Free Republic

One of the key turning points in the investigation happened in Italy. It is no coincidence that US Senator Lindsay Graham, one of Trump's closest allies and one of the leading critics of Mueller's investigation, has been visiting Rome over the last few days. There are many unanswered questions, one of the most important being: where is Joseph Mifsud? Il Foglio does not know, but it can reveal where he hid for seven months after disappearing: in Rome, in a rented flat paid by Link Campus University. Mifsud taught there, and Il Foglio understands that he owns 35 per cent...

"France is one of those countries that by printing money for 14 African stats prevents their economic development and contributes to the fact that refugees leave and die in the sea or arrive on our coasts." Italy's Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio of the Five Star Movement 1/21/2019 The right side of Italy's new outsider government through Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini of the League has been outspoken about stopping migrants reaching Italian shores and France shirking its responsibility to take migrants but the "Left Hook" has been applied to the French government and its policies. Luigi Di Maio,...

You want to take things from people? You want to take away their freedom? First you must disarm them. Then you may have your way with them One of the billions of pictured thought-captions floating around the web, asks this question: “Why is it that liberals demand gun control after every shooting - but never border control after every rape and murder by illegals?!” Those sorts of ‘memes’, as they’re called, perhaps rile people up. But, in the big picture, in the sea of words out there, that no one seems to slow down and sort through, it is a...

ANSA) - Rome, June 25 - The Democratic Party (PD) is again reflecting on how to turn around its fortunes after suffering another debacle in a round of runoff ballots for local elections in many Italian cities on Sunday. The centre-left lost traditional strongholds such as Massa, Pisa, Siena and Terni, as well as Ivrea, near Turin, which it had governed continuously since the Second World War. The PD slumped to its worst-ever showing in March's general election. The big winner on Sunday was the centre right, with hardline Interior Minister Matteo Salvini's League again the driving force. The anti-establishment...

When every last Trudeau eyebrow has been scraped off the floor of the Manoir Richelieu, it's worth remembering that the divisions in the G7 are not quite as straightforward as the media would have us believe. For one thing, it's not G6 vs Trump; there's another disrupter in town: Just met the new Prime Minister of Italy, @GiuseppeConteIT, a really great guy. He will be honored in Washington, at the @WhiteHouse, shortly. Signor Conte heads what would once have been regarded as a pantomime-horse coalition of two rear ends: the left-wing Five Star Movement (M5S) and the right-wing Northern League...

EU will 'dig its own grave' if it tries to punish Italy over new anti-Europe coalition, warns US billionaire George Soros as he calls for compensation for the country's influx of migrants US financier said Italy's situation 'unfair and also financially very burdensome' Sicily is one of the main landing points for refugees crossing the Med to Europe Soros said rise of Italy's right wing League party partly due to Europe's 'flawed' migration policiesBillionaire philanthropist George Soros has urged the EU to compensate Italy for its influx of migrants. The Hungarian-born US financier said the recent rise of Italy's right...

ROME, Italy: Italians were in uproar Monday over the decision by President Sergio Mattarella to reject the newly elected populist government in deference to European Union concerns, calling for his resignation or impeachment. This was the first time in the history of the Italian republic that a president had thrown out the proposal for a government from elected parties, and even critics of the populist victors have acknowledged that the Italian people will take the move as a slap to Italian voters and the entire democratic process. The bone of contention, Mattarella said in his rejection speech, was the candidate...

Italian President Sergio Mattarella has summoned Giuseppe Conte for a meeting Wednesday, the president's office said, possibly paving the way for him to be appointed prime minister..... A presidential source said before summoning the little-known law professor, Mattarella has contacted the anti-establishment Five Star Movement and the far-right Northern League to receive confirmation that he remained their choice for prime minister......

The leader of Italy's far-right League party announced on Sunday that it had reached an agreement with the anti-establishment Five Star Movement on a nominee to be the country's next prime minister. Matteo Salvini said the two eurosceptic parties had also selected members of the cabinet after intense political wrangling. "We are agreed on the head and the ministers of the government and we hope that no-one will veto a choice that represents the will of the majority of Italians," Salvini said, adding that neither he nor Five Star Movement chief Luigi Di Maio would take the role of premier....

(Nigel Farage at :52)"...... but other things are going on and there's a, I really think very big story out there and you'd struggle if you went through today's newspapers to really find it, the 'Sunday Times' has done more on it than anybody else, but it's what's going on in Italy. Often we get the impression in this country from those that wish us to remain in the European Union and would like to force a second referendum on us that we're the ones with the problem that everything in Brussels and across the EU is hunky dory. Well...

Italy's President is expected to confirm a coalition between the League and the Five-Star Movement (M5S) today, cementing the nation as having one of the most Eurosceptic governments on the continent. Sergio Mattarella will be asked to approve the formation of the coalition government today-the two parties have been in talks since March's election......... Luigi Di Maio, the leader of the Five Star Movement, sent a stern message to the EU yesterday by insisting that he will attempt to renegotiate EU rules as part of an effort to put Italians first.....

---SNIP--- Mr Fontana's region, Lombardy in the north, is the leading destination for migrants in Italy. He reflected on this point. "We can't accept them all," he told Radio Padania, "Because if we had to accept them all, it would mean that we're no longer ourselves… as an ethnic fact. Because they outnumber us, because they are more determined than us to occupy this land." Mr Fontana, by now fully into his stride, reached his conclusion. "We need to decide whether or not our ethnic group, our white race, our society should continue to exist, or be wiped out. It's...

An analysis of the political setup in Italy shows eurosceptics are on the verge of taking control of the country.The only missing ingredient is an early election. And early elections are now the odds-on favorite.Let’s back up a bit to fill in the pieces as to how things got to this point. Former prime minister Matteo Renzi stepped down in December after holding a referendum that failed miserably. See Renzi Resigns Following Crushing Referendum Defeat: Beppe Grillo, Marine le Pen, Matteo Salvina TweetsItaly’s president, Sergio Mattarella, appointed Paolo Gentiloni as the new prime minister after Renzi resigned. See Meet Paolo...

Europe’s establishment breathed a sigh of relief after the pro-European Union centrist Emmanuel Macron was elected French president this week. But another populist storm is brewing in Italy, where the euroskeptic 5 Star Movement has remained strong. Fueled by discontent with slow growth, high unemployment and disillusionment with mainstream politicians, 5-Star has won local elections in Rome, Turin and elsewhere, partly on the strength of its leaders’ call for a referendum on Italy’s use of the European single currency. Pollsters say about 30% of Italian voters support the movement founded by comedian Beppe Grillo, a level of popularity that has...

Rome’s administration collapsed into chaos on Friday after infighting within the anti-establishment Five-Star Movement triggered an avalanche of shock resignations. Embattled Rome mayor Virginia Raggi vowed to find new heavyweights who can "relaunch the city" despite a domino-effect of five departures. The string of resignations began with the chief of staff, followed by the finance chief who did not want to work without the chief of staff, followed by the head of environmental administration who did not want to work without the finance chief, followed by two heads of public transport – all in a matter of hours. Ms Raggi's...

One of the dumbest things a country can do in a recession is raise taxes. Yet, after pronouncing the end of austerity, Italy's "grand coalition" government, led by Enrico Letta, is going to hike the VAT. Why? It seems they need to hike the VAT to pay for a decrease in property taxes. Recall that Silvio Berlusconi was only willing to take part in Letta's grand coalition on condition property tax hikes were rolled back. Letta agreed to do that, but now Letta says Italy needs revenue hikes to make up for it. Grand Coalition Splintering Curiously, the International Business...

Euroskeptic deputies were denied several of the European Parliament’s top committee posts on Monday (7 July), as the assembly’s centrist groups joined forces to shut them out. The committees elected chairpersons and vice-chairpersons using the “D’Hondt method” on the relative sizes of the EU assembly’s seven political groups. Twenty one of the 22 committee chair posts, and the vast majority of the 88 vice-chair roles, were uncontested and elected by acclaim. However, the conservative EPP, center-left S&D and liberal ALDE groups on the petitions committee joined forces to reject Eleanora Evi, a member of the euroskeptic EFDD group from Italian...

In a ruling which could have far-reaching consequences for how the European Union deals with migrants in future, the European Court of Justice on Wednesday upheld the right of member states to deport asylum-seekers to the first EU country they enter. The ruling amounted to an effective rejection of Angela Merkel’s controversial “open-door” refugee policy, which saw more than one million asylum-seekers flood into Germany. The court ruled that the EU’s Dublin regulations, under which refugees must seek asylum in the first member state they enter, still apply despite the unprecedented influx of 2015.

A great sense of alarm is spreading among ordinary Europeans today, especially in the south and east of the continent. Now even the elitist media are giving us the worst international news since the Cold War. Americans do not want to hear this, either. Well, you may not be interested in evil, but evil may be interested in you. Listen up. This could be important. The Washington Post just told us that a dictatorial strongman has risen to power in Hungary, a man named Viktor Orban. In a two-hour parliamentary session, Orban forced radical changes in the Hungarian constitution to...

A great sense of alarm is spreading among ordinary Europeans today, especially in the south and east of the continent. Now even the elitist media are giving us the worst international news since the Cold War. Americans do not want to hear this, either. Well, you may not be interested in evil, but evil may be interested in you. Listen up. This could be important. The Washington Post just told us that a dictatorial strongman has risen to power in Hungary, a man named Viktor Orban. In a two-hour parliamentary session, Orban forced radical changes in the Hungarian constitution to...