Free Republic

George Santayana famously said that those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. The same is true for judicial overreach. Those judges who yield to the temptation to counter policies that are not to their liking are likely to repeat such excesses of power. That is why the recent decision of U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley in Boston is so concerning. While there are good-faith reasons why some have objected to the removal of slavery and climate change exhibits from national parks and monuments, this is not about the merits but the authority to make such changes. Kelley’s recent...

PG&E is using drones with infrared technology to enhance the safety and efficiency of power line inspections, providing a bird's-eye view of overhead electric systems. "Today we are demonstrating an infrared drone flight on some nearby distribution poles, which are the smaller poles that provide power to your homes and businesses," said a PG&E representative, Janet Henkai. The representative explained that drones offer a unique advantage by allowing faster identification of potential issues using imagery and infrared data. "We have started using drones because it allows us to have a bird's-eye advantage of our overhead electric system, and that's an...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday that the Department of Justice is investigating him, claiming that President Donald Trump is targeting a “political enemy” despite no evidence the Democratic potential 2028 presidential contender has committed a crime. Newsom said in a video posted to social media that Trump’s administration is also targeting his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom.

Initial conservation efforts for Toyon National Park began in the 1920sThe widow of Frederick Hastings Rindge, who purchased thousands of acres in the Santa Monica Mountains in 1892, May eventually became known as the “Queen of Malibu” for her fierce opposition to anything that would bring more people to her coastal empire, including railroads, roads and homesteaders. In short, she wanted to keep the pristine coastline and the chaparral hillsides to herself. But all of her legal fights cost money, and Rindge started selling land to family members and renting out beachfront lots to celebrities. In the end, even that...

Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) call for Republicans to act on Social Security reform if they keep control of Congress in 2027 is getting pushback from Senate Republicans who warn it’s a bad political message heading into November. Yet, a trustees’ report that the popular retirement program will become insolvent sooner than expected has lit a fire under lawmakers in both parties to call for reforms such as raising the cap on payroll taxes, “means testing” beneficiaries, raising the retirement age, and creating personal accounts to invest in the stock markets. The Social Security trustees’ report warned that beneficiaries would see...

The US secretly approved a financial and maritime arrangement between Qatar and Iran, under which billions of dollars were paid to Tehran in exchange for free passage for Qatari tankers and ships through the Strait of Hormuz, three diplomatic officials now confirm. This was a deliberate and conscious course of action by the US administration, which allowed its navy to turn a blind eye to the arrangement, in complete contradiction of its declared policy. The move was intended to ease the crisis in global energy markets and curb rising oil prices. The current revelation proves that the White House had...

Explanation: What's happening to this Sun-crossing rocket? The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, visible on the upper left, launched only about one minute before this amazing image was captured. As it rose to low Earth orbit from Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA, in late May, the rocket became supersonic before it crossed the disk of the distant Sun -- from the perspective of the well-placed photographer. The spacecraft's high speed caused bow-shaped compressed-air shockwaves to form across leading surfaces, with at least three visible even outside the Sun's disk because they refract sunlight. The trailing exhaust caused turbulence visible on the lower...

Summary of the YouTube video: "Liberal Tech Bros STUNNED After BOMBSHELL Data Map Exposes How Democrats RIGGED LA Mayor Election!" by Black Conservative Perspective. The video analyzes a segment from the All-In Podcast (tech/finance hosts) reacting to voting data from the Los Angeles mayoral election. The creator frames it as evidence of systemic Democratic election rigging in California, especially via mail-in ballots and homeless populations. Key Points from the Video: Voting Data Breakdown: In-person Election Day votes favored Spencer Pratt (35%), Karen Bass (29%), Nithya Raman (26%). Pre-Election Day mail-ins: Bass led strongly. Post-Election Day/late mail-ins showed big shifts, with...

The Honest Elections Project Action released poll results indicating that 86% of Ohio's voters think voter IDs should be required to cast a ballot at the polls. The breakdown by Party showed that 99% of Republicans, 90% of Independents and 69% of Democrats favor this requirement. The Ohio State Senate voted 22-9 to send a constitutional amendment ballot question to voters. If the state House also approves, this amendment will appear on the November ballot. Over seventy percent of poll respondents say they will vote for this amendment. The two leading candidates for the Ohio US Senate seat disagree on...

I wrote about Jimmy Kimmel's monologue earlier but that was just the first fruits of a bumper crop of left-wing hate. Everyone on the left is now offering Elon advice on how to spend his money (money which he literally can't spend) and quite a few people are just demonizing him as evil for being rich. I anticipated all of this yesterday but I might as well document some of it for posterity here. Rep. Jayapal called the news "total bulls**t" and called for a wealth tax. Imagine if Elon Musk did something to benefit others with his trillion.— Amy...

President Donald Trump announced Saturday that the United States has reached a peace deal with Iran, and the contrast with what Barack Obama handed the world in 2015 could not be starker. "The Deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete," Trump posted on Truth Social Sunday. "Ships of the World, start your engines. Let the oil flow!" The naval blockade on Iranian ports has already lifted. The Strait of Hormuz is open. And for the first time in a long time, there's an actual framework that puts nuclear weapons permanently off the table. Results are happening. Oil...

The amount of oil in the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve plunged last week to the lowest level since 1983 as the Trump administration continues to deploy emergency oil to minimize the damage from the war with Iran. According to federal data released Monday, US officials released another 8.9 million barrels from the SPR last week alone. “The Strategic Petroleum Reserve releases, combined with releases by other governments and China reducing its exports, have prevented the Armageddon scenario of $150 oil from happening to date.” The emergency oil released since the war with Iran start will have to get replaced over...

Europeans visiting the United States for the World Cup are traveling across the country, leaving many of them awestruck at American culture. Not only are they happy to be here, but many are visiting our best attractions — Buc-ees, Bass Pro Shops, Waffle House, and even Major League Baseball games — rather than the typical tourist destinations.Anti-Americanism has run rampant in the United States in recent years. These European fans show the world that America and its citizens are more than the propaganda pushed by the corporate media.Many of them have taken to the internet to show what they’ve found...

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has said 146,000 missing migrant children who disappeared under the Biden administration have been located, but that “nearly 300,000” are still missing... On Thursday, the Department of Justice announced that three people in Ohio had been charged with conspiring to smuggle unaccompanied minors across the U.S. border... Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the indictment highlights what he described as a wider issue involving so-called super sponsors, individuals who take responsibility for three or more unrelated unaccompanied minors. Blanche said many of those children later become victims of labor or sex trafficking... During the news...

The budget can’t be balanced without reform to Social Security and Medicare. Why won’t politicians admit it? America’s entitlement programs have morphed into something their creators never intended: an intergenerational wealth transfer sustained by promises that are completely removed from fiscal reality. The numbers are no longer debatable. Social Security and Medicare are on a collision course with insolvency that polite political rhetoric cannot wish away. While rooting out fraud and improving efficiency should be one of Washington’s top priorities, that alone cannot close the gap. The baby boomer generation benefited from favorable demographics, strong wage growth and affordable homes...

The picturesque shores of Lake Geneva are bracing for a diplomatic storm, with an ornery President Donald Trump flying to France in a combative mood fresh off hosting a UFC cage fight on the White House lawn. When world leaders gather in Evian-les-Bains for the three-day G7 summit, they will do so under the suffocating shadow of global war and financial panic, sparked by Iran's closure of the vital Strait of Hormuz and Trump's ongoing threat of sweeping tariffs. Trump is set to go face-to-face with traditional foils like France's Emmanuel Macron and the UK's Keir Starmer, while navigating freshly...

An Orthodox Jewish man in Ohio is taking his legal dispute with his hometown to the Supreme Court after he was told he couldn't host a prayer gathering at his house. Daniel Grand invited a dozen of his friends by email to come to his home in University Heights in January 2021. A neighbor saw the email and informed then-Mayor Michael Dylan Brennan about it, according to Alliance Defending Freedom, a law firm. Grand claimed the following day he was hit with a cease-and-desist order by the city's law director. He said the city accused him of operating an illegal...

For Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, the war he had hoped would secure his legacy — Israel and the United States together attacking Iran — may be ending in a way that could sully it. The framework agreement to end the war in Iran, which was announced on Sunday, omits some of the most important things Israel wanted. The full text of the deal has not yet been released and Israel was not directly involved in the negotiations. Initial details suggest that the agreement does nothing to curb Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal, or its funding of regional proxies like...

Millions of Britons will jet off to Spain this summer - but holidaymakers should make sure they're financially solvent before they touch down or face being denied entry. Tourists visiting for up to 90 days could be asked to present proof of having sufficient means for the duration of their proposed stay, after regulations were first introduced post-Brexit in 2021. Spain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs quietly announced earlier this year that every visitor to the destination in 2026 will now be required to have €122.10 (£105.53) per person per day, The rule changes mean travellers must also have a minimum...

An ICE agent in New Jersey was struck by a van driven by a fleeing suspect and opened fire on the vehicle, striking it several times, authorities said. The incident happened Monday morning around 9:30 a..m. near Mermaid Drive in Stafford Township’s Manahawkin community, about 60 miles east of Philadelphia as the agency was trying to capture a suspect. The officer’s condition was not immediately known, but sources told NBC Philadelphia that he is expected to recover. ICE has not released a description of the suspect or revealed whether the driver was injured. The outlet reports the van’s back window...