Free Republic

More than $107 million in opioid settlement money sent to local governments from 2023 to 2025 went unspent. New Mexico State Auditor Joseph Maestas said his office’s report shows counties and cities had not used most of the money from lawsuits against drug companies, distributors and pharmacies over their alleged role in the opioid epidemic. The report analyzed spending from Fiscal Year 2023 through 2025. Fiscal year 2026 is currently underway. “This is New Mexico’s opportunity to begin addressing it (opioid crisis) across the entire state and at this point we’re not doing the best job and we need to...

In this previous blog post, I posted a news article about how liberals in Hamtramck, Michigan celebrated the election of the city’s Muslim-majority city council, but were later shocked and surprised when that same Muslim-majority city council banned the pride flag. Well now I’ve got a new incident which is just as good at showing off liberals’ ignorance and stupidity about how Muslim-majority institutions treat LGBTQ people.An LGBTQ cruise ship tried to dock in two different Muslim-majority countries – first Egypt, and then Turkey – and got rejected by both countries.What kind of ignorance and stupidity would they have to...

Over 30 years later, Dean Cain still believes that Superman's values epitomize the American experience. As the star of the hit ABC series "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman," Cain brought the superhero to life for millions of Americans. But he almost ended up in Hollywood by accident. He originally planned to play professional football and was signed by the Buffalo Bills in 1988, but a devastating knee injury ended his NFL career before the regular season. Over the past decade, Cain has emerged as an outspoken conservative, and has not shied away from criticizing Hollywood and going...

KSBW 8 is learning of a local connection to the tragedy in the San Francisco Bay after a boat sank with 20 people on board Tuesday. Family members had gathered on the boat to scatter the ashes of a Santa Cruz County woman who died more than 10 years ago. The ashes being scattered were those of Maria Vi Boisa, who was reported missing from Santa Cruz County in May 2015. The 32-year-old’s remains were eventually found two months later near Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. The cause of death remains undetermined, but the San Francisco Chronicle reported that she...

A prehistoric burial near Stonehenge long known as the “Shaman of Upton Lovell” has been identified as a woman’s, overturning a belief that shaped archaeological interpretation for more than 200 years. Ancient DNA analysis revealed that the individual buried near Stonehenge about 4,000 years ago was biologically female. The finding challenges one of Britain’s best-known prehistoric identifications and is prompting researchers to rethink the roles women held in Early Bronze Age society. Researchers examined surviving skeletal remains, including fragments of the skull, a tooth and a foot bone. DNA testing identified XX chromosomes, confirming the individual was female. The findings,...

Billy the Kid continues to make headlines, 145 years after being gunned down in Fort Sumner. Thursday historians announced new evidence that he was Catholic — a detail that adds more layers of intrigue to one of the Wild West’s mythologized figures. Billy the Kid died July 14, 1881, after being shot by Lincoln County Sheriff Pat Garrett. On the first day of the Wild West History Association Roundup, Allen Sanchez said certificates of Billy the Kid’s baptism and his parents’ marriage were located inside St. Peter’s Church in New York City. St. Peter’s is connected to the Sisters of...

Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada on Thursday noted the widespread disruption caused by wildfires in Ontario that have spewed smoke across parts of Canada and the United States. “Thousands of Canadians’ lives have been upended, are being upended, by the wildfires across this country,” Mr. Carney told reporters during an appearance at an armored vehicle factory in London, Ontario. But the division of powers in Canada means that Mr. Carney is unable to oversee the response to the wildfires that are raging throughout remote, forested areas. Like all natural resources, forests fall mostly under the jurisdiction and care of...

Apparently, USC does not have any literature classes — or at least none on ancient Greece. Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” hit theaters on Friday, and the USC football team tried to get in on the fun, posting “Our Odyssey begins August 29” on X, referring to their first game of the year. The issue with that is Homer’s 8th century epic poem “The Odyssey” follows Odysseus’ 10-year journey back to Greece after defeating the city of Troy in the Trojan War — the same city that serves as inspiration for USC’s nickname. The literary Trojans never had an odyssey. In...

The European Commission has placed migration at the centre of its answer to demographic decline after publishing its third Demography Report, warning that Europe’s workforce is shrinking while its population rapidly ages. According to EUobserver, Commissioner for Demography Dubravka Šuica gave migration particular weight, describing it as ‘a necessity’ for countering a declining workforce because most prospective migrants are of working age. According to the report, the EU population is projected to peak at 453.3 million in 2029 before falling to 398.8 million by 2100. By 2038, Europeans aged between 20 and 40 are expected to be outnumbered by those...

All Elite Wrestling (AEW) star Tyson "Kenny Omega" Smith blasted a social media user over a remark made about Will Ospreay and Charlie Kirk. The X user made a critique about Ospreay’s mic skills on Thursday, writing, "Will Ospreay is as bad on the mic as Charlie Kirk, but can't sell the neck as well as he did." Mr. Smith, who is friends with Mr. Ospreay inside and outside the ring, slammed the poster. "What the Foxtrot is wrong with you? It isn’t hard to try having some class," he wrote in response. "A dear friend battles back from a...

Video shows a DoorDash driver completing her delivery despite being hit by a car that was fleeing from police in Houston. The surveillance video from July 8 shared by a neighborhood resident shows the delivery driver pulling up in front of a home and beginning to get out of her car. At the same time, sirens can be heard in the distance. While standing outside of her vehicle, another car being pursued by Houston police strikes her and her car. She told police she thought he was going to turn but didn’t. The suspect then gets out and runs away....

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Friday is to announce new election security crackdowns after The Post a day earlier revealed the feds found at least 278,000 noncitizens registered to vote in US federal elections. Mullin will address the Trump administration’s “efforts to secure American elections” during an 11 a.m. news conference following the president’s Thursday primetime speech on vulnerabilities with US voting. “Only Americans should be electing American leaders,” Mullin said in a post to X announcing the briefing. In the speech, Trump confirmed The Post’s reporting of the 278,000 illegal voter registrations — noting the full total could...

The Trump administration announced Thursday that it has finalized a rule ending a decades-old immigration policy that allowed many foreign students and exchange visitors to remain in the United States indefinitely without periodically renewing their immigration status, with an overall maximum visa stay of four years. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the new regulation eliminates the "duration of status" framework for F, J, and I nonimmigrant visa holders, replacing it with fixed admission periods and requiring additional federal review for those seeking to remain in the country beyond their authorized stay.

President Donald Trump on Friday vowed to confront Canada over the North American wildfires that have enveloped swaths of the United States in a smoky haze. Calling the situation "totally unacceptable," Trump accused Ottawa of failing to adequately address the situation, which has sent air quality to dangerous levels in major U.S. cities for multiple days. The costs inflicted on the U.S. "must of necessity be added to the TARIFFS Canada is currently paying," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. Trump added that he plans to call Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney later Friday "to find out what they...

We are holding Canada responsible for the fact that they are not properly maintaining their Forests, and Brush therein, and the United States is being unnecessarily invaded by filthy, polluted, and unhealthy air, the quality of which is dangerous, and totally unacceptable! I will call the Prime Minister during the day to find out what they are going to do about it. The cost is incalculable! Canada has refused to engage in basic Forest Management and Debris Removal, knowing that such refusal will lead to exactly this result. This is Willful Negligence, and becoming a yearly occurrence, costing the United...

After its unmanned vessels recently drew attention in the Iran war, Saronic Technologies, a shipbuilding start-up, announced on Thursday that it would open a new facility in the United States to make both naval and commercial ships. Saronic’s chief executive, Dino Mavrookas, said the company would break ground this year on an 850-acre shipyard in Brownsville, Texas, and begin building vessels there by 2028. Last month, the U.S. military used a Saronic drone boat to rescue the two-person crew of a downed Apache attack helicopter off the coast of Oman. This week, three of its vessels were used to attack...

Prepare to see Han shoot Greedo on the big screen again. For years, we thought it could never happen. But now we know for certain — the 50th anniversary theatrical release of the original Star Wars will indeed be George Lucas' original cut from 1977, not available commercially since 2006. The original Star Wars movie hasn't had a wide theatrical release in over forty years. But, according to the Star Wars official site, the original version of Star Wars blasts its way back into movie theaters for a limited release on February 19, 2027. This happens almost thirty years to...

Taxpaying Angelenos write big checks every year. They dump billions into homelessness services –– and the tents, needles and suffering still turn neighborhoods into obstacle courses. Then Mayor Karen Bass drops her latest pearl of wisdom: Homeless folks use meth “to stay awake for protection on the city’s dangerous streets.” Bless her heart. This isn’t compassionate; it’s Olympic-level mental gymnastics that insults every working stiff paying the tab while watching their city circle the drain. It perfectly explains why Bass’s approval hovers in the 32%–36% range, with disapproval in the 57%–66% zone in recent polls. Let’s be real about how...

Protests broke out across Ukraine Thursday after President Volodymyr Zelensky fired his defense minister to allegedly appease his top military general, with troops warning that the political spat could spell doom in the front lines. Zelensky’s Wednesday night decision to fire the tech-savvy Mykhailo Fedorov, 35, resulted in demonstrations across the country and even the resignation of a senior air force commander. While he was only appointed in January, Fedorov has been credited for accelerating the Ukrainian drone program, which has decimated Russia’s forces and kept the invading army largely at bay in 2026. Fedorov lamented the fallout and claimed...

Fresh produce giant Taylor Farms is preparing to recall ingredients linked to a parasite outbreak that has caused severe diarrhea and sickened thousands of people in Michigan and nearby states, according to a report. The California-based lettuce supplier told federal regulators that it was preparing a recall tied to the widening cyclospora outbreak, Bloomberg News reported Friday, citing a document viewed by the outlet. The parasite can cause severe diarrhea, fatigue and nausea. The scope of the recall was not immediately clear. The move would mark the clearest sign yet of a potential source of the outbreak, which prompted Taco...