Free Republic

The warning was stark. At issue was a privileged class that has long dictated policy despite countervailing public opinion. At issue, the luminary warned, is nothing short of democracy itself. No, it was not the continued rallies of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., VT) to “fight oligarchy.” It was Justice Clarence Thomas rallying his colleagues to fight technocracy, or government by experts. He warned against allowing “elite sentiment” to “distort and stifle democratic debate.” Yet, the story is even more profound of an elite class which succumbed to the Icarian gene and fell to Earth due to hubris and excess. In...

The following is adapted from a speech delivered on April 25, 2025, at a Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar in Kansas City, Missouri. Vice President J.D. Vance’s first major assignment from Donald Trump was to join a bunch of European leaders who thought of themselves as our close allies—and to read them the riot act. This happened at the Munich Security Conference on February 14. Instead of discussing armaments and armies, Vance said: “The threat that I worry the most about vis-à-vis Europe is not Russia. It’s not China. It’s the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental...

The Supreme Court will be announcing Opinions from the bench of cases from the October 2024 term this morning at 10:00.There are five cases remaining plus the immigration case from the Emergency Docket.Scotusblog will be liveblogging the Opinion release and we will be following along and trying to make sense of the court's decisions.Besides the immigration/national injunctions case of Trump v. CASA, there is the case of Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton:Issue(s): Whether the court of appeals erred as a matter of law in applying rational-basis review, instead of strict scrutiny, to a law burdening adults' access to protected speech.andMahmoud...

Important newsflash for the Senate GOP: the recommendations of the woke Senate parliamentarian, who is trying to ensure that absolutely no financial reform is enacted, are not binding. ... John Thune .. not going to challenge the outrageous decisions of the Senate Parliamentarian, and no doubt he’d like you to believe there’s no option otherwise. That is simply untrue. There are multiple ways of overruling the unelected Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough’s decisions. As voters, it’s very important we understand the legal realities of our system and not give our elected representatives a pass just because they claimed helplessness. ... “The...

It’s getting late early for John Cornyn. Yet another poll shows the four-term incumbent lagging well behind his hard-right challenger, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, in next year’s primary. The poll, conducted on behalf of a Paxton-allied super PAC, shows the Texas attorney general with a commanding 19-point lead over the incumbent — 57 to 38 percent — in a head-to-head matchup of Texas Republican primary voters. It’s the latest data point for national Republicans who see Cornyn flailing with primary voters but worry about the general election prospects for Paxton, who has faced both indictment and impeachment. The race...

While we're still a year away from the America 250 celebration, The Radical Left is already melting down that President Trump is actually making an effort to make America 250... Pro-American. The hard left publications Mother Jones and The Atlantic dropped their rage posts, and they read exactly as one would expect. Mother Jones offers How MAGA Took Over America’s 250th Birthday. Amanda Moore and Dan Friedman waste no time, pointing out that the Army's 250th birthday celebration parade finished just steps away from Trump's January 6th election integrity rallying speech. Even more sinister, both were organized by the same...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Florida is now using emergency powers to take over a remote, 30-square-mile site in the Everglades to build what some are calling "Alligator Alcatraz." The site is located at the abandoned Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport. The Florida Division of Emergency Management confirmed in a June 23 letter to Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava that it is immediately occupying the property to support federal immigration enforcement. The state said the site will hold up to 5,000 immigration detainees and will operate under the current state of emergency. Construction is already underway.

Screenshot of fireball via Collin Rugg on X This isn’t something you see every day! Residents in the southeastern part of the United States spotted a massive fireball streak through the skies on Thursday afternoon. The American Meteor Society reported receiving over 140 reports from residents of Georgia, Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina who had spotted a fireball. Residents in Georgia reported feeling an earthquake as the fireball crossed the sky. The National Weather Service assured residents in Georgia that the earthquake they felt was “the result of the sonic boom from the meteor or space junk.” WATCH:...

Ammaad Akhtar, 33, is accused of trying to give money, guns and ammunition to someone he thought was part of the terror group, and of making antisemitic threats. Menachem Wecker, Izzy Salant ... The LinkedIn profile of Ammaad Akhtar identifies him as a resident of Stockton, Calif., and a “mechanical engineering graduate” who is “outgoing and friendly,” a “great team player” and a “great leader.” A very different picture emerges about Akhtar, who remains listed as a hazardous substances engineer at the California Environmental Protection Agency, in the criminal complaint accusing him of trying to give money, guns and ammunition...

New York City's Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has said he wants to "shift the tax burden" to "richer and whiter neighborhoods" if he secures election in November. A housing policy document on Mamdani's official website includes a pledge to "shift the tax burden from overtaxed homeowners in the outer boroughs to more expensive homes in richer and whiter neighborhoods." Newsweek contacted the Mamdani campaign for comment via email on Friday outside of regular office hours. Why It Matters Mamdani's proposal has already sparked a backlash with one conservative commentator branding him racist and urging New Yorkers to support incumbent...

Leaked defense intelligence documents obtained by CNN allege that last Saturday night’s strike against Iran’s nuclear infrastructure only set the country’s nuclear program back a few months. However, the CIA reported this week that it would take “years” for Iran to rebuild its nuclear capabilities.

By stripping batteries and hacking Android phones with open-source Linux, researchers built submersible data hubs for AI-powered image recognition. Researchers hacked 15-year-old smartphones into tiny servers that outperform Raspberry Pi at a fraction of the cost. Kadri-Ann Kivastik/ Via Eurekalert ======================================================================== A team at the University of Tartu’s Institute of Computer Science has shown that obsolete mobile phones can be wired together to do the sort of heavy data processing normally reserved for expensive server farms while keeping thousands of handsets out of landfills. Led by associate professor of pervasive computing Huber Flores, the engineers stripped the batteries from four...

https://t.me/beholdisraelchannel/59046 Oleksiy Goncharenko, a member of the Ukrainian parliament, tells the European Parliament the simple truth in the clearest way possible! (( VIDEO at link ))

In an era when America’s enemies test our resolve and our own intelligence community may be leaking classified information, one thing remains clear — President Trump and his national security team are fighting back. Washington was rocked this week when a preliminary, unvetted Pentagon memo was leaked, suggesting U.S. airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities barely dented Tehran’s ambitions. But the so-called “intelligence” — drawn from a single day of post-strike reporting and lacking input from the CIA or NSA — has been decisively discredited. Now, as federal agents scour the corridors of power to find the whistleblower-turned-saboteur, the White House,...

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has declared that Hungary will not support Ukraine’s accession to the European Union, citing an overwhelming mandate from a national vote in which 95 percent of participants opposed Ukrainian membership. Speaking in Brussels, Orbán revealed that 2,168,431 Hungarian citizens voted against Ukraine joining the EU, out of a total of 2,278,000 valid votes cast. Just 5 percent supported the idea. “I came here with a strong mandate. My voice has grown deeper — after all, I will speak today in the voice of more than 2 million Hungarians when I say during negotiations that Hungary...

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand from New York has strongly challenged Mayor Zoran Mamdani’s controversial remarks regarding the Intifada, asserting that if democratic socialists are serious about leading New York City, they must openly denounce it. Gillibrand, known for her pro-Israel stance, criticized Mamdani for not rejecting the “globalization of Intifadas,” particularly as he requested a sit-down to further explain his position. “As the leader of a city as diverse as New York, home to the largest Jewish population in the country, he should take a clear stand,” Gillibrand remarked during a conversation on WNYC. The senator pointed out that it’s insufficient...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — One of Louisville's biggest employers is making a massive investment, bringing hundreds of jobs into the Commonwealth from overseas. According to Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, GE Appliances is going to invest $490 million into its global corporate headquarters at Appliance Park in Buechel. It's the largest investment in the company's history. Advertisement GE Appliances will be bringing laundry production to Louisville as they reshore some production from China. “Today’s announcement brings more appliance manufacturing back to the United States and solidifies Kentucky and Louisville as the global headquarters of GE Appliances,” Beshear said. “GE Appliances is one...

The wife of suspect Vance Boelter spoke out for the first time since two Minnesota state politicians and their spouses were shot, saying she and her family are “absolutely shocked, heartbroken and completely blindsided” by the violent incident that killed one couple and seriously injured the other. Boelter is accused of killing Melissa Hortman, a member of the Minnesota State House, and her husband, Mark, as well as injuring John Hoffman, a member of the Minnesota State Senate, and his wife in a separate shooting. He is facing state and federal charges including murder, firearms offenses and stalking, and could...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A woman was on trial Thursday for attacking two teenage girls in a 2024 road rage incident in Jacksonville. The encounter was recorded by one of the victims. This all happened near Christ’s Church Academy in Jacksonville. In the video of the incident, the woman on the left is Jessica Goncalves. You can see and hear Goncalves and one of the teenage victims yelling at each other. It doesn’t take long before it gets physical. Seconds later, you can see Goncalves grab one of the girls by her sleeve and yank her forward. An ICE spokesperson confirmed...

The second song from my upcoming fourth album has been released. You can listen to it, and watch its accompanying video, by clicking here. Thank you for listening and watching!