Free Republic

The riots in Paris appear to be easing following six days of heightened tensions, sparked by the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk by police last Tuesday morning.With the issue of police brutality once again under the spotlight, the following chart by Statista's Anna Fleck looks at where confidence in police is highest and lowest around the world, based on indicators such as poor response times, heavy-handed arrests and the use of force in questionable circumstances.You will find more infographics at StatistaBut how does confidence in law enforcement in France compare to the rest of the world? Gallup recently released...

The summer’s biggest disappointment – and sleeper – are hitting theaters within days of each other.“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” earned a measly $60 million at the U.S. box office over the weekend, combined with a lackluster global bow. Those numbers, paired with the film’s reported $295 million budget, mean Dr. Indiana Jones rides off into retirement in the red.Meanwhile, a fledgling film studio’s second major release looks to score an impressive debut with a story unlike anything in the summer film marketplace.“Sound of Freedom,” starring Jim Caviezel in a fact-based tale of child trafficking, already locked in...

Garland Nixon interviews a Ukraine survivor

Republican 2024 presidential candidate and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott said Tuesday that citizens should celebrate instead of cancel the nation's founding fathers for their wisdom in creating the system of government we have."We are blessed to live in the greatest nation on God's green earth," Scott said Tuesday in a video on his campaign site celebrating Independence Day. "Our founding fathers were geniuses who should be celebrated, not canceled."The National Review reported in August 2022 that the University of Virginia's student newspaper called for the likeness and name of founder, and former President Thomas Jefferson, to be stripped from...

When we first heard the story of a hazmat situation and the White House being evacuated on Sunday, we were told by the media that they’d found cocaine hydrochloride “near the White House.” Then it was described as being on the White House complex. That could be anywhere, including on the grounds. It was also described as “cocaine hydrochloride,” with suggestions it could be an anesthetic.Then came the report that it was in the White House library, which is on the ground floor of the executive mansion, according to the Washington Post.But now the Secret Service is contradicting that report...

Every time there’s a mass shooting, there always seems to be this political crush to immediately politicize it to make it serve whatever the narrative is that people want to push.It seems like there’s always a combing through of the shooter’s social media interactions to try to pin the shooting on a side. And whatever the background, the anti-gun folks on the left make it a staple to attack the guns, not the shooters who just opened fire on people.The mass shooter who shot and killed five people in Philadelphia on Monday — Independence Day eve — has been identified...

The National Education Association (NEA) on Monday recommended that teachers include the controversial book "Gender Queer" on their summer reading lists. The book was featured in the NEA's "Great Summer Reads for Educators!" list that showcased 11 books. Among those books are "White Fragility," a book that insists that White Americans use anger, shame and guilt to avoid taking responsibility for racial inequality. Other sections included "books to help you forget about work" and "books to celebrate or help you understand Junetheenth." Under the "banned books" section, Gender Queer is recommended as a reading. "Gender Queer" has as courted major...

China’s problems are many and varied, but now we can add a possible famine to them.Like Mao during the Cultural Revolution, Xi is pushing a new program of “agricultural management.” In practice, this means hundreds of thousands of party bureaucrats or simply average job seekers turned into state-sanctioned “agriculture managers” (effectively rural “enforcers” for the CCP) descending on villages and small towns – a nightmare scenario for farmers.These enforcers have already sowed resentment and chaos in rural communities. In one instance from earlier this year that went viral on Chinese social media, agricultural managers threatened to uproot backyard fruit and...

One birth of the bikini on Frenchwoman Micheline Bernardini‘s body in a photo shoot on July 5th, 1946, owes its then new name to the island where, four days earlier, America tested one of the first of the atomic weapons which still both terrify and (hopefully) stabilise the modern world. Robbie Robertson, one of my favourite guitarists, who was born on July 5, but in 1943, said: “You don’t stumble upon your heritage. It’s there, just waiting to be explored.” God Bless Beauty And The Fearsome Freedom To Enjoy It

Happy Fourth of July. In honor of the occasion and to pay tribute to those who came before us, I’d like to start this essay with a land acknowledgment statement. My home sets on land first explored by English and Scots-Irish freemen who had migrated from their homeland in search of freedom and opportunity or sometimes on the run from the law. The land was settled primarily by Germans from the Palatinate , who, through their industry, created farms, pastures, and orchards where only unproductive, fallow wilderness had existed. These men and women held savage tribes at bay and together...

Vladimir Putin sought to project an image of strength in front of a virtual gathering of Moscow-friendly leaders on Tuesday, in what was the Russian leader’s first appearance on the world stage since he faced an armed insurrection late last month. The comments, made during an address to leaders attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) hosted by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, came days after Putin diffused the rebellion launched by the Wagner mercenary group. The events were widely seen as the most significant threat to power the autocrat had faced, and left Putin’s partners and rivals alike wondering how...

A leading Russian investigative journalist has been brutally attacked on a working trip to Chechnya - a republic of Russia governed by close Vladimir Putin ally Ramzan Kadyrov who had previously described the reporter as a 'terrorist'. Elena Milashina, 45, and lawyer Alexander Nemov - who was also savagely beaten - were stopped by armed and masked men as they arrived in the regional capital Grozny to attend a court case linked to human right abuses. The pair received death threats and had guns pointed at their heads, according to reports, while Milashina's head was shaved and her fingers broken...

The proposal might be the biggest attempted power grab in the history of the United Nations. If approved, the United States as we know it could cease to exist.In September 2024, less than two months before the next U.S. presidential election, the United Nations will host a landmark “Summit of the Future,” where member nations will adopt a Pact for the Future. The agreement will solidify numerous policy reforms offered by the U.N. over the past two years as part of its sweeping Our Common Agenda platform. Although there are numerous radical proposals included in the agenda, perhaps none are...

Israeli air defenses shooting down five rockets incoming from Gaza early Wednesday morning... A federal district judge in Louisiana with a July 4th order regarding censorship of social media posts by the Biden Administration... Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says that Russia and the US are talking about a prisoner exchange... Nuclear incident talk as Ukraine reinforces its military positions on the border with Belarus... An emergency evacuation of the White House Sunday night over a white powder that turned out to be cocaine... US politics and Joe Biden's approval ratings moving downwards... In Tunisia a local resident killed during fighting...

Every country should pay its sovereign debt. Default, we are told, is not an option. But has anyone told China? The United States pays interest on approximately $850 billion in debt held by the People’s Republic of China. China, however, is currently in default on its sovereign debt held by American bondholders. Successive U.S. administrations have chosen to sidestep this fact, allowing business and trade with China to proceed as normal. Now that the relationship with China has soured and the People’s Republic of China has become the greatest adversarial threat to the U.S. and Western security, policymakers should revisit...

Debt doesn't care about elections. The U.S. government must continue to pay its bills, and as long as current spending trends continue, it must keep borrowing money to do so. But politicians care very much about elections. When it recently became apparent that the government was about to smash its head on the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling established by Congress, thus potentially triggering a catastrophic cash crunch and default on American debt obligations, the political leadership of both parties got right to work figuring out the best way to avoid losing their next election. In the end, the bipartisan deal...

(RNS) — Whitworth University, a Christian school affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), has revised its policies to allow for the hiring of faculty who identify as LGBTQ and to add sexual orientation to its non-discrimination statement. In so doing, it joins a sliver of Christian colleges and universities that are hiring faculty in same-sex marriages. Last year, Eastern University, a Christian school affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA, made a similar change to its hiring policy. Whitworth, which is located in Spokane, Washington, and last academic year had an enrollment of 2,500 students, announced the change on Thursday...

North Carolina megachurch Elevation—known for its popular music and charismatic pastor—is withdrawing its affiliation with the Southern Baptist Convention effective immediately, according to a letter sent to the SBC’s Executive Committee and the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. “We would like to thank the Southern Baptists for the privilege of partnering with you, especially through the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina for nearly two decades,” says the letter, which was published by the official SBC publication Baptist Press. It goes on to thank the Conference for “the privilege of having been affiliated with the SBC all these years”...

"This July 4th, we must remember that we stand on stolen land toiled by enslaved Africans and recommit ourselves to the fight for freedom, equality, & justice so that these ideals are accessible to everyone, not just a privileged few. We are not free until everyone is truly free."