Free Republic

(WLOS) — In downtown Spartanburg’s Morgan Square in South Carolina, you’ll see the "I Love You” statue created by students from The South Carolina School for the Deaf and the Blind, and a statue commemorating Revolutionary War hero Daniel Morgan. But the most talked-about piece of public art on the square may be the one that honors border collie Chaser, known as “the smartest dog in the world.” “She knows a thousand words,” said Spartanburg philanthropist Monty Mullen. “She had 1,000 toys and they were all named, and she could identify them.” Chaser was owned and trained by Dr. John...

The illusion of Iranian power was kept alive for decades by American engagement with the would-be lords of the Middle East. Now the spell is broken, and the ‘Axis of Resistance’ is shattered. A billboard with the "doomsday clock," counting down the days until Israel's destruction, is pictured in downtown Tehran, Iran, on November 4, 2024. Israel bombed the clock on Monday. A few months before he was buried under the rubble of his Beirut bunker, the late leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, repeated to his followers, as he had done many times before, his famous line that Israel was...

After a year in office, Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government is in rough waters. On July 1st the prime minister abandoned cuts to Britain’s welfare budget, after a large rebellion of Labour MPs forced him to gut his proposed legislation. The government’s standing in opinion polls is poor. Sir Keir’s promise to bring stability after the years of tumult that followed the Brexit referendum of 2016 looks hollow. He would doubtless ask voters to ignore the drama in the House of Commons, and look at the progress he has made on improving their lives. We have done just that. To...

NATO chief Mark Rutte has chillingly warned that World War III will start with simultaneous invasions from Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin. Secretary-general Rutte suggested the combined attacks from the Chinese and Russian leaders could trigger a World War nightmare and bring the planet to the brink of Armageddon. According to the NATO chief, China would start by seeking to grab Taiwan - while ensuring the Kremlin dictator simultaneously attacks NATO territory, amid fears Putin is anyway eyeing the Baltic republics Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, formerly part of the USSR.

Standing at a movie studio in Burbank, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday formally unveiled a $750 million expansion of California’s film and television tax credit program, part of a push to keep Hollywood production at home and boost local jobs.

🇺🇸Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem 🇮🇱(7/6/25)[Prayer]Water, Rivers, and Streams in the BiblePsalm 114:7-8Tremble, earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, 8 who turned the rock into a pool, the hard rock into springs of water.Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.________________________

Zohran Mamdani’s recent victory in the New York City Democratic mayoral primary has drawn widespread attention for his affiliation with the Democratic Socialists of America and what some see as antisemitic rhetoric. But beyond the headlines, it’s the education platform Mamdani champions that could pose the greatest threat to New York City families — especially those striving to access better schools and brighter futures for their children. At the core of Mamdani’s approach is an unambiguous rejection of school choice. He opposes vouchers, charter school expansion, and even co-location policies that allow high-performing charters to operate in underutilized public school...

6 July 2025 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time Saint Maria Goretti Shrine - LebanonReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: C(I).First readingIsaiah 66:10-14Towards Jerusalem I send flowing peace, like a riverRejoice, Jerusalem,be glad for her, all you who love her!Rejoice, rejoice for her,all you who mourned her!That you may be suckled, filled,from her consoling breast,that you may savour with delighther glorious breasts.For thus says the Lord:Now towards her I send flowingpeace, like a river,and like a stream in spatethe glory of the nations.At her breast will her nurslings be carriedand fondled in her lap.Like a son comforted by his motherwill...

State Senator Scott Wiener, a progressive representing San Francisco who is likely too radical for most moderate Democrats, has decided to run for a seat in the US House of Representatives. This could be a gift to President Donald Trump. He was already handed a halfway-to-Christmas present when self-described democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic nomination for New York City mayor, helping the chief executive frame the opposition as dangerous fringe radicals. Now, Wiener’s announcement will probably help the president solidify his argument and seal the deal. On June 27, Wiener filed paperwork to run for Congress in 2028,...

The magic number that proves the Gaza casualties are fake. “At least 81 Palestinians have been killed” in 24 hours in Gaza, the BBC reported on June 28, 2025, citing the “the Hamas-run health ministry”. There was nothing extraordinary about this at first glance beyond the way that the media had become comfortable building stories around claims from an Islamic terrorist group. Why 81 dead? Perhaps that seemingly random number is how many people were really killed. And yet five months earlier, on January 16, 2025, the New York Times reported that, “Gaza’s health ministry said on Thursday morning that...

Last week, on June 26th, the European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Rights (EPF) launched The Next Wave, a “report” that purports to expose the rise of so-called “anti-gender” and “anti-feminist” religious actors in Europe, whose goal is to “dismantle decades of hard-won sexual and reproductive rights across Europe.” Cloaked in the language of human rights, the document is, in truth, a politically charged dossier; reading more like a counter-terrorist threat assessment, and explicitly paints religious advocacy groups as part of an organized extremist threat that needs to be stopped at all costs. “A new alliance of religious extremists,...

You may have read about the report that the Deputy Director of the CIA for Analysis recently submitted to CIA Director John Ratcliffe on the CIA’s anti-Trump effort at the end of 2016. The report is dated June 26, 2025, and is embedded below. I am not sure who wrote it. Google’s AI says that the Deputy Director for Analysis position is currently open. Maybe Michael Ellis, the Agency’s Deputy Director, was responsible. Ellis is a friend of Paul Mirengoff, and we wrote about him here and elsewhere as he rose in the intelligence world. It is safe to say...

Mamdani voters in NYC explain why they support him

Gov. Josh Stein vetoed a slew of anti-Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) bills and a gender bill on Thursday but signed a licensure agreement bill and one that protects parents and caregivers from legal consequences for raising children in alignment with their biological sex. Among the bills he vetoed was SB 558, Eliminating “DEI” in Public Higher Ed. The legislation prohibits UNC System schools and community colleges from promoting discriminatory policies and practices. Under the measure, public colleges and universities would be required to eliminate offices and staff dedicated to DEI initiatives. The bill prohibits promoting “divisive concepts,” such as...

The Talk ShowsJuly 6th, 2025 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows:FACE THE NATION (CBS): Margaret Brennan anchors: NEC Director Kevin Hassett; Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.); Video documentarian Ken Burns.FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Anchor Shannon Bream: Speaker of the US House of Representatives Mike Johnson; Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.); Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.); Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Panel: Horace Cooper, Meghan Hays, Mollie Hemingway and Hans Nichols.MEET THE dePRESS (NBC): Hosted by Kristen Welker: Actor Olivia Munn (D-Hollyweird); biased liberal sports broadcaster Bob Costas; Sal Khan, Founder of Khan Academy; Leftist Poet Amanda Gorman. (MSDNC) Panel:...

It’s a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. The Black Lives Matter hashtag and slogan was developed in 2013 in reaction to the (lawful self-defense) shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman. The following year, 2014, the organization was formalized by self-avowed “trained Marxists” after the (lawful) police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. Those two shootings falsely were portrayed as racially motivated, while the facts (which we covered in exhaustive detail at the time) proved otherwise. Nonetheless the narrative was set and hating America and being American was necessary to be accepted into Democrat spaces. Even...

The American dream is slipping away. Most US citizens no longer enjoy “a minimal quality of life” due to skyrocketing costs, a depressing new study has uncovered. Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity conducted research into the economic well-being of the country’s residents, defining “minimal quality of life” as the ability to pay for a “basket of American dream essentials”: housing, food, transportation, clothing, medical costs and basic leisure expenses. The leisure expenses included access to cable TV and streaming services, as well as the ability to pay for six movie tickets and two baseball tickets per year. The Minimal...

Because we Westerners constantly lie to ourselves about Islamic ideology and its societal regulations, we have no idea what we’re facing. I question whether we will survive as a nation or are even worth saving. If nothing else, our refusal to recognize Islam for what it is seems to presage our demise. Putting aside the damage leftism does to American culture, we are also at risk from Islam, about which we still remain appallingly ignorant 24 years after 9/11. Instead, we have adopted the myth of “Moderate Muslims.” Before elaborating on Moderate Muslims, we must ask, “What other groups get...

Harlem Rep. Charles Rangel — infamously known for pocketing rental income from his Caribbean cottage without disclosing it — has apparently left behind a modest estate, court records show. Rangel, who died May 26 at age 94, had assets worth only $300,000, according to Manhattan Surrogate Court filings. That is far less than his net worth of more than $1.7 million upon his retirement from Congress in 2017, as reported by the watchdog group Open Secrets. The current assets of the once-powerful chair of the House’s Ways and Means Committee were not detailed in court filings. His daughter, Alicia Rangel-Haughton,...

The US has deported eight people to South Sudan following a legal battle that saw them diverted to Djibouti for several weeks. The men - convicted of crimes including murder, sexual assault and robbery - had either completed or were near the end of their prison sentences. Only one of the eight is from South Sudan. The rest are nationals of Myanmar, Cuba, Vietnam, Laos and Mexico. US officials said most of their home countries had refused to accept them. The Trump administration is working to expand its deportations to third countries... Officials did not say whether the South Sudanese...