Free Republic

French Prime Minister François Bayrou is criticizing the trade deal struck by President Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as an act of “submission” by the European Union (EU). “It is a dark day when an alliance of free peoples, united to affirm their values and defend their interests, resolves to submission,” Bayrou said in a post on social platform X early Monday. The agreement sets tariffs at 15 percent for European imports, including automobiles. That’s lower than the 30 percent tariff Trump had threatened to impose on the EU but higher than some European officials would...

28 July 2025 Monday of week 17 in Ordinary Time Saint Pope Victor I statue in the St. Peter's BasilicaReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: C(I).First readingExodus 32:15-24,30-34The golden calfMoses made his way back down the mountain with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, tablets inscribed on both sides, inscribed on the front and on the back. These tablets were the work of God, and the writing on them was God’s writing engraved on the tablets. Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting. ‘There is the sound of battle in the camp’, he told Moses....

Former US Representative, US Senate candidate and 2020 Democratic presidential contender Beto O'Rourke (D-Tex) went on CNN's State of the Union to tell host Jake Tapper that "we have to be absolutely ruthless about getting back in power. So, yes, in California, in Illinois, in New York, wherever we have the trifecta of power, we have to use that to its absolute extent." "Take the California Assembly, for example," O'Rourke said, "Democrats out number Republicans 60 to 19. In the Senate it's 30 to 10. Democrats have the votes to gerrymander every state Republican out of their seats. We can...

Las Vegas is experiencing a notable downturn in tourism, with hotel occupancy, visitor numbers and spending all slipping. Industry data points to several key reasons behind the shift, including rising costs, fewer international travellers, and broader economic uncertainties. Drop in international visitors and hotel occupancy According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, hotel occupancy dropped to just 66.7% in early July—a sharp fall from the previous year—and international visitors. Domestic arrivals also fell by around 6.5%, and traffic through Harry Reid International Airport declined nearly 4% overall.

Cameras captured the wild moment when dozens of people on minibikes blocked an intersection in Downtown Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon. The video posted on Citizen.com showed the riders blocking traffic while performing stunts at the intersection of Francisco Street and West 8th Street, not far from the 110 Freeway. Witnesses reported seeing the group riding throughout the Downtown L.A. area the rest of the day. It was unclear whether any arrests were made or if the police ever intervened.

The ancient city of Tripolis, near the town of Baldun, is one of the best-preserved ancient sites in western Anatolia. Over the past 13 years, archaeologists from Pamukkale University have been investigating the city, and have uncovered numerous Roman and Byzantine era ruins, including monumental fountains, a 1,500-year-old church, and colorful mosaics. Türkiye Today reports that the team recently uncovered a luxurious 1,600-year-old villa that is one of the most significant properties yet uncovered. Spreading across 16,000 square feet, the opulent residence contains vibrant frescoes, spacious halls, and a large colonnaded inner courtyard. The highlight of the sprawling estate was...

The Planned Parenthood abortion business is closing more centers – with another 5 closing in northern California thanks to the defunding bill President trump signed that took $300 million in taxpayer dollars away from the abortion giant. California’s Planned Parenthood affiliates, the state’s largest abortion company, have lost $300 million in federal funding following the new federal law that defunds America’s biggest abortion business. The congressional reconciliation bill, dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” signed by President Donald Trump earlier this month, prohibits Medicaid reimbursements for nonprofit health clinics that kill babies and receive more than $800,000 in federal...

Following the Congressional bill that President Trump signed to defund the Planned Parenthood abortion business nationwide, it is closing centers left and right. After announcing that it is closing it humongous abortion center in Houston, Texas, another Planned Parenthood affiliate announced that two centers in Oho would be closing, even though abortions are still legal in the Buckeye State. Planned Parenthood facilities in Hamilton and Springfield will shut down on August 1, and the abortion giant said defunding was the reason why. “This was not a decision made by Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region,” Southwest Ohio Planned Parenthood president and...

The desperate hunt for the murderer who killed a married couple in front of their young daughters at Devil’s Den State Park in Arkansas was stepped up Monday — as cops also scrambled to justify taking six hours to alert the public that a double killer was on the run. Calls first came in at 2:30 p.m. that there was a potential assault in the eerily named state park — with first responders then hearing screams, according to 5News.By the time they caught up to the family, it was too late, and parents Clinton David Brink, 43, and Cristen Amanda...

Muslims in Brooklyn blocked the Belt Parkway earlier Sunday, exited their vehicles, and began chanting, “globalize the intifada.” Brace yourself for when Mamdani becomes the mayor. (Audio muted [by The Yeshiva World] due to foul language).

JUST IN: The corrupt FBI agent who led Clinton server and Trump-Russian collusion investigations, @PeteStrzok, just deleted ALL of his @X posts.This comes amid a slew of criminal referrals sent to the DOJ over the Russia Hoax. Good morning. pic.twitter.com/5FjcWSuLyj— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) July 28, 2025

The abortion business Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast will close two Houston-area abortion centers, including its 78,000-square-foot Prevention Park facility, once the largest abortion center in the Western Hemisphere, in a move pro-life advocates hailed as a “tremendous victory” for their movement. The closures, set for September 30, come amid financial pressures and political challenges, leaving four other Houston-area clinics to be acquired by Planned Parenthood’s largest Texas affiliate. With Texas having banned abortions for a few years now, and President trump signing the bill to defund the abortion giant, its two main sources of funding have dried up. Shawn Carney,...

Monday that he has always had a "great" relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but that he is "not so interested" in talking to Putin. He said a negotiated solution to the war in Ukraine will "still happen, but it's very late down the process." He repeated that he is "disappointed" with Putin and said that every time he thought the war might end, Putin "kills people." Trump claimed that Putin talks about a trade deal with the US "all the time" and that Russia could be "so rich right now" if it was not spending "all its money on...

Does anyone know if a grand jury has been impaneled to hear any or all of this, or is it all just BS.

Imagine this scenario: you're worried you may have committed a crime, so you turn to a trusted advisor — OpenAI's blockbuster ChatGPT, say — to describe what you did and get its advice. This isn't remotely far-fetched; lots of people are already getting legal assistance from AI, on everything from divorce proceedings to parking violations. Because people are amazingly stupid, it's almost certain that people have already asked the bot for advice about enormously consequential questions about, say, murder or drug charges. According to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, anyone's who's done so has made a massive error — because unlike...

'Ignore the medical reality, strip the context, and turn her child into a propaganda weapon.'Media outlets have employed a photo of an emaciated Gaza child to substantiate claims that Israel is intentionally starving residents of the Hamas-controlled zone.But the legacy media never reported that the child, now 20 months old, suffers from numerous medical problems — nor that his three-year-old brother looks healthy with no signs of malnutrition, according to an investigation.This viral image of a child in Gaza was misreported as proof of starvation caused by Israel. In reality, Muhammad’s health condition, not hunger, is the issue. It’s time...

Pro tip: Planes can't fly in water. Hoy en el Festival Internacional Aéreo de Gijón podía haber ocurrido una desgracia, si no es por la pericia del Capitán Botana a los mandos del F18 Superhornet. 🙌🏻Se comentaba que algún pájaro pudo haber tenido la culpa. ¿Qué opináis?@GijonAirshow @A3Noticias @lanuevaespana pic.twitter.com/PkzU07kxU3— VISUAIR (@Visuair) July 27, 2025I'm glad Captain Botana was able to recover that spin at the Gijon Sir Show on Sunday, but holy moly that was close. Another angle: Gijon Airshow, Spain F-18 low pass yesterday. Anyone want to share what they believe happened here?📹: u/FirebirdWS6dude pic.twitter.com/4mE6mMYG39— Turbine Traveller (@Turbinetraveler)...

Donald Trump has delivered on two of his campaign promises with no taxes on overtime and no taxes on tips in his 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act,' but there are strings attached. Trump has claimed that his bill 'prevents the largest tax hike in history and unleashes economic growth.' The bill was signed into law on Friday, containing two provisions that allow individuals to deduct tip wages and overtime from their taxes. Despite claiming there are 'NO tax on Tips' and 'NO tax on Overtime,' there are limits on which taxes can be deducted and by how much. Also, not...

The man behind The Washington Post's "Pinocchios" is leaving the paper without anyone to fill his shoes. Glenn Kessler, the editor of The Fact Checker, announced Monday he has taken a buyout, ending his lengthy career at the Post. "After more than 27 years at The Washington Post, including almost 15 as The Fact Checker, I will be leaving on July 31, having taken a buyout," Kessler wrote on his Facebook page. "Much as I would have liked to keep scrutinizing politicians in Washington, especially in this era, the financial considerations were impossible to dismiss." Kessler said he wrote or...

NEW YORK — For years, Marianne Hirsch, a prominent genocide scholar at Columbia University, has used Hannah Arendt’s book about the trial of a Nazi war criminal, “Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil,” to spark discussion among her students about the Holocaust and its lingering traumas. But after Columbia’s recent adoption of a new definition of antisemitism, which casts certain criticism of Israel as hate speech, Hirsch fears she may face official sanction for even mentioning the landmark text by Arendt, a philosopher who criticized Israel’s founding. For the first time since she started teaching five...