Free Republic

uring the past 50-plus years, there has been a decline in the formality of workplace office attire, an increase in little children calling adult neighbors and relatives by their first names, and an increase of “sloppy Joe” or “sloppy Jane” clothing on our college campuses. In our largest city — New York — fare evasions on buses and subways are at an all-time high. The misbehavior in our public schools has reached intolerable levels. All sectors of everyday life are in decline. Bus drivers in NYC are not as likely as in past years to insist that passengers pay their...

The fatal victim of a Louisiana mall shooting which left at least five more injured has been identified as an innocent 17-year-old private schoolgirl. Martha Odom, a senior at Ascension Episcopal School in Youngsville, was killed on Thursday afternoon at Baton Rouge's Mall of Louisiana after being struck in crossfire when two groups began shooting at each other, authorities said.

A sixth-grade educator withdrew from consideration for Minnesota’s Teacher of the Year award after photos of him dressed in leather bondage while participating in an XXX-rated BDSM performance resurfaced online. Thomas Rosengren, a teacher and theater director in the Atwater Cosmos Grove City public school system, was named one of 11 finalists for the coveted award last week. On Monday, though, Education Minnesota tweaked its list, adding a brief note that Rosengren “has withdrawn from consideration.” Alpha News Minnesota reported that the sudden elimination came just four days after it reached out to Education Minnesota inquiring about damning photos that...

A 22-year-old woman and her unborn baby were shot to death in a restaurant parking lot in Kentucky after she honked her horn at a man. Ava Woodcock died at University of Louisville Hospital on Tuesday after she was critically injured during a shooting the day before, which killed her unborn baby, according to the Glasgow Police Department, cited by Fox 10. Brandon Bond, 24, was arrested for allegedly shooting the pregnant woman. He was charged with murder, first-degree fetal homicide, and first-degree fleeing or evading police. Woodcock, who was the mother of a one-year-old, pulled into Annie's Restaurant parking...

Roughly 800 teenagers took over a $4.8 million Texas mansion rented on Airbnb – sparking brawls and gunshots that turned the quiet getaway into a chaotic, pop-up frenzy. Property owner Kishore Karlapudi claimed he was duped by the rowdy youngsters who booked the multi-million dollar home under the guise of a small gathering before advertising the party across social media on Saturday night in Celina, Texas. “Somebody booked it, saying they needed the property for a party of seven people,” owner Kishore Karlapudi told KDFW. Karlapudi claimed the teens destroyed furniture and appliances inside the home, moving everything into the...

At least four woman were injured and a suspect was arrested after a mass stabbing in a Downtown Los Angeles restaurant. Los Angeles Fire officials responded to two locations in the 500 block of West 7th Street at 5:14 p.m Sunday, one of them being upscale “dinner and a show” restaurant Zaya. The street was closed and witnesses watched as a woman in her 30s was taken to hospital suffering lacerations to her wrist. Early reports say the stabbing happened after a fight broke out between the group of women. Four women between the ages of 26 and 37 were...

'It was not just a butt smack or a butt grab,' she continued. 'It was a groping of a private area. It had been occurring for several months.' The victims' parents were less than satisfied with how the school district and Principal Georgina Aye handled the distressing case. 'I think from the very beginning, Fairfax County has attempted to diminish what happened to these girls,' a parent said, calling the county's approach to the situation 'abysmal.' An undocumented migrant has been charged with nine counts of assault and battery after it was claimed that he was groping fellow students in...

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. (WFTV) — Two high school girls in central Florida are charged with attempted murder of another student. Video from the back seat of a police cruiser caught them laughing about their plan. Isabelle Valdez, 15, and Lois Lippert, 14, were seen laughing and smiling as if they were heading to a party. In reality, they were on their way to jail. “This is such a bonding experience. I love this,” Lippert laughed. “I was going to do my makeup this morning for the mug shot, but I couldn’t find anything,” Valdez said. Prosecutors played the video...

A Georgia high school teacher was fatally run over outside his home in a freak accident when five teens targeted his house in a late-night prank gone wrong. Jason Hughes, a math teacher at North Hall High School, was investigating commotion outside his Gainesville, Ga., home around 11:40 p.m. Thursday when he allegedly spotted pranksters “rolling” toilet paper across his property, 11 Alive reported, citing the Hall County Sheriff’s Office. The 40-year-old educator stepped outside his home and walked over to the cars that 18-year-old Jayden Wallace and four other teens were getting into to flee the area. Hughes allegedly...

A 22-year-old assisted living employee accused of disguising himself in long female wigs and executing an 87-year-old millionaire philanthropist he treated nightly, is now also charged with shooting at a Maryland state trooper Tuesday while on the run. The Montgomery County Department of Police’s Major Crimes Division confirmed during a news conference on Wednesday that Marquis Emilio James, 22, of White Marsh, Maryland, was arrested in connection with the Valentine's Day homicide of 87-year-old Robert G. Fuller Jr. at the Cogir Potomac Senior Living Facility, and the shooting of a Maryland State Police trooper Tuesday during a traffic stop in...

A man walked up to a 13-year-old boy and slashed his throat in an unprovoked attack near Daytona Beach Pier on Valentine’s Day.

New York City hasn’t had a trash pickup for 1/3rd of Mamdani’s term. New York City would smell worse than it does if it weren’t so cold. And if it weren’t so cold.&br>

Almost a third of children who started reception last year were not able to use books correctly, sometimes even trying to swipe or tap them like a smartphone, a survey has found. Around one in four were not toilet trained, amid warnings more children are struggling with basic life skills. In an annual survey of primary school staff by early years charity Kindred Squared, teachers estimated 26% of the children in their reception class this year were having frequent toilet mishaps, rising to more than one in three (36%) in the North East. Staff also report around 28% of children...

Jay Jones was sworn in as Virginia’s new attorney general on Saturday at the state Capitol in Richmond after winning the race despite leaked texts in which he fantasized about the children of conservatives being murdered. Jones was sworn in at the inauguration of Democrat Governor Abigail Spanberger, a former CIA agent. President Donald Trump had called for Jones to drop out of the race after the texts were made public, but Democrats rallied behind him. In one shocking exchange, Jones fantasized about putting “two bullets to the head” of then-Republican House Speaker Todd Gilbert in a hypothetical scenario comparing...

An 11-year-old boy has been charged with criminal homicide after his father was fatally shot in the family’s home. According to Pennsylvania State Police, the boy had his Nintendo Switch taken away shortly before the shooting, and was ordered to go to bed. In court documents obtained by local NBC News affiliate WGAL News 8, police identified Clayton Dietz, of Perry County, Pa., as the suspect in his father’s death. According to ABC Eyewitness News, police at the scene said they overheard Clayton tell his mother, “I killed Daddy.” The incident occurred on Clayton’s birthday. Douglas Dietz, 42, died from...

Ten British "far-right activists" have been banned from France after engaging in actions to stop migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats, the French interior ministry said on Wednesday. It said the activists, who belonged to a group called Raise the Colours, had been searching for and destroying small boats along France's northern coast, and were involved in "propaganda activity". Authorities have not released their identities. In a statement, Raise the Colours said it had always maintained that its activities must remain peaceful and within the law and it "does not support violence or any unlawful activity". The ministry...

Yes, this is real (see clip)

A college basketball point-shaving scheme involving more than 39 players on 17 NCAA Division I teams resulted in dozens of games in the previous two seasons being fixed by a gambling ring that included a former NBA player, according to a federal indictment unsealed Thursday in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Twenty of the 26 defendants played college basketball during the 2023-24 and/or 2024-25 seasons, according to the indictment. Four of the players charged -- Simeon Cottle, Carlos Hart, Camian Shell and Oumar Koureissi -- have played for their current teams in the past week.

One of the most dangerous illusions Americans are living under today is the belief that safety is ambient, existing automatically, everywhere, and at all times, by virtue of laws, norms, or declarations. For decades, we have been trained to assume that public spaces are fundamentally benign and that vigilance itself is somehow antisocial or unnecessary. That assumption is no longer valid. A steady stream of viral videos now documents what many quietly sense: sudden assaults in stores, flash-mob robberies, random attacks on public transport, group intimidation in ordinary places. These are not war zones or failed states. They are malls,...

Newly-released videos show the moments a man attacked a woman at random outside the King County Courthouse in downtown Seattle earlier this month. Fale Vaigalepa Pea, 42, was armed with a wooden board that had a screw through the end of it and used both hands to swing the weapon and strike the victim, 75-year-old Jeanette Marken, in the face, according to charges filed in King County Superior Court. The hit gouged out Marken's eye, and she just learned that she will not recover her eyesight in the affected eye, family members told KOMO News on Friday. "To take a...