Free Republic

The Democrat Party abandoned the middle class for elites and identity politics—trading broad appeal for globalism, DEI dogma, and political self-destruction. The answer was not Trump alone. Indeed, irony abounds when Democrats resonate with the claims of the vestigial Never Trumpers that the MAGA movement “hijacked” the Republican Party. In characteristic projectionist fashion, the left is simply falsely attributing to their opposition the very hijacking that hit the Democratic Party. The Republicans are still the party of conservatism and traditionalism. But in the last decade, it adopted an expansionary middle-class agenda that has led to record party registration, its first...

The European Union's economy would have looked far weaker after the pandemic without foreign workers, European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde said Saturday, warning policymakers not to ignore migration’s role even as it fuels political tensions. Speaking at the U.S. Federal Reserve’s annual symposium in Wyoming, Lagarde said an influx of foreign labor helped the eurozone absorb successive shocks like soaring energy costs and record inflation, while keeping growth and jobs intact. Employment in the bloc expanded by 4.1 percent between late 2021 and mid-2025, nearly matching gains in gross domestic product (GDP), she noted. “Although they represented only around...

BALTIMORE — Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who reunited with his family last week after 160 days apart following his mistaken deportation to El Salvador, was taken into ICE custody Monday after an immigration check-in, his attorney said.

The District has not seen a homicide in nine days as of August 22 after federal law enforcement was deployed to patrol the area.

The accusation that Israel is committing a “genocide” in Gaza has become pervasive on the Left, and particularly in academia. I think that the accusation is absurd, so much so that until now I haven’t thought it worthy of a response. However, the accusation has recently arrived on my own website. In the comment thread on the prior post, one of the commenters (regular readers can guess who) has leveled against President Trump the charge that he “is sending weapons to Israel for the genocide in Gaza.” Really? It’s time for a response. In my opinion, what’s going on in...

Send in the troops to Chicago? For Portage Park resident John Trotti, the answer is clear. “I think it’s a terrible idea,” the 41-year-old said. “I think it’s a misuse of the resources that the military has and the authority that they have over what a state can and can’t do.” Trotti was among several Northwest Side residents Sunday who rejected President Donald Trump’s plan to send the National Guard into the city next month as part of his monthslong campaign against immigration, homelessness and crime.

🇺🇸Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem 🇮🇱(8/25/25)[Prayer]Water, Rivers, and Streams in the BibleJohn 4:1-26Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman 4 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. 4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and...

A single DF-21D warhead striking a carrier’s flight deck would be a mission-kill. It wouldn’t sink the ship, but it would crack the deck, making it impossible to launch or recover aircraft. The carrier, for all intents and purposes, would be out of the fight. Several successful hits could very well sink the vessel, resulting in the tragic loss of over 5,000 American sailors and a $13 billion national asset. It would be a Pearl Harbor-level catastrophe, a blow from which American prestige might never recover.

We analyze discrepancies in Kauaʻi’s 2024 general election vote count, which the Elections Commission says were a big deal and the Elections Office says were not... . ... accounts of just how great that discrepancy was vary — a lot. The numbers range from 25 according to the state’s chief elections officer to 39 according to the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court to 661 according to an Elections Commission permitted interaction group and up to 3,772 based on the initial Kauaʻi County ballot envelope count....the state counted more ballots than the county said it delivered. ...

Is there any peaceful way out of the current Woken Empire? Curtis Yarvin says not, because the soft power of the many old foundations founded on oil and steel money funding liberals will outperform the new money of the tech lords. When it comes to power, the true believers always win, so if you want to matter, you have to be a liberal. And if you are a billionaire, why make trouble? Anyway “the tech billionaires are not actually interested in power.” If they were, they would be liberals. Then Yarvin goes off into the weeds, as usual. But Jeffrey...

Trapped in underground rocks, a potential energy resource has eluded generations of British politicians. It's called shale gas and the method of getting it out of the ground, known as fracking, has proved politically difficult. Fracking, short for hydraulic fracturing, has been banned many times by different prime ministers since 2011 over concerns about earthquakes and environmental impacts. And yet despite this, Reform UK - which is leading in national opinion polls - believe it's worth going after the gas again. "We've got potentially hundreds of billions of energy treasure in the form of shale gas," Richard Tice, the party's...

A Florida man sentenced to death for raping and murdering a 13-year-old girl did the state a favor last week — by killing himself before it could execute him, officials said. Matthew Caylor, 50, had been on death row for 16 years for raping and fatally strangling Melinda Hinson in 2008. "Matthew Caylor was a sexual predator that had violated his parole in Georgia and came down here for a last hurrah in Bay County,” Basford said. “After a trial and numerous appeals, he knew he was facing the same inevitable fate as Kayle Bates. “By committing suicide, he saved...

The German economy contracted 0.3% on a quarterly basis, according to the Federal Statistics Office. Germany’s stronghold on manufacturing is at risk. The government implemented new provisions to bypass the constitution and spend in perpetuity on the incoming war. Spending is up, revenues are down—the German economy is in a recession. Annual GDP reached 0.2% in Q2, a 0.1% decline from Q1. Around 10% of all German exports are sent to the US, and some are blaming tariffs for the downfall without seeing that the trend was already in motion. Germany’s economy has been in a multi-year downturn caused by...

Information released by the US Fish and Wildlife Service shows the number of grizzly bears killed in defense of human life is 5-10 times greater than previously thought.On January 15, 2025, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) published a proposal to revise the listing of the grizzly bears in the contiguous 48 states. The proposal includes the most complete information on grizzly bear mortality to date.Studies to determine how effective various tools are in defending against grizzly bear attacks suffer from serious selection bias. If the defense is successful and no humans are harmed, the chance of the attack...

The Democrats and many Republicans are crying foul over the raid on John Bolton, former National Security Advisor to Donald Trump during his first term. They say that these actions are retribution for the nasty things that Bolton has said; that he included classified information in his book; and that he is being punished for alienating President Trump: Federal investigators went to Bolton’s house in Bethesda, Md., at 7 a.m. in an investigation ordered by FBI Director Kash Patel, a Trump administration official told The Post. Agents later went to Bolton’s office in downtown DC, but did not enter until...

25 August 2025 Monday of week 21 in Ordinary Time Cathedral Basilica of Saint LouisReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: C(I).First reading1 Thessalonians 1:1-5,8-10You broke with idolatry when you were converted to GodFrom Paul, Silvanus and Timothy, to the Church in Thessalonika which is in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ; wishing you grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We always mention you in our prayers and thank God for you all, and constantly remember before God our Father how you have shown your faith in action, worked for love and persevered...

He is only 28', 'it was his bad luck' - the family and the entire village of Indian-origin trucker Harjinder Singh, who is staring at a potential 45-year jail sentence for allegedly causing a deadly crash in the US, is rallying behind him, calling for a lenient punishment. A campaign has also been started online to generate support for the 28-year-old driver from Rataul village in Punjab's Tarn Taran district. Harjinder (28) is facing charges of vehicular homicide in the US for allegedly causing a crash resulting in the death of three people on a Florida highway on August 12,...

They called him “The Boss,” but he never pushed anyone harder than he did himself. It showed. In his lyrics, in his music, in his performances. Bruce Springsteen never sweat a drop that did not come from honest labor. All that ambition, all that energy and drive, converged in one of the greatest albums in rock ’n’ roll history, “Born to Run.” It was released 50 years ago Monday. ---SNIP--- What makes Springsteen different from other Trump critics is that there is not a hint of partisanship in his criticism; his assaults are based on a humanity that transcends party...

Rachel Reeves’ tax-and-spend gamble is driving Britain towards a 1970s-style debt crisis and bailout from the International Monetary Fund, leading economists have warned. They have said the Chancellor’s handling of the economy risks a return to the years of high inflation and borrowing that ended with Britain being forced to borrow billions from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) 50 years ago. It came as leading retailers sounded the alarm over the rising cost of taxes and red tape, which is pushing the country into an era of “stagflation”. On Saturday night, Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader aid the economic...

This is the jaw-dropping moment two women brawl on the street in front of horrified onlookers at Notting Hill Carnival's family and children's day. In a clip uploaded to TikTok, two young revellers trade furious blows in the middle of the packed street. The brawling pair can be seen grappling, pulling each other by the hair and throwing punches as onlookers shout, 'Where is security?'