Free Republic

Faced with the threat of exorbitant US tariffs, Italian pasta producers are hoping for political support — and that they will not have to wait for a legal resolution to their case. In the global trade storm unleashed since US President Donald Trump’s return to power, Italian pasta producers are feeling very much alone. On 4 September, the US Department of Commerce announced preliminary tariffs of 91.74% on 13 pasta brands. If upheld, the tariffs would take effect in January 2026, delivering a significant blow to Italy, which exported nearly €700 million worth of pasta to the United States in...

It is a question that has long puzzled historians and theologians... what DID Jesus actually look like? And it seems casting agents are also prone to getting themselves in a tangle over Christ's appearance. >>> Dr Meredith Warren, senior lecturer on Biblical and religious studies at Sheffield University, told the Daily Mail that muscular depictions of Jesus aren't 'completely off the mark'. She said: 'Jesus comes from a family where manual labour is the norm, and he certainly gets exercise with all the walking around.' >>> Just like today, beards tended to go in and out of fashion in the...

The espionage case against Christopher Berry and Christopher Cash collapsed after government officials refused to testify under oath that China posed a threat to national security. China poses a daily threat to Britain’s security, the head of the country's domestic intelligence agency said on Thursday, remarks that step up pressure on authorities to explain why the prosecution of two men charged with spying for Beijing collapsed just before they were due to stand trial. The government, opposition politicians and prosecutors have traded blame over the failed criminal case as the United Kingdom tries to balance between challenging and engaging with...

I have just concluded my telephone conversation with President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, and it was a very productive one. President Putin congratulated me and the United States on the Great Accomplishment of Peace in the Middle East, something that, he said, has been dreamed of for centuries. I actually believe that the Success in the Middle East will help in our negotiation in attaining an end to the War with Russia/Ukraine. President Putin thanked the First Lady, Melania, for her involvement with children. He was very appreciative, and said that this will continue. We also spent a great deal...

The bill, presented by Karol Nawrocki in August, removes the income tax obligation on families earning up to 140,000 zloty (€32,973) a year. Poland's president has signed a new law introducing zero personal income tax (PIT) for parents raising at least two children, a reform which aims to support families, increase household income and boost economic activity. The bill, presented by Karol Nawrocki in August, removes the income tax obligation on families earning up to 140,000 zloty (€32,973) a year. The tax break is available to all parents who have parental responsibility over children, including legal guardians and foster parents....

A nematode shown after jumping from the surface of the experimental chamber and attaching to the rear leg of a charged fruit fly. (Credit: Victor Ortega-Jiménez) =============================================================================== In A Nutshell Microscopic nematodes launch themselves into the air and use static electricity to home in on flying insects. Electrostatic attraction boosts hunting success from 5% to nearly 100% in lab tests. Wind and electric fields work together to guide worms toward their targets. This discovery reveals how invisible forces shape life at microscopic scales. ============================================================================= BERKELEY, Calif. — Parasitic worms smaller than a grain of sand have evolved their own version...

A New York federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to send $34 million in anti-terrorism grants to the MTA — calling its abrupt bid to yank the cash a “blatant violation of the law.”Manhattan federal Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to disperse the funds to the Big Apple to be used to “help protect the people who every day ride the MTA’s subways, commuter trains and buses and who use its bridges and tunnels against terrorist attacks.” FEMA had sent a presentation to congressional staffers in September revealing that it would be withholding...

The candidates for New York City mayor face off Thursday in their first debate of the general election. Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa are set to take the stage at Rockefeller Center.

Yes, we trash can. President Barack Obama’s austere new presidential library is getting roasted with comparisons to the Death Star, garbage bins and other domineering monoliths in a hilarious social media thread sparked by Sen. Ted Cruz. “Locating the Death Star in Chicago was a bold move,” Cruz (R-Texas) wrote on X Tuesday while reposting a video of the latest work on Obama’s Chicago presidential center. The facility, a slab of concrete and granite rising 225 feet above Chicago’s Jackson Park, has faced ridicule from critics since its design was first unveiled nearly 10 years ago — and the peanut...

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was caught on camera taking a nasty tumble in the hallway of a Senate office building Thursday. The 83-year-old, who was en route to the Capitol for votes, grabbed at an aide’s arm seconds before he went down. McConnell, who announced in February that he would not seek another term next year, was quickly helped to his feet by the aide and a guard.

Normally we would pay little attention to a statewide Attorney General campaign race debate. HOWEVER, this is Jay Jones in Virginia we are talking about so there is a possibility of YUUUUUGE fireworks during this debate tonight which could also affect the governor's race. In case you have been living in a cave for the past couple of weeks, Jones was favored to win this race over incumbent Jason Miyares UNTIL it was revealed on Oct. 3, that Jones in 2022 had sent text messages threatening to kill a former Virginia House Speaker with two bullets to the head.According to...

Wall Street’s power brokers are using a gold revaluation to rewrite the rules—turning massive silver losses into multi-billion windfalls overnight and signaling a seismic shift in the global financial…. That’s exactly how JP Morgan Chase is playing the metals market today. The bank has been hammered on its sprawling silver short—dozens of holes down, figuratively speaking. But instead of folding, it’s hit the most audacious “press” in modern finance: going long gold. By championing the narrative of $10,000 gold, the institution is resetting the game mid‑round, leveraging the new bet to erase the sting of the old one. If the...

An atheist debating God’s non-existence must “borrow” from theismRational discourse, argumentation, and even the act of debating the existence of God rely on certain foundational assumptions that atheism (particularly in its naturalistic or materialistic forms) cannot consistently justify or ground. These assumptions only make sense within a theistic worldview, where God provides the ultimate basis for logic, reason, morality, free will, and consciousness. Moreover, foundational assumptions—law of non-contradiction, sound reason, free will, objective morality, and the primacy of mind—are necessary for any meaningful argument to exist (transcendental conditions, like how geometry presupposes axioms). For example:1. “If you do not assume...

JUST IN: Spotify bans Nick Fuentes podcast after it hits #1 on the charts just days after being allowed on the platform.

President Donald Trump said that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin began a “lengthy” phone call Thursday morning. The call comes a day before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is scheduled to meet with Trump at the White House, as Kyiv seeks more U.S. support in its war against Russia. “I am speaking to President Putin now,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post at 11:21 a.m. ET. “The conversation is ongoing, a lengthy one, and I will report the contents, as will President Putin, at its conclusion. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

There’s no end in sight for the current government shutdown, which entered its third week on Wednesday. While Democrats are clinging to their $1.5 trillion demands—and Republicans, for once, are refusing to capitulate—there has been a palpable shift in the government shutdown state of play. This week, Rep. Mike Haridopolos, R-Fla., joins “The Signal Sitdown” to discuss the evolving dynamics of shutdown politics. “Historically it should be a surprise,” that Democrats have opted to shut down the government, Haridopolos told The Daily Signal. “The Democrats historically have always got along with a clean [continuing resolution],” he added. That’s especially the...

John Fetterman brings the Kennedy Center to complete silence as he delivers this emotional message on stage: “I know and I love people who voted for President Trump. They are NOT fascists, they’re NOT Nazis, they’re NOT trying to destroy the Constitution.” “I REFUSE to call people Nazis or fascists. I would never compare anybody — anybody to Hitler.” “Like Charlie Kirk, all I could say is let people grieve — give people the space. I’m not going to use that terrible thing and that assassination to make my argument and try to put out my views.” “It’s like, my...

President Trump’s remarkable Middle East deal has led to the release of the last 20 surviving hostages of the 251 seized by Hamas terrorists during the October 7th pogrom in Israel. The end of their suffering, after two years of hell, should be a cause for celebration not only for Israelis but for anybody who wants to see an end to terrorism and war in the Middle East. Yet strangely, some in Europe and the West seem less than enthused about the first stage of Trump’s peace deal. The pro-Palestinian protestors who have long demanded Israel submit to a “Ceasefire...

Until recently, Tim Haugh was among America's top spymasters. The four-star general spent 33 years in Air Force Intelligence and rose to lead America's largest and most advanced intelligence agency. Haugh was also in charge of defending America from computer threats. In his first television interview since retirement, General Haugh is here to warn that China has hacked into U.S. computer networks to an astonishing degree. And he believes he knows why. The surprise, Tim Haugh told us, is that China is targeting not just the U.S. military and industry but also Americans in their homes. Gen. Tim Haugh: I...

Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman is once again making headlines as he delivered a heartfelt message from the stage of the Kennedy Center during a NewsNation town hall on Wednesday evening. VIDEO AT LINK...................... Fetterman’s words could not have come at a better time. Just over a month ago, the world watched in horror as Charlie Kirk was brutally murdered in broad daylight. Just a year earlier, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump had two assassination attempts on his life. And so, as rising political tensions increasingly spill into violence, Fetterman did something few in Washington have even attempted — he tried to...