Free Republic

A longtime “Defund the Police” advocate who could be the next mayor of the nation’s capital has argued that American policing is “rooted in white supremacy” — and she, like NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani, is also a member of Democratic Socialists of America. Janeese Lewis George, who won her D.C. City Council seat in 2020 with the backing of the DSA and on a “Defund the Police” platform following the George Floyd protests and riots, is now a leading contender to replace outgoing multi-term Mayor Muriel Bowser. The Democratic mayoral primary will be based on ranked choice voting for the...

President Donald Trump is floating the possibility of keeping the UFC arena on the White House South Lawn -- built for a series of fights on his birthday and Flag Day -- permanently. In a video posted to his official TikTok account Tuesday evening, Trump sat in the Oval Office and said that the Eiffel Tower in Paris was supposed to be a temporary structure, but that France kept it up -- suggesting that the UFC arena is "quite attractive to a lot of people" so "maybe we'll never ever take it down." "People don't know that in Paris, France,...

The culprit behind all three eruptions from the sun is Earth-facing sunspot region 4455. The unstable region produced an M9.3 solar flare that peaked at 9:36 p.m. EDT June 2 (0136 a.m. GMT on June 3), followed by an M7.9 flare at 3:00 a.m. EDT (0700 GMT) and an X1 at 7:28 a.m. EDT (1128 GMT) — the most powerful category of solar flare. The trio of eruptions triggered radio blackouts across Earth. The M9.3 flare triggered a moderate R2 radio blackout across parts of East Asia and Australia, while the M7.9 eruption caused another R2 blackout affecting portions of...

Hungarian prosecutors have dropped charges against Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony over his role in organising a Pride march last year. The event took place in June 2025, despite warnings of potential legal repercussions by Hungary's then-Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, whose government had passed a law banning public events involving the LGBTQ community. In a statement issued on Thursday, Hungarian prosecutors cited a landmark ruling from the EU's top court as its reason for dropping the charges.

The term for the political tactic of manipulating boundaries of electoral districts for unfair political advantage derives its name from a prominent 19th-century political figure -- and from a mythological salamander.The term, originally written as "Gerry-mander," first was used on March 26, 1812, in the Boston Gazette -- a reaction to the redrawing of Massachusetts state senate election districts under Gov. Elbridge Gerry.Though the redistricting was done at the behest of his Democratic-Republican Party, it was Gerry who signed the bill in 1812. As a result, he received the dubious honor of attribution, along with its negative connotations.Gerry, in fact,...

Alessandra Coote was walking on a trail with her 2-year-old daughter and dog two-and-a-half years ago when a man began yelling at her and threatened to kill her dog. When the petite single mom made it back to her Utah home, she decided she needed a firearm for protection. A few months later, while living in what she described as a “shady part of town,” a homeless man threatened her. After that encounter, she began regularly carrying a firearm under Utah’s Constitutional Carry law. Coote, who just graduated this spring from the University of Utah, says carrying the gun has...

"Spencer Pratt surges to runoff in LA mayor’s race after angry voters send message to Karen Bass."Does that sound like a reasonable headline description as to what happened on Tuesday in the mayoral election in Los Angeles? After all the incumbent mayor Bass was rejected (as of this writing) by almost two thirds of the voters. It is a headline that appeared on the 930 WFMD Radio website and is somewhat reflected in a bizarre way at Politico which somehow managed to give the election results a laughably different interpretation with "Becerra and Bass surge in California as anti-establishment fever...

Former National Security Adviser John Bolton is set to plead guilty to mishandling classified materials, CNN reported Thursday citing anonymous sources. Bolton has agreed to pay a fine of more than $2 million and will plead guilty to a single count of illegal retention of sensitive national security documents, one of CNN’s three anonymous sources told the outlet. On this count, Bolton can face a prison sentence of up to 60 months. In October 2025, a federal grand jury indicted Bolton on 18 counts in connection to the former Trump administration official’s alleged mishandling of classified information. Bolton, widely known...

Capt. Wendel Penetrante, Capt. Edwin Catubig and Master Chief Petty Officer Thomas Dean Howell were relieved on Wednesday. No specific reason for their firing has been given. The commanding officer, executive officer and senior enlisted leader of a Navy ship repair facility in Yokosuka, Japan, have been fired, service officials announced on Wednesday. Capt. Wendel Penetrante, Capt. Edwin Catubig and Master Chief Petty Officer Thomas Dean Howell were relieved of their duties on Wednesday as commanding officer, executive officer, and command master chief, respectively, a Navy news release says. They were all assigned to the U.S. Naval Ship Repair Facility...

John Bolton, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser-turned-adversary, is expected to plead guilty over mishandling classified documents, according to three sources familiar with the matter. He intends to plead guilty to one count of illegal retention of sensitive national security documents, according to one of the sources. He has also agreed to pay a more than $2 million fine, according to one of the sources. A conviction on one count of illegal retention comes with a sentence between 0 and 60 months in prison. The plea deal comes months after the top Trump foe was charged by prosecutors in...

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — A Virginia Beach man was found guilty and sentenced on several charges related to sex trafficking. Pankaj Joshi’s trial was held in Virginia Beach Circuit Court on June 2, 2026. On Feb. 27, the Virginia Beach Police Department Special Investigations Bureau (SIB) received a tip through the Virginia State Police tip line about a possible human trafficking victim in Virginia Beach. Detectives located the individual and began an investigation. SIB detectives identified 33-year-old Pankaj Joshi as the suspect in this case. Investigators charged him with human trafficking, pandering, and aiding prostitution. Detectives also helped the...

President Trump on Thursday accused Democrats of trying to steal this week’s California primary elections and said the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles would investigate the surge of late mail-in ballots and the slow vote count.The probe would focus on Tuesday’s jungle primaries for California governor and Los Angeles mayor, in which Republican candidates had a strong performance in early results.The final results may not be known for weeks because of a deluge of late-arriving mail-in ballots that officials say will take time to count, state officials warned.

California’s decline is no mystery: decades of one-party rule have turned America’s golden state into a warning about the costs of ideological governance. The recent California gubernatorial and Los Angeles mayoral elections—where, remarkably, Steve Hilton and Spencer Pratt both appear to have advanced to the general election in November—offer a glimmer of hope. Could it be that some on the Left, along with a number of Independents, have finally realized that neither wealth nor an upscale ZIP code can protect them from the Left’s vindictive socialist madness? California gas prices, even prior to the Iran war, had reached the highest...

"Is this the Foreign Affairs Committee, or is this a circus?" That quote from Secretary of State Marco Rubio pretty much sums up what happened on Wednesday morning when he testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the FY27 Department of State Budget Request. In case you missed it, this is Rubio's second day of hearings on Capitol Hill, and what he's had to deal with so far today makes yesterday look tame. These Congress critters aren't serious people. On Tuesday, I joked that it's more like "Democrats, who were supposed to be asking questions, talked at Rubio and...

4 people were shot during a graduation ceremony at Fairfield High School. 1 person was killed, police say. 3 of the shooting victims were hospitalized. Their conditions are not yet known. No suspect information is available. No one is in custody, according to police. The investigation is active.

Quentin Tarantino is not a fan of the majority of movies coming out of Hollywood these days. Writing for Sight & Sound magazine, the Oscar winner revealed that “it’s almost impossible” for him these days to watch a new movie and not pick it “to death.” “Flaws, implausibilities, audience pandering, miscast performers or just plain stupid shit usually torpedoes every new movie coming out of the flavorless sausage factory that used to call itself Hollywood,” the director explained. “These days, the entire concept of what is a movie is more inclined to inspire contempt in me than generosity. Which is...

Democratic socialists are not just campaigning in so-called flyover states; they are winning. Over the past decade, the rise of democratic socialism in America has been most acute in coastal states like California, New York, and Washington. Generally, America’s heartland has refrained from embracing the democratic socialist grievance agenda. However, as the 2026 primary season heats up, we are seeing several democratic socialist candidates running for office in places across the heartland. Democratic socialists are not just campaigning in so-called flyover states; they are winning. In Pennsylvania, democratic socialist Chris Raab cruised to victory late last month in the state’s...

Elon Musk is “interfering in our politics” and attempting to create division, Keir Starmer has said in a significant toughening of government language about the X owner. It comes after weeks of posts by Musk on his social media platform about the murder of Henry Nowak, many of which have used far-right themes and talking points. Starmer was due to meet Nowak’s family at Downing Street later on Thursday to discuss a response to the actions of Hampshire police, who arrested the teenage student as he lay dying from stabs wounds after a false accusation of racist abuse by the...

The Supreme Court will be releasing Opinions from the October 2025 this morning at 10:00.Scotusblog will be liveblogging the release and we will be following along.There are 26 decisions pending for this term and we expect all opinions will be released by June 30th. You can find a list of the cases at October 2025 cases. Note: The word "held" after the case name indicates the Opinion has already been released. The word "Issues" indicates the questions to be resolved by the Court.You can find the Opinions on this term's previously decided cases at October 2025 Opinions. Today's opinions will...

The transgender Laramie resident who staged a protest at the state Capitol last summer of Wyoming’s new cross-sex access ban for public restrooms is now waging a self-defense argument in a felony aggravated assault case. Rihanna Kelver, 26, made headlines last summer for using the women’s bathroom in the Wyoming Capitol when a new state law activated banning the practice. The ban doesn’t allow for penalties against a transgender person using the women’s bathroom, but allows females aggrieved by that event to sue the state for letting it happen. About two months later, Kelver was involved in an altercation with...