Free Republic

Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) became the third Republican to co-sponsor a motion to vacate House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) shortly after the House advanced the speaker’s four-pronged foreign aid plan to a final passage vote. Gosar joins Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) in supporting vacating Johnson from the top leadership position after Democrats helped Johnson push a procedural rule vote over the finish line — a sign that certain House Republicans are growing frustrated with the speaker’s leadership. “I have added my name in support of the motion to vacate the Speaker,” Gosar said in a...

The man who set himself on fire outside former president Donald Trump's Manhattan trial has been named as Florida native resident Maxwell Crosby Azzarello. Azzarello, 37, is in critical condition after setting himself on fire on Friday as horrified witnesses and CNN cameras watched. He described himself as an investigative researcher in a blog post published just hours before he self-immolated. Azzarello dropped fliers that included a link to a Substack post explaining his actions before he ignited himself. The blog was titled: 'I have set myself on fire outside the Trump Trial.' The conspiracy theorist claimed on the blog...

Senate conservatives led by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) urged House Republicans to oppose what they called a “sham” procedural tactic devised by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to break an emergency foreign aid package into four different pieces to give it a better chance of passing. Senate conservatives warned it would result in the House passing an emergency foreign aid package “almost identical” to the $95 billion aid bill that the Senate passed in February, and which a majority of Republican senators opposed. The bill includes funding for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. “Members who vote for the rule to set up...

... According to filings from the state’s Department of Insurance, Tokio Marine America Insurance Co. and Trans Pacific Insurance Co. said they would both stop offering homeowners and personal umbrella insurance in the Golden State.... ... Those impacted will receive nonrenewal notices beginning on July 1. The proposed effective date for these filings will take place on Aug. 1, 2025....

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) made history by relying on minority party votes to advance a foreign aid plan, marking a first in recorded history. This decision, occurring just before midnight on Thursday, has sparked controversy among Republicans, with some questioning Johnson's loyalty to the party. The move has raised concerns about party unity and the potential implications for future legislative decisions.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul formed a noisy alliance with Rep. Thomas Massie this week that scrambled Congress’ plans to renew the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act without additional privacy protections for Americans and threatened the six-month tenure of the Republican speaker of the House. The libertarian duo scored a substantive victory in the House on Wednesday when the chamber passed legislation that would force federal agencies to obtain a court order to buy the online data of U.S. citizens from service providers. Massie, a Northern Kentucky Republican, was joined by Rep. James Comer in supporting the “Fourth Amendment is Not For...

The true scale of the number of medical trials using infected blood products on children in the 1970s and 80s has been revealed by documents seen by BBC News. They reveal a secret world of unsafe clinical testing involving children in the UK, as doctors placed research goals ahead of patients' needs. They continued for more than 15 years, involved hundreds of people, and infected most with hepatitis C and HIV. One surviving patient told the BBC he was treated like a "guinea pig". The trials involved children with blood clotting disorders, when families had often not consented to them...

Newly released emails between a top colleague of Dr. Anthony Fauci and the president of a non-governmental organization being funded to conduct coronavirus research in Wuhan, China, said the group had over 700 identified but un-sequenced coronaviruses in its lab when its government grant was first pulled in 2020. On Tuesday, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., highlighted a series of email exchanges between Fauci's top adviser, Dr. David Morens, and EcoHealth Alliance President Dr. Peter Daszak that showed Daszak feared permanently losing government funding. An April 2020 email from Morens alleged that Fauci was "fully aware" and "involved in some sort...

@elonmusk Given the relentless attacks on free speech, I am going to fund a national signature campaign in support of the First Amendment

If your kitty has claws, you soon won’t be able to have them removed in the Commonwealth. Gov. Glenn Youngkin has signed a bill outlawing the declawing of cats by veterinarians, effective July 1. This is not applicable to nail filing, nail trimming or the placement of temporary nail caps on your cat’s claws. Civil penalties include $500 for the first violation, $1,000 for the second violation and $2,500 for the third or any subsequent violation.

By the end of the year, homelessness was up exponentially, with Inside Safe, her signature program to combat homelessness, only moving 255 people to permanent housing so far out of the 46,000 in LA, despite $67 million already going into the program.

Scotland's only gender identity clinic for under 18s has paused prescribing puberty blockers to children. The Sandyford clinic in Glasgow said new patients aged 16 or 17 would no longer receive the treatment until they were 18. It follows a landmark review of gender services for under-18s in England. Dr Hilary Cass's review said children had been let down by a lack of research and there was "remarkably weak" evidence on medical interventions. NHS England confirmed it would stop prescribing puberty blockers in March. Like other parts of the UK, Scotland has seen a rapid rise in the number of...

Prince Harry has officially listed the US as his primary residence, according to documents filed in the UK. The change was revealed in a filing for sustainable tourism charity Travalyst, which was founded by Harry, recording the duke under his full name - Prince Henry Charles Albert David Duke of Sussex. Harry and Meghan have lived in California since they quit roles as senior working royals in March 2020. Although the electronic filing to Companies House was only listed on Wednesday, the document shows the change was made on 29 June 2023. This was the same day Buckingham Palace confirmed...

A Beaver County woman shot and killed a man who broke into her home, police said.

@_wake_up_USA 🚨BREAKING: House Speaker Mike Johnson moves forward with a $95 billion dollar aid package, including funds for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. $61 Billion for Ukraine $26 Billion for Israel $8 Billion for Taiwan

Speaking outside Allentown, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, Donald Trump left everyone confused when he attempted to explain the Battle of Gettysburg, praised (and invented a quote from) Confederate General Robert E. Lee, and generally had no idea what he was talking about. When his off-the-cuff remarks hit late-night television on Monday, the hosts couldn’t hide their laughter. . . .

Boeing quality engineer Sam Salehpour, Executive Director of The Foundation for Aviation Safety and former Boeing Manager Ed Pierson, Aerospace Engineer and Technical Advisor to the Foundation for Aviation Safety and former FAA engineer Joe Jacobsen and Professional Practice Assistant Professor for Integrated Systems Engineering at Ohio State University Shawn Pruchnicki at Wednesday's Senate hearing questioning the safety of Boeing jets. Boeing’s already battered reputation took another hit at two Senate committee hearings Wednesday on Capitol Hill, with witnesses questioning how the company builds airplanes and the safety of those planes. One of the key witnesses was Boeing engineer...

Russia's military death toll in Ukraine has now passed the 50,000 mark, the BBC can confirm. In the second 12 months on the front line - as Moscow pushed its so-called meat grinder strategy - we found the body count was nearly 25% higher than in the first year. BBC Russian, independent media group Mediazona and volunteers have been counting deaths since February 2022. New graves in cemeteries helped provide the names of many soldiers. Our teams also combed through open-source information from official reports, newspapers and social media. More than 27,300 Russian soldiers died in the second year of...

On Tuesday a 2-1 Democrat majority of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit invalidated a good West Virginia law protecting girls’ sports against invasion by male-bodied transgender students. The Richmond-based tribunal held that West Virginia’s Save Women’s Sports Act violates the federal Title IX law, which was enacted to protect girls’ sports, and also that West Virginia’s protection of girls’ sports may further violate the Constitution. The Biden-appointed judge who wrote this absurd decision repeatedly used the propaganda term “sex assigned at birth,” as if sex were arbitrary and merely “assigned” to a newborn. On the contrary,...

California is suing Huntington Beach over its voter identification measure, recently passed by voters, hoping to stop the city from asking residents to present proof of identification when voting at in-person polling locations. “It is violative of California state election law, undermines that process and threatens the constitutionally protected right to vote,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta at a news conference in Los Angeles on Monday, April 15. Secretary of State Shirley Weber, who oversees elections across California, said the voter ID requirement would disenfranchise voters and called it a solution in search of a problem. “This voter ID...