Free Republic

For two excruciating years, I have called for the return of the hostages brutally kidnapped on October 7th and held in Gaza. Today is a good day. Surviving Israeli hostages are finally home and reuniting with loved ones. I'm thinking of them and their families on this joyful day and praying for their full recovery. I'm also grieving for all those who can't come home today. Today must also be an important step toward lasting peace in the region — peace for both Israelis and Palestinians. We must end the war in Gaza, surge humanitarian aid, and negotiate a two-state...

Take a close look at this photograph — it captures the exact moment when alleged hippie rioter Haley Macintyre finally learns, at age 24, that even a pampered Beautiful Person with a fashionable neck tattoo can still suffer adverse consequences for a violent, unprovoked assault on working people. Even in Massachusetts. As the picture was taken, in Boston Municipal Court, the judge had just slapped a $7,500 bail on Little Miss Muffet for her sinister role in fomenting that far-left riot that left four Boston cops hospitalized. Seventy-five hundred bucks? Do you know how many cool neck tattoos Haley could...

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that Harvard University can be sued by families who allege the school mishandled the bodies of their loved ones donated to its medical school, allowing body parts to be sold on the black market. In a unanimous decision, Justice Scott Kafker wrote that a lower court judge erred in dismissing the lawsuits, saying the plaintiffs had sufficiently alleged that Harvard failed to act in good faith in handling the remains. "It had a legal obligation to provide for the dignified treatment and disposal of the donated human remains, and failed miserably in this regard,...

Officials say the demonstration turned violent after protesters refused to clear the roadway and surrounded police cruisers.Thirteen people were arrested in downtown Boston Tuesday night after a pro-Palestinian demonstration turned violent — a chaotic scene that also left four Boston police officers injured, according to officials... “When officers attempted to move the group to the sidewalk to allow emergency vehicles to pass, protesters surrounded police cruisers, kicked vehicle doors, and resisted dispersal efforts,” the department said in a statement. “Several officers were assaulted during this period, including one struck in the face. Protesters also ignited smoke devices and flares, further...

Harvard University president Alan Garber blamed a Jewish student for his own assault during an anti-Israel protest, accusing him in a text message of filming in a way that "appears provocative," the House Education and Workforce Committee revealed Monday. The text was included in a letter that Republican Reps. Elise Stefanik (N.Y.) and Tim Walberg (Mich.)—who chair House Republican Leadership, and the House Education and Workforce Committee, respectively—sent Garber demanding information surrounding incidents that "may contribute to a hostile antisemitic environment on campus." They pointed to his texts urging Harvard Business School dean Srikant Datar not to send a community...

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) had a meltdown Thursday morning when a CBS host challenged the Democratic Party's denials about the Democrats wanting to provide free healthcare to illegal immigrants. During the interview, Tony Dokoupil confronted Warren with claims that Republicans say Democrats are fighting for taxpayer dollars to fund healthcare for illegal aliens. Dokoupil stated, "I know that's not strictly true, but there is a provision—" Warren nearly blew a gasket and interrupted, practically shouting, "Not... Oh, excuse me. Not strictly true." When Dokoupil attempted to continue, she cut in again more forcefully, insisting, “It is a flat-out lie. It...

Edward Wright spent 41 years in prison for a 1984 murder in Springfield that he did not commit. Under Massachusetts law, the most he or anyone else wrongfully convicted could hope to receive from the state is $1 million. "It means that each day that he spent in a prison cell away from his loved ones is worth $66 to this Commonwealth," said Radha Natarajan, executive director of the New England Innocence Project. "And we should be appalled by that." Natarajan was at Wrongful Conviction Day at the State House, where she and others spoke in support of reforms that...

An Antifa-connected researcher with rabid bias against the right is held out as an expert on deciding who is extreme.After Charlie Kirk was assassinated last week, conservatives noted that most political violence comes from the left. The left bristles at this fact and has responded by dramatically padding the numbers to pretend the reverse is true.Consider a Sept. 12 piece from The Economist claiming, “extremists on both left and right commit violence, although more incidents appear to come from right-leaning attackers.”Right up front, the piece admits it used data “largely compiled by researchers whom sceptical (sic) conservatives would probably dismiss...

A protester berating United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Massachusetts found her car in a lake, according to video posted by Fox News reporter Bill Melugin. The incident occurred in Upton, Massachusetts, where a woman began shouting at ICE agents who were taking at least one illegal immigrant into custody, according to Fox News. Melugin obtained the photo and 11-second video from a source within ICE. “Well, that sucks. Look at that, Lucy. Her car got lost,” an agent said on the video after the car, a gray or silver crossover, rolled into the lake and began...

Washington — A federal judge in Massachusetts ruled Tuesday that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Secretary of State Marco Rubio violated the First Amendment by targeting pro-Palestinian students for deportation in order to strike fear into international students and curb lawful speech. In a 161-page decision, U.S. District Judge William Young delivered a blistering assessment of the Trump administration's efforts to pursue international students who expressed pro-Palestinian views on college campuses, which he said was constitutionally protected speech. The judge, appointed by former President Ronald Reagan, was unsparing not only in his views of Noem and Rubio's actions, but...

An anti-ICE protester in Massachusetts was apparently so consumed by rage against agents enforcing federal law that she forgot to put her car in park before she went to berate the officers arresting an illegal immigrant. As a result, the vehicle drove into a lake and sank. Sharing video of the incident on X, the Department of Homeland Security mockingly told the woman she couldn’t park there. You can’t park there! https://t.co/uHA5BiXvNG — Homeland Security (@DHSgov) September 29, 2025 As the woman’s car inches further into the water, a voice in the clip can be heard saying, “Well that sucks....

The state’s largest teachers union came in for sharp criticism on Wednesday after it asked school districts to defend educators from bullying and harassment for speaking out on the death of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk. In a joint statement, Max Page and Deb McCarthy, the president and vice president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, argued that the “ongoing campaign by extreme-right conservatives to discredit and defund public education has grotesquely exploited the shooting death of Charlie Kirk to launch attacks against people commenting on this public figure’s beliefs and statements.”

Massachusetts has released new state-specific recommendations saying people of all ages should be vaccinated against COVID-19, despite federal guidelines that would otherwise have made that difficult. “We are not going to let Donald Trump or Robert Kennedy take away your ability to make your own health care decisions,” Gov. Maura Healey said in a statement Wednesday. “Massachusetts will continue to lead with science and protect access to life-saving vaccines. We are taking this action today so the people of Massachusetts know that you will continue to be able to get the vaccines you want and need – no matter what...

The Massachusetts Teachers Association is calling on school districts not to punish educators who have reacted positively to Charlie Kirk’s assassination. MTA President Max Page and Vice President Deb McCarthy are urging districts and public colleges and universities to be “partners with unions in the fight to defend educators from bullying and harassment and to protect their rights."

BOSTON (AP) — Immigrants are being detained while going to work, outside courthouses, and at store parking lots in Metro Boston as President Donald Trump targets so-called sanctuary cities in his effort to ramp up immigration enforcement. As families hole up in homes — afraid to leave and risk detainment — advocates are reporting an increased presence of unmarked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement vehicles sitting in parking lots and other public areas throughout immigrant communities, where agents appeared to target work vans. One man captured a video of three landscapers who were working on the Saugus Town Hall property...

Amid the decline in international and graduate students, vacancy rates have ticked up near major universities Longtime Cambridge real estate agent Dino Confalone manages a rental property north of Kendall Square, where housing demand is typically sky-high. Near MIT and the Red Line, it’s furnished with a leather sectional, an extra-wide fridge, and a manicured backyard. And despite rent of $6,250 a month, it’s usually a breeze to lease to visiting scholars who are only here for shorter periods and do not want to live out of a hotel. “I’ve never, ever had an issue getting people in there,” said...

BOSTON — Monica Cannon-Grant, the founder of the nonprofit Violence in Boston, plans to plead guilty to federal charges of defrauding people who donated to her organization. In a one-page document filed in federal court in Boston on Friday, Canon-Grant requested a change of plea hearing. Cannon-Grant faces a 27-count indictment on charges including wire fraud, mail fraud, making false statements, and filing false tax returns, among other offenses. Federal investigators have alleged that Cannon-Grant, and her husband, Clark Grant, “solicited and received over $1 million in donations and grants from individuals, charitable institutions and other entities.” The indictment alleged...

A distinguished Harvard Law professor and legal scholar was hammered on social media after spreading a debunked rumor that the suspect in Charlie Kirk’s assassination was "ultra-MAGA" and that Republicans were trying to "blame" liberals for the tragedy. Laurence Tribe made the comment in a post on X that shared a lengthy post from an account called Occupy Democrats, which attempted to paint a picture of suspect Tyler Robinson’s political ideology. "Kirk’s apparent assassin seems to have been ultra-MAGA, exploding the GOP/MAGA attempt to pin the blame for this tragedy on liberals," wrote Tribe, a professor at Harvard Law School...

There was a report of shots fired at UMass Boston, prompting a large police response on campus Thursday afternoon, the Boston Police Department confirmed. Shots were reported at 3:45 p.m. near 240 Morrissey Boulevard at the campus's location in Dorchester. Sky 5 video showed campus employees and students evacuating a school building with their hands in the air. One officer was seen with a rifle from Sky5 as police officers swarmed the area. According to several UMass Boston alerts, the incident is a "public safety threat" and is in/near a residence hall in the school's East Building. The school is...

White House Border Czar Tom Homan joined Mika Brzezinski on MSNBC today to discuss ICE actions in Boston, Massachusetts. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and Governor Maura Healey have both vowed to fight the Trump administration over deportations, with Mayor Wu calling them "oppression" while Maura Healey attacked the National Guard, saying they "do nothing" for public safety. Mika tried to defend Healey and Wu over their sanctuary state/city policies, and Homan was having none of it. Homan also brought the receipts, telling the audience exactly who ICE rounded up in Boston. That includes a 33-year-old illegal immigrant from Guatemala, arrested...