Free Republic

Cocaine is no worse for your health than the common glass of whiskey, claimed the president of Colombia — the world’s biggest producer and exporter of the illegal drug. In a first-of-its-kind, six-hour live broadcast ministerial meeting in the South American country, Colombian President Gustavo Petro argued that cocaine is only illegal because of global politics — further claiming that it can be consumed as casually as alcohol, according to a report. “Scientists have analyzed this. Cocaine is no worse than whiskey,” the 64-year-old president said, according to CBS News. It is not clear what analysis the president was referring...

Drug traffickers are spending $1 million a pop to build boats that look like submarines and can carry 4 tons of cocaine for 2,000 miles without refueling. Nicknamed "narco subs," they're made to sneak loads up from South America to Mexico, where the drugs are offloaded and taken overland into the United States. "It is a semi-submersible coffin," said Jay Bergman, Andean regional director for the Drug Enforcement Administration. "You batten down the hatches and you are doing everything to not be detected sailing in the middle of the ocean." At least 13 of the craft have been stopped and...

For US, a terror threat lurks in drug smuggling subs Shift of cargo to arms and people is feared By Bryan Bender KEY WEST, Fla. - Skimming just below the surface, they are extremely difficult to detect from surveillance aircraft or patrol boats. Their sleek design, up to 80 feet in length, can secretly carry several tons of cargo thousands of miles. These "semi-submersibles," which exhibit some of the same characteristics as military submarines, mark a significant advancement in the ability of drug smugglers to slip past coastal defenses. So far this year, the Coast Guard says it has encountered...

BOGOTA (Reuters) -Miguel Uribe, a Colombian senator who was vying for his party's candidacy in upcoming presidential elections, died on Monday, two months after being shot at a campaign rally. He was 39. Uribe, a father and stepfather, was shot in the head while giving a campaign speech on June 7 and underwent multiple surgeries during his subsequent hospital stay. He had shownsome improvement during July, but his condition worsened over the past weekend due to a hemorrhagein his central nervous system, the hospital treating him said on Sunday. The assassination has evoked memories of intense political violence in Colombia's...

Columbia University agitator and terror fanboy Mahmoud Khalil just let the truth slip: The “pro-Palestine” movement believes Hamas was justified and right to commit the Oct. 7, 2023, atrocities, to forestall a “very imminent” Saudi-Israeli peace deal. SNIP The savage Oct. 7 attacks, Khalil told The New York Times’ Ezra Klein, were just a “desperate attempt” to “break the cycle.” What “cycle”? The one where Israel was making peace with Arab states. But, whined Khalil, Israel and Saudi Arabia were about to normalize relations “as if Palestinians are not part of the equation,” and “unfortunately . . . we couldn’t...

Had the American people not rallied around President Trump as odious phony prosecutions engulfed him during his presidential campaign, he may not have been re-elected president and instead endured a terrible fate. In South America this week, we are seeing how bad it could have been. Late yesterday, Brazil's manic, freakish, version of Judge James Boasberg, Justice Alexandre de Moraes, ordered Brazil's equivalent of President Trump, former President Jair Bolsonaro arrested for questioning the 2022 Brazilian presidential electoral result, that, as with President Trump, he was mysteriously defeated in by a narrow margin after showing significant strength on the campaign...

Over the past year, Hezbollah has faced a growing existential crisis, intensified by the targeted assassinations of senior figures including Fuad Shukr, Ibrahim Aqil, Jawad Tawil, and particularly Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and his successor, Hashem Safi al-Din. Once Iran’s most formidable proxy and a significant strategic actor in the Middle East, Hezbollah now contends with depleted leadership, military setbacks, and mounting international pressure. Does this signal genuine weakening within the Shiite terrorist organization? According to Lebanese sources, Hezbollah is undertaking drastic measures to ensure its survival, notably relocating the families of hundreds of senior commanders to Latin America. Lebanese journalist...

NEW YORK (AP) — Outerwear retailer Columbia Sportswear has sued Columbia University over alleged trademark infringement and a breach of contract, saying that the university’s merchandise looks too similar to its own offerings and can confuse shoppers. In a lawsuit filed July 23 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, Columbia Sportswear, whose roots date back to 1938, alleges that the Ivy League university intentionally violated an agreement the parties signed on June 13, 2023. That agreement dictated how the university could use the word “Columbia” on its own apparel and accessories. As part of the pact,...

Astronomers at MIT, Columbia University, and elsewhere have used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to peer through the dust of nearby galaxies and into the aftermath of a black hole’s stellar feast. Credit: NRAO/AUI/NSF/NASA Unlike active galaxies that endlessly devour nearby matter, these black holes remain in slumber, stirring only momentarily to consume an unlucky passing star. Astronomers from MIT, Columbia University, and other institutions have used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to look through thick layers of dust in nearby galaxies and examine the aftermath of black holes consuming stars. According to a new study published on July...

Columbia University will pay $200 million to resolve allegations that it discriminated against Jewish students, in exchange for the restoration of federal grants worth hundreds of millions of dollars. “While Columbia does not admit to wrongdoing with this resolution agreement, the institution’s leaders have recognized, repeatedly, that Jewish students and faculty have experienced painful, unacceptable incidents, and that reform was and is needed,” the university said in a statement announcing that it had reached a deal with the federal government. In addition to a cash settlement, Columbia University will also implement a series of reforms announced earlier this year. In...

“Columbia has more progress to make before Jewish students can truly feel safe on its campus,” said Rep. Tim Walberg. The Gaza solidarity encampment at Columbia University, April 21, 2024). Columbia University penalized more than 70 students involved in violent and other disruptive anti-Israel protests on the Manhattan school’s campus, according to the New York Post. The school’s disciplinary actions include suspensions of between one and three years for over 80% of the rioters, with a small number expelled from the university. Degree revocation and probation were also included

Dozens of anti-Israel rabble-rousers were slapped with hefty suspensions and a handful were fully expelled after they took part in the recent violent takeover of a campus library and last year’s notorious tent encampment, The Post has learned. More than 70 students are set to be punished for their involvement in the hugely disruptive Butler Library chaos that unfolded on May 7, as well as the encampment that popped up on the Morningside Heights campus in spring 2024, sources familiar with the disciplinary action said. Roughly two-thirds of those will be hit with suspensions between one and three years, with...

When antisemitism became institutional, radical professors fanned the flames and colleagues stayed silent, I had no choice but to walk away. But I won’t stop fighting. Leaving my dream job wasn’t an easy choice, but Columbia’s latest scandal makes it crystal clear why I had to go. In texts released by the House Education and Workforce Committee, acting President Claire Shipman—then co-chair of the Board of Trustees—called the only vocal pro-Israel Jewish trustee “a mole.” She even suggested replacing her with “someone from the Middle East or who is Arab,” ignoring the Civil Rights Act that bans such discrimination. Worse,...

Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil is suing the Trump administration for arresting and incarcerating him over his involvement in the anti-Israel protests on campus. The Center for Constitutional Rights issued a press release on Thursday announcing that he filed a lawsuit “detailing the harm he has suffered as a result of his politically motivated arrest and detention.” Khalil is seeking $20 million in damages. He told a reporter that if he wins the lawsuit, he would use the money to help other foreign students who have been detained in a similar fashion. Recently released after 104 days in detention, Mr....

Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-Minn.) daughter revealed Tuesday that she’s unemployed after graduating from Barnard College — the elite school that suspended her last year after her arrest at a Columbia University anti-Israel protest. “Unemployment got me,” Isra Hirsi captioned an Instagram Story selfie. The 22-year-old jobless activist is apparently getting by peddling some of her old clothes to her more than 82,000 followers on the social media platform. “I am now selling on [Depop]!! Check out if u wish,” Hirsi wrote, including a link to her page on the clothing resale app. Multiple skirts, a pair of Dr. Martens boots...

Zohran Mamdani has an odd new Guardian Angel. GOP mayoral nominee Curtis Sliwa defended his Democratic socialist foe Zohran Mamdani over his Columbia college admissions scandal — warning the relentless attacks by other rivals will backfire. “Why are we making this an issue?” fumed the Guardian Angels founder in an exclusive interview with The Post. “They are piling on, and now he is a martyr.” SNIP But Sliwa, a political firebrand not typically known for measured responses, warned moderates from focusing too much on such small-potato issues. “Yes, he shouldn’t have put down that he was African American, but it’s...

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries refused to delve into the controversy surrounding socialist New York mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani’s description of himself as “black or African American” on his application for Columbia University in 2009. Jeffries (D-NY), the highest-ranking black elected official in the US, contorted live on air to dodge the controversy and changed the topic to affordability concerns that have been top of mind for voters. “The issue that we have to deal with in New York City, which our Democratic nominee did talk about extensively during the primary campaign, is affordability,” Jeffries told Rev. Al Sharpton’s “PoliticsNation”...

Liberal critics, such as Keith Olbermann, lashed out at the Times on the social media site X. The New York Times seems to be in damage control after the paper's story about New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani identifying as Asian and African American on his college application upset some of its readers, leading to an editor from the outlet attempting to clear up the controversy on social media on Friday. The article claimed that Mamdani, when asked his race on his 2009 college application to Columbia University, checked the boxes for "Asian" but also "Black or African American,"...

Muslim Communist NYC Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani identified as “Asian” and “Black or African American” on his college application for Columbia University. The New York Times obtained this internal data from a hack of Columbia University. Columbia University used an affirmative action admissions program, so Mamdani, an Indian born in Uganda, checked ‘Black’ and ‘Asian’ to give himself an advantage over other applicants. When confronted about his Columbia University application, Zohran Mamdani told The New York Times that he checked those boxes to ‘capture the fullness” of his background. “Most college applications don’t have a box for Indian-Ugandans, so I...

As he enters prison, a disgraced former DEA agent who lived a decadent double life has claimed his own crimes were the tip of the iceberg... ...In interviews with the Associated Press, Irizarry, who recently began a 12-year prison sentence, has claimed that corruption is endemic in the powerful US drug agency... ...Irizarry claimed to the Associated Press that dozens of other agents joined in with his debauchery, and that they deliberately tailored drug operations so that they could visit party hotspots...