Free Republic

SEATTLE — A legally armed civilian shot and killed a 16-year-old boy Wednesday night after the teen allegedly opened fire on two people in downtown Seattle, according to police. The shooting happened just after 10 p.m. near First Avenue and Union Street. Police said the teen shot two people before he encountered a 57-year-old man licensed to carry a firearm, who then shot the teen. “One individual produced a weapon, fired on the two individuals and then began to flee the scene,” said Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes. “When he did, he encountered a private citizen that was licensed to...

President Trump went off on the Federalist Society for recommending him judges when he was ‘new to Washington’ after a three-judge panel on the US Court of International Trade blocked him from unilaterally imposing tariffs. On Wednesday, a three-judge panel at the US Court of International Trade ruled President Trump exceeded his authority to unilaterally impose tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (IEEPA). The three judge panel included: Gary Katzmann (Obama), Timothy Reif (Trump) and Jane Restani (Reagan). The Trump DOJ immediately appealed the federal court’s permanent injunction and the federal circuit court’s en banc order...

SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah pharmacist is upset the man who admitted to breaking into his pharmacy has been let off the hook. On May 28, President Donald Trump pardoned 25-year-old rapper NBA YoungBoy, who had been sentenced to nearly two years in jail in Utah back in December 2024. The President didn’t explain why he pardoned the rap star. NBA YoungBoy’s record includes drug fraud and weapons charges, both federally and at the state level. “My very first gut reaction to hearing that pardon was what a terrible lesson to teach your boys,” Phil Cowley, a Utah pharmacist,...

How are businesses supposed to plan for the future if they have no idea what the rules of the game are going to be? Businesses thrive in a predictable environment, but we have entered a period of time of extreme uncertainty. One day we are facing high tariffs, the next day one court strikes them all down, and then the next day another court temporarily reverses that decision. How is anyone supposed to make solid business decisions in such an environment? Our economy has been heading in the wrong direction for a long time, and we need to take bold...

An IT specialist employed by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) was arrested today for attempting to transmit national defense information to an officer or agent of a foreign government. Nathan Vilas Laatsch, 28, of Alexandria, was arrested in northern Virginia and will make his initial court appearance tomorrow. According to court documents, Laatsch became a civilian employee of the DIA in 2019, where he works with the Insider Threat Division and holds a Top Secret security clearance. In March, the FBI commenced an operation after receiving a tip that an individual - now known to be Laatsch - offered to...

More than a quarter-million Chinese students attending college in the United States saw their futures plunged into uncertainty Wednesday when the Trump administration announced an aggressive crackdown on student visa holders from that country. With an estimated 277,398 students pursuing primarily undergraduate and graduate degrees, China ranks only behind India among foreign countries with the highest number of students attending college in the U.S., according to data from the Institute of International Education. Since China’s middle-class boom in the early aughts, its students have flocked to U.S. institutions, which in turn welcomed the enrollment boost and mostly unsubsidized tuition fees....

SummaryCompanies face uncertainty, paralyzing decision-making and affecting profit forecasts Economists predict final costs will be much higher than disclosed Tariffs impact automakers, airlines, and consumer goods importers significantly SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK/BENGALURU, May 29 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's trade war has cost companies more than $34 billion in lost sales and higher costs, according to a Reuters analysis of corporate disclosures, a toll that is expected to rise as ongoing uncertainty over tariffs paralyzes decision making at some of the world's largest companies. Across the United States, Asia and Europe, companies including Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab, Ford (F.N), opens...

Several Minneapolis police officers have expressed dismay over Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) running for vice president during the 2024 election. Speaking with Blaze Media for the fifth anniversary of the Black Lives Matter riots that were sparked by the murder of George Floyd, police officers said that Walz’s poor leadership made the situation worse. “I think he made some comments leading up to the last election to make it sound like he supports law enforcements, but I think his actions and indecision … back in 2020 proved otherwise,” one officer told the outlet.

In one of the nation’s first wrongful-death claims seeking to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable for its role in the changing climate, a Washington state woman is suing seven oil and gas companies, saying they contributed to an extraordinarily hot day that led to her mother’s fatal hyperthermia.

~Favorite Kiss or Makeup Songs~ I walk the line – Johnny Cash*Video*The Beach Boys - Then I kissed Her *Video*

George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley predicted that Harvard University would eventually lose its legal battles with the Trump administration Thursday on “Fox and Friends.” Secretary of Education Linda McMahon announced May 6 that Harvard would not receive future grants, saying the Ivy League university displayed a “systemic pattern of violating federal law,” citing its failure to address the antisemitic harassment and its efforts to continue using race as a factor for admissions. Turley said the sheer number of actions taken by the university would eventually allow the Trump administration to “prevail.” ... *** The Department of Homeland Security...

This could be awkward. The New York State Attorney General is bouncing from one hot seat to the next, and darn if that isn't an unpleasant mental picture. But she brought it all on herself. Already under fire for her creative accounting tricks and faulty memories while juggling paperwork for out-of-state properties while looking as if she was trying to avoid more city interference and fees on her Brooklyn residence - and who hasn't mistakenly said they married a parent on official documents? 🚨BREAKING: Letitia James is facing 30 years in federal prison and a 1 million dollar fine. She...

Sorry, Harvard, but we’re not going to give you billions of taxpayer dollars, no questions asked. The Trump administration is set to eliminate its remaining government contracts with Harvard University, totally over $100 million, reports the New York Times. This comes off the heels of the administration’s commitment to also prevent the once prestigious university from enrolling foreign student. The federal government does not have an obligation to blindly give a private university billions of dollars of taxpayer money, just like immigration officials are not forced to automatically give visas to foreign nationals, argues Victor Davis Hanson on today’s edition...

Judicial Watch announced today that in a report to the court in its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) stated it “cannot fully predict” when records about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy will be released. The National Archives estimates that there are “over six million pages” of responsive records. Judicial Watch filed the February 2025 lawsuit after the National Archives failed to respond to a January 20, 2025, FOIA request (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. National Archives and Records Administration (1:25-cv-00577)). Judicial Watch sued for: All previously unreleased records in the possession...

We're getting a bit of federal court whiplash Thursday on the tariff front. As RedState reported Wednesday evening, in a pair of cases, the Court of International Trade (CIT) held that the Trump administration's actions on tariffs, invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), exceeded the president's authority under the statute and thus violated the separation of powers set forth by the Constitution. The ink had barely dried on that decision before the administration appealed it to the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. Now, that court has pressed pause on the lower court ruling. In a per curiam order...

I.C.E. and other Florida agencies arrested over 100 illegal immigrants today who were working at a "major" construction site in Tallahassee. HSI Tampa says some were previously deported, while others have criminal backgrounds. May 29, 2025

Low incentives and complicated state regulations, combined with high housing and business costs, have rendered California unable to keep Hollywood from moving production to other states and countries, according to an entertainment industry report released on May 27 by the Milken Institute, a California-based think tank.Hollywood’s in-state production has dropped in the past two years as other states and international destinations continue to increase industry incentives, according to the report’s authors, Kevin Klowden, executive director for the Milken Institute Finance, and Madeleine Waddoups, a graduate teaching assistant in the Luskin School of Public Affairs at the University of California–Los Angeles.The...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said that Russia has gathered 50,000 troops near Ukraine's northern Sumy region, but added that Kyiv had taken steps to prevent Moscow from conducting a large-scale offensive there. The build-up comes as Russia appears to be gearing up for a summer offensive in Ukraine while Kyiv waits for Moscow to present a memorandum laying out its conditions to proceed with ceasefire talks. Sumy lies across the border from Russia's Kursk region where Ukraine previously seized and held a pocket of land for months, before being almost fully pushed out last month, although it says it...

Two courts ruled against the tariff policy enacted by President Donald J. Trump. On Wednesday, the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled that Trump’s tariff policy was unlawful, blocking a central tenet of the president’s agenda on the economy and trade. The Liberation Day reciprocal tariffs led to scores of nations lining up to renegotiate their deals. We’ve already inked our new one with the United Kingdom. D.C. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras also ruled earlier today that the tariff policy was illegal, though he stayed his decision for 14 days to allow for the appeals process. Yet, before the...

Japan has announced plans to roll out a stricter online screening system for foreign visitors in an effort to eliminate illegal immigration entirely. The system, modeled after the US Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), will be operational by fiscal year 2028, according to Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki. At a news conference last week, Suzuki said “strong measures” were necessary to address increasing concerns over poor behavior by some foreign visitors. The new electronic screening system will apply to citizens from 71 countries currently exempt from visa requirements for short-term visits. . . . The Asahi Shimbun reported that Japan’s...