Free Republic

Responsibility for the attack? Sayfullo Saipov, the 29-year-old Uzbekistan-born ISIS operative who killed eight people after driving a truck down a crowded bicycle path in New York City, worshipped at a mosque around the corner from his and his family’s Paterson, New Jersey residence, Masjid Omar bin al-Khattab. The mosque has been associated with a website that advocates committing violence against others. Because of this fact, the mosque itself should be considered a party to Saipov’s horrific crime. On October 31st, Halloween, Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov, an Uber driver with known residences in Tampa, Florida and Paterson, New Jersey, drove a...

Sayfullo Saipov’s neighbors and acquaintances have been coming forward to paint a portrait of the suspected New York City terrorist. One Tampa neighbor casually dropped a remarkable detail deep in a Washington Post story on Wednesday: a group of “about 30 men, young and old, gathered at Saipov’s house to pray” on “most weekends.”

Investigators descended overnight on the New Jersey neighborhood of the terrorist who went on a rampage in a rental truck along a riverfront bike path near the World Trade Center, killing eight people and injuring 11 others. Cops surrounded a block in Paterson, the hometown of Sayfullo Saipov, 29, an Uzbek immigrant who was shot by a cop when he jumped out of the truck brandishing fake but realistic-looking pistols and shouting “Allahu Akbar!” Authorities in Passaic County also cordoned off an area that includes a mosque, some storefronts and several other residences, as well as a parking lot at...

The funk group’s September 1974 chart entry debuted even higher than Hot 100 resident Elton John’s ‘The Bitch Is Back.’The funk and soul group from Dayton, in the state that inspired their name, were hot as a pistol in 1974. The Ohio Players had wriggled to the top of the R&B chart the year before with their “Funky Worm,” a Top 15 crossover pop success, and now they were reaching both audiences again with a new success, “Skin Tight.” The album of the same name had entered the chart in April, and the single started its ascent of the...

Ohio lawmakers are weighing a new energy program that would let utilities temporarily adjust household thermostats and water heaters — but only for customers who sign up. House Bill 427, introduced this week in the General Assembly, would create an opt-in “demand response” program aimed at cutting strain on the state’s power grid during peak usage, such as summer heat waves or winter freezes. Rep. Roy Klopfenstein (R-Haviland), the bill’s sponsor, said the plan extends a proven tool already used by the industry. “Demand response programs have proven to be a vital tool for our large commercial users, and it’s...

A new poll conducted by Leger360 between August 29 and 31, 2025, is causing controversy in the world of U.S. politics, as it projects that California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, is the frontrunner for the 2028 presidential election. The results of the survey, which were shared on social media, pitted Newsom against potential GOP candidates, including Vice President JD Vance, former President Donald Trump, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The California governor narrowly leads the president by a score of 48 percent to 44 percent, 47 percent to Vance’s 46 percent, and 49 percent to Rubio’s 44 percent....

Ohio lawmakers are weighing a new energy program that would let utilities temporarily adjust household thermostats and water heaters — but only for customers who sign up. House Bill 427, introduced this week in the General Assembly, would create an opt-in “demand response” program aimed at cutting strain on the state’s power grid during peak usage, such as summer heat waves or winter freezes. Rep. Roy Klopfenstein (R-Haviland), the bill’s sponsor, said the plan extends a proven tool already used by the industry. “Demand response programs have proven to be a vital tool for our large commercial users, and it’s...

An international law enforcement operation called Operation Box Cutter has shut down a major criminal enterprise that was supplying precursor drugs that were used in the manufacture of fentanyl. FBI Director Kash Patel announced that 22 Chinese nationals, four Chinese pharmaceutical companies, and three Americans had been arrested in what Patel referred to as an "unprecedented" operation. "We're done playing whack-a-mole," Patel said during a press conference in Cincinnati. "We didn't arrest a couple of people. We charged an enterprise-wide system in mainland China to include dozens of individuals and banks and companies that are responsible for making these lethal...

When Tennessee’s Republican governor, Bill Lee, dispatched his National Guard troops to Washington to support President Trump’s crackdown on crime, Democrats and other critics wondered why he didn’t keep them within state lines. Memphis, after all, has long been one of the most dangerous cities in the country, with a murder rate about twice as high as the nation’s capital, according to F.B.I. statistics. Nashville has a higher rate of violent crime than Washington as well. The same questions could be asked of other Republican governors like Greg Abbott in Texas, Mike DeWine in Ohio and Mike Kehoe in Missouri,...

In light of an opinion issued Tuesday by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, the American Civil Liberties Union said that eight Ohio counties don’t have legal contracts with U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement. That being the case, the ACLU of Ohio said, those detainees must be released. However, one Ohio sheriff’s office said its contract with the feds meets the legal standards Yost laid out. Another said he’ll fix any problems, but he’s not releasing anybody. For its part, Yost’s office declined to answer questions. After taking office in January, President Donald Trump swiftly began implementing his policy of mass...

Centered in the rust belt, deaths of despair are a national scourge. Since 2000, working-class white Americans have defied demographic trends by experiencing declines in life expectancy. In the last decade, according to the Ohio Alliance for Innovation in Population Health, nearly 2 million Ohioans have died from “deaths of despair.” That makes the Buckeye state second only to West Virginia in this category. Tragically, the Ohio Valley leads the nation in the rise of deaths for those between 25 and 65. Individually, they are senseless. Families are left to ponder how their child died a drug-addled death in a...

Last week, we handicapped possible Democratic candidates for president. Now, the Republicans. There won’t be an incumbent president in the 2028 race, but there will likely be a sitting vice president in the running. That’s why any assessment of Republican presidential prospects begins and ends with JD Vance. And of course, his prospects begin and end with Donald Trump. The current president got him elected U.S. senator and then, two years later, picked him to be his running mate, elevating Vance to MAGA’s crown prince — and the nomination front-runner. Vance can learn a lot of lessons from other vice...

📊 2028 National Republican Primary• Donald Trump Jr. — 30% • JD Vance — 30% • Ron DeSantis — 9% • Nikki Haley — 6% • Vivek Ramaswamy — 5% • Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — 5% • Sarah Huckabee Sanders — 1% • Marco Rubio — 1% • Tucker Carlson — 1% • Greg Abbott — 1% • Brian Kemp — 1% • Glenn Youngkin — 1% --- • Someone else — 5%@MorningConsult | 12/6-8 | n=994

If Vice President JD Vance decides to campaign for the White House in 2028, he might have an uphill battle from the Democrats, according to a new poll. The election is still years away, but early polls in swing states can give insight as to what the future looks like regarding candidate viability, voter sentiment, and party dynamics, especially after the results of the 2024 election. A poll released by SoCal Strategies and sponsored by On Point Politics and Red Eagle Politics found that California Governor Gavin Newsom and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg may have an advantage against the...

Vance starts the 2028 race with advantages in the Rust Belt and Sun BeltAs we settle into the second Trump administration, eyes are already turning toward 2028. With President Donald Trump barred from a third elected term by the 22nd Amendment, the Republican nomination looks like a coronation for Vice President JD Vance. Polling shows Vance dominating the GOP field, with 46% support in a recent survey. That's far ahead of potential challengers. Vance, the Ohio senator and author of "Hillbilly Elegy," embodies the Trumpian blend of populism, economic nationalism and cultural conservatism that has reshaped the GOP. Operationally, his...

An owner’s home is his property, not the government’s. Yet many Ohioans are paying more in property taxes than on the principal & interest payments on their mortgage. That’s un-American & we’re going to fix it once I’m in charge.

The suspected instigator in the racially motivated Cincinnati brawl that left one mother unconscious has now been slapped with federal drug charges — on top of the laundry list of offenses he’s facing for his role in the brutal beatdown. Jermaine Mathews, 39, was indicted for conspiracy and intent to distribute a whopping “40 grams or more of fentanyl,” the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio wrote in a press release on Monday. He was also charged with “operating a premises on Kenton Street in Cincinnati for the purpose of trafficking narcotics” alongside three other co-conspirators based...

Wilmington, Ohio – Spotty morning showers will give way to a dramatic shift in Ohio’s weather pattern, with fall-like conditions expected to settle across the state beginning Sunday. A strong push of cooler and drier air will bring a noticeable drop in temperatures through the final week of August. According to the National Weather Service in Wilmington, outlooks from the Climate Prediction Center show a high probability for below-normal temperatures across Ohio from August 25 through early September. The shift will be most pronounced Sunday as a reinforcing cold front ushers in the cooler air mass.

A Chinese national was sentenced today to four years in prison and three years of supervised release for writing and deploying malicious code on his then-employer’s network. “The defendant breached his employer’s trust by using his access and technical knowledge to sabotage company networks, wreaking havoc and causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses for a U.S. company,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “However, the defendant’s technical savvy and subterfuge did not save him from the consequences of his actions. The Criminal Division is committed to identifying and prosecuting those...

On Febuary 3rd 2023, one of the most controversial train wrecks in recent history would occur in a small Ohio village all because of a burning bearing on a hopper car. But digging deep into the investigation it becomes apparant this derailment and subsequent chemical spill was a lot more than just a simple hotbox as Norfolk Southern's negligent buisness practices become enlightened to the public. Probably the most anticipated documentary of all time if I'm honest. I cannot tell you how many times people requested this video to be made espesially before the NTSB final report was released but...