Free Republic

If Team Trump’s anti-fraud efforts sometimes look a bit all-over-the-map, that’s because the map is so incredibly large. The feds spend over $7 billion a year, and fraudsters look to cash in on every dime; with Vice President JD Vance on point, the White House has organized a full-court press to fight back. One day this week, the Justice Department announced it had finally nabbed a fugitive Medicare fraudster on the lam since 2022, who allegedly stole more than half a billion dollars, even as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Medicare-Medicaid czar Dr. Mehmet Oz froze over $1...

A Third Way Much like Chesterton and Belloc posited and argued for a third way, a path that did not look like Monopoly Capitalism or State Socialism, we may be some arguing for this now. I came across what I thought was a fascinating interview by Bishop Barron of Vice President JD Vance. I am a big fan of anything Bishop Barron puts out, not just because I agree with him, but because I find him to be one of the top intellectuals of our day. Listen to his debates, discussions and interviews. Watch the speech he gave at America’s...

A Georgia city’s youngest-ever mayor was temporarily stripped of his duties and privileges amid an investigation over his alleged spending – less than a year after being elected on a campaign premised around accountability and transparency. Jayden Williams, the 22-year-old mayor of Stockbridge, Ga., was ordered to hand over his city-issued credit cards by Monday at noon due to his spending, but failed to meet the deadline, Atlanta News First reported. Stockbridge city council officials launched a probe into Williams after “information” was presented to finance officials and the city attorney, without divulging further. Lawmakers backed a resolution on a...

Oli London @OliLondonTV King Charles visits new ‘eco friendly’ mosque in Cambridge, England. “The fact that you have a purpose built mosque here with a community center attached, makes a huge contribution, not only to the Muslim community here- but to Cambridge itself.”

You remember recess, right? Monkey bars, blistering hot metal slides, tetherball, sitting around on a bench chatting with your pals. It was great. And for most of you Gen Xers, baby boomers, and older millennials, it was the best part of school… right up there with “pizza Fridays.” The bell would ring, and the doors couldn’t fly open fast enough… kids would pour onto the playground like they were just released from prison. Recess was a total hodgepodge created by the kids. Sure, there was usually some half-interested teacher keeping an eye on things, but the kids picked teams, made...

When Billy Christal gave his tribute to his friend, Robin Williams, a clip that played shortly after was of him stating that Robin had been up since 1948. I was born in 1948 . . . . February 29th in particular, and as The Dead stated . . . "What A Long Strange Trip It's Been".My 31 year old son and I have become very close in the last couple of years and I find myself remembering little vignettes of my life I relate back to him, and he said; "Dad, you should sit down and youtube all these things"Great...

They’re bot for teacher. A rural upstate New York school district will be one of the first in the nation to bring a humanoid robot into the classroom. The Salamanca City Central School District, located on Seneca Nation territory, will be introducing $57,000 AI-powered “Sally” in high school classes in September as a teaching assistant, it announced last week. “Sally” will have brown hair, latex skin and will be able to move its arms and hands — but won’t be able to cruise around the classroom since her legs don’t move. “It’s exciting but also a bit nerve wracking,” superintendent...

Body camera footage depicting a disturbing encounter between a Florida college student and police officers has gone viral after a cop appeared to misgender her. Jarrett Vick, 27, was arrested and charged with battery on law enforcement, resisting arrest, and disorderly conduct on February 5 last year, according to the Orange County court docket. However, the student pleaded not guilty, and the case appeared to be dismissed. A year and a half later, Inside the Blue TV, a YouTube account that shares police body camera footage, posted the shocking encounter between Vick and officers. Officers were responding to reports of...

California is drawing a line in the digital sand. Starting 2027, public schools in the Golden State can’t have AI teachers for K-12 students. The latest amendment to the state’s education code, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last month, clarifies that all staff and contractors recruited by public schools should be “natural people.” Assembly Bill 2148 says that while AI can still be used as a supplemental learning tool like a tutoring software, the actual legal “employee” or “contractor” delivering instruction and services must be a human. The original bill proposed a blanket ban on using AI and educational technology...

A Washington state Democrat hoping to unseat a longtime member of Congress is facing a revolt from within her own party, after reportedly saying she left LGBTQ+ rights off her campaign website because she feared alienating Muslim voters. Seattle Red first reported that Democrat organizations were reconsidering their endorsements of Melissa Chaudhry, a progressive Democrat challenging longtime Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., in Washington's 9th Congressional District, after comments she made during an endorsement interview with The Stranger. When asked why her website did not mention LGBTQ+ issues, Chaudhry replied, "because a lot of Muslims do not feel that way, unfortunately,"...

I ripped this off from the CFP website. Headmaster Berbalsingh speaks to the UK's Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC), about three weeks ago. She gives it to everyone with both barrels. This is a video for your friends, pastors, school boards, Congresscritters......EVERYONE. This is the one that needs to go viral because it is a war to save Western Civilization. Summary: Britain's strictest headmistress, Katharine Birbalsingh, argues that the West's moral crisis began with the values we taught our children. She explores how schools, culture, and social media have shaped a generation to see the world through the lens of...

AbstractBackground: Beginning in 2020–2021, embalmers in multiple countries reported observing large, tough, rubbery white or off-white fibrous structures in the veins and arteries of embalmed corpses, which they described as distinct from classic postmortem clots. Methods: We conducted four annual cross-sectional surveys (2022–2025) of active embalmers in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand using SurveyMonkey. A dual distribution strategy (professional associations and direct emails to funeral homes) was used. Core questions assessed observation of unusual white fibrous structures and estimated percentage of corpses affected. Results: Across 808 total responses, the proportion of embalmers reporting observation of...

Hundreds of California college programs are facing renewed scrutiny after federal data revealed that many graduates earn less than those with only a high school diploma, placing these schools at risk of losing federal student loan access unless their outcomes improve. A new federal requirement that took effect this month requires colleges, universities and certificate programs to prove graduates earn at least as much as the median worker in their state with only a high school diploma. In California, that benchmark is about $18 an hour, or roughly $36,000 a year. An analysis by Michael Itzkowitz — president of the...

The Department of Homeland Security has revealed what is in store for the Canadian woman accused of pummeling a patriotic teenager at the Jersey Shore on Fourth of July weekend. Kaitlyn Tracey, 33, a Canadian national, is currently in custody at Delaney Hall immigrant detention center in Newark, New Jersey, after the alleged July 3 beatdown at Point Pleasant Beach. She arrived in the US in 2024 using her passport but overstayed her visa, officials said. “This illegal alien who assaulted a teenager has no business being in our country,” DHS wrote in a statement on X, dubbing her a...

Over at Twitchy, a publication that curates the news in funny yet insightful ways, a headline reads, “Head of Medical School Tells Congresswoman the Vast Majority of Pregnancies Occur in Women.” Sure enough, Twitchy is telling the truth. During witness testimony before a congressional committee examining the impact of forced “diversity,” preferential (non-merit-based) admissions, and “woke” ideology upon the quality of medical schools, the chancellor of UC San Francisco testified under oath that not all pregnancies come from women. That chancellor, Samuel Hawgood, is not some administrative bureaucrat with a made-up bachelor’s degree in the discriminatory effects of man-made “climate...

Former CNN host and independent journalist Don Lemon claimed in a new interview that he’s “serious” about possibly running for president in the 2028 election — and insisted he’d be a “really good” commander-in-chief. Lemon made the eyebrow-raising declaration on “Can’t Be Censored” podcast hosted by Karman Wong and Travis Dhanraj, insisting that everyone wants to know if he has White House aspirations. “Do you have political ambition? Is that true?” Dhanraj asked on Wednesday’s show. “No, but people keep asking me if I’m running for president,” Lemon answered. “And I don’t know. I might. I’m serious. I don’t know....

They raised a stink. City Council members overwhelmingly voted Thursday to give themselves an 18% raise — a shamelessly self-serving move that comes after months of thwarted attempts to pass a fat pay hike. A veto-proof 42-6 vote approved the measure to inflate council salaries to $175,500, as well as hike Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s pay to $305,800 a year, backdated to January — the start of new terms in office and the first day on the job for some lawmakers. The nay votes all came from Republicans and conservative Democrats, including Councilman Phil Wong (D-Queens), who said he pushed for...

World Snake Day slithers into focus every July 16, aiming to shed light on the incredible diversity and ecological importance of over 3,500 snake species. This global observance challenges negative perceptions and encourages a deeper understanding of these often-misunderstood reptiles. Learn to appreciate their role in ecosystems, support conservation initiatives, and share facts to help protect them.>>>History of World Snake Day The English word ‘snake’ comes from the Old English word ‘snaca.’ The reptile is thought to have come from terrestrial lizards that existed around 174.1 million to 163.5 million years ago. In fact, Eophis underwoodi, the oldest fossil snake,...

Student violence in many of our nation’s schools is out of control. An Education Week teacher survey, whose results were released in March, found that 35 percent of respondents said classroom behavior was “a lot worse” than last year. It’s not just children fighting with each other; teachers are often on the receiving end of assaults. Examples of student violence against teachers are common. In southern California, as reported by the Long Beach Post in June, a Carver Elementary School teacher left school with “major purple marks” after students hit, pinched, bit, and scratched her. In an explosive moment, one...

A Catholic history teacher was summarily dismissed from her position after honestly answering students’ questions about her opposition to abortion during a lesson on the rise of Adolf Hitler. Sarah Morse, 66, an American-born teacher at Arbroath High School in Angus, Scotland, was fired on November 19, 2025, after pupils asked about life in the United States, including her views on abortion. Morse, a faithful Catholic, responded according to her religious beliefs. “I am a faithful Roman Catholic and I am against it,” she told the class. When questioned about abortion in cases of rape, she explained her belief that...