Free Republic

Former House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) received a primary challenge Thursday from volunteer firefighter and former “Jeopardy!” contestant Harry Jarin, who is seeking to make age a centerpiece of the campaign. In a statement announcing his bid, Jarin, 35, said Hoyer, 85, “represents a bygone era of politics that isn’t working” and that congressional seats should not be treated as “lifetime appointments.” “I’ve seen from the inside how the Democratic Party has totally lost touch with working people,” Jarin said. “We didn’t present a vision of the future or politicians that people could relate to, and that’s what opened...

LONDON — Following years of leniency amidst increasing reports of widespread sexual assaults, the United Kingdom's Home Office, in conjunction with the Metropolitan Police Service, finally announced a crackdown on Muslim rapists. "Enough is enough," Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced during a joint press conference with the Metropolitan Police Service. "We respect your culture and your way of life, but we've decided to hold Muslim men accountable for committing acts of rape. A couple of them, at least." The United Kingdom has tolerated rape perpetrated by Muslims for years but, according to sources, the straw that finally broke the camel's...

SummaryTrump administration has said it will appeal court ruling Second federal court blocks some levies Markets see modest gains in response Analysts say even a pause provides valuable time May 29 (Reuters) - Senior Trump administration officials on Thursday downplayed the impact of a U.S. trade court ruling that blocked the most sweeping of President Donald Trump's tariffs, expressing confidence it would be overturned on appeal and insisting there are other legal avenues to employ in the interim. Financial markets, which have whipsawed wildly in response to every twist and turn in Trump's chaotic trade war, reacted with cautious optimism...

A Chinese paraglider has survived being accidentally propelled 8,500m (27,800ft) into the sky above north-west China, state media report. Peng Yujiang, 55, was testing new equipment at 3,000m above sea level, over the Qilian mountains, when a rare updraft or air current known as a "cloud suck" pulled him about 5,000m higher into a cloud formation. Saturday's events were filmed on a camera that was mounted on Mr Peng's glider and the footage has gone viral after being posted on Douyin, China's version of TikTok. It showed Mr Peng holding on to the glider's controls, with his face and much...

After gifting a $400 million Boeing 747-8 jet to the United States, the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, quietly retreated to the serene waters of the Mediterranean aboard his half-a-billion-dollar floating palace, Al Lusail. The move, extravagant yet calculated, underscored not only the emir’s immense personal wealth but also the broader display of Gulf state soft power woven into diplomatic gestures and billion-dollar luxury. While the jet grabbed headlines in Washington, the Emir’s superyacht made its way to the picturesque shores of Mallorca in Spain, docking discreetly at Port Andratx. In a week that blended global politics...

In a highly offensive video that sent the internet ablaze, a 103-year-old World War II veteran, Ivan Gregger, honored as the grand marshal of a Memorial Day parade in Pasadena, California, was heckled by a callous and disrespectful member of the crowd. For context, Memorial Day is dedicated to honoring members of the military who have died while serving out nation. The tradition involves ceremonies, parades, and visits to war memorials. Even in a deeply divided culture, most people agree that Memorial Day is a time for respectful and non-partisan actions, not blatant disrespect for veterans. Reacting to the video,...

It is paramount that the American people trust that the commander-in-chief and candidate for the highest office in the country receives a comprehensive, complete, and transparent examination. This includes all of the necessary blood work, physical, and diagnostic assessments that would give the nation a reliable understanding of the individual’s physical fitness to lead the world. While there is an inclination to link President Biden’s diagnosis of prostate cancer to the obvious cover-up of his mental decline, we must also query the trustworthiness of the level of expert care he received while in office. At the same time, it is...

A federal judge on Thursday issued a preliminary injunction and ruled President Trump’s tariffs are unlawful under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). US District Judge Rudolph Contreras, an Obama appointee said Trump’s tariffs are “unlawful.” Contreras said his preliminary injunction only applies to the two companies that filed suit, however, his ruling could open the door to more widespread injunctions. Contreras’ injunction is separate from the permanent injunction issued by a three-judge panel on the Court of International Trade. The Court of International Trade in New York on Wednesday said President Trump exceeded his authority to impose tariffs...

There is no such thing as a "normal" president--there have only been 45 people in history to have held the job and "normal" people don't rise to that level of political power. But some presidents are more normal than others. You have the machine politicians like Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson, for instance. You have the dynasty presidents--the Roosevelts and Bushes--and you have the scrappers who are smart enough to build machines that endure, like the Clintons. You could slice and dice the categories all you want, but it's hard to put either Barack Obama or Donald Trump into any...

The fix appears to be in for two court cases against President Donald Trump’s tariffs, according to a very knowledgeable source. Last month, five domestic businesses filed a lawsuit in a little known trade court in New York challenging Trump’s tariffs, arguing they have to rely on imported goods that are not reasonably available to them in the U.S. In his April 2 executive order imposing a set of reciprocal tariffs, Trump declared a national emergency, calling trade deficits a threat to the nation’s national security and economy. Trump’s tariffs are central to his economic agenda and designed to reduce...

NATIONAL COQ AU VIN DAY National Coq Au Vin Day on May 29 celebrates a delicious French dish known as Coq au vin. Join us as we share why this French braise of chicken, cooked with wine, lardons (salt pork), mushrooms, and garlic is more than a delicacy. #NationalCoqAuVinDay A French staple, Coq au vin translates to “rooster with wine.” It’s a rustic, peasant-style dish that is easy to serve when entertaining because a lot of the work can be done in advance. And since we all celebrated National Wine Day just a few days ago, you might be prepared...

FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino revealed shocking information Thursday morning that the FBI under James Comey had intentionally mishandled and hidden evidence from the American public in a secret room, and the contents would soon be known to the public. During an appearance on Fox and Friends, Bongino shared his takeaways from his new job, detailed the decision to reopen multiple Biden-era investigations of ‘significant public interest,’ and responded to Comey’s post threatening to assassinate Trump. Towards the end of the interview, Bongino then broke news that could soon send Comey to prison. While discussing the remaining Comey loyalists in...

The US under President Donald Trump has once again taken up the mantle of Western civilization. The State Department raised some eyebrows when it launched a Substack last month. Its latest Substack essay highlighting both the importance of renewing Western civilization and the failure of global liberalism might be enough to give liberal establishmentarians ulcers and national conservatives butterflies. Blaze Media senior politics editor Christopher Bedford said of the recent essay, "To put it simply, the Department of State has been ground zero for undermining Western values and putting American interests last. This turnaround is just incredible to see, and...

The Trump administration has cancelled a $766 million contract with Moderna for the development of its human bird flu vaccine, the company has announced. The pharmaceutical giant was awarded the multi-million dollar contract by the Biden administration last year, as the H5N1 virus began to ravage US dairy and poultry farms. It has since infected more than 70 people in America, killing one, and experts say it is only a matter of time before it starts to spread between humans – an event that could trigger a new pandemic. Moderna, founded just 11 years ago and based in Massachusetts, received...

Regularly smoking weed or consuming edibles may raise the risk of suffering a heart attack, a study suggests. The team from the University of California San Francisco who made the find warns it is 'more evidence cannabis use is not benign.' It also comes amid an alarming rise in unexplained heart attacks in young Americans, which experts are still trying to unpack.

Security video purportedly showing the outside of millionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's New York jail cell at the time of his attempted suicide in July has been lost, federal prosecutors claim.The five hours of footage taken by a camera outside of Epstein's cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan between 11 p.m. on July 22 and 4 a.m. on July 23 was mistakenly not preserved, federal prosecutor Geoffrey S. Berman wrote in a letter sent Thursday to U.S. District Court Judge Kenneth M. Karas."The Government has learned that the MCC inadvertently preserved video from the wrong tier within...

A look at the US Military C5 Galaxy. American ingenuity at work.

Victoria's Secret took its US website offline and shut down its online customer service operations on Wednesday after what it called a security incident. It's the latest in a string of cyber attacks that have hit retailers around the world. As of Thursday afternoon, the clothing and lingerie seller's US website was replaced with a note to customers saying it was aware of the incident and dealing with it, adding the website and some services were temporarily shut down as a precaution. It did not offer details about what kind of security incident occurred, but said its brick-and-mortar Victoria's Secret...

Perry Carbone, Attorney for the United States, Acting under Authority Conferred by 28 U.S.C. § 515; Charmeka Parker, the Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General (“USDA-OIG”); and Christopher G. Raia, the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation(“FBI”), announced the unsealing of a Superseding Indictment charging six individuals in connection with a sprawling fraud and bribery scheme that generated over $66 million in unauthorized transactions under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (“SNAP”)—colloquially known as food stamps. This is one of the largest food...

Mold painted over, wires dangling and black rusted pipes framing the ceiling were part of everyday reality for Marines, sailors and airmen living in barracks on Guam. The conditions left the Navy’s top admiral in charge of barracks across the service baffled.Photos of the Palau Hall barracks at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, and comments in an email from a senior Navy official were obtained by the Project on Government Oversight and shared with Task & Purpose.“It is baffling to discover sailors living in these conditions,” Vice Adm. Scott Gray, the head of Navy Installations Command, wrote in a May...