Free Republic

In the last five years, England and Wales has witnessed a significant rise in DIY abortions at home due to policy changes allowing self-administration of abortion pills. (Christian Concern) — In the last five years across England and Wales, at least 39,000 women have been treated at NHS hospitals for complications arising from failed or incomplete DIY medical abortions at home; in the past, these complications would have been treated at the abortion providers’ facilities. Five years ago, abortion was only provided at approved abortion facilities. On December 27, 2018, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care permitted...

The pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses across the U.S. are highlighting the gender divide in the younger generations. There is something interesting hidden in the viral video of the Pi Kappa Phi frat students from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill protecting and raising the American flag as angry protestors looked on in vitriolic rage. Young men are guarding the flag, while the protestors who are screaming and hurling obscenities at them appear to be mostly young women. (Thread) Today was a sad yet empowering day at Chapel Hill. When I walked to class, I saw the Palestinian flag...

Politicized faculty, infantilized students, and mediocre classes have combined to erode the prestige of college degrees, even at once elite colleges. Elite higher education in America—long unquestioned as globally preeminent—is facing a perfect storm. Fewer applicants, higher costs, impoverished students, collapsing standards, and increasingly politicized and mediocre faculty reflect a collapse of the university system. The country is waking up to the reality that a bachelor’s degree no longer equates with graduates being broadly educated and analytical. Just as often, they are stereotyped as pampered, largely ignorant, and gratuitously opinionated. No wonder polls show a drastic loss of public respect...

Louisiana Supreme Court voted to allow residents to secede from crime-ridden, Democrat-run Baton Rouge and create their own city. They plan to call the new city St. George. It will have 100,000 people, one of the largest populations of any city in the state. These people want a safe city. The Baton Rouge residents have fought for a decade to split from the city to form their own suburb following a state Supreme Court ruling.

The family of a gay British-Mexican man held in Qatar for alleged drug offences has given further details of what they say was a "honeytrap" operation using the gay dating app, Grindr. Manuel Guerrero Aviña was approached online by a man called "Gio" and they arranged to meet - but he was instead met by police and arrested on false drug charges, Manuel's brother Enrique told the BBC. Manuel, who has HIV, has now completely run out of his usual medication, his family says. They want the UK government to bring him back home for treatment. Amnesty International has described...

Biden announced on Wednesday that the White House would forgive more than $6.1 billion on student loan debt for 317,000 borrowers who attended The Art Institutes, a private art school system in the U.S. that shuttered last year

The head of a university in Iran is reportedly offering scholarships to students in the U.S. who have been expelled for taking part in pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campuses. Mohammad Moazzeni, head of Shiraz University in the southern region of Fars, extended his proposal to those protesting Israel's actions in its war against Hamas, following clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement across America. "Students and even professors who have been expelled or threatened with expulsion can continue their studies at Shiraz University and I think that other universities in Shiraz as well as Fars Province are also prepared [to provide the...

Politicians and faith leaders have condemned the incident at the Polish capital's Nożyk Synagogue, which follows similar acts across Europe. Warsaw's main synagogue was attacked with firebombs early on Wednesday by an unknown perpetrator, but sustained minimal damage and nobody was hurt, Poland's chief rabbi said. The incident was strongly condemned by political leaders. The attack on the Nożyk Synagogue happened around 1 am, Rabbi Michael Schudrich told The Associated Press.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected an attempt from left-wing organizations to have the court reconsider a ruling that found unelected bureaucrats were wrong to accept thousands of undated or incorrectly dated ballots during the 2020 election. A three-judge panel for the 3rd Circuit ruled in a 2-1 decision in March that any mail-in ballots that arrive in envelopes missing a date or with an incorrect date are invalid, upholding a state law and overturning a lower court’s decision. Several left-wing organizations appealed the ruling by petitioning the court to review the decision en banc, a petition which...

Another whistleblower who publicly spoke out about safety issues with Boeing planes has died, less than two months after fellow whistleblower John Barnett died from a gunshot wound police have yet to finish investigating. Joshua Dean, a former quality auditor at Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems and one of the first to allege wilful ignorance of manufacturing defects on the notorious 737 MAX, died after a "short and sudden illness", the Seattle Times reports. The 45-year-old was reportedly "known for a healthy lifestyle" but fell ill and was admitted to hospital a little over two weeks ago due to breathing difficulties....

On Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Alex Wagner Tonight,” Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) stated that Republicans are “trying to weaponize antisemitism” by bringing bills that divide Democrats on the subject, like the Antisemitism Awareness Act, up for a vote. And that if we wanted to fight antisemitism “we would bring a bipartisan bill and we would have a whole of government approach that involves educating people about what antisemitism is and what it isn’t and making sure that we are all speaking with one voice.” Host Alex Wagner asked, “Do you have sort of a thesis as...

There are reports that police are about to remove the UCLA protest encampment. Get the latest on the situation with the UCLA protest encampment and police in our LIVE breaking news coverage. In this interactive live stream, host Steve Lookner brings you the newest updates and news on reports that police are going to disperse the pro-Palestinian protesters and remove encampment at UCLA, and he’ll also read your comments and questions on the air!

A group of six Republican state attorneys general filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration’s Department of Education on Tuesday over what they said were “radical and illegal” changes to Title IX rules.The lawsuit, led by Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman and Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky.In their legal filing, the GOP attorneys general argued that the department overstepped its authority when rolling out new updates to Title IX rules that expanded protections to students by incorporating gender identity into the legal text.They further claimed the changes...

Just as Russia had started to bring back some refinery capacity damaged by Ukrainian drone attacks earlier this year, a new wave of drone attacks hit a major refinery owned by Rosneft, for a second time.Rosneft’s Ryazan refinery southeast of Moscow caught fire after the overnight drone attack, an anonymous Ukrainian military source with knowledge of the situation told Bloomberg News on Wednesday.The refinery in the region of Ryazan, whose main city of the same name is some 120 miles southeast of Moscow, was first attacked by drones in the middle of March. The first attack also led to a...

The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) last week released its next five-year plan for the State Water Project—Update 2023. After years of meetings, California’s premier water agency has decided to focus on “three intersecting themes: addressing climate urgency, strengthening watershed resilience, and achieving equity in water management.”Lake Shasta Dam in Shasta Lake, Calif., on Feb. 14, 2023. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times)Water supplies for California’s 40 million people and the planet’s most productive agriculture have third- to fifth-level priority.There is nothing new here, except to publicly admit to betraying the public trust. Really?Over several decades, the public has been deceived...

Dozens of Google workers who were fired for protesting the tech giant’s cloud deal with the Israeli government filed a complaint on Monday with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) over their termination.The complaint, obtained by The Washington Post, alleges that Google violated the workers’ rights by “terminating and/or placing them on administrative leave in response to their protected concerted activity, namely, participation (or perceived participation) in a peaceful, non-disruptive protest that was directly and explicitly connected to their terms and conditions of work.”The workers are seeking reinstatement of their jobs and back pay, alleging that Google had “unlawfully retaliated”...

Colombia broke diplomatic ties with Israel, becoming the second Latin American country to do so since the beginning of the war in Gaza. Bolivia broke diplomatic ties with Israel last fall over the war, while Cuba and Venezuela haven't recognized the country since 1973 and 2009, respectively. Colombia, having already previously withdrawn its ambassador from the country shortly after the beginning of the war, took things a step further by cutting all ties with Israel, President Gustavo Petro announced on Wednesday. "Here in front of you, the government of change, of the president of the republic announces that tomorrow we...

May is Mental Health Awareness Month in the United States. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, participants use the month to focus efforts on “eradicating stigma, extending support, fostering public education and advocating for policies that prioritize the well-being of individuals and families affected by mental illness.”The topic of suicide is an important part of this conversation. As Statista's Anna Fleck shows in the following chart, it is a truly global issue, even though estimated rates vary around the world. For example, according to OECD data, out of every 100,000 men in the United States an average of...

An unprecedented wave of antisemitism has been rising in the United States, including violent protests, tent encampments, harassment of Jewish and Israeli students, and aggressive anti-Israel and anti-Jewish messages. Those who monitored Qatar's covert activity in the US and its massive financial influx saw it as a natural continuation of promoting extremist agendas under the guise of supporting science and students. "Qatar had ideological goals, primarily to promote the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood," explained Dr. Charles Asher Small, CEO of the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism (ISGAP), and organization Vice Chairman David Harris, in a New York...

In an interview on Monday, radically pro-abortion former Speaker Nancy Pelosi made the Democrats extreme abortion agenda crystal clear. She said that if Democrats win Congress, they will kill the filibuster in the Senate so they can legalize abortions up to birth nationwide. This is a stark reminder to every pro-life voter in America that pro-life Republicans must win Congress and Joe Biden can’t be re-elected. In an interview Monday on MSNBC’s “Katy Tur Reports,” Pelosi falsely claimed “People have to view abortion as a democracy issue. This is about freedom to make your own decisions for a woman. It’s...