Free Republic

Vladimir Putin has told the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, that Russia is ready to continue “uninterrupted” shipments of oil to India, signalling a defiant stance to the US as the two leaders met in Delhi and affirmed that their ties were “resilient to external pressure”. The statement, made on Friday after the annual India-Russia summit, appeared to be directed at western countries – particularly the US – that have attempted to pressure New Delhi into scaling back its ties to Moscow. The US president, Donald Trump, in August imposed an additional 25% import tariff on India over its purchase...

A new White House policy document formalizes President Trump’s long-held contempt for Europe’s leaders. It made clear that the continent now stands at a strategic crossroads.The Trump administration has not exactly kept its low regard for Europe secret. President Trump has long portrayed European allies as freeloaders that fail to pay enough for their own security and argued that the European Union was “formed to screw the United States.”Now, that hostility is official White House policy.The Trump administration issued a national security strategy paper this week that called for European nations to take “primary responsibility” for their own defense, indicating...

WASHINGTON – This Cyber Monday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is announcing the holiday deal of a lifetime for all illegal aliens still in the United States: Use the CBP Home App, and you will receive a free flight home for the holidays and a $1,000 gift. “The CBP Home App offers those in this country illegally a fantastic gift this holiday season: a free flight home, a $1,000 gift, and the potential opportunity to return to America the right, legal way,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “Your choice is simple: Choose self-deportation and reap the rewards, or stay...

Abortion, religion, and race were the three intractable constitutional law conundrums of the second half of the 20th century. Back in the 1960s and ’70s, the justices of the Warren and Burger Supreme Courts felt compelled to step in and resolve them, though their constitutional warrant so to do was anything but clear. As readers of this magazine are well aware, for decades American society has been roiled by what we are slowly coming to see as the Supreme Court’s unwarranted judicial audacity—if not impudence, arrogance, and illegitimacy. Since Richard Nixon’s campaign in 1968, Republicans have been seeking to...

THE CRACKED POT A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on the end of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master’s house, the cracked pot arrived only half full. For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots of full of water in his master’s house. Of...

The European Commission transferred more than 500 million euros to mass migration catalyst organizations Save the Children, Development Alternatives Incorporated, Catholic Relief Services, and Mercy Corps between 2021 and 2024, according to a response to a recent inquiry filed by AfD MEP Petr Bystron.For decades, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been darlings of the American Deep State and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).In 2024, the aforementioned NGOs received $1.7 billion from the U.S. government alone. After President Donald Trump decapitated USAID, many NGOs are now struggling to survive (see here, here, here, and here).“Why does the EU finance American...

A former Cook County judge who stole large sums of money from an elderly friend who served as a Tuskegee Airman received a probationary sentence on Friday. Patricia Martin, 66, received four years of probation after pleading guilty to theft of $100,000 to $500,000, according to court records. The judge also ordered her to pay $122,763.73 in restitution and comply with standard probation conditions that include random drug testing. Martin once served as presiding judge of the Child Protection Division and retired in 2020. Prosecutors initially accused her of stealing nearly $250,000 from then-95-year-old Oscar Wilkerson, a longtime friend whose...

It was a clear attempt to project Russian power. Hours before meeting U.S. officials in Moscow this past week about their plan to end the war, President Vladimir V. Putin claimed that Russia’s forces had seized the strategic Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk after a monthslong fight. The reality was murkier. Slivers of the city were still contested, according to battlefield maps and the Ukrainian military. But Mr. Putin’s claim, even if premature, reflected a trend shaping his unbending approach to negotiations: Russian forces are on the march. “The Russians do have the upper hand,” said Emil Kastehelmi, a military analyst...

U.S. President Donald Trump's demand that Republican-led states redraw their congressional maps to help his party retain control of Congress in next year's midterm elections has triggered a national battle over redistricting, with the eventual winner still unclear. The fight began when Republicans in Texas, the most populous Republican state, approved a rare mid-decade new congressional map aimed at flipping five House seats now occupied by Democrats. California, the most populous Democratic state, soon responded by initiating its own redistricting effort targeting five Republican-held districts. Other states, both Republican and Democratic, have followed suit or threatened to do so. Republicans...

President Donald Trump has fired his latest warning at Indiana state Senate Republicans seeking to work with Democrats in obstructing redistricting plans passed by the Indiana House on Friday. "Why would a REAL Republican vote against this when the Dems have been doing it for years???" Trump wrote Saturday on Truth Social. "If they stupidly say no, vote them out of Office – They are not worthy – And I will be there to help! "Thank you Indiana!" Trump's post followed a Friday night post hailing Republicans in the Indiana House for moving the redistricting plan forward ahead of a...

Santa Barbara’s longtime Milpas Street Holiday Parade will not take place this year after organizers said many Eastside families and participants expressed fear about attending a large public event due to concerns of potential immigration-enforcement activity in the region. The Santa Barbara Eastside Society announced the decision Tuesday, saying it came “after many weeks of listening” to families, volunteers, local leaders and immigrant-rights partners who described a heightened sense of vulnerability.

They are not coming. They are already here. Across the United States, Islamic arbitration bodies quietly handle hundreds of family law cases each year — marriage, divorce, custody, inheritance — behind closed doors, with no transcripts, no appeals and no public oversight. All-male panels apply traditional Shariah rules to 21st-century American women and children. The Islamic Tribunal of Dallas was founded in 2014 as a “volunteer mediation service.” By 2024, it was deciding roughly 300 cases annually in mosque back rooms and law offices. The panel of three or four male scholars, trained at institutions such as Al-Azhar and Omdurman,...

Many of you haven't heard what Afghanistan is like, and it shows. snip InfantryDort, one of the largest veteran accounts on X, decided to use the moment to share, in detail, what things American troops saw when they were in Afghanistan to help Americans understand, perhaps once and for all, that not all cultures, practices, and beliefs are equal.

Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren blasted Netflix's planned acquisition of Warner Bros. and HBO on Friday, saying the deal "looks like an anti-monopoly nightmare." Warner Bros. Discovery announced Friday it has agreed to sell its streaming and studios assets to Netflix in a deal valued at $82.7 billion, setting the stage for one of the most sweeping and consequential mergers in modern Hollywood history. "A Netflix-Warner Bros. would create one massive media giant with control of close to half of the streaming market — threatening to force Americans into higher subscription prices and fewer choices over what and how they...

Legal conservatives find themselves in an unusual position: originalism has reached unprecedented acceptance within the judiciary and the bar. A majority of Supreme Court justices—including at least one appointed by a Democratic president—identify as originalists, or at least strive toward originalism. Guided by the original understanding of those who ratified the Constitution and the Reconstruction Amendments, the High Court has overruled Roe v. Wade, ended the use of race in higher education, and recognized the individual right to own firearms. But some find these successes disorienting. Originalism’s victories have triggered an important debate among conservatives. Some wonder if originalism is...

Spain, Ireland, Slovenia and the Netherlands announced their withdrawals Thursday from next year’s Eurovision Song Contest after organizers decided that Israel will be allowed to compete. Organizers of the pop music spectacle, which draws millions of viewers globally, met earlier Thursday to discuss Israel’s participation, amid calls for the country to be excluded over the war in Gaza and threats from some members to boycott. An independent United Nations inquiry concluded in September that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and that the country’s top leaders have incited genocide. The Israeli government has maintained it is conducting the...

A suspect has been charged in the Friday stabbing on a light rail train in Charlotte, North Carolina, according to police. Oscar Solarzano, 33, has been charged with five counts including attempted first degree murder, assault with deadly weapon serious injury and carrying concealed weapon, according to the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department. The male victim was found with a stab wound just before 5 p.m. near North Brevard Street and East 22nd Street, where the train appeared to have stopped between stations, Charlotte ABC affiliate WSOC reported. The victim was transported to Novant Health Presbyterian with serious injuries but is...

“ A man in a bulletproof vest with a firearm was detained on Friday night after police said he appeared to be following a congressman along a Christmas parade route. The unidentified man was detained and questioned by officers after exhibiting concerning behavior at the Stuart parade, according to the Martin County Sheriff's Office. Congressman Brian Mast attended the parade, and his personnel alerted the sheriff's department and Stuart Police to the man's 'alarming behavior.'”

With its officials facing personal liability for violating "clearly established" rights, University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine throws in the towel while still falsely claiming COVID vaccines can stop infection and transmission. A year and a half after the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals knocked down the University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine's original and revised COVID-19 vaccine mandates for discriminating against students and employees seeking religious exemptions, the school has paid an "historic" settlement to the 18 plaintiffs, their lawyers said this week. The $10.3 million settlement in damages, tuition, and attorney’s fees is one of...

As you walk down a particular hallway on the seventh floor of the Humphrey Building in Washington, D.C., you'll find a line of photographic portraits of all the people from years past who have led the Public Health Corps at the federal Department of Health and Human Services. Only one of those portraits is of a transgender person: Adm. Rachel Levine, who served for four years as President Biden's assistant secretary for health. She was the first transgender person to win Senate confirmation, and her portrait has been displayed in the hallway since soon after she was confirmed in 2021....