Free Republic

More than seven in 10 Scots back drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea to reduce the country's reliance on foreign imports, a survey has found. In a blow for Sir Keir Starmer and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, voters north of the border preferred meeting UK demand for fossil fuels from domestic sources rather than imports. The UK has become increasingly reliant on overseas oil and gas imports with around two-fifths of the nation's energy needs being met by imports, down from the early 2010s but up from the 1990s. The US, Norway, Qatar and Peru are among...

This is a major constitutional ruling on one of the most abused provisions of FISA." FISA Backdoor Surveillance Unconstitutional The recent ruling in United States v. Hasbajrami has sent shockwaves through the legal and intelligence communities, marking a decisive moment in the fight against warrantless surveillance under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall’s decision that backdoor searches of FISA Section 702 databases violate the Fourth Amendment represents a significant milestone for privacy advocates and civil rights defenders. This ruling has profound implications for government surveillance practices, reaffirming constitutional protections in the digital age.

FBI agents raided a building on Dorrance Street in downtown Providence on Thursday morning. "There is court authorized activity at that location," said Jim Martin, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Zachary A. Cunha's office. He declined to elaborate. The 127 Dorrance St. building houses the offices of Joseph Molina Flynn, an immigration lawyer in Massachusetts and Rhode Island who serves as a municipal court judge in Central Falls. Molina Flynn's office is the focus of the search, according to multiple sources. Molina Flynn was the first openly gay person and the first formerly undocumented person to serve on the bench...

More than 750 northern tidewater gobies were plucked from a lagoon ravaged by the Palisades fire and transferred to aquariums. A more complicated mission to rescue endangered steelhead trout from the same watershed is slated move forward Thursday. Watersheds seared by fire can take years to recover, experts say. The rescue team donned waders and marched into a murky Malibu lagoon scorched by the Palisades fire. Their mission: Save the lives of northern tidewater gobies, a tiny endangered fish. The destructive wildfire had stripped the slopes of the nearby Santa Monica Mountains and now rain could send a tremendous amount...

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order pardoning the 23 pro-life Americans Joe Biden imprisoned for protesting abortion. “This is a great honor to sign this,” Trump said, condemning Biden’s lawfare, especially targeted at “elderly people.” Trump granted pardons for 23 pro-life advocates who faced weaponized prosecutions brought against them by the Biden Department of Justice under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. Earlier this month, Thomas More Society attorneys submitted to the Trump administration formal requests for presidential pardons on behalf of 21 of those pro-life advocates who have been unjustly prosecuted, convicted, and in...

Newton joined several other Massachusetts towns when its City Council approved a “generational ban” on tobacco products. These laws prohibit the sale of tobacco products to people born after a certain year, essentially aiming to phase out tobacco altogether. Brookline was the first municipality in the country to adopt one of these bans, which blocked the sale of tobacco to anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 2000, when it did so in 2020. “Programs and Services voted to amend the proposed item so that it now reads that anyone born after March 1, 2004, would be prohibited from purchasing...

Barack Obama and Jennifer Aniston, two of the most iconic figures in their respective fields, recently became the center of an unexpected dating rumor. The story sparked massive speculation online, leaving fans questioning the authenticity of these claims. But what’s really going on? Here’s everything you need to know about the viral rumors connecting the former U.S. president and the beloved Hollywood actress.

The Arizona Libertarian Party is calling for the suspension and formal investigation of Libertarian National Committee Chair Angela McArdle, citing allegations of undisclosed ties to a voter outreach company used by the party and a potential conflict of interest. The party is also urging an inquiry into other alleged unethical disbursements of party funds. The statement, initially shared on X and later sent as an email to the Libertarian National Committee, urges the Committee to suspend Chair Angela McArdle and formally investigate her alleged involvement with a phone banking and canvassing company the Committee used last year. The Arizona Libertarian...

Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont has filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission indicating that he may pursue another independent bid for the U.S. Senate when his current term expires in 2030. Sanders, born in 1941, would be 89 years old at the time of the election. Sanders filed an amended Statement of Candidacy with the Federal Election Commission on Monday. According to the document, he would run once more as an independent candidate. This is a shift from past remarks Sanders has made about running for another term, as he previously said that his current term would likely be...

Do rights granted under the U.S. Constitution end at the border of one state when a citizen enters another? Generally speaking, no. The privileges and immunities clause of Article IV, Section 2, of the Constitution says that citizens of one state are “entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens” in other states. This includes the right to travel for employment and recreation. However, there are limitations. The scope of the Second Amendment’s right to keep and bear arms for self-defense across state lines is the issue at the heart of a case filed on January 7, 2025, against Bob...

“Bidenbucks” was technically dead on arrival on President Donald Trump’s first day in office, but the election-influencing executive order that Trump’s predecessor signed nearly four years ago will take diligence to fully kill. As David Craig, legal director for the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA), told The Federalist, Biden’s order “has substantial tentacles across government.” FGA has been on the frontlines of the battle against Bidenbucks since the executive order’s inception at the beginning of Biden’s term.“The head is cut off the snake but the body continues to slither,” Craig said, noting how deeply embedded Bidenbucks is in every agency,...

General EssaysAnalysis of general principles used by the "borrowing" thesis. Some notes on alleged parallels between Christianity and pagan religions -- an introductory commentary by a classical scholar writing for us as "Justin Martyr" On Napoleon as Myth translated by "Justin Martyr" Glenn Miller's general essay refuting the pagan-copycat thesis Creation Ministries International on Indian creation mythsOld Testament "Borrowing"Figures claimed to be sources for the Old Testament. Named entities in alphabetical order. Akhenaten -- Did the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten influence Jewish monotheism? Sargon -- Did the story of this Assyrian king influence the story of Moses? Sinuhe -- Did the...

An aide to Mike Johnson advised the House speaker’s Republican colleagues against subpoenaing former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson as part of their investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack in an effort to prevent the release of sexually explicit texts that lawmakers sent her, according to written correspondence reviewed by The Washington Post and a person familiar with the effort. .....In a meeting following the June conversation, Johnson (R-Louisiana) and senior aides also conveyed to Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Georgia) and members of his staff that issuing a subpoena to Hutchinson and asking her to testify under oath would serve...

CBN.com – Two different religions, with two very different points of view. Fatima Devanbeigi learned the truth about each of these religions in her search for a genuine relationship with God. “On the inside, I felt like there was a huge rock hanging in my heart,” says Fatima. “It was real, and it was painful. It was like something that would draw me down and wouldn’t let me live. There was no hope in it. And there was no hope for the future.” Fatima was raised in Iran as a Muslim. “Being a Muslim is not by choice, it’s by...

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he wanted to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin as soon as possible to secure an end to the war with Ukraine and expressed a desire to work towards cutting nuclear arms. In the run-up to his Nov. 5 election victory, Trump declared many times that he would have a deal in place between Ukraine and Russia on his first day in office, if not before. His advisers now concede the war will take months to resolve. "I really would like to be able to meet with President Putin soon to get that war...

The establishment's worst nightmare isn't Donald Trump. It's his teenage son. With ONE decision he sent the mainstream media scrambling. Here's how an 18-year-old just outsmarted every political expert: In 2024, something unprecedented happened in political media: A presidential candidate completely abandoned traditional news outlets. Instead, he went all-in on podcasts, YouTube, and creator collaborations. The mastermind behind this shift? His 18-year-old son. But here's where it gets fascinating... See, Barron Trump understood something crucial about Gen Z: 63% of them prefer to see "real people" rather than polished media personalities. They trust long-form conversations over soundbites. And they can...

The Corporate Transparency Act, which requires businesses to disclose ownership information, was blocked by a federal judge as beyond Congress’s authority.The Supreme Court on Thursday revived a federal law requiring companies to report information about their owners in an effort to combat money laundering, the drug trade and terrorism.The court’s brief order gave no reasons, which is typical when the justices act on emergency applications. The ruling was provisional, reinstating the law while a challenge to it moves forward.Critics say that the law, the Corporate Transparency Act of 2021, is needlessly burdensome, a threat to privacy and an unconstitutional federal...

The ABC, CBS and NBC evening news networks completely ignored new damning data that bookended Bidenomics as arguably the dumbest set of economic policies the U.S. experienced in its history. So much for all the media kerfuffle about how President Donald Trump was inheriting a Biden economy in tip-top shape. The Wall Street Journal reported January 16 that “Mortgage rates rose above 7% for the first time since mid-2024, an early setback for a housing market that is coming off two consecutive years of poor sales.” The data on the 30-year fixed mortgage, which was released January 16 by Freddie...

Senators are obviously trying to figure out how to sink Gabbard’s nomination before her scheduled hearing on Jan. 30.Senators are looking for excuses over reasons to refuse President Donald Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard — a combat veteran who previously served as a Democrat congresswoman from Hawaii and now faces character assassination.Gabbard, who is meeting with lawmakers on Capitol Hill Thursday afternoon, committed two crimes that now threaten to derail her confirmation: leaving the Democrat party and campaigning against the interventionist impulses of the deep state war machine.After Democrats fought to delay her way forward, Semafor...

Many of the same senators who voted against the born-alive bill on Wednesday proudly filibustered it in 2020.Democrats have tried to pretend they are not the party of abortion extremism. Their rhetoric and voting records on common sense and popular protections for women and babies, however, confirm they support ending life up to and even through birth.The most recent display of this radicalism occurred on Wednesday, the 52nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, when all 47 Democrats in the U.S. Senate voted to block a bill that seeks to criminalize leaving babies born alive during botched abortions to die. The...