Free Republic

The European Union’s executive arm requested “full clarity” from the United States and asked its trade partner to fulfill its commitments after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down some of President Donald Trump’s most sweeping tariffs. Trump has lashed out at the court decision and said Saturday that he wants a global tariff of 15%, up from the 10% he announced a day earlier. The European Commission said the current situation is not conducive to delivering “fair, balanced, and mutually beneficial” trans-Atlantic trade and investment, as agreed to by both sides and spelled out in the EU-U.S. Joint Statement of...

Los Angeles City Hall looked less like the nerve center of America’s second-largest city Friday — and more like an abandoned office complex after a zombie apocalypse. Entire hallways with deserted offices. Corridors eerily silent. Parking garage empty besides the city hall guards. When the California Post visited City Hall Friday, the Office of Finance, a council liaison office, and the Los Angeles Housing Department were closed for business. Over the course of the day, about 50 Angelenos oblivious to the closure turned up to pay their bills or seek financial advice, only to find no staff to help them....

Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes was a feared Mexican drug lord and the leader of a ruthless cartel accused of masterminding efforts to push fentanyl into the United States. Once a police officer, Oseguera went on to become one of the world’s most wanted fugitives, with the United States alone offering a $15 million bounty for information leading to his arrest. Oseguera, who formed and led the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), was an elusive figure who had been considered Mexico’s most powerful cartel boss since Sinaloa kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán was arrested last decade. Born in July 1966...

President Trump amplifies a message calling for the elimination of the Iranian regime. Following a foiled Mar-a-Lago plot, the President signals a "deal" is off the table, citing Iran’s history of nuclear violations. U.S. President Donald Trump sparked intense speculation regarding his administration's next steps today after reposting a fiery speech by conservative commentator Mark Levin on his Truth Social account. The speech, which characterizes the Iranian leadership as "Islamic Nazis," argues that a diplomatic deal with the current regime is impossible... Political analysts note that Trump’s decision to amplify this specific message, which explicitly states, "This regime must be...

Reform UK will pledge to restore Britain's Christian heritage by stopping churches being turned into mosques and deporting almost 300,000 illegal migrants every year. Nigel Farage's party will today vow to create a British version of Donald Trump's US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) unit to deport up to 288,000 migrants per year. The 'UK Deportation Command' would have capacity to detain up to 24,000 migrants at any time and will run five deportation flights a day if Reform wins power, the party will announce. Zia Yusuf will outline Reform's plans for a 'radical overhaul' of the immigration system, with...

Californians have been trapped in Mexico as cartel violence engulfed a popular tourist city and spilled towards the US border. Americans in Puerto Vallarta were urged to stay indoors as narco gangs went on a bloody rampage after leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes was killed in a military raid on Sunday. Carnage spread up the west coast of the country through Sunday, with reports of attacks getting closer to the States in Baja California while gunfire erupted at Guadalajara International Airport. Cars and businesses were also set on fire further across the country...

Millions of acres of farmland across the country are privately owned, but a small share of it is foreign-owned land sitting idle in many areas. That’s according to new U.S. Department of Agriculture data which shows just how much of the nation’s agricultural land is owned by other countries. The USDA‘s online portal reveals that more than 45 million acres of land are owned by foreign countries, with an original purchase value of over $38 billion. Our neighbor to the north, Canada, has the most agricultural acreage in the United States, at 15.35 million acres. John Hewlett, a farm and...

Munther Isaac, the Arab "Palestinian" Bethlehem-based Lutheran pastor routinely platformed by Western media as a voice of Christian conscience in the Holy Land, has been sharply exposed—including by Rev. Johnnie Moore of the Congress of Christian Leaders—as "the high priest of antisemitic Christianity." This designation, echoed across sources underscores his consistent pattern of abusing theology to delegitimize Jews and Israel, excuse racist-Arab terrorism, and push antisemitism under the guise of "concern." Isaac has repeatedly framed Israel's existence and policies as the root cause of violence, rather than condemning acts of terror outright. In a sermon delivered just one day after...

Gov. Newsom to a black crowd in GA: "I am like you. I'm a 960 SAT guy. I can't read." Video at link.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has activated wartime succession planning, empowering a hardline loyalist to oversee national security operations and ordering layered contingency measures to safeguard the regime amid fears of U.S. military strikes and assassination attempts. A Sunday report in the New York Times citing senior Iranian officials and members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, detailed that Ali Larijani — a former Guards commander and current head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council — has effectively taken control of national security operations as tensions with Washington intensify. Khamenei has reportedly directed aides to create multiple layers of...

Venezuela’s National Assembly on Thursday unanimously approved a long-awaited amnesty law that could free hundreds of political prisoners jailed for being government detractors. But the law excludes those who have been prosecuted or convicted of promoting military action against the country — which could include opposition leaders like Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado, who has been accused by the ruling party of calling for international intervention like the one that ousted former president Nicolas Maduro. The bill was signed by interim president Delcy Rodriguez, who pushed for the legislation under pressure from Washington, after she rose to power...

Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry said on Monday it was following up with “high interest and concern” on the maritime coordinates and map recently submitted by Iraq to the United Nations. The ministry said in a statement that the coordinates and map included infringement on areas adjacent to the Saudi-Kuwaiti divided zone, where both countries share natural resources in the area according to previous agreements between them. For more Saudi news, visit our dedicated page. The ministry added that the Kingdom rejects “claims” that any other side has the right to the divided submerged area between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. It...

Saint of the Day – 21 February – St Peter Mavimenus (Died c737) Martyr and probably the Bishop of Damascus. The Roman Martyrology reads today: “At Damascus, St Peter Mavinemus, who was killed by some Arabs who visited him in his sickness because he said to them “Whoever does not embrace the Christian and Catholic Faith is lost, like your false prophet, Mahomet.” Peter was Martyred in Damascus (in modern Syria) by the Muslims who, visiting him when he was on a sickbed, had openly said to them : “Whoever does not embrace the Christian and Catholic Faith is lost,...

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U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday said he is going to dispatch a hospital ship to Greenland, autonomous Danish territory that Trump has said he wants to acquire. Danish officials responded by saying the health care systems in Denmark and Greenland are more than adequate. “Working with the fantastic Governor of Louisiana, Jeff Landry, we are going to send a great hospital boat to Greenland to take care of the many people who are sick, and not being taken care of there. It’s on the way!!!” Trump said in a post on social media alongside an illustration of the U.S....

A video compilation of a man setting fire to a person on a public street using a flamethrower has sparked shock online. The incident occurred on Feb 2 in Yangzhou, China, reported Hong Kong news portal HK01. Footage posted on social media platform X shows the man continuously shooting a stream of fire with a makeshift flamethrower at what appears to be a person keeled over at a row of roadside shrubs. Another clip shows the person lying face down on the shrubs as small flames licked along their upper body. In a third video, a crowd of onlookers as...

Archaeologists have excavated a tomb more than 1,000 years old containing human remains along with gold objects and ceramic vessels at El Caño in central Panama. The site sits in Natá district of Coclé province, about 200 kilometers southwest of Panama City. Excavations have taken place there for two decades. Julia Mayo, the archaeologist leading the project, talked today about the discovery. The remains are surrounded by gold objects and ceramic vessels decorated with traditional imagery. These indicate the buried people held high status. “The person with the gold is the highest-status person in the group,” Mayo said. The principal...

Please join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media.1 Timothy 2:1-2 I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone: for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.Religion Forum threads labeled “Prayer” are closed to debate of any kind.

India has delayed plans to send a trade delegation to Washington this week, chiefly because of uncertainty after the US Supreme Court struck down tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump, a source in its trade ministry said on Sunday (Feb 22). One of the first concrete reactions among Asian nations to the decision, it follows Trump's move on Saturday to levy a temporary tariff of 15 per cent, the maximum allowed by law, on US imports from all countries, following the court's rejection. "The decision to defer the visit was taken after discussions between officials of the two countries," said...

Our northern neighbors are shell-shocked: they are even poorer than Alabamians. This follows a tough week for Canada, which has struggled at the Winter Olympics and has faced constant pressure from Donald Trump. In fact, it's the headline used on social media that's become the main source of mockery—"Out of nowhere, Canada became poorer than Alabama. How is that possible?”In December, Tommy Battle’s dream came true. The five-term Mayor of Huntsville is Alabama to the bone, born in Birmingham and a graduate of the state university in Tuscaloosa, but for the past 18 years he’s tried to distance his city...