Free Republic

For the 2021-2022 school year, just 47 percent of eighth graders were deemed ready for high school. Twenty-eight percent of students in the San Francisco Unified School District are "chronically absent"—a proportion that has doubled since the 2019-2020 school year. Two-thirds of African-American students fall into that category. Despite the declining academic performance, San Francisco city officials have debated whether or not to rename schools or remove murals dedicated to important figures in American history. Three progressive members of the San Francisco school board were recalled earlier this year after parents opposed the district's focus on social justice issues over...

Republican leaders who worry that Donald Trump could hurt their midterm chances by announcing a presidential run too soon are hoping he'll be dissuaded from doing so by the prospect of losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal payments, according to an RNC official. But an RNC official told ABC News that as soon as Trump would announce he is running for president, the payments would stop because the party has a "neutrality policy" that prohibits it from taking sides in the presidential primary.

Two leading House Democrats are requesting a government watchdog step away from an investigation into deleted text messages sent by the Secret Service around the time of the U.S. Capitol attack. Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, chair of House Homeland Security Committee, and New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney, chair of the House Oversight Committee, sent the request Tuesday to the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency. In their letter, Thompson and Maloney wrote they have "grave concerns" about Joseph Cuffari, the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general -- including what they said was his failure to promptly notify Congress...

The Customs and Excise Office has held a container of weapons believed to belong to the US Army in the province of Lampung, a port official said on Sunday. There is no indication of smuggling attempt – the weapons were sent for the purpose of a joint military exercise between the United States and the Indonesian Armed Forces, said Frans Rahardian, a spokesman for state-owned seaport operator Pelindo. However, problems arises because the container wasn’t included in the shipment manifest, prompting the customs office to affix a seal on it on Friday. "When the particular cargo was sent from America,...

Spain's equality ministry has launched a summer campaign to encourage women worried about how their body looks to go to the beach. "Summer is ours too," runs the slogan above an image of five diverse women of different shapes and sizes. "All bodies are beach bodies," said Social Services Minister Ione Belarra. Women's Institute head Antonia Morillas said physical expectations affected not only women's self-esteem, but denied them their rights. The campaign illustration of five women relaxing on the beach also features a topless woman after a mastectomy.

Will “Lia” Thomas, the biological male who swam on the University of Pennsylvania’s women’s swim team this past school year, has lost his bid to become the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year.Each eligible school could submit the names of up to two female student-athletes for consideration before the selection committee chose 10 athletes from each division to determine the top 30 honorees. The NCAA selected Columbia University fencer Sylvie Binder to advance to the next round as the Ivy League conference winner.Thomas made headlines for crushing his competition in NCAA women’s swimming, sparking widespread outrage. After years of being...

Karl Rove, the noted Republican political consultant and deputy chief of staff for the George W. Bush administration, praised California Gov. Gavin Newsom's political acumen during a Fox News program on Tuesday. Speaking to Fox host Bill Hemmer during a segment of "America's Newsroom," Rove called Newsom's recent ad blitz in Republican-controlled states a "brilliant" move. Specifically, he praised Newsom's re-election campaign for spending just a fraction of its money on relatively inexpensive ads that, in turn, generated national news coverage for Newsom. "He has spent less than half a percent of what he's raised, and he's going to dominate...

According to a poll of likely Democratic Primary voters in New Hampshire, President Joe Biden is not the leading candidate for 2024. The state holds the first primary in the nation, and several possible candidates have been swinging through from both parties. Trump-hating Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited the state in the fall of 2021. More recently, Illinois’s extra-large governor, J.D. Pritzker, made an appearance. However, when the University of New Hampshire polled likely 2024 Democratic Primary voters, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg came out on top.University of New Hampshire Buttigieg’s most significant...

A doctor in Texas is suing the health care institution that suspended her for allegedly purveying “dangerous misinformation.” Dr. Mary Bowden, who now runs her own clinic, is seeking $25 million from Houston Methodist for alleged defamation. Bowden became concerned that the COVID-19 vaccines were not preventing contraction of the virus that causes COVID-19, and spoke out against vaccine mandates and, later, the vaccines themselves, according to the 19-page lawsuit, which was slated to be filed in Harris County District Court. After Bowden began sharing her opinions on social media, Houston Methodist and its CEO, Dr. Marc Boom, “retaliated” against...

A giant Mega Millions lottery jackpot ballooned to $1.02 billion after no one matched all six numbers Tuesday night and won the top prize. The new estimated jackpot for Friday’s drawing will be the nation’s fourth-largest lottery prize. The jackpot has grown so large because no one has matched the game’s six selected numbers since April 15. That’s 29 consecutive drawings without a big winner. Tuesday’s numbers were: 07-29-60-63-66, Mega Ball: 15.

[Catholic Caucus] Pope Francis is fulfilling a long-planned agenda to alter the Church’s teaching on lifeWe need to pray for the conversion of Pope Francis, to pray in reparation for the pastors of the Church who are misguiding the flock of Christ on the most fundamental issue of life.(LifeSiteNews) — The biggest victory for the pro-life movement in the past 50 years was the overturning of Roe v. Wade last month. Imagine with me for a minute the reaction of Pope St. John Paul II, had he still been with us. He would have rejoiced with tears embracing even from...

The following is from the GOP House Judiciary Committee: New whistleblower information reveals that FBI officials are pressuring agents to reclassify cases as “domestic violent extremism” (DVE) despite lacking the criteria to meet such a classification. Whistleblower disclosures have also detailed the agency’s effort to exaggerate DVE data to satisfy the Bureau’s leadership. One whistleblower explained that because agents are not finding enough DVE cases, they are encouraged and incentivized to change designations even though there is minimal, circumstantial evidence to support the reclassification.

Heavy rains forced me inside. After lunch I fell asleep and woke in about an hour. Something strange happen to me. I understand now. I have been so wrong about the evil vax. It’s doing more damage to mankind than we can even imagine. My eyes are now open…… Vaccinated drown in Michigan Great Lakes. Drownings spike 22%! https://upnorthlive.com/news/local/lake-michigan-drownings-water-deaths-great-lakes-surf-rescue-project-great-beach-south-haven-muskegon-red-flag Vaccinated man (Probably had 2 boosters too) drops dead in driveway. https://upnorthlive.com/news/local/saginaw-police-investigating-after-mans-body-was-found-in-driveway “Leave it to Beaver” star Tony Dow dies twice, once from Cancer, once from Vaccine. https://upnorthlive.com/news/entertainment/leave-it-to-beaver-star-tony-dow-dead-at-77-wally-cleaver-fight-with-cancer-diagnosis-announced-in-may-jerry-mathers-theodore-the-beaver-cleaver-tv-big-brother-hit-1950s-sitcom Texas Congressman and former Whitehouse Doctor Ronny Jackson suffers from rare vaccine reaction,...

Cocoa only reduces blood pressure and arterial stiffness when they are elevated, a study finds. Cocoa flavanols have previously been found to lower blood pressure and arterial stiffness as much as some blood pressure medication. However, how effective flavanols are in everyday life in reducing blood pressure has remained unknown, as previous studies in this area have been performed in tightly controlled experimental settings. Surrey's new research reduces concerns that cocoa as a treatment for raised blood pressure could pose health risks by decreasing blood pressure when it is not raised, paving the way for it to be potentially used...

Joy Behar told her co-hosts Wednesday on ABC’s “The View” that she has not seen a “smoking gun” during the January 6 hearings, so she believes former President Donald Trump will not be prosecuted.Behar said, “I don’t know. I mean, you know, there was a report today in The Washington Post by, what is her name? Carol Leonnig she broke the story, and Lester Holt said it could cause a disruption in the country, and Merrick Garland said, that’s not my problem. My problem is to bring people to justice if they’re guilty. Okay, good. On the other hand, they...

What happened Happy days are here again for cruise line stock investors -- but will they last? After suffering four straight days of declines, shares of Carnival (NYSE: CCL) (NYSE: CUK) rebounded sharply this morning, So what Cruise stock fans are pointing to a new survey out from Cruiseline.com that shows 91.4% of respondents saying they plan to take a cruise "within the next year," and 34% saying they will cruise within just the next two to four months. And yes, that sounds like good news for cruise lines, but beware. Because the bad news could still be coming. Sometime...

Explanation: This moon made quite an entrance. Typically, a moonrise is quiet and serene. Taking a few minutes to fully peek above the horizon, Earth's largest orbital companion can remain relatively obscure until it rises high in the nighttime sky. About a week ago, however, and despite being only half lit by the Sun, this rising moon put on a show -- at least from this location. The reason was that, as seen from Limfjord in Nykøbing Mors, Denmark, the moon rose below scattered clouds near the horizon. The result, captured here in a single exposure, was that moonlight poured...

Parenting a young infant can be exhausting, and potentially deplete parents' cognitive and emotional resources, but can it also intrude on parents' sex life? A new study reveals it is not the baby's disrupted sleep patterns—common in the first months of life—but rather engaging with the baby during crib-side visits which is the biggest disincentive to parents' sexual frequency. Parents who engaged with their infant 0–0.5 times per night on average, reported having partnered sexual activity 4.2 times per month, whereas parents who engaged with their infant over 4 times per night had sex 50% less often (only 2.3 times...

WASHINGTON (AP) — In an unexpected turnabout, Sen. Joe Manchin announced Wednesday that he had reached an expansive agreement with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer which had eluded them for months on health care costs, energy and climate issues, taxing higher earners and large corporations and reducing federal debt. Manchin, D-W.Va., whose resistance had long derailed sweeping legislation on those issues, abruptly revealed the agreement in a press release. It provided virtually no details on the accord. There was no immediate explanation why Manchin had suddenly agreed to the far broader package. In December, his resistance derailed a wide-ranging $3.5...

The World Health Organization (WHO) has appointed a scientist from the British Communist Party to lead its Technical Advisory Group for Behavioural Insights and Science for Health. Susan Michie, 67, is a professor in health psychology at University College London. She is also a leading participant of the UK government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), a group that is currently advising on the UK government’s response to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) virus, also known as the novel coronavirus, pandemic. “Many congratulations to Professor Susan Michie for being appointed Chair of WHO’s Technical Advisory Group for Behavioural Insights and...