Free Republic

Iran launched a drone assault targeting Bahrain after overnight airstrikes by the United States. The attacks across the Persian Gulf show the danger of the Iran war again spinning out of control, even after Iran and the U.S. reached an interim deal to try and agree on a final accord to end the conflict. The U.S. had launched its airstrikes in response to an Iranian drone attack on a ship trying to get out of the strait on Thursday, continuing a string of attacks that have shaken the uneasy ceasefire in the war. That Iran targeted Bahrain likely was not...

Every big city in America where the population is declining, businesses are closing, public safety is failing, and national relevance is diminishing suffers from the same handful of leadership failures. Cities don’t become helpless has-beens due to budget shortfalls, racial tension, natural disasters, or any of the other common excuses cities like Los Angeles use to explain or justify their decline. Along with New York, Chicago, Seattle, and other cities currently spiraling down the drain, LA is going from bad to worse because of four mistakes its leaders have perpetuated. These failures are both predictable and preventable. But history tells...

The Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren has warned that corporate mergers approved by the Trump administration – including a pending deal that would put two of America’s largest news outlets under the control of a family sympathetic to the president – could be undone by a future administration. “After 2028, we’ll have new players in Washington, and everyone who’s engaged in this merger frenzy right now is aware of that,” Warren said in an interview. “The deals that are being cut today are occurring in the shadow of a coming political tsunami of anger against these giant corporations that think they...

MILAN, June 25 (Reuters) - Ferrari's first-ever EV model, which has triggered a flurry of criticism since its unveiling last month, needs to be "digested" before it can be ​understood, the company's Chief Product Development Officer Gianmaria Fulgenzi said ‌on Thursday. The €550,000 ($626,000) Luce is a four-door, five-seat family car which has baffled fans and commentators alike, as it looks nothing like the Italian marque's usual fare of low-slung, ​petrol-powered sports cars. Its styling, largely the work of former Apple designers ​Jony Ive and Marc Newson, has provoked endless unflattering memes on social ⁠media, including some that compared it...

A Democratic House hopeful vying for one of the nation's most competitive districts is staying silent after Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., voiced support for her campaign. Ocasio-Cortez, a leftist firebrand with growing influence in the Democratic Party, congratulated former Biden administration official Cait Conley on her primary victory in a social media post Wednesday. "I look forward to working together as a delegation as we fight for working families across New York," Ocasio-Cortez wrote. The post also celebrated a Democrat vying to succeed retiring Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., alongside three socialist candidates backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani....

At the end of a timeworn street just north of Rochdale town centre sits a row of red-brick terraced houses, of which all but one appear indistinguishable. The exception bears a cluster of hi-tech security cameras that wouldn't look out of place in a bank, for instance, or a police station. And for good reason. What happened in this two-up, two-down was shocking but sadly typical of the feud then raging between rival organised crime groups (OCGs) that blighted this Greater Manchester town, a once proud textiles powerhouse. Last week, a court heard that at around 11.40pm on May 22,...

Suppose you have a friend who knows little about American higher education but is eager to learn about it. You might want to recommend to him a book that introduces the subject with readily understood essays covering the range of problems we face. A good choice would be Higher Education in America: It’s Worse Than You Think. The book consists of nineteen essays by people who have been on the front lines in the battle to rescue our colleges and universities from the menaces of mediocrity and politicization. So, what has gone wrong with American higher education? One theme that...

Samal escaped China to her native Kazakhstan in 2018. It was there that she, amid bouts of sobbing, described night-shifts at a Xinjiang province detention center, removing intestines from corpses. Many bodies were still warm. Many bore the marks of torture. ---SNIP--- The reports of Falun Gong and Uyghurs remarkably corroborate the other. Separated by religion, ethnicity, language, and geography, they attest to identical evidence of forced organ harvesting. Testimony from surgeons, prison guards, and international investigators provide further substantiation. Chinese medical journals revealed that many were executed on the operating table.

Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner took shots at incumbent U.S. Sen. Susan Collins while unveiling a series of policies he said would root out fraud, waste and bribery in Washington. At a press event outside Collins’ office, the Sullivan oyster farmer cited recent campaign finance reports showing the five-term Republican has received nearly $10 million from individual billionaires and political action committees to fuel her reelection campaign. According to reporting by the Maine Monitor, the amount billionaires gave in support of Collins is similar to the amount that small-dollar donors — those giving $200 or less — contributed to the...

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The Supreme Court issued a rare public statement Friday after two Justices got into an unusually explosive argument. Conservative Justice Samuel Alito had a terse exchange with his colleague, liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor, following the release of a highly anticipated immigration decision - a rare win for Donald Trump - on Thursday. The exchange came after Alito delivered the majority opinion in Mullin v. Al Otro Lado, which granted Trump a key 6-3 victory allowing federal immigration officers to turn away asylum seekers at the US-Mexico border. Sotomayor took the rare step of reading her dissent from the bench. The...

Join with fellow FREEPERS across the world to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Agri-Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, Technology, and the Media.P> I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone: for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. (1 Timothy 2:1-2) Religion Forum threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate of any kind.“If my people, who are called by My Name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My Face and turn from their...

Gov. Gavin Newsom is barreling ahead with forcing California state workers back to the office, flatly rejecting calls to soften a return-to-work mandate that unions warn could trigger a “mass exodus” of employees. Starting July 1, roughly 100,000 state workers will be required to report to the office or the field four days a week, leaving just one day for telework under Newsom’s long-delayed executive order. Despite mounting backlash from organized labor and state employees, the governor made it clear there will be no retreat. Asked directly whether he’d consider easing the four-day in-office requirement, Newsom didn’t blink. “No chance.”...

Ever since SpaceX announced that Starlink had partnered with T-Mobile to support direct cell phone to satellite communication, it seemed only a matter of time before SpaceX challenged existing carriers like AT&T and Verizon directly in the consumer cell phone service market. Directly from the President of SpaceX - President Gwynne Shotwell told investors during a recent IPO roadshow that SpaceX could build its own terrestrial mobile network Now an analysist is speculating that SpaceX could acquire T-Mobile instead of building it's on terrestrial network of cell towers. https://www.investors.com/news/technology/spacex-stock-spcx-elon-musk-acquire-tmobile-wireless-firm/ If this turns out to be true, it would be a...

Marchers and police clashed on Friday night toward the end of the Trans March in San Francisco’s Tenderloin, according to multiple witnesses and footage of the skirmish. Three witnesses told the Chronicle it all started when police tried to arrest someone spray painting a building on Market Street. When marchers approached and tried to block the arrest, officers responded with force, according to Nora Long and other witnesses. People could be heard on video shared with the Chronicle, repeatedly yelling, “let him go.” there trying to stop them,” Long told the Chronicle. “From there, the cops responded with more violence.”...

This week in Mullin v. Doe, a 6-3 majority of the US Supreme Court ruled that the temporary protected status granted to immigrants from Haiti in 2010 could be discontinued by the Trump Administration. Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito asserted that "a temporary status initiated by a previous administration can be terminated by a later administration if it determines that the conditions justifying the original decision have changed. In this case, the temporary protection was initiated due to an earthquake in Haiti." In her dissenting opinion, Justice Elena argued that "the original temporary protection order was put in...

–With the death of John F. Kennedy Jr., the media once again has turned to evangelist Billy Graham for a spiritual perspective in a time of societal agony. In USA Today, Graham is quoted as saying: “John and his wife, Carolyn, came home from their honeymoon three days early to interview me for his magazine, ‘George.’ We had a wonderful time together, and I could see a great deal of love between them. “John Kennedy Jr. was one of the most terrific young men I’ve ever met. I thought he could be anything he decided to be. He had humility,...

The King’s official job is to protect faith “within the multi-faith nation”, under a newly published palace definition of the monarch’s role. The King, who is Supreme Governor of the Church of England, will “protect the space for Faith” under a redrafted job description from Buckingham Palace. Published in the annual review of the Royal family’s finances, the Sovereign Grant report 2025-26, it changes the description of the King’s role as “Head of Nation” from last year, when he was the “Head of the Church of England and Defender of the Faith”. This year it goes further to specify: “His...

The Polish government has told its citizens to cash in on British benefits before returning home. Advice published on Powroty, a Polish government website for citizens living abroad who wish to return home, says "when leaving the UK, it is worth considering whether you are eligible for Jobseeker's Allowance". Post-Brexit arrangements allow European Union citizens who acquired settled status before December 2020 to transfer some benefit payments abroad when they move to an EU country, for up to three months. It means those returning to Europe can claim hundreds of pounds from the British taxpayer to support their job hunt,...