Free Republic

California voters have sharply differing views over two of the state’s most prominent Democrats, according to a new poll. Former Vice President Kamala Harris, who is expected to decide by the end of the summer whether she runs for California governor in 2026, has near universal name recognition among California voters, and 50% view her favorably, according to a survey by UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies that was co-sponsored by The Times. ***Harris, despite losing the presidential election to Donald Trump in 2024, is faring better than Bass among California voters as she weighs a gubernatorial bid next year...

Poland's foreign minister says his country has evidence that Russia recruited people on the Telegram messaging service to carry out last year's massive shopping centre fire in Warsaw. Speaking to the BBC in an exclusive interview, Radek Sikorski said Moscow's actions were "completely unacceptable" and that a second Russian consulate in Poland had been closed as a result. His comments come after a Polish investigation concluded that the Marywilska shopping centre fire was orchestrated by Moscow's intelligence services. Russia denied its involvement, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accusing Poland of being "Russophobic".

Patriotic Millionaires lobby group wants higher taxes on the rich, but critics say it could drive away wealthA group of wealthy Canadians calling themselves "Patriotic Millionaires" is banding together to lobby governments to increase the amount of taxes they must pay, with a campaign patterned after similar movements in the United States and United Kingdom. But there is already pushback on the concept — even before the group officially launches in Canada — with the opposing view being that higher taxes would drive entrepreneurship away from this country. Speaking exclusively to CBC News in advance of the group's Canadian launch,...

Democrat California Governor Gavin Newsom is under new federal scrutiny as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) opens an investigation into whether the state improperly funneled taxpayer-funded benefits to illegal aliens. The DHS probe, led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Los Angeles, focuses on the state’s Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants (CAPI) — a 100 percent state-funded program designed to provide monthly benefits to non-citizens ineligible for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) due to their immigration status. According to a Title 8 subpoena issued by HSI Los Angeles, federal officials are demanding records from the Los...

* Currently, there’s a $10,000 limit on the federal deduction on state and local taxes, known as SALT, which will expire Dec. 31, 2025, without action from Congress. House Republicans are calling for a higher limit on the deduction for state and local taxes, known as SALT, as part of President Donald Trump’s tax and spending package. The House Ways and Means Committee, which oversees tax, released the full text of its portion of the bill on Monday afternoon. The SALT provision would raise the cap to $30,000 for those with a modified adjusted gross income of $400,000 or less....

BREAKING: The first set of White South Africans fleeing Genocide have arrived in the United States Notice how there’s women & children?

A federal judge won’t block a controversial Trump administration initiative to share highly sensitive taxpayer information with federal immigration authorities in hopes of tracking down undocumented immigrants and quickly deporting them out of the country. District Judge Dabney Friedrich on Monday rejected arguments from several immigrant-rights groups, that claimed the data-sharing agreement between the Internal Revenue Service and Immigration and Customs Enforcement violated taxpayer confidentiality laws. The decision is a victory for President Donald Trump and his immigration agenda. Trump administration officials argued that greater cooperation between the IRS and ICE will protect Americans by kicking out potentially dangerous immigrants...

An ordinary spring day quickly became extraordinary after a nature-loving metal detectorist unearthed a cache of ancient treasure. Marius Mangeac confirmed the discovery to Fox News Digital. He said he found the hoard in a field near Letca Veche, a small village in southern Romania.. Mangeac said that he found the coins “on a beautiful Saturday that didn’t foreshadow anything of what was to come.” “I took my detector and went out alone, as I often do, for exercise and to relax in the fields and forests,”.. “I didn’t think this day would surprise me and bring me face to...

On Thursday, a panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals partially overturned a previous ruling that found Southwest Airlines acted with religious discrimination when it fired a flight attendant who shared pro-life messages on Facebook. In 2017, Charlene Carter filed a lawsuit against Southwest, arguing that she was unfairly fired from her flight attendant position because of her pro-life stance. When the flight attendant union, TWU Local 556, decided to participate in the 2017 Women’s March, Carter shared her criticism of the decision on Facebook because of the March’s connection to pro-abortion messaging and Planned Parenthood. She sent a...

Campaigners say the true rate of paternity fraud - the intentional misidentification of a child's biological father - remains unknownMen are being left heartbroken after investing time, resources, love and energy into raising children they believed were theirs - only to find out it was all a lie. This breach of trust not only impacts the men who were falsely led to believe they were fathers but also deeply hurts the children involved and others connected to the situation. Paternity fraud refers to the deliberate misidentification of a child's biological father. One of the most shocking aspects of this issue...

U.S. stocks leapt after China and the United States announced a 90-day truce in their trade war. The S&P 500 jumped 3.3% Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose more than 1,100 points, and the Nasdaq composite rallied 4.3%. Hopes for an economy less encumbered by tariffs also sent crude oil prices higher. The U.S. dollar strengthened against other currencies, and Treasury yields jumped on expectations the Federal Reserve won’t have to cut interest rates so deeply this year in order to protect the economy.

A school board in Colorado cannot remove sexually explicit, profane, and “transgender” books from school libraries because the school board is conservative, according to a federal judge touted as the first openly lesbian judge west of the Mississippi. The ACLU’s Colorado chapter filed a suit on behalf of two minors, the NAACP Wyoming State Area Conference, and the Authors Guild, claiming that the school district engaged in viewpoint discrimination when removing the books. The judge granted a preliminary injunction in March, forcing the Elizabeth School District (in Elizabeth, a suburb southeast of Denver) to restore the books. Judge Charlotte Sweeney...

Your spice rack’s secret weapon could complicate your body’s ability to metabolize drugs, a new study suggests.-High doses of cinnamon, especially in supplements or oils, may interfere with how the body metabolizes medications by activating or inhibiting liver enzymes. -These interactions could make medications less effective or increase side effects, particularly for drugs like blood thinners, antidepressants, NSAIDs, and some hormonal treatments. -Culinary use of ground cinnamon is generally considered safe, but experts advise caution with concentrated forms and recommend consulting a doctor if you’re on medication. If cinnamon is a staple in your spice cabinet, welcome to the...

Christian evangelist Franklin Graham is urging Americans to pray for President Donald Trump ahead of the commander-in-chief’s trip to the Middle East. “Pray for President @realDonaldTrump as he travels to the Middle East for meetings,” Graham wrote on Monday morning. “There will be much pressure put on him relating to Israel, Gaza, and the Palestinians.” “Pray for God’s protection, and may God give him wisdom,” he added. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt previewed Trump’s four-day trip to the Middle East on Friday, telling reporters that Trump plans to “reemphasize his continued vision for a proud, prosperous, and successful Middle...

Residents of a small town in Arizona are reeling after a pastor was found murdered April 28 in his home. William Schonemann, 76, was pastor of New River Bible Chapel in New River, Ariz., where he was known as “Pastor Bill,” according to the Arizona Republic. Investigators with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office have not released much information on the case beyond confirming they discovered Schonemann’s body the evening of April 28 after responding to a report of a deceased elderly male. They have not announced any suspects, arrests or motives for the crime. The Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office...

Democrat California Governor Gavin Newsom is under new federal scrutiny as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) opens an investigation into whether the state improperly funneled taxpayer-funded benefits to illegal aliens. The DHS probe, led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Los Angeles, focuses on the state’s Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants (CAPI) — a 100 percent state-funded program designed to provide monthly benefits to non-citizens ineligible for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) due to their immigration status. According to a Title 8 subpoena issued by HSI Los Angeles, federal officials are demanding records from the Los...

A bill seeking to allow Texas public and charter schools to hold voluntary prayer and readings of religious texts has stalled after lawmakers failed to take action on the legislation. The House Committee on State Affairs grappled with Senate Bill 11, which would allow school boards to decide whether to carve out time for private prayer or readings from religious texts, such as the Bible. The bill, which passed the Senate 24-6 in March, sparked intense debate last Wednesday before being left pending at the session’s close, signaling further deliberation ahead. Authored by Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, and introduced in...

Good Monday morning, everyone! The title of this missive is not some signal of defeat, hardly so. However, it is a realization of a ground truth that Texans must accept, or run the risk of being a Colorado or other former red states. It was not too long ago, in November 2024, that we celebrated a resounding political victory here in Texas. Donald Trump increased his margin of victory from 2020 from 6 percent to 15 percent. We also saw 12 of 14 border counties in Texas go for Trump. In the so-called “hotly contested” Texas Senate race, Ted Cruz...

A newly enacted Tennessee law prohibits schools from punishing employees and teachers for referring to trans-identified students by their given name and pronouns, as public school staff in other states have faced professional repercussions for declining to use trans-identified students' preferred names and pronouns. Tennessee's Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed House Bill 1270 into law Friday. Lee's approval of the legislation follows its passage by the Republican-controlled Tennessee House of Representatives in a 77-18 vote and the Republican-controlled Tennessee Senate in a 27-6 vote. The vote in the Senate fell along party lines, with all support for the measure coming...

Pope Leo XIV urged reporters to do their part in protecting the “precious gift of free speech” in his first address to the media on Monday – and also called on governments around the world to release journalists they have imprisoned. The pope called for an improved model of communication that “does not seek consensus at all costs, does not use aggressive words, does not follow the culture of competition, and never separates the search for truth from the love with which we must humbly seek it.” “The Church must face the challenges posed by the times. In the same...