Free Republic

The Trump administration’s plan for mass layoffs at the State Department has left much of the workforce exasperated and embittered, tanking morale as extra demands were made to assist U.S. citizens seeking to flee the Middle East amid Israel’s war with Iran, employees say. At the direction of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the State Department informed Congress in May that it planned to reduce its U.S. workforce by more than 15 percent — almost 2,000 people — as part of a sweeping reorganization intended to streamline what he has called a “bloated bureaucracy that stifles innovation and misallocates scarce...

Mayor Eric Adams on Friday struck a handshake deal with the City Council on a record-breaking nearly $116 billion budget — which would create a new department to regulate e-bikes, sources said. The tentative agreement includes $6.1 million for a new “Department of Sustainable Delivery,’’ which would be staffed by 60 people and dedicated to e-bike regulation and enforcement after a recent push by the Adams administration to rein in the two-wheelers. City Hall also agreed to give the council a major boost in funding for immigration services to the tune of $54.5 million, a source familiar with the deal...

The homeless man accused of a shooting spree in Santa Monica has been charged with three counts of attempted murder amid a wave of violence from transients that has Los Angeles residents on edge. David John Hairston II, 31, allegedly ambushed and shot a police officer at a pedestrian mall in the seaside enclave on Wednesday, just days after allegedly shooting two teens who were riding a self-driving taxi, according to prosecutors. Hairston was arrested after a citywide manhunt; he faces various weapons charges on top of the attempted murders, with a maximum sentence of 104 years to life in...

And what do we hear from most of our political leaders in Washington? Mealy-mouthed condemnations, tepid "both sides" platitudes, and cowardice dressed up as diplomacy. "The cavalry is not coming to save the Jews." We can either continue begging the same broken system to protect us, or we can take responsibility for our own survival.

The Kansas City Star reports that Peruvian authorities made a stunning new discovery at the site of Era de Pando in the Supe Valley. The region was home to the Caral culture, which is often considered the oldest city-building civilization in the Americas. Previous excavations at Era de Pando have unearthed four large and four small pyramid complexes, and at least 40 other buildings, including houses and temples, that date back at least 4,000 years. While working near one of the largest pyramids, archaeologists recently uncovered the ruins of a structure known as a "fire altar." The circular feature, which...

The Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision in Trump v. CASA, Inc., released Friday, finally put the brakes on the reckless abuse of nationwide injunctions by lower courts—and has Democrats in full meltdown mode. The left’s favorite judicial weapon just got neutered, and the hypocrisy is impossible to ignore. The liberal wing of the court didn’t do itself any favors, either. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s dissent was so horrible that Justice Amy Coney Barrett felt compelled to call it out in the majority opinion. But Justice Elena Kagan’s credibility also took a direct hit. In a stunning display of judicial flip-flopping, Kagan’s...

A bison was gruesomely boiled to death in a Yellowstone National Park hot spring last week — as tourists watched in horror. The buffalo met its ghastly end when it apparently stumbled into the scalding water at Midway Geyser Basin near Old Faithful, according to the park service. “There were two bison [standing] there,” said Louise Howard, who witnessed the bison’s death during her first-ever visit to Yellowstone, to CBS News. “I thought it was a great photo opportunity.” But the shutter-worthy sight quickly turned tragic when one of the bison stepped into a small part of the basin, then...

The world's oldest boomerang is older than previously thought, casting new light on the ingenuity of humans living at the time.The tool, which was found in a cave in Poland in 1985, is now thought to be 40,000 years old.Archaeologists say it was fashioned from a mammoth's tusk with an astonishing level of skill.Researchers worked out from its shape that it would have flown when thrown, but would not have come back to the thrower.It was probably used in hunting, though it might have had cultural or artistic value, perhaps being used in some kind of ritual....new, more reliable radiocarbon...

Rainbows are among nature’s most magnificent and awe-inspiring displays. Beyond their beauty, they carry rich symbolic and spiritual meanings across cultures and belief systems. For nature enthusiasts, understanding the deeper significance of rainbows can add layers of appreciation to these astounding phenomena. This blog explores the spiritual meanings and symbolism behind seeing a rainbow, its colors, cultural myths, and tales, along with its significance in relationships, dreams, and biblical contexts.

House raids over speech violations are becoming commonplace across Germany, even as violent crime explodes... On Wednesday morning at 6 a.m., a large-scale police operation was launched across Germany, targeting hundreds of individuals suspected of insulting politicians or spreading “hate and incitement” online. The massive crackdown saw police launch morning raids against 170 individuals, which saw police seize computers, cell phones, and tablets, and conduct searches in multiple locations across the country. The action, which was conducted by the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), uses the new Criminal Code Paragraph 188 to target individuals accused of racism and hate speech....

For years, radical gender ideology appeared unstoppable. The media framed transgender identity as the next frontier of liberation. Pride Month drew enthusiastic endorsements from nearly every university, corporation, and school district. Dissenters were often marginalized, and the prevailing narrative allowed little room for debate. No longer. Since the start of the second Trump administration, the movement has begun to retreat. The Supreme Court recently upheld a Tennessee law banning medical transition procedures for minors. Many corporations have withdrawn support for this year’s Pride events. An ideology that once seemed culturally dominant has lost significant ground in public opinion. In retrospect,...

Southern Europeans braced Saturday for the first heatwave of the northern hemisphere summer, as climate change pushes thermometers on the world's fastest-warming continent increasingly into the red. Temperatures are set to rise to 37 degrees Celsius (99 Fahrenheit) in Rome, driving the Eternal City's many tourists and Catholic pilgrims to the Vatican alike towards the Italian capital's 2,500 public fountains for refreshment. Scientists have long warned that humanity's burning of fossil fuels is heating up the world with disastrous consequences for the environment, with Europe's ever-hotter and increasingly common blistering summer heatwaves a direct result of that warming.

Gov. Josh Shapiro will be joining Pennsylvania’s LGBTQ community and their supporters at Lancaster Pride Festival on Saturday. His announcement came the same day the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that parents must be allowed a provision to opt out their children from class when course material conflicts with their religious beliefs. The suit over LGBTQ book characters was the latest in a series of legal actions, state and federal legislation, presidential executive orders and funding threats targeting the rights of LGBTQ people. In Pennsylvania the major hospitals that provide gender affirming care to trans people of all ages, abruptly dropped...

First time that a car has delivered itself to its owner! Jose: That was me! So excited to have been a part of this thank you! @elonmusk @Tesla

Democrats warned the decision paves the way for “a vile betrayal of our Constitution.” Democratic members of Congress sharply criticized the Supreme Court’s Friday ruling that limited district courts’ use of nationwide injunctions in a case challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship. The court did not rule on whether the Trump administration has legal standing to revoke birthright citizenship for the children of some immigrants. Yet Democrats warned the decision paves the way for “a vile betrayal of our Constitution,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) said in a social media post. “The Supreme Court’s decision...

Iranian construction crews are busy at work on the surface of the uranium enrichment facility in Fordow five days after the US nailed the underground fortress with 30,000 pound bunker buster bombs, new satellite images showed. Crews operated excavators, bulldozers, and other construction vehicles near the craters and punctures in the ground above the nuclear facility caused by the GBU-57 bunker buster bombs dropped by American B-2s last weekend, according to images captured by Maxar Technologies on Friday. Other images showed apparent construction crews building access roads to the facility and rebuilding the damaged dirt road that led to the...

Daily Readings from the USCCBJesus entered the house of Peter, and saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand, the fever left her, and she rose and waited on him. Matthew 8:14–15How do we properly respond to the action of God in our lives? In the passage above, we are given the witness of Peter’s mother-in-law to answer that question. It should be noted that Jesus was on a continual mission of healing. In fact, before arriving at the house of Peter, Jesus had just healed a centurion’s servant. When the centurion came to Jesus...

On Friday, a federal judge blocked President Donald Trump's executive order targeting legal firm Susman Godfrey, ruling it was "unconstitutional from beginning to end." This is the fourth defeat in court Trump has suffered since imposing punitive measures on a number of law firms that either were involved in legal cases against him or represented his political rivals. Newsweek contacted the White House and Susman Godfrey for comment on Saturday outside of regular office hours via email and telephone respectively. Why It Matters In March, Trump issued a slew of executive orders targeting law firms resulting in a number taking...

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Why did Justice Kagan oppose nationwide injunctions in 2022 but support them now? @ScottJenningsKY : "In 2022, Justice Kagan actually gave an interview and said out loud what a lot of conservatives have been saying this year, which is that how can it be that an individual district court judge can issue a nationwide injunction and effectively grind a presidency to a halt and, you know, take years and years and years for it to go through the process?" "Now, she obviously voted the other way this time around. I wonder what caused her to change her opinion."