Free Republic

Israel and Lebanon signed a framework peace agreement on Friday — icing out Iran and its proxy group Hezbollah — following four days of negotiations in Washington. “In this performance-based trilateral framework agreement, Iran is out, Hezbollah is out, and the road to peace between Israel and Lebanon is in,” Israeli ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter said at a signing ceremony. Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the agreement as a “first step” to returning Lebanon to its prior prosperity before Hezbollah moved in and promoted terrorism. “The people of Lebanon have suffered tremendously now for decades as a...

Texas is on the verge of requiring its more than 5 million public school students to study Bible stories, as the state emerges as a leader in a national conservative effort to infuse Christian teachings into American classrooms.The majority-Republican Texas State Board of Education is expected to vote Friday to approve a proposal that would establish biblical stories and Bible verses – among other works – as required reading for its K-12 English and literature curriculum.Going beyond a 2023 law that required at least one Texas State Board of Education approved literary work be taught in each grade level, the...

Numerous European Countries have been discussing the imminent implementation of a Digital Services Tax on American Companies. Some of these Countries are close to actually doing this. Please let this statement serve to represent that any Country that imposes such a Tax will immediately be met with a 100% TARIFF on any and all Goods sent to the United States of America. This TARIFF will supersede Trade Deals made with the Country, whether implemented, signed, or not. Additionally, the 100% TARIFF will be immediately imposed, if they proceed. Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP

[Catholic Caucus] Swiss diocese of St. Gallen promotes ‘working together’ for ‘election of first female pope’For the Diocese of St. Gallen, ‘women must be treated as equals to men—in all circumstances,’ apparently including ‘women’s ordination,’ according to a heterodox diocesan campaign. The Diocese of Saint Gallen, Switzerland’s, “Ich bin Dabei” (“I’m In”) campaign meant to encourage lay participation in the Church includes a poster calling for the “first female pope.”The diocese’s ongoing campaign, which officially launched in May, includes several posters displayed in about 25 villages and towns as well as on its website, with laypeople’s faces promoting the discussion...

A mistrial was declared in the Pacific Palisades arson case after a jury deadlocked. Prosecutors said they will retry the case. Last October, federal prosecutors announced that 29-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht of Orlando, Florida, was arrested for intentionally setting the Palisades fire. Rinderknecht was an Uber driver at the time he intentionally set the fire. Federal prosecutors said Rinderknecht intentionally set the fire in January 2025 which left 12 people dead and caused more than $150 billion in damage. The 360 degree annihilation of parts of Pacific Palisades is genuinely difficult to take in… pic.twitter.com/wzu2YDcND4 — alex thomson (@alextomo) January 9,...

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Trump administration in two key immigration cases on Thursday, drawing strong opposition from blue state Democrats and prompting a prominent House Republican to break ranks over concerns of a looming healthcare "crisis." In a 6-3 decision in Mullin v. Doe, the high court ruled that Haitian and Syrian nationals with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) cannot turn to federal courts to postpone the revocation of their legal status while challenging the Trump administration's policies. In a separate ruling, the court also held that migrants turned away at the southern border before entering...

A federal appeals court has revived a New York mother’s lawsuit against a public school that socially sex-transitioned her daughter without her knowledge or consent. Yesterday, the three-judge panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the lower court’s dismissal of her constitutional claims and remanded for reconsideration in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Mirabelli v. Bonta. [snip] To recap briefly, New York mother Jennifer Vitsaxaki sued the Skaneateles Central School District in 2024, alleging school staff had treated her 12-year-old daughter “Jane” as a boy, referring to her by a new masculine name and new third-person...

The jury in the trial about the origin of the devastating January 2025 fires in Los Angeles has reached a verdict. Jonathan Rinderknecht, 30, faced three federal charges of destruction of property by means of fire, arson affecting property used in interstate commerce and timber set afire for the January 2025 Palisades Fire. The former Uber driver pleaded not guilty in October and faces up to 45 years in prison. Prosecutors argued that Rinderknecht intentionally and maliciously started a previous fire on a popular hiking trail known as Skull Rock on Jan. 1, called the Lachman Fire, that smoldered for...

Snap Chief Executive Evan Spiegel and his wife, supermodel Miranda Kerr, have helped pay off $550 million in medical debt for more than 261,000 Californians. The couple made a multimillion-dollar donation to Undue Medical Debt, a nonprofit that provides debt relief to people in financial need. The organization acquires medical debt in bulk from hospitals, physician groups, collection agencies and other groups for a fraction of the cost. "When someone you love is sick. All you want to do is focus on helping them get better," said Kerr, who is also the founder of skincare company KORA Organics, in a...

In Part 1 (link below), I argued that the House of Representatives was designed to grow. For most of American history, it did. Then, in 1929, Congress froze the House at 435 seats. It has remained there ever since. Part 2 asks a different question: If the House is supposed to grow, how large should it be? At first, I thought the answer might have something to do with human nature. Maybe there was something buried deep in our DNA — some limit on how many people we can know, trust, manage, or represent. I was wrong. The deeper I...

A federal judge declared a mistrial for the man accused of deliberately igniting the Palisades Fire after jurors failed to reach a unanimous verdict. Jonathan Rinderknecht was arrested in October 2025 and charged with destruction of property by means of fire, and he pleaded not guilty after being charged in the Palisades Fire in January 2025. Ten of the California jurors thought Rinderknecht was not guilty, while two thought he was. "The evidence is strong that Jonathan Rinderknecht is responsible for igniting the fire on January 1, 2025, which eventually became the Palisades fire," United States Attorney Bill Essayli said...

*** it’s time for our annual blitz of “American Made” rankings. If you’re expecting two years of protectionist policies to have shifted things in America’s favor, the 2026 rankings may represent a bit of a mixed bag. *** Of the top 10 cars in the 2026 Cars.com American Made Index, only four—two Teslas and two Jeeps—come from traditionally American manufacturers. The remaining six are all Toyotas para and Hondas. 1) Tesla model 3 2) Tesla Model Y 3) Jeep Gladiator 4) Jeep Grand Cherokee 5) Honda Ridgeline 6) Honda Odyssey 7) Lexus TX 350 8) Honda Accord 9) Acura MDX...

John Bolton, a former national security adviser to Donald Trump, has pleaded guilty to mishandling classified security information as part of notes he compiled for a book. Bolton, now a prominent critic of the US president, was indicted on 18 counts related to improper handling of classified material, and initially pleaded not guilty. On Friday, he admitted to a single charge of illegal retention of classified information. The documents he retained included diary entries containing national defence information, some of it classified at the top secret level. Bolton faces a prison sentence of up to five years and has agreed...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed a tax on America’s billionaires — while remaining in steadfast opposition to the very same levy on the wealthiest in his state. After California’s own billionaires tax was approved for the November ballot, Newsom announced Friday that he supports a national billionaires tax “that ensures the people at the very top pay at least the tax rate their own workers pay.” Newsom has long opposed the proposed California measure, which would hit the state’s wealthiest with a 5% tax to cover healthcare costs in the state. He failed to broker a last-minute deal to keep...

The explosive expansion of mail-in voting — turbocharged during COVID and conveniently never rolled back in many blue states — punched a massive hole in American election security. Conservatives raised the alarm for years. They were dismissed as paranoid. The media shrugged. Meanwhile, ballots kept flying through the postal system with zero meaningful verification that the person on the envelope was, you know, an actual eligible voter. But something just shifted. The federal government has stumbled onto a devastatingly simple enforcement mechanism, and the states with the dirtiest voter rolls are already lawyering up. Funny how that works. From The...

Aforce of 10,000 inspectors is being recruited to weed out foreigners: door-to-door across the nation, they will check mines, factories and shops, rounding up those without papers for deportation. Oh, and the target will be black people! Trump madness? Marine le Pen? No, this is South Africa and a project launched by President Cyril Ramaphosa to expel millions of black migrants from across the rest of Africa who have jumped the border or overstayed their visa. It’s Africa’s answer to ICE, though you won’t find many people protesting: quite the opposite. Government and the police are desperate to demonstrate they’re...

VIDEO AT LINK........... Last night, it became certain that a wealth tax would be placed on the November ballot in California. I’m voting no. And I’m going to spend the rest of this piece telling you why, and what we should be doing instead. When 10% of the people in this country own two-thirds of the wealth, when we have minted the first trillionaire in human history, and yet your wages have stagnated, and your healthcare costs have skyrocketed, something is fundamentally broken. Over the decades, the American economy has been engineered for the very top, a story as old...

A collision between a CSX train and a tractor-trailer left one person injured and sparked a fire in Fairburn on Thursday afternoon. Highway 29 train collision What we know: The crash happened around 1:45 p.m. along Highway 29 near Bishop Road, according to Fairburn Police Chief Anthony Bazydlo. A tractor-trailer became stuck on the tracks as a train was approaching, forcing the truck driver to ditch the vehicle. "The truck had gotten stuck on it and he could not get cleared in time before the train was also coming at the same time," Chief Bazydlo said. "He had time to...

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) introduced legislation on Thursday to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $25 per hour through phased increases. The bill, titled the Living Wage for All Act, includes a companion measure in the House led by Rep. Delia C. Ramirez (D-Illinois). It aims to phase in the increase, starting with an initial jump to $12 per hour, reaching $25 over several years. Larger employers would face a shorter compliance timeline of about six years, while smaller businesses would receive up to 13 years. The proposal would also eliminate subminimum wages for tipped workers, youth employees,...

A hospital said some of its MRI scanners were "not operational" due to the current high level of heat and humidity. Scans at Bedford South Wing Hospital are being postponed as the MRI machines cannot be safely operated, Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said. A spokesperson added: "This is as a result of the older cooling systems at our aging site not being able to achieve the required temperature and humidity levels." The trust is contacting patients affected by the delays and said it would reschedule appointments as soon as "the situation stabilises". "Our scanners at the Bedford North Wing...