Free Republic

Katie Hobbs is living proof that stolen elections have consequences. ... And still the DOJ won't investigate her or her AG!

Three British nationals could face death by a firing squad after they allegedly smuggled about a kilogram – over two pounds – of cocaine onto the island of Bali in Indonesia. The Associated Press reported that prosecutor I Made Dipa Umbara said 28-year-old Jonathan Christopher Collyer and 29-year-old Lisa Ellen Stocker were arrested Feb. 1, after customs officers stopped them at the X-ray machine when they found suspicious items disguised as food packages inside their luggage. Umbara told the District Court in Denpasar during a court hearing on Tuesday that a lab test result confirmed 10 pouches of "Angel Delight"...

Come July, common keys for houses, cars, boats, and motorcycles will be illegal in Minnesota, save for uncertain intervention from the state Legislature. That's when the state's ban on the manufacture, sale, or import of keys, toys, dishes, and other common items containing more than a tiny percentage of lead or cadmium goes into effect. The purpose of that law was to remove dangerous heavy metals from products that come into contact with children. The trouble is that almost all keys sold today have more lead than the new law's 0.09 percent limit on lead content. Locksmiths have been warning...

“They were never, ever effective… and they were never, ever safe.” Those words aren’t coming from some fringe blogger. They’re from Dr. Angus Dalgleish — a veteran oncologist and professor of oncology at a major UK institution. “These were not vaccines,” Dalgleish says. “These were horrible gene therapies that could actually integrate into your genome.”

The most vulnerable nations on Earth are facing a “tidal wave” of debt repayments as a Chinese lending boom starts to be called in, a new report has warned. The analysis, published on Tuesday by Australian foreign policy thinktank the Lowy Institute, said that in 2025 the poorest 75 countries were on the hook for record high debt repayments US$22bn to China. The 75 nations’ debt formed the bulk of the total $35bn calculated by Lowy for 2025. “Now, and for the rest of this decade, China will be more debt collector than banker to the developing world,” the report...

Introduced from South America, mathenge was intended to halt desertification, but now three-quarters of the country is at risk of invasion by the invasive tree For his entire life, John Lmakato has lived in Lerata, a village nestled at the foot of Mount Ololokwe in northern Kenya’s Samburu county. “This used to be a treeless land. Grass covered every inch of the rangelands, and livestock roamed freely,” he says. Lmakato’s livestock used to roam freely in search of pasture, but three years ago he lost 193 cattle after they wandered into a conservation area in Laikipia – known for the...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) tried to scold Republicans on Wednesday regarding their part in President Donald Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill.” During her speech on the House floor, Ocasio-Cortez claimed 13.7 million Americans would lose their healthcare as a result of the bill, according to video footage on the United States House of Representatives website. She then alleged Republicans would try everything to distract from that number: Republicans have put this bill together, rushed it together in a matter of hours on the back of a napkin, shaking it walking out of the White House and brought it right here to...

The British maritime security firm warns that "should a future Russia-Ukraine peace agreement fail to address EU-UK sanctions on Russian hydrocarbon exports, Russia is likely to reallocate its security resources, previously concentrated on the Black Sea, to the Baltic region"LONDON, May 20. /TASS/. Attempts by European nations to detain allegedly Russia-linked merchant ships in the Baltic Sea are heightening the risk of "non-linear warfare" between NATO and Russia, according to a report by the British maritime security firm Ambrey. The assessment indicates that, in the near term, there will be "heightened maritime security risks, particularly around vessels transporting oil from...

Iran is preparing to deliver in the near future launchers for short-range ballistic missiles that the U.S. said Tehran sent to Russia last year for use against Ukraine, according to two Western security officials and a regional official. The delivery of the Fath-360 launchers - if it occurs - would help support Russia's grinding assault on its neighbor and reaffirm the deepening security ties between Moscow and Tehran. With a 75-mile (120-km) range, the Fath-360 would give Moscow's forces a new weapon to fire at Ukrainian frontline troops, nearby military targets, and population centers close to the border with Russia,...

Oil refinery Valero has opted to close its operations in California due to excessive regulations on energy. Located in the small city of Benicia, the town is expected to lose 400 jobs, which the mayor is calling the exit “a major hit on the city.” Everyone in California is feeling the impact of Newsom’s war on fossil fuels. Valero said its decision ” follows years of regulatory pressure, significant fines for air quality violations, and a recent lawsuit settlement related to environmental concerns.” “California has been pursuing policies to move away from fossil fuels for really for the past 20...

California drivers could soon face gas prices soaring to $8.43 per gallon, a staggering 75% increase from current levels. The looming crisis stems from the shutdown of two major in-state refineries, which together account for 20% of California’s gasoline production. The Phillips 66 refinery in Los Angeles is set to close by the end of 2025, followed by the Valero refinery in Benicia, which will halt operations in April 2026. These closures will create a gasoline deficit ranging from 6.6 million to 13.1 million gallons per day, according to an analysis by USC Professor Michael Mische. The impact will extend...

In an election that seemed all but guaranteed to land Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives in government, Canada instead re-elected Mark Carney’s Liberal Party for another four years. Carney, former governor of the Bank of England, first became Canadian prime minister in March, taking over from the scandal-mired Justin Trudeau. The increasingly unpopular Liberals were set to be overthrown by the populist-leaning Poilievre, until US president Donald Trump’s threats to annex the country. This derailed the national discourse and caused liberal-left voters to rally behind Carney. The Liberals’ victory, however, was extremely narrow, and their fourth term in government is set to...

President Trump just defunded NPR... but at what cost? A survey of leading economists and media analysts may surprise you. The Babylon Bee has compiled the following list of severe ramifications of NPR being defunded: NPR may have to resort to reporting real news: A clear violation of their freedom of speech. No one will know the plight of Mongolian yak farmers: How will people learn if they are not told? There will only be 297 media outlets pushing state propaganda: So few options. Forced to drop the "N" and "P" and just be known as "R": Years of brand...

President Donald Trump on Friday said he is "taking away" Harvard's tax exempt status. "It's what they deserve,” he said in a Truth Social post. The decision will likely face legal challenges. Harvard’s president has said revoking the university's tax-exempt status would be unlawful and endanger "our ability to carry out our educational mission." Trump previously called for Harvard to lose its tax exempt status after the university said it would not comply with the administration's series of demands, including actions on antisemitism and the use of DEI on campus.

Canada held elections on Tuesday, and in a stunning development, Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party completed the comeback. While the conservatives did make gains compared to the last decade, left-winger Mark Carney will remain prime minister, and the bill is about to come due. After suffering under years of Trudeau's disastrous leadership, Canadians had a chance to change course. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, who was the odds-on favorite to win the election just a few months ago, had promised to lift his nation out of its decline, promoting personal and economic freedom. The choice should have been clear. Instead, the voters...

(LEX 18) — 50-year-old Kentucky Powerball jackpot winner James Farthing has been charged with battery on a law enforcement officer after he allegedly kicked a Florida police officer in the face during a bar fight, according to arrest affidavits. According to the affidavits, Farthing and his girlfriend, 42-year-old Jacqueline Fightmaster, were both arrested on Tuesday after the reported fight at TradeWinds Resort at St. Pete Beach, just days after Farthing won the jackpot at a Clark's Pump N Shop in Georgetown. An arrest affidavit states that around 11 p.m., during an argument, Farthing allegedly punched a hotel guest in the...

Tens of thousands of New York City residents have fled the Northeast for warmer climes in a five-year period — taking nearly $14 billion worth of income out of the Empire State. A new report by the nonpartisan Citizens Budget Commission found around 30,000 Big Apple dwellers moved to Florida between 2017 and 2022, many of them ending up in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties. The report chalked up the mass migration to factors including lingering effects of the pandemic, as well as general affordability, quality-of-life concerns and safety. The city has seen a reduction in its adjusted gross income...

The collapse was predictable and could have been prevented—for a price. Big sections of the European electric grid had a blackout recently. First reports blamed a frequency dip due to a lack of “spinning reserve.” When frequency gets too low, automatic electrical breakers open, isolating sections of loads and the transmission grid. The power plants can only safely operate within a narrow frequency range (pumps spin too slowly, etc), and they too will isolate and trip to protect themselves from damage. The classic grid can be imagined as a broad network of spinning gyroscopes, all electrically synchronized to the same...

As collections resume after five years, disaster looms for delinquent borrowers.At the outset of the covid-19 pandemic, federal student-loan borrowers won what appeared to be a reprieve. That five-year pause on payments and interest accumulation is now shaping up to be a curse in disguise. Last week, the Trump administration drew criticism for announcing that the Education Department would resume involuntary collections next month. But the squeeze delinquent borrowers will soon feel is an inevitable consequence of the suspension, exacerbated by the Biden administration’s prolonged refusal to let payments resume.That’s because nonpayment ballooned after the pause functionally ended last October,...

On April 16, 2025, Spain celebrated a green energy triumph. Just six days later, the lights went out across the entire country. April 16: Spain’s first weekday of 100% renewable power In a historic achievement, Spain’s national grid was powered entirely by renewable energy on Tuesday, April 16 – the first time this has ever happened on a weekday. Between 10:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., wind, solar, and hydro met 100 per cent of mainland electricity demand, according to Red Eléctrica (cited by PV Magazine). At 11:15 a.m., wind and solar alone produced 100.63 per cent of demand. April 22:...