Free Republic

NEW YORK — Democratic voters in America’s largest city are ready to elect socialist Zohran Mamdani as mayor because they think socialism and communism have gotten a bad rap but are now the future of both their city and their party. In a series of on-the-streets interviews, New Yorkers told The Washington Times that Mr. Mamdani’s socialist-style agenda comes “from the heart” and will help regular Americans, especially racial minorities.“I think he has strong ethics. When he speaks, he seems to speak from the heart. I think he is thinking very hard about what he’s saying,” said Corey Griswold, 43,...

A flight bound for Los Angeles International Airport on Monday evening was diverted after a communication issue resulted in the pilots thinking people were trying to breach the cockpit, officials said. An American Airlines flight left from Eppley Airfield in Omaha around 4:40 p.m. and returned to the airport about 20 minutes later for an unknown reason, according to flight tracking website FlightAware.A spokesperson for the Federal Aviation Administration told KTLA-TV Channel 5 that the plane was diverted because of an issue with the plane’s internal phone communication system. The pilot reportedly declared an emergency and turned around after he...

WASHINGTON — President Trump no longer plans to hold a second in-person summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin “in the immediate future” after Russia rejected Trump’s demand to stop the war in Ukraine along the current battle lines. “I don’t want to have a wasted meeting,” Trump told reporters Tuesday afternoon when asked why he axed the sitdown. “I don’t want to have a waste of time

The administration’s rush to process thousands of White South Africans coincides with plans for overall admissions set as low as 7,500.The Trump administration’s plan to overhaul the U.S. refugee resettlement process, including a drastic reduction in overall annual admissions, coincides with a concerted effort to prepare thousands of White South Africans to relocate to the United States through the system, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post and people familiar with the matter.If the administration succeeds, almost all people admitted to the U.S. as refugees — as many as 7,000 from a maximum potential pool of 7,500 — could...

Boeing Starliner: Never forget: Incompetence + arrogance => astronauts refused to fly Starliner, and when they were made to, it was a disaster. From Eric Berger's book: “BOEING HAS AN ASTRONAUT PROBLEM” (p.291) “When the SpaceX engineers could be corralled, they were eager to hear feedback from the NASA astronauts , excited to work with them, and attentive to their suggestions. By contrast, Boeing engineers seemed indifferent to hearing from the four commercial crew astronauts.” (p.293) “There was an arrogance with them that you certainly didn’t see at SpaceX.” (astronaut Hurley, p.294) “Boeing also underperformed. Not only were its engineers...

Senior department officials who were defense lawyers for the president and those in his orbit are now in jobs that typically must approve any such payout, underscoring potential ethical conflicts.President Trump is demanding that the Justice Department pay him about $230 million in compensation for the federal investigations into him, according to people familiar with the matter, who added that any settlement might ultimately be approved by senior department officials who defended him or those in his orbit. The situation has no parallel in American history, as Mr. Trump, a presidential candidate, was pursued by federal law enforcement and eventually...

More than 420 anti-science bills attacking longstanding public health protections – vaccines, milk safety and fluoride – have been introduced in statehouses across the U.S. this year, part of an organized, politically savvy campaign to enshrine a conspiracy theory-driven agenda into law.An Associated Press investigation found that the wave of legislation has cropped up in most states, pushed by people with close ties to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The effort would strip away protections that have been built over a century and are integral to American lives and society. Around 30 bills have been enacted...

President Trump speaks at a White House celebration of Diwali, the annual Hindu, Jain, and Sikh festival celebrating victory of light over darkness.

CHICAGO (AP) — The music begins low and ominous, with the video showing searchlights skimming along a Chicago apartment building and heavily armed immigration agents storming inside. Guns are drawn. Unmarked cars fill the streets. Agents rappel from a Black Hawk helicopter.But quickly the soundtrack grows more stirring and the video — edited into a series of dramatic shots and released by the Department of Homeland Security days after the Sept. 30 raid — shows agents leading away shirtless men, their hands zip-tied behind their backs.Authorities said they were targeting the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, but only two of...

A Michigan man will serve 18 months in federal prison over threats against President Trump that were posted on social media in January. Richard James Spring originally faced four felony charges as a result of the investigation, but three of those charges were dismissed, court records show. He pleaded guilty on June 12 to one count of threats to kill and injure the president. Sentencing on that charge took place on Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan in Grand Rapids. In addition to the 18 months in prison, court records show, he will be...

The beef industry is battling multiple challenges: a prolonged drought across key cattle states, record‑high feed costs and the smallest U.S. cattle herd in 75 years.Beef prices in the United States are at record highs heading into the holiday season — and tariffs aren’t the only reason. At Oak Barn Beef in West Point, Nebraska, family tradition runs deep. Owner and operator Hannah Klitz is a fifth‑generation cattle producer. Alongside her husband, she sells farm‑to‑table beef to the local community and ships products nationwide. "Quarter four is normally our busiest quarter, just because of all of the gifting — and...

Two illegal immigrants from Mexico were recently arrested in connection to the murder of a 43-year-old woman in Texas. Enrique Gomez-Urbina, 21, of Mexico, was arrested by the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force and is charged with first-degree murder and resisting arrest, according to the Austin Police Department. He has an immigration detainer pending the homicide investigation. Gomez-Urbina's "associate," Jesus Llamas-Yanez, 48, of Mexico, who is wanted by federal authorities in Mexico for a weapons charge, is being extradited back to Mexico. On Oct. 6, a local tire shop employee found a woman’s body in a wooded area behind the...

School officials at Kingston Community Schools in Kingston, Michigan, say a threat made against a school over the weekend was generated using artificial intelligence. In a statement on the district's Facebook page, Superintendent Shona Vennevy says an investigation determined that the threat that used a student's photo was not real. "At this time, there is no credible or ongoing threat to our students, staff, or school community," Vennevy said. "Our top priority remains the safety and well-being of everyone on campus. We are continuing to work closely with law enforcement to ensure our school remains a safe and secure environment...

Lindsay Sandiford, 68, was arrested after arriving in Bali in 2012 when Indonesian authorities found cocaine worth €2.1 million in her suitcase. A British drug-smuggling grandmother who has spent 12 years on death row in Indonesia will be sent home to the UK, the two countries announced on Tuesday. Lindsay Sandiford, 68, has been imprisoned on Bali since 2012. She was arrested at the resort island's airport after authorities found 3.8 kilogrammes of cocaine worth €2.1 million hidden in the lining of her suitcase. During the trial, Sandiford said she was forced to carry the drugs by a gang that...

An internal probe found that FEMA officials under Joe Biden's administration refused to help disaster victims who displayed support for President Donald Trump, the Department of Homeland Security announced Tuesday. DHS investigators said the politically motivated discrimination stretched from Hurricane Ida in 2021 to Hurricane Milton in 2024. The DHS Privacy Office concluded that FEMA workers "systematically bypassed" homes with pro-Trump or Second Amendment signs, collecting political data on survivors in direct violation of the Privacy Act of 1974. The report described the behavior as "a troubling overreach" that weaponized federal disaster relief against Americans in crisis. DHS Secretary Kristi...

The idea of autism as a single spectrum has shaped thinking for decades, but the metaphor is misleading, says this public health expert.The phrases “autism spectrum” or “on the spectrum” have become part of everyday language. They are often used as different ways of referring to someone who is “neurodivergent”. The term was coined in the 1980s by psychiatrist Dr Lorna Wing, whose work transformed how autism was understood in the United Kingdom. At the time, her “autism spectrum” concept was groundbreaking. Instead of seeing autism as a rare, narrowly defined condition, she recognised a wide range of traits and...

Rep. Jim Jordan, GOP Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has referred former President Barack Obama’s CIA Director John Brennan to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution — accusing him of knowingly making false statements to Congress during a 2023 transcribed interview. That would be in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and fines. On Tuesday, in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, Jordan (R-Ohio) wrote that the former CIA director “knowingly made false statements during his transcribed interview” with the panel back in May 2023 in...

A pair of Los Angeles television anchors watched in horror as a suspected car thief was killed live on-air during a police chase Monday night. Helicopter footage of the near-30-minute chase was being broadcast on KCBS-TV when the suspect was shown emerging from a van in the Mount Washington neighborhood in an apparent attempt to flee. The man is seen hopping over a divider on the 110 Freeway before a car in the opposing lane speeds by, striking him as the camera had zoomed in.

Summary Colombia has been major US ally, recipient of aid Steep tariffs would hit legitimate businesses, analysts say Alienating Latin America provides opportunity for China WASHINGTON/BOGOTA, Oct 21 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's threat this week to slap Colombia with tariffs over its drug policy marked a sharp escalation in his feud with a country that has long been one of Washington's closest Latin American allies.It was also a rejection of an established idea about countering the narcotics business: that free trade can make legitimate exports more attractive than drug trafficking.Read about innovative ideas and the people working on...

Some Democrats are worried in the final weeks of the election.The interviewer asked each candidate a simple question: Would you fight for the right of New Jerseyans to pump their own gas?Republican Jack Ciattarelli answered in one word: “no.” His opponent, Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill, took 53, invoking President Donald Trump’s tariffs without ever giving a clear yes or no.The exchange — which she later gave a more direct answer on — spoke to a growing worry among Democrats: That Sherrill, their only hope at holding the New Jersey governorship, is playing it too safe. Her front-runner caution — careful...