Free Republic

Republican lawmakers are pushing new legislation on Capitol Hill aimed at reining in members of Congress who take advantage of campaign finances for personal gain. Wisconsin Republican Reps. Tom Tiffany and Tony Wied introduced the Oversight for Members And Relatives Act on Friday, known as the OMAR Act, which would prevent candidates' campaign funds from benefiting their spouses. The legislation would also mandate the disclosure of campaign-related payments made to their immediate family members, according to the bill text obtained exclusively by Blaze News. "Public office should never be used to pad a family's bank account," Tiffany told Blaze News....

A bill advancing through the Massachusetts Senate would make reducing how much people drive an explicit goal of state transportation policy. It is called the Freedom to Move Act. The bill, SB 2246, does not impose mileage caps on individual drivers. There is no odometer check, no per-driver limit, and no new fines or taxes written into the legislation. Instead it directs the state to set targets for reducing total vehicle miles traveled statewide — targets that would be incorporated into transportation planning, infrastructure investment, and long-term emissions policy. Transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Massachusetts,...

Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) is gunning for the Nashville Electric Service (NES) as thousands of Nashville residents remain without power — more than a week after Winter Storm Fern wreaked havoc on the area — and some may not see their power restored for another ten days. Blackburn argued that NES had had spent more time focusing on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives than on the kind of preparation that could have helped them manage a massive winter storm more efficiently. “The Nashville Electric Service held 102 DEI-related training sessions by the end of 2024. They should’ve been using...

The elderly man who was caught on video screaming, "Shoot me!" after falsely confessing to shooting Charlie Kirk has pleaded no contest to a third-degree charge of obstruction of justice. 71-year-old George Zinn added to the chaos on Sept. 10 when Kirk was killed at Utah Valley University by claiming to have been the shooter. He was dragged away while his pants slipped to his ankles. After Zinn was questioned by police, they said they discovered child sex abuse material on his cell phone, which led to more charges. On Thursday he also pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual...

Beautiful version of Misty played by Joe Robinson for the Carter Vintage Guitars shop in Nashville. He's demoing a 1954 ES-175 they were featuring for sale but the star of the show is his amazing take on the iconic jazz standard, which he plays in Chet Atkins finger style taken to the next level.

The United States is facing an existential threat. My guess is this summer will be the most violent, damaging domestic summer since the Civil War. And I predict the left will win and come out victorious on the other side. They will, after winning this new civil war, seek to eliminate the last vestiges of republicans. I use a small r because while some Republicans are true republicans, most are not. And when the left wins the war, those RINOs are going to “work with” Democrats to create the illusion that America is still a republic, but it won’t be....

Key points from the coverage/transcript snippets: Harry Enten analyzes data showing significant out-migration from blue/Democratic-leaning states (e.g., California, New York, Illinois, etc.). He describes this as potentially leading to a "Blue State Depression" — meaning economic and political downturns in those states due to population loss. States gaining population (often red or purple ones like Florida, Texas, etc.) are positioned as winners. The framing suggests this mass exodus could spell serious trouble ("doom") for Democrats in future elections, tax bases, representation, etc.

Bad Bunny used his acceptance speech at the Grammy Awards on Sunday to denounce U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and call for the end of the ongoing immigration crackdown."Before I say thanks to God, I'm going to say ICE out," the Puerto Rican artist said as he accepted the Grammy for his album "Debí Tirar Más Fotos" in the música urbana album category. "We're not savage, we're not animals, we're not aliens. We are humans and we are Americans."His statement was met with applause and standing ovations. It came as protests against ICE took place across the country this weekend,...

Placed prominently within President Trump’s controversial “compact” for higher education was a call to center merit in admissions. The president’s offer to universities, which followed more than a decade of battles over what factors to consider in admissions, has sparked new debates about the meaning and value of merit. In particular, some college-admissions officials have pushed back on the idea that merit exists or have said that they have more meritorious individuals than spots. The second claim is partially true, but the first is not. Many selective colleges offer even more selective merit-based scholarships, which shows that they have at...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations chief is warning that the world body faces “imminent financial collapse” unless its financial rules are overhauled or all 193 member nations pay their dues — a message likely directed at the United States and the billions it owes. ......President Donald Trump has repeatedly said the United Nations has potential but has not lived up to it. His administration has withdrawn from U.N. organizations like the World Health Organization and the cultural agency UNESCO, while pulling funding from dozens of others....

Texas A&M University is ending its women’s and gender studies program, changing the syllabuses of hundreds of courses and canceling six classes as part of a new policy that limits how professors can discuss some race and gender topics, school officials announced Friday. The changes to and cancellation of courses comes months after a viral video of a student confronting an instructor over her lessons threw Texas A&M, one of the largest universities in the country, into upheaval. University officials tried to reassure the campus that the impacts of the new policy would be minimal, affecting only a small portion...

The eldest son of Norway’s crown princess will go on trial Tuesday on multiple charges including rape in a high-profile case that has been an embarrassment to the royal family. Marius Borg Høiby is facing the Oslo district court after being indicted in August following a lengthy investigation. The indictment includes 38 counts, among them rape, abuse in a close relationship against one former partner, acts of violence against another and transporting 7.7 pounds of marijuana. Other charges include making death threats and traffic violations. Prosecutors have said the 29-year-old could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted...

This blows! A Massachusetts man accidentally set his home on fire while using a blowtorch to melt ice stubbornly clinging to his roof after the winter storm that battered the Northeast last week. The homeowner in Milton, Mass. decided to get creative while attempting to tackle the sheets of ice cemented to his roof. He whipped out a blowtorch, scaled a ladder and got to work. But minutes into the endeavor, his roof caught fire and flames spilled into the gutter, Local 12 reported. The man was able to slide off the ladder and rushed inside to call 911. When...

It is truly remarkable how easy it is to fool the smartest people. And especially when you tell them they are helping to save the world. So something called the Federal Judicial Center has just come out with a new edition, the 4th, of something called the Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence. The publication date appears to be December 31, 2025. The idea that the federal government, and in particular the judiciary, needs a reference manual on scientific evidence seems to date from the 1990s. The courts, then as now, were facing an increasing volume of cases involving complex scientific...

A suspected biological laboratory raided by Metro police and the FBI may be connected to a similar incident in California, where officials found infectious agents such as HIV and malaria, the 8 News Now Investigators have learned. Police and the FBI searched the home on Saturday, Jan. 31, finding a “possible biological laboratory,” including “refrigerators with vials containing unknown liquids,” police said. Shortly before 6 a.m., a Metro SWAT team served a search warrant at the home on Sugar Springs Drive near Washington Avenue and Hollywood Boulevard to search for a possible “biological laboratory” inside the home. A second location...

I browse various classifieds and see more and more ads for people selling their guitars. And the same guitars seem to languish on the market. With the evolution of techno music, Eddie Van Halen and Angus Young guitar licks don't seem to be instant crowd pleasers/chick magnets like the old days. Or, am I just out of touch?

There's a fascinating anecdote in an oral history of Martin Scorsese's 1985 dark comedy After Hours. Griffin Dunne, who played the film's protagonist Paul Hackett, recalls the director's apartment in New York's Tribeca neighbourhood, where Scorsese "had devoted a room in his loft to maybe 15 VCRs that ran 24 hours a day. He would go through the TV Guide and circle the movies that an assistant had to record from television. Quite often he would hand me a VHS tape and go, 'Griffin, this is a noir movie that reminds me of the kind of tone I like for...

Donald J. Trump’s return to the White House has been a parade of bold, daring accomplishments. Few presidents would dare to dream of matching it. Elected with a resounding mandate in 2024, Trump wasted no time implementing a transformative agenda that reshaped the nation in tangible, measurable ways. He secured the Mexican border with unprecedented rigor. He is revitalizing the economy through deregulation and tax relief. From brokering international peace deals to dismantling bureaucratic waste, Trump’s administration compiled 365 wins in 365 days. On immigration, Trump achieved negative net migration for the first time in fifty years, removing over 2.6...

President Donald Trump has threatened to sue Grammy's host Trevor Noah for making "false and defamatory" comments regarding his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Writing on Truth Social, Trump said: "Noah said, INCORRECTLY about me, that Donald Trump and Bill Clinton spent time on Epstein Island. WRONG!!! I can't speak for Bill, but I have never been to Epstein Island, nor anywhere close, and until tonight's false and defamatory statement, have never been accused of being there, not even by the Fake News Media.

🚨WATCH: 'What we found was deeply concerning' Scott Dexter, a former Minnesota Department of Human Services investigator, testified to Congress that he spent nearly three decades conducting criminal and financial fraud investigations, including in the state’s Child Care Assistance Program before political pressure and bureaucratic hurdles brought meaningful investigations to a halt. After joining DHS in 2013 as part of a newly formed fraud unit, Dexter said his team focused on data-driven cases. “Our cases were not selected based on the name of the center, the owner, or the community it served,” Dexter told lawmakers. “They were selected based solely...