Free Republic

WASHINGTON -- Rioters who smashed their way into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, succeeded — at least temporarily — in delaying the certification of Joe Biden’s election to the White House. Hours before, Rep. Jim Jordan had been trying to achieve the same thing.

President Trump participated in dubious tax schemes during the 1990s, including instances of outright fraud, that greatly increased the fortune he received from his parents, an investigation by The New York Times has found.Snippets: "The president’s parents, Fred and Mary Trump, transferred well over $1 billion in wealth to their children." and "President Trump had virtually no involvement whatsoever with these matters". Robert Trump, the president's brother: "Our dear father, Fred C. Trump, passed away in June 1999. Our beloved mother, Mary Anne Trump, passed away in August 2000. All appropriate gift and estate tax returns were filed, and the...

Earlier today the Kersten Institute for Governance and Public Policy highlighted an updated pension study, released by the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, which revealed some fairly startling realities about California's public pension underfunding levels. After averaging $77,700 per household in 2014, the amount of public pension underfunding for the state of California jumped to a staggering $92,748 per household in 2015. But don't worry, we're sure pension managers can grow their way out of the problem...hedge fund returns have been stellar recently, right? Stanford University’s pension tracker database pegs the market value of California’s total pension debt at...

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. – Donald Trump is so fiercely opposed by the Koch brothers network that some donors believe the powerful group will intervene to stop the billionaire if it looks like he could win the Republican presidential nomination. "They are always very hesitant to get involved in a primary, but I think if they were going to do it, this would be the time because they just hate the guy,” said a donor who attended the Koch network’s winter retreat, held over the weekend at a luxury resort on the edge of Coachella Valley. Both officials and donors within...

False claims of racism and hate crimes related to sexuality seem to be endemic. So desirable is the status of victim that some people, especially those in academia, have been known to vandalize their own cars, attach nooses to their office doors, and otherwise fabricate hate crimes against themselves. Oberlin College, with a history of hysteria over fake hate crimes, even generated worldwide headlines for its overwrought response to a series of “hate crimes” that turned out to be false. We don’t know what percentage of hate crime reports are self-generated hoaxes by the purported victims. Often there is no...

On January 14th I started a thread Vacation Clubs. It was about signing up/paying for one and then regretting it the next day. As I said on the 14th I followed refund procedures and returned their portfolio on the 13th. And...........................

We got pulled into a so-called vacation club pitch. Long story short, after the pitch which included stated price of $9k I told the interviewer I wasn't interested and then added but might for $3k. Two or three talked back and forth and they finally said OK. That should have been a clue but in any case I went for it. We do travel a bit and I thought I might be able to use the site. MAYBE??? Got 3 days to change my mind and thought I might toss this out to the Freepers,

From storefront businesses in upscale Fort Lauderdale neighborhoods, a family of fortune tellers ran a $40-million scheme that defrauded people from near and far since 1991, federal prosecutors said in court Friday. Among the victims was a bestselling author who gave an estimated $20 million to the family. The woman, who prosecutors refused to identify, lost her 8-year-old son in a motorcycle accident and was allegedly exploited by at least one of the defendants, Rose Marks, who she considered a friend.

Scam artists from around the world, capitalizing on lax regulations at the Danish emissions trading registry, have made off with an estimated $7-billion over the last two years, according to Europol. Denmark’s Office of the Auditor General is now investigating the fraud, which occurred after the Danish registry dropped requirements that carbon traders be documented. While allowing a free-for-all served the carbon market on the short term, by appearing to inflate the interest in carbon as a commodity, it ultimately backfired when much of the trading proved to be phony. Read more: http://opinion.financialpost.com/2010/12/05/lawrence-solomon-the-7-billion-carbon-scam/#ixzz17RgHIzXh

North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il has now left Beijing and returned home after a typically secretive visit, his first trip abroad in four years. Kim's last trip was also to China, the North's dominant benefactor; his core mission was undoubtedly to ensure continued Chinese support for his ironfisted rule. Also undoubtedly central was North Korea's nuclear weapons program. President Obama has been silent for many long months on Pyongyang's continuing nuclear threat, but silence does not equal good news. Although "all quiet" on the North Korean nuclear front might seem to indicate that the menace is receding, precisely the...

The Climate and Health Council, a collaboration of worldwide health organizations including the Royal College of Nursing, the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal Society of Medicine, believes there is a direct link between climate change and better health. Their controversial plan would see GPs and nurses give out advice to their patients on how to lower their carbon footprint. The Council believes that climate change “threatens to radically undermine the health of all peoples”. It believes health professionals are ideally placed to promote change because “we have ethical responsibility…..as well as the capacity to influence people and our...

Tom Donohue sits for an interview with POLITICO. CEO and President of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Tom Donahue, talks with POLITICO about his relationship with the White House, the health care debate and the Chamber's membership. Photo: John Shinkle U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue says a campaign by the White House and its allies to undermine his $200-million-a-year association has largely failed — and actually has helped raise even more money for its pro-business efforts. In a 75-minute interview with POLITICO, Donohue dismissed recent defections by Apple and at least four other companies, which quit over the...

But there are other schemes for “spreading the work,” often put forward by union spokesmen and legislators. The most frequent of these is the proposal to shorten the working week, usually by law. The belief that it would “spread the work” and “give more jobs” was one of the main reasons behind the inclusion of the penaltyovertime provision in the existing Federal Wage-Hour Law. The previous legislation in the states, forbidding the employment of women or minors for more, say, than forty-eight hours a week, was based on the conviction that longer hours were injurious to health and morale. Some...

John Derbyshire of National Review Online has written a curmudgeonly piece railing against irrational optimism. It's an entertaining read that is even more apt in light of recent developments. I'm sure the jackasses who wrecked our financial system were full of exuberant optimism and overinflated self-esteem. This hits home with me because, like the author, I do not believe in the perfectibility of man. We are flawed vessels. This brought to my mind William Butler Yeats' poem, "The Second Coming." Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and...

This week, President Bush visits the People's Republic of China. As with all such high-level diplomatic missions, he will doubtless be tempted to accentuate the few, putatively positive aspects of the Sino-American relationship, and gloss over the increasing number of negative ones. In that happens, history may record this as a moment when the failure to speak truth to the Chinese communists condemned the two nations to conflict later.

AL ASAD, Iraq (Oct. 6, 2005) -- Thought to be one of the four rivers to flow from the Garden of Eden and known to be the heart of ancient civilizations like Sumeria and Babylonia, the Euphrates River now supplies water for coalition forces based in the Al Anbar province. Marines and Sailors from Marine Wing Support Squadron 272 and Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 24 keep water flowing from the Euphrates, despite the efforts of insurgents. “They blow up the pipes, we go fix them,” said Sgt. Richard Tulley, a hygiene equipment operator and Hammond, N.Y., native. “It’s that simple....

KIEV (AFP) - Controversy has enveloped the son of Ukraine President Viktor Yushchenko for a second time in a week, amid reports that the 19-year-old owned the copyright to the lucrative trademarks of last year's "orange revolution." ADVERTISEMENT The new scandal erupted as the legal chief of Yushchenko's campaign tried to put to rest a controversy that flared last week, after local media reported that Yushchenko's eldest son, Andriy, appeared to be living beyond his declared means. "Andriy Yushchenko has author's rights to all political brands that were used during the 'orange revolution,'" Mykola Katerynchuk was quoted as saying during...

Intro - " The Liberty League" www.libertyleague.com A friend called tonight and wanted an opinion regarding this new found company he is considering jumping into.I checked the site out, and could not discover what products were being sold, and when I clicked 'products' it asked for MY info. Out of curiosity, I then went to the BBB. The report was disturbing, so I posted it to my journal. Maybe this will save someone a little heartache." "The Better Business Bureau 4428 N. 12th Street Phoenix, AZ 85014-4585 602-264-1721 info@phoenix.bbb.org May Not Be Reproduced for Commercial or Sales Purposes LIBERTY LEAGUE...