Free Republic

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s former top aide Dana Williamson pled guilty to federal fraud and tax charges after reaching a deal with prosecutors. Williamson, who was Newsom’s chief of staff from 2022 and 2024 and a top Sacramento power broker, appeared at Robert T. Matsui U.S. Courthouse in Sacramento Thursday to enter her guilty plea to counts of conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, subscribing to a false tax return and making false statements. “Dana Williamson and her co-conspirators weaponized public trust for personal gain,” said FBI Sacramento Special Agent in Charge Sid Patel in a statement. “They stole from...

"Don’t Look Up" filmmaker Adam McKay unveiled the conspiracy theory that the oil companies may be responsible for the devastating Palisades fire and that corporations have “misled” people into thinking an arsonist was responsible for the fire. During an interview with left-wing, enviro podcaster Jesse Damiani, McKay made the wild clam that the oil companies are responsible for “blacking out the news communication” around the deadly and devastating fires. “The oil companies have been wildly successful blacking out the news communication, buying up our supposed representatives. So, there’s there,” the far-left Hollywood elitist told the podcaster. “I saw it with...

Academy Award-winning director Adam McKay unleashed a rant against voters blindly standing behind the Democratic Party. The lefty filmmaker — who directed such comedic classics as “Anchorman,” “Talladega Nights” and “Step Brothers” — slammed “white liberals” during a recent interview on the “Urgent Futures” podcast. “It is incredible to watch people this far down the road still say you gotta stand behind the Democrat Party. The same party that wouldn’t convict Trump of a crime after he told a crowd, ‘Go to the Capitol,’” McKay said. “The same party where the previous presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, literally funded Trump’s campaign.”...

We're making our roads safe one way or another. The Supreme Court just handed down a ruling which will make trucking companies shake in their boots while billboard lawyers are dancing in the streets. This expands your ability to sue freight companies if they hire trucking companies with bad safety ratings and cause a car accident. Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, LLC looked at a law called the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act, which bans states from imposing economic regulations (like rate controls, routing mandates, or service requirements) that could affect with the interstate flow of goods. The law, however,...

DENVER — Colorado Democrat Gov. Jared Polis has signed a rare pro-life measure into law, expanding the window in which mothers can surrender their newborns to safe havens from 72 hours after birth to 30 days. The straightforward HB26-1024 expands the window during which women who decide they are unwilling or unable to raise a child can legally turn him or her over to a firefighter or hospital staffer. It takes effect August 12. Colorado Safe Haven for Newborns, the organization that backed the change, credits the original 2000 law with saving 99 newborns, but suggests the original window was...

When a new book dismisses abortion survivors and women whose abortions don’t go as planned as ‘social contagion,’ it doesn’t just misread a movement—it erases our lived reality—talk about a wrong and bad idea about women! In her new book, Reproductive Wrongs: A Short History of Bad Ideas About Women, Sarah Ruden devotes part of her final chapter to me and to The Abortion Survivors Network by name. I should be flattered, I guess. (Hat tip to Katelyn Walls Shelton for sharing this chapter with me. If you aren’t following Katelyn yet, head over to her Substack for great content...

It was a classic Morning Joe setup on Thursday: tee up far-left Democrat Ro Khanna to blast China’s unfair trade practices--then watch him pivot straight into a sweeping central-planning agenda for America. His plan: • Create an “industrial investment bank” to fund government-selected factories in “the industries of the future” — batteries, new steel, new cars, new ships — specifically targeted at “places that were deindustrialized,” paired with investment and production tax credits. • Open a thousand new trade schools. • Open new tech institutes to prepare workers for AI and future technology jobs — again directing investment to “places...

A new report revealed that Iran has seized a ship laden with weapons and is taking it back to Iran. The so-called “floating armory” was based in the Gulf of Oman, according to Vanguard, a maritime risk management company. The ship is “bound for Iranian territorial waters,” Britain’s Maritime Trade Operations group said, according to the BBC. The BBC said the Honduras-flagged Hui Chuan had told Vanguard it was operating as a floating armory, designed to store weapons that would be needed by security companies that protect ships from piracy. The BBC said the ship was last documented to be...

Kuwait has struck Aytatoilet speed boats and taken IRGC on board into custody. Iran Ayatoiletry threatens revenge, calls it illegal. Bibi says he secretly visited UAE during start of war, UAE denies it. China has publicly said it is against IRGC plan to charge tolls to shipping at the Strait. And so on and so forth and doobie doobie doobie. Transcript linked below video.

In 2002, my classmate Graham Platner ran for student-body president of John Bapst Memorial High School in Bangor. I remember watching him in our auditorium debate his fellow candidates. He was the radical, wearing a revolutionary proletarian costume: overalls and a red armband... I don’t recall the issues they discussed, but I do remember Platner proposing collective action to overturn some school policy — saying something along the lines of, “They can’t suspend us all.” The history teacher serving as moderator interjected to remind Platner and everyone else that, yes, in fact, they could... Students elected the safe candidate, a...

Hillary Clinton could not get to her keyboard fast enough. Within hours of reports that the Justice Department is considering settling President Donald Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS, Clinton was on X accusing Trump of “shaking down taxpayers” and declaring that the “corruption meter is flashing red.” What Clinton did not bother to mention, and what the left keeps hoping you will forget, is why this lawsuit exists in the first place: a former IRS contractor named Charles Littlejohn stole thousands of confidential tax returns, smuggled them out of government systems on personal devices including an iPod, and...

Sleep is critical to being in good health, regulating how people think and informing everything from mood to physical health. But the country’s lack of sleep is a problem for everyone, even for those lucky Americans who are able to get enough shut-eye. In addition to individual health, insufficient sleep creates a drag on medical spending, workplace productivity, and long-term health outcomes. America’s chronic inability to get enough sleep comes with a real cost attached, one that researchers have put in the hundreds of billions of dollars in annual economic losses. The other culprit is the thing that makes the...

In 1965, Ian Smith declared independence from Britain to preserve British civilisation. Fifteen years later, Zimbabwe was born and the collapse began. In this video, Freya breaks down how one of Africa's most functional states was dismantled, not by military defeat, but by Western liberal idealism that demanded revolution over evolution. The Zimbabwe that replaced it stands as one of history's most devastating proofs of what happens when politics ignores reality.

They want to add 150 to the House!............. 1:23 VIDEO AT LINK.............

The launch of ChatGPT in 2022 ignited the artificial-intelligence boom—and elicited a chorus of warnings from AI bosses of an impending jobs apocalypse. Never mind that they have reason to talk up the disruptiveness of their products, or that rich-world employment is near all-time highs—the dark message has landed. Seven in ten Americans think AI will make it harder for people to find work; nearly a third fear for their own jobs. A dearth of openings for college graduates—especially computer programmers—amplifies the dread. The past offers some solace for the anxious. Labour markets constantly change. Today’s offices would be unrecognisable...

On May 14, 2026, just months before we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the USA, the Associated Press floated the idea of gun control for the exact type black powder muskets that were used in the American Revolution. The AP used an X post to say, “A musket from 1776 can fire a lead ball at a velocity of around 1,000 feet per second.” They added, “Imagine what that can do to a human body. Yet under federal and most state laws, it’s exempt from gun regulations. Many antique or replica guns aren’t considered firearms and even convicted felons can...

A new estimate from the Congressional Budget Office suggests that the cost of building and maintaining the proposed “Golden Dome” missile defense system could reach roughly $1.2 trillion over two decades, far exceeding the $185 billion figure previously cited by Pentagon leadership. The ambitious program aims to significantly expand existing U.S. missile defense infrastructure. Plans include bolstering ground-based interceptors, upgrading sensor networks and enhancing command systems, while also introducing a major space-based component designed to identify, monitor and potentially intercept threats from orbit. This orbital layer would rely on a large network of satellites, including systems capable of engaging incoming...

Key Points Cuban Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy told state media the island nation has run out of fuel oil and diesel. Protests broke out in Havana on Wednesday as blackouts in the capital continued. The Trump administration, which has effectively blocked oil shipments to Cuba since January, has offered assistance in exchange for political reform. =========================================================== Cuba has run out of oil and diesel, its energy minister said on Wednesday, as an ongoing U.S. blockade starves the island nation of fuel. “The sum of the different types of fuel: crude oil, fuel oil, of which we have...

WASHINGTON D.C. (Worthy News) – Iran’s ability to threaten Israel, America’s regional allies, and U.S. personnel across the Middle East has been dramatically reduced, according to Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of U.S. Central Command, who told a Senate committee Thursday that Tehran’s military reach has been severely weakened after recent U.S. operations. “Iran has a significantly degraded threat, and they no longer threaten regional partners, or the United States, in ways that they were able to do before, across every domain,” Cooper said. “They’ve been significantly degraded.” In one of the most striking assessments of the hearing, Cooper said...

BEIJING — President Donald Trump's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping was going swimmingly until Trump made a crucial (but common) error: gifting Xi a large jar of honey from the White House beehive. "Here, I know you love this stuff," Trump said, handing a dismayed Xi a ceramic jar clearly labeled in large print "HUNNY." "No, I don't!" Xi then shouted. "Where you hear this?" Trump seemed confused by the reaction. "It's just well known," he said. "Right? Or was it your little pig friend who likes the honey? Or the tiger?" "I no have pig friend!" Xi yelled....