Free Republic

Amid continued American entanglements in the Middle East, neoconservative commentators seek to shore up the tired status quo by delegitimizing foreign policy dissent. Nowhere is this more evident than on the ever-radioactive issue of the U.S. relationship with Israel. Fearing an above-board debate, these gatekeepers have marshaled obscurantist phrases such as “Code Pink Republicans,” a guilt-by-association tactic meant to negatively polarize the conservative base in favor of staying the course on U.S.-Israeli relations. Add to the mix old classics like the “isolationist” slur and the conspiracist obsession with the “Soros-Koch” complex, and neoconservative hawks are working overtime to stigmatize long-standing...

Israel’s government has approved a plan to seize all of the Gaza Strip and hold control over the territory for an unspecified length of time, officials have revealed. Government officials said the newly approved offensive plan would move Gaza’s civilian population southward and keep humanitarian aid from falling into the hands of the terrorist group Hamas. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet ministers unanimously approved plans for the new offensive on Monday morning. It came just hours after it was announced that tens of thousands of reserve soldiers are being called up. The plan reportedly provides for the “conquering of Gaza”...

A new Washington state law now compels Catholic priests to report child abuse even if the information is revealed in the sacrament of confession. The controversial legislation, signed May 2 by Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson, makes Washington the first state to explicitly eliminate legal protections for the sacred seal of confession in abuse-related cases. Some states have laws requiring clergy to report abuse that also don’t include exemptions for clergy-penitent privilege, but Washington’s Senate Bill 5375 — which passed 64-31 in the House and 28-20 in the Senate — was the first with direct legislative intent to remove protections for...

"Tariff wars usually unfold in headlines and press conferences. But China’s quiet move to lift its steep 125% tariffs on some U.S. goods tells a different story—one of retreat, not rhetoric. While officials in Beijing call American trade policy “economic bullying,” behind the scenes, there’s a pivot underway. The White House sees a psychological break in China’s resolve. If the world’s manufacturing powerhouse starts to stumble, consequences could spread across global markets, disrupting everything from supply chains to political alliances. With high stakes and hidden maneuvers, this economic chess match could reshape the world order—and it’s already underway."

people are familiar with the common construct of “the third world.” they are also familiar with the idea of “the first world.” what’s interesting to me is the idea of how one becomes the other and the presumption of the causality and the pathways by which that occurs. it’s worth some exploration. worryingly, this is a topic on which i think most people’s intuitions and utopian hopes are hopelessly wrong to the point of being outright dangerous. in an attempt to clarify and circumvent such, i’d like to add a new construct to the list, that of “the second world”...

Donald Trump shook the nation with his new plan to pay every illegal migrant who self-deports over $1,000 - including their plane ticket out of the U.S. The Department of Homeland Security shared a plan incentivizing self-deportation through the repurposed CBP Home app. In addition, his new plan to 'rebuild and open Alcatraz' as he seeks to crack down on violent criminals and illegal migrants is also shaking up Republicans and Democrats. The plan is expected to cost roughly $300 million - which would be footed by American taxpayers. Trump administration announces $1,000 payment program for illegal aliens willing to...

Iran is on fire — literally, again — and nobody knows why. A massive power plant and a "cardboard factory" caught fire bigly in Iran over the weekend. But there is impressive new video of Iran's port explosion from last week. Iran International reported that a "series of incidents unfolded in Alborz Province, west of Tehran, on Saturday evening, including two fires, reports of an explosion, and a magnitude 4.0 earthquake, according to official statements and eyewitness accounts." Israeli action? Typical authoritarian regime attention to maintenance issues? God just doesn't like the mullahs' regime? Who knows. For reasons yet unknown,...

Mercedes-Benz will shift production of one of its vehicles to Tuscaloosa, Alabama by 2027. The German luxury carmaker's move is the latest response from an industry caught in the expensive crosshairs of President Donald Trump's 25 percent tariffs. The decision marks a potential win for Trump’s protectionist trade agenda, which aims to boost US manufacturing by slapping steep tariffs on foreign-made goods. But there are many complicating factors. The company didn't say which model would move to America. Instead, it said the production of a 'core segment vehicle' will move stateside. Many experts predict the move will impact the production...

Constitutional law expert Alan Dershowitz told Newsmax on Monday that Harvard University won't win as it fights the Trump administration in court to regain access to more than $2.2 billion in federal grants and, potentially, its tax-exempt status, which President Donald Trump said he intends to revoke. The funding was frozen hours after Harvard President Alan Garber said the university would not comply with the government's demands to limit student activism, following last year's anti-Israel protests that roiled college campuses across the country.

A former housing official who worked under President George H. W. Bush has made an astonishing claim that the U.S. government spent years funneling money into the creation of a secret underground “city” where the rich and powerful can shelter in the event of a “near-extinction event.” Catherine Austin Fitts, who served as the assistant secretary of Housing and Urban Development for Housing between 1989 and 1990, made the shocking allegations during an appearance on former Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s podcast, although there is no concrete evidence to support her claims. Fitts, 74, who is originally from Philadelphia, cited...

Welp, it looks like Trump is going to reopen Alcatraz. This dude's not messing around. He wants to send our worst criminals out to "The Rock" in the San Francisco Bay. Here's Trump: If you've ever visited Alcatraz you know how epic this is. I'll give you some details on Alcatraz. But first, just look at the place: Good luck escaping that! Here's why they originally opened the former military prison to U.S. prisoners (notice the similarities to Trump's reasoning): The Federal Government had decided to open a maximum-security, minimum-privilege penitentiary to deal with the most incorrigible inmates in Federal...

The Trump administration has started paying illegal migrants to $1,000 each to “self-deport” from the US, and the Department of Homeland Security said it will save taxpayers up to $1 million per family. Immigrants can avoid arrest by federal immigration agents if they choose to use the Trump administration’s CBP Home app. The DHS will pay for commercial flights out of the US, and then send cash once they confirm they’ve left. Despite shelling out the cash, DHS projects that taxpayers will save 70% over the cost of rounding up and deporting each illegal migrant. It costs taxpayers an average...

Tesla is fighting back at criticism of its Full Self-Driving features. The EV automaker took to the social media platform X to provide a robust defense of FSD's current state and future. While few would take issue with this point, many consumers have been underwhelmed with FSD's view of autonomy thus far, due to the need for drivers to be attentive. Tesla pushed back, "Although FSD Supervised currently does require your supervision, you will still notice that your commute or long drives are suddenly so much less taxing." Teslarati added context, saying FSD "has a ton of potential." And there...

A few decades ago, autism was rare, but then it rose meteorically. “Reported rates of autism in the United States increased from 30 per 10,000 children in the 1990s, a 10-fold increase. Since the 1990s, we have seen another tenfold increase. According to the Centers for Disease Control, autism affects an estimated 1 in 31 children and 1 in 45 adults in the United States today.

The New York Times published a 400-word report last week about the rape of a corpse aboard a New York City subway train — but nowhere in the article did the paper mention that the suspect, Felix Rojas, is an illegal alien. Rojas, 44, was arrested for first-degree rape after police say he violated the body of a dead man on an R train in Manhattan on April 9. Surveillance footage reportedly captured Rojas entering the nearly empty train at the Whitehall Street–South Ferry station, rummaging through the pockets of a deceased man and then sexually assaulting the corpse before...

Evidently, we need more places to stash illegal alien criminals whose own countries won't take them back. In a somewhat unexpected development, the Trump administration is now in talks with the African nation of Rwanda to take some of these deportees. Advertisement Rwanda's government and the Trump administration are discussing details about a potential agreement for Kigali to accept deportees from the U.S., including Africans and other non-Rwandan nationals, CBS News has learned. Decisions on potential financial compensation for taking in the deportees and other details would be discussed within the next two weeks, according to a Rwandan official. A...

The German Federal Office for Protection of the Constitution (Bfv) categorised the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as “definitely right-wing extremist“, sparking widespread calls for a ban on the party. A survey by German newspaper BILD published on May 3 revealed that some 48 per cent of respondents supported a complete ban on the AfD, including its dissolution, exclusion from elections and the removal of its MPs from the Bundestag, or parliament. By contrast, 37 per cent opposed such a ban, while 15 per cent remained undecided or indifferent. Banning the right-wing party could backfire, though. According to the same...

The average American adult will spend around three years of their life driving. If robots could take the wheel instead, well, think of all the Netflix shows we could stream instead. Don't forget work via wifi. But the true benefit of a self-driving revolution will be in lives saved. And new data from the autonomous vehicle company Waymo suggests that those savings could be very great indeed.

A federal jury convicted a Louisiana nurse practitioner yesterday for her role in an over $2 million health care fraud scheme. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Shanone Chatman-Ashley, 45, of Opelousas, was a nurse practitioner and enrolled provider with Medicare. Chatman-Ashley worked as an independent contractor for companies that purportedly provided telehealth services to Medicare beneficiaries. As part of the scheme, the defendant caused the submission of false and fraudulent claims to Medicare for medically unnecessary durable medical equipment (DME). Chatman-Ashley routinely ordered knee braces, suspension sleeves, and other types of DME for patients who had...

Dear FRiends, We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. This means no spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers. And because we are not a 501C, we have preserved our God-given, constitutionally protected right to free speech without government intervention. If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today: Click here: to donate by Credit CardOr here: to donate by PayPalOr by mail to: Free Republic, LLC...