Free Republic

WASHINGTON — The House passed a sweeping set of restrictions on stock trades by lawmakers and their spouses that was paired with a voter ID provision that scared off many Democrats. The “Stop Insider Trading Act” cleared the House 232 to 198, with the full support of Republicans and 13 Democrats on board. This includes Reps. Kathy Castor of Florida, Henry Cuellar of Texas, Don Davis of North Carolina, Jared Golden of Maine, Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, Susie Lee of Nevada, Jared Moskowitz of Florida, Chris Pappas of New Hampshire, Marie...

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas., argues the Democratic Party is increasingly being driven by its socialist wing, and the party's leadership is capitulating to the radical left on 'Hannity.' Cruz says party leaders have been reluctant to challenge the far left, allowing those voices to play a larger role in shaping the party's agenda. He also praises Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., for what he calls ‘extraordinary courage’ in criticizing fellow Democrats and warning about the direction of the party.

Former Biden special counsel Jack Smith could face potential criminal prosecution after Republicans accused the ex-prosecutor of misleading Congress about the scope of his investigation into President Donald Trump. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, issued a criminal referral for Smith Wednesday, arguing newly released records contradict Smith's testimony to his committee that he did not obtain or review lawmakers' text messages during his multiple probes into President Donald Trump. "All individuals have an obligation to comply with a duly authorized congressional inquiry. Mr. Smith, a former public servant, is no different," Jordan wrote in a letter to acting...

Daily Readings from the USCCBThe disciples approached Jesus and said, “Why do you speak to the crowd in parables?” He said to them in reply, “Because knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted. To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.” Matthew 13:10–13Have...

The commercial surrogacy industry asks us to believe that contracts can redefine motherhood, assign parenthood, and eliminate the bonds formed during pregnancy and infancy. Kyla’s experience demonstrates the opposite.Two strangers arrived at Kyla Simpson’s Florida home in March 2025 to collect the three baby boys she had carried in her womb, brought into the world, and nurtured for four and a half months. They claimed they had been sent by the children’s intended father — a Chinese citizen who had commissioned the surrogacy but had never traveled to the United States. Kyla refused to answer the door and contacted authorities....

Has Vice President J.D. Vance been sidelined by President Trump over Iran? Right now, it seems that indeed, this might be the case. Let’s take a look at a brief timeline. On July 8, President Trump, joined by his Secretaries of War, State and Treasury at the NATO Summit in Ankara, Turkey, publicly ripped up the Vice President’s “Memorandum of Understanding” (MoU) with Iran. He said it agreement was “over.” “To me, I think it’s over. I don’t want to deal with them,” Trump told reporters at the Summit. “They’re scum. They’re sick ⁠people. They’re led by sick people.” The...

Sen. Jim Banks has offered a text-and-precedent-bound response to a decision his opponents assumed had ended the debate.When the Supreme Court decided Trump v. Barbara on June 30, 2026, opponents of birthplace-citizenship reform declared the fight over. But that disappointing decision was not the end of attempts to reform the system. It was merely the “end of the beginning.” Sen. Jim Banks read Barbara as a legislative map. His new Citizenship Act follows the road Wong Kim Ark charted.Barbara held that President Trump’s executive order was unconstitutional by locking in birthplace citizenship’s definition from a much older case. That 1898...

The Los Angeles Times recently published a "News Analysis" headlined: "Trump, long a critic of 'forever wars,' may be stumbling into one with Iran." The analysis offers legitimate grounds for criticizing President Donald Trump. He has described the objectives of the war against Iran in different ways. He has made changing predictions about its duration. He has repeatedly suggested that an agreement was near, only for negotiations to collapse. He promised no more endless Middle East wars, yet the conflict has continued for months, American servicemembers have died, and the administration has not clearly defined what victory looks like. All...

Sometimes you just have to write what you know and document what you've seen, heard, and metabolized to remind yourself that, no, you haven't gone crazy. Perhaps by spelling it all out and publishing it, the masses might begin to grasp the breadth and scope of a problem they’ve been led to believe is an overblown, remote issue. Tenacious journalist that I am, I'll provide ample receipts proving that the exact opposite is true.Allow me to show you what life in the trans trench has been like for the past decade, with a combination of personal story and indisputable, brute...

Key PointsA senior U.S. Secret Service official said the "threat environment" for the agency's protectees, who include President Donald Trump, "is the highest we've ever seen."There have been about 10,000 cases involving threats to government officials, including Supreme Court justices, so far in 2026, the official said. That represents a 40% increase in such cases over the same period last year.The briefing came ahead of Friday's rescheduled annual dinner for the White House Correspondents' Association at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington. Trump is set to attend.The WHCA dinner in April was interrupted when a gunman stormed through a security checkpoint...

We've gone through all of this before with Anthropic. Back in April, Anthropic limited the release of its latest model, called Mythos, to major software companies because it was concerned it could do massive damage in the wrong hands....rather than make it widely available to Claude users, Anthropic gave 12 tech companies access via Project Glasswing, which it described as "an effort to secure the world's most critical software".They include cloud computing giant Amazon Web Services, device manufacturers Apple, Microsoft and Google, and chip-makers Nvidia and Broadcom...In a video released alongside Project Glasswing's launch, Anthropic boss Dario Amodei said it...

In another case of “the internet is not real life,” Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” opened above expectations last weekend, dominating the box office with a massive $264 million global launch. This despite a months-long campaign from far right individuals on social media lamenting Nolan’s decision to cast Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy (a character who is in the film for all of three minutes) and Elliot Page as Achilles (Page did not, in fact, play Achilles). The conservative backlash intensified when Elon Musk endorsed complaints against “The Odyssey” and kept tweeting about how the film was doomed to fail....

A "digital missionary" who has long been creating Christian content was initially highly skeptical of artificial intelligence (AI). However, an experience using AI to create images changed his opinion of it, and he began to reconsider its potential. Gradually, he started applying AI in church ministry and was later invited to share practical AI applications in different cities. At the beginning of 2023, when ChatGPT had just been released, Brother Thomas's first reaction was doubt. A few months later, one of his close friends introduced him to AI tools and especially encouraged him to give them a try.

The past few weeks have seen the bond market start asking a question the stock market has mostly been happy to ignore: Who can actually afford the AI buildout? On July 9, S&P Global Ratings gave its answer for one of the biggest spenders. It cut Oracle Corp.'s (NYSE: ORCL) long-term credit rating to BBB-, the lowest rung of investment grade and just one notch above junk. The stock has since fallen to around $125, down nearly 30% over the past month and nearly 50% over the past year. What makes the downgrade worth more than a passing glance is...

A social media-savvy Louisiana pastor and author was convicted of stealing over $340,000 from his congregations to fund his gambling and personal expenses.Dale Sanders, 56, was found guilty of a 25-count indictment charging him with wire fraud, access device fraud, and obstruction of a federal investigation after a five-day jury trial last week, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Sanders, of Kenner, withdrew funds held in one church’s bank accounts and ltransferred them to his own pocket to subsidize his lavish personal expenditures — including gambling, dining, and living expenses, prosecutors said. Sanders worked...

Cotino was imagined before it was built. Walt Disney Imagineering created the creative vision, storytelling, design language, and lifestyle framework for the community before DMB Development and homebuilders transformed those ideas into a real neighborhood. Disney is not the developer or builder. DMB Development serves as the master developer, while third-party builders construct and sell the homes. Disney's role is centered on creative direction, placemaking, branding, and resident experiences—not building the community itself. The desert—not Disney characters—is the main inspiration. Imagineers designed Cotino around Rancho Mirage's landscape, Walt Disney's personal connection to the Coachella Valley, mid-century modern architecture, mountain views,...

NEW YORK, NY— New York City landlords are challenging the City’s first two-year rent freeze for regulated apartments, arguing the decision could make it harder for owners to maintain buildings as costs continue to rise. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday by a group of small property owners, targets the Rent Guidelines Board’s June decision to keep rents unchanged for roughly 1 million rent-stabilized apartments. The owners claim the board ignored its own research and acted to fulfill Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s campaign promise to “freeze the rent.” Small Property Owners of New York, whose members are among the plaintiffs in the lawsuit,...

I’m not sure if Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) wanted the speakership, but he turned out to be the right person for the job. Speaker Johnson continues to impress by passing numerous pieces of legislation with razor-thin majorities. The man gets things done. He’s a closer.

A Canadian Sikh man has received an apology from a gym chain after he was kicked out from one of its locations for wearing a ceremonial kirpan knife. Gurpartap Singh Sangha recorded himself being ordered to leave a GoodLife Fitness gym in Windsor, which is just across the Detroit River along the US-Canada border. He posted the video to his 21,000 followers on TikTok, where it has been sparking controversy and going viral, receiving 2.2 million views as of Wednesday morning. 'Racially singled out by a good life employee,' a caption edited onto the video said. 'You’re kicking me out...

From the outside, this was shaping up as a strong year for wartime Ukraine. Ukrainian drones are burning Russia’s refineries and starving occupied Crimea of fuel. Moscow’s summer offensive has stalled on most parts of the front, and Ukraine is taking back territory. In Washington, a president who spent last year berating Kyiv has warmed to it again. But suddenly last week, President Volodymyr Zelensky dismantled what looked like a winning team — removing his popular defense minister, his prime minister and, late Tuesday, the acclaimed commander in chief of his armed forces. Zelensky, the comedian turned president who has...