Free Republic

Many people are wondering how Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old socialist Muslim who wants to defund the police, globalize the intifada, and destroy capitalism, has emerged as the Democratic Party's nominee for New York City mayor, with leaders like former President Bill Clinton fawning over him. To understand Mamdani’s political ascent, you have to trace the red-green-blue spider’s web that brought him here. This isn’t a complete map — I've written a book, "Woke Army: The Red-Green Alliance That Is Undermining America’s Freedom," to document that story — but it is a snapshot of key turning points over two decades of...

The Senate’s rewritten domestic policy bill faces new hurdles after the parliamentarian advised senators Sunday that several provisions violate the chamber’s strict rules for budget reconciliation bills. The rulings, released in a memo from Democrats on the Senate Budget Committee, come as Senate Republicans are still trying to ensure they have the votes for final passage of their signature legislation. Two provisions added to the bill just days ago — and tailored specifically to boost Medicaid payments to Alaska and Hawaii — have been ruled to violate the Senate’s Byrd rule. That limits what can pass through the reconciliation process...

Thom Tillis says he will retire following Trump attacks

A man has been charged with punching at least four people and knocking them to the ground on the same day earlier this week in the Loop, South Loop and Lakeview neighborhoods. Joshua Rowell, 36, is charged with two counts of aggravated battery in Cook County Circuit Court, and one count of forcible assault on a federal judicial employee in federal court in Chicago. According to a Chicago Police Department arrest report, Rowell was arrested shortly before 5 p.m. on Tuesday in the South Loop, after he attacked a 20-year-old woman on the street in the 900 block of South...

Lauren Sanchez and Jeff Bezos' A-list guests like Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner were forced to take cover on Thursday as the couple's pre-wedding party was hit by a huge freak thunderstorm. The lavish event held at the Madonna dell Orto cloisters marked the start of the billionaire couple's lavish three-day wedding in Venice, Italy, which will come to a close on Saturday. However, Thursday night's star-studded soiree was brought to an early end due to the intense downpour. Guests dived for cover under the vaulted cloisters as lightening bolts flashed across the sky and thunder rumbled overhead at the...

Chief Justice John Roberts, speaking at a moment when threats against judges are on the rise, warned on Saturday that elected officials’ heated words about judges can lead to threats or acts of violence by others. Without identifying anyone by name, Roberts clearly referenced Republican President Donald Trump and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York when he said he has felt compelled to issue public rebukes of figures in both parties in recent years. “It becomes wrapped up in the political dispute that a judge who’s doing his or her job is part of the problem,” Roberts said...

The first UK concert of rock star Marilyn Manson's tour has been cancelled after pressure from campaigners and an MP. The first leg of his One Assassination Under God Tour had been set to kick off at Brighton Centre on 29 October. On Saturday, fans who went online to contact Ticketmaster received a message saying "this event has been cancelled". In January, prosecutors in the US said they would not file charges against Manson, whose legal name is Brian Warner, after a long-running investigation into allegations of sexual assault and domestic violence. The singer has repeatedly denied the accusations. ......

As Senate Republicans rush to pass their hodgepodge tax and spending package — the “Big, Beautiful Bill” — controversy has arisen around an unusual provision: a 10-year moratorium on states passing their own laws regulating artificial intelligence.Congress has been slow to pass any regulation on AI, a rapidly evolving technology, leaving states to write their own laws. Those state laws largely focus on preventing specific harms, like banning the use deepfake technology to create nonconsensual pornography, to mislead voters about specific issues or candidates or to mimic music artists’ voices without permission.Some major companies that lead the U.S. AI industry...

A famous chess club in a slum of Uganda's capital that became the focus of the Hollywood movie Queen of Katwe is still producing champions - but faces a daily struggle to survive. Run by chess coach Robert Katende, played by actor David Oyelowo in the Disney film released in 2016, he still believes that despite financial struggles he is managing to change children's lives for the better through chess. "We use chess as a teaching tool. To identify the potential of the learners and guide them to their destiny," Mr Katende told the BBC on a visit to his...

Three years ago Patrick Adamiak was an E-6 in the Navy, on his way to finishing a military career. At 28, he had a private business selling popular gun parts and replica, non-firing weapons. Today, he’s nearing his third year in a federal prison, serving a 20-year sentence. His life fell apart when the ATF decided to take an interest in him. They raided his home and found nothing illegal, just gun parts and entirely legal, semiautomatic guns. But these were the Biden/Garland years and guns of any kind, and gun owners, were in their crosshairs. An example had to...

Tel Aviv — The head of the United Nations agency supporting Palestinian refugees has condemned a controversial U.S. and Israeli-backed humanitarian organization operating in Gaza, calling it "an abomination" and "a death trap costing more lives than it saves." The statement from Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general for UNRWA, criticizing the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) came as the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health said 79 people had been killed in the Palestinian territory over the previous 24 hours, 51 of whom it said had died near GHF sites. "There is no food. The people have starved to death, and nobody gives...

The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) has become a mirror of the dysfunction infecting the federal government. The parallels are striking. President Trump arrived on the political scene just in time to rescue America from what would have been a fatal decline. He is without doubt the premier statesman of the century so far. Also without doubt, one of the best female basketball players in sports is relative newcomer Caitlyn Clark. She is also the most maligned — both verbally and, astonishingly, physically, as in brutally assaulted on the court by competing players. These physical assaults are far beyond the...

President Trump said Sunday there is a buyer for TikTok, a week after he extended the app's ban deadline for a third time. The big picture: Trump would not say who the buyer is while appearing on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures," noting only it is "a group of wealthy people." When pressed by host Maria Bartiromo on who the buyer is, the president said he "will tell you in about two weeks." Zoom out: The popular social media app has been in limbo for months, repeatedly coming up against a deadline to ban it from U.S.-based app stores, only...

Rudy Giuliani recalled the moment Hillary Clinton collapsed Hillary Clinton on September 11, 2016, buckled and dropped at Ground Zero in New York City. Clinton’s handlers threw her into her van like a side of beef. She even lost a shoe. WATCH: Clinton’s camp claimed the weather contributed to Hillary’s fainting episode. But it was a very comfortable 75 degrees that morning in New York City. Here’s video from a different angle: The Clinton campaign then released a statement from Hillary’s doctor stating she was diagnosed with pneumonia on that day which led to her fainting episode.(snip) Later that day...

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Sunday said Zohran Mamdani, the winner of New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary, must prepare to “aggressively address the rise in antisemitism in the city of New York.” During an appearance on ABC’s “This Week,” Jeffries criticized Mamdani’s use of the phrase “globalize the intifada,” which fueled his detractors’ accusations of antisemitism. “Globalizing the intifada by way of example is not an acceptable phrasing,” Jeffries said. “He’s going to have to clarify his position on that as he moves forward.”

After Zohran Mamdani’s apparent victory in the New York Democratic mayoral primary on Tuesday, former Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) liked an Instagram post congratulating him on his win. The only problem — Jackson Lee died last July. From ghost-likes and new profile pictures to a posthumous endorsement, accounts for dead lawmakers have seemingly resurrected on social media in an unsettling trend of beyond-the-grave engagement. “Dear White Staffers,” an anonymous account dedicated to highlighting experiences and perspectives of non-white congressional staffers, on Wednesday posted a screenshot of a notification that the late Texas representative’s account had liked the congratulatory post...

A federal appeals court Friday lifted a lower court’s order that blocked President Donald Trump from moving forward with efforts to dismantle the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP). The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that Trump is likely to suffer “irreparable” harm if barred from fully exercising his executive authority over the Institute’s board. The court concluded that the Institute holds “substantial executive power,” meaning its board members are not protected from at-will removal by the president. “As a general rule, the President may remove executive officers at will,” the three-judge panel wrote. They added that...

THE Russian invasion of Ukraine has been advancing at an incredibly slow pace - with Kyiv's "dronegrinder" warfare miring Putin's summer offensive. The rate at which Moscow is capturing land has been dubbed "slower than a snail" - all while the human cost of Russian casualties is sky high. After 448 days of fighting inside Chasiv Yar in Donetsk Oblast, the Russians reportedly only managed to take control of 50 per cent of the city. Which means the troops, on average, are only able to take 0.00629 square miles of land per day - which is a painfully low conversion...

The Chinese military affiliated battery manufacturer CATL appears to be in charge of hiring for roles at the Ford plant that executives said would be wholly owned and operated by the American company. AChinese company appears to be in charge of hiring workers for Ford’s new battery plant in Michigan, contradicting the company’s statements that it will be an American-owned and operated project, and amplifying concerns from locals about potential national security implications. The plant has generated significant controversy because of Ford’s partnership with China-based Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited, known as CATL, which closely collaborates with the Chinese military and...

President Donald Trump said Saturday the United States was "not going to stand" for the continued prosecution of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on corruption charges. "The United States of America spends Billions of Dollar a year, far more than on any other Nation, protecting and supporting Israel. We are not going to stand for this," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. Netanyahu responded on X, saying "thank you again" and promising that "together, we... will make the Middle East Great Again!". An Israeli court on Friday rejected Netanyahu's request to postpone giving testimony in his corruption trial, ruling...