Free Republic

Los Angeles voters were asked to back a “mansion tax” to raise money for homeless housing after passing a $1.2 billion bond measure to build the same. Now Mayor Karen Bass wants rich residents and businesses to pitch in more money. During her State of the City address, the mayor called on business leaders, charities and wealthy residents to donate money to get homeless Angelenos off the streets, the Los Angeles Times reported. Bass urged those with the means to help buy or lease buildings that can be converted into housing for L.A.’s 46,000 homeless residents. “We have brought the...

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Spain: Mutant cockroaches pose health risks Image of a cockroach. Credit: chaipanya/Shutterstock.com Recent findings suggest a disturbing trend in the genetic alterations of cockroaches, directly linked to ongoing climate changes. So far in 2024, Spain has reported a significant rise in cockroach infestations, with incidents increasing by 33 per cent compared to the previous year. Experts, including Jorge Galvan, director of the National Association of Environmental Health Companies (Anecpla), attribute this surge to the record temperatures that are accelerating the metabolic cycles of these pests, notably the Germanic cockroach, commonly found in homes and food-related businesses. Most Read on Euro...

Two women have been charged after a toddler died in October of 2023 from fentanyl exposure. One of the women was the mother of the child. Courtney Daniel Toney-Baylous is charged with child neglect resulting in death after her 3-year-old daughter died in October of 2023. Jessica Lindsey-Shelton has also been charged with child neglect resulting in death.

The European Union will "start the necessary work" to hit Iran with heavier sanctions after Saturday's aerial attack on Israel, the bloc's top diplomat has said. Speaking following an exceptional virtual meeting of EU foreign ministers on Tuesday, Josep Borrell said he would ask his services to study the possibility of expanding existing EU sanctions against Iranian drone technology. It would see the current sanctions regime - established in July 2023 to punish Iran for aiding Putin's war machine with unmanned drones - expanded to include missiles and to also cover Iran's proxies in the region. The bloc would also...

Confidence in the British wine industry is at an all-time high with the UK Government pledging new funding of £1.5 million to complement its rapid growth. On Tuesday, April 16, Steve Barclay, the Environment Secretary, unveiled significant new financial backing for the wine sector during the annual WineGB conference at Plumpton College in East Sussex. This support aims to propel the ongoing success of the rapidly growing English and Welsh wine industry. British wine employment figures The government has allocated £1.5 million this year for the Future Winemakers’ Scheme (FWS). This initiative will concentrate on education, training, and upskilling opportunities,...

Teachers at a school have reacted with horror to a video of their middle-aged female colleague being repeatedly punched in the face and abused by a male student. The teenager has been arrested after a classmate filmed the profanity-laden physical attack at Parkland High School in North Salem, North Carolina. The teacher sits motionless in the classroom as the student lands a right-handed punch to her cheek before he steps back and demands: 'Want me to hit you again?' 'I don't want it,' she replies before he repeats his demand and punches her again, this time with his left. District...

A Muslim University of Southern California (USC) valedictorian has been barred from giving a speech at the school's graduation ceremony following a series of social media posts she allegedly made about Israel. A spokesperson for the college directed Fox News Digital to information posted on the provost office website, which announced that Asna Tabassum will not deliver her speech at the ceremony that draws 65,000 people to the University Park Campus. "While this is disappointing, tradition must give way to safety. This decision is not only necessary to maintain the safety of our campus and students but is consistent with...

Rep. David Trone, D-Md., who was recently blasted for using a disparaging term for Black people during a House hearing, is officially the largest self-funded candidate of a Senate primary race in U.S. history. Trone contributed $18.5 million of his own money to his Maryland Senate campaign, Fox News confirmed. And he brought in a total of over $40 million, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). No candidate running in a Senate primary has contributed this amount in recorded Senate primary history. "David Trone has been crystal clear that he’s prepared to do whatever it takes to...

MINNEAPOLIS — The nation's highest court has rejected an appeal from MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell. The U.S. Supreme Court has declined Lindell's appeal over the FBI's seizure of his phone. It was taken in 2022 while Lindell was at a Hardee's drive-thru window in Mankato. The U.S. government was investigating accusations of Lindell sharing sensitive voting system information. The case is just one of several recent legal battles for Lindell. In March, a judge evicted MyPillow from a facility in Shakopee after the landlord filed a lawsuit claiming the company was at least $200,000 behind on rent payments. A month...

It was a relatively bright day, November 21, 1920, when Vladimir Lenin, having won the civil war and driven off the American, British, French, Canadian, and Australian invasion forces, announced: “Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country, since industry cannot be developed without electrification.” Come November 2024 it will be a century and four years to count what Lenin meant, and how Russia is proving itself against everything which the military industries, special forces, weapons, intelligence so-called, operations, and plans of the old invasion coalition, plus Germany, can throw at it. So on November 21, 2024,...

Google workers led sit-ins at headquarters from coast-to-coast, protesting the tech giant's contract with the Israeli military and the company's alleged complicity in the Israel-Hamas war. Tech workers at both Amazon and Google have long-protested Project Nimbus, which is Google and Amazon’s $1.2 billion contract with the Israeli government and military. The tech workers, who organized the group "No Tech for Apartheid," said that the Israeli miliary will use Google technology for "genocidal means." "It’s clear that the Israeli military will use any technology available to them for genocidal means," the group said in a recent statement. "Google workers do...

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) may point the finger at his wife regarding the bribery charges he faces, new court records reveal. According to recently unsealed court documents, Menendez's legal team alleges that his wife, Nadine Menendez, withheld information from the senator, causing him to believe that there was nothing unlawful going on. "While these explanations, and the marital communications on which they rely, will tend to exonerate Senator Menendez by demonstrating the absence of any improper intent on Senator Menendez’s part, they may inculpate Nadine by demonstrating the ways in which she withheld information from Senator Menendez or otherwise led...

Turmeric, a flowering plant of the ginger family, has long been prized in Ayurvedic medicine for its anti-inflammatory properties and in Asian cuisines for its earthy flavour and vibrant hue. Haldi, the spice’s Hindi name, is derived from the Sanskrit for “golden coloured”. But for the millions of South Asians who habitually consume it, turmeric’s skin-staining yellowness can be deceptive and deadly. To heighten their colour, the rhizomes from which the spice is extracted are routinely dusted with lead chromate, a neurotoxin. The practice helps explain why South Asia has the highest rates of lead poisoning in the world. The...

On Tuesday, oral arguments commenced in the case of Fischer vs. United States, scrutinizing the legitimacy of felony charges of obstructing an official proceeding against individuals involved in the January 6 United States Capitol riot. The court's ruling will carry significant weight, as it could potentially influence the fate of hundreds of defendants from the January 6 riot and potentially undermine certain federal charges against Donald Trump. Currently, the conservative wing of the court has expressed doubt regarding the government's case, which U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar is making. Notably, Justice Neil Gorsuch posed a question that was epic, to...

Defiant and determined, House Speaker Mike Johnson pushed back Tuesday against mounting Republican anger over his proposed U.S. aid package for Ukraine, Israel and other allies, and rejected a call to step aside or risk a vote to oust him from office. “I am not resigning,” Johnson said after a testy morning meeting of fellow House Republicans at the Capitol Johnson referred to himself as a “wartime speaker” of the House and indicated in his strongest self-defense yet he would press forward with a U.S. national security aid package, a situation that would force him to rely on Democrats to...

Disney's been in a magical world of trouble over the last several years, ever since the company decided to pick a fight with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the culture war and go all-in on diversity, equity, and inclusion as part of its core programming at the expense of its longtime customers, traditional American families. A string of movie failures hit Disney's bottom line in 2023 and 2024, most notably with "The Marvels," which opened as their worst-performing box office film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. They also experienced flops within Pixar, with their latest, "Elemental," performing terribly at the...

Each day spent in a courthouse is a day spent off the campaign trailForcing former President Donald Trump to sit in a courthouse for up to eight weeks in a case that both sides of the aisle have deemed “dubious” at best is deliberate election interference by vendetta-driven Democrats. Rogue Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg indicted Trump on 34 counts related to allegations that Trump had his then-lawyer Michael Cohen pay money to pornographer Stormy Daniels to cover an alleged affair he had years earlier. Bragg claimed Trump falsified business records, breaking the law by having his company report payments...

Meet the first 7 Trump Jurors https://twitter.com/JesseBWatters/status/1780394222148878594?

"On June 18, 2021 in Florida, officers responded to a trespassing call at an apartment complex. The landlord reported that a woman was trying to claim residency in one of her vacant apartments. The landlord stated that the apartment had been empty on June 6 when her plumber had gone in to start a project, but upon re-entering the apartment on June 18, the plumber found an unknown female inside saying she lived there. When an officer arrived on scene, the suspected squatter had left the scene, but shortly thereafter, the woman came down the street yelling that she lived...