Free Republic

US stock futures fell Thursday as an Israeli attack on Iran shook global markets, leading oil prices to spike as the Israeli defense minister declared a state of emergency. Futures attached to the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) dropped 1.5%. S&P 500 futures (ES=F) plunged 1.6%, and those attached to the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) sank 1.7%. On Thursday night, Israel conducted what it called a "preemptive strike" against Iran, citing fears over development of nuclear weapons in Tehran. Explosions erupted across the Iranian capital, reports said. Crude oil (CL=F) soared 8% as the strikes hit the third largest producer...

In June 2025, rumors abounded that Isra Hirsi, daughter of U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota, had posted "death to the colonial empire" from Los Angeles to Rafah in Gaza on an Instagram story. Instagram stories are posts that disappear after 24 hours unless the accounts that post them highlight them on their profile page. For example, X user End Wokeness shared a screen capture of the supposed Instagram story alongside a photograph of Hirsi with her mother Omar (archived): As of this writing, the End Wokeness post had gained 10,000 and 660,000 views. The screen capture appeared...

The bromance between Elon Musk and President Donald Trump seems to be over. And now Musk is flirting with the idea of new party that could represent "the 80% in the middle," he posted on X. But who would join Musk-led party? And, can a third party actually succeed? Republicans, Democrats and Independents like Musk as much — or as little — as they like Trump. In April, before the feud between the president and the world’s richest person began, approval ratings for Trump and Musk were very similar, according to multiple polls. For instance, an April poll by the...

Space junk in Earth's orbit may increase because of the effects of the same heat-trapping gases that are polluting the air and warming the planet, according to a recent study. What's happening? A team led by Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers determined that, with Earth's warming, space debris could accumulate enough to reduce the low Earth orbit area available for satellites by between a third and 82% by the year 2100, as the Associated Press detailed. The reason for this, per the study published in Nature Sustainability in March, is that climatic changes high above ground could reduce the effectiveness...

At least 10 Les Miserables cast members are expected to boycott a June 11 performance of the musical at the Kennedy Center, which President Donald Trump is planning to attend. Following the controversies at the once-prestigious Washington, D.C. performing arts center since Trump appointed himself chairman, CNN reports that the musical’s cast was given the choice of whether or not to perform that night, with the performance doubling as a big-ticket fundraiser for the Kennedy Center.

The Trump administration is open to arresting Supreme Court judges, as White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told it on Monday morning. “You guys arrested a Milwaukee County Circuit judge for allegedly helping illegal immigrants get away,” Fox News’s Peter Doocy asked Leavitt. “As you guys look at other judges, would you ever arrest somebody higher up on the judicial food chain, like a federal judge or even a Supreme Court justice?” “That’s a hypothetical question, again I defer you to the Department of Justice for individuals that they are looking at or individual cases. But let’s be clear about...

Nyweide’s family announced her passing in a since-deleted obituary, writing at the time that the actress “self medicated to deal with all the trauma and shame she held inside, and it resulted in her death." They added that Nyweide repeatedly claimed that she would navigate her health issues “on her own" and "was compelled to reject the treatment that might possibly have saved her life.” In lieu of flowers, her family asked instead that individuals to make a donation to RAINN, the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, in her name. A Vermont native, Nyweide knew that she wanted to...

American Senator Chris Van Hollen said Thursday he had met with a Salvadoran man wrongfully deported to his home country by the Trump administration, in a case that has sparked outrage in the United States. Van Hollen had earlier said he had been denied access to the prison where Washington has paid President Nayib Bukele millions to lock up nearly 300 migrants it says are criminals and gang members -- including 29-year-old Kilmar Abrego Garcia

After Donald Trump’s victory in last year’s presidential election, .several MAGA influencers cheered the prospect of him trampling on women’s rights. And Republican lahttps://www.yahoo.com/news/house-gop-tramples-women-rights-225055817.htmlwmakers have acted on that ethos with startling speed.Democratic women sounded the alarm Thursday following the House’s passage of the so-called SAVE Act, which would require all states to obtain proof of citizenship from people registering to vote, as well as mandate that states have a program to remove undocumented immigrants from existing voter rolls and allow Americans to sue officials who don’t follow the proof-of-citizenship requirements. Voting rights activists have condemned the measure as a voter...

LYNNWOOD, Wash. - A mother says she was harassed and cut off by another driver for driving a Tesla, an incident she described as terrifying and unprovoked. The confrontation, which was caught on video, occurred while she was on her way to a doctor’s appointment in Lynnwood Wednesday morning. Leigh, who has driven a Tesla for the past two years, said she first noticed the aggressive driver honking behind her as she approached a red light. "Thankfully, I was by myself," Leigh said. "When I made a left turn, they followed me and cut around me." According to Leigh, the...

A federal judge in Washington state has ordered the Trump administration to immediately disclose any plans to implement its sweeping ban on transgender service members, marking a significant development in Shilling v. Trump, one of the ongoing legal battles challenging the administration’s efforts to kick out trans troops from the military. In a minute order issued Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington directed the federal government to notify both the court and plaintiffs if the Department of Defense—or any of its branches—issues any policy or guidance enforcing the...

Mirror, mirror, on the wall, what’s the most contentious blockbuster of them all? On any list of the most trouble-plagued releases in recent Hollywood history, Disney’s live-action remake of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs would surely rank heigh-ho, heigh-ho highly. The $270 million-budget spectacle, starring Rachel Zegler as the storybook princess, finally hits cinemas this month after four years of seemingly never-ending online fury and negative news stories. From calls to boycott the film and attacks over its alleged “f______ backward” depiction of little people, all the way to the sight this weekend of the movie’s two biggest stars...

Shares of Intel (INTC) jumped on Tuesday morning, the first day of trading since new reports emerged over the weekend that the chipmaker is the center of acquisition talks once again. Chip designer Broadcom (AVGO) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM), the biggest chipmaker in the world, are each in the early stages of considering bids that could see the American chipmaker be broken up, the Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend citing people familiar with the matter.

...the Trump administration directed a freeze on federal funding, the chaos drove home a salient point: The federal government does a lot for you. The administration targeted 2,623 federal programs for review...Funding for programs that provide health insurance, child care, food assistance, housing aid, and much, much more remained uncertain. Disrupting the federal government plumbing is a delicate process that, if done crudely, could hit vital lifelines for the American people. "The government is involved in things that people don't feel all the time, a lot of things we take for granted like safe drinking water," said Bobby Kogan, senior...

CNN journalists avoided mentioning the most sordid elements of President Donald Trump’s past—including his felony conviction and two impeachments—during inauguration day broadcasts after the network’s top boss told them to show some deference to the most powerful person on earth.That’s according to a report in media news publication Status, authored by the well-sourced erstwhile CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy.During a routine editorial meeting on Sunday, meant to plan the extensive logistics of an inauguration, CNN CEO Mark Thompson told journalists to avoid “pre-judging Trump,” Status reported.In addition to instructing them to keep an open mind about Trump’s second term—three days...

Donald Trump’s inaugural address Monday showcased an unusually refined version of the MAGA leader on the cusp of his presidency: it toiled over the economy and immigration, promising to bring America into a “golden age.” But Trump’s unscripted second speech to a throng of his supporters served as his cutting room floor, sharing all the gripes that his script writers implored him not to dish. Seemingly unrehearsed and riddled with grammatical errors, Trump’s second speech of the day was remarkably more like him. Trump ripped into a cohort of his so-called enemies, torching former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for supposedly...

Not quite six years ago, wildfire expert Jack Cohen, who lives in Missoula, Mont., visited Pacific Palisades to instruct firefighters and property owners on how to protect homes against wildfires. Three days of training, including a tour of the community, left Cohen hopeful, but the feeling faded when it became clear that his lessons were not going to be fully implemented. This week’s tragedy has left him with a deep sadness. Respected by fire agencies across the country, Cohen and Pyne have found their straight-talk admonitions often disregarded or dismissed. Sensitive to losses and suffering, both said they are motivated...

Sarah Michelle Gellar... "City of LA you want everyone to evacuate yet you have complete gridlock and not one traffic cop on the roads helping," the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" alum, 47, wrote, tagging Bass, 71, and the city of Los Angeles.Sara Foster took to X... "We pay the highest taxes in California. Our fire hydrants were empty. Our vegetation was overgrown, brush not cleared... Our reservoirs were emptied by our governor because tribal leaders wanted to save fish. Our fire department budget was cut by our mayor. But thank god drug addicts are getting their drug kits." Foster, 43,...

Italy's far-right prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, said on Thursday Elon Musk's political interventions only caused outrage because he wasn't left-wing -- and that foreigners had been interfering in Italian politics for years. Meloni, head of the post-Fascist Brothers of Italy party, said Musk was exercising his right to free speech. Instead, she accused powerful people on the left of political interference, including billionaire financier and philanthropist George Soros. Musk -- a billionaire ally of US President-elect Donald Trump who is set for a role in the incoming administration -- has provoked fury across Europe with a string of attacks on...

Italy is reportedly close to sealing a €1.5 billion (£1.25 billion) deal with Elon Musk’s SpaceX that would provide the country’s government with secure telecommunications. Giorgia Meloni’s government is in advanced talks with the billionaire tech entrepreneur and, according to Bloomberg news, a deal has already been approved by Italy’s ministry and intelligence services. Ms Meloni has built a close relationship with the Tesla billionaire, describing him last week as a “genius” who had been wrongly presented as a “monster” because of his support for Donald Trump. On Monday, the Italian prime minister sought to play down speculation about an...