Free Republic

The DEI practices at America’s colleges and universities have been justly criticized for being anti-meritorious, unconstitutional, racist, and costly. However, a recent lawsuit against UCLA’s medical school suggests that its discriminatory admissions policies could potentially have negative public-health consequences, as well. That’s quite an indictment against what has long been regarded as a premier medical school. Last May, the groups Do No Harm and Students for Fair Admissions, as well as an unsuccessful white applicant, sued UCLA’s medical school, arguing that “various UCLA officials [had engaged] in intentional discrimination on the basis of race and ethnicity in the admissions process.”...

With forecasts predicting a high of 84 degrees on Sunday, Los Angeles Marathon organizers will offer medals to runners who complete 18 miles. "If you're having a tough day and want to end your race before 26.2, you can choose to take the turn at Mile 18 and head into the finish line early," the McCourt Foundation, which organizes the race, wrote on its website. The McCourt Foundation said runners do not need to tell anyone about their decision and just take a detour. Organizers told racers to look for the Charity Half Finish signage on the left side of...

One of Jeffrey Epstein’s prison guards googled the sex predator minutes before he was found dead — and also made a mysterious $5,000 cash deposit 10 days before the predator’s jail-cell suicide, new Department of Justice documents reveal. Tova Noel was one of the two Metropolitan Correctional Center workers accused of falsifying records to say they checked on Epstein throughout the night before his Aug. 10, 2019, suicide. The guards were fired but criminal charges against both were later dropped. Noel googled “latest on Epstein in jail” at 5:42 a.m. and then again at 5:52 a.m. — less than 40...

The lesbian “diversity hire” captain of a Royal New Zealand Navy ship that ran aground and sank off Samoa has been charged with negligence along with two other officers over the loss of the vessel. The $100 million HMNZS Manawanui, which was under the command of UK-born homosexual Yvonne Gray, crashed on the south side of Upolu on October 5, 2024, due to human error including failure to turn off [the] autopilot, an inquiry found last year.

Governor Mikie Sherrill made a historic appointment to the New Jersey State Police force. Sherrill announced Jeanne Hengemuhle to take over as the department's superintendent, serving as the first woman and openly gay person to head the department. Hengemuhle served 26 years in the state police and retired in 2024 as a lieutenant colonel. She will take over as acting superintendent Thursday while she awaits Senate confirmation.

An Illinois school district whose faculty members came under fire for “celebrating or justifying” the death of Charlie Kirk implemented expansive DEI and critical theory-driven programming, a new report revealed last week. One school even ran sessions that allegedly “segregated” students based on race. Anti-indoctrination watchdog Defending Education obtained multiple Freedom of Information Act requests exposing “extensive, taxpayer-funded DEI initiatives” in Illinois’ Oswego District 308, including “equity trainings for students and staff,” trainings where students were “separated based on racial background,” and “equity partnerships” with other groups. The obtained materials also exposed “district policies explicitly committing to anti-racism, marginalized identities,...

Derrick Evans @DerrickEvans4WV15hWow. Our military is even more powerful than I realized. This also explains the psychological and cultural warfare that’s currently taking place in our country….VIDEO TRANSCRIPT BEGINS~~~~First man: We have the number one military in the world.But I don't think people really understand what that means. We have the number one air force in the world. Do you know what the number two air force in the world is? 2nd man: China? First man: The United States Navy Number three, China or Russia, if you believe their numbers. Number four/five? Space Force. Three of the top five air...

Former first lady Michelle Obama argued that getting accepted into college for being a star athlete is no different than being accepted due to affirmative action policies. During Wednesday’s episode of Mrs. Obama’s “IMO” podcast, comedian Josh Johnson spoke about his own experience as a young Black comedian and writer and sometimes being the only Black person in the room. “It is funny because, like, you know, people talk about, like, DEI and some of these initiatives and everything. And the thing that’s always funny to me about the outrage is that y’all already have the number,” Johnson said. He...

More than 240 million gallons of raw sewage has spilled into the Potomac River since a pipe burst last month, and the lackluster response of the DC Water Board is raising questions about the competency of those in charge.Dr. Unique Morris-Hughes was appointed as Chair of the DC Water Board by the Democratic Mayor of Washington D.C. Muriel Bowser, despite lacking expertise in wastewater management or engineering.Though Morris-Hughes has an extensive background in administering federally-funded workforce programs, that experience has done little to mitigate the effects of what may be the largest sewage spill in U.S. history.

NASA's Starliner Crew Flight Test was supposed to restore confidence in America's second human spaceflight system. Instead, it exposed something far more serious than helium leaks or thruster anomalies. NASA Admin Jared Isaacman breaks down the actual findings behind the Starliner mission. NASA Chief Finally Admits Boeing Starliner Was A BIG Failure! | 10:45 Scientia Plus | 53.8K subscribers | 6,342 views | February 19, 2026

A Texas dentist was busted for allegedly performing surgery on a child while drunk – and flunked a sobriety test when staff flagged her suspicious behavior to police, cops said. Kelly Buck, 36, was arrested Monday afternoon at Pediatric Dentistry of Sherman, about 65 miles north of Dallas, after a staffer noticed she appeared intoxicated while treating a patient and alerted the authorities, according to the Sherman Police Department and the dental practice. Officers responded around noon and took the allegedly tipsy tooth doc into custody after she showed signs of being boozed up and failed a field sobriety test,...

Federal lawsuit charges beverage company with excluding male employees from an employer-sponsored event based on sex BOSTON – Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast, Inc., a producer, seller and distributor of Coca-Cola brand products throughout the Northeast United States, violated federal law when it excluded male employees from an employer-sponsored event, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today. According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, in September 2024, Bedford, N.H.-headquartered Coca-Cola Northeast held a two-day employer-sponsored trip and networking event at the Mohegan Sun Casino and Resort in Connecticut. Coca-Cola Northeast privately invited female employees and then excused the...

This video shows bodycam footage and other recordings of the aftermath of UPS Airlines Flight 2976, which crashed on October 31, 2025. The crash occurred shortly after takeoff, with the plane landing on a recycling facility and causing a massive fire and explosions due to the combination of jet fuel and stored fuel oil (5:09). Key points from the video: Initial Response (0:11-1:59): First responders arrive to a chaotic scene of heavy black smoke and a large fire. Police work to evacuate people and shut down roads. Worsening Situation (2:45-5:47): Officers discover the plane was fully loaded with fuel for...

On Wednesday’s CNN This Morning, host Audie Cornish and her panel managed to recast enforcement of federal civil rights law under Donald Trump as “enforcing ideology,” while a Democratic consultant insisted that DEI “was never a problem” until Trump took office. [snip] Cornish framed the issue this way: “What it means is the actual government now is involved in enforcing a different ideology, so to speak.”No. It means the federal government is enforcing the law. Democratic consultant Antjuan Seawright went further, claiming: “DEI was never a problem until Trump became President of the United States."Seawright also suggested that scaling back...

On Wednesday’s CNN This Morning, host Audie Cornish and her panel managed to recast enforcement of federal civil rights law under Donald Trump as “enforcing ideology,” while a Democratic consultant insisted that DEI “was never a problem” until Trump took office. [snip] Host Audie Cornish framed the issue this way: “What it means is the actual government now is involved in enforcing a different ideology, so to speak.” No. It means the federal government is enforcing the law. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race. Get the rest of the story and view the...

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...

Another day, another federal judge has a full-blown ‘resistance’ mental breakdown. We’ve had some spectacular ones so far, usually from elderly liberal judges, like this one from an 85-year-old judge who included handwritten rants and pictures in his rulings. The latest one comes from 77-year-old Cynthia Rufe who begins her ‘ruling’ with a quote from George Orwell’s 1984. Good move for outraged freshman compositions, usually indicative of a mental breakdown among federal judges. Rufe then compares Trump to Big Brother for trying to take down the hateful DEI racist rants plastered across museums including, in this case, George Washington’s home...

An Illinois school district filled with faculty who celebrated and hoped for the death of Charlie Kirk was exposed for their 2026 equity framework plan the district “aspires to” that includes hiring and retaining staff with “diverse backgrounds” and mandated DEI training sessions for faculty and students. Defending Education uncovered Oswego District 308’s equity roadmap through several Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, which brought to light an annual report summary on DEI as well as the district’s DEI plan for 2026. One FOIA request detailing an equity report showed that a middle school in the district divided students by...

We might want to rethink DEI and a left-wing political stance as the sole qualifications for high-level law enforcement positions. Via Fox News: A North Carolina House Oversight Committee hearing spurred on by the recent killing of a young Ukrainian woman, Iryna Zarutska, in Charlotte, took an unexpected turn when [Republican State Representative Allen] Chesser asked Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden, “What branch of government do you operate under?” McFadden, who is the top law enforcement officer in the county where Zarutska was killed, simply answered, “Mecklenburg County,” prompting Chesser to repeat, “What branch of government do you operate under,...

Furious female Labour MPs have told Keir Starmer to appoint a woman as his de facto deputy to oversee a “complete culture change” in Downing Street after a series of scandals they say have exposed a No 10 “boy’s club”. Harriet Harman, one of the party’s most senior figures, urged Starmer to revive the role of first secretary of state, a post previously occupied by Peter Mandelson under Gordon Brown. But she insisted the role must be held by a woman to “transform the political culture in government around women and girls”.