Free Republic

The debate for the Los Angeles mayoral race is off to a fiery start after incumbent Karen Bass told her opponent, Nithya Raman, that she was lazy. 'I did the first tax credit when I was Speaker of the House. You were nowhere,' Bass said with Raman sitting next to her. 'Even when it came time to vote for the entertainment industry, you walked on votes. As a matter of fact, I believe you have missed several thousand votes because you don't show up to work.' The incumbent mayor's fierce words came Wednesday night in Sherman Oaks as Election Day...

A passenger plane carrying nearly 300 people struck its tail as it took off from Munich airport in an incident that was described as a 'near disaster'. Footage showed the tumultuous departure of the Vietnam Airlines Boeing 787 on Saturday. A cloud of dust was thrown into the air as the tail hit the ground. Inside the cabin, a loud scraping noise was heard as the plane, which was carrying 271 passengers and 16 crew, lifted off the runway. The 250-ton plane skidded across grass, hit light posts and soared towards trees as the crew – made up of three...

Bishop Eleganti: Islam poses ‘very serious’ danger to the West“Globalism has already failed” and the crisis of predominantly Muslim migration is leading to a point of “no return”, Bishop Marian Eleganti has declared. The former auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Chur is one of a handful of prelates who publicly denounces Islam and the concept of modern migration into the West, and has regularly linked the demographic crisis in the West to the crisis of immigration simultaneously affecting Europe. Interviewed recently by La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana, Eleganti warned that the Catholic Church “should not take an idealistic approach on...

Earlier this year, shortly after it was announced that the publisher Simon & Schuster had bought the rights to Jason Arday’s memoir, the then professor of sociology of education at Cambridge University gave an interview to The Bookseller. “I always wanted to be a person who flew close to the sun,” Arday mused. “But sometimes I wonder: did I fly too close?” On the evidence of his book – due to be published in the UK on August 27 – and all that has emerged about Arday in recent weeks, the answer is probably yes. Titled Great and Unfortunate Things,...

Two members of the Milligan University cycling team were killed, and several more were injured, in a collision with a vehicle on a rural highway in eastern Tennessee on Wednesday morning, state officials and the school confirmed. A driver has been arrested. In a news conference Wednesday night, Milligan University President Dr. Stephen Waers said 11 cyclists were on a training ride when the crash occurred at about 8 a.m. local time. Waers said two cyclists were killed and seven others were hospitalized.

A Black and reportedly autistic man touted as the youngest scholar of color to serve as a chair at the University of Cambridge was accused of plagiarism before authorities say he took his own life last week. If that were the only headline following professor Jason Arday’s death at age 41, then it would be tragic enough. However, the feeding frenzy that followed the plagiarism allegations, the way Arday was hounded relentlessly online and in print regarding his credentials and biography, and the way his story became an opportunity for the left and right alike to promote their own beliefs...

While the future of reparations in California remains uncertain, state lawmakers are continuing to push forward with related legislation despite a lack of clear consensus on broad direct cash payouts. Most recently, Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, D-Ladera Heights, introduced Assembly Bill 2599, known as the Truth in Disclosure Act. The bill would require major corporations doing business in California with annual worldwide gross receipts over $100 million to review their historical records and submit sworn affidavits disclosing any past ties to chattel slavery.

A US Air Force flight en route to Antarctica was forced to return to New Zealand after receiving a warning of "potentially hazardous" space activity. The alert was confirmed by New Zealand authorities on Wednesday. New Zealand’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) issued the warning after being informed by Russia’s State Air Traffic Management Corporation, which led to the decision to turn the flight back. The warning was disseminated through a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM). The flight, originally departing from Christchurch, New Zealand, is a part of the annual Winter Fly-in (WINFLY) operation, which connects Christchurch with Antarctic research facilities. Impact...

Randy Fine did not merely win a Republican primary in Florida. He decisively turned back one of the strangest and ugliest primary challenges in recent American politics. Randy Fine won roughly 57% of the vote in Florida's 6th Congressional District, while social-media influencer Dan Bilzerian finished below 19%. Bilzerian had tried to make the contest a referendum on Fine's Jewish identity. His campaign descended into explicit antisemitism, including an AI-generated attack video portraying Fine through antisemitic stereotypes and material invoking Adolf Hitler. The rhetoric became so blatant that political leaders from both parties condemned it. The voters' answer was emphatic:...

I am a Portland mother of three. My oldest son, now 26, attended Lewis Elementary and had such a positive experience there that my husband and I built our home only blocks from Lewis so we could send our two younger children there as well. Lewis wasn’t just our neighborhood school. It was the school our family already knew and trusted. I’ve lived my entire life in Portland, Oregon. I am also a Christian, and I believe parents have the right and the responsibility to know what their children are being taught. I never imagined that asking would get me...

You’re going to see this clip and wonder what the heck a civic agent is. It’s a bit hard to explain to an American, because we don’t really have anything like this, except for maybe a “mall cop.” In Spain, it’s a public-order officer who patrols Barcelona’s streets and public spaces, dealing with nuisance behavior and calling police when things get too serious. And according to local reports out of Barcelona and a clip shared by the UK’s Tommy Robinson, an unruly migrant was confronted by these “mall cops” and things got crazy pretty quickly. One of the civic...

Bond yields climbed Thursday, erasing most of the pullback they saw the previous day after the Treasury Department announced an intervention aimed at easing pressure on longer-dated government debt. The yield on the 30-year U.S. Treasury bond — the primary focus of the accelerated buyback — was up more than 4 basis points at 5.236%. Yields on 10-year U.S. Treasurys — the main benchmark for mortgages, auto loans and credit card debt — moved more than 4 basis points higher to 4.696%. The 10- and 30-year yield levels were right around the level they held before the 8:30 a.m. announcement...

Dear Scott (if I may). Last Monday, you criticized me, arguing that McDonald’s problems are instead due to competition from rivals like Burger King. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent @SecScottBessent McDonald's problem is called Burger King, Professor. No wonder Bill Clinton fired you. UC Berkeley should too, if that’s what passes for “research.” Robert Reich @RBReich Trump Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said this week the K-shaped economy — the widening economic gap between the rich and the poor — is "dead." Hogwash. (By the way, Scott, Bill Clinton didn’t fire me and Berkeley won’t, either. But your boss has a well-recorded...

Former Rep. Eric Swalwell, the disgraced California politician accused of rape, was reportedly confronted by FBI agents at San Francisco International Airport, where they seized his electronics as part of a federal criminal probe. Agents served Swalwell with a search warrant Saturday after he arrived in California and seized his cellphone and other electronics, the Daily Mail reported. Sources told the outlet, agents also executed additional warrants at Swalwell’s Washington, DC, home Sunday, where they seized other potential evidence. Swalwell, 45, was reportedly cooperative during the airport encounter. The investigation comes as the former California congressman faces multiple allegations of...

Forget a six-figure MBA—the path to the C-suite can start with a forklift certification. At least, that was the route for Ron Vachris, the CEO of Costco. Today he leads one of the world's largest and most admired companies, with a compensation package worth nearly $14 million. But Vachris never set out chasing the corner office. Instead, he approached his career one step at a time, guided by advice from his father, a utility lineman. "I wish I had the vision back in the '80s about what this industry and what this company could be," Vachris said last month at...

Washington, D.C. – Live Action, one of the nation’s leading human rights organizations, and Thomas More Society released a statement in response to a cease-and-desist letter sent from pro-abortion legal group Amplify Legal, which is affiliated with parent organization Abortion in America, which is a project of George Soros’ Hopewell Fund. The letter, which was posted online, argued that Live Action News published “false and defamatory” articles about 13 clients, all individuals who chose to publicly share their abortion stories. It demands that Live Action remove all related published material and immediately retract statements where abortion is described as “killing”...

I wanted to get some advise from FReepers who have walked this road. I have my first ever sleep study scheduled this weekend. Reading the prep literature makes me wonder how I'm going to sleep when I'm hooked up to all kinds of gadgets. I know I'll eventually sleep, but being away from home I'm not sure it will be a fair representation of the type of sleep I get at home. What do I need to be prepared for and to bring?

South Carolina’s Sen. Darline Graham (R) defended her headline-making debate performance — in which she blurted out “I’m not that informed on national security” — by insisting she was just “being honest.” Graham, 62, was appointed to finish out her brother Lindsey Graham’s term after the elder’s sudden July 11 death at age 71, and is running for a shot at the full term this fall after being endorsed by President Donald Trump. While Lindsey Graham was a well-known foreign policy hawk who spent decades in Congress, his sister tried to backpedal during a Wednesday appearance on Fox News’ Hannity,...

[Short video worth watching] Content below from "Independent Women's Voice." As Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)-backed candidates gain momentum across the country, radical policies are increasingly being repackaged as appealing, mainstream answers to the economic pressures facing Americans. Independent Women’s Voice is using a new generation of campaign storytelling to challenge that sales pitch and expose what those promises made by the DSA platform could actually mean for Americans. Today, Independent Women’s Voice launched “Take Me Back!” Borrowing from the time-travel magic of the iconic film “Back to the Future,” the ad transports viewers into a future shaped by the...

For years, the United Arab Emirates has been a lifeline for Iran’s sanctions-battered economy, despite political tensions between the two countries. But that relationship was imperiled on Tuesday, when the Emirates announced a total embargo on trade and transactions with the Islamic republic. If the threat holds, Iran would lose not just a major market for its goods but a portal to the world economy, analysts say. The embargo highlights both the depth of the economic relationships that Iran has cultivated across the Gulf region and the strain they are now under. The war that the United States and Israel...