Free Republic

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday announced a new initiative aimed at safely escorting foreign vessels stranded in the Strait of Hormuz, amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East. In a statement posted online, Trump said multiple countries had requested U.S. assistance to help free their ships, describing them as “neutral and innocent bystanders” caught in a conflict they are not involved in. The U.S. president revealed that Washington would begin guiding these vessels out of restricted waters under a plan dubbed “Project Freedom,” scheduled to start Monday morning, Middle East time. Trump emphasized that the operation...

A high school student in Philadelphia exposed how his classmates are struggling to read easy words and comprehend relatively simple sentences in a viral series of videos. And he may have gotten in hot water for his trouble. The videos, posted on TikTok, show the teenagers failing to read a sentence on a piece of paper while being filmed at the city’s Preparatory Charter School of Mathematics, Science, Technology and Careers. In the clip, made by user “whatthevek” earlier this week, not a single high school-aged student was able to read the sentence, “She wore a silhouette of clothes that...

Jose Ortiz didn’t just save his best for last to win the Kentucky Derby. The jockey did it the hard way by literally surging back from last place. Ortiz rallied 23-1 long shot Golden Tempo from way back to claim the 152st Derby on Saturday, beating his older brother by a neck. As expected, Irad Ortiz Jr. went over to pat his brother and congratulate him for getting the best out of a colt Jose Ortiz believed had potential.

We’re past the furious early salvos of Trump vs. Higher Ed. Fifteen months into Trump 2.0, the early clashes have settled into a Cool War punctuated by more modest skirmishes between the administration and brand-name universities. As the research freezes have thawed and the settlements have slowed, higher ed’s stunned disorientation is subsiding (even as red-state legislation, ongoing federal investigations, student-lending reform, and the overhaul of accreditation mean that things are very far from settled). The pace and tenor of change is less intense now than a year ago. This means that campus leaders have less political cover (it’s tougher...

Spain’s Foreign Ministry has called for the immediate release of a Spanish citizen detained by Israel following the interception of a Gaza-bound flotilla, after an Israeli court extended his detention by two days. Saif Abu Keshek, a resident of Barcelona, and Brazilian national Thiago Ávila appeared before a court in Ashkelon on Sunday, several days after Israeli forces intercepted multiple vessels attempting to breach Israel’s maritime blockade on Gaza. The flotilla consisted of dozens of boats carrying activists from numerous countries. Israeli authorities stated that over 170 individuals were removed from the vessels, with Abu Keshek and Ávila transferred to...

Michigan Republican Senate candidate and former House Intelligence Committee chairman Mike Rogers outlined his view of the state’s political landscape during a radio interview, as host Matthew Boyle described the race as “arguably the number one Republican pickup opportunity anywhere in America.” Appearing on Breitbart News Saturday, Rogers pointed to what he described as a shift within the Democrat field, citing recent convention activity and campaign rhetoric. “They’ve all got huge problems here,” he said, adding that some candidates are “very interested in owning grocery stores and owning every bit of your health care.”

The Greens’ attempt to pin the Golders Green stabbings on Reform and food prices was desperate and cowardly.On Thursday night, the day after the stabbing of two Jewish men in north London, Green Party deputy leader Rachel Millward was asked a simple question on the BBC’s Question Time. ‘You’ve stated you’ve seen racial hatred in this country’, said a member of the audience. ‘Could you please specify where that hatred is coming from?’Most politicians would be grateful to receive such a soft under-arm on live television. The answer couldn’t be more obvious. The ‘racial hatred’ Britain is experiencing is anti-Semitism...

A cargo ship was struck by multiple small craft while sailing near the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, UK military officials said. The ship, which was not immediately identified, was hit right off the coast of Sirik, Iran, just east of the strait, according to the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre. All crew members were reported safe, with no group immediately claiming responsibility for the attack. Iran’s military, however, has repeatedly warned any ship that tries to navigate the strait would be attacked unless they pay a toll and prove they are not affiliated with the US...

WARNING: GRAPHIC A recent festival in southern Nigeria has sparked outrage after multiple videos surfaced online showing women being chased through the streets, stripped and sexually assaulted by groups of men in broad daylight. The footage, recorded during the annual Alue-Do fertility festival in Ozoro, Delta State, has prompted a police investigation and resulted in several arrests, with authorities confirming that multiple suspects were in custody. The videos have sparked global outcry, with many online describing the event as a “rape festival,” a term that highlights the scale and brutality of what was captured on camera.

I still remember fondly the time I got an A- on my 8th grade earth science paper. It was one of my proudest moments as a student. Meanwhile, as MIT boasts, some folks are, well, a bit beyond that. Physics is riddled with paradoxes: Think of how information leaks from supposedly inescapable black holes or how the conventional laws of physics break down at the quantum scale. Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski '13 believes that within these apparent contradictions, new discoveries await. Ah yes, "how the conventional laws of physics break down at the quantum scale." I think about that often! Well,...

Jim Hoft, the founder and publisher of the Gateway Pundit, is currently in the hospital awaiting a much-needed surgery on his heart. Like Jim, his beloved twin brother, Joe Hoft, is a fearless patriot who loves America and fights every day to expose the truth behind the mainstream media’s lies. Joe is an international auditor, conservative talk show host, and founder of his own conservative news site, JoeHoft.com, and continues to be a contributor at the Gateway Pundit. Joe and Jim Hoft (right) Last night, while making flight reservations from Florida to visit his twin brother Jim before his scheduled...

Explanation: Dust pillars are like interstellar mountains. They survive because they are more dense than their surroundings, but they are slowly being eroded away by a hostile environment. Visible in the featured picture by the Hubble Space Telescope is the end of a huge gas and dust pillar in the Trifid Nebula (M20), punctuated by a smaller pillar pointing up and an unusual jet pointing to the upper left. Many of the bright dots are newly formed stars. A star near the small pillar's end is slowly being stripped of its accreting gas by radiation from a tremendously brighter star...

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is under fire after Spirit Airlines abruptly shut down, with critics citing her claim that blocking a merger that could have saved the troubled carrier was "a Biden win for flyers." Spirit announced early Saturday it would cease operations immediately, canceling all flights and shutting down customer service, leaving many travelers stranded. The collapse is reigniting debate over whether federal regulators got it wrong in blocking a proposed JetBlue-Spirit merger, with opponents now arguing the decision may have reduced competition and contributed to the airline’s downfall. "I’ve warned for months that a @JetBlue-@SpiritAirlines merger would have...

An unusual food delivery order from a cancer patient recently sparked a relay of caregiving in Guangdong, China. A young woman, named Xiao Li, is receiving treatment for a rare form of blood cancer, China Central Television (CCTV) reported on April 25. As her family is working to fund her treatment, the 24-year-old is often alone in hospital. While looking through a food delivery app on April 15, Xiao Li decided to place a special order — companionship. She wrote in her request: "Sit by my bedside and accompany me for two hours." Her order was accepted by a delivery...

China accused the Philippines of landing personnel on a disputed reef in the South China Sea on Sunday (May 3) as Manila said it would dispatch ships to drive off Chinese vessels it said were conducting research illegally. The exchange extends a run of heightened tension between China and the Philippines, a United States ally, over Sandy Cay, an unoccupied sandbar in the South China Sea. On Sunday, China's Coast Guard said it had identified five Philippine personnel who had landed on Sandy Cay, an action Beijing termed "illegal," according to state-run media outlet Global Times.

Trump appeared to hint at a potential military operation in Cuba after US forces “finish the job” in Iran. The comments come as Washington announced a set of new sanctions targeting the island nation on Friday, which Havana slammed as a form of collective punishment. US President Donald Trump joked on Friday that his country’s Navy would take on Cuba on the way home from Iran. His comments came as he addressed attendees of an event at the non-profit Forum Club of the Palm Beaches, where he was invited as a keynote speaker.

Christie Brinkley played her first acting role in the 1983 film National Lampoon's Vacation as "The girl in the red Ferrari" opposite Chevy Chase. She reprised that role in the 1997 sequel Vegas Vacation; later spoofed it in a 2008 DirecTV commercial, using footage from Vacation; again in a 2015 Infiniti commercial as the wife in the Infiniti (the blonde in the convertible for this spoof is model Scarlett Burke); and again in the ABC series The Goldbergs in 2019. The Girl in the Ferrari - Christie Brinkley - National Lampoon’s Vacation, 1983

-Napa Valley man Thomas O’Donnell found guilty of murder-for-hire in Kentucky court. -Prosecutors say former California Highway Patrol captain Julie Harding hired O’Donnell to kill her estranged husband, Michael Harding, luring him to a secluded Kentucky home for an HVAC repair. -Harding died by suicide months after the killing; O’Donnell, 64, faces 20 years to life in prison. A Napa Valley man hired by a former California Highway Patrol captain to kill her husband has been found guilty as text messages revealed details of the murder-for-hire plot.

The chair of the California Democratic Party has had enough of the possibility that Republicans could lock out Democrats in this year’s governor’s race — and wants to change the the voting system to prevent that in the future. Rusty Hicks is one of the first prominent Democrats this year to embrace a wholescale change to how the state holds its primaries, where currently the top two candidates regardless of political party advance to the general election. “The current system we have does not work,” Hicks told the Guardian. “It needs to be revised or repealed.”

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California’s June 2 primary election is approaching, with ballots set to begin arriving for registered voters Monday. In the weeks leading up to Election Day, voters will receive four key pieces of mail: a state voter information guide, a county voter information guide, a sample ballot and an official ballot. “Democracy is a messy business, and it can take some work,” political analyst Steve Swatt said. “And it’s incumbent on us as voters to do our homework.” At the top of the ticket is the race to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom, a contest that analysts say remains...