Free Republic

Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas vetoed a bill late Sunday that would have created one of the nation’s strictest bans on the sale of intoxicants made from hemp, maintaining the state’s fast-growing market for the products at least for now.The ban bill was pushed through the Legislature last month by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a hard-line conservative, and was fiercely resisted by consumers and by the growing number of businesses across Texas that sell gummies, joints, drinks and other products derived from hemp.The law would have made it a crime in Texas to possess or sell consumable hemp products with...

NEW YORK (AP) — The largest digital camera ever built released its first shots of the universe Monday — including colorful nebulas, stars and galaxies.The Vera C. Rubin Observatory, located on a mountaintop in Chile, was built to take a deeper look at the night sky, covering hidden corners. Funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Energy, it will survey the southern sky for the next 10 years.The observatory’s first look features the vibrant Trifid and Lagoon nebulas located thousands of light-years from Earth. A light-year is nearly 6 trillion miles. A gaggle of galaxies known...

New York is planning to build the nation’s first new major nuclear power plant in more than 15 years, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Monday. The “zero-admission advanced” plant in an upstate New York location still to be determined would generate 1 gigawatt of electricity — enough to juice up to 1 million homes, Hochul said. “If we don’t increase New York’s electricity supply in a major way, we’re going to risk losing our opportunities,” Hochul told a crowd outside the Niagara Power Project, a generating facility downstream from Niagara Falls. “They can go elsewhere, but we want them here.” The...

SummaryJudge restricted Trump deportations to "third countries" US sought to send some deportees to unstable South Sudan Administration says it gives migrants adequate due process June 23 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way on Monday for President Donald Trump's administration to resume deporting migrants to countries other than their own without offering them a chance to show the harms they could face, handing him another victory in his aggressive pursuit of mass deportations.In an action that prompted a sharp dissent from its three liberal justices, the court granted the administration's request to lift a judicial order requiring...

A former TV news anchor was convicted of fraudulently obtaining COVID-19 relief funds for small businesses through the Paycheck Protection Program. Stephanie Hockridge, 42, a co-founder of the Scottsdale-based lender service provider Blueacorn and a former anchor at the Phoenix ABC affiliate KNXV-TV, was found guilty on Friday by a federal jury in connection with a scheme to fraudulently obtain tens of millions of dollars in PPP loans, according to the Department of Justice. She was convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and acquitted of four counts of wire fraud, and faces a prison sentence of up to 20...

LA GRANGE, Ky. (AP) — President Donald Trump and his political operation are working to unseat their first Republican incumbent: Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, who has drawn Trump's wrath by saying the president lacked the authority to attack Iran's nuclear sites without congressional approval and voted against his massive tax and spending cuts bill. Trump aides have launched a new super PAC devoted to defeating Massie in his 2026 primary, Axios first reported. It is the first concerted effort by his team to unseat a sitting member of Congress and sends a clear signal to other Republicans that they cross...

Iranian state television stopped broadcasting after an Israeli attack hit the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) building in the capital, Tehran. The strike happened on June 16, 2025, as a presenter was live on television lambasting Israel. The presenter was seen hurrying from her seat, according to Iranian media reports and video of the incident, during which loud explosions could be seen and heard.

Where is the missing nuclear material? Geraldo Rivera says that should be the biggest headline regarding the Iran conflict, adding that it's really the reason for Israel and the U.S. to be involved in the battle, should be the priority and part of negotiations with the country. More: https://www.newsnationnow.com/world/trump-announces-us-attack-on-iran/

Federal health officials on Monday touted pledges they have received from the health insurance industry to streamline and reform the prior authorization process for Medicare Advantage, Medicaid Managed Care and Affordable Care Act Health Insurance Marketplace plans which account for most insured Americans. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz took part in a roundtable discussion with insurers in which the payers pledged commitments to six key reforms to the prior authorization process. Health care providers must obtain approval from an insurer before a specific service is...

Homosexual teacher and ‘partner’ charged with brutally abusing, killing baby boy they almost adoptedTwo English homosexuals have been charged for allegedly brutally raping and killing a one-year-old baby they were on the verge of adopting.The BBC reports that 36-year-old high school teacher Jamie Varley and his “partner,” 31-year-old John McGowan-Fazakerley, were in the process of adopting 13-month-old Preston Davey, who in July 2023 was taken to Blackpool Victoria Hospital and soon died.Varley, who was suspended from his teaching job upon his arrest that year, is accused of numerous counts relating to murder, sexual assault of a male child, child cruelty,...

Despite the blistering heat, Chicago had relatively few shootings over the weekend, with three people killed and 23 others injured across the city, according to data from the crime tracking site HeyJackass.com. It’s the lowest shooting toll for the same weekend since 2018, which also had three killed and 23 injured, the site reported. In total, CPD handled 20 shooting incidents over the weekend, involving victims ranging in age from 11 to 63. So far, police have not announced charges in connection with any of the shootings. The department provided the following details about the crimes: Friday, June 20 1:58...

The US Marshals and Florida officials were able to find 60 missing children during "Operation Dragonfly," which the US Marshals Service called the "largest" child rescue operation in the history of the United States. “We are here to announce the most successful completion of the largest child rescue operation, not just in Florida history, but in the United States history,” Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced during a press conference, per First Coast News. "Protecting our kids and keeping Florida the safest state to raise a family is our number one priority," Uthmeier added. "Today is a result of the...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was the target of an assassination plot to be carried out by a Polish pensioner who had first been recruited by the Soviet Union decades ago, the head of the country's internal security agency said. Lieutenant General Vasyl Malyuk, head of Ukraine's SBU, the main internal security agency of the Ukrainian government, detailed the alleged plot in a closed briefing with Ukrainian media. Malyuk said the Polish man was activated by Russia with a plan to take out Zelensky at Poland's Rzeszów–Jasionka Airport using either a first-person view drone or a sniper rifle, TSN reported. The...

Never-Trumper Bill Kristol proclaimed the revival neo-conservatism after President Donald Trump bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities and mused that perhaps the “current regime” was incapable of making Iran “great.”Earlier in the weekend, Trump ordered attacks on three key sites in Iran’s uranium enrichment infrastructure, which were carried out using 30,000-pound bunker-busting bombs. Then, on Sunday, he mused that if the current regime was “unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn’t there be a Regime change??? MIGA!!!”In response, Kristol quipped back, “brb – starting up PNAC again…” referencing the defunct neoconservative think tank Project for the New American Century (PNAC), which...

Subscribe to Notifications Israel and Iran have agreed to a total ceasefire, says Trump This is a developing story. It will be updated. - Ends Published By: Satyam Singh

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE! It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE (in approximately 6 hours from now, when Israel and Iran have wound down and completed their in progress, final missions!), for 12 hours, at which point the War will be considered, ENDED! Officially, Iran will start the CEASEFIRE and, upon the 12th Hour, Israel will start the CEASEFIRE and, upon the 24th Hour, an Official END to THE 12 DAY WAR will be saluted by the World. During each CEASEFIRE, the other side...

CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE! It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE (in approximately 6 hours from now, when Israel and Iran have wound down and completed their in progress, final missions!), for 12 hours, at which point the War will be considered, ENDED! Officially, Iran will start the CEASEFIRE and, upon the 12th Hour, Israel will start the CEASEFIRE and, upon the 24th Hour, an Official END to THE 12 DAY WAR will be saluted by the World. During each CEASEFIRE, the other side will remain PEACEFUL and...

CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE! It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE (in approximately 6 hours from now, when Israel and Iran have wound down and completed their in progress, final missions!), for 12 hours, at which point the War will be considered, ENDED! Officially, Iran will start the CEASEFIRE and, upon the 12th Hour, Israel will start the CEASEFIRE and, upon the 24th Hour, an Official END to THE 12 DAY WAR will be saluted by the World. During each CEASEFIRE, the other side will remain PEACEFUL and...

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamanei, broke his silence on Monday hours after Iran’s attack on a U.S. base in Qatar. He posted a photo of a burning American flag in an area being bombarded by aerial attacks. “We did not attack anyone. And we do not accept anyone’s attack. And we will not surrender to anyone’s attack; This is the logic of the Iranian nation,” he said on X:

I hope I’m wrong that the war drummers demanding an immediate strike because the ‘window of opportunity is now’ are all based on dubious or simply nonexistent evidence. Tulsi Gabbard et al. was evidently wrong that Iran is not assembling and mounting a nuclear device on a delivery system to unleash on Israel — much less the United States — now.I hope I’m wrong that the decades-long histrionics claiming Iran is merely months, weeks, days, hours, minutes (seconds?) away from obtaining a nuclear device by Netanyahu, et al. is yet again demonstrably false fear mongering.I hope I’m wrong that the...