Free Republic

A Portland council meeting was shocked into silence after a member asked the first Latino councilman to repeat what he said in English, despite him speaking the language perfectly. Councilor Juan Carlos González had responded to a question posed by fellow member Mary Nolan about an agenda item dealing with the city's Supportive Housing Services The Oregonian first reported. Nolan, who goes by they/them pronouns, had asked the bill's sponsors, which includes González, to define what they meant by regionalism in the policy. 'My concern and worry is that in the definition of regionalism, you're moving forward, or that you...

Mossad operatives hacked into Tehran's traffic camera network to spy on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, his bodyguards and other top Iranian officials for years Israel gained access to almost all the city's cameras, and tracked the movements of key bodyguards. Images were said to be transmitted back to Tel Aviv and southern Israel, allowing Mossad to develop intimate knowledge on the guards' addresses, work schedules, and who they were assigned to protect. One camera angle proved especially helpful and allowed agents to track where bodyguards parked their personal cars when arriving at the Supreme Leader's compound on Pasteur Street in the...

A disgraced small-town mayor who was allegedly caught by her kids having sex with a drunken 16-year-old boy at a booze-fueled pool party ordered emergency contraception on DoorDash afterward. Misty Roberts, the 43-year-old former leader of tiny DeRidder, La., is now on trial for third-degree rape over the 2024 alleged tryst. After news spread of Roberts’ reputed romp with the teen in the town of 9,800, the mother of the victim — a friend of the defendant’s son — texted the then-mayor to ensure she was not pregnant, to which she replied she was on birth control, prosecutors told jurors...

The SWAT response and shelter-in-place order in Lake in the Hills Thursday morning was due to a search warrant on a 20-year-old man allegedly possessing 38 rounds of pistol and rifle ammunition without a FOID card. Joel Fernandez, 20, was arrested without incident at his residence in the 1400 block of Clayton Marsh Drive in Lake in the Hills and was charged with four counts of possessing ammunition without a valid Firearm Owner’s Identification (FOID) card, a Class A misdemeanor. At around 9:50 a.m. Thursday, the Lake in the Hills Police Department – assisted by the Carpentersville Police Department and...

The Jewish Representative Council of Ireland has expressed “deep concern” about the number of anti-Semitic incidents recorded here over a six-month period up to January this year. A community reporting mechanism established by the JRCI has reported 143 such incidents in that time period. The JRCI has called for the development of “a dedicated national plan to counter growing anti-Semitism”. The incidents were recorded through a JRCI online reporting form between July 2025 and January 2026. The report says some incidents were recorded by JRCI staff acting as intermediaries, based on information received through direct contact, email, or follow-up conversations....

SNIP The comedian added in the Friday footage, “Since the beginning of time, women have been ducking and diving and dodging pregnancy face-first or Pikachu-first. Frankly, they’re exhausted.” SNIP Handler also touched on different forms of female birth control, including the pill. “You think I want to be an adult woman with acne or have mood swings, or get a period that’s so heavy it feels like the Hoover Dam just broke? I don’t,” the talk show host continued. “Everybody already hates women enough. I don’t need my insides to join in on the fun.”

New genetic research is reshaping how scientists understand ancient relationships between early humans and Neanderthals. A study published in Science suggests that mating between Homo sapiens women and Neanderthal men occurred more often than the reverse, leaving a lasting mark on the human genome. The finding helps explain a long-standing mystery in genetics. Modern humans carry small amounts of Neanderthal DNA across most of their genome, but almost none on the X chromosome. These gaps, known as Neanderthal deserts, puzzled scientists for years. Modern humans and Neanderthals split from a shared ancestor about 600,000 years ago. Human ancestors evolved in...

A hyperwoke former Vogue editor proudly announced that she self-downgraded from first class on a flight to Milan to avoid a cabin filled with white men. Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, 34, made the declaration on her Threads profile Tuesday evening. The Brooklyn-based journalist wrote: 'I just downgraded myself from first class to business class on my flight to Milan. 'In a cabin of six, five of the passengers were white middle-aged men... then there was me, a 30-something black woman who travels in that cabin often, and a male flight attendant who thought I'd be okay with substandard service and persistent micro-aggression...

The son of director Rob Reiner, who is accused of killing his parents in their Los Angeles home last year, pleaded not guilty to two murder counts at an arraignment Monday. Nick Reiner, 32, was slumped over in a tan jumpsuit with his hair closely shaved during the hearing at a Los Angeles County Superior Court. He sat in a glass box and only spoke to the court to agree to waive his rights to a speedy trial. He is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the Dec. 14 stabbing deaths of Rob Reiner, a beloved director, and...

A grief-stricken mother has said she is proud of her 16-year-old son, who was shot and killed by a Florida deputy while he was allegedly armed and shoplifting. Jairus Jones was gunned down by an off-duty Osceola County officer during a Walmart shoplifting incident on Thursday, Sheriff Chris Blackman said in a press release. 'My son Jairus, who everyone knew and loved as JJ, was a bright beautiful light in this world,' Naporsha Jones Spruill told WESH. 'As his mother, I am beyond proud of the young man he was becoming. He was full of life, full of love, and...

A self-proclaimed 'scholar of the far right' was blasted on social media after she 'fled' the United States to Canada. Nope Brigade is an academic researcher who studies conservative and right-wing ideologies, and recently 'fled' from the current Trump administration to Vancouver - one of the world's priciest cities. Brigade posted a social media video begging for help after she and her family moved from Los Angeles, only to be hit with an even worse affordability crisis. 'For those who don't know, the housing crisis here is way worse than the US,' she said in the video. 'I lived in...

The European Union’s executive arm requested “full clarity” from the United States and asked its trade partner to fulfill its commitments after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down some of President Donald Trump’s most sweeping tariffs. Trump has lashed out at the court decision and said Saturday that he wants a global tariff of 15%, up from the 10% he announced a day earlier. The European Commission said the current situation is not conducive to delivering “fair, balanced, and mutually beneficial” trans-Atlantic trade and investment, as agreed to by both sides and spelled out in the EU-U.S. Joint Statement of...

A video compilation of a man setting fire to a person on a public street using a flamethrower has sparked shock online. The incident occurred on Feb 2 in Yangzhou, China, reported Hong Kong news portal HK01. Footage posted on social media platform X shows the man continuously shooting a stream of fire with a makeshift flamethrower at what appears to be a person keeled over at a row of roadside shrubs. Another clip shows the person lying face down on the shrubs as small flames licked along their upper body. In a third video, a crowd of onlookers as...

A non-binary activist won a payout from a hair salon after suing because it only offered male and female options when booking a haircut online. Alexe Frédéric Migneault, who uses they/them pronouns, says they were so traumatized by the experience at Station10 hair salon in Quebec, Canada, that they were forced to take a year and a half off work. Migneault said they were attracted to the hair salon in 2023 because its hairdressers charged by the minute, but were left disappointed when asked to select male or female as an option in the booking. 'It is not fair, and...

Corinne Hofmann described her first sighting as decidedly unexpected. In 1986, while on Holiday at the Kenyan coast, she and her boyfriend, Marco, had just gotten into an argument because he had almost gotten them caught for trying to buy hashish. They had also been waiting for what felt like ages to catch the ferry. Hundreds of people, along with wares and animals, were crammed between lines of waiting vehicles to get on to the ferry. When finally on board, it was Marco, ironically, who pointed out Corinne’s future husband. She likened it to being struck by lightning. He was...

A senior US senator clashed with Danish and Greenlandic leaders on the margins of the Munich Security Conference last week, refueling fears that the US appetite for the Arctic island has not faded. Tensions in US-Danish relations had calmed after Donald Trump walked back threats to deploy military force to acquire Greenland and to impose tariffs on eight European countries that were deploying troops on the island. But during a meeting with the two European leaders — Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen and Greenland’s Jens-Frederik Nielsen — Republican lawmaker Lindsey Graham warned that if Trump wanted Greenland, Washington could simply take it,...

One of the world’s largest and most influential scientific societies held its annual conference last weekend, which a Fox News Digital review found was littered with examples of progressive messaging, criticisms of the Trump administration, and “woke” workshops. Attendees who showed up at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) event, held at the Phoenix Convention Center from Feb. 12-14, were immediately greeted at registration with identifier stickers that used gender pronouns such as “they/them,” “xi/xer,” “xe/xem,” and other descriptors that critics have alleged have little to do with science and biology. During the meeting’s opening night, shortly...

Thousands of Oregonians have signed a petition to get animal safety on the ballot this November, making it one step closer to an all-state ban. People for the Elimination of Animal Cruelty Exemptions Act (PEACE) is asking Oregonians to put wild animals at the forefront of the ballot this year, but they've acknowledged getting 50 percent of residents on board will be an uphill battle. 'We really want to make Oregon the first state to vote on something like this,' David Michelson, the act's chief petitioner, told KOIN. 'We want to get that conversation out there. So that we can...

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced on Sunday that he would be “introducing federal legislation to make the Pride Flag a congressionally authorized symbol.” In a post on X, Schumer criticized President Donald Trump for attacking “not just the LGBTQ community,” but everyone who cares “about pride and equality” in New York City (NYC). Schumer added that he was “proud to stand with” people such as New York State Rep. Tony Simone (D) and New York State Sen. Erik Bottcher (D) to make his announcement. “The Stonewall Inn is sacred ground,” Schumer wrote. “Last week, Donald Trump attacked not...

Florida Republican Randy Fine has been heavily criticized for an errant social media post that appeared to express his preference for dogs over Muslims. Pundits from both sides of the aisle - from Jake Tapper to Megyn Kelly - rushed to denounce the Sunday X post as Islamophobic. 'If they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one,' Fine initially wrote. The comment was slammed as 'disgusting bigotry' by CNN's Tapper, while Huffington Post contributor Yashar Ali described Fine as 'one of the most horrible people in public office' Fine, 51, responded to...