Free Republic

I was asked this week how I can be a Christian and support Donald Trump throwing out thousands of illegal aliens. But one of the toughest things about being a Christian is trying to be a citizen. No — scratch that. I mean trying to be a good citizen. Saint Paul was a citizen, too, but I don’t think he cared a bit about the Roman Empire. He gave the impression that if the Gauls invaded tomorrow, he would just shrug his shoulders and try to baptize them, too. And although he was the polar opposite of Thomas Paine in...

An evenly divided Supreme Court ruled Thursday that states cannot provide funding to religious charter schools, turning away from a potential decision that would have fundamentally changed K-12 education.The 4-4 split meant the justices upheld the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s ruling that both Sooner State law and the US Constitution prohibit taxpayer funding from going toward religious schools. Justice Amy Coney Barrett had recused herself from arguments, having taught at the University of Notre Dame’s law school for about 15 years. The school’s religious liberty clinic had been representing one of the parties in the case, St. Isidore of Seville Catholic...

On the very day Donald Trump became president again, he signed an executive order prospectively eliminating birthright citizenship for children born to aliens unlawfully present in the United States. Immediately, lawsuits were filed in a half-dozen jurisdictions across the country challenging this order. The groups bringing these suits claim the order disrupts long-standing legal norms governing citizenship. Yet, in fact, Trump’s contention — that birthright citizenship is not possessed by children of illegal aliens under the “correct interpretation of the law” — is exactly right. Birthright citizenship is conventionally understood to apply to any child born in the United States,...

As RedState reported, two Israeli embassy workers were gunned down in cold blood by a man who chanted "free, free Palestine" in the aftermath. Sarah Milgram and Yaron Lischinsky, who were planning to get engaged soon, were attending an event on collaboration to deliver aid to Gaza when Elias Rodriguez, a member of the Chicago-based Party for Socialism and Liberation, allegedly shot them from behind. Now, more information is coming out about Rodriguez, who is a "pro-Palestinian" (see: pro-Hamas) activist. Before allegedly carrying out the murders, he released a manifesto online in which he wrote, "Those of us against the...

The Treasury Department is phasing out penny production by early next year after President Donald Trump ordered the government to halt the “wasteful” minting of the coins. The Treasury will stop making pennies by early 2026, which will require businesses to start rounding up or down to the nearest five cents, the agency confirmed in a statement to the Wall Street Journal on Thursday.

Solar stocks plunged on Thursday after House Republicans passed a tax bill that terminates key clean energy credits. Residential solar installer Sunrun plummeted more than 35%. The legislation ends tax credits for installers like Sunrun that lease equipment to customers. The GOP bill is a “worse than feared” scenario for clean energy, as it takes a “sledgehammer” to the Inflation Reduction Act, Jefferies analysts led by Julien Dumoulin-Smith told clients in a note. Some 70% of the rooftop solar industry now uses lease arrangements, making the bill disastrous for companies like Sunrun, Guggenheim analyst Joseph Osha told clients. Enphase and...

On May 14, 2025, Governor J. Kevin Stitt signed Oklahoma HB 2818 into law. This type of law is known as a Defensive Display law. It codifies and clarifies actions that are allowed during the defense of self, others, and property while being armed. HB 2818 was passed by the House with a 73-16 vote on March 25, 2025. It passed the Senate 39-7 on May 8, 2025. The law took effect immediately. From oklegislature.gov: 4. For purposes of this subsection, “defensive display of a firearm” includes, but is not limited to:a. verbally informing another person that the person possesses...

The Trump administration is, for the first time since the emergence of the full-blown DEI regime in higher education, looking closely at what that movement has produced and where it runs counter to educational and political norms. The administration is using its authority to pressure colleges and universities to move away from practices that are not in conformity with those norms. This has led to bitter complaint from the advocates of DEI ideology. In a recent Inside Higher Ed article, writer Sara Weissman ponders the “DEI Hills Higher Education Is Willing to Die On.” Naturally, DEI advocates want people to...

The British government’s plans to hand control of the strategically significant Chagos Islands to Mauritius are set to be signed off on Thursday, after an 11th-hour legal injunction failed to stop an effort that has been intensely controversial in both the United Kingdom and the United States. Prime Minister Keir Starmer intends to return the islands to the African country, while maintaining control of the US-UK Diego Garcia military base, and the deal is expected be finalized on Thursday. It comes after a High Court judge briefly blocked the move in a ruling made at 2 a.m. local time (9...

Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself from the case. The Supreme Court on Thursday voted 4-4 to block the creation of a taxpayer-funded charter school in Oklahoma. Catholic dioceses had sought to establish St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School as a school that would have been eligible for public funding. Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself from the case, according to Reuters. The state Supreme Court in 2023 ruled 6-2 against the school, after state AG Gentner Drummond sued to "prevent the type of state-funded religion that Oklahoma's constitutional framers and the founders of our country sought...

Yaron Lischinsky was preparing to propose to his girlfriend Sarah Milgrim. He had just bought an engagement ring, and planned to ask on a trip to Jerusalem next week. But on Wednesday night in Washington, they were shot dead by a man who shouted "free Palestine" outside the Capital Jewish Museum as they left an event billed by organisers as a discussion of the Gaza crisis that aimed to "turn pain into purpose". Their deaths have shocked colleagues at the Israeli embassy, sparked international outrage and prompted Israeli leaders to blame "rising hostility" and antisemitism after Hamas attacked the country...

Scientists had never detected these strange particles in plane exhaust before. (santi lumubol/Shutterstock) ============================================================================ In a nutshell * Scientists have discovered previously unknown “onion-like” nanoparticles in jet engine exhaust that could pose new health concerns, especially for people living near airports. * These tiny particles, measuring just 10-20 nanometers, appear downstream from aircraft engines and may originate from the breakdown of lubrication oil, not fuel combustion. * Unlike traditional soot, these particles remain even when using sustainable aviation fuels, posing a potential challenge for clean aviation initiatives. ============================================================================ TSUKUBA, Japan — Living near an airport might be more complicated than...

A monument to Soviet dictator Josef Stalin erected in Moscow's metro is stirring debate, with some Russians welcoming it as a historical tribute, but others saying it's a mistake to commemorate someone who presided over so much suffering. -snip- Nearly 700,000 people were executed in Stalin's 1937-38 Great Terror amid show trials and purges of his real and perceived enemies. Many other Soviet citizens were sent to the Gulag, a grim network of prison camps, spread across the world's largest country. The Moscow metro said in a statement that the new version of the monument, which was presented to the...

Japanese Minister Taku Etō has been forced to resign amid the ongoing rice crisis. For those unaware, Japan has been facing a severe rice shortage since 2024, which makes the US egg crisis look minuscule in comparison. Etō delivered a fatal blow to his career by saying that he does not need to worry about the price of rice since he receives it freely through donations. His comments were taken as a modern-day “Let them eat cake.” “I asked myself whether it is appropriate for me to stay at the helm [of the agriculture ministry] at a critical time for...

In a high-profile incident reported by the Korean Central News Agency, North Korea's attempt to launch a warship became a fiasco under the watchful eyes of Kim Jong-un. The supreme leader attended the impressive unveiling of the 5,000-tonne vessel at Cheongjin Shipyard on May 21, which quickly went awry due to an unfortunate blunder during the launch process. He lambasted the occurrence as a "serious accident that could not have happened, could not be tolerated," and branded it as a "criminal act caused by pure carelessness, irresponsibility and unscientific empiricism." The North Korean leader made it abundantly clear that those...

The European Union has stepped in to provide Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty an infusion of millions of dollars to keep functioning as the international broadcaster battles the Trump administration to release funds Congress has already designated for it. "We are grateful for the emergency funding to help keep Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty afloat," the network's president, Steve Capus, said in a statement from Brussels, where he has been meeting with European officials. "Radio Liberty's survival remains at risk as long as these funds are withheld," Capus said, referring to $75 million held back by the Trump administration. Radio Free Europe...

Special Dispatch to the New-York Times. WASHINGTON, Sunday, May 21. Some thirty government witnesses were last evening discharged from further attendance upon the Military Commission for the trial of the assassins. These witnesses were generally summoned to prove facts which have already been brought out in sufficient prominence, and as their testimony would only be cumulative, and therefore consume time unnecessary, the Judge-Advocate has dispensed with them. It is understood that the evidence for the prosecution is now about closed, and save what has been drawn out in secret session, we are now enabled to understand what are the features...

A pro-Palestinian man is in custody after allegedly killing two Israeli embassy staff members who were leaving an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday night, authorities confirmed. The Embassy of Israel to the US identified the victims as Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, who were set to be engaged. Steven Jensen, the FBI's Assistant Director in Charge of the Washington Field Office, said the agency will be investigating the "heinous crime" for hate crime motivation or ties to potential terrorism.

After holding the tax bill hostage, House Republicans from high-tax states have extorted an enormous increase in the state-and-local tax deduction—not that they will get much credit for it. Unlike the bill’s pro-growth provisions, this giveaway to the affluent will have no economic payoff and subsidizes profligate Democratic-run states. Speaker Mike Johnson late Tuesday greased the wheels for the reconciliation bill’s passage by cutting a deal with Republicans from New York, New Jersey and California to raise the state-and-local deduction to $40,000 with a 1% annual inflation adjustment over 10 years. The deduction would be phased out starting at $500,000...

For centuries, the Fengyang Drum Tower stood tall over the Chinese Anhui province, working like a sort of clock marking the time of day, and announcing the beginning of official ceremonies. But the passage of time and a recent renovation have led to a disaster last Monday that very nearly ended in a catastrophe costing human lives. CNN reported: “Visitors to a centuries-old tourist site in eastern China were sent scrambling after hundreds of roof tiles came loose and cascaded more than two stories to the ground.” MULTIPLE VIDEOS AT LINK............. The Fengyang drum Tower is one of the largest...