Free Republic

California Republicans aren’t taking Tuesday’s landslide victory for redistricting sitting down, instead announcing the morning after the statewide special election that they have filed a federal lawsuit to challenge Proposition 50. Attorneys for the plaintiffs alleged the ballot measure violates the 14th and 15th amendments by unconstitutionally gerrymandering congressional districts to favor one race. Although the U.S. Supreme Court has in the past permitted gerrymandered maps in limited instances to protect minority voters under the Voting Rights Act, the attorneys said there was no proof that gerrymandering to favor Hispanics, in the case of Proposition 50, was necessary. Aside from...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Following the city's election of an avowed and unrepentant socialist, the U.S. State Department issued an immediate and urgent travel advisory for New York City. According to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, New York City had become too dangerous for any casual tourists to visit. "As of this morning, the State Department has chosen to issue a 'Level 4: Do Not Travel' advisory for New York," Rubio said at a press conference. "Because of significant threats to life and limb, U.S. citizens are advised to avoid any non-essential and even most necessary travel to New York. Should...

These longtime lovebirds are a rare breed. The newly crowned “oldest married couple” in the world is an adorable pair of former Big Apple centenarians who met during World War II — and now swear by the power of staying curious, having lunchtime beers and simply “loving each other.” With a combined age of 216 years and 132 days, Eleanor Gittens, 107, and Lyle Gittens, 108, of Miami, were given the title by the Guinness World Records on Wednesday. They are both the oldest living married couple (aggregate age) and the oldest married couple ever (aggregate age). The pair, who...

Updates to the long-awaited project linking Spain and Morocco suggest that the dream of an undersea tunnel across the Strait of Gibraltar is now within technological reach. The German firm Herrenknecht, a global leader in tunnel-boring technology, has completed a feasibility study confirming that the infrastructure, while highly complex, is technically achievable. Commissioned by Spain’s Secegsa (Sociedad Española de Estudios para la Comunicación Fija a través del Estrecho de Gibraltar) under the Ministry of Transport, the report marks a milestone for a project studied for over fifty years. According to Vozpópuli on Wednesday, the Spanish government has had the report...

On Mary as Mediatrix of All Graces by Fr. Reginald Garrigou-LagrangeThe Influence of Mary, MediatrixTAKEN FROM THE THREE AGES OF THE INTERIOR LIFE, VOL. 1, chapter 6Imprimatur and Nihil Obstat, 1948 Original French edition © The Dominican Province, France.English translation © Baronius Press LtdWHEN the bases of the interior life are considered, we cannot discuss the action of Christ, the universal Mediator, on His Mystical Body without also speaking of the influence of Mary Mediatrix. As we remarked, many persons delude themselves, maintaining that they reach union with God without having continual recourse to our Lord, Who is the way,...

Zohran Mamdani will be the unlikeliest mayor in New York City history. A 34-year-old backbench state assemblyman and self-proclaimed democratic socialist, Mamdani ran on the promise of affordability and was declared the winner not long after polls closed tonight. On his path to victory, he thrilled young voters in a way that few Democrats have in years. But perhaps no one was more delighted by his election than President Donald Trump. Mamdani’s victory was his second decisive win over former Governor Andrew Cuomo, whom he defeated in the Democratic primary in June. (The current mayor, Eric Adams, skipped the primary,...

Earlier, we told you about Zohran Mamdani's doomed promise to make groceries "cheaper" for New Yorkers. As we explained, Mamdani will use government tax dollars to subsidize subpar food at "public" grocery stores and this move will force other grocers to compete, lead to empty shelves, and eventually food rationing. But that's exactly what Democratic Socialists like Zohran Mamdani want. How do we know that? Listen to the most alarming part of his speech last night and it'll explain everything: “We will prove that there is no problem too large for government to solve and no concern too small for...

RICHMOND, VA — As part of his staff's afterparty after winning election as Virginia's next Attorney General, Jay Jones's campaign sent out a celebratory text message threatening to kill everyone's children. Despite the scandal that erupted in recent weeks stemming from his controversial messages advocating for the killing of his political opponents and their children, Jones sailed to victory to land the AG slot, with his aides marking the occasion with another horrifying text threat. "Honored to be your next Attorney General and death to anyone who opposes me!" the text message read. "Though MAGA extremists tried as hard as...

In the German town of Overath (North Rhine-Westphalia), this year’s Christmas market has been cancelled. The cost of protecting visitors from potential terrorist attacks exceeds the organizer’s budget. The city refuses to cover the expenses. A capitulation to Islamism. It wasn’t long ago that Christmas markets were among the social highlights of the year. Whether in small towns or major cities -- they were meeting points for friends and family, for mulled wine, sausages, and quiet conversations wrapped in winter’s cold and early darkness. Places of Togetherness There was this special peaceful coziness. A place where community was celebrated --...

The left’s blind spot isn’t compassion; it’s contradiction. You can’t preach Pride while defending Sharia. Compassion turned into contradiction. BRIEFING Grant here. The left’s favorite causes these days all seem to circle around “freedom,” “equality,” and “women’s rights.” Yet somehow, in their latest wave of “Free Palestine” hysteria, they’ve managed to align themselves with one of the most authoritarian, patriarchal, and intolerant ideologies on Earth. Islam, in its literal and widely practiced form, contradicts nearly every progressive value they claim to defend. And still, they seem blissfully unaware of that fact, despite mountains of evidence. Let’s break it down. A...

Explanation: Sometimes galaxies form groups. For example, our own Milky Way Galaxy is part of the Local Group of Galaxies. Small, compact groups, like Hickson Compact Group 87 (HCG 87) shown above, are interesting partly because they slowly self-destruct. Indeed, the galaxies of HCG 87 are gravitationally stretching each other during their 100-million year orbits around a common center. The pulling creates colliding gas that causes bright bursts of star formation and feeds matter into their active galaxy centers. HCG 87 is composed of a large edge-on spiral galaxy visible near the image center, an elliptical galaxy visible to its...

A driver ploughed into a crowd of pedestrians on a French holiday island this morning, leaving at least five people injured before screaming 'Allahu Akbar' as he was arrested. The car veered towards walkers and cyclists at about 8.45am today as the 35-year-old attacker attempted to hit 'everyone he encountered' on the island of Oléron off the West coast of France, officials say. After the ramming, he tried to set fire to his vehicle, which contained gas cylinders, before he was tasered by police and arrested. At least five are injured, two of them seriously, including an assistant to MP...

Pro-Palestinian positions may have fueled Mamdani’s politics and established his early volunteer base, but they didn’t win him the election. The New Yorkers who voted for him “overwhelmingly” said cost of living is their top issue, reported CNN. For most New Yorkers who hit the polls, questions about Mamdani’s attitude toward Israel — and even concerns about antisemitism — paled in importance beside affordability. Yet one tone-deaf Jewish leader after another pleaded with voters to reject Mamdani because of his highly critical attitude toward Israel. That stance, they said, could lead to attacks on Jewish New Yorkers. Exactly why should...

It’s one of the strangest spectacles in modern American politics. The high-flying professionals of New York’s white-collar class are now marching behind an avowed socialist, Zohran Mamdani. These are the same lawyers, traders, and tech specialists who once embodied the American dream. His campaign thrives not in the boroughs where poverty festers but in luxury neighborhoods like Park Slope and Williamsburg, where median household incomes exceed $200,000—he’s even captured 43% of the overall Jewish vote, with that number rising to a whopping 67% when you look at the voters between the ages of 18 and 44. Furthermore, a brand new...

Scientists have unlocked a surprising clean energy breakthrough using an unlikely source from the poultry industry. In a potential breakthrough for green energy technology, scientists at ETH Zurich and Nanyang Technological University Singapore (NTU) have developed a membrane for hydrogen fuel cells made from discarded chicken feathers—an abundant waste product in the global poultry industry. The new membranes are made from keratin, a structural protein that makes up the bulk of feathers. Extracted and processed into amyloid fibrils, the keratin forms a thin, proton-conductive layer at the heart of a hydrogen fuel cell. According to the research team, the material...

The quickest way to start an online argument is to mention a topic where the stakes are highest and/or the diagreement is the most passionate. The proper Christian perspective on Mary, mother of Jesus is just such a topic. For Roman Catholics, she is beloved, adored, even revered. It shows up in the way they pray, in the traditions they celebrate, and the stories about her that they share with one another. It stems, in part from the greek phrase Theatokos, which was formally adopted in the Council of Ephesus (431 AD) to affirm the Deity of Christ in opposition...

As New York City embraced the left-wing politics of mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, voters just across the city line in Nassau County reaffirmed a starkly different vision and re-elected a President Donald Trump-backed leader. Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman secured a second term Tuesday night, extending his tenure as the county’s first Jewish executive. Blakeman, a close ally of Trump who's worked to combat antisemitism and other crime and bolster cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), won reelection as neighboring New York City turned to a self-described Democratic socialist. Mamdani, notably, has refused to denounce the slogan "globalize the...

Federal immigration authorities made mass arrests of illegal migrant truck drivers along a single highway during a two-day operation in Oklahoma. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), working alongside the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, nabbed 70 illegal migrants along the I-40 interstate in late October, including 34 who were operating big-rig trucks in violation of state law, according to the agency. The massive bust follows an ongoing crackdown by the Trump administration against illegal migrant truck drivers. “For the second time in just the past month, the state of Oklahoma and ICE have banded together to bolster public safety along Oklahoma’s highways,...

CNN analyst Van Jones sounded off after New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s fiery victory speech, suggesting the far-left Democrat may have alienated the same voters who helped him win. At just 34, Mamdani became the first Muslim, first South Asian, and first democratic socialist elected mayor of New York City. His campaign centered on grassroots organizing, affordable housing, and public transit — all themes that drew strong support from young and working-class New Yorkers. “I think he missed an opportunity,” Jones said during CNN’s post-election coverage. “The Mamdani that we saw on the campaign trail — who was a...

Researchers at Penn State have proposed a novel design for a lithium-ion (Li) battery. It could address the long-standing performance and stability issues of standard Li batteries in extreme temperatures. The design, dubbed the All-Climate Battery (ACB), was developed to fix a core flaw in standard Li batteries, which were only optimized to work efficiently around 25°C or slightly above. That’s why these standard batteries struggle in modern applications, such as electric vehicles, data centers, and extreme environments. The battery tech loses power when cold and faces instability issues when hot. “Now that these batteries have been integrated into electric...