Free Republic

Independent Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt's impressive showing in the debate with his two main rivals for the job has shaken up the race. First, in an online poll 90% of debate viewers declared Pratt the winner of the debate. Second, both the incumbent Mayor Karen Bass (Democrat) and Councilmember Nithya Raman (Socialist) have dropped out of a second scheduled debate. Third, further debates have been canceled. Fourth, Pratt's campaign ads are being called some of the best political commercials ever seen. Former Vice President Kamala Harris announced her endorsement of Karen Bass: "Mayor Karen Bass is the leader...

Bruce Springsteen appeared to snub former New Jersey governor Chris Christie during a concert at Brooklyn's Barclays Center on Thursday night. The awkward moment came as Springsteen moved through the crowd during an encore, greeting fans and high-fiving audience members gathered along a walkway near the stage. For a brief instant, Christie appeared hopeful that one of his musical heroes might acknowledge him in front of thousands of fans. Video from the concert showed Christie extending his hand toward the singer as he approached, but Springsteen walked directly past the former governor before continuing through the arena.

Greek officials have unveiled the interior of a massive ancient tomb possibly linked to Alexander the Great as archaeologists continue excavation and restoration work. Greece’s Ministry of Culture announced the news in a statement on May 11. The excavation centers around the Kasta Tomb in Amphipolis, the ruins of an ancient Macedonian city in northern Greece, about 60 miles northeast of Thessaloniki. Greek officials said restoration work at the Kasta Tomb in Amphipolis has uncovered the site’s full enclosure for the first time, revealing the massive scale of the ancient Macedonian monument. The enclosure, built in the fourth century B.C.,...

Iran has reportedly begun dumping oil into the Persian Gulf after running out of storage capacity for excess crude. Images allegedly showing oil residue in the waters around Kharg Island began circulating around 10 days ago, with more continuing to emerge as time has gone on. Some reports warn that the situation is rapidly becoming an environmental disaster, as Iran’s coastline has reportedly become heavily coated in oil, which is now said to be spreading to the shores of neighboring countries, including Kuwait.

'The machinery of government should never be weaponized against any American, and it is this Department's intention to make right the wrongs that were previously done while ensuring this never happens again,' said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. 'As part of this settlement, we are setting up a lawful process for victims of lawfare and weaponization to be heard and seek redress.' Donald Trump has reached a $1.8 billion deal with the IRS to dispense taxpayer funds to victims of 'lawfare' as part of a settlement in his case against the government. The President, his sons Don Jr and Eric,...

ATLANTA — Atlanta police have released the name of the suspect in the deadly stabbing on the Atlanta Beltline. The man in custody is 21-year-old Jahmare Brown. Fulton County Jail records show that Brown was booked Friday on murder, aggravated assault, aggravated battery and possession of a firearm or knife charges. The Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the victim as 23-year-old Alyssa Paige.

PARIS, May 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury decided to extend ​its sanctions waiver ‌on Russian seaborne oil, which lapsed on Saturday, after ​several countries asked ​for more time to ⁠buy Russian oil, a ​source familiar with the ​plan said on Monday. The waiver will last another 30 ​days, the source said. The Reuters Power Up newsletter provides everything you need to know about the global energy industry. Sign up here. The ​United States had issued the waiver ‌in ⁠a bid to ease oil supply shortages and high prices due to ​Iran's ​closure ⁠of the Strait of Hormuz amid ​a...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is going viral for all the wrong reasons after delivering a crazy, race-baiting speech in Alabama over the weekend. As Al.com reported, AOC joined several of her left-wing comrades in Montgomery on Saturday to whine about redistricting changes in the South that would eliminate heavily gerrymandered Democratic districts. Most of these are Black-majority seats. These bold moves could give Republicans an outside shot at keeping the House of Representatives this Fall, despite President Trump's low approval ratings. Naturally, desperate Democrats are pulling out the race card and stoking fires. AOC was no exception as she delivered...

With current events stirring up global energy prices, corn ethanol is again being dressed up as if it is a domestic energy source and agent of energy security. The truth is that corn ethanol is an energy sump, and that it takes more fossil fuel energy to make a gallon of corn ethanol than a gallon of gasoline. It is time to face this unpleasant truth and the other perverse outcomes achieved by twenty years of misguided policy. In 2005 and 2007, Congress passed the Energy Policy and Energy Independence and Security Acts that together created the Renewable Fuel Standard...

[Catholic Caucus] Toward a Religion with No Doctrinal or Moral PrinciplesHow does it feel?How does it feel?To be on your ownWith no direction homeLike a complete unknownLike a rolling stone?i> — Bob Dylan, 1965They do not call it “change.” They call it a “paradigm shift.” This is what someone says when they want to make you think that nothing is changing, when in fact everything is going to be different. I am talking about the “Final Report” of Study Group 9, released May 5, 2026. In response to the Synthesis Report of the First Session of the XVI Ordinary Assembly...

Retired U.S. Navy SEAL Mike Sarraille joins 'Varney & Co.' to discuss Iran’s Basij force, escalating Middle East tensions and Fox Nation’s new season of "The Unsung of Arlington". The video is keyed to start at the segment on the unsung heroes of Arlington. I was unaware of this project which gives faces and stories to the heroes buried at Arlington, one by one. This very important undertaking honors the lives and the value of the gift given by so many, sacrificed to protect and defend our Country over decades.

Is it just me, or does it feel like we're setting up to let this guy go free? The latest update in the Luigi Mangione case is a pretty discouraging one. Officers apparently did not follow protocol when they searched Luigi's backpack at the McDonald's where he was arrested. So nothing from the backpack can be admitted as evidence. BREAKING: Judge Carro just ruled the McDonald's backpack search ILLEGAL in the Luigi Mangione case: "There wasn't a search warrant at that time.""So it's the bullet magazine his cell phone, his passport, his wallet, and a computer chip will not be...

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), a big fan of Kennedy and MAHA, is angling to replace Cassidy — a Kennedy nemesis — atop the influential Health Committee next year if Republicans retain control of the Senate… Marshall founded a MAHA caucus to promote Kennedy’s push to combat chronic disease… Under Cassidy, the panel never held votes on three Kennedy-backed nominees, and the impasse led to the withdrawal of all three nominations… An OB/GYN before wading into politics, Marshall has criticized vaccine mandates and supported nutrition-forward health reforms, including a focus on chronic disease prevention. In a September hearing, Marshall endorsed Kennedy’s...

‘Taken together, you see a playbook not used since Elijah Cummings and the IRS targeting scandal days,’ PILF’s Logan Churchwell said. Recent stinging redistricting losses not withstanding, Democrats at least outwardly remain confident about their chances to take back the House in November. And the left-wing legal apparatus is laying the groundwork to go to war on election-integrity warriors the minute they have a friendlier Congress to work with. The Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) has been tracking the left’s playbook as Democrats line up their targets for the next session of Congress. “You are going to see a nationwide...

“WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration said Monday that it is creating a $1.7 billion fund to compensate prosecuted allies of the Republican president after he moved to drop his lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service. The “Anti-Weaponization Fund” was announced by the Justice Department as part of a deal to resolve President Donald Trump's case over the leak of his tax returns. ”

I have read some truly evil things in my life... Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, comes close to what I read in the search warrant for Joshua Gilliam and Ronald Lynch. These two married men have 5 BOYS, in North Carolina. They have been arrested for r*pe, child p*rnography, and grooming. The victims are a 5-year-old and a 15 year-old... but police say many many more charges are coming. ...but it gets worse. Last year... in May of 2025, the NC State Bureau of Investigation sent Harnett County a cybertip about Ronald Wayne Lynch, possible child se*ual abuse material. NO...

Organ meats sit on the butcher’s shelf at a fraction of the price of premium steaks, yet most Americans walk right past them. Liver, heart, and kidneys deliver more vitamins and minerals per dollar than almost anything else in the grocery store, but cultural squeamishness and decades of convenience marketing have rendered them nearly invisible on American tables. Even as the Make America Healthy Again movement highlights these nutrient powerhouses, the rejection persists — a telling symptom of how far we have drifted from sensible, stewardship-minded eating. Beef liver, often called nature’s multivitamin, provides extraordinary levels of vitamin B12, vitamin...

Washington — The Supreme Court on Monday told lower courts to take another look at a pair of cases involving whether private individuals and groups can sue to enforce a key provision of the Voting Rights Act that prohibits discriminatory voting practices. In brief orders, the high court set aside lower court decisions and sent the cases back for further proceedings in light of its landmark ruling last month weakening Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented. At issue in the disputes is who can bring lawsuits in federal court to address potential violations of...

The recently completed £1 billion European headquarters of Goldman Sachs in Farringdon Street is situated on the exact footprint of the first medieval Blackfriars monastery. It was built for mendicant Dominican friars in 1224. They moved 50 years later to their main home near today’s Blackfriars station, a few hundred yards down the same street on the opposite side of the River Fleet. The Dominicans established a priory in Holborn, London in 1223, and dedicated the church to Our Lady and St John the Evangelist. In 1276, Edward I gave them permission to move to a site between the River...

[Lots of Charts at link] Confirming our Sunday preview, overnight China reported growth data which slowed across the board in April with investment resuming declines, retail sales missing sales and growing at the weakest rate in 4 years while industrial production rose at the slowest pace in three years, calling into question Beijing’s reluctance to add stimulus to the economy as a global energy crisis hits factories and consumers across the world. China’s Monday data dump of official data on Monday painted a picture of an economy where booming exports no longer offset deteriorating consumption at home, prompting analysts at...