Free Republic

Andy Burnham has said he has "concerns" about plans to reduce the number of jury trials in England and Wales and wants to look in detail at the proposals. The proposals were put forward under Sir Keir Starmer's government by former justice secretary David Lammy, who has since been fired by Burnham. Lammy had said reducing the number of jury trials would help tackle the huge backlog in Crown Court cases, but critics - including most barristers and many Labour MPs - fear it will undermine the justice system. Speaking to reporters on a visit to Sheffield, the prime minister...

President Donald Trump on Friday said the U.S. “has not agreed” to grant Ukraine licenses to produce Patriot missile systems, apparently backtracking on one of Kyiv’s top priorities in its war against Russia.The advanced military technology is “a hard thing to give away,” Trump said at a Cabinet meeting at Camp David, adding that a country that receives it could “someday turn on you.”“You have to be very careful,” Trump said. He said the U.S. and Ukraine are still “talking about it.”Trump’s latest comments on the war in eastern Europe came three days after he spoke at the White House...

Hey gang, it's me, Dr. Steve, your back porch professor. I hope you're having a wonderful weekend and a great start to the month of August. But I can tell you who most certainly is not, and that's none other than the 84year-old icon of t he Washington establishment, Mitch McConnell. Uh we've got some pretty stunning updates on the condition of McConnell who was reportedly hospitalized back on June 14th and has not been seen since. His office has been virtually silent the whole time. They've given almost nothing. No updates, just a line about him receiving excellent care....

Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton’s uphill battle to beat Democrat Xavier Becerra in liberal-leaning California is resonating in a key, populous Southern California county. A new poll by the University of California, Irvine taken June 9 to 12 showed Orange County voters giving Hilton 47% of the vote share, above Becerra’s 44%. The same poll also showed that Hilton has more support among his base of Orange County Republicans, at 94%, compared to the 82% of Democrats supporting Becerra there. “We have moved ahead of Becerra in California’s 3rd largest county,” Hilton said Saturday regarding the poll. “Millions of Californians...

“ An active shooter armed with a long rifle has opened fire at an In-N-Out burger restaurant in Twin Falls, Idaho, sparking an urgent manhunt as the suspect remains at large. Witnesses shared terrifying footage showing the suspect standing in the drive-thru area of the restaurant on Saturday, wielding a large weapon resembling an assault rifle. A second person was also seen firing a handgun at the scene. It is not clear if this is a secondary gunman in the attack, or a witness firing back. Footage from the scene showed dozens of people fleeing across a roadway as a...

Retired Vice Adm. Robert Harward, the former deputy commander of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), said Saturday that Iran is entering a “last gasp” as U.S. forces intensify strikes on the regime’s drone and missile infrastructure. Speaking on “Fox News Live,” Harward said the campaign has shifted from targeting launch sites to destroying Iran’s ability to manufacture the weapons. “We’re at the point where we’re going after all their facilities that produce it, not just where they launch it,” Harward said. “This could be the last gasp of a desperate regime in Iran using everything they have to stay in power.”...

Jacob Tsimerman won the biggest prize in math. Now he’s working on the most important problem of his career.When he won the Fields Medal last week, Jacob Tsimerman accepted the most prestigious honor in math wearing a powder-blue tuxedo with satin lapels.Then he made an announcement as striking as his tux. After the ceremony, the four winning mathematicians were asked what they planned to do next. One said he would keep working on partial differential equations, one said he wanted to experiment with artificial intelligence and one said she had absolutely no idea. That left Tsimerman.“I’ll be starting a position...

Most migrants who entered Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta illegally from Morocco have now returned, according to the Spanish authorities. The return flow underlined the chaos that gripped Ceuta, with many migrants crossing back over the border on Friday to re-enter Morocco. “There are too many people here, everything is full,” one migrant told AFP. Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said “almost all those who entered Ceuta have already returned to Morocco”. The migrants came from the Moroccan town of Fnideq, next to the Spanish enclave, arriving throughout the night by land and sea. Some crossed the high...

A California triathlete whose body washed ashore a week after she vanished during a group ocean swim off the Monterey coast was killed in a gruesome shark attack, according to a newly released report. Erica Fox, 55, disappeared in December 2025 while swimming with 14 others in the frigid waters off Monterey. A week later, her body was discovered about 25 miles away near Davenport Beach in Santa Cruz County, still partially dressed in her black wetsuit, the report said. Chris Lowe, a professor of marine biology with the Shark Lab at California State University Long Beach, said he suspects...

Explanation: The Buck Moon is a traditional name for the full moon of July. In this colorful Adriatic sea and skyscape captured on July 28 from Krk Island along the coast of Croatia, a full Buck Moon is just rising over distant mountains. Since a full moon rises as the Sun sets, Earth's shadow also rises in the twilight scene, a diffuse gray band extending above the mountainous southeastern horizon. Above Earth's shadow band is the pinkish antitwilight arch. That subtly tinted band of backscattered sunlight is more widely known as the Belt of Venus. But as it shares the...

An improvised explosive device detonated at a restaurant Saturday in central Moscow killing two people, Russian state media said, citing local officials. The suspected bomber was also killed, officials said. At least 21 people were also injured when the IED detonated at the restaurant on Kudrinskaya Square in Moscow, the National Anti-Terrorism Committee said, quoted by Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. An unidentified woman who attempted to carry the explosive device into the restaurant died in the blast as did a security guard and a patron, the news agency said. Ria Novosti reported the woman attempted to smuggle the...

A legendary Southern California classic rock station is pulling the plug on its DJs, laying off its entire on-air staff as it flips to a fully automated, music-only format. KCAL, a longtime staple of the Inland Empire radio dial, announced the sweeping changes will take effect August 1, with parent company Anaheim Broadcasting Corporation promising listeners “nothing but music all day across the Inland Empire.” Chief Operating Officer Kelly Sanders said the DJ-free format will mean fewer interruptions and more nonstop classic rock, according to a social media announcement. “KCAL has a longstanding history in the Inland Empire, and this...

Florida AG warns bishops: Catholic schools could lose vouchers over COVID mandatesFlorida Attorney General James Uthmeier says Catholic schools must honor parents’ religious objections to mandated shots or risk losing access to state scholarship dollars.Florida Republican Attorney General James Uthmeier warned the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops July 31 that Catholic schools could jeopardize their eligibility for state-funded scholarships and vouchers by denying religious exemptions from vaccination requirements.“Ironically, they won’t offer religious exemptions as prescribed by state law,” Uthmeier wrote in an announcement of his letter to the bishops. “This is troubling and may disqualify them from state scholarships and...

A non-citizen who was registered to vote in Lancaster County did vote and has been referred to law enforcement for investigation, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State. Above: Pennsylvania's voter registration process explained. "The four improper registrations about which the Department notified Lancaster County were a result of human error. In one instance, an individual filled out a paper application with the County and identified that they were a non-citizen, but the registration was approved anyway. That individual voted and has been referred to law enforcement for investigation," Department of State Communications Director Matt Heckel told WGAL News 8...

The former president of Taylor Farms’ Tennessee division has been accused of stealing $32 million from the company through multiple schemes that included funneling money to a sham company and keeping his wife and other family members on the payroll. Taylor Farms, the major U.S. produce supplier at the center of a lettuce recall and diarrheal illness outbreak, made the allegations in a federal lawsuit filed in Tennessee. According to the lawsuit, Brian Thure served as president of Taylor Farms Tennessee from 2012 through March of this year. In the roughly 14 years he was head of the Tennessee division,...

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- A man is behind bars in connection with a hit-and-run that killed Temple University student Bryce Wolfe along Kelly Drive last month. The Temple University student was pinned under an SUV and dragged for a mile. Derek Reid, 48, was taken into custody by U.S. Marshals Thursday. The U.S. Marshals Service says 48-year-old Derek Reid was taken into custody in connection with a deadly hit-and-run, as well as a child rape case. Reid has been charged with involuntary manslaughter, among other driving offenses, for the fatal hit-and-run, and will now also face charges in a child rape...

Experts have since said that those holding Bitcoin on a Coldcard device should move funds now. Since over $70 million in Bitcoin was stolen yesterday by an attack that exploited a fault in the Coldcard’s system, it has been reported that the thief used a top blockchain services provider for help. Writing on X Friday, engineer at payments company Block, Clay Garrett, said that the provider — who he did not name at the request of the services provider — had been contacted after finding blockchain movements matched the “suspected workflow” of the attacker. “During our investigation of the Coldcard...

Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, the head of U.S. European Command, sent written notification to senior Pentagon officials saying that without another Navy destroyer he will be forced to choose defense of the United States “homeland” over that of Israel, said the officials, who like some others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the correspondence. A U.S. defense official said Grynkewich’s notification appears consistent with past outreach to the Pentagon from the military’s top generals when they see certain risks that require Washington’s consideration. This can occur, the official said, as commanders compete for finite resources and weapons. The Pentagon...

The victim in the terrifying Chino Hills kidnapping-execution had a disturbing working relationship with his killer, according to official records unearthed by The Post. California state business records show that 67-year-old murder suspect Zhengfeng Bo, who allegedly shot 60-year-old Chino Hills resident Shukur Aikebaer to death in front of police after kidnapping him, was also the victim’s boss. Both the killer and his alleged victim worked for a limited liability firm called Panshi, according to state business records. Panshi, which means “boulder” in Mandarin, was a real estate investment company based out of Zhengfeng’s Irvine home. Zhengfeng was listed as...

The Cornell University student who declared he’s “not interested in working for a Jew” got tossed from his parents’ $1.75 million home in Virginia — and is now sniveling online for cash. Austin Franco, who went viral for declining a job interview at NYC startup VryfID for antisemitic reasons, took to X on Wednesday, declaring, “My parents are kicking me out.” But the hater did get some good news the next day, as Cornell revealed to The Post that, unlike his disappointed parents, Alexander and Diana, the liberal upstate college won’t kick him to the curb. The rising junior created...