Free Republic

Someone I grew up with is a pothead, and all his friends are potheads, so I’ve seen firsthand how destructive it is. I’ve seen how it destroys ambition, discipline, intelligence, and moral fiber. It’s a vile drug, and a new study reveals that, no matter how you ingest it (eating versus smoking), it also destroys the body. That being the case, we must ask why Democrats are so determined to see it legalized across America. You don’t need to take my anecdotal claims to know just how bad marijuana is for the people who use it. There are endless studies...

Graduating students of color at Harvard University and other colleges across the country would end their semester by attending affinity graduation ceremonies — but this year, they had to organize the celebrations without the school’s financial backing. Harvard, currently battling the Trump administration over a range of issues, halted all of its affinity ceremonies for students this year. Alumni stepped in to raise funds, and students scrambled to find new spaces. Members of the Harvard Black Alumni Society raised $46,000 for this year’s event after the university announced April 28 that it would no longer fund the ceremonies.

"Senior executives are being pushed out and the director, Kash Patel, is more freely using polygraph tests to tamp down on news leaks about leadership decisions and behavior"Behind the scenes, his vision of an F.B.I. under President Trump is quietly taking shape. Agents have been forced out. Others have been demoted or put on leave with no explanation. And in an effort to hunt down the sources of news leaks, Mr. Patel is forcing employees to take polygraph tests.Taken together, the moves are causing worrisome upheaval at the F.B.I., eliciting fear and uncertainty as Mr. Patel and his deputy, Dan...

For President Donald Trump, anytime is a good time for dealmaking, but never more so than now with the leaders of China and Russia. Last Monday, Trump said he wanted to normalize commerce with Russia, appearing to lessen the pressure on Moscow to settle its war with Ukraine. And he is trying to limit the fallout from his own global trade war by urging China’s leader to call him. “We all want to make deals,” Trump said in a recent interview with Time magazine. “But I am this giant store. It’s a giant, beautiful store, and everybody wants to go...

These clans act like armed militias, forcibly seizing food, looting warehouses, and shooting to protect their members from Hamas security forces. Armed clans are reasserting themselves in the Gaza Strip, challenging Hamas’s authority, particularly in areas where the IDF is conducting operations and Hamas has lost control, senior IDF officials told Walla. Sources told Saudi-owned site Al Hadath on Sunday that Hamas has lost security control over the Gaza Strip, adding that thieves and gangs seize aid, loot homes, and terrorize residents. According to a senior IDF officer, these clans act like armed militias, forcibly seizing food, looting warehouses, and...

There are actors and there are movie stars and then there are those rare legends whose image projected on a screen inspires tributes and treatises, polemics and diatribes, encomiums, tracts and paeans. Every movie star who ascends, even briefly, to some rare level of fame becomes the subject of this sort of beetle-browed inquiry by the sorts of writers tasked with finding something in pop culture that explains everything about a moment in social and political time. But there are few celebrities who can support this kind of scrutiny and carry the burden of this much significance for long decades....

The Talk ShowsJune 1st, 2025 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows:FACE THE NATION (CBS): Margaret Brennan anchors: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent; FDA Commissioner Marty Makary; Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.); Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.); Michael Roth, president of Wesleyan University. FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Anchor Shannon BreamSen. Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.); Rep. Jake Auchincloss; (D-Mass.); Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Sunday special: Modern Warrior Live. Panel: Marie Harf, Guy Benson, Horace Cooper and Meridith McGraw. MEET THE dePRESS (NBC): Hosted by Kristen Welker: : Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson (R-LA); Sen. Raphael Warlock (D-Ga.)....

On April 29, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced that he was canceling Defense Department participation in actions generated by the Women, Peace and Security Act of 2017. Hegseth posted on social media that it was “yet another woke divisive/social justice/Biden initiative that overburdens our commanders and troops — distracting from our core task: WAR-FIGHTING. WPS is a UNITED NATIONS program pushed by feminists and left-wing activists. Politicians fawn over it; troops HATE it.” Journalist Walter Pincus, who spent 40 years at the Washington Post covering topics ranging from nuclear weapons to politics, wrote in a recent column that Trump...

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — Tweed New Haven Airport was the site of another protest against Avelo airlines on Saturday. Protesters gathered to speak out against the airline’s decision to provide deportation flights for the Department of Homeland Security.

Explosions caused two bridges to collapse and derailed two trains in western Russia overnight, officials said Sunday, without saying what had caused the blasts. In one of the incidents, seven people were killed and dozens were injured. The first bridge, in the Bryansk region on the border with Ukraine, collapsed on top of a passenger train on Saturday, causing the casualties. The train's driver was among those killed, state-run Russian Railways said. Hours later, officials said a second train derailed when the bridge beneath it collapsed in the nearby Kursk region, which also borders Ukraine.

Video The IDF announced that troops of the 7th Brigade, under the command of the 98th Division currently operating in the Khan Yunis area as part of Operation Gideon's Chariots, eliminated dozens of terrorists and dismantled approximately 100 terrorist infrastructure targets in joint operations involving the brigade's fire coordination unit, the Israeli Air Force, and the Intelligence Directorate. The troops identified three terrorists transporting explosives, intending to rig the area with explosives. The troops quickly directed an Israeli Air Force aircraft, which struck and eliminated the terrorists. .....

More than 30% of Democrat voters support Pete Buttigieg as their preferred candidate for the 2028 presidential race, according to a new national poll, positioning him ahead of prominent party figures such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and former Vice President Kamala Harris, Breitbart reported. A new AtlasIntel poll has found that the former transportation secretary leads the field of potential Democratic candidates for the 2028 presidential election, garnering support from 31.5 percent of Democratic-identifying respondents. The survey, conducted from May 21-27 polled 3,469 adults across the United States. The margin of error was not provided. Ocasio-Cortez received the second-highest...

The US supreme court on Friday announced it would allow the Trump administration to revoke the temporary legal status of hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan, Cuban, Haitian and Nicaraguan migrants living in the United States, bolstering the Republican president's drive to step up deportations.Democrats whine its “Gestapo” tactics as ICE descends on construction sites and arrest now illegal Venezuelan, Cuban, Haitian and Nicaraguan Biden's Illegals are getting arrested and deported at a brisk pace.

A Yonkers man received a six-year prison sentence and three years of supervised release on Thursday for attacking a Jewish barber, News 12 Westchester reported. Ahmed al Jabali, 34, was sentenced by Judge James McCarty at Westchester County Court in White Plains. Judge McCarty condemned al Jabali's actions, stating, "You admitted to and committed a reprehensible act, which hurt another person." The victim, 50-year-old Jewish barber Slava Shushakov, was attacked with scissors in his Yonkers Avenue barbershop last August. Police reported that al Jabali used expletives and expressed a desire to kill the victim during the assault, which left Shushakov...

Monterrey, Mexico – There will be more than 7,000 candidates. More than 2,600 open positions. And at least six ballots per person to weigh them all. On Sunday, Mexico embarks on an election believed to be the first of its kind: Voters will cast ballots for all of the country's judges, half now and half in 2027. Judges of all levels will be in the running. Some candidates are competing to serve on the Supreme Court. Others are aiming for federal district or circuit courts. Still more are competing for the thousands of open positions on the state and local...

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has issued a "severe" geomagnetic storm watch for Sunday into Monday. As a result of the storm, the Northern lights may be visible across the United States Sunday night, with states as south as Alabama and southern California being able to views the colorful phenomenon. Rob Steenburgh, science and operations officer at the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center, joins LiveNOW's Austin Westfall to break down what a geomagnetic storm is, why it's labeled "severe," and what the public can expect to experience.

New York City mayoral candidate Scott Stringer has unveiled a proposal to partner with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in utilizing advanced technology to monitor social media platforms for potential antisemitic threats. the New York Post reported. The initiative aims to identify and prevent violent incidents before they occur, particularly during periods of heightened international tensions involving Israel or Jewish institutions. Speaking at Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun on Manhattan's Upper East Side, Stringer emphasized the importance of proactive measures in safeguarding the Jewish community. He highlighted that Jewish New Yorkers, who comprise approximately 10% of the city's population, have been the targets...

Four days ago, as French President Emmanuel Macron arrived for a Vietnam state visit, he got slapped by his wife Brigitte. First, he tried to deny it ever happened, blamed AI; then he said it was just playing between them – even though he descended the stairs with clenched fist and a set jaw. French President Emmanuel Macron responds after he apparently got assaulted in the face by his wife Brigitte while stepping off of a plane in Vietnam. Macron was seen getting shoved in the face before getting off the plane as if nothing happened. Macron has since responded...

The suit alleges a coordinated effort to block medical care for those exposed to toxic chemicals. Also named are Vanguard, Mercy Health, and Quest Diagnostics, with the CDC accused of instructing healthcare providers not to test for dioxins or other hazardous substances. Plaintiffs claim this led to widespread misdiagnoses, delayed treatment, and that a letter was circulated telling providers to dismiss patient health concerns. ...

Illinois’s Democrat governor, J.B. Pritzker, is about to sign a new bill into law that will allow illegal immigrants to become driving instructors. .. A proposal that’s passed both chambers would allow some immigrants to become driving instructors in Illinois. In the state, non U.S. citizens can apply for a special drivers license called a Temporary Visitor Drivers License or TVDL. You might ask, “Where did that TVDL come from?” We’ve had a Democrat-controlled state legislature since 2003, and they currently have supermajorities in both chambers. Except for a single-term RINO governor in 2015–18, we’ve also had 100% Democrat governors...