Free Republic

A California mayor who came out as transgender after being elected to office is facing a recall vote — blaming it on transphobic “bullies” despite outrage over rampant homelessness and crime. Raúl Ureña, 26, was elected mayor of the border town of Calexico with 70% of the vote in 2020 — before coming out as transgender and gender fluid following her re-election victory in 2022, the Los Angeles Times reports. The mayor — who accepts “all the pronouns,” with a preference for “she” — went from office attire of suit and pants for a penchant for low-cut dresses showing off...

The New York Times has printed a blistering op-ed by one of its star columnists slamming Joe Biden for disowning a granddaughter born to a stripper who his son Hunter had a fling with. Maureen Dowd shared a letter written to Biden by her sister Peggy, a Republican voter who was previously so-charmed by the current-president that she voted for him. But Dowd said Peggy had been appalled by Biden's refusal to acknowledge four year-old Navy Joan Roberts, whose mom Lunden got pregnant after a fling with Hunter. The president infamously said earlier this year that he has 'six grandchildren'...

The family of the young man who allegedly injured four people, including his teacher, when he opened fire at a Texas high school claim the 18-year-old brought a handgun for protection after being targeted by bullies for wearing nice clothes and driving a nice car. Timothy George Simpkins, a student at Timberview High School in Arlington, was charged with three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after turning himself in Wednesday afternoon. He was accused of firing a .45-caliber handgun during a fight with another student.

Burkina Faso sportsman on Saturday broke the world record for log lifting at the Giants Live World Tour Finals in Scotland. Cheick Ahmed al-Hassan Sanou, also known as Iron Biby, lifted a 229kg (36st 1lb) log over his head at the competition, breaking the previous world record of 228kg. The 29-year-old, who dedicated his trophy to Burkina Faso, was given a heroic welcome as he returned to his country on Monday. Fans crowded at the airport waving banners reading “You are the pride of the entire nation” and “Bravo champion”, to welcome him, the AFP reported. A video of his...

In an extraordinary turnabout that foreshadows possible legal action, the two GOP members of Wayne County's election board signed affidavits Wednesday night alleging they were bullied and misled into approving election results in Michigan's largest metropolis and do not believe the votes should be certified until serious irregularities in Detroit votes are resolved. The statements by Wayne County Board of Canvassers Chairwoman Monica Palmer and fellow GOP member William C. Hartmann rescinding their votes from a day earlier threw into question anew whether Michigan's presidential vote currently favoring Democrat Joe Biden will be certified. They also signaled a possible legal...

Surveillance video on a Martin County school bus shows a bus aide yelling at a student to take off a Trump hat, then grabbing it off of his head. Now, the Martin County Sheriff’s Office is investigating whether the bus aide committed a crime. Gunnar Johansson, 14, said this week, students were allowed to wear a hat to school if they made a donation to March of Dimes. He decided to wear a Trump, Make America Great Again hat, “to show my pride in Trump America,” Johansson said. He boarded his bus to Hidden Oaks Middle School, and within seconds,...

Blame it on the bullies? In a surprise appearance Friday, Hillary Clinton delivered a commencement address to graduates of San Francisco's exclusive Hamlin School. Media reports said Secret Service personnel whisked the former Democratic presidential nominee and U.S. secretary of state into the all-girls private school -- where tuition is $34,500 per year. [Snip] Once inside, Clinton spoke about her own experiences being bullied while growing up in suburban Chicago, as well as the need to be “courageous in a world dominated mainly by men,” graduate Alexa Tabibian told San Francisco's KGO-TV. [Snip] As Clinton recalled of her youth, in...

The parents of a 12-year-old Mississippi boy say he killed himself last week after being subjected to intense bullying. Andrew Leach of Southaven, Mississippi, was found dead at his family’s home March 6. Leach’s parents believe the sixth-grader had been struggling to come to terms with his sexuality, and killed himself after being bullied by fellow students at Southaven Middle School. “He finally came out with the information at school that he thought he may be bisexual,” Matt Leach told WREG. “I think that really amped up the bullying.” Leach said Southaven Middle School students had threatened his son with...

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio treated his staffers poorly and often bullied them with harsh threats if they did not meet his demands, according to newly revealed emails. "What do I need to get you guys to follow a direct order? Do you need to experience consequences?" he threatened in one 2015 email, according to the New York Post. "I'm not raising this again: fix it, or I will [have] no choice but to find a way to penalize people. Not my preference, but I won't have my instructions ignored," he added. The emails show de Blasio blowing...

Donald Trump's supporters have hit out at Hollywood once again, this time over a video of some of the biggest celebrities defiantly singing before his inauguration. A new clip by W Magazine and Conde Nast Entertainment shows the likes of Emma Stone, Natalie Portman and Amy Adams reciting the disco classic I Will Survive. The star-studded cast is seen participating in a 'lyrical improv' reading of the Gloria Gaynor song in the video, released just days before Trump will be sworn in. It's already racked up more than a million views, but many of Trump's most fervent fans found the...

Mara Keisling, executive director of National Center for Transgender Equality, told C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” on Monday that North Carolina’s transgender bathroom law is “a ginned up problem” and that the transgender community is “being bullied.” “It is a ginned up problem that really has trans people baffled and concerned, because we didn’t do anything. We didn’t do anything to anybody, and now we’re being bullied,” said Keisling.

Gov. Nathan Deal said he will veto the “religious liberty” bill that triggered a wave of criticism from gay rights groups and business leaders and presented him with one of the most consequential challenges he’s faced since his election to Georgia’s top office. The measure “doesn’t reflect the character of our state or the character of its people,” the governor said Monday in prepared remarks. He said state legislators should leave freedom of religion and freedom of speech to the U.S. Constitution.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch urged Muslim parents to contact both the justice department and the education department if they think their children are being "bullied" in school. "We've seen this for a number of years, we saw it a lot in the New York area [after 9/11], unfortunately, where there would be a backlash against the Muslim community in general," she claimed at a Thursday fundraiser dinner for an Islamic advocacy group, Muslim Advocates. In response to Lynch's address, conservative host Rush Limbaugh said on his radio show Friday: Don't bother with the principal! You know, education's a local thing....

A woman who had a baby on welfare describes her social worker’s attitude when she became pregnant a second time: “After having our baby in May, a caseworker at the Department of Social Services made us feel like we’d been irresponsible for having a second child. She lectured Jim [her husband], telling him, “You can’t keep your wife barefoot and pregnant the rest of your life. You’d better do something about it.” She wanted to stop us having children and insisted on making an appointment for us to go to Planned Parenthood for counseling and birth-control supplies – conveniently located...

Marie Ideson was just over 16 weeks pregnant with a Down Syndrome child. “I was bullied into going ahead with an abortion,” says Ideson, 46, a GP surgery manager. “I only wish I could turn back the clock. I think of the daughter I never had every day. I’ll always regret it.” Ideson had an amniocentesis to determine if the baby she was carrying was disabled. She was told it was a routine part of pre-natal care. Four days later, she received a call from the hospital: “A woman said, ‘I’m sorry to say your baby has Down.’ It was...

George Zimmerman was back in court today for a hearing on the start date for his trial on murder charges. Zimmerman, of course, was the Hispanic neighborhood watchman in Sanford, Florida, who trailed a young black man named Trayvon Martin after calling 911, got into an altercation with Martin in which Martin ended up pounding Zimmerman’s head into the pavement, and then ended up shooting Martin in the chest. The media used the Zimmerman case as an opportunity to bully Americans over their supposed racial intolerance. Even the President of the United States weighed in in the midst of an...

Tens of millions of dollars flowing into Wisconsin on behalf of the union hacks pushing recalls is only part of the assault on the will of the voters. There is also now a campaign of bully tactics underway and tea party organizers are being forced to quickly move rally locations. The Tea Party Express is hosting a plethora of tea party rallies across Wisconsin in an effort to push back against the unions driving the recalls. While on the road to Kenosha, WI, we learned the venue was no longer willing to host the Tea Party rally due to threats...

Department of Interior officials seem to take sadistic pleasure in badgering oil companies. The latest example involves a new agency created to levy untold millions of dollars in fines if companies don’t kowtow to the new bureaucracy. The agency’s head gave the tasteless warning: “If they cut corners they could end up paying enough to quickly take care of the federal deficit.” The oil industry now pays $37 million a day in royalties. That’s over $13 billion a year for our near empty U.S. Treasury and other state and special accounts. The comment about collecting royalties enough to pay off...

Now two families — including the Vidovics — are suing the school district, claiming their children were bullied to death and the school did nothing to stop it. The lawsuits come after a national spate of high-profile suicides by gay teens and others, and during a time of national soul-searching about what can be done to stop it. If there has been soul-searching among the bullies in Mentor — a pleasant beachfront community that was voted one of the "100 Best Places to Live" by CNN and Money magazine this year — Sladjana's family saw too little of it at...

It started with rumors, a love triangle, and a dirty look in a high-school bathroom. Soon jokes about an "Irish slut" cropped up on Facebook, and a girl’s face was scribbled out of a class photo hanging up at school. One day, in the cafeteria, another girl marched in, pointed at her, and shouted "stay away from other people’s men." A week later, as the girl walked home, a car full of students crept close. One kid hurled a crumpled soda can out the window, followed closely by shrieks of "whore!" If your children had behaved like this, how would...