Free Republic

Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz “turned a blind eye” to repeated warnings that taxpayer-funded day care providers in the state may be engaging in fraud, according to a Republican state lawmaker. State Rep. Kristin Robbins (R-Maple Grove), chairwoman of the Minnesota Fraud Committee and a GOP candidate for governor, told The Post she informed the Walz administration about her suspicions after running a hearing on day care fraud in February 2024 — but it fell on deaf ears. “I gave the Department of Human Services a list of day care providers getting over $1 million in the previous year from...

A veteran jazz ensemble and a New York dance company have canceled events at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, intensifying the fallout at one of the nation’s pre-eminent arts centers after it was renamed to include President Trump. The center had previously promoted two New Year’s Eve performances by the Cookers as an “all-star jazz septet that will ignite the Terrace Theater stage with fire and soul.” But those performances, like an annual Christmas Eve jazz concert hosted by Chuck Redd, are now canceled. The Cookers did not give a reason for the decision in a...

Campus free expression is in crisis. According to the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), its 2026 College Free Speech Rankings found that student acceptance of disruptive protest tactics has reached record highs. More students than ever believe it is acceptable to shout down a speaker, block entry to campus events, or use violence to silence speech. For the first time, a majority of students oppose allowing any of the six controversial speakers - three liberal, three conservative - that FIRE asked about. The average school earned an F for its speech climate; only 11 of 257 institutions scored...

A convicted murderer who gunned down a 19-year-old girl has sparked community outrage after being voted back onto the city’s police review board. Kyle Hedquist, 47, was jailed for life without parole for murdering Nikki Thrasher in 1994. The Oregon native led Thrasher down a remote road and shot her in the back of the head to prevent her from telling people about a burglary spree he had embarked on. In 2022 Hedquist was released, with former Governor Kate Brown arguing that he was 17 at the time of the crime, which means 'he shouldn't be locked-up for life.' Now,...

🇺🇸 CROWDFUNDED DOGE: THE PLAN TO UNLEASH DOZENS OF NICK SHIRLEYS ACROSS AMERICA Nick Shirley's Minnesota daycare investigation hit 124 million views in less than 4 days and exposed millions in alleged welfare fraud. Now Silicon Valley wants to scale the model nationwide. Chamath Palihapitiya just backed the idea of a crowdfunded grant program to unleash "tens of investigative journalists" on fraud across blue states, starting with California. The concept: create a decentralized DOGE-like network of citizen journalists funded by tech investors, supported by private investigators, and aimed at systematically documenting fraud across blue states. Think of it as Elon's...

A report by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently revealed billions in taxpayer funds that went to "questionable" rental assistance recipients under former President Joe Biden. The recipients included approximately 30,000 deceased tenants and thousands of potential non-citizens, according to a copy of HUD's "Agency Financial Report" for fiscal year 2025 obtained by the New York Post. HUD officials told the Post that a "large concentration" of the funds went to New York, California and Washington, D.C., with deceased recipients getting funds in all 50 states.

TSMC has quietly revealed that it had commenced volume production of chips using its N2 (2nm-class) fabrication process. The company did not issue a formal press release notifying about the production start, but the firm had said multiple times that N2 was on track for volume manufacturing in Q4, so the plan has been fulfilled.

Judging from the overwhelming preponderance of black characters in the commercials on the NFL games streaming last weekend it is clear that black viewers are the main customers of the sports streaming services. Given that blacks have been oppressed in North America since 1619, the fees for streaming sports programs in the U.S. are clearly racist and unjust to black people.

Iran is facing its largest demonstrations in years as people hit the streets of Tehran and other cities to protest the country's dismal economic situation. The protests erupted Sunday and gathered pace Monday after the Islamic Republic’s currency, the rial, hit a record low against the dollar. Many in Iran are already struggling with the cost of living, and rising prices have fueled concerns about potential hyperinflation. In Tehran, shopkeepers protested near the city’s central bazaar, reminiscent of the Iranian revolution in 1979 when merchants played a key role by shuttering their shops and protesting against the reigning monarch at...

A growing group of former CBS News journalists is preparing to confront the network’s new owner David Ellison, chief of Paramount Skydance, demanding “editorial independence” after a 60 Minutes investigation into deported migrants was abruptly pulled from air. In a petition addressed to Ellison and published by the New York Post, signatories warn that CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss’s decision to spike the report represents a dangerous political intervention in journalism. The letter is being circulated among current and former staff and is expected to be sent in early January. The 60 Minutes segment, examining the treatment of migrants sent...

CHRISTMAS BIBLE-ART EPISODE #18 of 33 SHEPHERDS, FIRST TO HEAR OF THE SAVIOR L U K E CHAPTER 2 She gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you...

A Minneapolis child care center has become the unlikely focus of social media speculation and regulatory scrutiny this week after digital sleuths discovered its public contact information led directly to the office of Governor Tim Walz.The facility, identified as Sweet Angel Child Care, went viral on Monday when users on X (formerly Twitter) noted that the phone number listed for the business on Google Maps connected callers to the governor's administration rather than the day care itself. The anomaly surfaced shortly after YouTuber Nick Shirley featured the location in a video investigation released Friday, which sought to verify the legitimacy...

Blue Zone political culture is empty. There’s nothing in it. They don’t make anything, they don’t do anything, they aren’t trying to do anything. Let’s bracket a great piece of journalism with more details and some context. By now, I assume most readers here have seen the magnificent work of the independent journalist Nick Shirley in Minnesota, showing widespread Somali fraud in government-funded programs by simply walking up to the front doors of daycare centers and healthcare organizations and inquiring about their services. Daycare centers with millions of dollars in government funding and no children inside, and neighbors who say...

There's a beer on the market so strong it rivals cocktails — and it's illegal in parts of the U.S. Earlier in the fall, Samuel Adams announced the release of its Utopias 2025, a "barrel-aged extreme beer" that packs an impressive 30% alcohol by volume (ABV). "Utopias 2025 is one of the strongest beers ever brewed, and as a result, is illegal in 15 states," the release said. TARA REID'S DISPUTED DRINK-TAMPERING CLAIM LEADS EXPERTS TO WARN AGAINST 'ILL INTENTIONS' OF STRANGERS The banned states are Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South...

I was in the middle of writing something else, but this has to be said. No doubt in response to what's being uncovered in Minnesota and Maine, there is a great push for attention to the conditions in Gaza. Gaza today. pic.twitter.com/yGIbIGlMpC — Muhammad Smiry 🇵🇸 (@MuhammadSmiry) December 27, 2025What is happening to us now is beyond anyone’s imagination or ability to endure. We are living through catastrophic and terrifying conditions amid the world’s complicity, as we are left to be killed and tortured in silence.💔 pic.twitter.com/cwL3fGaIWb — Haitham in Gaza 🇵🇸🍉 (@HaithamElmasri1) December 15, 2025💔 Airstrikes, shootings, hypothermia, this...

A case study in how moral blackmail paralyzed government and let organized fraud run free A sprawling Somali welfare fraud scandal has swallowed Minnesota. Somali refugees in Minnesota have committed the 'biggest theft of taxpayer dollars in US history' and local Democratic officials were 'fully complicit' in the scheme, White House officials declared Friday night.Federal authorities announced this week that at least 86 people - mostly within small Somali communities in the state - have stolen more than $1 billion in public funds from programs meant to feed children, assist the homeless and provide autism therapy.The suspects allegedly ran companies...

George Clooney publicly said this past fall that he was concerned about raising children in Hollywood and that a farm in France was the family's primary residence. American-born actor George Clooney has been awarded French citizenship. The French government listed their names in the naturalization decree published this past weekend, according to The Hill newspaper. In addition to Clooney, his wife, Amal Clooney, a human rights lawyer, and the twins, wins Ella and Alexander, were offically granted citizenship. Amal Clooney was listed under her maiden name, Alamuddin, the Hill also reports. George Clooney publicly said this past fall that he...

Climate change worsened by human behavior made 2025 one of the three hottest years on record, scientists said. The analysis from World Weather Attribution researchers, released Tuesday in Europe, came after a year when people around the world were slammed by the dangerous extremes brought on by a warming planet. "If we don't stop burning fossil fuels very, very, quickly, very soon, it will be very hard to keep that goal" of warming, Friederike Otto, co-founder of World Weather Attribution and an Imperial College London climate scientist, told The Associated Press. "The science is increasingly clear." "The heat waves we...

In the eighties, I had a friend who worked for me on and off. He was a competent handyman and could do an oil change without screwing it up, something that was always useful in an auto shop, which I ran. Eventually, however, he got a better paying job as a drywaller. Anyone who has ever done a home project with even a small drywall repair knows how difficult it is not to have even a small repair stick out like a sore thumb. Stevie was good and patient. He has that ability to measure with his eye. And so...

Meet three AWFL (Affluent, white, female, liberal) Minnesota judges who are making headlines for the most predictable reasons imaginable. These ladies have recently dismissed cases against Somali fraudsters in Minnesota, even overturning jury verdicts, allowing the immigrants stealing millions from Americans and Minnesotans to walk free. Each of these judges found small, technical prosecutorial errors, resulting in the cases being tossed. Here's local reporting in Minnesota on the case where Judge Sarah West tossed the jury verdict: Jurors who were chosen for the case were shocked by West's decision. 'I am shocked,' jury foreperson Ben Walfoort told KARE 11 News....