Free Republic

Greek-American billionaire John Catsimatidis has threatened to leave New York and relocate his business to Florida following the election of Zohran Mamdani as mayor. Catsimatidis cited the incoming administration’s plans for affordable city-run grocery stores that would sell subsidized essentials to ease the cost-of-living crisis experienced by many in New York. The Red Apple Group owner, whose estimated net worth stands at $4.8 billion, had initially vowed to move his operations to New Jersey but reversed course after Democrat Mikie Sherrill won the state’s gubernatorial race this week, according to Forbes. Who is Catsimatidis and why is he against Mamdani’s...

Greeks and Turks have been at each other’s throats for centuries over many different things, but a rivalry seldom mentioned revolves around the origins of baklava. The history of this scrumptious delicacy is quite controversial, and unfortunately not very well documented. Many ethnic groups such as the Greeks, Turks, and Middle Easterners claim baklava as their own and prepare it in their own way. The “Baklava Conflict” has been simmering for centuries, but it erupted into full-blown war in 2006, when Greek Cypriots decided to call baklava their own. A definite sacrilege according to the Turks! Turkey, as an aspiring...

Oura's initiative illustrates the promise and peril of wearablesŌura Health, maker of the sleek ring that tracks sleep, stress, and fitness, has formally petitioned the FDA for clearance to continuously monitor blood pressure through its optical sensors. If approved, the Ōura Ring would become one of the most well-known consumer wearables not worn on the wrist to provide continuous, clinically validated blood pressure readings. The petition is an impressive leap forward for the company and for wearable technology. For decades, blood pressure has been a static snapshot taken in a clinic, once or twice a year, often under fluorescent lights...

BELEM, Brazil (AP) — The world has changed dramatically in the decade since leaders celebrated a historic climate agreement in Paris a decade ago, but not quite in ways they expected or wanted. Earth’s warming climate has gotten nastier faster than society has been able to wean itself from burning the coal, oil and natural gas that emits carbon pollution that triggers global warming, several scientists and officials said. There’s been progress — more than a degree Celsius (2 degrees Fahrenheit) has been shaved off future warming projections since 2015 — but the lack of enough of it will be...

VIDEOThe mayor of Uruapan, Carlos Manzo, pleaded with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum for help in his fight against the cartel which was extorting and killing people in his area. She denied him such help and on the important Mexican holiday of El Dia De Los Muertos he was brutally assassinated by the cartel in front of his family and his fellow citizens. In response, President Sheinbaum has declared herself completely helpless to fight the cartels. Really? Perhaps she should have informed the people of Mexico about her self-declared incompetence last year BEFORE she became President.

New York City public schools shed another 22,000 students this year, with enrollment plunging 2.4%, the steepest decline in four years, according to preliminary Department of Education data — and experts say this trend will only get worse under incoming Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani. The startling new numbers follow a post-Covid trend that has seen families hit the exits over the past five years, adding up to a 12.2% decline. Insiders see no end to the carnage. “We are bleeding kids,” a city high school teacher told the Post. At the start of the 2019-2020 school year, 1,002,200 kids were enrolled...

A disturbing video from Antioch High School in Nashville shows 18-year-old student Kayla Smith pepper-spraying her teacher, Caleb Bates, after he took her phone during class. She was arrested right after the incident for assault. What makes it even worse is that this wasn’t the first time Bates had been attacked over a phone. Just two months earlier, another student punched him in the face after he caught them cheating. It’s part of a growing problem teachers are dealing with when they try to enforce basic classroom rules.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom tells CNN’s Jake Tapper that the “crisis” among young men in the US “is an issue our party needs to address.”

In an effort to determine how many illegal immigrants are receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins asked "every state to send us their SNAP data so we could make sure illegal immigrants aren't getting benefits meant for American families. 29 states stepped up. 21 blue states refused — and two sued us for asking." California Attorney General Rob Bonta pointed out that "everyone knows that it is unlawful for states to give SNAP benefits to persons who entered the United States illegally. Given the tens of millions of persons who...

President Trump is rejecting visas for fat people. The Trump administration has ordered visa officers to deny immigrants who are obese or have certain health issues, in yet another instance of the president’s strange obsession with fat people. A Thursday directive from the State Department, sent to embassies and consulates around the world, indicates that people applying for visas to the United States may be rejected if they have certain medical conditions, on the grounds that they could take up domestic health care resources. “You must consider an applicant’s health,” the cable read. “Certain medical conditions—including, but not limited to,...

Since these false claims that Israel created Hamas or that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supported Hamas are circulating across social media, let’s address them. “In recent months, Israel has quietly provided some relief as part of an unofficial, Egyptian-brokered truce with Hamas, in exchange for reduced rocket fire from the territory and the scaling back of weekly protests along the border. It has allowed Qatar to deliver millions of dollars in cash to allow Hamas to pay its civil servants and has allowed the United Nations to step up aid efforts.” The Haaretz hit piece on Netanyahu is hypocritical...

Ukraine was scrambling to turn lights and heating back on Sunday after Russian attacks targeting energy infrastructure, with the state's power provider saying its generating capacity was reduced to "zero". Moscow, which has escalated attacks on Ukraine's infrastructure in recent months, launched hundreds of drones at energy facilities across the country overnight into Saturday. Ukrainian strikes on Russia's own infrastructure meanwhile left more than 20,000 people without power in regions bordering Ukraine, local authorities said. The Russian attacks interrupted electricity, heat and water supplies in several cities, with state power firm Centerenergo warning its generating capacity "is down to zero"....

Seemingly undeterred by his disastrous presidential bid in 2024, former Vice President Mike Pence left the door open to a comeback bid in 2028 during a recent panel discussion. While speaking at an event hosted by the Jefferson Educational Institute in Erie, Pennsylvania, which largely centered on the intersection of Pence’s Christian faith and its intersection with his political career, the former vice president took what could be interpreted as a subtle jab at his former boss by discussing “principles” over personality. “We must resist the temptation to trade principle for power,” he said, linking the philosophy with Jeffersonian ideals....

With the government shutdown rolling on without an end in sight and the Obamacare subsidies running out, President Donald Trump is sizing up a long-running battle against the failures of the Affordable Care Act. "OBAMACARE 'SUCKS," Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday morning. "THE WORST HEALTHCARE FOR THE HIGHEST PRICE." On Saturday, Trump floated a compromise amid the impasse on the shutdown, urging Republicans to redirect federal money that goes to health insurance companies under the Affordable Care Act and send it directly to individuals. "PAY THE PEOPLE, NOT THE INSURANCE COMPANIES!" Trump wrote in a message that could...

Monday marks the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, a tragedy on Lake Superior that claimed the lives of 29 men. In the days following the calamity, songwriter Gordon Lightfoot read about it in Newsweek and immediately put his God-given gifts to their highest and best use.

All politics is local, the saying goes. The same applies to washrooms. When you need to go, all that really matters is the state of the nearest washroom. And in southwestern Ontario’s Waterloo Region, where I live, something very peculiar is happening to the local washrooms. Case in point is Kitchener’s Centre in the Square, the area’s premier soft-seat performance venue that hosts a wide range of popular musicians and other acts. Prior to renovations in 2023, the 2,000-seat facility had eight washrooms serving patrons on the auditorium’s main and balcony levels – four men’s and four women’s. Following a...

The Supreme Court's decision to allow the administration to pay only partial SNAP benefits during the shutdown gives Donald Trump and the Republicans in Congress a clear road to victory in the shutdown fight now entering its 39th day. SCOTUS recognized that this is not a separation of powers constitutional issue. It's a political issue, and the Supreme Court tends to avoid intervening in political disputes. The ball is now firmly in the hands of the Democrats, who have gotten themselves into a no-win situation. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer tried a delay gambit, offering to reopen the government if...

Over the next four years, Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani will not only lead the world’s financial capital, but he’ll also have control over public funds topping $1 trillion. This includes roughly $500 billion in operating budgets, $200 billion in capital projects and, at least in part, $300 billion in pension assets. Mamdani could turn municipal governance into a weapon of ideology in an extraordinary, unprecedented way. Mamdani or his appointees could pressure the boards to divest from companies linked to Israel, including major firms like Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Lockheed Martin, all long targeted by BDS activists. A 2024 Jlens-ADL analysis...

He said that the dividend of at least $2,000 would be paid to everyone, bar 'high income people,' although he did not state what the threshold for that would be. The president also generally lauded the state of the US, calling it 'the most respected country in the world.' He said there is 'almost no inflation, and a record stock market price.' Trump cited 'trillions of dollars' of tariff income and said the money would soon go to paying the country's 'enormous debt' of $37trillion.

Socialism beats capitalism among U.S. college students, in a new Axios-Generation Lab poll. 67% of survey respondents say they hold a positive or neutral association with the word "socialism," compared with 40% with the word "capitalism." Why it matters: Days before a nationally watched election that could made democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani New York City's next mayor, the survey reveals Gen Z's growing disillusionment with capitalism — fueled by high inflation, surging healthcare and housing costs, and the rising influence of billionaires in politics, tech and media. It also highlights college students' left-leaning politics — and sharp partisan divides within...