Free Republic

The Los Angeles Police Department also urged people to steer clear of downtown because burning lithium-ion batteries can release toxic fumes.Waymo has cut off taxi service to parts of Los Angeles after five of its self-driving vehicles were torched during weekend protests about immigration raids.Images Sunday of downtown show Waymo vehicles covered with graffiti. One photo shows protesters waving Mexican and Guatemalan flags while standing atop a Waymo vehicle, while another appears to show a protester hitting the vehicle with a skateboard. The Los Angeles Times reported that some Lime e-scooters also were tossed into the blaze.Waymo confirmed Monday that...

The comments, in an Oval Office meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, were Trump’s clearest indication to date that he was unsure he would be able to quell Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.Ukraine and Russia may need to keep fighting, President Donald Trump said Thursday, comparing the warring nations to squabbling children in what appeared to be a signal that the U.S. leader was losing interest in brokering peace in a conflict he once promised to end in a day. The comments, in an Oval Office meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, were Trump’s clearest indication to date that...

The streetcar left much to be desired. The Democrat-run city of Washington, D.C., is derailing its $200 million boondoggle streetcar system only 10 years after the streetcars began to operate. Oh well, $200 million of our hard-earned taxpayer funds down the drain — on to the next expensive wasteful project! The costly D.C. streetcar system, only 2.2 miles long, is going into the trash heap 15 years after the track was first laid and only a decade into operations. The streetcars were justified originally as being more “environmentally friendly” — Dems love to shove in the climate hoax everywhere —...

In 2024, a majority — 58 percent — of antisemitic incidents “contained elements related to Israel or Zionism,” according to the Anti-Defamation League’s annual antisemitism report released earlier this year.

Not Canada, not Greenland, not Gaza. It’s one that almost no one has thought of. If you believe President Trump, America is in an expansionist mood. Locations from Greenland to Gaza have been mentioned as potential new territories for American acquisition and stewardship. Is this merely talk, or can any of these areas be acquired or persuaded to change allegiance to become the 51st state? The two most obvious candidates are the District of Columbia and the Territory of Puerto Rico. The problem with the District becoming the 51st state is that it was established by the U. S. Constitution....

A man and woman were shot and killed in front of the Capital Jewish Museum in Northwest D.C. Wednesday evening. The shooting took place in the area of 3rd and F streets in Northwest — in front of the Capital Jewish Museum and behind the FBI field office and the U.S. attorney's office. … The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force is responding, sources familiar with the shooting told News4. … Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon posted on the social media platform X that Israeli embassy employees were injured in the fatal shooting. He called it “a depraved...

Critics say the administration is breaking the law and sidestepping the rulemaking process that presidents of both parties have routinely followed.At the Transportation Department, enforcement of pipeline safety rules has plunged to unprecedented lows since President Donald Trump’s inauguration.Trump recently ordered Energy Department staff to stop enforcing water conservation standards for showerheads and other household appliances. And at one Labor Department division, his appointees have instructed employees to halt most work related to antidiscrimination laws.Across the government, the Trump administration is trying a new tactic for gutting federal rules and policies that the president dislikes: simply stop enforcing them.“The conscious...

A federal appeals court on Friday lifted a block on an executive order from President Donald Trump that seeks to strip union rights from federal workers at dozens of agencies and offices. Trump in March issued an executive order that said that parts of the United States Code that protect federal workers’ rights to organize and collectively bargain would no longer apply to agencies including most or all of the Departments of Treasury, Defense, Veterans Affairs, State and Justice. The executive order covers about two-thirds of the federal workforce, according to the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), which filed a...

Trump’s presidential blitz is realizing the dreams of conservative intellectuals in the Reagan-Bush era.Imagine a populist president who set out to create, “in the first weeks of his administration, a radically different perception of the presidency.” He could use “far-reaching executive orders” to “give various constituencies throughout the country the immediate conviction that this president, for a change, looks out for them.” The burst of presidential edicts would serve visceral as much as practical purposes: “The nation as a whole needs to be jarred by this newcomer’s determination to protect the country’s vital interests, perhaps by ordering, on national security...

Retired Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter, the ascetic bachelor and New Hampshire Republican who became a darling of liberals during his nearly 20 years on the bench, has died. He was 85. Souter died Thursday at his home in New Hampshire, the Supreme Court said in a statement Friday. He retired from the court in June 2009, giving President Barack Obama his first Supreme Court vacancy to fill. Obama chose Sonia Sotomayor, the court’s first Latina justice. Souter was appointed by Republican President George H.W. Bush in 1990. He was a reliably liberal vote on abortion, church-state relations, freedom...

The White House is very concerned with young people’s babymaking. President Donald Trump is considering ideas like a $5,000 “baby bonus” for new moms to encourage a baby boom, a step down from an even more ambitious $5,000 child tax credit idea from Vice President JD Vance, a longtime evangelist for encouraging more kids. “I want more babies in the United States of America,” he declared in his very first public speech as vice president. “Pronatalism,” the belief that the government should directly address America’s falling birth rates, is not inherently conservative, but it’s rapidly gaining momentum in the MAGA...

No one wants to be the person who could nuke a Trump nomination. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) has earned that (dis)honor, going public with his decision to vote against Ed Martin, President Trump’s nominee for U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. The reason is that Martin voiced support for the January 6 political prisoners (via CNBC): "A key Republican senator on Tuesday said he would not support the controversial nomination of Ed Martin, President Donald Trump’s pick to be the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, dealing a potentially fatal blow to Martin’s chances of winning Senate confirmation....

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) is flipping off Donald Trump, announcing Tuesday he will oppose the president’s nominee for the crucial U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia just hours after Trump called for Senators to support him. Tillis’s decision, first reported by Breitbart News nine hours before Tillis’s confirmation, could sound the death knell for Trump’s nominee, Ed Martin, who has been serving in the office on an interim basis. Breitbart News reported Monday that Tillis withholding his supporting was the critical impediment to Martin’s nomination being advanced before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Without Tillis’s support, Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IO)...

WASHINGTON — Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said he wouldn't support Ed Martin, President Donald Trump's nominee for U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, likely blocking the path to confirmation for the “Stop the Steal” organizer who had closely aligned himself with Jan. 6 defendants. “I’ve indicated to the White House I wouldn’t support his nomination,” Tillis said Tuesday after meeting with Martin on Monday night. Tillis is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is overseeing Martin's nomination. The panel has 12 Republicans and 10 Democrats, meaning if all other members aside from Tillis voted along party lines,...

Judge James Boasberg, the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, has repeatedly been assigned cases to do with President Donald Trump's second term, as Townhall has been covering. Congress has taken notice, and the House last month passed a bill to rein in rogue judges like Boasberg and others. Questions still remain, though, and on Monday, Townhall obtained a letter from Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Darrell Issa (R-CA), and Chip Roy (R-TX) regarding such concerns. The letter was sent to Angela D. Caesar, the Clerk of the Court for the U.S. District Court for...

In a curious twist, a "reformed" criminal hired by the District of Columbia's chief legal officer to help curb violence has been arrested and charged with murder.

Four men accused of murder were executed by gunfire last Friday in crowded sports stadiums across Afghanistan. The Taliban leader defended these public killings as necessary under sharia law. That night, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem announced that the Trump administration would revoke temporary protected status (TPS) for Afghans who evacuated to the United States after their country fell to the Taliban in 2021. This sets the stage for more than 9,000 people to be deported, beginning May 20. A DHS spokeswoman says Noem made this decision based on a “review of the conditions in Afghanistan.” To claim...

Two weeks ago, the sharp-tongued comedian Bill Maher had dinner with Donald Trump. Maher emerged from the meeting thoroughly charmed. During the opening monologue on his show on Friday, he described Trump as engaged and even likable. Trump made him feel comfortable and listened to. In their conversation, which included “an amazing tour of the whole house,” Trump remained empathetic. “He didn’t get mad. He’s much more self-aware than he lets on in public,” Maher recalled. “Why can’t we get the guy I met to be the public guy?” It’s unfortunate that Maher allowed himself to get played like this.In...

When Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy discovered the Washington Post’s Emily Heil had contacted his advertisers and labeled him as a person with a “history of misogynistic comments,” he took matters into his own hands and called her. Portnoy posted the 11-minute confrontation in its entirety on Twitter. Heil initially lies, saying she didn’t characterize Portnoy as a misogynistic racist, before being confronted with her own words. “We have this Pizza-fest happening on Saturday, and you’re reaching out to our advertisers,” Portnoy said. “You’re basically sending an e-mail that says, to the effect, ‘Dave’s a misogynic racist. Do you want...

Barstool Sports founder and small business star Dave Portnoy has faced criticism from the Washington Post for his first-of-its-kind "One Bite" pizza festival, but, despite this strategic provocation and severe weather conditions, the celebration was a success. "It couldn't have gone better. It's our Woodstock moment with the rain. 5,000 people strong. Everyone had a great time. The vibes are actually probably higher because of the controversy surrounding it. So, yeah, it went great," Portnoy said during his Sunday appearance on "Fox & Friends Weekend." The "One Bite" pizza festival was a celebration planned by Portnoy himself to round up...