Free Republic

A sweeping new bill in New York would force major retailers and manufacturers to cut down on plastic packaging used for everyday staples including toilet paper, paper towels and diapers. The rules would apply to large companies with sales above $5 million that sell or distribute covered products in New York, hitting giants including Walmart, Target and Kroger. Under the proposal, manufacturers would have to reduce non-reusable or non-environmentally friendly packaging by 10 percent within three years and by 30 percent within 12 years. The bill also sets long-term targets for packaging to become reusable, refillable or recyclable, with deadlines...

Jennifer Erie had planned to spend 20 years working in foreign public service. Instead, her 17-year career ended abruptly when the overseas public health office she led was dismantled. Seven months later, back home in Prince George’s County, she has submitted more than 250 job applications — and landed just two interviews. “It was such a shock to my system,” Erie told The Baltimore Sun in a phone interview. “I have so much trauma. …This came out of nowhere, and I was unprepared.” Her experience reflects a broader strain across Maryland, where a wave of federal layoffs, layered onto an...

President Trump proved to be a kingmaker in the Indiana and Ohio Republican primaries Tuesday night, where his seal of approval propelled several GOP candidates to landslide victories. In Indiana, Trump’s revenge campaign against incumbent state senators who torpedoed his push last year to redraw the Hoosier state’s congressional boundaries was largely successful – with the president’s preferred candidates winning five of six contests. A potential sixth victory for a Trump-endorsed candidate was still too close to call late Tuesday. “Everyone in Indiana politics should have learned an important lesson today: President Trump is the single most popular Republican among...

Former President Barack Obama’s presidential library is hocking pricey merch shaped like the unsightly Chicago tower — as the project’s architects revealed the former commander-in-chief himself was behind the “Death Star” design that’s been widely mocked since construction began. Ungainly lapel pins that “capture the silhouette” of the Obama Presidential Center are going for $30 in the online store. “The pin represents the intersection of bold design and global leadership,” the website reads, noting the proceeds go to the Obama Foundation “to inspire, empower and connect people to change their world.” Each pin is “handcrafted from unfired paper clay,” and...

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Perry Stone, a well-known evangelist, author and Bible teacher from Tennessee, warned that fellow pastors were recently invited to a secret meeting with US intelligence officials to prepare for the release of secret files on extraterrestrials. According to Stone, the officials warned a small group of pastors with a large reach in the Christian community that the government was about to release reports and possibly videos of aliens and spacecraft which were not from this planet.

Somehow — before his party finished reckoning with his legacy — Joe Biden returned. The former president waded into two Democratic primaries last week to endorse candidates who’d worked for his administration: Keisha Lance Bottoms in the Georgia gubernatorial race, and Dan Koh, who’s seeking an open House seat in Massachusetts. And in California’s gubernatorial battle, Biden’s former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra has picked up endorsements and momentum ever since disgraced ex-Rep. Eric Swalwell bowed out. He hasn’t gotten formal backing, but Becerra is running openly on his record in Biden’s administration. The beginnings of Biden nostalgia...

The twelve apostles included "Simon, who is called Peter" (Matt. 10:2). Jesus can make an impulsive and vacillating Christian as stable as a rock. The first disciple Matthew's gospel names is "Simon, who is called Peter" (Matt. 10:2). He was a fisherman by trade but Jesus called him to be a fisher of men. John 1:40-42 records their first encounter: "One of the two who heard John [the Baptist] speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He found first his own brother Simon, and . . . brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him, and said, 'You...

Dashcam video obtained by News4 shows the National Mall shooting Monday involving Secret Service officers. The Secret Service said a Texas man fired toward officers, who returned fire and hit him multiple times. A teen bystander was hit by the suspect’s gunfire and suffered a graze wound, authorities said. Gunshots can be heard in the video as drivers sit in traffic near Independence Avenue and 15th Street SW, just southeast of the Washington Monument. A man can be seen falling to the ground. “Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!” someone shouts. Police identified the man shot and wounded by the Secret Service as...

Daily Readings from the USCCB“Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.” John 15:4–5Jesus is the source of life and fruitfulness. Yet, too often, we try to bear fruit of our own making. Truly good fruit can only come forth if we remain in Christ, for He is...

Nearly three quarters of Irish people believe the EU should seek greater independence from the United States, an island-wide poll on attitudes to the European Union has suggested.With just weeks to go before Ireland assumes the EU presidency, support for the European Union remains high at 82%, although down from the peak of 93% in 2019 during the Brexit negotiations. The poll was conducted in the north and south simultaneously towards the end of March by Amárach Research on behalf of European Movement Ireland, based on a representative sample of 1,200 adults in both jurisdictions. The poll shows that at...

Nigel Farage has declared that Labour faces electoral annihilation in Wales on Thursday, telling a Reform rally the nation has been reduced to a "basket case" by more than 20 years of Labour governance. Addressing supporters in Merthyr Tydfil on Tuesday in what he billed as the campaign's "last big speech," Mr Farage cast the Senedd vote as a verdict on Sir Keir Starmer's time in Downing Street. Both Reform and Plaid Cymru have led opinion polls in the run-up to Thursday's vote, pushing Labour into third place. Mr Farage said: "The Labour Party have not lost an election in...

American and European foreign policy "elites" (globalists) are perpetually outraged and shocked at President Donald Trump’s attitude towards NATO. By suggesting that NATO doesn't have to go on forever, our nation's 47th commander in chief is shaking the status quo foreign policy establishment to its core. Any analysis of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (founded on April 4, 1949) should rightfully commence from the perspective of "What have you done for me lately?" So NATO, "What have you done for the United States, now and in years and decades past?" For the most part, we've witnessed nations less friendly to...

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he would briefly pause an operation to help escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz, citing progress toward a comprehensive agreement with Iran."We have mutually agreed that, while the Blockade will ‌remain in full force and effect, Project Freedom ... will be paused for a short period of time to see whether or not the Agreement can be finalized and signed," Trump wrote on social media.

In the more pearl-clutching over the SCOTUS Callais decision category, here's the latest lightning bolt to hit legacy media: Black voters, particularly younger Blacks, are leaning toward the GOP. Welcome to the party, pals. And break out the smelling salts for those who have fallen out, proclaiming it simply cannot be. Right-of-center media, and particularly our contributors here at RedState, have been documenting this shift for years. Its apex was realized in the election of Donald Trump in 2024, with Black support at record highs. As RedState reported in 2024: The wildcard in this election was the Black vote. Trump...

The Trump administration is cracking down hard on radical gender policies in public schools. The Department of Justice has launched full investigations into 36 Illinois school districts accused of helping children “change genders” without telling their parents and pushing sexual orientation and gender ideology without proper opt-out notifications.While blue-state bureaucrats treat families as obstacles, the DOJ is stepping in to enforce basic accountability and Supreme Court precedent. The review is also looking at whether the district’s violated parents right to opt their child out of lessons on gender and s*xuality.”🚨 BREAKING: The Trump administration launches investigations into DOZENS of Illinois...

The wife of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who is known for her alleged anti-Israeli views, randomly bumped into Miss Israel inside a cafe. Rama Duwaji, 28, and beauty queen Melanie Shiraz, 27, had a brief encounter on Sunday in the city that Shiraz claimed was a short but tense meeting. In a post to her Instagram page, Shiraz shared a selfie of the two alongside a clip of her talking, describing the chance meeting. She said: 'So guess who sat next to me at a cafe in New York, none other than Zohran Mamdani’s wife Rama Duwaji. 'The...

Former Bill Clinton pollster Mark Penn appeared on FOX News this week and suggested that the Democrat party has moved too far to the left for voters, citing polls that show them less favorable than Republicans despite the fact that we are headed into midterm season. Penn correctly points out that people like Graham Planer, AOC and Zohran Mamdani get all of the attention from the media, which drives Democrat interest in the radical base of their party. He seems to have real questions about how ell Democrats could do this fall. Transcript via Real Clear Politics: MACCALLUM: Quick response...

The Justice Department's top civil rights lawyer believes the Trump administration's lawsuit this week against the city of Denver's gun ban will one day soon lead to a Supreme Court decision legalizing the AR-15 semiautomatic rifle – revered by gun owners and reviled by liberals – in every jurisdiction in America. "We intend to make sure they do that," Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said in an interview set to be aired Wednesday night on the Just the News, No Noise television show. Dhillon spoke just hours after her office filed a lawsuit against the city of Denver over its...

Over the weekend, we saw Secretary of State Marco Rubio getting down in the DJ booth at a family wedding in Florida. At some point in the next 24 hours, he's going to hop on a plane to go have a nice little diplomatic chat with the pope and top Italian government officials. On Tuesday afternoon, he took a few moments out of his busy schedule to stop by the White House to fill in for Karolina Leavitt, who is currently on maternity leave. The result? A masterclass in foreign policy. As I write this, "Rubio 2028" is trending on...