Free Republic

A man was rushed to the hospital with severe burn wounds after setting himself on fire outside the Israeli consulate in Boston. Matt Nelson said in a video he uploaded to YouTube before arriving at the location that he was about to engage in an “extreme act of protest” due to “the ongoing genocide in Gaza.” Nelson’s identity and motive were not immediately apparent following the incident, which took place Wednesday evening. The video surfaced on Friday. The incident marks at least the third instance of self-immolation in the United States outside of an Israeli consulate or embassy in protest...

The legal system keeps protecting terrorist supporters. There’s been a fairly consistent two-tier justice system approach nationwide to pro-Israel and pro-Hamas activism. While it popped up most obviously at UCLA where multiple terror supporters attacked Jewish students and community members, and only when the Jews fought back, was there suddenly action, and at the Adas Torah synagogue attack, where the only arrest made was of a Jewish community members, it’s been fairly consistent nationwide. The only person arrested for ‘rhetoric’ was a pro-Israel man in New York despite numerous incidents of threats and abuse by terrorist supporters. Local law enforcement...

Agents from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency have been active on Nantucket this week, making several arrests of "violent offenders" around the island in unmarked vehicles. According to a press release issued by the Nantucket Police Department, the ICE agents were on Nantucket "to serve administrative arrest warrants for immigration violations. The arrest warrants were specifically for ‘violent offenders’. Among Nantucket’s large immigrant community, word of the arrests and presence of ICE spread quickly this week, and “caused panic for many,” according to island resident Esmeralda Martinez, whose parents immigrated to the United States from El Salvador.

A high school girls' field hockey team has forfeited a match to avoid playing against a male student on the opposing school's squad. Bill Runey, the superintendent of schools at Dighton-Rehoboth Regional high school in Massachusetts, revealed the coaches and captains of the team had made the decision in an effort to keep players safe. The school implemented a policy in June 2024 which 'allows players and/or coaches to opt out of competitions... against an opposing team because that team includes members of the opposite sex.'... According to the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association, boys are entitled to join female sporting...

An illegal migrant convicted of a violent assault on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts was released — and then went on to allegedly rape a child just months later — despite ICE requesting he be handed over to them, the feds say. ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) in Boston said it had to ask to take custody of Brazilian national Warley Neto, 24, three times before federal agents were finally allowed to grab him. Two of the towns that were involved int the case — Edgartown and Tisbury — have declared themselves sanctuary cities. Neto was taken into custody by...

For second consecutive year, Harvard bottom ranked school with score of 0.00 The top five worst universities for free speech also all happen to be mostly Ivy League institutions, according to a major new student survey released today by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. Harvard, Columbia, New York University, the University of Pennsylvania and Barnard College made up the bottom five schools, respectively. Conversely, the top rated school was the University of Virginia. Last year’s highest, Michigan Technological University, came in second best for free speech. In third place was Florida State University, and fourth and fifth were...

Embattled Steward Health Care chief Ralph de la Torre said Wednesday that he will not comply with a subpoena to testify at a Senate hearing next week on the collapse of his hospital system, setting up a showdown with lawmakers who are threatening to hold him in contempt.De la Torre did not rule out appearing before Congress eventually, but said through an attorney it would be “wholly inappropriate” to testify before his company emerges from the complex bankruptcy proceedings that have followed for-profit Steward’s spectacular downfall. And that process took a substantial step forward Wednesday, as a federal judge overseeing...

One man was killed and another wounded when a man allegedly opened fire in a Dorchester barbershop in heavily gun-controlled Massachusetts on Monday. The Boston Herald reported police were called to the barbershop just before 1 p.m. and the body of the deceased victim was still in the barber’s chair. The wounded victim’s injuries are not life threatening. Boston.com quoted Boston PD Deputy Superintendent Paul McLaughlin saying, “Based on the preliminary stages of this investigation, we do not believe this was a random event. …We are currently spreading out in the area, canvassing, looking for witnesses.” WCVB noted that Renier...

GO VOTE! I'm voting for Bob Antonellis for US Senate.

The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution undisputedly protects the individual right to own and carry firearms for self-defense, sport, and other uses. But the amendment actually says nothing about guns; it refers to "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms," of which firearms are just one example of what dictionaries define as "a means (such as a weapon) of offense or defense." In Massachusetts, last week, that resulted in a decision by the state's highest court striking down a law against switchblade knives.Protected by the Second Amendment "We conclude switchblades are not 'dangerous and unusual'...

GO VOTE! Here in MA, I'm voting for Bob Antonellis for US Senate.

Massachusetts Republicans have submitted a formal request with the state's government for information on the alleged "$1 billion in secret migrant crisis spending" as the Bay State grapples with the migrant crisis. In a release from the state's Republican Party, MassGOP, the group demanded that Gov. Maura Healey's administration provides a detailed cost breakdown of the toll that the migrant crisis has caused for the state's residents. "The Healey-Driscoll Administration has shrouded nearly $1 billion spent in secrecy, leaving Massachusetts residents in the dark," MassGOP chair Amy Carnevale said in a statement. "They have withheld critical information on 600 incidents...

Prosecutors have indicted Matthew Farwell, a former Stoughton police detective, on charges that he killed 23-year-old Sandra Birchmore. Birchmore was pregnant at the time of her death in February 2021. After being told that he was the father of the child, Farwell strangled Birchmore to death and staged the scene to appear as if she took her own life, according to documents filed by federal authorities Tuesday in U.S. District Court... Farwell befriended Birchmore, going to the library with her and contacting her on social media. He “essentially groomed her,” Acting United States Attorney Joshua Levy said at the press...

The Massachusetts Republican Party has demanded “transparency” from Gov. Maura Healey’s (D) administration over an alleged “$1 billion in secret migrant crisis spending” by submitting a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request on Tuesday. Healey has tripled the Bay State’s budget for spending on migrant shelters but is stonewalling requests for an accounting of how she has spent the previous $1 billion on migrant housing, Breitbart News reported in August. In one case, the Boston Globe revealed that the state shelled out a whopping $16.3 million to rent out a Boston hotel for illegals but did not reveal where the...

CANTON, Mass.(TND) — A former detective accused of killing a pregnant Massachusetts woman in 2021 was arrested on Wednesday. FBI officials in Boston said Matthew Farwell was arrested for allegedly killing Sandra Birchmore. Farwell worked for the Stoughton Police Department when 23-year-old Birchmore was found dead in her apartment. A 2022 internal investigation found that three police officers on the Stoughton police force engaged in inappropriate sexual relations with Birchmore, according to WBZ. Federal prosecutors alleged that Farwell had a sexual relationship with Birchmore, which had started before she turned 16. Prosecutors believe Farwell killed the young woman after she...

Bill Belichick didn’t sugarcoat anything when he discussed the Massachusetts’ state income tax and the challenge it imposes on the Patriots signing free agents. The 72-year-old Belichick — who parted ways with the Patriots after 24 seasons and six Super Bowl titles in January — recalled negotiations being difficult in Foxboro due to state’s four percent surtax on taxable income more than $1 million, which was implemented in 2022. “That’s Taxachusetts,” Belichick said during an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Monday, which drew laughs from Pat McAfee and his co-host AJ Hawk. “Virtually every player, even the practice...

The best line of the debate last night was when U.S. Senate Candidate Robert Antonellis turned, looked at his two primary opponents, and said “I think I’m the only Republican up here” running in the race. The debate, moderated by Jeff Kuhner – WRKO’s talk host, writer, and political commentator was held in the iHeart studios and streamed live on WRKO’s Facebook page. Antonellis made his observation after hearing from his to mega-rich opponents, express how they stand on the issues: DEATON and CAIN = ANTI-TRUMP Both John Deaton and Ian Cain – Antonellis’ primary opponents refused to support president...

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that American women do not trust former President Donald Trump not to sign a national abortion ban if he is elected in November. Partial transcript as follows: KRISTEN WELKER: I want to start off by getting your reaction to what you just heard from Senator J.D. Vance. He says that if legislation banning abortion at the federal level arrived on Donald Trump’s desk, if he were to be elected, he believes he would veto it. What’s your reaction to that, Senator? WARREN: American women are not stupid, and we...

The Oxford Board of Health approved an outdoor curfew after the town reported its first human case of Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) this year. Curfew could impact fall sports The Board of Health met Wednesday evening to recommend ending outdoor activities before dusk to avoid peak mosquito hours, despite residents' protests. "Being heard is our No. 1 goal," said Oxford Webster Football and Cheer Vice President Josh Ziemski, before the meeting. "We don't want to see another human case of EEE this year," Public Health Director Rike Sterrett said. "One is already too many." The move could impact fall sports....

Enrollment for Black and Latino students dropped at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the first class formed after the Supreme Court found race-conscience admissions in colleges unconstitutional. The university’s admissions department on Wednesday released its first-year class profile, showing a sharp drop in its Black student population. About 5% of MIT’s incoming class of 2028 is Black, a significant drop from its 13% average in recent years. Latino students make up 11% of the class of 2028, compared to a 15% average in recent years. Overall, 1,102 students make up the incoming class. Stu Schmill, MIT’s dean of admissions,...