Free Republic

Revelations of all kinds are upon us. Here's one that just caught my eye. It's about Zohran Mamdani's film-maker mother, Mira Nair, whose films I've reviewed over the years. Guess who funded Mira Nair's propaganda filmmaking? According to Will Bredderman at the New York Post, (August 31st), none other than Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad Al-Thani, sister to the ruling Emir of Qatar. Qatar! The banker for Iran's terrorist proxy, Hamas, and for Afghanistan's Taliban; the safe haven for terrorist leaders and for antisemitic psychologists such as Lara Sheehi; the owners of Al-Jazeera, which was founded in 1996. Al Jazeera? An...

The Trump administration continues to take a harder stance on foreign visitors with a "visa integrity fee" to be implemented on Oct. 1. The fee would charge non-immigrant travelers visiting the U.S. $250 due at the time visas are issued and was enacted as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Countries such as Mexico, China, and Brazil will take on the most heat, with the cost for non-visa waiver countries now nearing $442, per the U.S. Travel Association. The largest numbers of international visitors in May were from Mexico, Canada, the United Kingdom, India and Brazil, according to...

The White House is reportedly considering a plan to pay Palestinians $5,000 to relocate for 10 years while the Gaza Strip is transformed into the “Riviera of the Middle East” envisioned by President Trump. The Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration and Transformation (GREAT) proposal would establish a trusteeship for control of the 25-mile-long strip of land that would be administered by the US for at least 10 years, while reconstruction – financed by billions of dollars in public and private-sector investments – takes place, according to the Washington Post. Gaza’s entire 2 million population would need to be temporarily relocated for...

Summary U.S. naval buildup exceeds usual deployments in Caribbean Venezuelan officials claim U.S. targets their government, not drug cartels Experts suggest U.S. aims to pressure Maduro regime, not just combat drugs WASHINGTON, Aug 29 (Reuters) - A large buildup of U.S. naval forces in and around the Southern Caribbean has officials in Caracas and experts in the United States asking: is the move aimed at combating drug cartels, as the Trump administration has suggested, or is it for something else entirely? Seven U.S. warships, along with one nuclear-powered fast attack submarine, are either in the region or are expected to...

Requests for advice and help with computer issues seem to produce more jokes than anything else, but I'm wondering if someone here who is more tech-savvy than I am can help me. I had a rectangular Dell monitor for a long time and it did great, until eventually the text and images began (I don't know what to call it. Bleeding? Ghosting?) rightward across the monitor. I am not talking about light spots around the edges of the monitor, nor am I talking about some sort of reflection following moving objects. I simply mean that, text or picture, there is...

“Color Revolution” was a term coined to describe mostly peaceful protests in post-Soviet countries, when ordinary citizens took to the streets to demand democratic governance, while waving brightly colored flags and banners to symbolize their cause. That same term describes what’s happening across the Anglosphere and Europe, as ordinary, native-born citizens, many with ancestral roots going back centuries or even millennia, rise up against governments that have sidelined citizens in favor of recently arrived Muslim immigrants. To get a sense of how bad things are in Europe, just look at Amsterdam, once a famously tolerant city in a tolerant country....

Giuliani fractured his vertebrae and had multiple lacerations and contusions after his rental car was hit from behind, according to his spokesman Michael Ragusa. The 81-year-old former mayor had injuries on his left arm and lower leg.

CNBC explains how it works, Swift’s house, for instance, is assessed at around $28 million, according to local real estate records. Her current property taxes are estimated at around $201,000 a year. The new charges will add another $136,442 to her annual taxes, bringing her yearly total to $337,442 – even though locals say she rarely visits. Explaining the why of the tax (other than, “they can”) is considerably more difficult. I’m old enough to remember when former U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) would park his yacht in Rhode Island as a tax dodge Rhode Island is also hiking its...

Keir Starmer has slammed the “scaremongering” tactics of Reform UK and the Tories and said he is rolling up his sleeves to make a genuine difference to British families’ lives. As Parliament returns from summer recess today, the Prime Minister said Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch ’s parties “talk down the country at every turn” as he promised he was focused on real change. In his first comments since Mr Farage unveiled draconian plans for mass deportations, he told The Mirror: “While Reform and the Tories talk down the country at every turn, we’re doing the work to make people’s...

There are times when reading a list of projects funded by the United States federal government sounds more like parody than reality. The Department of Government Efficiency — unlike Congress, it seems — is still working hard every day to identify and eliminate waste and fraud from the federal government funded by our taxpayer dollars. And this week’s update included some profoundly idiotic programs and grants that were, until now, recipients of our hard-earned cash. DOGE normally releases a contracts update on X on Fridays highlighting some of the stupidest agency contracts that it has discovered in the last week,...

Before all this, the seaside stretch of Lido Beach, a mere hour outside Manhattan, clung to a fading postcard of its former self. The one with new money elites frolicking along the shoreline. The one with flappers dancing the night away, hair bobbed, frills shimmering. The one with the Lido Hotel in the middle of it all — six stories high and flamingo pink. The gall it took to build this thing. A remnant of the Roaring Twenties. Four hundred and forty rooms, a 9,000-square-foot ballroom, the oceanside solarium. The elaborate, rococo-inspired mega-hotel was built by the same architectural firm...

Mark Penn, co-director of the Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll, reviewed the results of their August survey with Tom Bevan on Thursday's edition of the RealClearPolitics podcast."Trump’s ratings stabilized this month," Penn said. "And I think he began to get traction on crime. He’s now shifted focus from immigration to tariffs, and now to leading a national crackdown on crime, and you’re seeing a generally favorable response to it.""Fifty-four percent approve of the president’s approach, using the National Guard in D.C.," Penn explained. "That's interesting. Any time I apply the word 'Trump,' it’s very hard to get above 50%. If I take...

Fox45’s Mikenzie Frost didn’t hold back when she confronted Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) over his handling of the National Guard deployment in Washington, D.C., since August 11. Pointing out that Moore has appeared on national TV nine times during this period, Frost bluntly asked whether the governor’s actions are truly serving the people of Maryland and Baltimore—or if he’s more focused on advancing his own political ambitions. “Is what you’re doing really best for the people of Maryland and the people of Baltimore—or is it best for Wes Moore’s political career?” Frost challenged. The pointed question underscores growing concerns...

Boomer parents moving back in with their adult children isn’t a new thing. Money has been the primary reason, for the most part, especially since many elders failed to save for their retirement. The story you’re about to read has a slightly different premise. A couple decided to sell their home and travel full-time, but their sudden change of plans led them to move in The woman initially welcomed the idea as a show of love for her parents. However, things got heated when she refused a longer-term arrangement. After an episode of emotional blackmail from her mother, the author...

[Catholic Caucus] Protest at French church after FSSP clergy removed by bishopBanners now hang from the railings around Notre-Dame de Valence as protests continue against what is viewed as diocese suppression of the FSSP-run church.The banners read: “Retirerla messe traditionnelle est une erreur exceptionnelle” (“Removing the traditional Mass is a grave mistake”) and “Uniscontre la désunion” (“United against disunity”).On 13 August 2025, the faithful of Notre-Dame de Valence, located in southeastern France within the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, and long served by the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter (FSSP), were abruptly stripped of their priests by Bishop François Durand. ‍He announced that...

Do you spend too much time in your car? Your local state authorities think you do — and they’re quietly pushing through laws that will give them the power to do something about it. Meet Massachusetts Senate Bill S.2246. Introduced by state Senate Majority Leader Cynthia Creem, it sets the stage for a future where the government tracks and potentially limits how many miles you drive each year. This isn’t a fringe proposal — it’s working its way through the legislature right now, and similar ideas are being tested in other states across the country. Is this really about emissions...

Estimating the number of people over 20 years old that Canada expects to die through Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) over a 20-year period requires analyzing available data, trends, and projections while acknowledging the limitations of speculative forecasting. MAID, legalized in Canada in 2016 under Bill C-14 and expanded in 2021 under Bill C-7, allows eligible adults (18 and older) with grievous and irremediable medical conditions to receive assisted death. Since the question specifies "over 20 years," I’ll assume it refers to a 20-year period (e.g., 2023–2043, as 2023 is the most recent year with comprehensive data) and focus on...

Police in Ontario, Canada, said they charged a homeowner after he fought with an alleged intruder earlier this week. Kawartha Lakes Police Service said officers responded around 3:20 a.m. Monday to an apartment on Kent Street in Lindsay for a report of an altercation between two males. Lindsay is about 2.5 hours northeast of Toronto. Arriving officers learned that the resident woke up to find an intruder inside his apartment, police said, adding that the intruder received "serious life-threatening injuries" as a result of the altercation. The intruder was taken to Ross Memorial Hospital and later airlifted to a Toronto...

News that Minneapolis monster Robin Westman worked at a pot shop until just two weeks ago should give pause to those in the White House reportedly pushing President Donald Trump to take a landmark step toward federal approval of marijuana use. Westman, 23, was apparently fired from Rise, an area cannabis dispensary, on Aug. 16 over chronic tardiness and absenteeism. If you know anything at all about the culture of this biz, that tells you the odds are awfully good that he was using, too. And medical research in recent years keeps producing fresh evidence strongly suggesting that heavy marijuana...

Catholic churches in France have a bad landlord: the French governmentA notable and unsettling trait of most French churches is the number of statues with their heads lobbed off. Admittedly, upon reflection, it’s not surprising those statues came out of the French Revolution badly, notes an article today in Spectator Life. The Church and its clerics weren’t popular. But it was nearly 250 years ago. How come the heads haven’t been put back on? It seems lax of the Church authorities, to say the least. After all, the Church in France, whose roots go back to the Apostolic Age when...