Free Republic

Despite their proximity as neighbors and many shared elements in terms of food, music, and culture, Turks and Greeks are often perceived as enemies rather than friends. On the world stage, Turkey and Greece seem to constantly butt heads, but do Turks and Greeks themselves harbor animosity toward their neighbors? Despite political tensions, Turks and Greeks, who are both known for their generosity, warmth, and welcoming spirit, seem to have much more in common than many would believe. Both Turks and Greeks share a beautiful geographic location in the Mediterranean and a climate that makes people in other parts of...

Concept image illustrating the gender pay gap with male and female figures standing on stacks of coins. New data shows women in Spain still earn significantly less than men, highlighting the ongoing gender pay gap. Credit : Andrey_Popov, Shutterstock Women in Spain are effectively working nearly 69 days a year without pay compared with men, according to a new labour market report released this week. The figure highlights how the gender pay gap – despite years of policy changes and growing awareness – still affects millions of workers across the country. The analysis, published by the Spanish trade union USO...

Planning to tie the knot in Spain? It’s highly expensive wherever you wed. But, if you are, you had better take it into account Hacienda (the tax agency). Newlyweds across Spain now face unexpected tax demands as Hacienda intensifies scrutiny on wedding gifts. Authorities now actively remind couples that cash and presents from guests qualify as taxable donations, potentially adding thousands to post-wedding bills. The idea behind this move is to close loopholes in revenue collection with digital transfers becoming more prevalent. Average weddings in Spain exceed €24,000, everything taken into consideration, including wedding meals alone consuming €13,000 to €14,000,...

the US Uber Photo by: Nam Y. Huh / AP Uber sign displayed on car. By: ALEXANDRA OLSON, AP Business Writer Posted 9:07 AM, Mar 09, 2026 NEW YORK (AP) — Uber launched a feature Monday to allow both women riders and drivers across the U.S. to be matched with other women for trips, expanding a pilot program aimed at addressing concerns about the safety of its riding-hailing platform. The new feature is being rolled out nationwide despite an ongoing class action lawsuit against the policy in California, filed by Uber drivers who argue that it is discriminatory against men....

Anthropic sued the Defense Department and other federal agencies on Monday over the Trump administration's move to designate it a supply chain risk and eliminate its use across the government, the latest chapter in a bitter dispute over the firm's powerful artificial intelligence model. In a 48-page lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Anthropic said efforts by the Pentagon and President Trump to punish the company were "unprecedented and unlawful." ... The dispute stems from guardrails that Anthropic sought to impose on the military's use of Claude, the only AI model authorized for...

Canada will soon mark a grim milestone: 100,000 deaths via the country’s assisted suicide or Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) program. The program is due to “celebrate” its tenth anniversary on 17 June, having claimed the lives of more than twice the number of Canadians who died in World War II (42,042). The latest figures show 15,767 Canadians were killed by the government in 2024, or more than 5% of deaths that year. That works out at 45 Canadians a day. The figure has increase significantly year on year. In 2021, 9,842 Canadians were killed by the government. As The...

"Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way." — General George S. Patton, Jr. Don’t lose the plot. Embrace the suck. This is the world’s hard time, for now. The birth of anything can be a bloody horror. It can even look like death. Don’t be too afraid to see what comes on the other side of this awful spectacle. So many Americans are rooting and wishing for the Iran war to turn out badly for Western Civ. And why? Because Trump. And why? Because at the same time he is ending Iran’s long-running nuclear blackmail game, he...

"Sammy" (@sumiturkude007) on X wrote "This short film made with Seedance 2.0 is absolutely insane. The realism looks like a real movie — no one can tell it's AI." But that's not the real point. Yeah, it's a good demonstration of AI abilities in March 2026, but it's the theme and plot that get me. They are simultaneously brilliant, sad, and prophetic.

At the tail end of my college years, a band from Orange County, Calif., burst onto the national scene. MTV News called this group a “ska-punk band” — it seemed like a lot of new bands in that era received that moniker — but No Doubt’s music was a true fusion of ska (along with rocksteady and reggae) and rock with more of a punk edge than a punch sound and a sparkling pop melodic sensibility.But what set No Doubt apart was its charismatic frontwoman, Gwen Stefani. She had a unique combination of that aforementioned punk edge and SoCal glamor....

"We want to tell you that the hand of the State of Israel will continue to pursue every successor and every person who seeks to appoint a successor," the IDF wrote.The IDF will continue to pursue every successor to Iran's next supreme leader, the military wrote on X in Farsi on Sunday morning. "We want to tell you that the hand of the State of Israel will continue to pursue every successor and every person who seeks to appoint a successor," the IDF wrote. We warn all those who intend to participate in the successor selection meeting that we will...

James Talarico’s fake tent show preacher act has been a joke since the moment he began it, and every living animal with a central nervous system is aware of this. For that matter, the geranium on your front porch may be aware of it. Pro-abortion, pro-trans, pro-trans-abortion for all six genders, Talarico’s much-derided sermonizing on the far-left Jesus he made up somewhere inside his cotton candy mind is ludicrous, appalling, embarrassing, and give me a minute while I load up all the pejoratives I can fit on this forklift. See, if you haven’t already, this discussion at First Things: “James...

Last week, I wrote about how the Iranian women's soccer team stood up during their national anthem before their match with South Korea at the Asian Cup and refused to sing the regime's national anthem. As I wrote then, "Some of them seemed nervous. Some smiled. Some seemed to fight back tears. When their coach, Marziyeh Jafari, saw them, her smile said everything. Apparently, groups of people in the crowd were cheering them on and flying the pre-Islamic Revolutionary flag featuring the golden lion and sun, too." Here's the video: A defying silenceThe Iranian women’s football national team REFUSED to...

The Trump administration and Israeli officials are reportedly discussing a high-stakes shift in the conflict: the direct seizure of Kharg Island, Iran’s primary economic artery. While special operations plans originally focused on securing Iran’s 450-kilogram stockpile of highly enriched uranium, the strategic conversation has expanded to physically capturing the terminal that handles roughly 90% of Iran’s crude oil exports, according to Axios. The ultimate goal, according to former Lockheed marketing executive Jarrod Agen, now the director of the National Energy Dominance Council, is to take control of Iran’s oil. “Ultimately, we’re not going to have to worry about these issues...

Eight months before the crucial midterm elections, the administration of President Donald Trump is battling high living costs. The strike against Iran threatens to undo the first successes achieved in the struggle against inflation via falling energy prices. Ludwig Erhard understood the formula for sustained political success. The equation was as simple as it was powerful: stable money circulating in free markets coordinates the millions of individual decisions made by households, businesses, and credit institutions -- day after day -- in the most efficient manner. Stable money requires a lean state. Public debt, meanwhile, is widely regarded as the primary...

It may not be the human-swallowing horror of Golden Age Hollywood films, but quicksand is a real-life hazard for hikers. It pays to know what it is and how to escape. “I didn’t think that was real.” That’s the reply I kept hearing from both coworkers and readers after we wrote about backpacker Austin Dirks’s rescue from a quicksand pit in Arches National Park in December 2025. Dirks was hiking a section of the Hayduke Trail when he stepped into what looked like normal sand, sinking his left foot up to the ankle. He managed to pull it out, but...

Death is supposed to clarify a life, not distort it.AdvertisementObituaries are meant to record history, not rewrite it.But in today’s corporate media, even death cannot escape ideological spin.AdvertisementConsider the recent coverage of Ayatollah Ali Khameini, Iran’s Supreme Leader for more than three decades. In the Washington Post, readers were introduced to a man with a “bushy white beard and easy smile,” an “avuncular figure” fond of Persian poetry and Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables. Some acquaintances described him as a “closet moderate.”AdvertisementImage: AI illustrationAdvertisementA closet moderate? That description might surprise the regime’s political prisoners — and its victims.For more than three...

An under-the-radar regulatory change during the Biden years quietly expanded what amounts to a federal warehouse of private information tied to nearly every firearms transaction in America. Now, President Trump has the opportunity to reverse that rule — and put an end to yet another facet of the Biden administration’s assault on the Second Amendment and the privacy rights of law-abiding gun owners. Any American citizen who has ever legally purchased a firearm has experience with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Form 4473. As a purchaser, you must fill out personal questions that are often confusingly...

A new NBC News poll finds that even after years of relentless political controversy and media hostility, President Donald Trump is viewed more favorably than several of the Democrats’ most prominent figures, and even the Democrat Party itself.AdvertisementThe numbers are likely to alarm Democrat strategists. According to the survey, Trump’s favorability rating now exceeds that of both former Vice President Kamala Harris and California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Even the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE), which has long been the target of progressive activism and calls to be abolished — is viewed more positively than the Democratic Party.This doesn’t mean...

Tommy DeCarlo has died at age 60. The musician, who became the lead vocalist for the rock-n-roll band Boston in 2007 after Brad Delp died, passed away on Monday. The singer's family confirmed the news in Facebook and Instagram posts after launching a GoFundMe page to help with his medical expenses. They said he died after battling brain cancer for six months. 'It is with heavy hearts that we share the passing of our Dad, Tommy DeCarlo, on Monday, March 9th, 2026. After being diagnosed with brain cancer last September, he fought with incredible strength and courage right up until...

Though allies with Iran, Qatar's relationship with the country is being tested amid repeated missile and drone attacks.. 'To see the attack which had been pre-planned...once the war started, just an hour after the start of the war, Qatar and other Gulf countries were attacked right away.