Free Republic

For the most part, TV audiences today couldn’t be convinced that spaghetti grows on trees. But in 1957, plenty of viewers were eating it up. Described as “the most successful April Fools’ Day prank of all time” by one Swiss outlet, the so-called “spaghetti-tree hoax” of 1957 was an attempt by the producers of a BBC news program to convince viewers that spaghetti — a food not widely eaten in the U.K. at the time — was harvested from spaghetti trees in Italy and Switzerland. “The last two weeks in March are an anxious time for the spaghetti farmer,” the...

“Victory is in reach” for Republicans in Florida’s 6th Congressional District, Florida state Sen. Randy Fine (R), vying for former U.S. Rep. Mike Waltz’s (R) seat, said in a message on Election Day. Fine is facing off against Democrat Josh Weil for the seat vacated by Waltz, who now serves as President Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser. While the district is solidly red — President Donald Trump won it by 30 points in the 2024 presidential election — Democrats have dumped large amounts of money into these special election races, with some reports indicating that the Weil has outspent Fine...

Coons was trying to highlight his party's issue with the Trump administration looking to get involved with Greenland for the sake of national security. As Townhall covered all last week, Vice President JD Vance and Second Lady Usha Vance traveled to Greenland, where they met with American Guardians at a U.S. Space Force base on the island. The Democratic senator claims he wants to see the administration focus on other issues, arguing that perhaps Americans are hoping for that as well. He couldn't just say that, though. He had to insult these Americans in the process as well. In...

Key Points * Columbia is one of the richest universities with a $14.8 billion endowment. * Still, using these funds to cover federal funding cuts isn’t as simple as smashing a piggy bank. * Academic experts and former university officials told CNBC how endowments work and why some of them are so large. ================================================================== In early March, the Trump administration canceled $400 million in grants and contracts to Columbia University over its handling of pro-Palestinian protests last year. The federal government sent the university a list of demands, such as suspending or expelling students who participated in the demonstrations. Columbia...

The fourth and final missing U.S. soldier whose armored vehicle sank in a swamp in Lithuania last week was found deceased Tuesday. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that the incident is "another stark reminder of the selfless sacrifice of our brave military men and women who risk their lives around the world every day to keep us safe." U.S. Army Europe and Africa said earlier today that "Police working dogs from the Lithuanian Armed Forces began work yesterday afternoon and NATO ally Estonia joined the recovery efforts early this morning." "Two Estonian recovery dogs, Tilt and Maik,...

The document on strategic defense cooperation, along with a plan for bilateral military partnership for 2025, was signed by Serbian Defense Minister Bratislav Gasic and his Hungarian counterpart, Krisztof Szalay-BobrovniczkyBELGRADE, April 1. /TASS/. Belgrade and Budapest are working towards establishing a comprehensive military alliance, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic stated following the signing of a document on Serbian-Hungarian strategic defense cooperation. "We aim to forge the closest strategic relations in the field of defense, and we believe that this agreement on joint activities will pave the way for a military alliance or union between Serbia and Hungary," the Serbian leader emphasized....

Speaking during a town hall in Wisconsin in which he explained what his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is doing to combat waste and fraud in the federal budget, DOGE head Elon Musk vowed that his department will launch an investigation into how so many Democrats amassed huge personal fortunes on the $200,000 or so they earn a year. As background, many on the right, including Elon, have suggested that Democrat and Republican Swamp Creatures use insider trading to amass massive fortunes, though Elon has also said that there are various other forms of corruption DOGE has found the Swamp...

GREENLAND — In a bid to sweeten the offer of becoming an American territory, Vice President JD Vance has offered Greenland the Statue of Liberty. In addition to the Statue of Liberty, Vance announced that the people of Greenland would also receive a copy of a Home Alone 2: Lost In New York laserdisc signed by President Trump, which is reportedly in mint condition. "It's an incredible offer," said Vance. "Not only do you get to become a part of the greatest country in the world, with the greatest President in history, but you also will get the Statue of...

A few harsh realities to consider: 1) The hard-left has infiltrated all Western institutions and actively seeks to undermine and subvert all Western nations - regardless of which particular puppet politician is in power. 2) Most countries within Western Europe will see their native young become a minority well before 2050. 3) Western countries currently operate on the principle that foreign people and foreign cultures are intrinsically good, whilst European culture and people are irredeemably evil. 4) This sets up the neo-Marxist agenda of the oppressed and the oppressor which copies the early 20th century revolutionary ideology of Marxist-Leninism where...

A French court recently sentenced National Rally leader Marine Le Pen to prison and banned her from running in national elections for five years, ostensibly for embezzling European Union funds. Even the court admitted that Le Pen did not personally profit. This is almost certainly a ruse, as French courts clearly do not care where or how non-conservative politicians and public servants get their money. Jordan Bardella, president of National Rally and Le Pen’s presumptive successor in the presidential run, strongly condemned the ruling stating, “Today, it is not only Marine Le Pen who is being unjustly condemned: it is...

The corporate media is being called out by Vice President J.D. Vance for failing to accurately report the facts of an immigration case where Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an El Salvadoran national and alleged member of the violent MS-13 criminal gang, was deported to his home country. While federal attorneys have acknowledged a U.S. immigration judge had issued an order preventing Abrego Garcia’s removal to El Salvador, the corporate media—especially The Atlantic and POLITICO—have attempted to brush the more troubling facts regarding the MS-13 gang member under the rug, instead portraying Abrego Garcia as an innocent father of three. According to...

Layoff notices began arriving early Tuesday for thousands of employees of the sprawling Department of Health and Human Services and its subsidiary agencies, with as many 10,000 workers potentially expected to be hit by the cuts, including some of the country’s top health officials... Emails went out to affected employees around 5 a.m., but some who hadn’t seen the messages showed up to work only to be turned away, realizing they had lost their jobs because their badges weren’t working, multiple sources told STAT.

Sarah Myers has always loved the outdoors. Growing up in Vermont and New York, the 33-year-old spent summers camping, canoeing and hiking in the Adirondacks with her family. So when it came time to pick a career, "I knew I wanted to work in land management," she tells CNBC Make It. Myers now works as a forester where she ensures the continual growth of forests, works on timber sales and helps manage fires during fire season. "I love the sense of history you get in the forests," she says. "I love the idea that these trees have been here for...

The Hamtramck clerk alleged pervasive ballot trafficking in the city’s elections. Meanwhile, Michigan’s AG met with a fraud suspect. Voter fraud has been taking place in the Detroit-area suburb of Hamtramck “for years,” potentially affecting “hundreds of ballots,” the city clerk told The Federalist. She wrote Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel weeks ago imploring action, but heard “nothing” in response. “That’s the only thing I can do, since there’s nobody else that helps me put a stop to them breaking the law,” Hamtramck City Clerk Rana Faraj told The Federalist. “It’s been ongoing for years, and nobody does anything about...

In Bad Law, Elie Mystal argues that our country's laws on immigration, abortion and voting rights don't reflect the will of most Americans, and we'd be better off abolishing them and starting over. This is FRESH AIR. I'm Tonya Mosley. My guest today, legal scholar Elie Mystal, says if it were up to him, every law passed before 1965 would be deemed unconstitutional. From his view, before the Voting Rights Act, the U.S. was basically an apartheid state. Mystal's new book, "Bad Law: Ten Popular Laws That Are Ruining America," mixes humor with deep analysis to argue that our laws...

The U.S. labor market held steady in February, with job openings, hires, and separations showing little month-over-month movement despite rising anticipation of new tariffs from the Trump administration. Job openings slipped to 7.6 million from 7.8 million in January, according to the Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). The decline was led by notable drops in retail, finance, and leisure and hospitality. Even so, the job openings rate only edged down to 4.5 percent, and hiring held firm at 5.4 million with a stable 3.4 percent rate. Economists had expected 7.6 million openings. Before rounding, openings declined...

Police in Bucks County arrested a man who they say threw nails and screws in parking spots and driveways where people he believed support President Donald Trump regularly parked their vehicles. According to court documents, police officials have apprehended 63-year-old Alaric Dalberg, of Yardley, on charges of harassment, disorderly conduct and related offenses. Investigators said Dalberg on several occasions threw nails and screws around parked vehicles belonging to individuals who voiced or showed support for President Trump. Police said that Dalberg also threw nails and screws in places where he believed, what he called, "Trumpers" would likely park their cars,...

The 8-year-long federal lawsuit seeking to ban voting systems in the State of Georgia that store a voter’s intent on a QR code rather than human-verifiable text has ended today. Judge Amy Totenberg issued her ruling over a year after the trial concluded, determining that “the Court lacks jurisdiction to consider the merits of Plaintiffs’ claims.” The Gateway Pundit covered this trial from Day 1 in court, witnessing several egregious manipulations of the voting system demonstrated live and on the record in the courtroom. University of Michigan computer science professor Dr. J. Alex Halderman successfully hacked the Dominion ICX system...

Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets to Hold Hearing on the JFK Files WASHINGTON— Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), chairwoman of the Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, announced today that the panel will hold a hearing on the JFK files. Recently, the Trump Administration released a trove of documents pursuant to President Trump’s Executive Order (EO) 14176, titled “Declassification of Records Concerning the Assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.” Through this EO, President Trump took the first step toward shedding light on events that...

Inside the White House, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has been perhaps the biggest proponent of ”Liberation Day,” President Donald Trump’s promised unveiling of sweeping new tariffs on Wednesday. But as the day nears, the potential fallout from those tariffs may well liberate Lutnick from his role in the administration, according to half dozen people close to the White House. While Americans and much of the world brace for a possible season of pain following the imposition of the new tranche of tariffs, Trump’s orbit is ready to play the blame game should things go poorly for the White House. And...