Free Republic

A federal judge in California has blocked the Trump administration’s push to attach anti-DEI strings to federal grant money. The court ruled this week that the executive branch overstepped its constitutional authority by imposing the conditions on a group of West Coast cities and counties. U.S. District Judge William Orrick granted a preliminary injunction Thursday barring the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice and the Interior from enforcing the contested conditions against 11 local governments, concluding in a 68-page order that the restrictions likely run afoul of both the separation-of-powers doctrine and the Administrative Procedure Act. “What defendants seek to do...

Jewish Mother Left Lying in a Pool of Blood Beside Her Newborn: Severe Antisemitism Exposed in Australia's Healthcare System. A major investigation reveals a disturbing pattern of hostility toward Jews in Australian hospitals and clinics since the October 7 attacks. It documents doctors spreading Hamas messaging, Holocaust denial in intensive care units, and serious allegations of abuse against Jewish patients and healthcare workers. "Patients began hiding their identity" N12:07.12.26. Women who say medical staff endangered their lives, a new mother allegedly left lying in her own blood after a C-section, and the mistreatment of an elderly Jewish patient in the...

Five people were killed and two others were injured in what Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly described as a targeted mass shooting against one family over the weekend in East St. Louis. Two suspects, ages 15 and 16, have been arrested in connection with the investigation. Authorities said the suspects were taken into custody at Holten State Park. As of Sunday evening, their names had not been released. The shootings took place at three different places in the city — Jones Park, a residence in the area of 39th and Summit and the Samuel Gompers Homes. “The picture is...

MIDLAND, Texas (KOSA) - A woman was arrested after a man was hit and run over by a vehicle in Midland. According to the affidavit, the incident happened July 7, near 10000 W. Highway 80. Deputies were called about a pedestrian accident, where dispatch told a deputy that the man had been run over by his girlfriend and was being driven to the hospital, according to the affidavit. A deputy found a black Nissan in the H‑E‑B parking lot off of Midkiff Road. The deputy found a man in the back seat and had blood coming from his mouth and...

POLK COUNTY, Fla. (WBAY) - A 32-year-old Green Bay woman is in custody in Polk County, Fla., where she’s accused of intentionally hitting a security guard with a car at a rented condominium. Polk County deputies say Tayquanna Butler, 32, was arrested at the Orlando Airport, where she was getting a flight back to Wisconsin. Deputies say the incident happened on the night of July 4. A security guard at Windsor Island Resort said a woman drove past the entry after she was warned that she needed to be on a list of approved visitors or provide identification. The guard...

SACRAMENTO, CA — Following reports that activists were pushing the introduction of Black English in California preschools, Governor Gavin Newsom proudly proclaimed: "We finna teach da' homies Black English, yo!" The California governor confirmed that he has many black friends and, as such, wanted to make Black English a centerpiece to every child's educational experience. "Because we want every child to learn to communicate with our black brothers and sisters, ya dig?" he said. California Department of Education officials were initially hesitant to add Black English to the preschool curriculum, but completely caved once Newsom showed how fluent he was...

Man accused of killing University of Alabama student alongside father-of-three and dog he was pet sitting was known to victims as cops reveal suspect's dangerous past The man who allegedly murdered a college student, a father-of-three and the dog he was pet-sitting had known the victims of the cold-blooded killing, police said. Jazmine Alexis Bates, 22, who was studying at the University of Alabama, and 31-year-old Jose Felix Alvarez-Duenas, a single father of three, were found shot to death in Brookwood, Alabama on Monday. Police made the tragic discovery after conducting a welfare check at a home where Alvarez-Duenas had...

A gin brand co-owned by Ryan Reynolds in Portland has closed a bar just four years after it opened. Aviation American Gin's Tasting Room and Visitor Center held its last tasting on June 28. 'Thank you for all the memories, Portland. Stay weird,' a sign hung on the door read, according to Willamette Week. The bar was opened in 2022 to promote Reynolds's gin brand. The actor once called the tasting room a 'Disneyland for adults.' The closure comes amid a sales slump for Diageo, the drinks giant that co-owns the brand with Reynolds. The London-based beverage giant was down...

A mother who was vacationing at a Minnesota lake is accused of trying to kill her daughter after the two argued over a cell phone. Court documents obtained by Law & Crime allege Jasmine Marie Laws, 35, of Baltimore, threw her 15-year-old daughter’s phone into a lake in Otter Tail County, Minnesota. The daughter went into the water to get the phone, and when she retrieved it, she got into an argument with Laws. Laws allegedly struck the daughter first, with the daughter allegedly retaliating by grabbing Laws’ hair. The two continued to fight, and Laws allegedly put the daughter...

A 21-year-old Augusta woman has been arrested after Columbia County investigators say she targeted two homes displaying Donald Trump signs by slashing tires, vandalizing property, dumping trash in a yard and leaving threatening letters warning one homeowner to “get ready for so much worse.” Armani Faith Obregon is charged with terroristic threats and acts, unlawful dumping and two counts of second-degree criminal damage to property following a series of incidents that unfolded over several days in late June in a Martinez neighborhood. According to investigators, the alleged campaign began on June 28, when two neighboring homes were targeted in the...

The Odyssey, Christopher Nolan’s three-hour version of Homer’s epic poem, world premiered in London on Monday night, and critics who saw the film there and at early screenings in the US have been sharing their takes on one of the year’s most hotly anticipated films. “Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey is a colossal origin-myth story of postwar disillusion and a loss of innocence witnessed by the dead,” wrote the Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw, ahead of the reviews embargo lifting next Wednesday and next Friday’s worldwide release. IndieWire editor-at-large Anne Thompson called the film the best picture contender to beat, and added that Matt...

A female police officer in North Charleston, South Carolina, was attacked and beaten by a mob during an apparent teen takeover-style event at a July 4 block party on Saturday. The North Charleston Police Department released a statement on the CRIMEWATCH platform, addressing the viral video of the incident in the Chicora-Cherokee community. “A neighborhood block party had been permitted by the city of North Charleston in advance of the holiday,” they said. “Earlier that day, police leadership met with event organizers to discuss the event, including traffic and parking plans to ensure emergency vehicles could safely access the area...

Hundreds of masked white supremacists descended on the nation’s capital, proudly waving Confederate flags during the 250th Independence Day celebration. The demonstrators were seen wearing hats emblazoned with the logo for the Patriot Front — a white nationalist group founded by Thomas Rousseau after the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, according to George Washington University’s Program on Extremism. Counterprotester Heather Heyer was infamously killed at that rally when a madman plowed into her and several others. Members of the group were snapped riding the DC Metro Saturday. In one shot, a black woman sitting on the train...

Law enforcement officials say three people were shot and two are dead after a shooting at Fairlane Town Center in Dearborn, Michigan, Friday afternoon. Dearborn police confirmed that there is an active investigation at the mall and ask that people avoid the area. Michigan State Police are on the scene alongside Dearborn police. The mall has been placed on lockdown. Henry Ford Medical Center - Fairlane is also currently on lockdown, according to hospital officials. Sources say shooting victims have been taken to Corewell Health Dearborn Hospital. Authorities have not released any further information on the shooting. The mall is...

Fired from her law firm for yelling "Free Palestine," the communist barista from Ethiopia is $250,000 in debt, owns nothing, isn't married, gets by serving cappuccino, and wants to take out another loan to get her PhD. Does she sound like she makes good life choices? When she wins, she is going to have control over your life. That's why she's running. She can't control her own life, so she wants to control yours. She's not happy, so she is going to make everybody else unhappy. She says she's going to take away the private health care you have. She's...

Former Philadelphia 76ers orthopedic consultant Dr. Nicholas DiNubile sent a stark warning to the WNBA about the fate of superstar Caitlin Clark. Clark is currently out with a back injury, and concerns about her physical wellbeing have surged into a national controversy over the last week after she was punched in the throat by an opposing player in her last game, and referees didn't call a foul. Clark has faced a history of controversial contact since coming into the league in 2024. DiNubile admits he is troubled by what he has seen. "The type of contact and the amount of...

Eighteen-year-old Leotha Bush thought, allegedly, that he was going to get one up on a group of workmen at a Memphis, Tennessee, home when he pulled a pistol on them earlier this month. In the end, he was the one who ended up tied to the rails of the front porch of the home. According to WREG-TV, Bush allegedly tried to rob the work crew in the Highland Heights neighborhood on June 8 using a BB gun that looked like a semi-automatic pistol. Bush had apparently walked up to the house and asked for a cigarette lighter, the station reported....

A speeding driver who held a shameless online fundraiser for himself after killing a Los Angeles cop and a Whole Foods worker in a fiery highway wreck has been hit with murder charges over the horrific crash. Mario Bickham, 36, of Los Angeles was charged with two counts of second-degree murder Monday for the killing of LAPD Sgt. Shiou Deng and Jesus Garcia, 34, in the June 23, 2025 collision on the busy 405 Freeway. ... LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said Bickham was driving his Nissan sedan at more than 112 miles per hour when he slammed into Deng, who...

It’s no secret that the Lakers were going to get a makeover after the departure of LeBron James, but ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith seems less than pleased with the makeover’s racial makeup. Within 24 hours of ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania reporting the news that James would be playing his next and likely final season elsewhere, the Lakers made a move to acquire Walker Kessler from the Utah Jazz. The acquisition gives the Lakers some assurances at the center position. However, the move also gives the Lakers another white player. Who, along with Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, makes three...

Recent studies on fossils found at the Dmanisi archaeological site in the Republic of Georgia are changing the way scientists have understood the initial migration out of Africa by humans. For decades, the commonly accepted theory about the earliest migration out of Africa was that one species of human, Homo erectus, migrated out of Africa approximately 1.8 million years ago. But the new study, which was published in PLOS ONE, now indicates that this pivotal migration could have involved more than one human species.This facial reconstruction represents a male individual from the Dmanisi excavation. Credit: Cicero Moraes et al. (Luca...