Free Republic

The public exposure, resignation, and subsequent death of the British fabulist Jason Arday have reignited the longstanding (if not eternal) debate about the purpose of higher education in our society and whether it is fulfilling that purpose. On the one side, conservatives are frustrated because, to them, the Arday case is emblematic: universities today are overwhelmingly leftist; leftists dominate the humanities and liberal arts faculties, and leftists are rewarded for poor or even fraudulent scholarship simply because it reinforces the preexisting beliefs of their contemporaries and superiors. On the other side, progressives and other leftists insist that the pursuit of...

An entire batch of Russian low Earth orbit satellites, intended to help create Moscow's version of Starlink, has failed to reach or remain at their anticipated altitudes just over a month after launch. The 16 Rassvet-3 satellites, launched on July 19, were originally supposed to orbit the Earth at an altitude of roughly 500 miles, according to the company developing the constellation, Bureau 1440. But publicly available US Space Force data shows that, as of Tuesday, the Rassvet-3 satellites are instead orbiting at altitudes of between 190 miles and 250 miles. Atmospheric drag at that altitude significantly shortens a satellite's...

House Democrats are having a rough week. On Tuesday, 192 of them voted against condemning socialism, a gift-wrapped attack ad for Republicans just months before the midterms. But that wasn't even the most embarrassing part of their day. The real story is what happened behind the scenes, where two centrist Democrats blew up their own party's carefully laid plans to stop the vote entirely and exposed just how little control House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) actually has over his caucus. And if that weren't bad enough, none other than House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) showed up to twist the...

The mother of the crazed Queens woman who killed a new mom and seriously wounded an elderly dad in a terrifying Times Square stabbing spree is questioning why cops didn’t just “grab” her daughter rather than fatally shoot her when she charged at them with knives. Pamela Cisneros, 49, stabbed Erin Piacenti, 32, and Tak Kam, 68, Monday afternoon before cell phone video showed her being surrounded by police and threatening to kill them with a large knife in each hand.

Kamala Harris suffered a humiliating moment on Jeopardy! as contestants were left stumped when asked for the name of her memoir. The contenders stared blankly and could not provide the title of the former vice president's tell-all book about losing the 2024 election. The question read: 'The title of this 2025 memoir by Kamala Harris refers to how long she had to launch and run her 2024 presidential campaign.' The answer – '107 Days' – eluded the panel of three contestants, leading to an awkward lull before the host stepped in. 'She had 107 days,' Ken Jennings chimed in with...

While every decent person in America was saddened by the death of Dolly Parton, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) announced that he was "deeply saddened by the death of 41-year-old Clarence Woodward who was languishing in our NYC jail for more than two years. He tragically was denied his day in court and had no chance to prove his innocence. My thoughts are with his family and loved ones as they grieve this loss." Newly appointed City Department of Correction Commissioner Stanley Richards called Woodward's death "a tragedy that we will be thoroughly investigating. Our department mourns the...

A Utah software engineer who was recently hired by the Pentagon is under fire after unveiling a database she built to track people with ties to the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). Why it matters: Critics say the "DSA Explorer" is an inappropriate use of sensitive political information by a federal employee at best — and amounts to government spying on U.S. citizens at worst. The other side: Jennica Pounds, the rightwing Utah influencer and data analyst known as DataRepublican, tells Newsweek she created the website as a "personal project" and that it doesn't involve government money or input. Neither...

Let that sink in. It's practically next week on a political scale.

The situation for the Regime continues to degrade in Iran.

Just about every bronze-cast bust in the Pro Football Hall of Fame rolled its eyes when, in 2023, a group called The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) issued a positive report card for the NFL, recognizing its commitment to wokeness. According to ESPN, the league had earned good marks for racial hiring practices (86.2%), gender hiring practices (84%), and “an overall combined grade of B-plus (85.1%).” This was according to the TIDES 2023 NFL Racial and Gender Report Card. Don’t ask me what the TIDES methodology was, or for examples of the sorts of “inroads” the NFL...

As Michigan Senate race heats up, Vance calls El-Sayed 'evil' "I realise that there's something about Abdul El-Sayed that is very, very evil and on the rise in the United States of America today," Vance said, adding that he was seeking to "destroy" the country. "My message to Abdul El-Sayed is: You can pal around with terrorist sympathisers, and you can say that America deserved 9/11, or you could empathise not with the children who were targeted at Temple Israel, but with the attacker," the vice-president said.

Manhattan’s wealthiest residents just found a new way to dodge Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax: Don’t buy at all. The city’s luxury rental market is shattering records as wealthy New Yorkers who could easily afford $20 million or $50 million trophy homes are choosing to rent instead, brokers say, a trend accelerating since the new tax on high-value second homes took effect. Manhattan median rents hit $5,295 a month in July, a record high, up 6% compared with last July and unchanged from June’s plateau, according to a Corcoran Group report obtained by The Post, with the average rent citywide...

The program, codenamed C430L, began in 2023 and was arranged by Russia's state arms exporter, Rosoboronexport, in coordination with the US-sanctioned NPO Mashinostroyenia.

A 56-year-old woman was allegedly caught photographing jurors in the Lindsay Clancy triple-murder trial Tuesday afternoon, according to reports. Dawn Light of Sutton, Massachusetts, was placed in handcuffs outside the Plymouth Superior Court around 3:40 p.m., according to the Massachusetts State Police. Although state police did not confirm whether the arrest was specifically related to the sensational trial, sources told CBS Boston reporter Kristin Rex that “Someone (who is not a media member) was arrested outside” the courthouse and is “accused of filming jurors in Lindsay Clancy’s trial,” she wrote on X. “Jurors allegedly saw the filming happening,” she added....

"I could end the deficit in five minutes," he said. "You just pass a law that says that any time there's a deficit of more than three percent of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for reelection. Yeah, yeah, now you've got the incentives in the right place, right?"

NATO member Turkey would consider taking its relations with the China and Russia-led security bloc, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, to a higher level, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday. "Turkey's prospect of (full) membership to the organization does not imply a breakaway from any other bloc or from the West," Erdogan said, according to a transcript of remarks he made to journalists on his return flight from Kyrgyzstan. Erdogan attended a summit of the SCO, of which Turkey is a "dialog partner," in Bishkek on Tuesday. Erdogan also said on Wednesday that a mechanism is needed to permanently ensure...

Raúl Castro turned 95 years old in June, so this isn't exactly a big news flash, but if rumors are true, he's not doing too well. Various Miami-based Cuban exile media outlets have reported that a source inside his inner circle says he has had a stroke and is in the hospital in critical condition. Some are even reporting that he's intubated and that machines are keeping him alive. Dr. Andy S. Gomez of Local 10 in Florida has also confirmed that Cuban sources tell him Castro is hospitalized, but he refused to say more or speculate about his condition....

With midterms rapidly approaching, Republicans had appeared to catch a break on the economy. After a year in which the war with Iran sent gas prices soaring and pushed inflation to multi-year highs, both June and July’s Consumer Price Index came in tame. Even grocery prices slipped for the first time in months. But then President Trump returned to his longtime obsession: tariffs. Indeed, last weekend, talks between the White House and Canada collapsed, and Trump immediately slapped 50 percent tariffs on billions of dollars’ worth of Canadian goods, reviving what the Wall Street Journal called “The Dumbest Trade War...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Water will soon return to the Rio Grande in Albuquerque, but it will only be a temporary fix for the river’s dry and cracked bed. The Albuquerque Bernalillo Water Authority, in partnership with a number of other agencies and organizations, has released more than 650 million gallons from Abiquiu Reservoir for a temporary re-wetting of the Rio Grande’s Albuquerque stretch. The water is expected to reach town by Thursday.