Free Republic

A Columbia PhD candidate sparked widespread backlash after revealing she chose not to report her rape because of her stark prison abolitionist views. Anna Krauthamer published an essay titled 'Why I Didn’t Report My Rape,' explaining why she did not alert authorities to her 2021 sexual assault after she was gang raped in Las Vegas. Krauthamer, a self-proclaimed 'staunch prison abolition activist', said she did not report the assault because she wished it had never happened and believed imprisoning the abusers would do nothing for her. 'The prospect of being a participant in other peoples’ incarceration is as alien to...

The prospect of a full-blown trade war between the EU and the US was averted for the second time in less than 12 months following President Donald Trump's dramatic U-turn on Greenland. For Ireland, several uncomfortable truths are emerging after this week’s geopolitical chaos. The trading relationship with the US is part of the bedrock of the Irish economic success story. It is based on Ireland providing an environment of stability for multinationals. One of the certainties important for US corporations is the level of tariffs applied to exports shipped across the Atlantic. […] Fortunately for Ireland, pharmaceuticals and computer...

A 'Karen' from Maine let it slip to the Daily Mail that she was the one who tried to allegedly stop police from investigating a serious threat to a school because she thought they were Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Mary Conmee, 63, gladly answered the phone on Thursday morning, but instead of greeting the reporter, she appeared to be having a conversation with someone else about what she did. During that discussion, Conmee, a retired New York State Police Sgt. who resides in Orrington, confessed she was the woman who tried to impede the Brewer Police Department's investigation...

The overwhelming majority of households headed by Afghan immigrants with children in the home are on one or more forms of taxpayer-funded welfare in the United States, newly released analysis reveals. The analysis, published by Jason Richwine at the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), reviews Census Bureau data on Afghan immigrants in the U.S. — an immigrant group that has exploded from just 22,000 in 1990 to almost a quarter of a million as of 2024.Most significantly, the Census data shows that almost all Afghan households with children are on publicly funded welfare — similar to that of Somali immigrant...

China has deployed life-sized AI-powered 'robocops' to police roads and direct traffic around the clock. Wearing reflective vests and white caps, the humanoid officers have been spotted patrolling Wuhu City, in eastern China's Anhui Province, barking orders at civilians. 'For your safety, please ride bicycles in the non-motorized lane,' one robot was heard calling out to a cyclist who veered into traffic. The robots' futuristic appearance has made them local celebrities, with pedestrians frequently pausing to snap photos. Traffic police officer Jiang Zihao described the machines as 'new colleagues' capable of assisting officers on the streets. According to Jiang, the...

Democrat Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has alleged that staffers for former Vice President Kamala Harris questioned whether he was a double agent of Israel when vetting him as a potential 2024 running mate. Writing in his new memoir, Where We Keep the Light, the prominent Democrat governor alleged that the former vice president’s vetting team scrutinized his views on Israel, mostly due to his being Jewish. “Had I been a double agent for Israel?” Shapiro wrote in describing his offended response to a last-minute question from the vetting team. When he called out the question for its obvious antisemitic overtones,...

In Seattle, the new socialist mayor Katie Wilson urged people to sign up for 'Washington for All ICE Mobilization Alerts', a group which is training to 'mobilize a unified response' to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activities. 'This will take all of us,' the Seattle Mayor said in a rallying call to residents via a video message posted on her X account, while she also joined protests in the city. 'We already have laws in place that forbid our local police from aiding ICE in most instances. The police will adhere to these laws. That's an important step,' added Wilson,...

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) revealed that Democrats would “restore most of the cuts” that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) had made. While taking part in a discussion at the Center for American Progress, Schumer received a question about what he “can do about bringing” the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) back, after DOGE came in and made cuts. “If you look at the budget actually, we’re working on right now — and we’ll have the T-HUD budget, you know, transportation and HUD budget, we restore most of the cuts and even go higher than previous...

…The US has accused the Marinera of breaking its sanctions by carrying oil for Venezuela, Russia and Iran. The ship, previously known as Bella 1, was boarded while south of Iceland last week and is now in the Moray Firth while a US Coast Guard ship involved in the operation is berthed in Aberdeen. US administration sources said the tanker would be subject to a judicial forfeiture process when it arrives in the US and any individuals involved in its attempts to flee face federal prosecution.… …But Moscow denounced the seizure, demanding that the US treat Russians aboard properly and...

You stub your toe on the bedpost. Before your brain even registers the pain, a word explodes from your mouth — sharp, loud and oddly satisfying. Far from being a simple slip in manners, swearing is a reflex rooted deep in the structure of the human body, drawing on networks in the brain and autonomic nervous system that evolved to help us survive pain and shock. Research shows that a well-placed expletive can dull pain, regulate the heart and help the body recover from stress. The occasional outburst, it seems, isn’t a moral failure — it’s a protective reflex wired...

A former Fox TV anchor accused of murdering her elderly mother is too insane to be tried for the killing, a judge has ruled. Angelynn Mock, 47, was taken into custody last October in Wichita, Kansas, for allegedly stabbing her 81-year-old mom Anita Avers to death. The former Fox 2 presenter was charged in November with first-degree murder after Avers was found with multiple stab wounds inside her home. Sedgwick County District Judge Jeff Goering ruled this week that Mock was incompetent to stand trial after a psychologist's report was given to the court. The report determined that Mock suffers...

The chair of Shannon Airport warned the Minister for Transport that protests and airside incursions at the airport were a “grave risk” and a threat to the international reputation of the State. The letter to Minister Darragh O’Brien last May said security breaches at Shannon that month were part of a “persistent and deeply concerning” trend. However, a further incident took place in November when protesters managed to reach an apron and taxiway, before spray painting a US military aircraft. In last year’s correspondence, the airport chair Conal Henry pleaded for help, saying the incursions posed a very serious security...

John Mellencamp has no interest in being a "(Expletive) clown" for his fans. During an appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, the singer explained why he recoiled from playing arena and amphitheater-sized shows in recent years. “I got tired of going on tour and being a cheerleader, which is what I was,” Mellencamp admitted. “’Let's do a rounding hit of 'Small Town!' ‘I was born…’ You know, and everybody’d stand up and sing. I was playing to 20,000 people and everybody was drunk and I was just kind of the cheerleader.” “I just thought, I'm here to be a...

A teachers' union has been forced to delete a post urging the 'ultra-wealthy' to fully fund schools after it was mocked online for misspelling 'governor.' On Tuesday, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) circulated a flyer on social media, urging the public to pressure state leaders to tax billionaires to fund struggling public institutions. It comes months after a report found the district is $1.6 billion short of necessary funding, according to Chicago Public Media. The union's flyer went after Democratic Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, a multibillionaire heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune, demanding that the 'ultra-wealthy pay their fair share...

A worker at the Ford factory in Michigan was suspended but said he had 'no regrets' after he accused Donald Trump of being a 'pedophile protector' during a visit to Tuesday. TJ Sabula, a 40-year-old line worker at the factory, was given the penalty after Trump cursed him out and gave him the middle finger while touring the factory, according to The Washington Post. 'As far as calling him out, definitely no regrets whatsoever,' Sabula told the outlet. 'I don’t feel as though fate looks upon you often, and when it does, you better be ready to seize the opportunity....

Ireland is to give €42 million in aid to the people of Palestine over the course of 2026, up from €36 million last year. Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee made the announcement during a visit to the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza. The funding will include €20 million to support the work of UNRWA that provides vital services to Palestinian refugees in Gaza and the West Bank, and across the region, while €2 million will assist the work of the Egyptian and Palestinian Red Crescent Societies. …

I mean, we knew the dating scene was rough, but this is a whole other level. Read the full story on Jenny Lewis' wedding here.Not to offend any of the newlyweds out there, but sometimes, marriage really is just another piece of paper. Hey, let's not forget when that one girl married the Eiffel Tower in 2007, or in 2015, when a Russian man pledged his undying devotion to a pepperoni pizza. Yeah, you heard me. His reason? "Pizza would not reject you or betray you, and speaking quite frankly and sincerely, I love it," he told The Mirror. Apparently,...

Circumcision is to be classed as a potential form of child abuse under new guidance for prosecutors, amid concerns from judges and coroners about deaths and serious harms caused by the procedure. A draft document by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) on “honour-based abuse, forced marriages, and harmful practices”, classes circumcision as a potential crime alongside breast flattening, virginity testing, hymenoplasty and exorcisms. The wording of the document, seen by the Guardian, has alarmed some religious groups, with Jewish and Muslim leaders defending the cultural importance of the practice. The draft CPS guidance states that, unlike female genital mutilation, “there...

Ranya Brooks will serve as the inaugural director of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Office of Belonging, Community, and Connection, Dean Jeremy M. Weinstein announced Friday afternoon in an email to students, faculty, and staff. Brooks, who most recently served as director of workforce engagement for Harvard University Campus Services, will begin her new role on Jan. 26. The appointment follows a six-month search launched after the departure of Robbin Chapman, who previously led the school’s diversity office. Chapman left during the broader rebranding of the Kennedy School’s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts into what is now the OBCC. During the...

Do as you are told, obey your “legal obligation” and keep sending U.S. taxpayer dollars. That was the message delivered Thursday to the Trump administration from U.N. headquarters in Manhattan, New York City, in the hours after the White House announced it is withdrawing billions in financial support from 66 organizations affiliated with the globalist entity. Secretary-General António Guterres, a former Portuguese Socialist Party leader and prime minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002, said he regretted President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the U.N.-related agencies, but no avenue exists for it to stop paying its dues. […] “As...