, and the complaint marks the Lake campaign’s first post-Election Day lawsuit. County election officials acknowledge printer mishaps at some vote centers on Election Day but insist residents still had multiple ways to cast a ballot for counting....

Russian troops are reinforcing their position in Crimea in anticipation of attacks from Ukraine, a Russia-installed regional official admitted. “Fortification works aimed at guaranteeing Crimeans’ security are being conducted under my supervision,” Russia’s regional governor of the annexed peninsula, Sergei Aksyonov, said Friday. The prospect of a showdown over Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014 in the clandestine operation that began the war, has loomed into view due to a series of Ukrainian successes in a counteroffensive conducted this fall. Russia’s retreat from the west bank of the Dnieper River not only freed the key city of Kherson...

The gates swing open, creaking ominously on their hinges. This is the first time Valery has been back to the prison where the Russians took him. As he walks through the gates he points out the cell on the second floor where he was locked up. And when he recounts what happened here it's clear that it is a painful experience. (snip) Each image is dated - it all happened in March shortly after the invasion when they captured Kherson city. On the walls of the prison graffiti reads "Zelenskyy we are coming". But surprisingly Valery considers himself lucky as,...

A slowdown in price gains delivered a second dose of welcome news for President Biden, who has spent months on the defensive about rapid inflation and his handling of the economy. The moderation comes just two days after his party defied the kind of political blood bath that many had expected given voter concerns about the economy, including price gains that hit a 40-year high this summer. Mr. Biden took quick credit for the slowdown in the Consumer Price Index on Thursday, saying in a statement that his policies are helping to cool price gains while acknowledging there could be...

Anti-Russia activists and former Russian politicians have reportedly been meeting in Poland to discuss options for removing President Vladimir Putin from power — including by “physically eliminating” him. The group of Putin foes has mulled various regime change scenarios, among them unleashing a civil war in Russia, taking up arms and killing Putin, the European media network Euractiv reported. “The main goal is to physically eliminate Putin,” opposition activist Viacheslav Maltsev said. Maltsev, who fled Russia in 2017 after being labeled an extremist by the state, noted that a civil war in Russia would not be “as bloody as the...

Small, kayak-shaped boats fitted with cameras, tracking devices and jet-ski motors were employed to attack Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in the annexed Crimean port of Sevastopol over the weekend. It led to Moscow’s withdrawal from a landmark grain shipment deal, followed by a humiliating re-entry in a dramatic display of low-tech ingenuity, scuttling Russian naval might. The mother of all metaphorical storms hit Russia’s operations in the Black Sea over the past few days, with giant waves thrashing Moscow’s military and economic interests, smashing its bargaining chips, and undermining its diplomatic standing on the world stage. Much of the latest...

Russia’s brutal war on Ukraine is now being led by a ruthless commander known by his troops as “General Armageddon.” The Kremlin appointed Gen. Sergey Surovikin, 56, as overall commander of Russia’s joint group of forces in its so-called “special military operation” on Saturday. Just two days later, more than 80 long-range missiles rained down across Ukraine — including one just feet from a kids’ playground — in the most dramatic escalation since the invasion nearly eight months ago. “I am not surprised to see what happened … Surovikin is absolutely ruthless, with little regard for human life,” a former...

The hail of indiscriminate missile fire across Ukraine this morning was Russia's brutal payback for the attack on the Crimean bridge. Russian President Vladimir Putin called it the response to an "act of terrorism" which he blamed on Ukraine. But it was also Mr Putin's response to hawks in his own camp who have been growing increasingly restless with Russian losses in the war and increasingly loud with their calls for tougher action. Those pro-Kremlin officials and TV hosts who were depressed and dejected just days ago are now cheering this assault on their neighbour, gloating and even dancing in...

More than 150 Michigan Republicans launched a new campaign effort to boost the reelection prospects of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) against GOP opponent Tudor Dixon, who is backed by former President Trump. Republicans for Whitmer is led by a leadership council of 35 Republicans from Michigan, including business leaders, former lawmakers and staff who served under former state GOP governors John Engler and Rick Snyder. Bill Parfet, the chairman and CEO of commercial real estate company Northwood Group, said he was supporting Whitmer because she was seeking to build a common bridge between Democrats and Republicans.