Free Republic

A billion-dollar scandal in Minnesota has solved the puzzle of why Kamala Harris picked Tim Walz as her running mate. It wasn’t because she was drunk (although she was). It wasn’t because he is the only national politician who is dumber than she (although he is). It wasn’t because he is a Chairman Xi-approved communist (although he is).Follow the money.Kamala picked Tampon Tim because he is a loyal soldier who does what the capos tell him to do. He is FJB without the senility. He is Rip Taylor without the confetti. Walz has turned his head while taxpayers coughed at...

A Maryland mayor’s decision to eliminate the city’s only rainbow crosswalks has become the latest flash point in a nationwide campaign to strip LGBTQ+ symbols from public spaces. The Salisbury crosswalks, installed in 2018 and repainted each year by volunteers, were removed on November 11 after Salisbury Mayor Randy Taylor ordered crews to mill away the paint at dawn, The Washington Post reports. Taylor, who narrowly won office in 2023, said the city must ensure “neutrality” on government property.

Tesla’s recall of certain Powerwall 2 units is escalating as affected owners file a class action lawsuit over what they describe as “bricked” batteries. The complaint alleges that instead of promptly replacing potentially dangerous units, Tesla remotely limited or drained the batteries, leaving homeowners without functional backup power. Many customers argue this action has deprived them of the core functionality of their Powerwalls, including backup power and energy storage, essentially turning $8,000-plus systems into non-functional wall decorations.

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Japanese pop singer Maki Otsuki was in the middle of a concert in Shanghai on Friday when her performance was abruptly cut short, her sound system was turned off, and the organizers ordered her to leave the stage. Otsuki was never given a reason for the rude treatment, but it appears to be part of China’s escalating feud with Japan over Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae’s comments on Taiwan. Otsuki was performing at the Bandai Namco Festival 2025 in Shanghai, an event dedicated to animation and video games produced by a massive Japanese entertainment company. One of her songs is...

Drivers have complained that their vehicles have suddenly locked up, lost power and refused to start, as owners and dealerships warn of a growing wave of failures that has left hundreds of vehicles stuck in place. The nationwide meltdown hit Porsche models built since 2013, which are all fitted with the brand's factory VTS satellite-security unit. The vehicles have been 'bricked' with their engines immobilised, due to connections with the satellite system being lost. Rolf dealership service director Yulia Trushkova said 'all models and all engine types' are impacted. The company does not rule out that the malfunction may have...

Russia has begun evacuating its citizens from Venezuela, a sudden move that analysts say signals a major shift in Moscow's stance toward dictator Nicolás Maduro's embattled regime — and comes as U.S. military pressure on Caracas steadily intensifies, La Derecha Diario reported. The Association of Tour Operators of Russia confirmed that flights are being organized to remove Russians from Venezuela. The announcement, circulated widely by Russian media, sparked immediate speculation that Russian President Vladimir Putin is preparing for instability or distancing itself from Maduro after years of backing the socialist strongman. The evacuation order comes at an unusual moment. Russian...

We’ve heard a lot about “Color Revolutions” lately. What are they? It’s a regime change strategy that leverages U.S. taxpayer-funded agencies like USAID, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), and the International Republican Institute (IRI) to overthrow governments. Their playbook evolved from Cold War-era clandestine operations but shifted to “democracy promotion” over the last 50 years. Bond villain George Soros has been a consistent benefactor and collaborator in these taxpayer-funded endeavors. Here is a simple graphic playbook to show how it was done. And following that is a graphic depicting how it’s been done to us.

Alleged gunman Luigi Mangione will be back in court Tuesday for a second day of testimony as the judge overseeing his state murder case weighs whether to throw out key evidence. On Monday, Judge Gregory Carro heard a 911 call a McDonald’s employee in Altoona, Pennsylvania, made telling the dispatcher some customers were concerned the alleged killer of United Healthcare Chief Executive Brian Thompson, who was fatally shot in Midtown Manhattan, was in the restaurant. Two corrections officers who work at SCI Huntingdon, the state prison where Mangione was held until he was extradited to New York to face charges,...

An Elyria man who pretended to own a modeling agency and groomed young girls into sending him child pornography was sentenced to prison, prosecutors announced on Monday.Joshua Glover, 36, was sentenced to 30 years in prison. After being released, Glover must serve 10 years of supervised release and pay $2,000 “in assessments toward a monetary reserve” for victims of child sex abuse, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio wrote. According to court records, Glover used Snapchat to communicate with hundreds of underage girls between January 2022 and January 2024, posing as the owner of a modeling...

The University of Michigan is supposed to be the pride of the Midwest. A 200-year-old college that has been dubbed a 'Public Ivy,' the school is steeped in tradition, pride and academic excellence. It is also the home of the Wolverines and the Big House, the largest stadium in America. Now, the beloved school is increasingly seen as a back door for Beijing - a soft target for Chinese operatives, covert networks and alleged plots involving genetically modified parasites and crop-killing fungi. And recent arrests show just how deep the rot may run. On November 5, federal agents charged three...

The last time gasoline was this cheap, 4% inflation seemed alarming, JD Vance was still a private citizen and the United States had only just begun its messy withdrawal from Afghanistan. Gas prices dropped below an average of $3 a gallon in the United States on Tuesday for the first time in four-and-a-half years, according to AAA. The milestone represents a rare feel-good story in a years-long affordability crisis marked by high prices for necessities. The national average for regular gas dipped to $2.998 a gallon, compared with $3.001 on Monday. Pump prices are down about six cents in just...

Sydney Kasin spends her days learning to cut precise angles with a miter saw, but she's also cutting a different path than many of her peers. The Waunakee High School senior splits her time between the classroom and construction job sites as a carpentry apprentice, part of a growing trend of students choosing trades over traditional four-year college degrees. "I really wanted to use my hands and see what I'm building instead of sitting in an office every day," Kasin said. Her decision reflects a broader shift in American attitudes toward higher education. About 1 in 4 Americans now say...

U.S. — Following a difficult year that saw the party lose the White House to Donald Trump and both houses of Congress to Republican control, a new survey revealed that Democrats' poll numbers had surged among the key narcoterrorist demographic. While the Democratic Party had shown signs of making inroads in other segments of the voting populace, it was the sudden spike in support from the important South American illegal drug traffickers that gave the party hope that its popularity was back on the upswing. "We're out here fighting hard for the rights of drug traffickers," said House Minority Leader...

🇺🇸Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem 🇮🇱(12/2/25)[Prayer]The Scriptures in Handel’s “Messiah”Psalm 16:1010 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.Holy Bible, The King James Version________________________

Beer and Wisconsin go together like brats and, well, beer. But for quite some time, a bottle from America's oldest brewery has not been available in the Badger State. That's changing soon. Yuengling on Monday announced it will expand its distribution into Wisconsin starting next year. The brewer began selling its beer in Illinois earlier this year. "As a 6th-generation family brewer, our family has always believed that great beer brings people together," Chief Administrative Officer Wendy Yuengling said. "Each new state we enter feels like welcoming more people into the Yuengling family." Founded in Pottsville, Pa. in 1829, Yuengling...

As I have mentioned here on a couple of occasions, I have joined with two colleagues to intervene in the regulatory proceeding where our local electric utility, Con Edison, has made its most recent request for a large rate increase. My colleagues in this enterprise are Roger Caiazza, who blogs as the Pragmatic Environmentalist of New York, and Richard Ellenbogen, a Cornell-trained engineer who as his day job runs a factory in Westchester County. After a “deregulation” that took place in the 1990s, Con Edison almost entirely got out of the business of generating electricity, so this case is about...

Ever since Donald Trump welcomed Zohran Mamdani into the White House, we’ve been hearing the expected rhetoric from various usual suspects. Trump has sold out. He’s gone over to the dark side. Mamdani outwitted him and made him look like a fool in his own hometown. This has largely come from two sources: the hysterics who live for the moment where they can begin caterwauling that it’s all over, that nothing can be done, that we may as well give up… (Yeah, that’s right – I’m talking about you in the comment threads.) …and the sincere but limited individuals who...

As ICE continues to arrest people in San Diego during their green card interviews, the final step in a legal pathway, some of the people taken into custody have been spouses of military members and veterans, including one who said he felt “betrayed” after serving for decades in the U.S. Marine Corps. ICE has repeatedly said these arrests, which began Nov. 12, are for overstaying visas. But multiple immigration attorneys contend that’s never been an issue before, with an exception in federal law for direct relatives of U.S. citizens, including spouses, who are going through the green card process. ......

FBI Director Kash Patel is facing withering criticism from an alliance of active-duty and retired agents and analysts, days after the White House denied media reports that the president is about to fire him. A troubling new report card on the first six months of Patel’s leadership concludes he is “in over his head” and his deputy, Dan Bongino, is “something of a clown,” according to the alliance, which in two previous reports warned about crippling DEI and politicization of the FBI during the Biden administration. The Patel-led FBI is described in the 115-page report as a “rudderless ship” and...