Free Republic

New York lawmakers are racing to expand rent stabilization across upstate towns before the legislative session ends, according to Spectrum News. The proposed REST Act would let municipalities bypass expensive vacancy studies and use public data to declare a housing emergency. The bill’s sponsors, including Assemblywoman Sarahana Shrestha and Senator Brian Kavanagh, argue current laws are outdated and ill-suited for smaller communities. Only Kingston has successfully opted into rent stabilization since 2019, but it’s now embroiled in legal challenges. Landlords strongly oppose the plan, warning it could worsen housing quality and discourage investment. As rent prices and homelessness rise, both...

Lithuania's capital Vilnius on Wednesday presented an evacuation plan in case of war, as the NATO member revealed its anxieties that Russia could target it next after its invasion of Ukraine. Lithuania, a NATO and EU member, has been a staunch ally of Ukraine since Vladimir Putin's 2022 invasion, and has since ramped up defence spending and training. The three main evacuation routes run west, 'as the enemy has historically come from the east', Vilnius's Mayor Valdas Benkunskas said at a press conference. 'We do not want to cause panic,' he said. 'Our goal is clear: to have a plan,...

Federal authorities are reportedly investigating an effort to impersonate White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. Several individuals familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal that the impersonator reached out to several prominent Republicans as Wiles. In recent weeks, senators, governors, top U.S. business executives and other well-known figures have received text messages and phone calls from a person who claimed to be the chief of staff, the people familiar with the messages said. But the messages weren’t from Wiles—and the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the White House are trying to figure out who is behind the...

Pride month celebrations at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) will not be permitted this June, leadership told agents and directors Thursday. “I’ve received several questions about the FBI’s stance on Pride Month and what related activities FBI divisions and employees should or should not participate in,” FBI Assistant Director for Public Affairs Ben Williamson said in an email to assistant directors in charge and special agents in charge on Thursday morning. “So, I want to take the opportunity to make FBI leadership’s expectations clear: There should be no official FBI actions, events, or messaging regarding Pride Month.” The email...

33 years ago today, Edward Travens, 15, was murdered while trying to rent a video with his older brother in LA as the race riots were breaking out. A Black male yelled, "where you from?" and shot Travens five times as he exited the vehicle. UNSOLVED https://x.com/NatCon2022/status/1928071818897694832

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the Pentagon will cut its operational test and evaluation organization in half and appoint an interim director to better align the armed forces with an America First strategy. In a Wednesday memo, Mr. Hegseth explains that an internal review of the Pentagon’s Office of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation found that cuts to the division would improve the military’s “lethality, readiness and efficiency.” “A comprehensive internal review has identified redundant, nonessential, nonstatutory functions within ODOT&E that do not support operational agility or resource efficiency, affecting our ability to rapidly and effectively deploy...

US senators Graham and Blumenthal arrive in Kyiv to meet with Zelenskyy, announce Senate expected to move ahead with bill to impose a 500% tariff on goods imported from countries that buy Russian oil “Enough of talking, it’s time to act,” Graham told reporters during a visit in Kyiv on Friday. “I would expect next week that the Senate will start moving the sanctions bill.”

An illegal immigrant teenager who was spared jail time after he was convicted of killing a Colorado woman in a high-speed crash has been arrested, along with his family, by immigration authorities. The 16-year-old from Colombia was sentenced to probation and community service for the July 2024 death of Kaitlyn Weaver, 24, in Aurora after striking a plea deal with prosecutors. The teen, who has not been publicly named because of state laws that shield the identity of underage criminal suspects, was arrested May 20 along with his family, who were also living in the United States illegally, U.S. Immigration...

As the administration continues to remake the federal bureaucracy to President Trump’s liking, the Office of Personnel and Management has developed an intensive new training program for those aspiring to join the Senior Executive Service, the upper echelon of government employees. Per an OPM memo, obtained first by RealClearPolitics, the syllabus includes course work grounded in the U.S. Constitution, “Founding ideals of our government,” and Trump’s own executive orders. The development program requires 80 hours of video-based training and culminates in two days of in-person training in Washington, D.C. It will affect government employees across the administration and disparate agencies...

It's not just TikTok that's in trouble over cybersecurity. U.S. authorities are investigating TP-Link, a Chinese company that holds 65% of the U.S. market for home and small-business routers, for potential national security risks, the Wall Street Journal reports today. The company’s routers have been linked to cyberattacks targeting Western organizations and government agencies. Key points Security Concerns: Microsoft found that Chinese hackers used TP-Link routers in cyberattacks. Government Probes: Commerce, Defense, and Justice departments are investigating, with a potential U.S. ban on TP-Link devices under consideration for next year. Router Flaws: TP-Link routers are often shipped with unaddressed security...

Attorney General Ken Paxton has successfully stopped an enforcement guidance issued under former President Joe Biden that sought to redefine the definition of “discrimination” to include self-professed “gender identity.” This unlawful rewrite of federal law would have opened private and state employers to lawsuits if they did not adopt sweeping “transgender” inclusive policies. “The Biden Administration unlawfully tried to twist federal law into a tool for advancing radical gender ideology by attempting to force employers to adopt ‘transgender’ policies or risk being sued,” said Attorney General Paxton. “The federal government has no right to force Texans to play along with...

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With all the strategy the left has thrown into their zombie media people on why, how and who they are gearing up for the next two elections and since the right is so caught up in their recent presidential election glow with Trump winning and never stopping for celebration by hitting the ground running and keeping a pace that is leaving many in the dust behind him, we have to consider he is only going to do this for a max of four years. But his replacement will have to come from the ranks and no one really has stepped...

Is it going to blow — or blow over? Seismic activity levels on Alaska’s Mount Spurr soared to March levels earlier this week, sparking fear that an eruption could be on the horizon. “Earthquake activity beneath Mount Spurr remains elevated,” the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) warned in a May 28 report. “Following a steady decline from late March through April, shallow earthquake activity has increased in the past two weeks to March levels of about 100 events per week.” And while the advisory assured that the “likelihood of an eruption continues to gradually decline,” the 11,000-foot volcano remains at an...

The judges on the U.S. Court of International Trade who ruled that President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs are illegal have a history of Democrat Party activism.Each of the members of the three-judge panel issuing the Wednesday ruling – which was stayed Thursday by an appeals court, allowing the tariffs to continue – fit the profile of other activists judges who continued their political activism after joining the court.Judges Gary Katzmann, Timothy Reif, and Jane Restani have histories of supporting Democrat candidates that span as far back as 45 years ago and have thwarted Trump’s authority in both of his...

Joe Biden is back! 82-year-old Biden delivered remarks at a Memorial Day Event in New Castle, Delaware, on Friday. This is the first time Biden has spoken publicly since his cancer diagnosis. Or rather, since Biden admitted he has metastatic cancer. Medical experts believe Biden may have been suffering from prostate cancer for years. Joe Biden looked frail as he exited his vehicle and made his way over to the event. WATCH: VIDEO AT LINK............. Of course, Biden made the Memorial Day speech about himself and implied his son, Beau, died while serving in Iraq. Beau Biden died of brain...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – An Albuquerque business owner is facing a murder charge after police said he shot a fleeing shoplifter. According to the Albuquerque Police Department, the owner of Moe’s Smoke Shop shot a shoplifter who was reversing his car away from the store. “A lot of commotion. We went ahead and came to the windows by my work, we looked out, we saw a guy running out, that fled in a white Toyota Camry. Then we saw the owner of the smoke shop also out there,” said an employee at a nearby business who wanted to remain anonymous....

Buried for hundreds of years, ancient brains are finally speaking. What they’re saying could change everything we thought we knew. A pioneering scientific breakthrough has made it possible to extract proteins from preserved soft tissues, including human brains, revealing a vast archive of biological information that has long remained inaccessible. This new method promises to reshape our understanding of evolution, diet, microbiomes, and even the development of brain cells over millennia. Tapping Into Hidden Biological Archives Every organism is built from proteins—molecules that drive vital processes such as heartbeats and neural communication. When an organism dies, these proteins usually degrade...

The United States of America may withdraw from the negotiation process to resolve the full-scale war in Ukraine if White House leader Donald Trump believes he is being "used," warns White House Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg on ABC News. "I think when you talk about walking away if he believes he's being used and that there is no hope in progress going forward, he goes: 'We’re done with this. Europe, we leave it over to you'," Kellogg stated, commenting on Trump’s threats to exit the negotiation process. Negotiations on resolving war in Ukraine Over the past few months,...

Republican Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky said Thursday night that the United States should stop all military aid to Israel, citing mounting civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip. Newsweek reached out to Massie's office via email Thursday for comment.