Free Republic

WASHINGTON — An undocumented man from Guatemala who has leukemia postponed chemotherapy because he was afraid to go to the hospital. A Mexican grandmother packed most of her belongings into boxes, in case she is deported. A Pentecostal church in East Los Angeles has lost nearly half of its in-person membership. Across California and the U.S., immigrants are responding to the Trump administration’s unrelenting enforcement raids by going into lockdown. Activities that were once a regular or even mundane part of life — taking kids to school, buying groceries, driving — have become daunting as immigrants who lack legal authorization...

A common bacterium can be adapted to convert plastic waste into paracetamol, a study published this week in Nature Chemistry1 reports. Paracetamol, also known as acetaminophen, is widely used to treat pain and fever. It is produced from molecules derived from fossil fuels, but researchers are working to develop processes that use more sustainable source molecules, such as plastic waste. “We’re able to transform a prolific environmental and societal waste into such a globally important medication in a way that’s completely impossible using chemistry alone or using biology alone,” says co-author Stephen Wallace, a chemical biotechnologist at the University of...

The aging leader’s message was defiant but somber, delivered in front of a tan curtain flanked by an Iranian flag and a portrait of his predecessor. DUBAI — Iran’s supreme leader Thursday gave his first address to the nation since a bruising conflict with Israel ended earlier this week. In a prerecorded video message, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei downplayed reports of severe damage to the country’s nuclear program following a wave of U.S. strikes and declared victory over both Israel and the United States. “The Islamic Republic slapped America in the face,” said Khamenei, 86. He said U.S. strikes on Iranian...

[Catholic Caucus] Cardinal Kasper again pushes ‘women deacons’ as ‘helpful pastorally’The much misrepresented 'female deacons' of the early Church were not in fact deacons as understood today, and were certainly not ordained to any ministry.Cardinal Kasper has again promoted female deacons, claiming they are “theologically possible and could be helpful pastorally.”“Personally, I believe that opening the permanent diaconate to women is theologically possible and could be helpful pastorally.” So said Cardinal Walter Kasper in a new interview with Rheinische Post.Kasper, now aged 92, has been one of the most influential prelates in the Church of late, particularly so during the...

On the 10th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage nationally, supporters say they are secure but also wary and watchful.Could same-sex marriage be next?Gay Americans and their allies have much to celebrate on Thursday, the 10th anniversary of Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. Same-sex marriage has, by almost every indication, become ingrained in everyday American life. Since the decision, there have been 591,000 same-sex marriages, and today, nearly two-thirds of Americans approve of the policy. Same-sex couples are staples in contemporary movies and television shows, and reside, often with their...

NASA’s new Andromeda images unveil stunning insights into dark matter and black holes. Image credit: NASA | The Daily Galaxy --Great Discoveries Channel In the latest release from NASA, stunning new images of the Andromeda galaxy (M31) have captured the attention of the global scientific community. Andromeda, located around 2.5 million light-years from Earth, is the closest spiral galaxy to our Milky Way. These new images, which include data from multiple advanced telescopes, offer fresh insights into the complex dynamics of this galactic neighbor. The images were made possible through a collaboration of some of the world’s most powerful space-based...

After the US strike on Iran earlier this week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump agreed on a rapid end to the war in Gaza and expansion of the Abraham Accords, Israel Hayom reports, citing “a source familiar with the conversation.” According to the outlet, Trump and Netanyahu agreed in a phone call that the war in Gaza would end within two weeks. Four Arab states, including the UAE and Egypt, would jointly govern the Gaza Strip in place of Hamas. The terror group’s leadership would be exiled, and all hostages would be released.

WASHINGTON (AP) — While completing a master’s degree in data analysis, Palwasha Zahid moved from Dallas to a town near Silicon Valley. The location made it easy to visit the campuses of tech stalwarts such as Google, Apple, and Nvidia. Zahid, 25, completed her studies in December, but so far she hasn’t found a job in the industry that surrounds her. “It stings a little bit,” she said. “I never imagined it would be this difficult just to get a foot in the door.”Young people graduating from college this spring and summer are facing one of the toughest job markets...

It has been many years since a political party was cast as far into the wilderness as the Democrats of 2025. Fresh off their second defeat at the hands of their mortal enemy, Donald Trump, it was reasonable to assume that the party would realize the need to abandon the progressive policies that repelled the broad center of the electorate. Instead, it appears that the opposite has occurred, as proven in both the response to President Trump’s strike on Iran and Tuesday’s (June 24) Democratic mayoral primary in New York City. Democrats Doubling Down Democratic Party leaders must understand by...

SummaryClinics serve Medicaid healthcare program patients States seek to deprive abortion providers of public funds Court's conservative justices power the 6-3 ruling WASHINGTON, June 26 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way on Thursday for South Carolina to strip Planned Parenthood of funding under the Medicaid health insurance program in a ruling that bolsters efforts by Republican-led states to deprive the reproductive healthcare and abortion provider of public money.The 6-3 ruling, authored by conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch, overturned a lower court's decision barring Republican-governed South Carolina from terminating regional affiliate Planned Parenthood South Atlantic's participation in the state's...

Operation Midnight Hammer was one of the most precise and complex missions in recent military history. In this video, Captain Steeeve walks us through how operations like this are planned, coordinated, and executed. No politics—just a deep dive into the logistics, teamwork, and decision-making that made this mission possible. From mission prep to boots on the ground, Steeeve draws on his own experience to explain how the military pulls off high-stakes operations under pressure. Whether you're a military enthusiast or just curious how these things really work, this breakdown gives you a front-row seat to the reality behind the headlines.

Recent events, including the “Operation Midnight Hammer” B-2 strike on Iran, have highlighted the urgent need for the US Air Force to acquire a much larger fleet of stealth bombers. The current force of only 19 B-2s is stretched thin. Compounding the issue, significant delays in the B-52J modernization program mean those aircraft may not be ready until 2030 or later.

SNIP The film, set in Arkansas in 2010, tells the story of Jerry Kane, a self-described “sovereign citizen” who proselyted against laws and governmental authority via appearances on right-wing radio talk shows and traveling around the Midwest delivering seminars about property rights and avoiding taxes. It’s as if Ron Swanson had gone fully around the bend. A widowed, unemployed roofer, Jerry constantly faces eviction and home-schools his teenage son Joe (Jacob Tremblay, Room). He’s a loving but disciplinary father, hectoring his son to say his prayers every night and reminding him, “Don’t forget J.C.” Like many others of his ilk,...

“When it comes to the interpretation of the Constitution — the ‘great charter of our liberties,’ which was ‘meant to endure through the long lapse of the ages,’ — we place a high value on having the matter ‘settled right’ ...When one of our constitutional decisions goes astray, the country is usually stuck with the bad decision unless we correct our own mistake” – (Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization 2022). The time has come for the Court to do just that — correct the mistake it made a decade ago and overturn the disastrous and unconstitutional decision that legalized...

SNIPIn December 2017, "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough said a close associate of Trump on the campaign trail told him the then-presidential candidate had "pre-dementia."Media personalities across networks called for the 25th Amendment to be invoked against Donald Trump more than 600 times between 2016 and 2021. (Raymond Boyd/Michael Ochs Archives/Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto/MANDEL NGAN /AFP via Getty)Scarborough also suggested that "everybody" who’s known Trump for years has said he has "mentally devolved." The MSNBC co-host then said he wanted to know "when it’s safe" to start talking about whether Trump should be taken off his presidential duties.Scarborough’s comments came a month...

For weeks, House Republicans have been turning up the heat on the Biden administration—and now, one of the First Lady’s closest aides is officially on the hot seat. Anthony Bernal, a longtime senior advisor to former First Lady Jill Biden and often referred to as her “work husband,” has been subpoenaed to testify before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on July 16 at 10:00 a.m., according to an official subpoena obtained Thursday. The hearing will take place at 2247 Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C. Bernal had previously agreed to voluntarily testify behind closed doors today,...

A New York Republican group has asked President Donald Trump to revoke the citizenship of and deport Zohran Mamdani, the likely Democrat candidate for New York City mayor. Mamdani, who defeated former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the first round of the ranked-choice Democratic Party primary election on Tuesday, was born in Uganda and raised in New York City. He was naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 2018, Newsweek reported. The 33-year-old Muslim is a state assemblyman and self-described democratic socialist. The New York Young Republican Club has called on the federal government, namely White House deputy chief of...

The Manhattan Contrarian makes this point: "It was just four years ago, in April 2021, that New York completed the forced closure of the two perfectly functional Indian Point nuclear plants, with combined generating capacity of about 2 GW, for no other reason than relentless opposition from environmentalists and NIMBYs. And yet now the Governor is saying that the plan is to start over and build a new nuclear plant at some unspecified place."

And that has crippled the Court.. Last year, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, despite being in her early 50s and having an undistinguished career before her affirmative action appointment, published a memoir. You might be forgiven for having missed it when “Lovely One” came out. As the media politely notes, it was “briefly” on the New York Times bestseller list and is now going for half price on Amazon. That is mostly to be expected of the ghostwritten memoir of an obscure judge. Except that Jackson received a $893,750 advance for her memoir and is now reporting $2 million in profits...

The Pentagon released stunning footage Thursday showcasing exactly how 30,000-pound heavy-duty bunker-buster bombs work such as the ones used against Iran’s nuclear sites demolished fortified targets deep underground. The video showed a GBU-57 series MOP (Massive Ordnance Penetrator) crashing into a target and kicking up a massive plume of dust moments before a blinding inferno appeared in a shaft during a test detonation. Pilots who dropped the MOPs on Iran called the blast “the brightest explosion” they ever saw, saying, “it literally looked like daylight.” “Unlike a normal surface bomb, you won’t see an impact crater because they’re designed to...