Free Republic

Rioting and looting spread across Europe last night after the 'execution' killing of a teenager in Paris - as pictures emerged of President Emmanuel Macron partying with Elton John while his country burnt, triggering a furious backlash. Mr Macron was filmed at Paris's Accor Arena on Wednesday evening, watching the singer on his farewell tour, while rioters caused mayhem in the capital following the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old identified as Nahel on Tuesday. The French President was snapped arm in arm with the legendary 76-year-old artist - who he bestowed France's Legion of Honour award - alongside his wife...

The decision in Students for Fair Admissions vs. Harvard will go down as a landmark in the battle over affirmative action.As Ed Morrisey pointed out in his analysis, it was somewhat surprising to see Justice Roberts stake out such a strong position on the case, given his propensity to write narrow decisions that make only incremental changes to the status quo.On its face the decision makes clear that affirmative action policies as generally practiced are unconstitutional. Decisions made on the basis of race are facially discriminatory, and should be prohibited.Prior Supreme Court decisions had carved out some room for racial...

...Before the mutiny was called off, Wagner Group fighters closed in on Moscow and shot down several Russian military aircraft, including an Ilyushin Il-22M airborne command-post aircraft. Photos and videos shared to social media showed the plane engulfed in a fireball as it plummeted from the sky, before ultimately crashing into a field and leaving behind a huge pile of debris. All 10 crewmembers aboard the aircraft were reportedly killed. The Il-22M is a valuable special-mission aircraft that Russia's military has relied on heavily for aerial command and control during its invasion of Ukraine. Britain's defense ministry wrote in a...

One of the Achilles’ heels of the conservative movement is the sense that we are mean to people.We think criminals should be punished more harshly than liberals do.We oppose initiatives that are sold as “compassionate” to marginalized groups.We criticize people like Dylan Mulvaney, who seems so happy-go-lucky.We oppose policies sold as catering to kids who are different from their peers.The list goes on. Even my family members think I support bullying transgender kids and don’t understand why I say mean things when they know I am not a mean person.Some of this is how we argue points, and some have...

As RedState reported earlier, the United States Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 vote Thursday that the race-based college admissions processes used by Harvard and the University of North Carolina (UNC) violate the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause, effectively striking down the use of affirmative action programs in college admissions.In Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s dissenting opinion in the UNC case, Jackson, who was nominated by President Joe Biden to the Supreme Court in part based on a campaign promise to nominate a black woman, accused the court’s conservative majority of “let-them-eat-cake obliviousness,” proclaiming that the Justices “detached” themselves from “this...

Redstate, Bob HogeRemember when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sent a bunch of illegal immigrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard? Do you recall how the left had a collective meltdown at the idea that the Massachusetts island was about to become just a little bit browner? Well, it’s been about nine months since this occurred, and the New York Times has given us an update on where these folks are now.I’m sure you don’t already need me to tell you what happened with these immigrants, but I’m going to do it anyway, just for fun:It has been nine months since the...

Almost exactly two years ago RedState broke the story of the defection of CCP counterintelligence official Dong Jingwei to the United States. The “terabytes” of data Dong, the highest-ranking Chinese defector ever, brought with him to the United States included information and data showing “that SARS-CoV-2 was manmade and leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, in addition to evidence confirming that the People’s Liberation Army managed the Wuhan bioweapons program (and others).” While it was essentially ignored by the mainstream media and dismissed by the professional former spook crowd, it was a huge story – so huge that RedState...

The 1,100-page report identifies ways to calculate monetary reparations to redress “how enslavement and its enduring legacy of systemic racism cemented structural inequality.” SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California’s highly anticipated reparations report, released Thursday, outlines how Black Californians can receive monetary compensation for the harms of slavery and systemic racism. The task force proposed more than 100 statewide policies to address generations of discrimination and racial disparities. Still, the report does not issue a concrete dollar amount owed to people "who are able to demonstrate that they are the descendant of either an enslaved African American in the United States, or...

DC Law enforcement arrested James Taranto today in Washington DC several blocks from Barack Obama’s home. CBS says he had “materials to make explosives” akin to a Molotov cocktail in his vehicle. Taranto allegedly has a January 6-related warrant out for his arrest. CBS said he was in Washington DC and attended the nightly vigils for the January 6 political prisoners outside of the DC Gulag. The Gateway Pundit on Thursday spoke to Micki Witthoeft, mother of Ashli Babbitt, about Taranto. Micki told The Gateway Pundit that her group kicked out Taranto from their nightly vigils. She said he was...

On this date in 1704, John Quelch was hanged on a Boston wharf for piracy. Quelch had re-appeared in New England less than a year after hastily absconding with a new privateering vessel while the owners tried to sort out the captain’s sickness. (The captain suspected his crew were up to no good, but the mutineers locked him in his cabin and set sail before the investors could act on the information. The ill captain died at sea and was pitched overboard — in what order, no one can say.) The privateer Charles had been tricked out and licensed to...

While mitochondria play a crucial role in producing the energy our cells need to carry out their various functions, when damaged, they can have profound effects on cellular function and contribute to the development of various diseases. Broken-down mitochondria are usually removed and recycled through a garbage disposal process known as "mitophagy." PINK1 and Parkin are two proteins vital to this process, responsible for "tagging" malfunctioning mitochondria for destruction. In Parkinson's disease, mutations in these proteins can result in the accumulation of damaged mitochondria in the brain, which can lead to motor symptoms such as tremors, stiffness and difficulty with...

President Biden on Thursday wandered off the set of a live television interview on MSNBC before the show even cut to a commercial break. With the cameras still rolling, Biden got out of his chair, shook hands with host Nicolle Wallace and awkwardly walked away after she thanked the 80-year-old president for granting her a rare interview. “Don’t go anywhere,” the MSNBC host told viewers as Biden made his exit, walking directly behind her. It is unusual for guests to leave the set of cable news shows before the host tosses the program to a commercial break. The clip of...

Opioid pain-relieving medicines are not more effective than a placebo in relieving acute back and neck pain and may even cause harm, according to a world-first trial. Over 577 million people worldwide experience low back and neck pain at any one time. The OPAL trial recruited close to 350 participants from 157 primary care and emergency department sites. Participants with acute-meaning sudden and generally short-term-back or neck pain were randomly allocated to a six-week course of a commonly prescribed opioid or a placebo. Both groups also received standard care including advice to avoid bed rest and stay active. Participants were...

Vitamin D supplements may reduce the risk of major cardiovascular events such as heart attacks among people aged over 60, finds a clinical trial. The researchers stress that the absolute risk difference was small, but say this is the largest trial of its kind to date, and further evaluation is warranted, particularly in people taking statins or other cardiovascular disease drugs. Observational studies have consistently shown a link between vitamin D levels and CVD risk. Researchers set out to investigate whether supplementing older adults with monthly doses of vitamin D alters the rate of major cardiovascular events. Their D-Health Trial...

Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya Red Bull RingFirst Grand Prix1970Number of Laps71Circuit Length4.318kmRace Distance306.452 kmLap Record1:05.619 Carlos Sainz (2020)﷯ 360 Video Onboard Lap 2022 Race Results 2022 Race Report 2022 Video Highlights Full Schedule

Senator Elizabeth Warren had the audacity to complain about the Supreme Court decision on Affirmative Action in higher education on Thursday. This is a woman who lied about her ethnic background in order to advance her academic career. Maybe she isn’t the best person to speak out on this particular issue. She posted this on Twitter: An extremist Supreme Court has once again reversed decades of settled law, rolled back the march toward racial justice, and narrowed educational opportunity for all. I won't stop fighting for young people with big dreams who deserve an equal chance to pursue their future....

Satellite images appear to show activity at a disused military base in Belarus, amid speculation about Wagner forces relocating to the country. An image from 27 June obtained by BBC Verify, and first reported by Radio Free Europe, shows what could be tents or similar structures appearing at the base. An earlier image taken on 19 June shows the fields within the military compound largely empty. The Wagner group, which is made up of mercenaries, had been fighting for Russia in Ukraine until last weekend, when it staged a rebellion.

The artificial sweetener aspartame might soon be declared a “possible carcinogen,” or cancer-causing agent, according to a leaked report from the World Health Organization. Aspartame is used in Diet Coke, Coke Zero, chewing gum, diet Snapple, breakfast cereals, ice cream and many other common food and drinks. It’s also sold as NutraSweet, Equal and Sugar Twin. The news about the possible move by the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer, first reported on Reuters, met with quick resistance from the food industry. “… [T]his leaked opinion contradicts decades of high-quality scientific evidence,” International Council of Beverages Associations executive director...

MARSHALL COUNTY, Ind. (WSBT) — A woman was arrested for driving under the influence (DUI) during an employment meeting with the Marshall County Sheriff's Department in Indiana, police say. According to the Sheriff's Department, Nicole Sniadecki, 39, of Plymouth, came in just before 9 a.m. for a scheduled meeting related to an employment inquiry with the department. While speaking with Sniadecki, Captain Jeff Snyder observed slurred speech along with an alcohol smell on her breath. She admitted to operating a vehicle while traveling to the Sheriff's Department and consuming alcohol that morning. Detective Lieutenant Les McFarland obtained a certified...

President Joe Biden has nominated April Perry, a former official with the Cook County State’s Attorney Office, to be the next U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. If approved by the Senate, Perry would replace John Lausch, who retired on March 11. A former Chicago Fraternal of Police Official, Martin Preib, blasted the nomination saying that Perry, Kim Foxx’s Chief Ethics Officer from 2017 to 2019, said nothing publicly when Foxx dropped the charges – in the face of overwhelming police evidence -- against actor Jussie Smollett for faking a hate crime. Perry resigned her position a few...