Free Republic

Okay Freepers, you are a magnificent resource to draw upon. I'm hoping that among you are some who have already broken the ground I now seek to tread, and maybe you can give me some advice. Perhaps even tell me if I'm doing something wrong and could change up my approach.A lot of people have told me over the years that they wanted me to write my life story. It took ten years of on and off labor (and there came to be even more things to write about in that time) but in the end this past November I...

Fed Chair Jerome Powell's latest comments come as President Trump has intensified his attacks on the Fed chair and continued to push for a rate cut.Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell defended the central bank's decision to not cut interest rates so far this year and said it would have already cut rates if not for tariffs. At a forum put on by the European Central Bank on Tuesday in Sintra, Portugal, Powell was asked if the Federal Reserve would have cut rates if not for President Donald Trump's tariffs. "I think that's right," Powell said. "In effect we went on...

The University of Pennsylvania has bowed to Donald Trump's Department of Education (DOE) by agreeing to resolve alleged Title IX violations over transgender former Quakers swimmer Lia Thomas. The DOE announced Tuesday that Penn is adopting strict definitions for male and female competitors under White House guidelines and will erase Thomas from the school's record books. Furthermore, swimmers impacted by Thomas' inclusion in women's NCAA competitions will receive a personal apology from Penn and be retroactively awarded records and titles. The Ivy League institution's decision comes after the Trump administration suspended $175 million in federal funding to Penn – money...

..... Despite the challenges posed by Hamas and the international community's reluctance to act, the foundation has delivered 50 million meals of free food in a single month, ensuring that the aid reaches its intended recipients. President Trump’s leadership has been instrumental in this effort, as his mandate called for finding a way to get aid to Gaza that Hamas cannot intercept.” Moore added that, “While the foundation faces opposition from global media outlets and organizations like the United Nations, it has persevered in delivering aid, with many Gazans expressing their gratitude. The organization has faced direct threats from Hamas,...

Happy Dominion Day! Or, if you will, Canada Day, to all our readers, on which we celebrate the official founding of ‘Canada’ as a (mostly) independent part of the British Commonwealth. Canada, as readers may know from what once passed as Canadian history in high schools (as that still taught?), that Canada as a ‘country’ officially began with the signing into effect of the British-North America Act of 1867, with the ‘province of Lower and Upper Canada’ (later known as Ontario and Quebec), Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Although we gained further sovereignty, of a sort, with Pierre Trudeau’s 1982...

The jury in Sean 'Diddy' Combs' trial has reached a verdict on four of five charges after about 12 hours of deliberation - but are stuck on a single count. At 4.05pm on Tuesday, barely 12 hours after they began deliberating the eight weeks of evidence, the jury sent Judge Arun Subramanian a note to say they could not reach a verdict on racketeering conspiracy - the first and most controversial charge. The charge applies to the notion that Diddy ran a criminal enterprise, aided by staff, to entrap and abuse women. The jurors cannot agree on whether or not...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A proposal to deter states from regulating artificial intelligence for a decade was soundly defeated in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, thwarting attempts to insert the measure into President Donald Trump’s big bill of tax breaks and spending cuts.The Senate voted 99-1 to strike the AI provision from the legislation after weeks of criticism from both Republican and Democratic governors and state officials.Originally proposed as a 10-year ban on states doing anything to regulate AI, lawmakers later tied it to federal funding so that only states that backed off on AI regulations would be able to get...

SummarySenate bill complicates new wind, solar projects Bill could lead to higher utility bills, job losses House urged to improve usability of wind, solar tax credits WASHINGTON, July 1 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate's massive budget bill that passed on Tuesday will make it harder to develop wind and solar energy projects, despite the removal of some contentious provisions, industry advocates and lawmakers said.The Senate dropped a proposed excise tax on solar and wind energy projects that don't meet strict standards after last-minute negotiations with key Republican senators seeking better terms for renewables.Iowa Senator Joni Ernst, fellow Iowa Senator Chuck...

[Catholic Caucus] EXCLUSIVE: Official Vatican Report Exposes Major Cracks in Foundation of Traditionis CustodesPreviously undisclosed documents raise serious questions about the stated rationale for Pope Francis’ 2021 decree restricting the Traditional Latin Mass.A Traditional Latin Mass is celebrated at the tomb of St. Catherine of Siena at the Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome, Sept. 15, 2017 (Photo: Edward PentinVATICAN CITY, July 1, 2025 — New evidence has come to light that exposes major cracks in the foundation of Traditionis Custodes, Pope Francis’ 2021 decree that restricted the traditional Roman liturgy.This journalist has obtained the Vatican’s overall assessment of...

An ice raid at a makeshift marketplace outside a home depot saw a taco vendor as well as several day laborers, and residents of a homeless encampment taken into federal immigration custody. Also ICE protesters protest all night outside of hotels ICE agents are staying at, leaving the hotels bad reviews. At one hotel the ICE agents left after one night. There is an app to track where ICE is called "ICE Block" the protesters are using.

A record-high share of American voters are content with the work of Republican lawmakers, according to the latest NPR/PBS News/Marist Poll. In the survey, conducted in late June, 36 percent of registered voters approve of the job Republicans in Congress are doing — the highest level recorded since pollsters began asking the question in 2011. The latest approval rating also marks a 10-point jump from the last time the question was asked, in February 2024, when 26 percent of registered voters approved of the job Republicans in Congress were doing. Before that, the survey was conducted in March 2021, when...

Home prices in areas surrounding Los Angeles' devastating early 2025 wildfires have defied expectations, rising 4% year-over-year in the immediate aftermath of the disasters, according to a new analysis by PropertyShark. The counterintuitive market behavior suggests that proximity to burn zones has not deterred buyers from high-demand neighborhoods, with some areas seeing dramatic price increases even as memories of the fires remain fresh. Properties within three miles of the nine largest fires reached a median sale price of $1.33 million between February and April, well above Los Angeles County's $900,000 median. The 4% price growth near fire perimeters also slightly...

The White House is looking into possible criminal charges against CNN after it published a report about an app allowing users to track Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity in their area. President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem discussed the matter with reporters at the grand opening of a Florida detention facility known as “Alligator Alcatraz.” A reporter brought up border czar Tom Homan’s assertion that CNN should be prosecuted for essentially promoting the app to its readers. “We're working with the Department of Justice to see if we can prosecute them for that, because what they're...

ATLANTA, GA — CNN is reporting that in spite of several ruthless attacks by the Trump administration, its audience is still largely intact. The news outlet is dismissing claims of "total victory against the fake news CNN" as premature and based on faulty intelligence. "Trump may be claiming to have dropped a so-called 'bunker-buster' on our credibility and ratings, but all early intelligence reports indicate that our audience is still mostly intact," said CNN CEO Mark Thompson. "Yep, totally still there. We definitely have tons of viewers all over the world. Nothing wrong with our audience or ratings whatsoever. Any...

Yesterday, there were a lot of rumors floating around about the ban on Medicaid for illegal aliens being stripped from the bill. Thankfully, that's not true. It's very much in the bill we just passed. You can look it up below. Page 602. Section 77109. Here's where the rumor came from: During yesterday's vote-a-rama, an amendment banning Medicaid for illegal immigrants was voted down. The clip of that vote started circulating online—and folks took that to mean that the provision had been stripped from the bill altogether. But that was just one of many "messaging amendments," designed to force Democrats...

U.S. — Population numbers have shifted drastically in light of new changes to the census program, which remove illegal immigrants from official population numbers. As a result, California, once the most populous state in the country, now has a total population of just 12 people. "Woah. Where'd everyone go?" said one of the 12 remaining Californians. With a new count of just 12 people, California's power will be greatly reduced in the House of Representatives, moving from 52 congressional seats to just 1. The state will also have just 1 vote in the electoral college going forward. "We knew California...

After the wide-scale apoplexy induced by reports of overpopulation, an ice age, global warming, and then climate change, the apocalypse of the season may be shifting to low birth rates and population loss. In recent months, authorities no less diverse and august than Pantsuited Demographer Hillary Clinton and Hillbilly Procreationist J.D. Vance have weighed in with their preferred remedies. I regret to report that no one has suggested any politically and culturally acceptable solutions, so it is time to grin and bear it. Mr. Vance, a seemingly dedicated Europhobe, proposes an oddly Continental menu of transfer payments to parents to...

"We will get this sicko out," DHS said after convicted sex offender Wilson Tindi was exposed for holding a top job in the state's education agency. The story of Wilson Tindi, a convicted sex offender and Kenyan national who rose to a leadership position in Minnesota’s Department of Education, has now caught the attention of federal immigration authorities. After Alpha News broke the story on Monday, it exploded online, racking up millions of views, tens of thousands of shares, and drawing national outrage. State legislators and major conservative accounts like Libs of TikTok reposted the story, putting pressure on officials...

Transgender swimming champion Lia Thomas will be stripped of past University of Pennsylvania Division I swimming titles after the Trump administration put pressure on the school to award the titles to competitors who were born female. The university will also issue formal apologies to every biological female competitor who lost out to a biological male, following an investigation by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), which found UPenn violated Title IX by “allowing a male to compete in female athletic programs and occupy female-only intimate facilities.” “Today’s resolution agreement with UPenn is yet another example of the...

The Pentagon has halted shipments of some air defense missiles and other precision munitions to Ukraine due to worries that U.S. weapons stockpiles have fallen too low. The decision was driven by the Pentagon’s policy chief, Elbridge Colby, and was made after a review of Pentagon munitions stockpiles, leading to concerns that the total number of artillery rounds, air defense missiles and precision munitions was sinking, according to three people familiar with the issue.