Free Republic

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s wine connections are raising eyebrows as his winery group becomes the only Napa operation to score a settlement after a devastating wildfire ravaged wine country. California wineries have been scrambling to recover from the 2025 Pickett Fire, which caused an estimated $56 million in wine-grape losses across Napa Valley. More than 30 winery and vineyard owners are seeking up to $90 million from Hundred Acre Winery and its owner, Jayson Woodbridge — but so far, only Newsom’s PlumpJack Group has reached a settlement.

SpaceX is pushing toward Starship Flight 14 with Ship 41 and Booster 21 completing major testing, including a spectacular 33-engine Super Heavy static fire. Meanwhile, SpaceX's Starship Plans Just Got Much Bigger, the colossal new Starbase Louisiana plans for at least ten Starship launch pads and thousands of future launches. Ship 40 has also finally been loaded aboard the massive FORTE recovery vessel for its long journey back to Texas after Flight 13. We also look at the final Falcon 9 Starlink launch from Florida, the upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launch on Falcon Heavy, Ariane 6, the latest...

Soon it will a long, hot Labor Day weekend, and police in many cities are bracing for multiple teen takeovers. These takeovers, usually of crowded downtown areas, are organized on social media and escalate rapidly into large-scale brawls involving the use of fists, knives, and guns. Bystanders and police are hurt, and businesses are damaged and have their hours curtailed. Footage from a large teen takeover from the Wisconsin State Fair in Milwaukee has aired on national media, with commentators noting that “these kinds of takeovers have become all too common.” What was not said is that “these kinds of...

"Law enforcement in India claim it has uncovered a network of universities that produce fake degrees which were possibly used to obtain these high skilled H1B visas, including one school which allegedly stole over 36,000 fake degrees. It cost as little as $1,400 for one of those." "And while these are supposed to be high skilled employees during almost all of Biden's time in office, 83% got junior or entry level positions." Over 100,000 fake degrees linked to 22 universities https://x.com/thohidin3j/status/2093587781088166245/photo/1

🇺🇸Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem🇮🇱 (8/29/26)[Prayer]PersonalitiesPsalm 7Psalm 7[a] A shiggaion[b] of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning Cush, a Benjamite. 1 Lord my God, I take refuge in you; save and deliver me from all who pursue me, 2 or they will tear me apart like a lion and rip me to pieces with no one to rescue me. 3 Lord my God, if I have done this and there is guilt on my hands— 4 if I have repaid my ally with evil or without cause have robbed my foe— 5 then let my enemy pursue...

California could soon recognize two Islamic holidays, potentially bringing Muslim state workers more accommodations to celebrate.

The communists who want to run our country and our lives have no regard for our well-being. Just look at a little history, plus the present day. When I was studying to become a nurse in the late 1960s, I learned that the most important value in patient care, for both nurses and doctors, is safety. Not curing, which is hoped for but often impossible, and not even empathy, although a high priority. That is because the patient who falls out of bed or is given the wrong dose of medicine or whose grievance is ignored or — yikes! this...

Council on American-Islamic Relations, the US’s largest Muslim charity, blamed the 9/11 terror attacks on the country’s “support of Israel” and accused it of “state-sponsored Islamophobia” in its aftermath, according to since-deleted back-to-school material. The embattled nonprofit released its annual “Back to school resource guide” for K-12 students Monday, containing a link outlining the outrageous claims – but it was inexplicably yanked a day later. Screenshots obtained by The Post show the 16-page guide linked to a page that claimed the devastating Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that killed nearly 3,000 Americans were masterminded not by Islamic terrorists but a “group...

Socialism’s sectarian logic, pseudoscientific hubris, and the inescapable path from guillotine to Gulag C. The sectarian, antidemocratic, and antirational character of egalitarianism has been exposed with grim consistency across two centuries of revolutionary experiment. From the Jacobin committees of public safety to the Politburos of Moscow, Beijing, and their satellite regimes in Africa and Asia, the pattern recurs: utopian doctrine, once armed with state power, converts political disagreement into existential crime and answers it with systematic slaughter. A political monster from birth, socialism—along with its Siamese twin, communism, the progeny of egalitarianism and collectivism—does not merely fail to deliver abundance;...

At least 27 people have been killed and dozens wounded after a Russian drone attack triggered a large fire and multiple explosions that lasted for hours at a warehouse in a residential area near Kyiv. The attack — in the Bucha district — came amid near constant aerial assaults from Russia but the likely storage of ammunition at the warehouse has had catastrophic consequences. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed to punish those responsible.

Austin taxpayers will provide $1,500 for a September 10 film screening and panel featuring CAIR-Austin, even as Gov. Greg Abbott (R-Texas) and Attorney General Ken Paxton (R-Texas) seek to restrict CAIR operations in the state. The “Jesus Was a Migrant” program will run from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Asian American Resource Center, a city cultural facility at 8401 Cameron Rd. The registration page says FaithWorks, CAIR-Austin and other organizations are inviting residents to the event, which Austin “Equity” and Inclusion is sponsoring through its We All Belong initiative. The panel will feature representatives from CAIR-Austin, Asian Texans for...

The Jewish Democratic Council of America and other Jewish Democrat groups keep trying to make the case that Jewish donors should at least fund the right Democrats (they may be a bit fuzzy on which those are the JDCA backs multiple candidates who accused Israel of genocide) and that it’s just a tiny minority of bad ones. But money is fungible and with the Dems talking up how their party is now a ‘Big Tent’ that includes Jews and people who hate them and want to kill them, that’s a bit tricky. Take the recent campaign of Alex Vindman. The...

The FBI previously refused to hire job applicants if they admitted to hiring sex workers or stealing from an employer — or engaging in acts of bestiality. Today, those acts, which are mostly illegal across the country, are no longer automatic deal breakers for applicants to the nation's top law enforcement agency. In June, the FBI quietly lowered some of the standards it uses when it conducts background checks on would-be federal agents and other personnel. According to multiple sources briefed on the matter, the FBI did so to facilitate hiring in some cases, even if candidates acknowledged they engaged...

He spent a month dodging police, only to stroll into a Panda Express where two of the cops looking for him were sitting down to dinner. The unbelievable encounter unfolded around 8:30 p.m. July 17 in Monrovia, California, when two officers taking a meal break spotted the man, who was wanted for a probation violation. One officer was still working on a bowl of beef and broccoli when the suspect walked into the San Gabriel Valley restaurant. The dinner break was over in a hurry. Bodycam footage shows the officers springing from their table and moving toward the man near...

A Bronx judge found a mother of two suffering from postpartum psychosis not guilty of killing her young children in 2022 — while jurors in Massachusetts are in the middle of deliberating a similar fate for Lindsay Clancy. Dimone Fleming, 26, was found not responsible by mental disease or defect in court on Monday for the deaths of her two children, 3-year-old Daishawn Fleming and 11-month-old Octavius Canada, at a Bronx family shelter, the New York Times reported. On the night of the gruesome killings, Fleming was “grossly psychotic and out of touch with reality,” according to psychiatrist Dr. Eric...

A word of caution to the Right as the midterms approach: do not run on messages from the Left. The policies of Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and others of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) base should not be the north star. So, why borrow from their playbook on data centers? Data centers are good. They are a boon for the economy and essential for national security and quality of life. ---SNIP--- Data centers are private construction projects with private financing, not some Keynesian, centrally planned boondoggle like the California high-speed rail to nowhere

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – A reproductive rights group is raising concern that Flock automated license plate readers could be used to track abortion patients in Columbus. On Aug. 10, Columbus City Council had a hearing to receive community feedback on Flock cameras, which capture vehicle details and license plates. The technology is often used by police to track suspects and missing people. The council meeting was spurred by growing local scrutiny of the cameras over concerns about privacy and data sharing with federal immigration enforcement. Abortion Forward Deputy Director Jaime Miracle spoke at the hearing, urging the council to remove...

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, Religious Freedom and the Media. "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. "Finally, brothers, rejoice. Set things in order. Be encouraged. Agree with one another. Be at peace. And the God...

Daily Readings from the USCCBMemorial of the Passion of Saint John the BaptistHerod was the one who had John the Baptist arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, whom he had married. John had said to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” Herodias harbored a grudge against him and wanted to kill him but was unable to do so. Mark 6:17–19Today’s memorial recalls one of the most appalling acts of murder the world has ever known, surpassed only by the crucifixion of the Son of God....