Free Republic

Huntington Beach has erupted after a judge ordered the city to adopt ranked-choice voting for council members — amid fears it could destroy the Republican supermajority. Orange County Superior Court Judge Craig Griffin ruled late June that the MAGA enclave needs to move away from its at-large system after a years-long court battle. A wave of Southern California municipalities have been forced to change the way they vote in recent years as courts found at-large is unfavorable to minority voters under the California Voting Rights. The push is being led by Malibu’s activist Democratic lawyer Kevin Shenkman, who has spent...

🇺🇸Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem🇮🇱 (7/7/26)[Prayer]Personalities1 Samuel 6:1-21 6 And the ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months. 2 And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, What shall we do to the ark of the Lord? tell us wherewith we shall send it to his place. 3 And they said, If ye send away the ark of the God of Israel, send it not empty; but in any wise return him a trespass offering: then ye shall be healed, and it shall be known to you why his hand...

Cuba's state power operator UNE announced on Monday that the national electrical system had suffered a "total disconnection," plunging the island into darkness amid its worst economic crisis in decades, severe fuel shortages, and daily blackouts averaging 20 hours. Cuba's national power operator announced on Monday that the island's electrical system had suffered a complete collapse, triggering a nationwide blackout as technicians worked to restore service. The state-run company UNE said in a post on X that the National Electric Power System had gone down completely without immediate explanation. "A total disconnection of the National Electric Power System is occurring....

We made it to our two-hundred-fiftieth birthday, America. What’s next? Let’s get back to work, so that our descendants can celebrate one thousand.Making sure the American Experiment endures is work, after all. Protecting American ideals from our ideological enemies is never easy. Well before our nation declared independence from Great Britain, the American system repudiated the whole “ruling class” hierarchy that — to this day! — still oozes from the infected abscesses of the United Kingdom and much of continental Europe. After we fought two world wars in the twentieth century to save Europe from itself, we spent the Cold...

@Nigel_Farage I will make a statement on my future in public life at 2pm.

This AI just exposed the BIGGEST legal insider trading operation in America. A platform called GovGreed built a seven-layer machine learning system that cross-references every stock trade disclosed by every sitting politician against the bills their committees control, the campaign donations they receive, and the companies their votes directly impact. It scored all 540 politicians currently in Congress. And the numbers are crazy: 56% of every stock purchase made by Congress in the last 16 months was on a stock directly affected by a bill the buyer later voted on. That is 6,170 out of 11,016 total purchases. More than...

Students will no longer be able to take out federal loans to pay for degree programs that fail to provide them a return on investment, thanks to a new federal policy that went into effect on July 1. And it’s about time. It’s a response to a shocking fact: Graduates of more than 800 college programs across the country — including at institutions like the University of South California and New York City’s New School — make less than the average high-school grad four years after getting a degree, despite all that time, effort and tuition money. Now the American...

Anastasiia Berezovska was wanted over the explosion targeting Ukrainian-born oligarch Vadim Ermolaev, 58. According to sources in the investigation speaking to Ukrainian news outlet Pravda, police discovered the 39-year-old’s body in Kyiv, at around 11pm on Monday night. She had been shot. Berezovska was wanted on suspicion of attempted murder, placing an explosive device on a public road with criminal intent, and criminal conspiracy. Investigators said a device, concealed within a bag, was detonated remotely once the intended victims were in range near their apartment in Monaco. Two suspects were detained after her body was discovered, including a serving military...

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A recent quirky project is challenging the taste buds of modern beer drinkers. Can a beer be made from yeast that’s nearly 3,000 years old, in combination with a 3,500-year-old Egyptian papyrus? The man behind this historic brew is Dylan McDonnell, a homebrewer and nonprofit operations manager. He holds a Master’s in Middle Eastern studies. During the pandemic, McDonnell heard about a man who was using a 4,500-year-old yeast strain to bake sourdough bread.

Marine Le Pen is about to find out whether or not she can run for the French presidency in next year's elections, when a Paris appeal court decides at 13:30 (12:30 BST) whether to uphold an embezzlement conviction against her. She has already run for president three times and came second to Emmanuel Macron in 2022 and 2017, but this time she tops the polls with 10 months to go before the vote. If she does not run, her young lieutenant Jordan Bardella will stand in her place, so the verdict could have far-reaching consequences for France.

France's President Emmanuel Macron escaped what may have been an attempted assassination Tuesday during a visit to Syria's capital. The French presidential palace, the Elysee, said in a statement that Macron was safe and would continue his visit to Damascus after two bombs exploded outside the hotel where he spent the night. Macron had left the hotel when the explosions took place Tuesday, and he was in the Syrian presidential palace for a meeting with his counterpart Ahmed al-Sharaa and their respective delegations, according to the French presidency. State media cited an unnamed security official as saying the blasts were...

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Mamdani’s Independence Day message says more about his own politics than the country that gave his family extraordinary opportunity. ohran Mamdani, New York’s self-described socialist mayor, could not resist using the nation’s 250th anniversary celebration to trash the very country that he and his parents voluntarily sought out. As is his custom, Mamdani speaks in stereotypes and generalities, offering few if any examples, all laced with his accustomed unctuous hypocrisy. Let’s deconstruct his incoherent July 4 riff: America, they will tell you, belongs only to those with the right accent or the right shade of skin. The rest of us,...

It never had their backs in the first place. The nomination of open Hamas supporters by the Democratic Party has led to another round of American Jewish liberals bemoaning their abandonment by the party and the movement despite that time they marched with MLK. But the Democratic Party didn’t abandon the Jews, it never stood with them in the first place. When was the Democratic Party ever friendly to Jews? Was it the antisemitism of New Deal litigation that targeted Jews in the Shechter chicken case or when FDR told Stalin that he might give the Saudi regime “the six...

Viral social media posts claiming that US Senator Mitch McConnell is “brain dead” have sparked widespread speculation about his health. The rumours surfaced after conservative activist Laura Loomer shared unverified claims online while the longtime Kentucky senator remained hospitalised following a medical emergency in June. However, McConnell’s office has continued to say that he is recovering and has not confirmed the viral allegations. Here’s what is officially known, what remains unverified and why the rumours have spread so quickly. There is no official evidence that Mitch McConnell has been declared brain dead. The claim began circulating on social media after...

1:23 VIDEO AT LINK............ THEY KNEW ALL ABOUT PLATNER AND STILL OKAYED HIM!..........

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A tanker traveling off the coast of Oman in the Strait of Hormuz caught on fire early Tuesday morning after being struck by a projectile, the British military said.The attack was the latest targeting a vessel moving through the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, through which a fifth of all oil and natural gas traded once passed in peacetime. Iranian state television said the liquefied natural gas tanker came under attack after ignoring warnings but did not directly claim the assault. Tehran has repeatedly declared that only its approved route through the strait...

Located in Thailand's Loei Province, Phu Khat stands as the highest peak in the Phu Khat Wildlife Sanctuary, rising to a height of 1,307 metres above sea level.In a routine patrol by Rangers from the sanctuary, two previously unknown archaeological sites were discovered near the mountain summit, both only 300 metres apart.Collectively named Pha Pang Puey, the sites feature carved or eroded linear markings across the rock face, forming geometric or abstract patterns rather than natural fractures – indicating ancient rock art. The rock surface is primarily reddish-brown, interspersed with lighter grey patches caused by lichen and erosion.According to experts,...

Ukraine's president plans to use the Nato meeting in Turkey to urge Kyiv's allies to deliver the air defence systems it urgently needs to protect it from escalating Russian attacks. Volodymyr Zelensky's call for help rings with extra intensity after Russian missiles rained down on the Ukrainian capital twice in less than a week, crashing into blocks of flats and killing more than 50 civilians. The summit in Ankara will also be a chance for Zelensky to hold a crucial meeting with Donald Trump and press home his case that Russia's "brutal" attacks are a show of weakness, not strength,...