Free Republic

This summer, solar power generation globally could exceed electricity from nuclear power plants for the first time ever, as solar capacity soars and sunlight and daylight hours are long in the northern hemisphere. Global solar power generation jumped by 34% in the first quarter of 2025 from the same period in 2024, according to data from Ember cited by Reuters columnist Gavin Maguire. If the pace of growth is sustained though June, July, and August, solar output is set to top 260 terawatt hours (TWh) in the summer months. This would beat the average 223 TWh of global nuclear power...

President Donald Trump signed The TAKE IT DOWN Act into law. “Signing the TAKE IT DOWN Act into law is an historic moment for survivors of image-based sexual abuse: There’s finally a path for this abuse to be quickly removed from digital platforms,” Dr. Marcel van der Watt, President of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, said in a press release. He remarked that the legislation “passed unusually fast,” thanks to “bipartisan support in Congress and First Lady Melania Trump’s championship.” “Image-based sexual abuse is a horrific assault on a person, and that abuse becomes magnified on digital platforms,” van...

Students from universities including Yale, Stanford and UCLA have been refusing to eat in solidarity with Palestinians at risk of starvation in GazaWhen I speak to Iman Deriche, she hasn’t eaten in five days. “There are some moments of fatigue,” she says. “But I’m doing well.” The 21-year-old Stanford University student is one of 24 students and three faculty members who are taking part in a hunger strike in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. They aren’t alone: students and faculty at universities across the US are going on hunger strike with activist organisation Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), from...

Charlotte City Council member Tiawana Brown told reporters Thursday morning she won't resign after being federally indicted with her daughters. "Why would I resign," Brown said. "I haven't been convicted of anything." Why it matters: Brown, who represents District 3 in west Charlotte, plans to run again later this year. Catch up quick: Federal prosecutors indicted Brown on wire fraud charges, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. In a release Thursday morning, prosecutors described Brown and her daughters' alleged scheme to fraudulently obtain federal money during the pandemic. The intrigue: In the indictment, prosecutors...

The New Zealand singer says coming off birth control after 15 years felt like the ‘best drug’ she’s ever had. Her critics claim she’s fuelling anti-contraception rhetoric – but is that really the case?In an interview with Rolling Stone to promote her upcoming fourth album, Virgin, New Zealand pop star Lorde revealed that she’s off birth control for the first time in 15 years. “I’ve now come to see [my decision] as maybe some quasi right-wing programming,” she admits, referring to the rise of right-wing fear-mongering and misinformation spreading around hormonal contraception. “But I hadn’t ovulated in 10 years. And...

I hope everyone is paying close attention to what DOGE's Antonio Gracias just said here.. Not only did they find illegals with social security numbers that voted. But THEY VOTED IN THE 2020 ELECTION TOO How long have Democrats been rigging elections with illegals?? “They registered to vote, and they actually voted in 2020 and 2024” ... 2020 was stolen ... This has been going on for decades. ... 2000 Mules told everyone. Documented, verifiable, data. Just look at California.

Report shows that $70 million in US taxpayer money was given to the California NGO’s that are going after and shutting down family farms.. Our tax dollars are being laundered to NGO’s and used to shut down our food system.. “Congress is investigating the NGOs that shut down the 12 family farms — They also verified by the committee that they did not respond when they said, hey, why'd you do this? — And now they're talking about that they might have to subpoena them because they're not answering their questions.”. “They also verified they were giving about $70 million...

The U.S. Attorney’s Office says it has secured 60 convictions against migrants who set foot in the new National Defense Area in El Paso. The convictions came through guilty pleas entered in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. The 60-foot-wide NDA running from the Texas-New Mexico state line through El Paso County near Fort Hancock, Texas, is considered an extension of Fort Bliss. “Beginning in early May, additional criminal charges were filed against individuals who illegally entered or were found illegally in the United States and who had illegally entered the National Defense Area,” the U.S. Attorney’s...

Elias Rodriguez, a 30-year-old man from Chicago, has been arrested by US authorities following the killing of two Israeli embassy workers on Wednesday evening. A man and a woman identified as a couple called Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgram were pronounced dead at the scene near the Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., after a gunman opened fire. It’s understood that the victims, who were both said to be Israeli nationals, had been attending a ‘Young Diplomats Reception’ before they were shot when leaving the event.

Authorities in Illinois have charged former Rock Island County Court Services administrative assistant Leisa Streeter with theft, theft of government property, forgery, money laundering, and three counts of official misconduct. After she retired in June 2024, the county's Probation and Treasurer's Departments noticed financial irregularities in her department. Authorities claim she opened a fraudulent bank account in 2003 under "Rock Island County VIP" to siphon funds, which she spent on food, entertainment, travel, and loan payments, averaging about $43,000 annually. She reportedly stole about $900,000 over 21 years.

Judge James Ho of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit responded to the Supreme Court charging a district court with “inaction” for not ruling on an emergency injunction in A.A.R.P v. Trump in 42 minutes by arguing they had over 14 hours. Alleged members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang the U.S. government has designated as a foreign terrorist organization, sent an injunction in April seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent their deportation or removal from the U.S., according to Ho’s concurring opinion. The district court told petitioners it would give the government a 24-hour...

...This is the man whose work is now featured on the FBI official website. And the man whose “BITE Model,” a subjective framework built on emotional, behavioral, and thought control, is being used to train FBI agents on how to identify “cult victims.”... ... the DOJ built its case on a podcast that featured Hassan as their expert voice, while that same guy was privately guiding the emotional and legal narratives of the two key witnesses ... This wasn’t law enforcement. It was narrative laundering. And the deeper you go, the clearer it becomes: this isn’t just about OneTaste. It’s...

A federal judge on Thursday blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order to shut down the Education Department and ordered the agency to reinstate employees who were fired in mass layoffs. U.S. District Judge Myong Joun in Boston granted a preliminary injunction stopping the Trump administration from carrying out two plans announced in March that sought to work toward Trump’s goal to dismantle the department. It marks a setback to one of the Republican president’s campaign promises. The injunction was requested in a lawsuit filed by the Somerville and Easthampton school districts in Massachusetts and the American Federation of Teachers, along...

The GOP-led Senate voted Thursday to take away California’s ability to set its own tailpipe emissions standards, effectively killing the country’s biggest driver of EV investment. The vote was 51-44. The move nullifies a measure, enacted by the state in 2022 and later adopted by 11 other states, banning the sale of new gasoline-powered cars by 2035. The House already passed the same resolution. Now it heads to President Trump for his signature. U.S. carmakers and auto dealers argued that keeping in place the waiver—which permits California to set stricter emissions rules than the federal government—could cripple the industry by...

AP — Russia and Ukraine have no direct peace talks scheduled, the Kremlin said Thursday, nearly a week after their first face-to-face session since shortly after Moscow’s invasion in 2022 and days after U.S. President Donald Trump said they would start ceasefire negotiations “immediately.” “There is no concrete agreement about the next meetings,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “They are yet to be agreed upon.” During two hours of talks in Istanbul on May 16, Kyiv and Moscow agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war each, in what would be their biggest such swap. Apart from that step, the...

Billionaire investment manager Ray Dalio has warned that the risks of US debt go beyond credit ratings amid the US government's mounting debt in the current economic scenario. The founder of one of the world's largest hedge funds said that regarding the US debt downgrade, credit ratings understate risks because they rate the risk of the government not paying its debt. According to Dalio, credit rating agencies do not include the greater risk that countries in debt will print money to pay their debts, thus causing bondholders to suffer losses from the decreased value of the money they are getting...

Brief represents the first time the Trump administration has weighed in on green investing issues.. The Federal Trade Commission is throwing its weight behind a high-profile federal lawsuit led by 12 Republican-led states accusing three of the world's largest asset managers—BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard—of artificially constricting the coal market in violation of U.S. antitrust laws, the Washington Free Beacon has learned. The filing in the case is a remarkable move that represents the first time the Trump administration has waded directly into an issue or case related to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies. Led by powerful asset managers...

The full House of Representatives has passed the reconciliation bill to defund the Planned Parenthood abortion business. The bill passed 215-214. Two Republicans voted against the bill — Reps. Thomas Massie and Warren Davidson — and another, House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, voted “present.” Rep. Andrew Garbarino and Rep. David Schweikert missed the vote. “We’re going to get it [to Trump’s desk] by Independence Day, July 4th,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said Thursday regarding the budget bill. The House Energy and Commerce Committee signed off on the bill first last week and then the House Budget Committee followed suit...

Russian armed forces are actively working to accomplish this task, the Russian leader statedMOSCOW, May 22. /TASS/. A decision has been made to establish a security buffer zone along the Russia-Ukraine border, Russian troops are currently engaged in implementing this initiative, President Vladimir Putin announced during a meeting with government officials. "We have approved the creation of a necessary security buffer zone along our borders. Our armed forces are actively working to accomplish this task," Putin stated. He emphasized that, given the recent developments in the Kursk, Belgorod, and Bryansk regions, immediate efforts are required to restore and rebuild areas...

A lot of what I do here at Bearing Arms is write about things that annoy me. Every gun control bill that flows down the pipe annoys me to no end. Even the victories, such as they are, aren't that great in my mind, at least in most cases. I mean, I was thrilled when Georgia passed constitutional carry, but it only had a secondary impact on me, personally. Today, though, I get to take a step toward actual celebration, because the biggest Second Amendment legislative victory in my lifetime is one step closer to happening. That's right, boys and...