Free Republic

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and to improve the process of Federal grantmaking while ending offensive waste of tax dollars, it is hereby ordered: Section 1. Purpose. Every tax dollar the Government spends should improve American lives or advance American interests. This often does not happen. Federal grants have funded drag shows in Ecuador, trained doctoral candidates in critical race theory, and developed transgender-sexual-education programs. In 2024, one study claimed that more than one-quarter of new National Science Foundation (NSF) grants went to diversity, equity,...

Internal Homeland Security documents describing specifications for border-crossing scanners, which emit gamma or X-ray radiation to probe vehicles and their occupants, are raising new health and privacy concerns, CNET has learned. Even though a public outcry has prompted Homeland Security to move away from adding X-ray machines to airports--it purchased 300 body scanners last year that used alternative technology instead--it appears to be embracing them at U.S.-Mexico land border crossings as an efficient way to detect drugs, currency, and explosives.

Federal agents detained day laborers outside of a Home Depot in Van Nuys during two raids Friday morning, raising questions over whether their actions may violate a court order that bans agents from using racial profiling to carry out indiscriminate immigration arrests.The operations took place around 7:35 a.m. and then again at 11:50 a.m. outside the Home Depot on Roscoe Boulevard, according to Maegan Ortiz, executive director of Instituto de Educación Popular del Sur de California, which runs a resource center for day laborers directly next to the store. The Department of Homeland Security, which includes Customs and Border Protection...

He’s definitely not off Target. A Connecticut Democrat has been busted twice for shoplifting at the same Target store. State Rep. Raghib Allie-Brennan turned himself in to cops on July 28 after a warrant was issued on new shoplifting charges involving the same store where he was previously arrested in June. Allie-Brennan, 33, was caught allegedly failing to scan $26.69 worth of merchandise at Target’s Bethel location. At the time, he told authorities he was rushing to bring the items to his grandma in the hospital. “I’ve been upfront about taking responsibility for my actions,” Aliie-Brennan said in a statement....

A bronze statue of a man who lost his life during an attempted assassination of Donald Trump during a campaign rally in western Pennsylvania in July 2024 has been placed at the site. Corey Comperatore, 50, a volunteer firefighter and former chief, was shot and killed when Thomas M. Crooks, 20, opened fire during a Trump campaign rally in Butler July 13, 2024. Secret Service agents shot and killed Crooks less than 30 seconds after he opened fire. A statue of Comperatore was installed near the entrance to the 77th annual Butler Farm Show. The statue shows Comperatore wearing his...

Vinay Prasad, the FDA’s top vaccine and gene therapy regulator, was the target of a right-wing pressure campaign over his handling of drug approvals and past support for Democrats.A top Food and Drug Administration official is getting his job back, a spokesman for health agencies said Saturday, less than two weeks after he was ousted at the direction of the White House.Vinay Prasad will return as the top regulator overseeing vaccines and complex treatments for difficult diseases, a position he lost following a right-wing pressure campaign.“At the FDA’s request, Dr. Vinay Prasad is resuming leadership of the Center for Biologics...

New York Times reporters documented how fentanyl was concealed by Mexico’s most powerful criminal syndicate, which is adapting in the face of a crackdown by two governments.The fentanyl packer moved with precision, his headlamp casting a sharp glow on the swift work of his gloved hands.Hoodless carcasses of old vehicles sat gutted under a pitch-black sky. Car jacks, coils and greasy rags littered the ground.The man sprayed six aluminum-wrapped packets with a liquid that smelled like chlorine, a compound that he said would help disguise fentanyl from search dogs. Underneath the foil, the deadly drug was wrapped in carbon paper...

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Over the years, countless Democrats have tried to take down Trump, thinking they could stop his movement for good. Instead, they ended up disgraced, irrelevant, or completely exposed. From Hillary Clinton to James Comey, Rosie O’Donnell, and more—this is what happens when you go to war with Trump and lose. The MAGA base doesn’t forget, and Trump’s influence is stronger than ever. Watch the full breakdown of their downfalls!

The shooter opened fire outside the CDC headquarters, striking windows across the sprawling campus and killing the officer before he was found dead.The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has identified the man who opened fire at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as 30-year-old Patrick Joseph White of Kennesaw, Georgia. The GBI statement says White died and Officer David Rose with the DeKalb County Police Department was shot and killed during the shooting Friday. The shooter opened fire outside the CDC headquarters, striking windows across the sprawling campus and killing the officer before he was found dead in a...

US envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff met Saturday in Ibiza, Spain, with Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani to discuss a plan for ending the war in exchange for the release of all hostages held by the Hamas terror group. According to the report, the developing proposal includes a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the release of all hostages, the disarmament of terrorist organizations, the expulsion of senior Hamas officials abroad, and the establishment of a professional government under the supervision of a police force. An Israeli official familiar with the deals of the...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Around 2 a.m., noisy revelers emerging from clubs and bars packed the sidewalks of U Street in Washington, many of them seeking a late-night slice or falafel. A robust but not unusual contingent of city police cruisers lingered around the edges of the crowds. At other late-night hot spots, nearly identical scenes unfolded. What wasn’t apparent in Friday’s earliest hours: any sort of security lockdown by a multiagency flood of uniformed federal law enforcement officers. That’s what President Donald Trump had promised Thursday, starting at midnight, in the administration’s latest move to impose its will on the...

SummaryZelenskiy rules out Trump's Russia-Ukraine land swap plan Trump to meet Putin on August 15 in Alaska Vance will meet Ukrainians and Europeans on Saturday UK says Vance meeting is vital for a 'just' peace KYIV/LONDON Aug 9 (Reuters) - Ukraine will not cede its land, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday, rejecting U.S. suggestions that a deal with Russia could involve swapping territories as Washington and Moscow prepared for talks between their leaders on ending the war.U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he would meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska on August 15, saying the...

The University of California must reconsider its policy barring students living in the country illegally from on-campus jobs because the practice is discriminatory, a state appeals court ruled this week. The court also said UC’s policy violates California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act because refusing to hire students who lack work authorization is discrimination based on immigration status.

If a fire alarm had been readily available in Helsinki’s presidential palace, the first summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin might have ended with sirens and sprinklers.Fiona Hill, then a White House expert on Russian affairs, was so unnerved by Mr Trump’s remarks at the joint press conference that she “looked around to see if there was a fire alarm” to bring the “terrible spectacle” to a sudden close.American officials might want to check out the fire alarms of the Alaskan venue where Mr Trump and Putin will meet on Aug 15, particularly as the stakes for this summit...

A rift is reportedly emerging between allies Russia and Iran, after Tehran feels it’s gotten shortchanged in strongman Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine. Moscow inked a $1.75 billion weapons deal with the Islamic Republic in 2023 — called at the time “a covert partnership” — to get the designs to domestically produce Iran’s infamous Shahed drones, which it had been importing since launching its full-scale invasion on Ukraine a year earlier. But Tehran has been growing increasingly frustrated with the little backing it’s received from Russia since, CNN reported, citing a Western intelligence source. The resentment hit a high note...

US Vice-President JD Vance and UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy are hosting a meeting of senior security officials near London to discuss the war in Ukraine. Earlier on Saturday, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer had a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and said they agreed it would be a "vital forum" to discuss progress towards peace. Zelensky has stressed he will make no territorial concessions to Russia ahead of a summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin next week to discuss the future of the war. Trump earlier signalled Ukraine may have to cede territory...

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is once again rejecting any consideration for President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss terms for a ceasefire without his involvement.On a Twitter storm Saturday, Zelenskyy rejected the thought of giving any Ukranian territory to Russia in exchange for peace. “The answer to the Ukrainian territorial question already is in the Constitution of Ukraine. No one will deviate from this—and no one will be able to. Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier,” Zelenskyy said.President Trump announced that he would meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 15, in Alaska.Zelenskyy...

Former New York governor Andrew Cuomo has gone full scorched earth in his independent bid for New York City mayor by publicly demanding that Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani relinquish his rent-controlled apartment. Cuomo hit Mamdani where it hurts most: his privileged lifestyle amid a dire housing crisis. Cuomo accused Mamdani and his wife of being “very rich,” pointing out their extravagant wedding celebrations across three continents, all while paying a mere $2,300 a month in rent. He hammered home the economic hypocrisy by asserting their combined income likely tops $200,000 annually, an outrage in a city where a single mother somewhere...

There is something of a crime epidemic in London. I state this in conditional terms because many of the offences are what can be called “low level” crimes which do not generally involve personal injury, grave damage to property or danger to life. But that is not to say that they are not serious in their effect: on the contrary, they are perceived as signs of a breakdown of civil authority which risks undermining the public’s confidence in justice and stable government. When little crimes are permitted to proliferate unchecked, it is actually much more generally demoralising than the occasional...