Free Republic

European NATO allies are increasingly concerned that a major Republican defeat in Tuesday’s US midterm elections could prompt President Donald Trump to intensify his attacks on the alliance, potentially undermining European security at a time of growing tensions with Russia.According to Politico, five diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions, warned that an electoral setback could push Trump towards more confrontational foreign policy decisions, including the withdrawal of thousands of additional American troops from Europe. The central concern is that, if a Democratic-controlled Congress restricts his domestic agenda, Trump could increasingly turn his attention...

A video of a police van marked "Polizei" on a Polish road is spreading online. Some posts claim Germany sent police to put down the protest outside Poland's Constitutional Tribunal. We checked the footage.-'Why were they there? We do not know. We have found no explanation from Poland's interior ministry or from the Polish or German police.-The video is not new. It was online by 27 October, three days before Friday's events at the Tribunal.-It was not filmed near Warsaw. The Hotel Górski seen in the video stands on the S8 expressway at Proszenie, about 127 km by road from...

Idea is intended to unlock energy ceasefire between Moscow and Kyiv but it faces resistance in European capitals The U.S. is backing a quick resumption of Russian natural-gas sales to Europe via pipelines running through Moscow’s wartime enemy—Ukraine—as part of negotiations aimed at securing an energy ceasefire ahead of the coming winter, according to U.S., European and Ukrainian officials.The idea, broached by U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff during trips to Moscow and Kyiv in September, would involve selling Russian gas via a U.S. intermediary to circumvent European sanctions—and could create a lucrative opportunity for American investors, people who...

Donald Trump is secretly asking close advisers about whether Pete Hegseth and General Dan Caine should be fired after the midterms, even as he weighs restarting the bombing of Iran.The president has been quizzing allies on the performance of his defense secretary and his Joint Chiefs chairman, the two men who assured him the war would be wrapped up well before the midterms, according to the Atlantic. *** As Republicans face the real possibility of losing the House and Senate, Trump has concluded the Iran war would be partly to blame and trained his attention on the advisers who promised...

Key Points * Social Security may have to cut retirement benefits in six years, according to the latest projections. * Congress may act sooner to prevent those cuts, or lawmakers may opt to kick the can down the road. * Putting off Social Security reform would have consequences for beneficiaries and the economy, experts say. * Here’s how much money may be at stake for individuals who rely on the program. ================================================================= Social Security retirement benefits may face an automatic, across-the-board cut in just six years. Without intervention before then, the Social Security retirement trust fund, formally known as the...

A former policy director for First Lady Michelle Obama was paid nearly $700,000 in total compensation last year despite revenue to the taxpayer-funded refugee resettlement organization plummeting by nearly $130 million, an investigation by The Center Square found. Krish O’Mara Vignarajah is the CEO of Baltimore-based Global Refuge, a faith-based nonprofit which received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants from the State and Health and Human Services departments since 2021. In 2025, she made $686,000, a 2% drop from the $699,000 she made the year before. That compares to a 44% drop in the nonprofit’s revenue during the...

During a podcast interview Wednesday, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton criticized a video from actor Matthew McConaughey encouraging voters to consider independent candidates. On Sunday, McConaughey took to social media and challenged the long-held notion that voting for an independent candidate is a wasted vote, arguing that just a handful of independent lawmakers could dramatically shift the balance of power in Washington. "They've been telling us for years that an independent vote is a wasted vote," McConaughey said in a video shared on Instagram. "Well, a great question for our times is has that unwasted vote been working out...

On Monday, President Donald Trump vowed to issue preemptive pardons for his staffers and Tesla CEO Elon Musk should Democrats seize control of Congress in Tuesday's midterms, Axios reported.Democrats have signaled plans to wield subpoena power launching investigations into Trump family and corporate corruption if they win, prompting the president's protective warning.Musk has donated over $445 million during this election cycle to support Republicans, including at least $71 million for Senate races and $33.1 million in Texas contests.Representative Greg Casar, a Texas Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said last month committees must investigate "ultra-rich people who have tried to...

Once upon a time, an American president declared, “It is perfectly apparent that the needs of education were never greater than they are at the present time.” But it was not President Trump. It was President Calvin Coolidge. Over one hundred years ago, Coolidge recognized the critical need for robust civic education to foster a healthy republic. Coolidge’s words are truer today than when he spoke them as vice president in 1922. In September 2026, the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania published its Constitution Day Civics Survey. The results could hardly be more concerning. The survey...

“Where Enlightenment philosopher Descartes said, ‘I think, therefore I am,’ the Communist says, ‘I’m right, therefore I’m in charge.’ — Data Republican on X It was supposed to be an election, but the event we’re in is actually an attempt to overthrow the government. The coup is underway. It’s a turnstile into the next phase of this Fourth Turning. We know who the perps are. They have outed themselves. They have declared war on the republic on video. Is there any other remedy except to arrest the bums, take them off the game board, and stuff them into a courtroom?...

At least nine people are dead after a $2 million private jet crashed into a South Florida mobile home park — apparently demolishing at least one trailer in a massive fireball. Nine people were on board the Learjet 60 en route from Austin, Texas, to North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas when it crashed into a massive fireball, the FAA said. The plane, which had departed Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas, took a sharp right turn before nosediving from 8,000 feet into the ground.

Public domain image of Luther nailing 95 Theses at Wittenberg. (Acquired from Wikimedia Commons) On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his infamous 95 Theses to the door at a church in Wittenberg, Germany, signifying his break from the Catholic Church, and paving the way for like-minded protestors. 499 years have since elapsed. Disunity among Christians remains a scandal and an affront to the prayer of Jesus that the people, "may be one." (cf. John 17:11-26) In the modern era of social media, we see today the hashtag #ReformationDay posted in a strictly celebratory manner. From one perspective, it is...

Robert Fulghum’s 1988 book All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten sold over seven million copies, staying a best-seller for two years. It adapted simple truths taught to schoolchildren into lessons for grown-ups. One example: An adult might read a kindergarten instruction to “Put things back where you found them” as a reminder to respect orderliness and shared spaces. Other lessons included “Play fair” and “Don’t hit people.” Fulghum’s primer on standards of behavior and values already seems quaint. If you’re old enough to recall those traditional standards, you know they’ve since gone the way of printed...

Abdul El-Sayed is having a terrible home stretch in the Michigan Senate race, digging himself deeper on a daily basis. And for whatever reason, he just can't seem to put the shovel down. First, he refused to condemn a blatantly antisemitic ad supporting his campaign. That was too much for Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.), his former primary opponent, who had endorsed him after their race. Stevens flipped and endorsed his Republican opponent, former Rep. Mike Rogers. In the final days of the campaign, El-Sayed's candidacy is tearing the Democrat Party apart, and now he is stuck playing defense on antisemitism...

See the car with doors open in the photo above? At the mid-campaign rally a young woman opened the doors of her vehicle and played a recording of a concert where a singer lauded abortion and trashed religion. It sounded demonic. Nevertheless, we continued to pray for an end to abortion and to pray for those who would support abortion that they may see The Light. Shawn Carney posted a note today about the Bangor, ME Planned Parenthood telling supporters to play demonic music and “cast spells” on folks like us who pray in front of abortion facilities. Note that...

I noticed a recent article citing that Mosques in Texas were funded and staffed by the Turkish Government. Then ran across these: https://www.meforum.org/mef-online/turkey-uses-mosques-state-employed-imams-to-influence-millions-abroad https://nordicmonitor.com/2026/02/turkey-funds-radical-jihadism-in-gaza-through-govt-run-foundation-under-charity-pretext/ https://en.yenisafak.com/turkiye/severing-ties-with-iran-goes-against-sovereignty-says-erdogan-3437256 Is Turkey becoming the new extension of Iran? Should it be in NATO, if it’s going to support Islamic Conquest? Any experts here, what’s really going on here.

Abdul El-Sayed argues that boys should be allowed in girls’ locker rooms "because they are going to find out about it on the internet anyway." According to him, it's not our job as parents to protect our kids - in fact we're hindering them if we do. Instead, we need to let our kids have access to EVERYTHING... and then have a conversation about what they saw and heard. Pure evil. Vote RED like your child depends on it.

University leaders are preparing layoffs, eliminating vacant positions, and cutting expenses to address a projected $19 million FY2028 deficit.. Federal records compiled by MyVisaJobs show the University of Maine System filed 19 H-1B labor-condition applications in fiscal 2026. ... The University of Maine (UMaine) in Orono is preparing faculty and staff reductions as it confronts a projected $19 million deficit for fiscal year 2028, while the broader University of Maine System continued H-1B sponsorship during fiscal 2026. University leaders have proposed layoffs, eliminating vacant positions, reducing outside contracts, modifying some annual appointments, and consolidating units as part of an effort...

Just weeks after an 'unprecedented' cyberattack struck supermarket fridges in France, destroying foodstuffs, a similar hack has crippled supermarket chains in Belgium and Sweden, Bloomberg reports. Hackers targeted supermarkets owned by Dutch outfit Ahold Delhaize, as well as ICA and Coop locations in Sweden. As with the previous attack, hackers remotely raised temperatures in these online-controlled freezers to 50 degrees Celsius, rapidly defrosting their contents and likely destroying millions of dollars worth of items. Belga News Agency reports that a cyberattack targeting refrigeration units at Belgian supermarkets started on Sunday night at around midnight. Sabcobel, a refrigeration fitter in the...

LAKELAND, Fla. (WFOR) -- There were 17 Disney World and Universal Studios employees among 281 suspects arrested during a human trafficking and child sexual predators enforcement operation, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said Friday. Sheriff Grady Judd said in a press conference Friday that the joint operation, which took place over seven days, focused on nabbing predators who prey upon and travel to meet children for unlawful sexual activity and human trafficking. He said 31 of the suspects traveled to the county to attempt to have sex with a child. Judd said during the press conference that 13 of the...