Free Republic

Burchett — a member of the House Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets — recalled that he was briefed two weeks ago “on an issue” about extraterrestrial life that “would have set the Earth” on fire and “unglued” the country if released. When Finnerty played a clip of former Rep. Matt Gaetz alleging knowledge of alien-human hybrid breeding programs, Burchett stopped short of directly addressing the explosive claims. “I’m still a member of Congress, so I can’t really comment too much on what Matt said,” Burchett told Finnerty. “Wait, seriously?” Finnerty slightly pushed back. “I’m being 100% serious,”...

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani made a Good Friday statement about sacrifice, fasting, and faith, but did not mention Jesus Christ by name, while Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) promoted legislation calling for the American flag to be flown at half-staff in recognition of Christ’s crucifixion. Mamdani wrote on X: Today, on Good Friday, we mark a day of sacrifice. Some New Yorkers will abstain from eating; others will spend hours without speaking. Faith, the Bible tells us, is belief in the things unseen. That belief is what will guide so many of our neighbors in solemn reflection and reverence....

Here's the thing, though. When the Telegraph asked Glover about being the first black astronaut to make this journey, his response didn’t exactly follow the usual script. He said: "It is a big question, and I wanna highlight, I guess maybe one facet of this is the tension, I call it. I live in this, and you know, this dichotomy between happiness that a young woman can look at Christina and just physicalize her, her passion or her interests, or even if it's not something she wants to do, she can just be like, 'Girl power,' and that's awesome.”

STORRS, Conn. (WTNH) — The University of Connecticut has taken down its lampposts on the Storrs campus ahead of the Final Four matchups for the men’s and women’s basketball teams this weekend. “The removal of the lamp posts is a pro-active way of preventing possible vandalism that could result from the celebration of this weekend’s games,” UConn officials said. “This is the third time we have removed the lamp posts, and it has proven effective, along with an increased security presence and student messaging.”

Scenes from the Somali takeover of a mostly white Minnesota town. The AU Special Representative for Somalia and Head of AMISOM Ambassador Maman Sidikou in Minnesota, AMISOM Public Information, Creative Commons Zero, Public Domain Dedication Faribault, Minnesota, is a small city about an hour’s drive from Minneapolis. On paper it should have the smaller crime rate of the alphabetically similar Farmington which is nearly the same size and only a half hour away. Instead, Faribault has more than twice as much violent crime, aggravated assaults, burglaries and car thefts, 30% more rapes, and 8 times as many robberies. Farmington has...

On the one hand, America enshrines religious freedom and equal treatment for all religions. On the other, supremacist indoctrination is central to Islam. What to do? A federal district judge has ruled that at least four Islamic schools in Texas are eligible to receive tax payer funding with dozens of others waiting to join, according to media reports. These include the Maryland-based virtual school Bayaan Academy, K–12 college prep school Brighter Horizons Academy in Garland, the Excellence Academy north of Dallas, and the K–12 Houston Quran Academy. With public alarm growing over the Islamization of Texas due to mass immigration,...

As thousands of Oracle employees awoke on Tuesday to an email informing them they were being laid off, the workers likely didn’t know the tech company had been busy trying to hire foreign staff. According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data, Oracle filed for roughly 3,126 petitions to employ H-1B workers in fiscal years 2025 and 2026. Employers must submit the paperwork when seeking to hire foreign workers in specialty occupations like technology. Some 436 of those petitions were filed this year alone. Amazon, which in January said it would axe 16,000 corporate employees, has filed for some 2,675...

The defiant president of the University of Wisconsin system has resisted calls for his resignation, risking expulsion, but he’s been given no reason for his impending termination. Jay Rothman, the head of the public Badger State higher-education network since 2022, shot back at the board of regents last month for him to resign or retire from the post after a “unidentified majority” had lost confidence in his leadership. The former chairman and CEO for Milwaukee-based Foley & Lardner LLP rejected the board’s threat that they were “prepared to terminate my employment despite all that has been accomplished,” he said in...

The Department of Education announced Thursday that it has saved American taxpayers more than $1 billion by aggressively eliminating fraud, waste, and abuse within federal student aid programs. The department’s new report takes aim at previous policies, claiming that while citizens must present identification to board a flight or rent a car, the Biden administration had required identity verification for less than 1% of students applying for federal financial aid. "That ill-informed decision created a prime opportunity for fraudsters to exploit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) form and steal taxpayer funds," the department stated in a press...

Former Vice President Kamala Harris drew a sharp rebuke from conservatives on social media Wednesday where she previewed President Donald Trump’s address to the nation on Iran. "He brought America into a war that people don’t want, he has put American troops in harm’s way, costs are rising by the day, and meanwhile he has done nothing to address the needs of the people of America," Harris posted on X before Trump’s Wednesday night speech to the nation, a speech Harris says in the video she "won’t be able" to watch. Harris predicted Trump would attempt to "claim victory" in...

ALBANY– Gov. Kathy Hochul is quietly negotiating a possible deal with one of New York’s top labor leaders to allow public workers from teachers to nurses hired after 2014 to retire at 55, sources said. The age is currently 62 for those hired in the past 14 years. The potential fat pork deal pact would involve more than a billion dollars in sweetening pensions for the unionized public employees. Legislative leaders are being kept in the wings of the talks – which could be wed into the state budget package and lead to taxpayers footing billions – with Hochul dealing...

Behind Madison’s reputation as a “best place to live” are some ugly realities of life in Wisconsin’s capital city — from skyrocketing rents to deteriorating lake health to a stalled-out legislature. We’re putting the spotlight on the public health crises, environmental hazards and transportation headaches shaping life on the isthmus. But cataloging the “worst of Madison” ultimately comes from a place of love — because you can’t make a city better without first being honest about where it falls short. We’ve Got Drinking Problems Wisconsin’s reputation as one of the drunkest states in the country is a badge many Wisconsinites...

Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville condemned President Donald Trump, gloating on Tuesday that he, his children and his children’s spouses will face investigations after the midterms. Carville warned Trump that he is in for a world of hurt after the Republican Party faced what many expect to be a defeat in the upcoming midterms. Carville, in his trademark southern style, said that it would feel politically like getting "punched in the mouth by Mike Tyson." "Let’s talk about your future, your post-November future," Carville said, anticipating widespread defeat of Trump and the GOP. "The Democrats are going to investigate you...

Oakland workers are ready to be paid a lot more. Worker advocates in Oakland are pressing for a $30 minimum wage, mirroring a similar goal from socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani from across the country. A worker’s organization, One Fair Wage, is hoping to put forward a ballot initiative to raise the minimum wage in the area. The organization believes the wage increase will help workers with the expensive cost of living in the Bay Area, especially with the affordability crisis. The push comes as Oakland continues grappling with a deep structural budget shortfall and ongoing fiscal instability,...

It’s an entirely different kind of school rush. When Zohran Mamdani won New York’s mayoral election last November, Caven Wagstaff’s phone wouldn’t stop ringing for weeks. Wagstaff runs his own firm, wrangling places for wealthy American families keen to land their kids a perch at tony British private schools. Mamdani, as mayor-elect, turbocharged his biz. “It doubled,” he says now, of the 10 families per week who hit him up for his Anglo-friendly expertise. “They were saying to me, ‘We want to get out.’” A couple of years ago, the twentysomething former teacher spotted the surging interest in overseas applications...

ALBANY – State lawmakers will blow past Wednesday’s deadline to pass Gov. Kathy Hochul’s $263 billion budget plan, as negotiations drag on over her push to delay green energy mandates and her bid to lower car insurance premiums. Democrats in the state Assembly and Senate passed a one-week stopgap measure Tuesday keeping the government funded through next week amid the largely-stalled discussions between Hochul and legislative leaders. “We’re still at the beginning of the middle, as it turns out,” Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Westchester) said, using a stale Albany adage to indicate the discussions have not moved much since...

“Brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war,” the first American pope, citing a Bible passage, told congregants in St. Peter’s Square, according to The Associated Press. “He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them,” he added.

Kamala Harris has been slammed for a bizarre text announcing she will swing across a raft of states in the Deep South. The expected 2028 presidential runner will take trips to North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Arkansas “to uplift Democrats and continue building our power in the South,” according to the message her campaign sent. More stops could be added during the summer and fall, CNN reported, following her appearances in the South to help raise funds for those state Democratic parties. Social media users tore into the announcement Tuesday. One said: “She’s literally the reason we have the...

The machine is technically called PUPER, which stands for “preservation of the uterus in perfusion.” But González’s colleague Xavier Santamaria says the team has adopted a nickname for it: “We call it ‘Mother.’” He sees a future in which a machine like “Mother” will be able to fully gestate a human, all the way from embryo to newborn. It could offer a new path to parenthood for people who don’t have a uterus, for example, or who are not able to get pregnant for other reasons.

Republican politician and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy has published an op-ed reiterating his stance that the state of Ohio has too many universities and they should be consolidated. Ramaswamy cited challenges facing some Ohio schools like enrollment declines and budget cuts, rather than celebrating the recent NCAA tournament appearances of programs like Miami University and Akron University. Why it matters Ramaswamy's comments come as a surprise, given the recent success of Ohio universities in the NCAA tournament. His proposal to consolidate schools could have major implications for thousands of jobs and students across the state, especially at smaller regional universities that...