Free Republic

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla) announced that the state's use of federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program will be modified, saying "taxpayer-funded assistance should help families put food on the table, keep the lights on, purchase clothing, provide for their children and overcome barriers on the path toward independence. Tattoos and body piercings, theme park tickets, video games, vaping products, nicotine products, pornography, and psychic and fortune-telling services will no longer be funded, These new prohibitions will be added to our state's prior prohibitions of purchases of alcohol, adult entertainment businesses, casinos, and commercial bingo establishments and any other...

Rescuers raced Monday to free hundreds of workers believed to be trapped in tunnels at hydropower sites that were buried in mud by catastrophic flooding on the Nepal-China border, as the death toll climbed and increasingly desperate families searched for missing loved ones. “These tunnels are big enough to drive trucks through,” said Jakob Steiner, a geoscientist at the University of Graz in Austria based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. “And from what we understand, they have managed to get oxygen to some of those stuck inside and are trying to rescue them now. It’s a race for time, though, as people...

I’ve been on a bit of an anti-woman kick in my writing (see here and here)—not because I actually hate women (I am one), but because I’ve been dealing with a lot of awful women in recent weeks. One such exchange comes to mind, and there’s a point in it I’d like to make. Every summer, I buy a pool membership pass at a local country club because it allows me some suntanning time, and my 8-year-old logs lots of swimming hours. But let me be clear: This is not some fancy-schmancy club—snobby people are not my people. The club...

All the shopper wanted was to buy a laptop. Instead, a routine trip to a Best Buy turned into a bizarre confrontation over gender, pronouns and whether a customer should be compelled to address a biological male employee as “ma’am.” Video of the encounter shows the Best Buy employee, who presented with a distinctly masculine appearance, objecting after the customer referred to the employee as “sir.” The employee insisted on being addressed as “ma’am.” The customer wasn't having it. His position was straightforward: the person standing in front of him appeared to be a man, and he wasn't going to...

The New Axis of Evil, Democrats, communists and Muslims who hate God, hate America, hate us, hate democracy, and hate REALITY thinks we will just roll over and let them take over. It is time to bring back the HUAC the House Un-American Activities Committee and make TX Congressman Brandon Gill its Chair.

Hasan Piker, two weeks ago, delivered this message: "Democrats, listen to me, I know we don't always see eye to eye on a lot of stuff, but you have to literally, at some point – I know you don't want to do this – defend me. Not because you love what I have to say, not because I'm part of this coalition, even though I am, whether you like it or not … I'm not this dangerous, toxic radical force." Was that a warning or a threat? Some 10 days later, what did this non-"dangerous, toxic radical force" say? "Because...

When visiting a new place, one should follow local rules and customs. Hence the old axiom, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” Apparently, in modern Britain, that requires a nine-page government instruction manual. The U.K. Home Office recently published “Understanding Behaviours and Expectations in the UK: A Guide for Asylum Seekers.” It begins by acknowledging the obvious: We understand that coming to a new country can be difficult, and that laws and customs here may be different from your home country. Fair enough. Every country has its own laws and customs. But the British government’s instructions go well...

[S]uffragettes argued that women possessed the same intellectual capabilities to exercise political judgement as men, and therefore they should be granted the same political privileges as their husbands, fathers, brothers, and sons. Unfortunately for women, Lindsay Clancy truthers are now doing their best to prove those suffragettes wrong. Women’s constitutions and hormonal balances are so precarious, they argue, that women should be exempted from our criminal laws and ruled incapable of making moral judgments. Sounds oddly reminiscent of the “sexist” men they claim to detest. It’s highly unlikely that a majority of women would condone Clancy’s actions, but a nonzero...

We’ve seen neither hide nor (wig) hair of Democrat Maxine Waters in several months. Don’t misinterpret that as a complaint. But she's back and crazy as ever. She recently appeared on political commentator Roland Martin’s podcast. She says the friction between the Democrat Party and its Democratic Socialists of America members is being spurred on by the ‘white media.’

President Trump's order to rename Lake Ontario to "Lake America" is stirring up more controversy, as tech companies decide whether to comply or not. The big picture: Google and other digital map providers — like MapQuest and Apple — have split on whether to accept the name change or keep Lake Ontario on their maps. Driving the news: An Axios review of Google and Apple Maps on Sunday showed Google now says "Lake America" on mobile and desktop, while Apple Maps says Lake Ontario. Google said Saturday that it had changed the maps in accordance with updates from the U.S....

A U.N. committee warned Monday a host countries are legally bound to offer immediate cash settlements as reparations for the transatlantic slave trade alongside other yet to be determined measures – including, but not limited to “truth commissions” – to address the “enduring legacy of racial discrimination” it cautions still envelops the world to this day. The beneficiaries will be “people of African descent.”

Judge Jeannette Vargas [U.S. District Court - Southern District of New York] concluded...that the policy was contrary to law because it violated the INA's prohibition against restricting immigration benefits from aliens "based solely on their nationality." Moreover, Judge Vargas held that the policy unlawfully overrode consular officer discretion and decision-making authority that must dictate whether an immigrant visa is granted or denied.

For years, most of us have met artificial intelligence through screens. We type a question into a chatbot, ask a phone assistant for the weather, or use an app that recommends music, videos, or shopping ideas. But a new wave of technology is moving AI off the screen and into the things we wear. These devices are called AI wearables. They can look like smart glasses, earbuds, watches, rings, pendants, pins, or even clothing. Instead of sitting on a desk or inside an app, the assistant is with you as you walk, travel, learn, work, cook, exercise, and explore the...

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is facing opposition from the city's largest teachers union after his administration filed a lawsuit seeking to block a City Council measure that would provide bonuses of up to $10,000 for education paraprofessionals, as reported by Fox News. The dispute places Mamdani at odds with the United Federation of Teachers, which endorsed him after he secured the Democratic nomination for New York City mayor in July 2025. Last month, the New York City Council unanimously approved the RESPECT Check Act, legislation designed to provide bonuses of up to $10,000 to education paraprofessionals. The measure...

The leaders of China, Russia and India gathered with other heads of state in Kyrgyzstan on Monday for the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a group billed as a counterweight to U.S. global influence. Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are attending the events in Bishkek, the capital of the Central Asian nation. Putin met separately with Xi and Modi in two of the many bilateral sessions on the sidelines of the summit, Russian state media reported. Putin affirmed to Xi Moscow’s readiness to make the visa-free regime with China permanent,...

President Donald Trump has threatened to blow up Kharg Island to "smithereens" after Iran attacked two US bases in Jordan following a US strike on two launchers on Iran's Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz. ~snip~ In another post on Monday, the president said that they are a "failed nation" with sky-high inflation, no navy and no air force. "The only thing they have is FAKE NEWS from the USA, a willingness to kill their protesters (now over 100,000 people dead. They must be tried for war crimes against humanity!), and a good line of 'BULLSH*T,'" Trump added.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Monday announced an inter-agency crackdown on fraud in the trucking industry. The pair appeared alongside White House Fraud Task Force Vice Chairman Andrew Ferguson and other officials in a joint press conference in Detroit, Mich. "Today, what we are announcing is an emergency executive shutdown of 110 driving schools," Duffy said. The Transportation secretary further indicated that many driving schools had credentialed unqualified drivers and many more lacked proper facilities to train truck drivers. "We also have shut down 160 additional schools," he added, indicating that they lacked proper...

How to flip a district RE This Red to Blue climate hawk needs your help Randy Villegas is a people-powered climate hawk running against a fossil fueled Republican incumbent — David Valadao — in the swing-y California 22nd district. Valadao has been challenged before, but has always managed to hang on to power. This year, Californians voted to redraw the map, and Democrats out-voted republicans in the Primary. That means, if Democrats unite as they should behind Villegas, he’ll flip this red to blue seat. But the Primary was contentious, and weeks ago. We need to remind working class democrats...

Elitist, establishment Republicans like to throw the late William F. Buckley Jr.’s name around as someone who allegedly would not approve of President Donald Trump and the MAGA movement. Considered the intellectual dean of modern conservatism, Buckley founded National Review in 1955, the nation’s premier conservative magazine for many years, and hosted the PBS political talk show “Firing Line” for 33 years. Well, as someone who started a website to carry on his legacy, Intellectual Conservative, I can tell you the critics are flat out wrong.Buckley got a bad rap in his later years due to National Review turning somewhat...

Retail giant Target came under fire this week for selling a "Blacklight Circus Clown Halloween Costume," which essentially amounted to a kid in blackface dressed like a Jim Crow-era minstrel. Whoops! However, that wasn't the only costume Target was forced to pull from its shelves. Here are seven other costumes that got the axe: