Free Republic

A year ago, the White House was unleashing a blitz on higher education. At one campus after another, Trump officials opened investigations and cut federal funding unless schools fell in line with the Republican president’s political agenda. Now, after a campaign that put dozens of universities under investigation, President Donald Trump’s administration is taking a wider approach, moving to rewrite the federal rules that govern all of higher education. Demands that were being pressed on individual schools are being written into the fine print for thousands of U.S. universities. “We’re coming over the higher education system and course correcting,” Nicholas...

The Lebanese armed group Hezbollah has emphatically rejected the terms of a US-backed ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. In a strongly worded statement, the Iran-backed group's leader Naim Qassem said negotiations had been "futile" and "humiliating" for Lebanon, and rejected categorically by "broad segments of the Lebanese people". It comes after Israel and Lebanon announced a renewal of their fragile ceasefire with the creation of "pilot" security zones inside Lebanon in which Hezbollah operatives would be banned. It also required Hezbollah to stop attacking Israel. Donald Trump later said he had spoken to Hezbollah and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu...

President Trump denied Friday that he campaigned on avoiding “endless” wars, as he seeks to reach a deal to end hostilities with Iran. “I didn’t promise anything. I don’t like these endless wars. This is not an endless war,” he told host Kristen Welker on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” in an interview that aired Sunday. “We’ve been doing this for three months,” Trump added, referring to the Iran conflict that began on Feb. 28. “Much of it has been under… a pretty good form of ceasefire.” The president later said that he would “not have built the strongest military in...

The Merneptah Stele (or Israel Stele) is an engraved stone slab which describes Pharaoh Merneptah’s military victories in 1207 b.c.e. The stele itself is dated to the year 1205 b.c.e. Renowned British archaeologist Flinders Petrie discovered this two-meter-tall, inscribed granite monument in 1896 at Thebes. It contains the earliest undisputed extra-biblical reference to Israel to date. Israel is mentioned by name in three different 9th century b.c.e. artifacts: the Mesha Stele, Tel Dan Stele and the Kurkh Monoliths, but the 9th century is still 400 years after the dating of the Merneptah Stele. The mention of Israel in this 3,200-year-old...

Two California men have been charged over an ISIS terror plot to kill US Special Forces operatives with grenades and drones. Bereen Dzayee, 25, of Lakeside, near San Diego, and Elias Shamsaldeen, 21, of Porterville in Tulare County were arrested Friday alongside Bisaam Ghafoor, 21, from Leawood, Kansas. Prosecutors allege the three paid $2,000 to someone they thought was from the jihadi group to buy rocket-propelled grenades and UAVs for the attack. According to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Kansas, the three men allegedly spent more than a year communicating about extremist plans, including discussions about leaving...

Blackstone is restricting withdrawals from its flagship Blackstone Private Credit, or BCRED, fund following a spike in investor redemption requests, as fears over liquidity pressures rattled private markets. The asset management giant capped investor withdrawals from the $79 billion nontraded business development company at 5% of shares, after redemption requests hit 10% during the second quarter. It comes after U.S. private markets giants sold off on Wednesday after Switzerland’s Partners Group said it was curbing redemption requests in one of its European private equity vehicles. Partners Group said on Thursday it was prepared to restrict withdrawals in more of its...

The once-venerable news program “60 Minutes” is in a state of tumult these days, to put it lightly. The show’s parent network, CBS News, has undergone drastic changes under the new leadership of editor-in-chief Bari Weiss — and “60 Minutes” has been no exception to the general overhaul as Weiss tries to make the network more centrist. (Both CBS News and “60 Minutes” had long been accused of veering to the far left.) Among a litany of smaller changes, the biggest changes that Weiss has been making to “60 Minutes” have largely been with the staffing. The most notable of...

Six Republicans joined with Democrats on Thursday to support a measure that would block the construction of President Donald Trump's planned White House ballroom. The measure needed 60 votes to pass and came as part of a string of amendment votes ahead of the main vote on a reconciliation bill to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol. The final vote was 52-47 in favor, with GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, John Husted of Ohio, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina voting to block construction,...

The Supreme Court is facing an extraordinary showdown with Donald Trump as the justices scramble to finish nearly two dozen opinions before the end of the month — with a president who will lash out if any decisions don’t go his way. Pending decisions on executive power, immigration, mail ballots and the Second Amendment could all have an outsize influence on the next two years of Trump’s presidency. The court announced opinions on Thursday, but 23 cases remain. Topping the list is a series of appeals dealing with Trump’s power to fire officials within the executive branch that Congress tried...

This video (Episode 330 of Best in Tesla News) covers significant growth and developments for Tesla and SpaceX as of June 2026. Tesla Global Sales and Market Performance: Strong Global Growth: Tesla is seeing record-breaking sales in 2026. Specifically, in Germany, sales were up 322% in May, putting the company on track for a potential record year (1:24 - 3:12). Similar positive trends were reported in New Zealand, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Japan (3:12 - 5:47). Ford's Struggles: In contrast to Tesla, Ford is experiencing sales declines in the U.S. and has liquidated a major joint venture in China...

Decision Desk HQ made the call Saturday night after several days of vote counting: Democrats are out of California's 40th Congressional District. Rep. Young Kim advanced out of the primary alongside Rep. Ken Calvert, and November will be a Republican-versus-Republican. California voters passed Proposition 50 last year, redrawing the state's congressional maps. Governor Gavin Newsom (D) was the driving force behind it, and the stated goal was flipping Republican seats. The new 40th was supposed to be one of them. The plan was to jam two Republican incumbents into the same district, let them bloody each other, and walk in...

America 250 is a momentous occasion that presents Americans with the opportunity to celebrate the greatest country in the world and all that she’s achieved. At least, that’s what’s supposed to happen, right? Not according to America-hating leftists. Rather than come together to express gratitude for the nation they call home (well, at least for “indigenous peoples” anyway), these ungrateful crisis actors are aiming to hijack the semiquincentennial by turning it into a celebration of Marxist ideology and its accompanying policies — all of which are completely at odds with the American experiment. According to a press release obtained by...

The two men who were wounded in a shooting during then-presidential candidate Donald Trump's 2024 rally at the Butler Farm Show grounds are suing the United States. James Copenhaver and David Dutch were shot during the attempted assassination of Trump on July 13, 2024, in Butler County, Pennsylvania. Their attorneys filed federal lawsuits against the United States for their "life altering physical and emotional injuries," claiming those injuries were a direct result of negligence on the part of the United States Secret Service. Dutch was shot in the stomach, while Copenhaver was shot twice. The complaints said, "The assassination attempt...

NASA’s experimental X-59 aircraft marked a major milestone Friday, June 5, when it flew faster than the speed of sound for the first time, setting the stage for demonstrating its quiet supersonic capabilities later this year. NASA test pilot Jim “Clue” Less took off and landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California, reaching a top speed of approximately Mach 1.1 (713 mph) and altitude of 43,400 feet. The X-59’s flight began at 11:08 a.m. PDT and lasted 81 minutes, with the team focusing on flying qualities at both subsonic and then supersonic speeds. ”X-59 is getting ready for its...

President Donald Trump reportedly walked out of a weekend interview with NBC News anchor Kristen Welker — some of which aired during Sunday’s broadcast of “Meet the Press.” The interview was recorded in Wisconsin on Friday, and NBC News anchor Gabe Gutierrez revealed during a broadcast on Saturday that Trump abruptly ended the interview — after giving Welker nearly an hour of his time — as the two clashed over her questions about election integrity. WATCH: “As for that interview, Kristen and the ‘Meet the Press’ team conducted it here in Wisconsin inside a barn at the request of the...

President Donald Trump said on Friday that he is talking with the leaders of the largest artificial-intelligence companies about having the government acquire “pieces” of their firms. It could prove to be among the most significant federal interventions in the private sector in modern history. The president’s comment confirmed NOTUS reporting that he has been discussing the idea with tech executives for more than a year. He said he is aiming to invite “all of them” to the White House as soon as next week. Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, has talked to Trump about having shares of AI...

Sen. Lindsey Graham held a campaign event in Downtown Charleston [last] Friday, where he outlined his political priorities and urged supporters not to back down heading into election season... Regardless of the topic being discussed, Graham found a way to loop in how his tight relationship with the President is a pillar voters should lean on when at the polls...

SANTA ANA, Calif. (KABC) -- Santa Ana police have arrested a woman seen on video throwing her food at a Chipotle worker. Police shared the shocking surveillance video on social media last week. The woman appeared to be arguing with the worker before throwing her food in the worker's face. It happened on May 12 at the Chipotle restaurant on West 17th Street, according to police. Santa Ana police identified the woman as 18-year-old Samantha Salomon. Surveillance video shows a woman throwing food at a Chipotle employee in Santa Ana. Investigators said the woman, who appears to be between 18...

The hall at St. Vladimir's Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Calgary is packed. Three gigantic, artistically painted wooden Easter eggs dominate the stage. Heavily accented voices rise and fall amid the chatter as attendees nibble on poppyseed cake and other Ukrainian delicacies. No one wears the bright blue-and-yellow of the war's early days, but embroidered vyshyvanky peek from under sweaters and jackets. These are the faithful still committed to Ukraine's cause. They came to hear Michael Bociurkiw — a Canadian journalist of Ukrainian heritage now based in Odesa — deliver a sobering assessment of a war grinding into its fifth year....

While the Democrats run roughshod over tradition and even rules and laws, the Republicans go for proper procedure. We see it in sports when some players simply quit on their teams.The Republicans are Boy Scouts of old, while the Democrats are Hell’s Angels. It’s pathetic to see the Managed Decline Wing of the Republican Party think that it has some opening. Mike Pence has resurfaced.