Free Republic

It is often said that “the first casualty when war comes is truth.” A criminal warrant just issued in Germany shows that war continues to claim its victims. However, this warrant could prove to be as great an indictment not just of the government of Volodymyr Zelensky, but also of former President Joe Biden.This week, a German court issued an arrest warrant for Ukrainian Serhii Kuznietsov, which may finally confirm what was long suspected: that Ukraine was responsible for the 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines in the waters near Denmark and Sweden.The Biden administration may have been given...

Explanation: This is not a screen from a video game. Nestled below the treeline, the small mountain church does look like it might be hiding from Moon though. In the well-composed telephoto snapshot, taken on November 23, the church walls are partly reflecting light from terrestrial flood lights. Of course, the Moon is reflecting light from the Sun. At any given time the Sun illuminates fully half of the Moon's surface, also known as the lunar dayside, but on that night only a sliver of its sunlit surface was visible. About three days after New Moon, the Moon was in...

Here in Germany, thousands of demonstrators have gathered in the western city of Giessen to protest against the founding meeting of the far-right Alternative for Germany's new youth wing. 6-thousand police are standing by. Generation Deutschland, as the new group is expected to be called, replaces the AfD's previous association, which was confirmed by the courts as right wing extremist. The changes aim to allow the AfD to exert more control over it's youth movement. Video SummaryIn Gießen, Germany, thousands protested against the founding meeting of the AfD's new youth wing, "Generation Deutschland," which replaces the previous youth organization officially...

[Catholic Caucus] New Cardinal of Krakow: “I Don't Want Any Other Church Than That of Francis”Cardinal Grzegorz Ryś, 61, has learned “everything I believe in about the Church from Francis,” he said according to Onet.pl after Leo XIV appointed him as Archbishop of Krakow on November 26.Francis taught Cardinal Ryś “how to understand the Church”.And: “I don't want another Church. I simply don't want it. I cannot imagine another Church than the one Francis taught us.”Experience at Francis’ TombCardinal Ryś recounted an experience during the days leading up to the conclave. He visited Francis' tomb with Cardinal Konrad Krajewski. There,...

Shutdown debate misses the fact that illegals already get taxpayer-funded healthcare through other pathwaysAmid yet another government shutdown, the finger-pointing on Capitol Hill has intensified. Although the primary disagreement between the parties concerns the fate of pandemic-era Obamacare subsidies, another healthcare-related dispute has consumed the headlines. Would the Democrats’ budget really give healthcare benefits to illegal immigrants? The allegation is valid, but this small dispute distracts from a broader truth: Illegal immigrants already access public health benefits through a variety of pathways, most of which will continue regardless of how the shutdown ends.The current dispute is driven largely by confusion...

Pope Leo XIV’s Nicaea moment and the missing FilioquePope Leo XIV joined Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Protestant leaders in Turkey this week to commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council, marking one of the most symbolically charged ecumenical gatherings of his pontificate.The prayer service, held in modern-day Iznik, which used to be Nicea, brought together twenty-seven heads of Churches and Christian communities in a setting uniquely associated with the earliest definitions of Christian doctrine.During the liturgy, the Pope and the assembled leaders recited the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed in English, using the original Greek form without the Filioque clause. The...

A Chicago Public Schools (CPS) policy allows illegal immigrant students excused absences if they or their family members are afraid of federal immigration enforcement activities in the area. A document called Chicago Public Schools’ Attendance Coding for Safety Concerns Related to Federal Representative Activity, obtained by education watchdog Defending Education, affirms that illegal immigrant students can be marked as “excused” if a parent conveys to the school that they fear federal immigration authorities. Immigration enforcement actions are dubbed “federal representative-related procedures” in the school’s policy, which was reaffirmed by the school board in February. “If a parent/guardian reports an absence...

Black Friday spending surged this year to new highs, fueled by record-breaking online spending that reached $11.8 billion on Black Friday alone, according to market data. Online sales made on Black Friday made up about 10% of total sales for the month of November, more than $111 billion dollars, according to Adobe Analytics’s report on holiday shopping trends. This represents a 9.1% increase in online sales compared to last year. Adobe tracks over 1 trillion U.S. retail site visits.

President Donald Trump reportedly rebuffed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's push for sweeping amnesty during a phone call last week, telling the embattled leader and his senior aides to abandon their demands and leave the country as U.S. pressure intensifies. Trump and Maduro discussed a broad amnesty proposal during a phone call last week, people familiar with the exchange told The Wall Street Journal. Maduro reportedly asked for general amnesty for himself, his senior aides, and their families. Many of those individuals face U.S. sanctions or criminal indictments tied to corruption, drug trafficking, and human rights abuses. People familiar with the...

Q: When is assault with a deadly weapon not assault with a deadly weapon? A: When the deadly weapon is used against ICE agents and the judiciary is corroded by moonbattery. Right Journalism reports from colonized Charlotte: On November 16, 2025, [Miguel] Martinez was filming Border Patrol agents during Operation Charlotte’s Web, a crackdown on illegal immigration. When agents tried to stop him for a “voluntary” chat, he bolted, circling them in a parking lot before leading a high-speed pursuit through the city. He swerved over medians, drove on the wrong side of the road, and nearly rammed agents—turning his...

West Yorkshire Police arrested a British business owner over a picture he posted on social media of himself holding a gun in the United States. IT contractor Jon Richelieu-Booth told the Yorkshire Post that in August, he posted a picture on the networking site LinkedIn of himself holding a shotgun at a friend’s homestead in Florida. He was visited by local police, who warned him about the post and told him to be “careful” about what he says online and “how it makes people feel.” Eleven days after the post, West Yorkshire Police officers returned and arrested Richelieu-Booth over allegedly...

As the federal government shutdown drags into its fourth week, the axe is poised to fall on Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards loaded with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funds, better known as food stamps. Come Nov. 1, millions of low-income families—42 million SNAP recipients nationwide—face the prospect of empty cards and bare pantries, barring an unlikely last-minute deal in Congress.This has created three unfortunate realizations. First, many honest people facing tough circumstances may be denied needed resources. Second, U.S. citizens who are obviously scamming the welfare system are promising on social media to steal what they want from grocery...

A sheriff in Ohio is livid about the case surrounding an illegal alien accused of driving drunk and hitting another motorist in a recent head-on collision. Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones is blaming other law enforcement agencies for previously releasing the suspect, Johen Perez-Ventura of Guatemala, who has a long criminal history, Fox News reported on Friday. The driver who was hit in the crash is identified as nurse Courtney Steinmetz. She was driving on Route 747 in Liberty Township when the incident happened on November 20. An image shows the suspect, the crash scene, and the young woman who...

An Afghan national admitted to the United States under President Biden’s Operation Allies Welcome resettlement program was arrested this week after posting a TikTok video in which he appeared to be building a bomb and referenced Fort Worth as a target, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLauglin reported the arrest of Mohammad Dawood Alokozay, saying he allegedly posted a video on TikTok threatening to blow up a building in Fort Worth, Texas, area with a bomb. The Texas Department of Public Safety and the FBI Joint Terrorism Task force teamed up...

In a clear display of frustration with New York’s soft-on-crime policies, Anthony Caines, the 45-year-old Brooklyn man infamous for his alleged spitting spree targeting white women, was left bloodied and battered on a Williamsburg sidewalk after two unidentified men delivered what looks like vigilante justice. The incident, captured on video and shared widely on social media, shows Caines curled up in a fetal position as the duo kicks and punches him, issuing a stern warning to “Stop violating these females out here, you heard?” The beatdown went down outside a hair salon on Sixth Street, though the exact date of...

Explanation: Is there a monster in IC 1396? Known to some as the Elephant's Trunk Nebula, parts of gas and dust clouds of this star formation region may appear to take on foreboding forms, some nearly human. The only real monster here, however, is a bright young star too far from Earth to hurt us. Energetic light from this star is eating away the dust of the dark cometary globule near the top of the featured image. Jets and winds of particles emitted from this star are also pushing away ambient gas and dust. Nearly 3,000 light-years distant, the relatively...

The two West Virginia National Guard members were ambushed and shot near the White House on Wednesday by an Afghan national who was resettled in the United States through a Biden-era program funded entirely by American taxpayers. Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, succumbed to her injuries on Thanksgiving, while Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, remains in critical condition. This incident underscores a harsh reality: billions in U.S. tax dollars have been poured into resettling tens of thousands of Afghans, some of whom pose a direct threat to American lives and security. Author and political commentator Mike Cernovich shared a post breaking down...

New satellite imagery shows China testing its landing barges, which analysts say appear tailor-made for an invasion of Taiwan. Among these new vessels are landing docks, more advanced amphibious assault ships, and specialized landing barges analysts have dubbed Shui Qiao, or "water bridges," that appear purpose-built for a potential beach landing in an attack on Taiwan. Satellite imagery shared by open-source analyst Brady Africk on X showed three of China’s so-called Shui Qiang landing barges off the coast of Ningbo in Zhejiang province on November 20. A separate photo captured by European Space Agency satellites and reviewed by Newsweek shows...

The ex-boyfriend of the National Guardsman who was shot dead in Washington DC said she wanted to make a difference despite being spat on by the public. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, succumbed to her injures on Thursday after her and fellow guardsman Andrew Wolfe, 24, were ambushed while on duty near the White House on Wednesday. Wolfe remains hospitalized in critical condition. Her former boyfriend, Adam Carr, whom she dated for six years, said Beckstrom had been treated poorly while on duty. 'She was like: "People spit towards us, cuss at us, throw things at us, and we can’t do nothing."...

HONG KONG — The inferno that tore through a high-rise housing estate in Hong Kong has killed at least 128 people, authorities said Friday, with some 200 people still missing and eight more arrested. Firefighters combing each apartment in the Wang Fuk Court tower complex found dozens more bodies, officials said at a news conference Friday as smoke from the blaze was still drifting in the air well over 48 hours since it broke out. Hong Kong’s Secretary for Security Chris Tang told reporters Friday that 89 bodies could not yet be identified. Seventy-nine people were injured, he said. Tang...