Free Republic

A wild University of California system policy that allegedly punished students for not using another person’s preferred pronouns has gotten the school into legal trouble courtesy of a lawsuit filed by a conservative watchdog. UC’s Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment Policy impinges on free speech rights, according to the complaint filed by Defending Education and obtained by The California Post. “UC leaves no doubt that its ban on hostile-environment harassment covers protected speech,” legal representatives for Defending Education said in the documents. One section of the policy lists derogatory slurs related to sexual orientation as an example of “harassment.” A...

Democratic socialist Janeese Lewis George is slated to be the next mayor of Washington DC after her opponent conceded on Thursday. Lewis George, a city council member, ran on a platform of expanding childcare, education and housing, and revoking the district’s cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. In the city’s first ranked-choice voting election, she succeeded in securing the Democratic nomination in a party stronghold, fending off another former city council member, Kenyan McDuffie. McDuffie had run a campaign more focused on public safety and local businesses. Now, Lewis George will be on the ballot in November’s general election, where she...

Thaïs d’Escufon has faced systematic silencing attempts ever since she started speaking out against immigration.French activist and online commentator Thaïs d’Escufon says she could face prison for saying immigration is the number one threat to French women. In an X video posted on her page, she argues that her case demonstrates the shrinking space for free expression in France. The case stems from statements she made on BFM TV in 2023, during a discussion about a rape involving an illegal immigrant. d’Escufon, who was herself the victim of a home invasion and sexual assault two years earlier at the hands...

@WhiteHouse "The United States is committed to PEACE... We expect a complete Ceasefire on all fronts, including Lebanon, Hezbollah, and Israel." - President Donald J. Trump

A nationwide welfare fraud crackdown reached Massachusetts this week, as federal authorities announced the arrests of 15 people — 11 of them illegal immigrants — accused of stealing more than $1.4 million in American taxpayer-funded benefits. The defendants are accused of fraudulently obtaining benefits through programs including Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) food assistance, MassHealth, Social Security disability payments, housing assistance and unemployment benefits, according to the Department of Justice. "Alarmingly, 11 of the 15 charged defendants are suspected illegal aliens, some of whom assumed stolen identities to steal these taxpayer-funded benefits and avoid detection," Acting Assistant Attorney General Colin...

Prosecutors said Tuesday that they will seek the death penalty for the Afghan national accused of killing one National Guard member and gravely wounding another in Washington, DC, last year. Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, made a wild-eyed appearance in federal court, where he was hit with additional charges, some of which made him eligible for execution, if convicted, according to federal prosecutors. Assistant US Attorney Christopher Tortorice said that the Justice Department would be initiating a formal review process for several of the “eligible” death counts. Lakanwal wore an orange jumpsuit — and a much longer beard than previous photos of...

Explanation: Do you see that blue blob to the lower right of the image center? Astronomers think that it shows where a massive star exploded as a supernova whose light reached Earth 1,700 years ago. The image combines optical data from the PanSTARRS telescopes in Hawaii (background stars in red, green, and blue), radio from the MeerKAT telescope in South Africa (large red cloud) and X-rays from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA’s XMM-Newton (shown in blue). The large cloud is a star forming region called Sagittarius C, which is approximately 50 light-years in extent and about 26,000 light-years from...

Whilst the preliminary agreement between Iran and the United States marks a significant and hugely welcome step towards ending conflict, it brings a new wave of anxiety for those inside Iran. As external pressures ease, there are concerns that the Iranian regime may refocus its efforts on strengthening internal control and domestic repression, particularly against religious minorities and Christian converts. There is also a real need to pray for individual Christians as they face some particularly pressing challenges: * Sam Khosravi and Maryam Falahi - Years after adopting their daughter, Lydia, an Iranian court ruled that, because Lydia is considered...

George Leef recently used National Review to highlight Adam Ellwanger’s Martin Center essay on students who treat education as an afterthought. They are describing a real problem. I share their frustration. But frustration is not the same as explanation. Ellwanger asks: “If you’re a serious student, it ought to be a priority. And if it isn’t a priority (or if you’re not a serious student), then why do it?” They do it because they have to. Many students are not seeking intellectual transformation. They are seeking a credential because the labor market told them they need one—told them brutally. That...

During a morning show interview, the vice president claimed that there are simply “some diplomatic protocols” that he can’t fully comprehend

The Trump administration is looking to reduce housing costs by removing Biden-era green energy mandates. The International Energy Conservation Code was revised in 2021 to increase building energy efficiency mandates as part of former President Joe Biden's overall climate policy. However, the regulations drove up the cost of building homes and exacerbated the housing shortage, U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner told The Midwesterner. A failure to comply with the standards results in a denial of federal funding for new construction. The cost of compliance, Turner said, adds $31,000 to the cost of a home, and the Trump...

EXCLUSIVE — A Rhode Island federal judge is facing a judicial misconduct complaint accusing her of launching false and politically motivated attacks against Justice Department attorneys before referring them for possible discipline in a dispute over federal subpoenas seeking records related to transgender drugs and surgeries for children. The complaint, filed Wednesday by the conservative Center to Advance Security in America (CASA), asks the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to investigate U.S. District Judge Mary S. McElroy over what the group calls an improper and partisan campaign against the Trump administration's DOJ personnel who appeared before her court. “CASA...

Baby Boomers will soon reach another milestone: In 2026, the oldest members of this generation will turn 80. The Baby Boom generation refers to adults born between 01/01/1946 and 12/31/1964. The name reflects the sharp and prolonged increase in fertility that occurred in the wake of World War II.

When I showed up for Army basic training at Fort Dix, New Jersey, back in those long-lost days of the Cold War, one of the first things I learned, along with my fellows, was that no matter what we ended up doing in the Army, we were riflemen first and foremost. That lesson wasn't lost on us; not with the emphasis placed on basic rifle marksmanship. A few years later, I ended up teaching basic rifle marksmanship to ROTC cadets, and that was the lesson I tried to instill in them, as well. Back then, we were using the good...

In a sweeping regulatory shift, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has finalized a rule that dramatically narrows how discrimination can be penalized across billions of dollars in federal grants. The decision strips the government of its ability to penalize funding recipients for policies that disproportionately harm minority groups—unless explicit discriminatory intent can be proven. The final rule, signed by Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and scheduled for publication in the Federal Register on June 22, officially eliminates “disparate-impact” liability under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for DHS and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). It...

@atrupar JD Vance ends his press conference by turning on Israel: "What does bother me is you've seen people in Bibi's cabinet who have come out and attacked the deal and in some ways very personally attacked the president. My message to them is Donald J Trump is the only head in the state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time.

Four years ago, Dan Cox won the Republican primary for governor of Maryland thanks to more than $1 million in television advertising on his behalf funded by the Democratic Governors Association. Now Mr. Cox — a devotee of President Trump who wrote on social media during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol that Vice President Mike Pence was a “traitor” — is again receiving help from Democrats to win his primary for governor next week. Gov. Wes Moore, who defeated Mr. Cox by 32 percentage points in 2022, began airing ads on Tuesday on Fox News that said...

Democratic strategist James Carville doubled down on his prediction that President Donald Trump will be leaving office by spring, insisting it’s not a “crazy a*s” idea. In a video for Politicon on Wednesday, Carville pushed back on critics who think he predicted Trump’s resignation simply for attention. “People said, oh, that’s very clever, you got a lot of pick up. You know, you like to say kinda crazy a*s things,” he said. “I want to very clear on something. I’m not doing this as a crazy a*s prediction, I’m going that because I genuinely think that he will resign next...

A couple says their five-month-old infant was delivered alive at an abortion clinic in New Jersey — then trafficked for fetal organ harvesting. They named the little girl Clementine. Their allegations are detailed in the Center for Medical Progress’ new documentary, “What Happened to Clementine?” Filmmakers interviewed Tommy Kearns, Clementine’s father, and Clementine’s mother, who has chosen to remain anonymous. Clementine’s parents are wondering: Where is their child? Kearns told the Daily Caller: “If Clementine’s scalp is growing on the back of a lab rat, then the question is not scientific. It is about our child. How long is her...

The Texas GOP rejected individuals with ties to an organization that Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott designated as linked to terrorist groups, trying to serve as delegates at their convention. Left-wing Texas media went out of its way to falsely present the story as one of anti-Muslim bigotry. At the Republican Party of Texas Convention in Houston in June, individuals with ties to CAIR attempted to serve as delegates to the state GOP. When party members objected and tried to remove them, the Texas Tribune inverted the facts in order to frame the infiltrators as victims. In reality it was...