Free Republic

A heartless Long Island gang leader was sentenced to life without parole Tuesday for ordering the kidnapping and murder of an motorist who fell asleep in front of her house. Kayla Alvarenga, 23, was found guilty of ordering her Bay Shore-based gang, “Family Over Everything, Everybody Killed,” to drag sleeping 29-year-old Linver Ortiz Ponce from his car in March 2022 — then directing her goons to shoot him as he tried to crawl away in a church parking lot. Ponce was a complete stranger who had pulled over to rest on a residential South Shore block after a night out,...

Daily Readings from the USCCBWhen Jesus had washed the disciples’ feet, he said to them: “Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it.” John 13:16–17Today’s Gospel comes from the Last Supper, just after Jesus washed His disciples’ feet. What an act of humility! By analogy, it would be as if a king knelt before his servants to polish their shoes, setting aside his glory to attend to their most basic needs. This act would...

A new poll in the California governor’s race shows Democrat dark horse Xavier Becerra in the lead as he quietly consolidates support from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s key allies. Becerra is tied for first with Trump-endorsed Republican Steve Hilton, with both seeing 19% support among likely voters, the poll from EMC Research found. The former Health and Human Services secretary under President Biden was polling in the single digits just weeks ago, but rapidly racked up support after Eric Swalwell quit the race and resigned from Congress amid sexual assault allegations. The new poll, which surveyed 1,000 likely voters from April...

Nothing about California's high speed rail is moving fast, except the price. Just a few weeks ago, the estimated price of the long-delayed project was said to be $126 billion. This figure wasn't hidden in a spreadsheet somewhere, it was stated on a national news program. This week, we're hearing a new number and it's more than a $100 billion higher.California’s long-delayed high-speed rail project is now facing renewed scrutiny after state leaders revealed a dramatically higher price tag, now estimated at roughly $231 billion, nearly seven times the original $33 billion projection approved by voters in 2008.The revised figures...

Russia is never going to announce that it is out of steam and on the verge of an economic collapse. On the contrary, Putin's regime has done everything it can to make it appear that all is well despite four years of war and sanctions creating a drain on the country's economy. But there are signs that not all is well if you pay attention. For instance, Russia's Victory Day parade, which is usually an excuse for the strongman to roll tanks and missiles through the streets is being scaled back this year.The May 9 Victory Day parade in Moscow’s...

We all know that pop culture in the '70s and '80s was a little less... supervised. Kind of like our time outside. I mean, "It's 11 o'clock... do you know where your children are?" So with little parental controls, no "technology" filters, and if you think about it, very little stuff made exclusively for kids, if it was on TV or playing at the movies, you probably saw it. And this is exactly what makes this aspect of nostalgia so fun, and even surprising. When you revisit the things we loved as kids, you start to realize just how eyebrow-raising...

We're not quite to the ultimate goal yet, but the momentum is there to get the employees of the DHS back to receiving their paychecks. On Wednesday, the House passed a procedural vote on funding for the Department of Homeland Security and FISA along party lines, after removing a third component of the package: House Republican leaders on Wednesday cleared a major hurdle when they corralled members into adopting a rule to tee up consideration of two major pieces of legislation: reauthorization of the nation’s foreign spy powers and a budget blueprint to fund immigration enforcement. The House voted 216-210...

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said on Wednesday he encourages Britain's King Charles to return the Koh-i-Noor Diamond, with his comments ​coming during the British monarch's ongoing U.S. visit. "If I were to ‌speak to the king separately from that, I would probably encourage him to return the Koh-i-Noor Diamond," Mamdani, who is Indian American, said when asked at a ​press conference hours before a ceremony that commemorated victims of ​the deadly September 11, 2001, attacks. Later in the day, the ⁠king spoke with Mamdani at the ceremony. Buckingham Palace declined to ​comment. Mamdani's office did not respond to...

Hilarious 1 Minute Video at link.........

Michigan Democrat Mallory McMorrow, a candidate running for US Senate, deleted thousands of tweets, some of which defended “coastal elites” and were critical of “Middle America,” after The Post first reported on them last year. Morrow, 39, purged her X account of roughly 6,000 posts, including all her tweets posted prior to 2020, CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski reported on Wednesday. The journalist noted the social media cleanse came after The Post’s April 2025 scoop on McMorrow’s tweet history. The deleted posts even included jabs at the purple state she is now running to represent. “Aaaand it’s snowing. Screw you, Michigan. #NYCtoLA,”...

CNN’s Van Jones said Erika Kirk had “tremendous moral authority” on Wednesday, claiming that she has the “opportunity” to bring people together to address violence in America. “Saturday was yet another traumatic example of the evil in our country and the continued rise in political violence,” Kirk wrote. “I’m taking time to spend with my family.” Kirk shared more detailed thoughts on Wednesday’s edition of The Charlie Kirk Show, where she blamed the press and commentators for the “systemic indoctrination and radicalization” of U.S. citizens. “This culture we’re living in absorbs disagreement into personal betrayal,” she said. “It turns having...

A snake crawled into the German tourist's pants and bit him, according to police.WASHINGTON — A German tourist on vacation in Egypt died this month after he was bitten during a snake-charming show, according to German police. Bavarian Police said this week that a family of three from the Unterallgäu region of Germany went to the snake-charming show in early April in the Hurghada resort area of Egypt, along the Red Sea coast. The show was entertainment provided by the hotel complex, police said.Two snakes that police said were "presumably" cobras were used in the performance and placed around the...

The DSA and other socialists want to make Mamdani the new Obama, but in his honeymoon period he’s underwater among New Yorkers and after working hard to try and elect his candidate in the West Village of Manhattan, of all places, she lost badly instead. You may remember Lindsey Boylan for being the woman whose claims helped take down Cuomo. I gave her a little too much credence at the time but since then she’s proven to be remarkably flexible.

A Nevada judge on Monday sentenced actor Nathan Chasing Horse, best known for his role in Kevin Costner's Oscar-winning film "Dances With Wolves," to life in prison with possibility of parole after he was convicted last month of sexually assaulting multiple Indigenous women and girls

The EMW Women’s Surgical Center, Louisville’s last abortion facility that had been killing unborn babies for over 40 years, has been demolished. The building that housed the abortion clinic was recently reduced to rubble, Kentucky Right to Life announced. “From ashes… the fall of EMW is a milestone—but not the finish line. It is a reminder that perseverance matters. That truth endures. That faith, lived out over time, changes history,” the pro-life group posted on X. It added: “Over 40 years, EMW Women’s Surgical Center in Louisville—has been reduce to rubble.” The abortion center, established in 1981, had killed thousands...

The Supreme Court on Wednesday unanimously ruled in favor of a pro-life pregnancy center fighting harassment from Democrat state officials. The high court ruled that a pro-life pregnancy center can challenge in federal court a sweeping subpoena from New Jersey’s attorney general demanding the identities of its financial supporters and other internal records. In First Choice Women’s Resource Centers v. Davenport, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the unanimous court that the New Jersey pro-life group has standing to bring its First Amendment claim. “An injury in fact arises when a defendant burdens a plaintiff’s constitutional rights, and government demands for...

Computer scientist and futurist Ray Kurzweil believes humanity will achieve “longevity escape velocity” in just three years. The concept basically states that due to medical and technological advances, we will soon reach a point where our life expectancies lengthen by more than one year per year, effectively giving us time back on the clock. This is a very controversial concept, and one that—even if possible—would require widespread access to cutting edge medical technology. ============================================================================ Death and taxes—the twin inevitabilities of human life. At least, for the moment. If you ask some of the most prominent futurists in the world, death...

Discover the chilling truth about 12 missing atomic weapons lost during American military operations. Join investigators in Savannah as they dredge the boggy waters, searching for a suspected armed nuclear warhead. Featuring firsthand accounts from pilots involved in these incidents, this documentary dives deep into the consequences of these devastating losses. 45 MINUTE VIDEO AT LINK.....................

Secret Service agents fired five shots at the man who tried to assassinate Donald Trump but failed to hit him and may have accidentally struck one of their own, the acting attorney general revealed. Todd Blanche told reporters Monday that agents subdued alleged gunman Cole Tomas Allen, 31, only after he tripped and fell while breaching a security checkpoint at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. 'One Secret Service officer was shot in the chest, but was wearing a ballistic vest that worked,' the acting Attorney General said. 'This heroic officer who was hit, fired five times at Allen, who was...

Pod Save America co-host and former Obama White House director of speechwriting Jon Favreau grilled Democratic National Committee (DNC) chairman Ken Martin this week over his refusal to release the full report on how the Democratic Party lost the election in 2024. “When you won the chairmanship in February of ’25, you criticized the DNC’s refusal to release their 2016 autopsy as exactly what not to do,” said Favreau during an interview with Martin on Tuesday.