Free Republic

Daily Readings from the USCCB“When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites. They neglect their appearance, so that they may appear to others to be fasting. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not appear to others to be fasting, except to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.” Matthew 6:16–18Many today have abandoned the holy practice of fasting. Fasting is a powerful penitential practice that bestows great benefits upon the...

Actually, ‘globalize the intifada’ is a call to commit violence against Jews. New York City will not be safe for Jews, if the anti-Semitic thug Zohran Mamdani is elected mayor. ... Zohran Mamdani says ‘globalize the intifada’ is expression of Palestinian rights The Queens assemblyman and New York City mayoral candidate refused to condemn the phrase as example of antisemitism on the left ... Zohran Mamdani, a leading candidate in next Tuesday’s New York City mayoral primary, refused to condemn calls to “globalize the intifada” during a new podcast interview with The Bulwark released on Tuesday, arguing the phrase is...

The Supreme Court upheld Tennessee’s law banning child sex change procedures on Wednesday. In a 6-3 ruling, the court held that Tennessee’s law does not violate the Equal Protection clause. “This case carries with it the weight of fierce scientific and policy debates about the safety, efficacy, and propriety of medical treatments in an evolving field,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion. “The voices in these debates raise sincere concerns; the implications for all are profound. The Equal Protection Clause does not resolve these disagreements.” “Having concluded it does not, we leave questions regarding its policy to...

President Joe Biden’s USAID awarded an $800 million contract to a business operating out of a Virginia home even after it formally ruled that its key manager lacked “honesty or integrity” — a reference to the fact that, according to a May 12 guilty plea, he had secured USAID contracts through bribery for a decade. The contract was for addressing “issues affecting the root causes of irregular migration from Central America to the United States” — the work that Biden assigned to Vice President Kamala Harris, but which she never appeared to address, a Daily Wire investigation found. The Department...

President Donald Trump and his Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard are “on the same page” related to assessments of how close the Iranian regime was to obtaining a nuclear weapon, a senior Trump administration official insisted to Just the News, as Trump argued on Tuesday that the Iranians were “very close” to obtaining atomic weaponry. Trump told reporters on Air Force One yesterday that he believed the Iranians had been “very close” to getting a nuclear weapon prior to the Israeli air strikes which began hammering Iranian nuclear facilities and the Israeli targeting of Iranian nuclear scientists starting late...

San Francisco police have arrested a man accused of defacing the famed Pink Triangle, a symbol of LGBTQ+ rights that is installed annually during Pride Month on top of the city’s landmark Twin Peaks.

I think our duty to a representative and limited government, a constitutional republic, doesn’t end when we exercise one day of democracy — Election Day and the vote. If our candidate makes mistakes, it’s up to each of us to speak out — not to criticize, but to educate, to ask him to do better. The following is an attempt to apply principle to the specific issue of tariffs and the overarching principle of constitutionally limited government. Congrats: Any citizen who consumes (buys) goods made in China, you are going to pay 35 to 50 percent more for everything you...

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will meet with cabinet ministers for an emergency discussion amid mounting anticipation over whether the United States will decide to strike Iran, The Guardian reports. Starmer will convene the United Kingdom’s national emergencies committee, known as COBRA, to “bring together ministers and senior officials to update the UK’s response to the rapidly escalating conflict in the Middle East,” says the report. British deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, who stood in for Starmer at prime minister’s questions while the latter was away at a G7 summit in Canada, tells British MPs that “we agree with President...

A few years ago, the sudden, near-simultaneous killing of Bagheri, Salami, and a host of other senior leaders would have been unthinkable. Over three decades, the hard-liners who control Iran’s regime had built up what seemed like a formidable system of deterrence. They stockpiled ballistic missiles. They developed and advanced a nuclear enrichment program. Most important, they established a network of foreign proxies that could routinely harass Israeli and U.S. forces. But Iran’s hard-liners overplayed their hand. After Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, the regime’s leaders opted for a campaign of maximum aggression. Rather than letting Hamas and...

Yes, yes. I know "unhinged" and "socialist" go together like peas and carrots, but it is a headline. Now, on to the story. New York City does elections the new-fangled way, using ranked-choice voting to ensure that the outcomes take forever to tally, the results tend to lean left, and voters are maximally confused. That makes predicting outcomes particularly difficult, although you can balance the difficulty by assuming that the worst outcome possible is the most likely. Throw in the fact that a plurality of New York City voters will reliably make the wrong choice when it comes to electing...

A Tennessee state law banning gender-affirming care for minors can stand, the US supreme court has ruled, a devastating loss for trans rights supporters in a case that could set a precedent for dozens of other lawsuits involving the rights of transgender children. The case, United States v Skrmetti, was filed last year by three families of trans children and a provider of gender-affirming care. In oral arguments, the plaintiffs – as well as the US government, then helmed by Joe Biden – argued that Tennessee’s law constituted sex-based discrimination and thus violated the equal protection clause of the 14th...

KhameneiUntergang (Downfall, 2004) is a movie about the last days of the Hitler regime, including Hitler's nine-millimeter-and-cyanide honeymoon with Eva Braun. We are now looking at the final days of Iran's theocracy, which is likely to collapse by the end of the week; one week after Israel began military action. It is well known from history that, when a country's leaders flee the battlefield, the war is over for them. At Gaugamela in 331 B.C.E., the massive Persian army collapsed when King Darius turned his chariot to run from Alexander the Great, who was personally trying to kill him. Once...

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Catholic Charities USA are among more than 200 non-governmental organizations named in a congressional probe for aiding immigrants its leaders call “inadmissible aliens” during former President Joe Biden’s administration. U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark E. Green, R-Tenn., and Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations and Accountability Chairman Josh Brecheen, R-Okla., announced their investigation June 11. According to a June 11 press release, “The chairmen are examining whether these NGOs used taxpayer dollars to facilitate illegal activity, as the previous administration incentivized millions of inadmissible aliens to cross our borders — many of...

Heraclitus once stated, “a man never steps into the same river twice,” which implies that both the river and the man are continuously changing. The United States, and we as its citizens, are also constantly changing, but change can be managed and directed towards improvement and away from chaos. Among the most important decisions facing us is that of illegal immigration and who is going to do our work. Over the past decade, several political luminaries such as Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Chuck Schumer, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have declared that we need illegal immigrants to do the work that Americans won’t...

In the immediate aftermath of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s announcement that public employees would be back in office four days a week in July, many of the elected officials who have independent control over their agencies, like the Attorney General’s Office or the State Controller’s Office, held off on making abrupt changes to their telework policies.

A three-judge appeals panel heard arguments from lawyers Tuesday afternoon over the question of whether President Donald Trump can continue to control California’s National Guard as his administration carries out his deportation agenda, or if the troops should be returned to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s control. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer granted a restraining order last week, putting Newsom back in control of the Guard and calling Trump’s actions “illegal.” But lawyers for the Trump administration appealed, and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily blocked Breyer’s ruling, pending Tuesday’s hearing. ... Brett Shumate, an attorney for the Trump administration, told...

Seriously ? —. Should Trump hear them out now or just let Israel finish the job ?

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei defiantly declared Wednesday that Tehran isn’t frightened by President Trump’s “absurd rhetoric” — as he rejected the United States’ demand to surrender in its war with Israel. “The US President threatens us. With his absurd rhetoric, he demands that the Iranian people surrender to him. They should make threats against those who are afraid of being threatened. The Iranian nation isn’t frightened by such threats,” Khamenei said in a statement on X. He vowed Iran would never back down and that any US strike would have “serious irreparable consequences.” “The US entering in this...

The Senate Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing on the alleged cover-up of former President Joe Biden’s physical and mental decline. The hearing is scheduled to begin at 10:15 a.m.

Santa Ana councilmembers voted to drop work on a proposed policy that would have required the city’s Police Department to publicly post alerts about federal immigration enforcement activity. A letter from U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli was received June 7, warning city leaders that implementing the policy could endanger officers, disrupt criminal investigations and expose city staff and elected officials to federal prosecution. Discussing the letter during a closed session on Tuesday, June 17, the council voted 5-2, with councilmembers Benjamin Vazquez and Johnathan Hernandez opposed, to kill the proposal now. Councilmembers had asked city staff previously for more information about...