Free Republic

California is one step closer to banning disposable nicotine vapes — with environmentalists arguing the gadgets’ metals would be better off in electric vehicle batteries. State lawmakers passed Assembly Bill 762 Wednesday, sending the measure to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk for a signature or veto — with repeat violators facing civil fines of up to $2,000. The bill would permanently ban disposable, battery-embedded vapor inhalation devices containing tobacco products, prohibiting anyone from “importing or manufacturing” them for sale in California starting Jan. 1, 2027. It would also prevent the sale of those kinds of e-cigarettes starting on Jan. 1, 2028....

We are demanding that YouTube remove a music video which shows a Satanic ritual abortion. The video was uploaded by the Satanic Temple.The ritual abortion was carried out on Friday March 13 inside a bathroom at an unknown Hobby Lobby arts and crafts store. Hobby Lobby may have been targeted because of its evangelical Protestant ethos. According to a text contained in the video the ritual murder of the baby was carried out to “empower the patient against those with theocratic religious convictions.” They claim that: “the ritual wards off the effects of unjust persecution, which can cause one to...

For the roughly 15 million college undergraduates in the United States, the benefits of pursuing higher education include better employment prospects, greater social mobility, and even longer-lasting marriages. Research released last year, however, finds that at least one important life outcome — political ideology — is heavily dependent not merely on the decision to attend college, but also on the particular subjects students choose to study. The paper, authored by Israeli academics Yoav Goldstein and Matan Kolerman, used survey responses from nearly 500 American colleges and universities to isolate the political impact of students’ choice of college majors. Those who...

A Honduran agitator arrested earlier this year at an anti-ICE protest in Southern California was busted by Homeland Security agents Friday on charges of illegally registering to vote — part of a crackdown on suspected election fraud in California. Darwin Jonathan Rivera Flores, 30, a Honduran national living in the San Fernando Valley, is accused of two felonies related to his false claims of US citizenship to complete voter registration forms, prosecutors say. Rivera Flores’ early-morning arrest outside a health-care center in Ventura is just the beginning of a war on suspected election fraud that has the full support of...

Both the Democratic Party establishment and the GOP have been flat-footed in their responses to the Democratic Socialists of America and their “Summer of Love.” The Democrats, led by invertebrate castratos like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, have mostly ducked when asked about the DSA’s plans to destroy the US Constitution, nationalize 90% of the economy and decapitate our mechanisms of law and order. They’ve taken cover behind the empty “Big Tent” lie as radical DSA members and allies, like Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed and Colorado’s Melat Kiros, triumph in Democratic primaries. The GOP, for...

Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, a Ugandan king who became the world’s youngest reigning monarch when he was crowned at the age of 3 in 1995, has died. He was 34. Rukidi IV, the ruler of the small Kingdom of Tooro in Uganda’s west, died around 10 p.m. local time Thursday, Tooro Prime Minister Calvin Armstrong Rwomiire Akiiki announced. “This is an immeasurable loss to the Royal Family, the people of Tooro and the nation of Uganda,” he said in a statement. “I call upon all the people of Tooro to remain united, calm and prayerful during this profoundly...

Rob Sand, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee in Iowa, had a one-word response to whether Kamala Harris should run for U.S. President in 2028. Harris served as the Vice President from 2021 to 2025 under Joe Biden. Biden endorsed Harris for the 2024 presidential campaign against Donald Trump. Iowa Democrat believes Kamala Harris shouldn't run for President in 2028 Democratic nominee Rob Sand is not endorsing Kamala Harris for President in 2028. Politico's Jonathan Martin asked him whether Harris should run for President again, to which Sand replied curtly, "Nope." Sand dodged the previous question when Martin asked him whether he'd...

Left or right, taxpayers shouldn’t have to subsidize political activism they oppose, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is drafting plans to ensure they don’t by revoking tax exemptions from bogus political “charities.” As The Post’s James Franey reports, Bessent and the IRS are taking a hard look at the conduct of up to a dozen or so high-profile lefty nonprofits — including George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Council on American-Islamic Relations — with an eye toward possibly revoking their tax-exempt status. That could mean a $165 million windfall in new tax payments from...

Maybe he thought it was strip steak? A Houston dad got a shocking surprise when a DoorDash driver delivered food to him and his daughter while as naked as a jaybird. Kiante Matlock said he was inside his home playing video games with his daughter Monday when he got a phone notification alerting him the order had arrived. But when he checked his Ring camera, he realized to his horror that the driver who dropped off the food was stark naked. The incredible footage showed the driver, who had shoulder-length dreadlocks, placing their order on the front porch and then...

An Atlanta woman who participated in a scheme that defrauded Amazon out of nearly $10 million was sentenced to over 16 years in federal prison on Wednesday, the Justice Department announced. The US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia said in a release that Brittany Hudson was sentenced to 16 years and three months in federal prison after she and her partner used a business relationship with Amazon to defraud the e-commerce giant. Hudson was convicted in March of 30 felony offenses that involved wire fraud, money laundering, related conspiracy charges and a count related to the forgery...

New York will get its first new nuclear plant in nearly 40 years as the state grapples with soaring energy costs while scrambling to meet increased energy demands. The new reactor would be built on the grounds of the US Army’s Fort Drum in the North Country with the goal of being fully operational within five years, officials said. “We are building the energy resilience necessary to project combat power globally, without relying on potentially vulnerable external grids,” US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said in a statement. The new plant — the Empire State’s first new reactor since 1988 —...

The millionaire parents of the silver-spoon socialist DSA leader were slapped with a $2,500 fine after they were caught renovating their ritzy Brooklyn row home without permits. The parents of Gustavo Gordillo, boss of the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, were slapped with a summons for the $1.4 million rehaul of their Decatur Street digs in Bed-Stuy where their self-proclaimed anti-capitalist nepo baby lives. The property, which was purchased for just under $1 million but was valued around $1.5 million before the extensive work, made headlines last week when The Post revealed the DSA co-chair...

Two workers at Germany’s busiest airport have died of malaria amid an outbreak in the travel hub believed to be caused by mosquitoes that arrived on a plane. Two Frankfurt Airport workers died after contracting the illness transmitted by mosquitoes, a spokesperson for Fraport, which operates the airport, told the BBC late Wednesday. The pair of workers, who have not yet been identified, were sickened in a rare outbreak first detected in July, according to the airport. A total of six male airport employees in different jobs and areas of the airport were infected with malaria in the outbreak, the...

Dolly Parton’s death this week has nothing to do with the name of the new tropical storm that formed in the Atlantic on Thursday, according to the National Hurricane Center. “The timing of the use of the name Dolly for this storm is purely coincidental,” said NHC senior hurricane specialist Eric Blake. The NHC felt the need to clarify that the name Dolly has been on the official Atlantic hurricane season name list for some time, as the alphabetical choices originate from the World Meteorological Organization. The WMO maintains a list of six years’ worth of names for 21 of...

In Siberia, there is a huge crater commonly known as the gateway to hell. Scientists think they have a lot to learn about our planet’s future from this crater. Credit: Contains Modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2020 – CC BY-SA IGO 3.0 In the cold and unhospitable environment of Siberia, a giant hole is breaking open the land. This hole has the shape of a stingray, and it is viewable from space. The story of this “Gateway to Hell” in Siberia dates back to the Cold War, as shown by declassified imagery from the 1960s, when it was barely visible. Now,...

WASHINGTON — Trump administration-funded researchers and independent collaborators found a startling correlation between proponents of a transgender ideology and left-wing violence, according to a new report obtained by The Post and set to be released Wednesday. The new study from researchers at Rutgers University, the right-leaning Manhattan Institute and Network Contagion Research Institute found that those normalizing transgender beliefs were more likely to be supportive of political violence. Respondents were quizzed about six potential targets of political violence for the study: “killing Charlie Kirk, killing Donald Trump, killing Brian Thompson, arson of ICE buildings, damaging wealthy people’s property, and violence...

New York’s Amish community is issuing an ultimatum to state bureaucrats: leave us alone or we’re packing up our buggies for greener pastures. The threat has been sparked by a vaccine mandate fight that the 25,000 strong religious community is taking all the way to the Supreme Court. It takes place as state Health Department officials continue to slap thousands in fines on tiny, one-room parochial Amish schools which have refused to comply with a Cuomo-era vaccine decree. “Have we gotten to a place where we aren’t going to make room for the Amish anymore?” Hiram Sasser, an attorney representing...

A New York City nonprofit representing hundreds of small supermarkets, bodegas and grocery store owners is suing Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the city in an effort to stop his plan to open five government-owned grocery stores. The Multicultural Business Coalition, a group representing small business owners, filed a class-action lawsuit in New York County Supreme Court Monday, alleging Mamdani’s plan violates the civil rights of smaller, minority-owned grocery stores as they cannot afford to match the discounts offered by the city-run stores. “You cannot expect hard-working small business owners to compete with a supermarket that isn’t going to pay rent,...

A 14-year-old Georgia girl murdered her mom — shooting her in the back of the head when she was in bed — after chickening out of a planned school shooting “inspired” by mass killers. Lilyana Wagner’s cold-blooded killing of mom Rachel Wagner, 51, was discovered after she crashed her mom’s car in Tinton in November 2024 — and was found with the center of her hair shaved off, it emerged Monday as the now-16-year-old killer was sentenced to life in prison. After the crash, cops tried calling the mom, who did not answer and had not turned up at work...

Five years ago today, a suicide bomber killed 13 Marines and 170 civilians in an attack on Kabul airport that came to symbolize the chaotic and ill-conceived withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. But the Abbey Gate bombing was only one part of the heavily flawed August 2021 evacuation. Afghan forces turned their weapons on civilians during the chaos, and local allies who had worked with US forces for decades were left to be slaughtered by the Taliban, according to “The Path to Zero,” a hard-hitting Wall Street Journal documentary out today. The feature is bookended by choppy bodycam footage...