Free Republic

The EU is inching toward the biggest peacetime surveillance experiment in its history, with plans to quietly search every private message before you hit send. The European Union is still wrestling with a controversial plan that would turn private messaging services into surveillance tools. For over three years, talks have stalled over whether providers should be forced to scan every user’s messages for possible illegal material and forward anything suspicious to law enforcement. The European Commission is still pushing for a universal scanning requirement. In contrast, the European Parliament insists any checks should apply only to unencrypted messages from people...

White House envoy Steve Witkoff told hostage families on Saturday that President Trump wants to "shift" the Gaza policy from trying to get a partial and phased Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal to reaching a comprehensive deal that ends the war and returns all remaining hostages at once, according to a statement by the families and recordings from the meeting. Behind the scenes: Two members of the hostage families who were in the room said Witkoff listened for a long time to every family member who wanted to speak. "We never have these meetings with senior Israeli government officials," one...

We now have plausible intelligence suggesting the attorney general may have assured Clinton allies that the FBI investigation into Hillary’s emails would go nowhere.The FBI never investigated explosive allegations that Attorney General Loretta Lynch coordinated with the Clinton campaign to suppress Hillary Clinton’s email server scandal. Those allegations stem from a secret Russian intelligence memo that circulated inside the U.S. government in 2016. The memo was so concerning that it pushed FBI Director James Comey to break ranks with Lynch during the Clinton email probe. Now, thanks to the newly released appendix of Special Counsel John Durham’s report on the...

Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff held another meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier today. This is the fifth meeting between Steve Witkoff and Vladimir Putin.Witkoff has spent more time with Putin than any government official in recent history.“My Special Envoy, Steve Witkoff, just had a highly productive meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Great progress was made! Afterwards, I updated some of our European Allies. Everyone agrees this War must come to a close, and we will work towards that in the days and weeks to come. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” ~ President TrumpAssistant to the...

A Chinese scientist horrified the world in 2018 when he revealed he had secretly engineered the birth of the world's first gene-edited babies. His work was reviled as reckless and unethical because, among other reasons, gene-editing was so new and the technology's full risks were unknown. China imprisoned the scientist, He Jiankui, for three years for violating medical regulations. Fast forward to today: Mainstream scientific organizations are encouraging very careful basic research to explore gene-editing and human reproduction. But they still warn any attempts to create more genetically modified children anytime soon should remain strictly off limits. Now, however, Silicon...

There is "science," and then there is "The Science." These are two very different things. Science is a method that is used to determine certain kids of truths and facts about how things work; "The Science" is a method of extracting money and power out of the existing economic and power structure to benefit so-called "scientists." "The Science" is, effectively, organized crime. It bears as much relationship to "science" as a pyramid scheme does to investment. Except that, in the case of "The Science," the infrastructure that society has created to root it out is entirely ineffective because, as often...

Venezuelan “migrants” are President Joe Biden’s gift that keeps on killing.The latest case of “migrants” freed at the border under the standing orders of Biden and his Homeland Security secretary, unindicted visa fraudster Alejandro Mayorkas, involves three Venezuelan hoods charged in the capital murder of a man at a Motel 6 near Dallas, Texas.The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has placed detainers on the newest members of a not-very-exclusive club: illegal-alien criminals who commit crimes — yet another murder in this case — enabled by the Biden administration.The MurderThe Dallas Express reported that cops in Garland, about 16 miles northeast...

There is a Christian guy in Denver, Colorado, Jamie Sanchez, who felt “called” in 2012 to open Recycle God’s Love, a charity project for homeless people. It’s expanded since he opened it, but it is small in financial terms. Unlike many “non-profits” which are marred by greed, deceit, and essentially money-laundering, Recycle God’s Love seems legit, with volunteers working there and an overall budget in the $100,000 range. Besides offering meals to 300-400 people daily, Recycle God’s Love provides clothing, wound care, hygienic supplies, help with obtaining official ID, haircuts, and, of course, the Gospel. In 2023, it opened a...

Plastic wrap may seem convenient, but it shortens your cheese's shelf life. Think twice before wrapping your cheese in plastic and tossing it in the fridge. If you want your favorite block or wedge to stay flavorful and last longer, how you store it matters - a lot. Most people unknowingly shorten the life of their cheese by sealing it in airtight plastic, which suffocates the product, ruins its texture and dulls its taste. Instead, take a cue from the pros. We spoke with John Montez, certified certified cheese professional lead at Murray's Cheese in New York, who shared how...

Survey suggests UBI has minimal impact.Last October, I reported on a study that gave participants $1,000 a month and measured the impacts of the transfer. The results were disappointing to advocates of universal basic income (UBI). To summarize, the study found that people worked less, and, according to the researchers:[Participants] used the time they gained from working less to engage in leisure, and there is no evidence of an increased use of time in other categories UBI proponents purport to care about, such as creative output, entrepreneurship, community engagement, self-improvement, or even spending time with children.A second study on guaranteed...

Planned Parenthood will close its two clinics in Louisiana on Sept. 30 as the organization faces funding challenges under President Trump’s tax and spending package. Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast President Melaney Linton said in a statement the Louisiana closures are a “direct result of relentless political assaults.” “This is not a decision we wanted to make; it is one we were forced into by political warfare. Anti-reproductive health lawmakers obsessed with power and control have spent decades fighting the concept that people deserve to control their own bodies,” she wrote. She added that “extremists” lawmakers have done everything in their...

FORT STEWART, Ga. (WSAV) — UPDATE (1:57 p.m.): Ambulances have arrived at Memorial Health. (1:51 p.m.): Fort Stewart, Wright Army Airfield and Evans Army Airfield is all clear according to a social media post. (1:49 p.m.): Liberty County School System announced the soft lockdown has been lifted. There’s no threat to the county’s schools. (1:28 p.m.): 3 of the 5 shooting victims were taken to Memorial Health via ambulance. Georgia State Patrol is escorting the ambulance. Appling County Schools Level 1 lockdown has been lifted. At 12:35 p.m., the shooter was apprehended. Five soldiers were confirmed to have been shot,...

We thought President Donald Trump was merely another Hitler. But, no, he’s also another Mao and another Stalin. Next he’ll be on his way to becoming Beelzebub himself, unless the climate fanatics can finally get a hold of themselves. In one of the more maniacal rants we have seen, Rep. Sean Casten, an Illinois Democrat, swore before hundreds of millions that the administration’s dropping of the Obama-era Environmental Protection Agency’s carbon dioxide endangerment finding is an act of mass murder. Seems to be a lot to put on an administrative order that reverses the EPA’s ability to regulate CO2, which...

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said his special envoy Steve Witkoff had made "great progress" in his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as Washington continued its preparations to impose secondary sanctions on Friday. Trump, in a post on Truth Social, said he had briefed some European allies about Witkoff's meeting with Putin, which was focused on ending the 3-1/2-year war that began with Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. "Everyone agrees this War must come to a close, and we will work towards that in the days and weeks to come," Trump added, without providing further...

*** A federal criminal investigation is underway into Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) over allegations of mortgage fraud, Fox News reported Tuesday night. The probe is being handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Maryland and follows a criminal referral from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to the Department of Justice. According to the FHFA referral obtained by Fox News, Schiff allegedly falsified bank documents and property records to obtain more favorable loan terms on multiple occasions. In a letter dated May 2025, FHFA Director William Pulte wrote that Schiff’s conduct “jeopardizes the safety and soundness of FHFA’s regulated entities...

VIDEOIt wasn't supposed to be this way. Donald Trump was supposed to have been convicted and imprisoned by now. His MAGA supporters completely demoralized and on the decline. America as we knew it would be in its final stages with the country overrun by millions of illegals. Instead the table has turned and the hunters are now the hunted. And Rachel Maddow does not like being a potential prey one bit as you can see in her latest long mournful whine over the termination of the world as she would have liked it. Being at the forefront of the Mockingbird...

ESPN is acquiring the NFL Network and other National Football League media assets, including the linear rights to the league's popular RedZone channel, in a deal that will see the NFL get a 10% equity stake in the all-sports network, it was announced Tuesday night. ESPN will also acquire the NFL's fantasy product and merge it into its existing platform, making ESPN Fantasy Football the official game of the NFL. In a separate deal, the NFL also agreed to license to ESPN other NFL content and intellectual property that will appear on the NFL Network and other assets. The NFL...

The decline in tourism numbers is causing significant concern for Nevada's economy, with impacts reaching beyond the hospitality industry. Jimmy Singh, who runs Las Vegas Souvenirs and Gifts, said his business is suffering due to a combination of factors, including the F-1 street closures and tariffs on imported merchandise. "I saw that also, for now, that tourism is less than last years. We see like a 30 to 40-percent drop," Singh said, noting a significant decrease in foot traffic and fewer international visitors. Singh added that Canadian tourists, once a significant portion of his customer base, are notably absent. "Canada...

Former President Biden's Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) of 2021 appropriated $7.5 billion for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula (NEVI) and the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Discretionary Grant Program (CFI). Four years later all the money has been spent but only 384 EV charging stations have been built. That averages out at $19 million per station. The Trump Administration is refusing to commit any more funds to either NEVI or CFI. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy insisted that "it's time we stop wasting the taxpayers' money on this stuff. EVs are too expensive to compete against gasoline-fueled vehicles."...

Fox News contributor Ari Fleischer called out the GOP’s effort to implement a new congressional map in Texas for being an unfair power grab. In a post to X on Tuesday, the former press secretary for President George W. Bush spoke out against the GOP’s mid-decade redistricting plan — which would make five districts favorable to Republicans in areas currently represented by Democrats.