Free Republic

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Chicago workers making minimum wage are set to get a raise starting next month. Starting July 1, the city's minimum wage will be $16.60 and the minimum wage for subsidized youth employment programs, the minimum wage will be $16.50. Under the One Fair Wage Ordinance, the wages of tipped workers such as restaurant servers, bartenders, bussers and runners who earn a subminimum wage of $12.62 per hour will increase by eight percent per year until it reaches parity with Chicago's standard hourly minimum wage on July 1, 2028. Other regulations for paid leave, paid sick time and...

We spent decades kicking that rusted can, telling ourselves the road would hold if we just bought more time. But now the can is gone. It rusted through, crumbled into dust. The road behind is littered with the ruins of old promises, and ahead lies a choice.No easy paths. No shortcuts.One direction follows the same broken trail, it feels familiar, but hollow. The other, a quieter road through unknowns, dappled with light but demanding more of us.This isn't just a political moment. It's a human one.Some will see this image as the common man. Others might see the last leader...

Despite successes like “Operation Spiderweb,” Ukraine’s missile defense capabilities are described as being at a “breaking point.” With only a handful of Patriot batteries operational (estimated 4-6 out of 8 total) due to repair needs and limited spare parts, and each interceptor missile costing around $4 million (often requiring two per incoming Russian missile), Ukraine faces an unsustainable defense posture.

The bodies of two elderly US-Israeli hostages who had deep ties to New York and were abducted by Hamas during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack have been recovered over a year after they were confirmed to have been killed in captivity. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the remains of Judi Weinstein, 70, and Gadi Haggai, 73, were recovered during a “special operation” conducted by Israel’s internal security agency, Shin Bet, and Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip. “Together with all the citizens of Israel, my wife and I extend our heartfelt condolences to the dear families. Our hearts ache for...

5 June 2025 Saint Boniface, Bishop, Martyr on Thursday of the 7th week of Eastertide St. Boniface Catholic Church - Sublimity, ORReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Red. Year: C(I).Readings for the feriaReadings for the memorialThese are the readings for the feriaFirst readingActs 22:30,23:6-11'You have borne witness in Jerusalem: now you must do the same in Rome'Since the tribune wanted to know what precise charge the Jews were bringing, he freed Paul and gave orders for a meeting of the chief priests and the entire Sanhedrin; then he brought Paul down and stood him in front of them. Now Paul was...

Biden’s border legacy isn’t just policy—it’s a demographic earthquake that will rattle America’s foundation long after he’s gone. The spiteful open-borders legacy of Joe Biden will plague America for generations to come, long after the former president is a fading bad memory. Somewhere between 10-12 million foreign nationals are believed to have entered the U.S. illegally under his watch, to add to the existing 12-20 million illegal aliens. Almost all were unaudited. They stormed the border for four years without background checks of the sort that American citizens must undergo to purchase a firearm or take out a loan. At...

"Trump has built a diverse working-class coalition. Can he pass it on to his successor?" The Democrats’ defeat in 2024 reflected long-term shifts in the electorate, not merely Kamala Harris’s vulnerability or Joe Biden’s decision to seek re-election. If these trends persist through the 2028 presidential election, the long-predicted realignment of America’s political parties will be completed. The New York Times reported on May 24 that the Republican Party had increased its vote share in three consecutive presidential elections in 1,433 counties, nearly half the national total. The Democratic Party had increased its share in all three elections in only...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A former Republican congressman and vocal critic of Donald Trump says he wants to become governor in the president’s adopted home state of Florida, and that he’s running as a Democrat. David Jolly formally announced his bid Thursday, becoming the latest party convert hoping to wrest back control of what had been the country’s premier swing state that in recent years has made a hard shift to the right. Under state law, term-limited Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis can’t run for reelection in 2026. Even as Florida serves as a place for the Trump administration to poach...

On Sunday, Politico published a story titled "2 states, 1 tepid view of Kamala Harris and her political future." A much more accurate title of the story by Melanie Mason and Brakkton Booker would be "2 states, 2 tepid views of Kamala Harris and her political future."Although Mason and Booker tossed cold water on the idea of Harris running for president again via the South Carolina primary they were also much less than enthusiastic about her running for governor of California. If they didn't quite toss cold water on that campaign they seemed to throw much less than even lukewarm...

Everything is a cover-up. Nothing you hear is true. At least if it comes out of the mouths of Democrats and their mainstream media sycophants … or flows from their pens or keyboards. Turns out the Biden administration and the CDC knew the COVID-19 vaccines were dangerous but covered up that knowledge rather than properly inform the public. Big shock? Not to most of us. It also turns out the Biden administration knew cancer-causing chemicals were released into the local environment after the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. And it turns out again that they covered that little bit...

The Wyoming Democratic Party’s State Central Committee is operating at a loss and could be left with about two weeks worth of funding by the end of the year, its treasurer said during a Sunday meeting in Rock Springs. In its federal and non-federal accounts, the state party had $36,580.20 as of May 1, Party Treasurer Dudley Case said at the meeting. But the party has been spending more money than it has been raising each month, which has led to a $21,795.32 loss this year. That's about a $5,000 loss per month, in the first four months of the...

President Trump thought Ukraine's surprise drone attack over the weekend was "strong" and "badass," sources who discussed it with him tell Axios, but he's also concerned it will make his ceasefire mission even harder. -snip- He has been surprisingly mum in public when it comes to his personal feelings about Ukraine's attack. In private, though, he marveled at the operation. Behind the scenes: "Pretty strong," Trump told one confidant, who relayed his remarks to Axios. "He thought it was badass," a second source said of Trump's reaction. One Trump adviser said: "From an international perspective, you've got a chihuahua inflicting...

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What began as a trickle of immigrants in the 1950s became a torrent in the 1990s. Successive governments encouraged mass immigration by saying that there was a labour shortage, and that immigrants would “enrich” our society, take jobs that native Britons didn’t want, and would integrate into the British way of life. It was all lies. There was no labour shortage, just a shortage of cheap labour. Mass immigration has driven wages down but caused crime to soar. Integration is discouraged by the insane multiculturalist ideology. Rather than expecting immigrants to become British, we must adapt to them, celebrate diversity,...

Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) has come under fire for suggesting President Trump’s immigration crackdown will leave Vermonters without “anyone around to wipe our a–es.” The congresswoman made the outrageous claim — which she herself called “crude” — during a town hall in Newport, Vt., last week, in response to a question about US immigration policy. “Our economy is completely bound up in immigration and migrant labor,” Balint told her constituents. “We have to come to a place in Congress where it is no longer a political issue, but we see it as an existential issue for the country.” “If we...

In May, an American investor tried to sell top German economic officials on an audacious plan to buy a Russian undersea pipeline. Despite years of international friction over the pipeline, he proposed to eventually activate it and deliver natural gas to Germany. The investor, Stephen P. Lynch, had already made the pitch to the Trump administration, which he was betting would want U.S. control over a pivotal piece of energy infrastructure. Now the Germans wanted to hear for themselves about Mr. Lynch’s proposal to lead a takeover of the much-criticized pipeline on the floor of the Baltic Sea, called Nord...

West Virginia’s pro-life Governor Patrick Morrisey conducted a bill signing ceremony at Cross Point Church in Beckley, West Virginia,, on May 29. One of the key pieces of legislation that West Virginians for Life (WVFL) supported, SB 537, allows for expansion to The Support for Mothers and Babies Act, which was established in 2023 under legislation passed while current US Senator Jim Justice was governor. The new amendments permit funding to eligible pregnancy help organizations (PHO) for capital expenditures; expenditures associated with adding additional services; expenditures associated with meeting the requirements established by relevant licensing, accreditation, or standards setting organizations;...

Ted Cruz has proposed a resolution to replace the leftist Pride Month with one that celebrates life. Cruz introduced a resolution to designate June as “Life Month” to mark the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in June 2022. “Every human life is worthy of protection, and it is especially incumbent upon Americans and lawmakers to protect the most vulnerable among us. Designating June as Life Month is a recommitment to the American principle that every life has dignity. I call on my colleagues in the Senate to swiftly pass this resolution,” the Texas Republican senator said in a statement....

Towson, Md. (WBFF) — It’s a story that grabbed national attention - a Maryland student, and prospective U.S. Marine, suspended while asking why classrooms in his high school did not contain American flags. Project Baltimore first spoke with Parker Jensen in April. Soon after, he sued Baltimore County Public Schools. And now, that lawsuit has been settled. It was just last month when Project Baltimore broke the news that Jensen, a Marine hopeful, was suspended from school for seven days, after he went to Baltimore County Public Schools headquarters to ask why some classrooms at Towson High were missing American...