Free Republic

In many cases, political party identification has come to define public policy, percolating from the nation’s capital down to the 50 statehouses. Many Republican state officials are aligning with Trump’s policies by pledging to help him crack down on illegal immigration, for example. Some Democratic state officials are mounting a resistance movement, looking for ways to shield their states from potential federal policies restricting abortion and transgender rights, among other things. Some prominent Democratic governors, meanwhile, have taken a more conciliatory approach in an effort to forge a working relationship with the new administration. Here’s a look at what to...

Cooper Flagg gave Cameron Indoor Stadium a performance for the ages in Duke basketball's latest 86-78 win over Notre Dame...Flagg dropped 42 points, seven assists, and six rebounds...11/14 from the field, 4/6 from three, and 16/17 from the free throw line. [White kid, turned 18 just a couple weeks ago, plays Shooting Guard and Small Forward, currently ranked #3 in 2025 NBA Draft, 6'9", 205 pounds]

Two years ago, CAIR and its allies in the Chicago area thought they had their own George Floyd case. Cowardly officials quickly gave in and lynched a hero cop to protect a Muslim thug. But now the case has fallen apart. Hadi Abuatelah, a 17-year-old Arab Muslim settler living in the Oak Lawn suburb, was stopped by police. When police officers pulled him over, they detected drugs, and asked him to get out. Instead of complying with police orders, he grabbed a bag from the back seat and ran. The bag had a loaded gun inside. Police chased him down...

In its last few days of power, the Biden administration is expected to officially propose a limit on nicotine in cigarettes. It’d be a last-minute move to push back against the tobacco industry after President Joe Biden failed to finalize a long-standing pledge to ban menthol cigarettes. The proposal, which could come as soon as Monday, is not expected to include tobacco products like e-cigarettes or nicotine replacement patches and lozenges. Precise details of the proposal to cap nicotine levels have not been released. Multiple studies have suggested, however, that levels may have to be slashed by up to 95%...

For more than a decade, the media, Democrats, and Hollywood have told us that Western civilization in general and the United States in particular are white supremacist, genocidal, and unsustainable. The founding of America occurred not in 1776 but rather in 1619 with the beginning of slavery, whose effects are felt more strongly than ever. The original colonies and the expansion of the Western frontier depended on the extermination of indigenous people and theft of their lands. And our crimes against nature have resulted in apocalyptic climate change, which requires radical changes to the way we live our lives. The...

“And the tempter came and said to Him . . .” (Matthew 4:3). It is not popular today to believe in a literal, personal devil, even among professing Christians. The devil is increasingly seen as being somewhere between a figment of our imagination and a useful device to coerce obedience. Yet in addition to the name used here (“tempter”), the New Testament gives Satan many other names: “ruler of this world” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11); “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:2); “the god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4); “Abaddon” and “Apollyon,” both of which mean...

The headline from Politico’s “Playbook” would have been unthinkable eight years ago: “Meta sends Trump a friend request.” After all, Meta’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, is a political lightning rod in conservative political circles, especially after the $300 million worth of “Zuckerbucks” spent during the 2020 election to elect like-minded politicians. Yet lately, Zuckerberg has been singing a much different tune. He referred to President-elect Trump as “badass,” visited him at Mar-a-Lago, and donated one million dollars to his inaugural fund. This week, Meta made news by adding Dana White, a longtime Trump ally and head of the Ultimate Fighting Championship...

After suffering alarming spikes in violent crime, some cities are now reporting better news. Washington, D.C., is reporting a 35% decrease in violent crime for 2024. That’s after a 39% increase in crime in 2023 and the most murders in 25 years. But how likely are we to get at the truth when it comes to crime statistics? Questions were raised about possible manipulation of the number when the FBI released its annual crime data in 2023, going into the election year. The statistics showed a 2.1% decrease in violent crime in 2022 under the Biden administration. To many, the...

Six years before packing a rental truck with firework mortars and gas cannisters before shooting himself in the head... Army Master Sgt. Matthew Livelsberger told an ex-girlfriend he was spiraling.... In the case of Livelsberger, the Army will soon have to decide whether his nearly two decades of service as a special forces soldier with nine overseas deployments contributed to his death. Enlisted by the Army in 2006 to train as a member of its special forces, Livelsberger became a member of the 10th Special Forces Group, which conducts counterterrorism and training missions around the world. He deployed five times...

As fires wreak havoc in California, Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., claimed in a post on X the catastrophe is “what a climate emergency looks like.” In another tweet, he took aim at President-elect Trump, asserting the incoming president has been bought off by the oil industry. “Trump has been bought for $1 billion by Big Oil. Just a payoff to kill the IRA and the Green New Deal. We know what will happen. More fires, more climate disasters, more death. The LA fires are preview of coming atrocities,” Markey declared in a post on X. Markey, who claims there is...

LOS ANGELES - A Change.org petition demanding the resignation of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has surpassed 75,000 signatures as wildfires continue to devastate Southern California. Started by a user identified as "Frustrated Californian," the petition accuses Bass of "gross mismanagement" and a lack of leadership during the crisis. The petition points to Bass' diplomatic trip to Ghana, which left her out of the country when the fires erupted. It also criticizes the city’s preparation and resource allocation, including water shortages and underfunding of emergency services. "Families have been displaced, homes destroyed, and livelihoods shattered—yet Mayor Bass has been absent...

The cost of government borrowing rose again this morning and the pound fell – with financial markets still worried by the country’s faltering economy and weak public finances. The Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones, tried to calm nerves, saying the government was determined to keep the national debt under control. The Chancellor herself is on a flight to China, in search of new trade and investment opportunities to kick start the economy.

Over 900 prison inmates are among the more than 7,500 emergency personnel fighting the raging wildfires that are devastating portions of Los Angeles, California, state corrections officials said. “As of today, 939 Fire Camp firefighters have been working around the clock cutting fire lines and removing fuel from behind structures to slow fire spread, including 110 support staff.,” California’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) told NPR on Friday. Though California has been utilizing incarcerated firefighters — and other laborers — for over 100 years, the practice is controversial and has been banned in Colorado, Vermont, Nebraska, Utah, Alabama, Oregon...

At first glance, the single bedroom for rent in Brampton, Ontario looks like a bargain. True, there's barely any floor space, but the asking price is only C$550 ($388) a month in a Toronto suburb where the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom flat is C$2,261. Inspect it more closely, however, and this is actually a small bathroom converted into sleeping quarters. A mattress is jammed up next to the sink, the toilet is nearby. The ad, originally posted on Facebook Marketplace, has generated hundreds of comments online. "Disgusting," wrote one Reddit user. "Hey 20-somethings, you're looking at your future,"...

..."I do not have a hostile position towards Israel as a people and a state. But I do have a position on the policy of successive Israeli governments because of their crimes against the Palestinians – the siege and the occupation," he said."I have previously received an official invitation to visit Israel and am ready to visit it at the earliest opportunity."My first goal is to meet Yemeni Jews and apologize to them for what the regime of Imam Yahya in Yemen did to them regarding Operation Magic Carpet in the 1950s, as I wrote some time ago," he added,...

I was reading about the crap happening to Tina Peters and realizing that since it is a Colorado state issue, Trump can't pardon her for the crime of documenting Dominion's illegal destruction of voting records legally required to be retained. They did this through a (supposed) maintenance update, in CO and GA and probably elsewhere too. It's just like the mess with the grooming/pedophile gangs in the UK: the locals won't investigate or do anything to find the truth and punish the innocent rather than the guilty. My question is for the legal beagles here, or anybody with thoughts. Since...

...The burial belongs to a doctor named "Tetinebefou," the Swiss-French team that made the discovery reported... Although the artifacts in the tomb had been plundered, archaeologists were able to study the site's wall paintings and hieroglyphic inscriptions, which describe the doctor's position and depict a variety of objects that may have been used in his medical treatments.He held the title of "conjurer of the goddess Serqet [also spelled Serket and Selket]," a goddess who was associated with scorpions and was thought to provide protection from their stings. This title meant that "he was a specialist in poisonous bites," Philippe Collombert,...

Prescribed fire is one of the best tools California has to prevent forest fires from exploding out of control. While the use of controlled burns to reduce vegetation and wildfire risk has increased in recent years, experts say much more needs to be done across California. In October, KQED reported on the U.S. Forest Service’s decision to halt prescribed burns in California, a directive officials said was meant to preserve staff and equipment to fight wildfires. The pause occurred during the crucial fall window for controlled burns, raising concerns that it could increase long-term fire risks. The story has been...

The feds are still lying and obfuscating about the Russiagate conspiracy against Donald Trump: Witness the recent release, years late and heavily redacted, of a document about the origin of the FBI probe. This comes to light thanks only to the dogged efforts of the folks at RealClearInvestigations. The biggest thing the Bureau is still hiding: The “articulable factual basis” on which its 2017 probe of Trump’s alleged role as a Russian intelligence asset was legitimated. ...

Rich and famous residents of Los Angeles' fire-stricken Pacific Palisades community are frequent users of private security – but Los Angeles' infamous red tape is keeping some of their guards away from their clientele, according to private security experts.... Craig Paul, the CEO of ASC Private Security in Los Angeles, said he's got bodies on the ground willing to work, but he can't get authorization to send them inside restricted areas where his clients need them... While some private security firms are run by people with a law enforcement background, others are not, Paul said, and he sees a difference...