Free Republic

How easy is it for illegal votes to be cast in California? Consider the absurd example of Laura Yourex. After receiving six voter registration cards at her home of two residents, Yourex, as a lark, and to prove a point, successfully registered her dog Maya to vote –– and then submitted ballots on her canine’s behalf. The real scandal is not that a woman was able to get her dog to vote, however. The actual threat to California’s democracy lies in the response of state officials when presented with evidence or allegations of serious problems in the state’s elections. Rather...

ArchivedCLIFFORD KUPCHAN is a director at Eurasia Group, a political risk consulting firm.IRAN’S KEY ALLY in the current nuclear crisis is not Russia or China. It’s oil. Tehran can easily drive up prices and is already beginning to do so to rattle the West. As the crisis escalates, Washington’s diplomatic partners will become gravely worried about their energy supplies. In the end, Iran’s petro power will probably trump Western diplomacy. Just look at what’s happening: Tehran’s bravado announcement April 11 that it had mastered key nuclear technology drew censure from world capitals. But it also drove oil prices to more...

Cardinal Müller vs. the SSPX: Did Vatican II Break with Tradition? This case study explores Cardinal Müller’s defense of the Council, the SSPX’s objections, and the explosive question at the center of it all: did Vatican II change the Church’s teaching on salvation?In his recent interview with Communio, Cardinal Gerhard Müller criticized the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) for, among other things, its questioning of certain documents from Vatican II. The thrust of Cardinal Müller’s argument was based on the hermeneutic of continuity, according to which the Council’s documents are perfectly orthodox when “read in the context of the...

Up to 2 million FBI records were found in a secret room at the FBI. Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch uncovered the information. The records date back to the Comey era, and most are anti-Trump records in burn bags. Tom Fitton hasn’t gotten the records despite a lawsuit, but he did get some general information. records. Having FBI records in burn bags is very unusual, and no one has said who put them there or why they weren’t burned. This should be criminally investigated. Pam Bondi wasted a year. It seems that agencies can’t investigate themselves.

Two recent happenings in Annapolis reveal a disturbing truth. Even in this post-"MeToo” age, politicians who make inappropriate comments toward women remain sadly common. It becomes especially jarring when those comments are captured on state-run media and reported, somewhat cheekily, in the local press. That’s what happened in early March when Maryland’s First Lady, Dawn Moore, appeared before the Senate Finance Committee. It isn’t every day that the governor’s wife sits in the witness chair, and her appearance understandably drew attention. During the hearing, Sen. Ben Cramer (D-Montgomery) joked that he envied his Senate colleague for persuading Mrs. Moore to...

Our Troops Rock! Thank you for all you do! For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces. Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today! ~ Hall of Heroes ~Master Sergeant Roy BenavidezInfo and photos from this website. As the medevac chopper landed the wounded were examined one by one. Staff Sergeant Benavidez could only hear what was going on around him. He had over thirty seven puncture wounds. His intestines were exposed. He could not see as his eyes were caked in blood and unable...

Iran’s hardline Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps leader has effectively taken control of Tehran’s military and negotiation team over the weekend, analysts said. IRGC Commander Maj. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi and members of his inner circle have allegedly taken charge of the Islamic republic, as evident by Iran’s attacks on ships trying to sail through the Strait of Hormuz and Tehran’s refusal to join peace talks with the US this week, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank said. The sudden shift to a hardline stance also shows that more moderate members of Iran’s leadership, including Iranian Foreign...

Pope Leo XIV urged Cameroon’s young people Friday to resist the temptation to migrate and instead work for the common good at home, as he called for morally upright citizens to combat corruption plaguing many African countries. Leo highlighted two of the big problems facing the continent during a Mass and a meeting with students and faculty at the Catholic University of Central Africa: the corruption that keeps countries in poverty and the brain drain of their brightest children who leave rather than fight the corruption at home. They’re themes Leo has highlighted during his visit to Cameroon, a mineral-rich...

VIDEONot only did I have an absolute blast using the barrel extension on my 22 inch Weber grill that converted it into a much larger smoker for the first time but I was amazed that I was able to create bright red picanha. How that happened I am not sure. However, I will attempt to replicate it again next month and most importantly, PULL the picanhas from the Weber when it hits peak red color rather than let it cook for another hour. Although they tasted great and had beautiful reddish smoke rings in the interior, they would have been...

KB Home, one of the largest homebuilding companies in the U.S., plans to relocate its corporate headquarters from Los Angeles to Arizona, marking the latest example of a major company shifting leadership operations out of California. The homebuilder announced it will move its headquarters from Westwood to Tempe beginning in spring 2027, transferring executive leadership and key corporate functions to the Phoenix metro area, according to a report from LA Magazine. Company leaders cited lower costs, operational efficiency and Arizona’s business climate as major reasons for the move. The shift reflects a broader trend in which some large companies have...

“A glamorous Iranian woman living a lavish life in Los Angeles was arrested for allegedly trafficking deadly drones and bombs for Tehran. Shamim Mafi, 44, was taken into custody at Los Angeles International Airport on Saturday night and charged with allegedly brokering the sale of drones, bombs, bomb fuses, and millions of rounds of ammunition to be sold to Sudan, the US Attorney for the Central District of California said on Sunday. Mafi left Iran in 2013 and became a permanent US resident in 2016 under the Obama administration, officials stated. The Woodland Hills resident allegedly used Atlas International Business,...

Just hours after a mass shooting that left eight children under the age of 15 dead in Louisiana, California Gov. Gavin Newsom is bashing the NRA “and their lackeys in Congress.” “This is an unspeakable tragedy. Our hearts go out to the families and loved ones suffering in Louisiana,” Newsom’s press office said on X. “Repeated horrors like this don’t happen anywhere else but this country.” Calling the mass shooting a “total moral failure,” Newsom’s press office said the National Rifle Association “and their lackeys in Congress are complicit in this madness.”

More than 15 million people compete for space in Turkey's largest city, which straddles Europe and Asia on either side of the Bosphorus, much like a house cat perched half on the sofa, half on the coffee table. That's the appropriate visual, because there are an estimated quarter of a million stray kitties living here, too. Cats are woven into the very fabric and history of the city, as ubiquitous as the rugs for sale on every corner. This is a city shared; a city that purrs incessantly with love and life. "Istanbul cats are, on the whole, neither pets...

Nigel Farage will today pledge to deport 400,000 people who have been granted asylum in the UK, to reverse what Reform is calling “an invasion of Britain”. The historic promise, set to form a centrepiece of Reform’s general election campaign, will provoke a furious reaction from left-wingers and human rights campaigners. But Reform UK leader Mr Farage and his home affairs spokesman, Zia Yusuf, will argue that people who came to the UK illegally, or overstayed their visa, must not be allowed to remain. The party has already said that nobody who breaks immigration rules in the future will be...

When the FBI's official crime stats come out later this year, we're likely to learn that 2025 saw a record-setting decline in homicides nationwide, and that the overall homicide rate is the lowest it's been since the FBI started keeping track in 1960. [snip] Still, there are some outliers, and one of them is Denver, Colorado. Last year Denver saw a 48% decrease in homicides, with Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas pointing to "a mix of faster police response, medical intervention, and long-term prevention strategies." This year, though, homicides are trending in the wrong direction. [snip] Last year, Democrats in...

GASTON, S.C. — Several agencies assisted in shutting down a large event in Lexington County on Saturday night after several people were trampled by horses, and members of a large crowd reportedly threw beer cans at first responders.Gaston Police Chief Stephen Watkins said police received reports of an emergency call around 8:30 p.m. Saturday to 491 S. Main St., where there were reports of people injured by horses at a rodeo event.Officers arrived at the scene with Lexington County Emergency Services and the Lexington County Fire Service, where they found several people had been trampled by stampeding horses that were...

On June 14, 2023, the United States Marshals Service listed Joshua Smiley on the “15 Most Wanted” list. He was the 26 year-old male suspect in an August 2021 shooting death of a man in Mobile, Alabama. On June 20, 2023, about a week after Joshua Smiley was put on the most wanted list, he was peacefully apprehended in Avon, Indiana - a suburb of Indianapolis. It was no big deal. They found him in just a couple of days, called him out, he came out and was arrested with no issues. It was a success. So why did the...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI and Justice Department are scrambling to rebuild a depleted workforce after a wave of departures over the past year, with leaders easing hiring requirements and accelerating recruitment in ways that some current and former officials see as a lowering of long-accepted standards.The FBI has used social media campaigns to attract applicants, offered abbreviated training for candidates from other federal agencies and relaxed requirements for support staff seeking to become agents, according to people familiar with the changes and internal communications seen by The Associated Press. At the same time, the Justice Department has opened the...

Former President Barack Obama said in a YouTube interview posted Feb. 14 he wants to meet Pope Leo XIV. Left-leaning political YouTuber and podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen asked who the former president most wanted to meet at the end of a wide-ranging Q&A that began with the topic of a controversial racist social media post that portrayed him and his wife, former first lady Michelle Obama, as apes. Obama answered that he wanted to meet the pope, “and I hope I get an opportunity sometime in the future.” Obama, whose second term ended in 2017 when President Donald Trump entered...

A Chinese man studying at a Scottish university has been arrested after taking photographs of planes at a US air base. Tianrui Liang, who is studying aeronautical engineering at the University of Glasgow, has been charged with taking unauthorised images at Offutt Air Force Base, which is home to the US Strategic Command. The 21-year-old was arrested at JFK Airport in New York on April 7, after being spotted photographing a plane famed for its ability to withstand a nuclear attack. An eyewitness at the Nebraska base had alerted authorities to a man in a vehicle holding a camera with...