Free Republic

Former Clinton aide and Democratic strategist Paul Begala said the Democratic Party has drifted toward becoming a "faculty lounge," criticizing what he described as growing elitism within its ranks. During an appearance on "Real Time with Bill Maher" Friday, Begala discussed how Democrats’ election strategy has evolved, and Maher referenced California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recent comment that the party needs to be more "culturally normal" to win. In a February interview with CNN, Newsom said Democrats should be "less prone to spending disproportionate amount of time on pronouns, identity politics." "We used to be the party of the factory floor,...

PITTSBURGH -- Plenty of kids know the joy of a snow day, but what about a draft day? Pittsburgh Public Schools students are about to find out. The district notified staff and families that it will operate remotely April 22-24 as the city prepares for and hosts the NFL draft. With city officials anticipating up to 700,000 visitors and travel disruptions around the region, the school district determined that it would be less disruptive to students to transition to "asynchronous teaching and learning." "Our priority is maintaining continuity of learning while recognizing the extraordinary circumstances the city will experience during...

A US rocket scientist vanished without a trace on a Los Angeles hike eight months before retired Air Force Gen. William McCasland disappeared under eerily similar circumstances — and the two had a close professional connection. Monica Reza went missing on the morning of June 22, 2025, in the Angeles National Forest while hiking with two experienced companions who were exploring the popular Mount Waterman Trail, according to a Facebook page dedicated to finding her. Volunteers and authorities searched the area for months using helicopters, radar, droves of hikers, and dogs — but have found no trace of Reza, 60,...

Eunisses Hernandez has been called a hypocrite for repeatedly calling for police to be abolished — then using taxpayers’ money to pay for own her security in public. The socialist Los Angeles councilmember has built her political brand crusading against cops, winning election on an abolish-the-police platform and even voting ”no” to the city’s budget three years running because she claims the $2.4 billion needed to keep them takes funding from her priorities. But when it came time to securing the 36-year-old’s own public event, Hernandez turned to the LAPD — despite just months earlier voting against the use of...

Peter Theil's Founder's Club Venture Capital Fund is investing 2 billion dollars in a New Zealand AI startup called Halter which uses collars placed on cattle to herd and geofence them and potentially removing the need for physical fencing. The collars are solar powered and allow ranchers to control the movement of cattle from their phone. The collars can be used to drive cattle to new pasture and new sources of food and water. It sounds sort of crazy to me, but I'm not a rancher and don't know how much this type of technology assuming it works will benefit...

The Islamic Republic of Iran significantly escalated its war effort against the U.S. with its launch of two intermediate-range ballistic missiles on Friday toward Diego Garcia, a key U.S.-U.K. military base in the Indian Ocean. The targeting of Diego Garcia, roughly 2,500 miles from Iran, means Tehran’s missile capabilities appear to have exceeded previously acknowledged limits. In the period leading up to Operation Epic Fury Feb. 28, Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi claimed, "We intentionally kept the range of our missiles below 2,000 kilometers so we don’t have that capability. And we don’t want to do that because we do...

NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani is facing furious backlash after breaking his Ramadan fast with Muslim jailbirds on notorious Rikers Island – and describing it one of his “most meaningful evenings” since taking office. “It was a night that will stay with me for quite some time,” the city’s first Muslim mayor gushed Friday on X about his under the radar and historic visit on Monday, which by Saturday sparked a firestorm of outrage. Earlier in the week, the soft-on-crime socialist told NPR of his Rikers powwow: “This is one of the most meaningful evenings that I’ve had as the mayor...

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media. I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone: for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men,...

Gov. Hochul was fittingly ridiculed last week for urging wealthy New Yorkers who fled the state for Florida to return and bring their rich friends with them. “We need your money” was the gist of her plea. She has zero chance of success. The rich didn’t get rich by being so easily duped, but Hochul had to know that. So why did she decide to make a fool of herself? It’s not because she’s dumb, but because she thinks voters are — and that they have short memories. After all, this is the same Hochul who, during her 2022 campaign,...

Businessman Mark Lynch is surging against longtime incumbent Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) ahead of the May primary in South Carolina, a new poll provided exclusively to Breitbart News ahead of its public release shows. On an initial ballot, Graham is well under 50 percent down at just 41 percent while Lynch has moved up to 21 percent. A third candidate, Paul Dans, is at 11 percent and 22 percent are unsure. “Lindsey Graham is in real trouble in this solidly pro-Trump primary,” the polling memo states. “When South Carolina Republican voters learn the candidates’ records, they shift sharply to conservative...

A Venezuelan migrant was arrested in connection with the execution-style murder of a New York teen on a night stroll with friends near Loyola University Chicago’s campus on Thursday, according to reports. The 25-year-old man, who hasn’t been officially charged, is accused of approaching 18-year-old Sheridan Gorman, of Yorktown Heights, NY, at the Loyola Beach Pier before firing the fatal shot from behind. The unidentified suspect was wearing black clothes and a black mask when he allegedly killed the first-year Loyola University Chicago student at around 1:30 a.m., the Chicago Tribune reported. A bystander witnessed the gunman fire a single...

Three weeks after the joint US-Israeli war against Iran began, the conflict has reached a fuzzy state of mixed messages and uncertainty, with Donald Trump's public comments often seemingly contradicted by realities on the ground. The war is "very complete, pretty much", Trump has said, but new American ground forces – including a Marine expeditionary unit - are moving into the region. It is "winding down", but US and Israeli bombing and missile strikes on Iranian targets continue unabated.Opening the Strait of Hormuz, the geographic choke point through which 20% of the world's oil export travels, is a "simple military...

Saint Nicholas Owen, familiarly known as “Little John,” was small in stature but big in the esteem of his fellow Jesuits. Son of a carpenter, Nicholas was raised in a family dedicated to the persecuted Church, and became a capenter and mason. Two of his brothers became priests, another a printer of underground Catholic books, and Nicholas used his building skills to save the lives of priests and help the Church‘s covert work in England. Born at Oxford, this humble artisan saved the lives of many priests and laypersons in England during the penal times (1559-1829), when a series of...

Daily Readings from the USCCBWhen Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her weeping, he became perturbed and deeply troubled, and said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Sir, come and see.” And Jesus wept. John 11:32–35Jesus’ humanity shines clearly in today’s Gospel. In the face of Lazarus’ death, Jesus is deeply moved by the grief around Him. The Gospel says He...

Churches are discouraged from ringing church bells, but these people can take over a park to show they dominate. Zohran is with them, taking it over. You didn’t expect anything different, did you?There are close to one million Muslims in New York City. Are they here to become Americans? How many are not?Go to link to view 4 video posts to X dating from 6/26/2025 to 3/20/2026.

"Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" (Matt. 6:10). Your prayers make a difference! Matthew 6:10 literally says, "Whatever you wish to have happen, let it happen immediately. As your will is done in heaven, so let it be done on earth." That's a prayer of active commitment to God's will. Many people don't pray like that because they don't understand God's character. They think their prayers don't matter and that God will impose His will on them no matter what they do. They tend to pray with passive resignation, indifference, or resentment. I remember praying...

A Vermont fire department came to the rescue of a raccoon that got its head stuck in a peanut butter jar before fleeing to a high branch in a tree. The Shelburne Fire Department said on social media that firefighters were tipped off to the raccoon's predicament by Shelburne Water Department personnel. "Upon arrival, crews located the raccoon approximately 25 feet in a tree. It appeared to have had a little too much luck finding the peanut butter, but not quite enough luck removing the container afterward," the post said. Firefighters used a ladder to reach the raccoon's position and...

Tom Brady started out like the GOAT of flag football before Team USA dominated the day. Brady fired a perfect touchdown pass to Stefon Diggs in the corner of the end zone on his first play in a competitive football game in more than 1,000 days. The 48-year-old, seven-time Super Bowl champion even showed unusual elusive skills by evading a sack on a free rush, stepped up and delivered a strike for the TD after replacing Jalen Hurts on fourth-and-goal on the opening drive of the game.

Most people think you can’t walk without an Achilles tendon. Jo Giese begs to differ, especially since she hikes without one. The L.A. hiker, journalist and community activist shares her journey of recovery in her new 240-page book, “You’ll Never Walk Alone: A Hiker’s Memoir of Adventure, Tragedy, and Defying the Odds” (Amplify Publishing). Giese outlines how one fall down the stairs led to eight surgeries and a relentless search for answers for how she could return to the trails she loved. “The reason I wrote the book is to inspire others,” Giese said, “that if you’re given a grim...

Netflix’s Queen Cleopatra docuseries has caused an immense storm of controversy surrounding its depiction of Cleopatra VII Philopator as a black woman, and whilst Cleopatra herself was not black, there were indeed black pharaohs who ruled over Egypt at one point in the 8th and 7th centuries BC. The 25th Dynasty, also known as the Nubian Dynasty, or Black Pharaohs, ruled Egypt between 744 BC and 656 BC as part of the wider Kushite Empire. The 25th Dynasty originated from the city-state of Napata in Nubia, in what is today Sudan. The Nubian Kushite civilization, from whom the 25th Dynasty...