Free Republic

There is a Christmas manufactured for display windows and marketing campaigns, bright, hurried, and quickly forgotten. There is the Christmas our Founders knew, quiet, severe, inward, and bound to something far older and more demanding than comfort. They did not inherit a nation wrapped in ribbon. They brought one into being through cold hands, empty stomachs, and resolute faith. When George Washington crossed the Delaware on Christmas night, there were no speeches to stir the heart and no crowds to bear witness. There was no certainty of success. There was only an obligation. The men who followed him were unpaid,...

The letter to chief federal judge in Miami is an extraordinary injection by Brennan's defense team and likely signals his lawyers fear an indictment is imminent. =============================================================== Former CIA Director John Brennan's lawyers have taken the extraordinary step of confirming their client is a "target" of a criminal grand jury investigation in Florida and are asking the chief federal judge in Miami to stop the proceedings on the grounds that the Justice Department is "judge shopping." The revelations came in a letter that defense lawyers Ken Wainstein and Natasha Harnwell Davis sent Monday to U.S. District Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga,...

A federal judge ruled Monday to keep a temporary order in place, preventing Trump officials from re-detaining illegal Salvadoran immigrant and alleged gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia. “U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis said she was concerned the administration might try to take Abrego back into custody ‘in the middle of the night’ before she could take steps to ensure due process in his case, and she dressed down a Justice Department lawyer for repeated misrepresentations by the U.S. government,” The Washington Post reported. “Once again, I’m making a finding that these representations, which are misrepresentations, are in bad faith,” she...

The group of men challenging their deportations include migrants who were deported to a prison in El Salvador under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act in March, over allegations that they were members of Tren de Aragua. ================================================================= Federal District Court Judge James Boasberg ruled Monday that the Trump administration must allow Venezuelan men who were deported earlier this year to return to the United States to fight allegations they were part of violent gangs. The group of men challenging their deportations include migrants who were deported to a prison in El Salvador under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act in March,...

As part of its celebration of the 250th anniversary of American independence, the Claremont Institute’s Center for the American Way of Life has published my Provocation, “Government by the Unelected: How it Happened, and How it Might be Tamed.” This full-length essay seeks to assess how the Founders’ principles have fared after 250 years. I argue that government by the consent of the governed has gradually diminished—especially in the 20th and 21st centuries—and has been substantially replaced by the government of a permanent, unelected, and allegedly expert class. The fuller work traces the history of this development, pointing both to...

Among those joining AAF are John Malcolm, the head of the foundation’s legal and judicial studies center, Kevin Dayaratna, the head of the foundation’s data analysis center and Richard Stern, the director of the foundation’s economic policy studies institute. AAF says it is bringing on about a dozen other staff members. Malcolm is taking seven members of his center’s team.

Pop superstar Nicki Minaj on Sunday gave an ominous warning against allowing people filled with the spirit of anti-Christ to be hold power in America. Appearing with Erika Kirk at Turning Point USA's AmericaFest in Phoenix, Arizona, Minaj said it's not just Nigeria that is facing vicious persecution of those who follow the teachings of Jesus. "Christians have been being persecuted right here in our country in different ways," Minaj said. "So when we talk about Nigeria and other countries, know that prior administrations saw nothing wrong with that, and that's what was wrong with them." "I truly feel that...

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has erupted at the nation’s leaders over the Bondi terror attack, reiterating her longstanding warnings about mass immigration, Islam, and multiculturalism. Speaking today, the 71-year-old said Australians who continue to vote for major parties should expect “what we’re going to get”. Ms Hanson said the violence reflected a broader breakdown in social cohesion and national identity, which she blamed on immigration policy and political leadership. “(If) you keep voting for these bastards who actually don’t have pride for our country, Australia, our flag, then be prepared to get what we’re going to get,” Hanson said....

Each Supreme Court term typically includes at least one explosive case that inflames political passions and captures the public imagination. When the court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, or when it greatly broadened presidential immunity, as it did last year in Trump v. the United States, or when it ruled against race-based college admissions in 2023, it reaffirmed its centrality and reminded voters that it mattered. As it happens, very few Americans can name the chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (surveys show it is consistently under 16 percent), but most know instinctively the high...

As Washington state residents take stock of widespread damage, officials say the recent succession of storms highlights why proactive work to protect communities from flooding is so essential. But the Trump administration has delayed or attempted to cut federal funding for some of those projects, leaving a slate of the state’s major initiatives in limbo. Washington had secured tens of millions of dollars in federal grants for projects to elevate houses, move people away from flood-prone areas and protect homes with new levees, among other measures. But earlier this year, the Trump administration attempted to cancel roughly $182 million in...

As the only president elected to four terms and who saw the country through two of its greatest cataclysms — the Great Depression and World War II — biographies of Franklin Roosevelt were certain to treat him as a magnificent figure of enduring accomplishment. In many respects he deserves this exalted regard: He transformed American government in fundamental ways, led the nation in the Second World War, created the building blocks for the postwar world order and left behind the durable New Deal Democratic Party coalition that dominated American politics for most of the next half-century, ending more than 70...

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) said he wishes someone could have told President Trump “how math works” before touting his administration’s successes 11 months into his second term at the White House. “Somebody must have showed him some, like, abysmal poll numbers and said, ‘You better get out there in front of the American people and explain to them why these poll numbers shouldn’t be in the toilet,'” Kelly said late Wednesday on “The Briefing with Jen Psaki” on MS NOW, formerly MSNBC. “So, and then — and then I wish somebody would tell him how math works,” Kelly continued. “You...

Elon Musk’s 2018 CEO pay package from Tesla , worth some $56 billion when it vested, must be restored, the Delaware Supreme Court ruled Friday. “We reverse the Court of Chancery’s rescission remedy and award $1 in nominal damages,” the judges wrote in their opinion. In the decision out Friday, the Delaware Supreme Court judges said a lower court’s decision to rescind Musk’s 2018 pay plan was too extreme a remedy, and the lower court did not give Tesla a chance to say what a fair compensation ought to be. The decision on the appeal in this case, known as...

PHOENIX — Downtown Phoenix became the center of conservative politics Thursday night as Turning Point USA kicked off Americafest 2025 at the Phoenix Convention Center, marking the first time the annual event has been held since the assassination of its founder, Charlie Kirk.Each December, Americafest draws thousands of attendees from across the country along with prominent conservative figures. This year, Kirk’s absence loomed large over the opening night of the conference, which he created as a celebration of the work done by his nonprofit organization.Despite that loss, the message from the stage was clear: the mission Kirk started will continue.The...

A disembodied notion of American identity means that America is really nothing at all, and no one is really an American.You might have noticed there is a heated debate underway on the American right over the question of American identity. What makes someone an American? Is it based on lineage or is it propositional? Is America a nation and a people, or is it an idea based on universal principles?After World War Two, these questions were largely swept under the rug. The dominant narrative, pushed by nearly every mainstream institution and both political parties, was that America was a credal,...

Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan has been found guilty of one count against her and not guilty of another. She was found guilty of impeding a proceeding, a felony, but not guilty of the less serious misdemeanor charge of concealing an individual to prevent his arrest or discovery. The jury announced the decision after 8:30 p.m. at the federal courthouse in Milwaukee. The charges stem from an April 18 incident, in which Dugan led a man through a side door of her Milwaukee County courtroom. That happened after federal agents showed up at the courthouse to arrest the man for...

Ben Shapiro joins Heritage President Dr. Kevin Roberts live for remarks and in-depth discussion of his New York Times bestseller, Lions and Scavengers: The True Story of America (and Her Critics). Together, they examine the cultural, political, and moral challenges shaping the nation and outline the competing visions for America’s future, offering a clear look at the crossroads ahead and what it will take for the “Lions” to prevail.

A federal appeals court has overturned the gun conviction of a man who had failed to pay child support, saying that sort of crime shouldn’t have cost him his gun rights for the rest of his life. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday in a 2-1 decision that as long as he was current in his payments, his past felony conviction doesn’t automatically make him too dangerous to society to possess a firearm. “So there’s no historical justification to disarm him at that moment — never mind for the rest of his life,” Judge James Ho, a...

Individuals and communities must take responsibility for their own safety.At Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, a father-son team of ISIS-inspired terrorists murdered attendees at a celebration of the first day of Hanukkah. One of the attackers was disarmed by a heroic civilian who was shot in the process, while others lost their lives trying to help. You are reading The Rattler from J.D. Tuccille and Reason. Get more of J.D.'s commentary on government overreach and threats to everyday liberty. Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese responded to the shooting with promises to further tighten gun laws in the already restrictive country—a...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled that the National Guard deployment in the nation’s capital can continue for now, staying a lower-court ruling that had ordered an end to the troops’ presence. The three-judge panel for U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that Donald Trump may prevail in his argument that the president “possesses a unique power” to mobilize the Guard in Washington, which is a federal district. The ruling stops the implementation of U.S. District Court Judge Jia Cobb’s Nov. 20 opinion and order, and reaffirms that residents and visitors...