Free Republic

@RandPaul Tune in now - I’ll be live on the Senate floor soon talking trade and tax policy.

Deuteronomy 13:17 " And there shall cleave not (Or, be no personal profit) of the cursed thing to thine hand: that the LORD may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and shew thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers;" 2 Corinthians 6:17 "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the LORD, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you." 1 Peter 2:11 " Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;" Jude...

Another small Christian college is shuttering. St. Andrews University announced it would close its Laurinburg, N.C., campus on May 5, 2025 after the spring semester ends. “This outcome follows years of effort to preserve our presence in this community while delivering an affordable, high-quality education and meaningful student experience. Despite those efforts, we have reached a point where financial sustainability is no longer attainable,” Dr. Tarun Malik, St. Andrews campus president and provost, said in a statement about the closing. The president sought to assure students it would support them in finding teach-out opportunities at other universities, such as Brevard...

CORUSCANT — Despite rampant allegations regarding the appearance of a dark-robed figure engaging in nefarious activities on various star systems, the media maintained that there was no evidence that indicated the demon-horned man with Sith tattoos all over his face and body and wielding a red-bladed lightsaber was a member of the Sith. Journalists sought to debunk reports that the shadowy figure had terrorized multiple people by Force-choking them and zapping them with purple lightning, saying this alleged "evidence" was circumstantial at best and likely just hearsay. "Just because he has a red lightsaber and Sith tattoos doesn't make him...

China has created a list of US-made products that would be exempted from its 125 per cent tariffs and is quietly notifying companies about the policy, two people familiar with the matter said, as Beijing seeks to ease the impact of its trade war with Washington. China has already granted tariff exemptions on select products, including select pharmaceuticals, microchips and aircraft engines and was asking firms to identify critical goods they need levy-free, Reuters reported on Friday (Apr 25). However, the existence of a so-called 'whitelist' had not been previously reported. The quiet approach allows Beijing, which has repeatedly said...

New York state legislators got one step closer to legalizing assisted suicide for terminally ill people on Tuesday. The state Assembly, following nearly five hours of emotional debate, passed the controversial “Medical Aid in Dying Act” 81-67, with around 20 Democrats breaking ranks to oppose the controversial measure. “Each and every life has value,” Assemblywoman Mary Beth Walsh (R-Saratoga), one of the legislation’s opponents, said on the Assembly floor. “Progress may not be on a straight line and will look different to each of us, but this idea of giving up and dying is not excelsior, ever upward. It’s incredibly...

Earlier today, Christianity Today published an article suggesting that Jesus was not crucified on a cross but was instead bound with ropes in a manner that diverges from the traditional understanding of His death. Their piece begins: This hypothesis, presented on the eve of Resurrection Sunday, is not only historically implausible but also scripturally baseless and culturally subversive. The claim undermines one of Christianity’s most central symbols—the cross—and aligns with a broader pattern of ideological deconstruction aimed at eroding historic Christian faith. HISTORICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE CROSS The historical record of Roman crucifixion is robust, and the evidence overwhelmingly supports...

PUC Public Comment Hearing Info re: Xcel Energy JTS.. ... The PUC invites community members to provide comments regarding Xcel Energy’s Just Transition Plan (JTS), Proceeding 24A-0442E. The JTS is Xcel Energy’s next Electric Resource Plan to address the acquisition of new utility resources to meet future electricity needs on its system. The primary objectives of the JTS include fulfilling resource adequacy and providing reliable service; continuing progress on emissions reductions; and, delivering a just transition in communities where generation assets are retiring. Xcel Energy’s Unit 3 coal-fired facility in Pueblo will retire no later than Jan. 1, 2031, and...

his week, Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard declassified and released former President Biden's "Strategic Implementation Plan for Countering Domestic Terrorism." To combat this threat, the plan called for censorship, closing people's bank accounts, and gun control. It directed the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the Department of Homeland Security to target incidents of concerning non-criminal behavior. Examples of which included excessive church attendance, criticizing government policies, participating in MAGA rallies, and membership in the National Rifle Association. Gabbard characterized the plan as "a direct assault on the civil liberties of law-abiding citizens. Resources were diverted from the...

Russia's President Vladimir Putin signed a decree late on Tuesday renaming the airport in Volgograd as Stalingrad, as the city was known when the Soviet army defeated the Nazi German forces in the biggest battle of World War Two, APA reports citing Reuters. "In order to perpetuate the Victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, I hereby decree ... to assign the historical name 'Stalingrad' to Volgograd International Airport," the decree published on the Kremlin's website said.

With the closure of Hayden Station approaching, Routt County and Hayden are at a crossroads, facing not only the loss of a major economic engine, but also the challenge of ensuring a just transition for workers and the broader community. At the regular meeting of the Routt County commissioners on Tuesday, local residents and stakeholders gathered for an educational presentation hosted by the Office of the Utility Consumer Advocate, aimed to demystify the complex regulatory process and prepare the public for Thursday’s critical Public Utilities Commission hearing in Hayden.. Routt County and Hayden are seeking an $89 million unified settlement...

Former first lady Michelle Obama said she stopped spanking her daughters when they were growing up because it made her feel “silly.” Obama said she spanked Malia and Sasha — now 26 and 23 — a few times before she felt that it wasn’t an effective way to discipline them, and the punishment made her feel “embarrassed” as a parent. “I felt silly,” she said in a candid conversation with Damon and Marlon Wayans about corporal punishment on Wednesday’s episode of her IMO podcast with her brother Craig Robinson.

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) paid homage to the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and introduced “the ‘assault weapons’ ban of 2025” Wednesday morning. In an X post, Schiff explained that his legislation would “ban the sale, manufacture, import, and transfer of military-style ‘assault weapons.'” He claimed there have been “486 mass shootings involving ‘assault weapons'” since 2006, but did not provide any sources to substantiate the figures. He did reference Feinstein’s introduction of the first “assault weapons” ban over three decades ago, then claimed her ban “had a dramatic impact on mass shootings” during the ten years in which it...

United States District Court Judge Jennifer Thurston, appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California by former President Joe Biden, is blocking Border Patrol Agents across most of California from arresting suspected illegal aliens unless they have a warrant for their arrest. This week, Thurston issued a preliminary injunction that will prevent Border Patrol agents in California’s eastern district, the largest judicial district in the state, from carrying out arrests of suspected illegal aliens without a warrant and halting such arrests unless agents have a “reasonable suspicion” the suspect is an illegal alien. “Indeed, the evidence...

The apparent silver lining: Those who failed to register could be charged with felonies and deported. The Oversight Project sent a Freedom of Information request earlier this year to the U.S. Selective Service System seeking data on illegal aliens who failed to register for the draft. Now with the responses in, it appears that the watchdog group's hypothesis — both that the SSS during former President Joe Biden's tenure made little effort to ensure that male illegal aliens ages 18-26 were registered for the draft, as required by law, and that multitudes of military-age male illegal aliens likely slipped through...

U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus have put Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on notice: Don't mess with the name Fort Cavazos. With support from President Donald Trump, Hegseth has begun reversing a Biden-era initiative to remove the names of Confederate figures from military installations. Hegseth has restored names with Confederate connotations to two Army bases, and he has vowed to continue. That has sparked fears that the Central Texas armored division base named for Gen. Richard E. Cavazos, the Army's first Hispanic four-star general, could be next. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus is trying to get in front...

[Note: This article has been updated to include a new response from the office of Hakeem Jeffries.] HOUSE MINORITY LEADER Hakeem Jeffries was asked Monday whether Democrats should continue to advocate for the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, and the other men wrongly shipped to El Salvador, by making the trip to the country to put a spotlight on the issue. “Our reaction is that Donald Trump has the lowest approval rating of any president in modern American history,” Jeffries responded. But while Jeffries may be publicly agnostic on El Salvador trips like the one Reps. Robert Garcia, Yassamin Ansari,...

A massive explosion at Iran’s largest commercial port killed several people and destroyed shiploads of ballistic missile fuel from China, news reports suggest. “A huge blast probably caused by the explosion of chemical materials killed at least 18 people and injured more than 700 on Saturday at Iran’s biggest port, Bandar Abbas,” Reuters reported, citing Iranian regime-run media. The exploding rocket fuel sent out a huge plume, unleashing a shock wave spanning several miles. “Iran’s official news channels aired footage of a vast black and orange cloud of smoke billowing up above the port in the aftermath of the blast,”...

Airyn De Niro, the daughter of Robert De Niro, has revealed she is a transgender woman and opened up about her journey. Airyn was born in 1997 during De Niro’s relationship with her mother, Toukie Smith. She also has a twin, Julian De Niro. Despite her father’s status as an A-lister, Airyn has kept herself out of the limelight until recently, when recent tabloid articles accused her of nepotism, which she has denied in a new interview. Speaking to Them, Airyn said: “Not only did they get information wrong about me… They just sort of reminded me that people really...

Before the sounds of the swinging sixties broke into the mainstream, the more individualistic youth of England’s capital city danced all night to the sounds of American jazz and soul music. Dark nightclubs and backstreet jazz bars saw an influx of sharply dressed youngsters, arriving on Italian scooters, hopped up on amphetamines, all hoping to hear the latest sounds emanating from the States. For many of them, it was the music of Jimmy Smith that they were desperate to hear. Smith was instrumental in the development of the mod subculture, with his albums on regular rotation in clubs like The...