Free Republic

The Trump Administration has frozen billions in federal grants to Harvard University, threatened its tax-exempt status, and sought to dictate its curriculum and hiring. Now the government seems bent on destroying the school for the offense of fighting back. And for what purpose? That’s how we read the Department of Homeland Security’s move Thursday to bar foreign students from attending the world-renowned institution. That’s 6,800 students, or a quarter of Harvard’s student body, whose futures are suddenly in disarray. It’s also a short-sighted attack on one of America’s great competitive strengths: Its ability to attract the world’s best and brightest....

Majority Leader Thune and Speaker Johnson reportedly pushing back on Trumps EO on prescription drug prices. Since 1997, Thune has received over $1.2 million and since 2018, Johnson has received over $300,000 from the pharmaceutical companies. Hmm 🤔. ... 1. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI): $600,000 2. John Barrasso (R-WY): $500,000 3. Michael Bennet (D-CO): $1,500,000 4. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN): $600,000 5. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE): $320,793 6. John Boozman (R-AR): $200,000 7. Mike Braun (R-IN): $150,000 8. Katie Britt (R-AL): $50,000 9. Ted Budd (R-NC): $100,000 10. Laphonza Butler (D-CA): $50,000 11. Maria Cantwell (D-WA): $200,000 12. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV):...

Investigative journalist Michael Shellenberger says that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the CIA and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) helped orchestrate President Trump’s 2019 impeachment. In an interview on Fox News, Shellenberger recounted how the impeachment case was brought about based on the word of a CIA analyst, left over from the Obama administration, who claimed to have heard from White House staff that Trump had pressured Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, in a phone call, to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden. Shellenberger said that a memo written by that analyst, which served as the...

I am less optimistic about the election of Donald Trump than most. As he adorns the cover of Time magazine as their “Person of the Year,” as Antifa and Black Lives Matter fail to riot, as the left cannot even be bothered to feign outrage, as predictions of Civil War on the horizon melt away, and as the media collectively limps to the acceptance that he will once again be president and that the “woke era” is well and truly over, I cannot help but feel something is up. Surely, all that should signal ultimate triumph and victory, no? Well,...

The FBI thwarted an apparent plot to harm employees at a Florida office of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), according to court documents filed Monday. Law enforcement arrested Forrest Kendall Pemberton after he allegedly traveled to Plantation, Fla., in search of AIPAC’s office with several firearms, including an AR-15 rifle. Pemberton told police he went to the site, a former AIPAC office, to “scout” out the location before returning with the firearms, according to an affidavit signed by FBI special agent Taylor Nicklin. He was intercepted in a ride-share vehicle carrying the guns on Dec. 25, the first...

Forgive us if we missed it, but we don’t recall Donald Trump campaigning to invade Panama and retake its famous canal. But there was the President-elect on the weekend, threatening our Central American ally with punishment if it doesn’t meet his demands. “Our Navy and commerce have been treated in a very unfair and injudicious way. The fees being charged by Panama are ridiculous, highly unfair, especially knowing the extraordinary generosity that has been bestowed to Panama—I say, very foolishly, by the United States,” Mr. Trump told a crowd in Phoenix. “This complete ripoff of our country will immediately stop.”...

"As a cheerleader at St. Alphonsus High School, before each game, we gathered in a circle and prayed a 'Memorare.' We prayed to win. Back then, most Catholics sent their children to Catholic schools, so there were enough schools in suburban Detroit to have Class A, B, C and D divisions. That meant that before every sporting event, dueling Catholic prayers went up for the win. Did the victors just pray better?"

Hamas' advanced tactics using drones on armored vehicles must have been the result of Russian training, Ukraine's military intelligence Kyrylo Budanov said in an interview with Ukrainska Pravada released on Oct. 12. While it did not constitute a clear indication of Russia's direct involvement in Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel, the tactics strongly mirrored those used in Russia's war on Ukraine, he said. In addition, there were several other signs in the weeks leading up to the attacks that provide further evidence of increased Russian connections with Israel's foes in the region. Budanov noted that the Russian state-run news...

Earlier today the US House of Representatives passed a last-minute spending bill to keep the government funded for an additional 45 days, narrowly averting a government shutdown that would have commenced at 12:01 a.m. The bill, spearheaded by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), now heads to the Senate, where it is expected to pass. With a 335-91 vote, the House approved a 45-day temporary funding measure that excludes border security and $6 billion in funding for Ukraine. The bill includes provisions for disaster relief funds that likely swayed some Democrats to vote in favor. Shortly after today’s vote news broke...

The Pentagon will exempt its Ukraine operations from a potential shutdown if lawmakers can’t agree on a deal to fund the government by the end of the month, allowing key training and other activities in support of Kyiv’s forces to move ahead uninterrupted, according to a Defense Department spokesperson. (snip)“Operation Atlantic Resolve is an excepted activity under a government lapse in appropriations,” Sherwood said, referring to the named operation for DOD’s activities in response to the Russian invasion. The move means that the U.S. military’s activities related to the war, such as training of Ukrainian soldiers on American tactics and...

When I wrote The Evil Twins of Technocracy and Transhumanism, some objected that the cover picture was too evil looking. Let me assure you that the evilness of true evil is just getting started, as evidenced by this shocking story about yet another gain-of-function biolab is being constructed in the West. There is much more to this story, to be revealed in coming days and weeks.

If you’re anything like me, you responded to the news that former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is running for president with a gigantic yawn. After he had already embarrassed himself during his failed run in 2016, something told him it would be a good idea to do it again in the upcoming election season. The former governor recently made some remarks that should make anyone question why he is even bothering this time around.During an appearance Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Nation,” Christie expressed his belief that the government should not interfere in decisions made by children and...

The ISW report asserts that "several indicators" suggest the attack was staged, noting that Russia recently enhanced "domestic air defense capabilities" while arguing it was "extremely unlikely" that Ukrainian drones could have thwarted "multiple layers of air defense" and be destroyed "in a way that provided spectacular imagery caught nicely on camera."..."The rapid and coherent presentation of an official Russian narrative around the strike suggests that Russia staged this incident in close proximity to the May 9th Victory Day holiday in order to frame the war as existential to its domestic audience," the ISW report states.

No. Let me explain: Have you ever seen those pink coconut marshmallow cakes often found on convenience store shelves? If you get too many of them together in close proximity, they reach critical mass, just like enriched uranium will. The ensuing explosion creates tens of new pink coconut marshmallow cakes, per cake that detonates. This, in turn – when the cakes heat up again -- causes another explosion, which occurs a few hours. This is known by Military EOD specialists and specialized government teams (who are entrusted with the control or eradication of these outbreaks) as a Pink Coconut Marshmallow...

In early December, a sensational story ripped through the tabloid press: President Vladimir Putin had stumbled and fallen down the stairs, involuntarily soiling himself in the process. It proved an irresistible tale for a Western audience largely horrified by Putin's invasion of Ukraine and hungry for his ultimate demise. The claims were covered in The Sun, the New York Post, the Daily Mail, Gawker, and Newsweek, among others. They attributed them to a single, anonymous source: the mysterious Telegram account known as General SVR. The channel is a striking example of the wild media ecosystem that has boomed since the...

Students at Morgan State University returned from their holiday break to find new metal detectors at the dorms they had to pass through to enter. The metal detectors have been placed in all on-campus dorms at Morgan. Students said they are torn on the topic. ... The school has seen shootings both around and on campus, including an on-campus shooting during homecoming weekend in October 2021, an off-campus shooting at the Marble Hall Gardens housing complex in September 2022, and a third shooting off-campus at a gas station in Northwood Commons in December 2022. ... In a statement, Morgan officials...

At a certain point, all decisions and election chances in politics come down to basic math. No matter how some consultants, pollsters or campaign managers may attempt to complicate the process to justify their fees or salaries paid by a candidate or company, it still comes down to this: Does the math finish on the “plus side” for him or her to run, and does it finish on the plus side for the candidate to win? My mother used to say, “If you can read, you can cook.” In the arena of political elections, if you can do basic addition...

Returning Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised former President Donald Trump Wednesday for his contributions to Israel, but said the former president’s decision to dine with disgraced rapper Kanye West​ and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes at Mar-a-Lago last week was “wrong and misplaced.”​ “I condemned Kanye West’s anti-Semitic statements. Straight away, I thought that was just wrong and misplaced,” Netanyahu said in an interview published Wednesday on the website “Common Sense.” “And I think that that’s what I would say about President Trump’s decision to dine with this person. I think is wrong and misplaced. I think it’s a mistake....

U.S. military personnel are now on the ground in Ukraine, keeping track of and inspecting weapons the U.S. has shipped to Ukrainian forces, a senior defense official announced during a Pentagon background briefing on Monday. These U.S. personnel are some of the first the Pentagon has acknowledged have entered Ukraine since Russia launched its large scale invasion of the country in February. The senior defense official who spoke on background during an official Pentagon event, said, “U.S. personnel have recently resumed on-site inspections to assess weapon stocks in country whenever and wherever the security conditions allow.” The official said “the...

Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen have confirmed their divorce, announcing on Instagram that they have decided to 'amicably' part ways after 13 years of marriage and following weeks of speculation that their romance was over.