Free Republic

The last time the phrase “Los Angeles riots” dominated the national headlines, Patrick Buchanan told a story about order being restored to the city. “The mob retreated because it had met that one thing that could stop it,” he said at the 1992 Republican National Convention in Houston. “Force, rooted in justice and backed by moral courage.” President Donald Trump has been compared to Buchanan before. As streets burn in Los Angeles in defiance of federal immigration law, he may have the opportunity for his ultimate Buchananite moment as he sends in the National Guard. These Los Angeles riots are...

Zohran Mamdani, the young democratic socialist who has been rising in the mayor’s race, is now ahead of Andrew Cuomo with just two weeks until the Democratic primary, a new poll reviewed in full by POLITICO found. The survey, conducted by Public Policy Polling for Democrat Justin Brannan’s city comptroller campaign, found Mamdani beating Cuomo 35 percent to 31 percent — a difference that is narrowly within the 4.1 percent margin of error. Cuomo has been the constant frontrunner since his March 1 entrance into the race to oust Mayor Eric Adams, with most publicly released polls showing him with...

David Hogg will not run again for his Democratic National Committee vice chairman position, he announced on Tuesday, amid a firestorm the 25-year-old activist sparked over his pledge to take on “ineffective” Democratic incumbents. DNC members removed Hogg and Pennsylvania state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta through a virtual vote on Wednesday night, stemming from a procedural complaint unrelated to Hogg’s primary activities.

Republican senators came out firing during Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s hearing on Wednesday before the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on armed forces. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) immediately pressed Hegseth over the Russia-Ukraine war, with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) driving home the point later in the hearing; Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the top Senate appropriator, scolded the Pentagon’s delays with budget information; and Sen. Lisa Murkowski closed out the hearing by questioning the administration’s focus on Greenland in its Arctic strategy. McConnell, one of three Republicans who opposed Hegseth’s confirmation, gaveled in the hearing by calling out the Trump administration for what...

Several drag queens protested and booed President Donald Trump as he attended a performance of Les Misérables at the Kennedy Center on Wednesday. The president’s visit marked his first since the inauguration. Video captured the moment several drag queens stood up in the audience as he appeared: The president has always hailed Les Misérables as his favorite musical. As Consequence recently reported, half the play’s cast decided to boycott the performance due to the president’s visit. Several cast members of Les Misérables will not be performing “One Day More” at their Kennedy Center concert next month — instead, they’ll be...

Mayor Brandon Johnson urged Chicagoans to “rise up in this moment” against President Donald Trump’s mass deportation effort, even as he acknowledged Wednesday that the deployment of the military to help carry out immigration raids in Los Angeles could happen here. Johnson refused to say precisely what he would do if mass demonstrations in Chicago — perhaps as soon as Saturday’s “No Kings Day of Defiance” protests — provoke an L.A.-style federal response. The mayor would only say that he is concerned enough to have spoken directly with Gov. JB Pritzker and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle about the...

Anchorage Daily News reports that an underwater archaeological team identified and mapped a shipwreck involved in one of Alaska's most tragic maritime disasters. The Star of Bengal was traveling from Wrangell to San Francisco when it went down on September 20, 1908, near Coronation Island in southeastern Alaska's Alexander Archipelago. The 264-foot ship, which was built in the same shipyard as the Titanic, was carrying around 140 people when it sank. Of the 110 souls that perished, the vast majority were seasonal Asian workers hired to work in local Alaskan canneries. The wreck was found to be scattered across nearly...

A new lidar survey of Michigan's Upper Peninsula revealed evidence of extensive farming by Native Americans that has stunned archaeologists, according to a statement released by Dartmouth College. The region's climate and short growing season has traditionally made it a difficult area for farming. However, researchers studying the Sixty Islands archaeological site near the Menominee River detected a huge network of raised garden beds spread across 330 acres, where the ancestors of the Menominee Tribe used to grow crops such as corn, beans, and squash. Radiocarbon dating of charcoal uncovered during preliminary excavations indicates that the agricultural system was used...

[snip] What started as a peaceful rally and march suddenly turned violent near Los Angeles’ City Hall as police declared an unlawful assembly. Officers were seen using less-lethal munitions on a crowd of people, while officers on horseback pushed into demonstrators. People in the crowd screamed “peaceful protest” but were ultimately forced to run into neighboring Grand Park. Officers were seen wielding batons on some protesters as they retreated. The dramatic turn of events occurred an hour and a half before the city’s curfew was set to go into effect. LAPD said on X that during a march northbound on...

Reform UK’s newest MP called for the burqa to be banned in Britain during Prime Minister's Questions. Sarah Pochin, the MP for Runcorn and Helsby, used her first question at the weekly Commons session to ask Sir Keir Starmer if he would follow other European countries that have made it illegal for people to cover their faces in public places. She said: “Given the Prime Minister’s desire to strengthen strategic alignment with our European neighbours, will he, in the interests of public safety, follow the lead of France, Denmark, Belgium and others and ban the burqa?” Her question prompted an...

Texas Is Funding Its Own Demise $13 Million in State and Federal Money Handed to Islamic Mosques and Community Groups - Some Recipients Praise Hamas, Pledge Allegiance to Iran, and Are Not in Your State to Assimilate, but to Dominate. Many of these mosques are openly aligned with terrorist groups and regimes - including the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, Jamaat-e-Islami, and even the Iranian regime. While Texans struggle to preserve their culture, security, and values, the state government is quietly bankrolling the very forces determined to dismantle them. These are not fringe groups. They operate in the heart of Texas cities....

If you live in Northern California, you know this already. In a few years, driverless cars will be everywhere. You will likely use them if you travel to the city. If you live in a town of any substantial size, you or someone you know will likely use them.The numbers on the increase where they are currently permitted are simply amazing. In less than a year, the Google company called Waymo has increased its weekly ride volume from 10,000 in August 2023 to more than 250,000 today. It has passed 10 million successful trips. These cars are everywhere on the...

Federal authorities in Southern California filed a complaint charging three foreign nationals with conspiring to distribute nearly four tons of methamphetamine, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a June 5 statement.Suspected methamphetamine allegedly discovered in San Diego County, California, on June 2, 2025. Courtesy of San Diego County Sheriff’s OfficeErick Arriola, 27, from El Salvador, and Mexican nationals Baltazar Rodriguez Reyes, 49, and Eugenio Lizama, 35, were charged with possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. They face a minimum of 10 years in prison.According to federal prosecutors, Arriola is a felon convicted of DUI, battery...

A City Council member from Queens is urging her constituents to arm themselves following a terrifying home invasion in which robbers posing as Amazon drivers tied up a family and snatched thousands of dollars in cash, according to cops. Republican Vickie Paladino offered to help residents in her district — which covers Whitestone, where the ordeal took place — obtain gun permits in light of the break-in Monday morning. “I want to remind my constituents that New Yorkers have a constitutional right to protect themselves,” Paladino said in a statement. “I urge my constituents to avail themselves of their rights...

There's a newish meme being used to justify the anti-ICE riots and illegal immigration--the illegal immigrants have a right to be in the United States because the Southwest was stolen and really belongs to Mexico. The problem isn't illegal immigrants; it's American citizens who wrongly believe they have the right to live here without being invaded.So I guess it’s an invasion then and these are enemy aliens. Attention SCOTUS. https://t.co/7vlAg66Pwh— Randy Barnett (@RandyEBarnett) June 10, 2025Cue the next Mexican-American war, folks. And, if you are watching what is unfolding in America's cities, that war has already begun. So implies the...

It was supposed to be a routine appearance, a visit from the commander in chief to rally the troops, boost morale and celebrate the Army's 250th-birthday week, which culminates with a Washington, D.C., parade slated for Saturday. Instead, what unfolded Tuesday at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, bore little resemblance to the customary visit from a president and defense secretary. There, President Donald Trump unleashed a speech laced with partisan invective, goading jeers from a crowd of soldiers positioned behind his podium -- blurring the long-standing and sacrosanct line between the military and partisan politics. As Trump viciously attacked his perceived...

David Hogg has been creating problems for DNC chair Ken Martin since he got the job as vice chair back in February. By April Hogg was using his PAC Leaders We Deserve to support primary opponents against moderate Democrats. By mid-May the DNC's Credentials Committee suggested Hogg and fellow vice chair Malcolm Kenyatta were elected in violation of party rules on gender diversity and should both have their wins voided. Today the party voted to hold new elections.In a 294-99 vote that concluded Wednesday, DNC members agreed to move forward with redoing the contest earlier this year that elected Hogg...

Iran’s state broadcaster, IRIB, has reported what it describes as one of the "largest intelligence operations" in history against Israel, claiming Iranian intelligence obtained a vast cache of "sensitive documents" -- including thousands allegedly related to Israeli nuclear projects and facilities -- from inside Israeli territory. IRIB’s rolling news channel, IRINN, interrupted regular programming on June 7 to announce the story. It said the operation involved extracting an “abundance of strategic and sensitive information and documents” from within Israel, citing unnamed “regional sources.” According to the report, the documents were transferred to Iran after a period of secrecy intended to...

As I've noted before, implicit in what we're seeing take place in California from the violent woketivists and their Democrat/media accomplices is that if they keep at it long enough, President Trump is going to get ICE to back down from the immigration sweeps that Democrats like Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass have blamed for the start of the riots.Now, obviously, that's not going to happen, considering the National Guard is already on the ground in Los Angeles at his order, and the Marines are reportedly on their way as well.Nevertheless, the rioters kept proceeding with the...

History Since 1909 the Congressional Baseball Game has been an annual bipartisan event beloved by all and enjoyed by thousands. Members of the United States Congress from each party solidify friendships off the floor and on the field. Over the last century, the Congressional Baseball Game’s popularity has contributed to its evolution into a foundation called Congressional Sports for Charity. Created in 2016, Congressional Sports for Charity provides support to worthy and effective charities serving vulnerable children and families in the Washington DC area as well as scholarships to deserving local youth. These charities include the Boys and Girls Clubs...