Free Republic

A federal judge in Texas struck down guidance from a government agency establishing protections against workplace harassment based on gender identity and sexual orientation. Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas on Thursday determined that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission exceeded its statutory authority when the agency issued guidance to employers against deliberately using the wrong pronouns for an employee, refusing them access to bathrooms corresponding with their gender identity, and barring employees from wearing dress code-compliant clothing according to their gender identity because they may constitute forms of workplace harassment....

With their party facing record low approval ratings, many top Democrats are trying to reposition themselves from Biden boosters to truth-tellers of what really happened in 2024.In February 2024, when quizzed on President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s ability to communicate his re-election message, Senator Chris Murphy, the Connecticut Democrat, quickly vouched for him.“I know that he is ready for this campaign,” he told CBS News. “I have seen how effective he has been up close and personal.”But five months into 2025, Mr. Murphy is on the leading edge of top Democrats aiming to Etch A Sketch away their past endorsements...

The justices did not address the broader question about whether Trump officials can legally invoke the Alien Enemies Act to target alleged gang members.A divided Supreme Court on Friday kept a block on the Trump administration’s use of a rarely invoked wartime power to deport migrants in Northern Texas and said administration officials had not given those targeted for removal last month sufficient time to challenge their deportations.The majority called the detainees’ interests “particularly weighty” because of the risk of removal to a notorious megaprison in El Salvador where the migrants could face indefinite detention.President Donald Trump’s use of the...

Peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine failed to start as planned on Thursday after the two presidents did not turn up and barbs were traded from afar.Hopes for an end to the over three-year war looked forlorn as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed he will not take part in the Istanbul talks, which now look set to begin on Friday if at all.Zelensky had demanded that Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin be present at the negotiations in Turkey's biggest city and labelled Moscow's negotiating team as second rate.Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, also not in Istanbul, referred to Zelensky as a...

Walmart – the nation’s largest private employer – warned of possible price hikes on Thursday given the uncertainty in the tariff environment. "We will do our best to keep our prices as low as possible but given the magnitude of the tariffs, even at the reduced levels announced this week, we aren’t able to absorb all the pressure given the reality of narrow retail margins," Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said in a statement as the retailer reported its first quarter results, which met Wall Street expectations. Consumers could see price hikes as soon as the end of May, Walmart Chief...

SummaryTrump's Middle East focus shifts to Gulf business deals PM Netanyahu's right-wing govt at odds with some U.S. policy shifts U.S.-Israel relations strong but diverging priorities evident, say observers JERUSALEM, May 14 (Reuters) - Israel's right-wing government has maintained a diplomatic silence this week as U.S. President Donald Trump fired off a blizzard of announcements that have shaken Israeli assumptions about their country's standing with its most important ally.Trump's decision to bypass Israel during his current visit to the Middle East had already been seen as a marker of the his administration's increased focus on lucrative business deals with wealthy...

President Trump has long railed against drug traffickers. He has said they should be given the death penalty “for their heinous acts.” On the first day of his second term, he signed an executive order listing cartels as “terrorist organizations.”But many public health and addiction experts fear that his budget proposals and other actions effectively punish people who use drugs and struggle with addiction.The Trump administration has vowed to reduce overdose deaths, one of the country’s deadliest public health crises, by emphasizing law enforcement, border patrols and tariffs against China and Mexico to keep out fentanyl and other dangerous drugs....

He has a new, carefully groomed beard. He bantered with bros for hours on an irreverent comedy podcast. And on Tuesday, he criticized the Trump administration through an appeal to patriotism in a state early on the presidential nominating calendar. Pete Buttigieg is inching back into the Democrats’ spotlight this spring with a series of appearances that have prompted speculation about how one of the party’s most evidently ambitious politicians might spend the lead-up to 2028. With Democrats still searching for a direction and a standard-bearer after November’s loss to President Trump, supporters of Mr. Buttigieg, a smooth-talking former mayor...

Talk about having egg on your face. In an article published Tuesday on their website, CNN decided to make a badly-cooked omelette out of itself by admitting President Donald Trump was actually on to something about falling egg prices, but still attempted to say he was still peddling “fiction.” CNN Business Executive Editor David Goldman just couldn't bring himself to fully admit that Trump was right and wrote an oxymoronic headline that reeked of contradiction, “Trump’s egg price fiction has suddenly become reality.” Yeah, we couldn’t make sense of that logic either.

So what’s happening to the bill in the Ways and Means committee? We’d guess it’s realpolitik. It sounds like Cox and Rep. Kustoff have recognized that they have a snowball’s chance in Hell of passing the bill delisting suppressors and rather than throwing their hands up and saying, ‘Oh well, we gave it the old college try,’ they’ve decided to take a big step in the right direction.A tax stamp has cost $200 since it was enacted as part of the NFA in 1934. While inflation has whittled the real value of that away over the decades, it’s still not...

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...

The Scoop The detailed specifications of a Boeing 747 that appears to be the same plane offered by the Qatari government to President Donald Trump are available online, offering a glimpse inside the luxurious jet. The tail number of the plane, which ABC News first reported would be offered by Qatar to Trump, is visible in photographs of the aircraft during a stop at Palm Beach International Airport earlier this year. That number is a match for the Boeing serial number of a plane marketed by the company in 2020 in reporting at the time. Though the listing for...

For about 30 hours, the illusion of transatlantic unity over Ukraine was maintained. Europe and Ukraine had demanded a deal on the 30-day unconditional ceasefire the Trump administration proposed two months earlier. European leaders said US President Donald Trump had personally backed their plan – and threat of sanctions if Russia declined to sign up by Monday – in a Saturday phone call, a picture of which they posted online from Kyiv. Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, even joined a chorus of US allies demanding Russia adhere to the ceasefire demand. But then Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke,...

GENEVA, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng urged on Sunday China and the United States to find proper solutions to problems, and extend the list of cooperation. He, the Chinese lead person for China-U.S. economic and trade affairs, held a high-level meeting over the weekend with U.S. lead person Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. The two sides conducted in-depth, candid and constructive communication on implementing the important consensus reached by the heads of state of the two countries on Jan. 17, and reached a series of major consensuses. He said China and...

A surprising discovery in hair follicle biology has scientists rethinking everything we know about baldness. A single overlooked protein appears to control whether hair grows—or vanishes for good. ***************************************************************** A newly published study in Nature Communications has identified a critical protein that helps sustain hair follicle stem cells, potentially opening the door to new treatment options for baldness. The research was led by an international team from Australia, Singapore, and China, and offers new insight into the biology of hair regeneration. A Protein With Protective Power Hair follicles go through repeated cycles of growth, rest, and shedding. At the heart...

Judges in several states say they have faced threats and intimidation tactics associated with pizza deliveries. Federal judges say unsolicited pizza deliveries to jurists’ homes that began in February may number in the hundreds across at least seven states, prompting increased security concerns and a demand from a Senate leader for a Justice Department investigation. Many of the deliveries have gone to judges presiding over lawsuits challenging the Trump administration’s policies. The U.S. Marshals Service has been tracking the deliveries, and judges have been sharing details about their experiences in hopes of finding out more about what they call an...

In what may be the most valuable gift ever extended to the United States from a foreign government, the Trump administration is preparing to accept a super luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet from the royal family of Qatar -- a gift that is to be available for use by President Donald Trump as the new Air Force One until shortly before he leaves office, at which time ownership of the plane will be transferred to the Trump presidential library foundation, sources familiar with the proposed arrangement told ABC News. The gift is expected to be announced next week, when Trump...

The pack will be installed in a demonstration fleet of the Dodge Charger Daytona in 2026. * Stellantis and Factorial Energy have validated a semi-solid state battery cell. * The milestone brings the tech one step closer to commercialization. * Factorial's cells bring significant advantages in terms of range, charging speeds and weight reduction compared to traditional lithium-ion batteries. ****************************************************************** Massachusetts-based battery startup Factorial is having a moment. After putting a Mercedes-Benz EQS with its solid-state tech on the road for testing, it’s now teamed up with Stellantis to announce a major milestone: successful validation of automotive-grade semi-solid-state battery cells....

Several of the key voter groups that provided President Donald Trump’s most important electoral gains in November are recoiling from him as his term moves past the 100-day mark. But it remains unclear how much Democrats can benefit from these growing doubts. In 2024, Trump improved his performance among some big voting blocs that have historically favored Democrats, including Latinos, younger men, non-White voters without a college degree, and, to some extent, Black men. Trump’s advances generated exuberant predictions from an array of right-leaning analysts that he had achieved a lasting realignment and cemented the GOP’s hold on voters of...

In the run-up to the vote to confirm Pete Hegseth as defense secretary, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., knew her party had a problem — and its name was John Fetterman. Fetterman, the Democratic senator from Pennsylvania, was open to confirming President Donald Trump’s embattled pick, according to two people familiar with his thinking. Murray wanted to speak with her colleague one-on-one. So she reached out to set up a time. But Fetterman refused, as the two people familiar with the episode told NBC News. “He figured that she wanted to yell at him about it,” one person familiar with the...