Free Republic

A new report claims that two of five people arrested in connection with what the FBI said was a plot to unleash a wave of terrorist bombings in Los Angeles on New Year’s Eve are transgender. The FBI said that the people arrested were a splinter group of the Turtle Island Liberation Front, which federal officials said has a pro-Palestinian, anti-law-enforcement, and anti-government ideology, according to USA Today. The suspects were part of a Signal group chat calling itself “Order of the Black Lotus.”

U.S. prosecutors charged top executives of bankrupt subprime auto lender Tricolor Holdings with what they described as a years-long, “systematic fraud” scheme that sent shockwaves through the banking sector earlier this year. In an indictment unsealed in Manhattan, prosecutors allege that from at least 2018 through September 2025, founder and CEO Daniel Chu and chief operating officer David Goodgame orchestrated a series of fraudulent schemes that let Tricolor obtain billions of dollars from lenders and investors by misrepresenting the value of its loan collateral. Tricolor sold used cars to customers with limited or poor credit in the south and southwest,...

This Muslim Christmas market terrorist plot should not be confused with the previous French Christmas market terror alert that led to the shutdown of the New Year’s Eve celebration or the 5 Muslims busted in the German Christmas market terror plot. This one took place in Poland. But they’re all reading from the same Koran though. Polish authorities said on Tuesday that they had arrested a 19-year-old university student on suspicion of plotting an attack on a Christmas market and seeking contact with the self-styled “Islamic State” terrorist group. A spokesman for Polish special services, Jacek Dobrzynski, said that the...

It was publicly stated that there would be no NATO expansion to the east and the West "couldn't care less" about these promises, the Russian leader notedMOSCOW, December 17. /TASS/. Russia does not deny anyone the right to security, but insists that promises made to it be fulfilled, including on NATO not expanding eastward, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at an expanded meeting of the Defense Ministry’s board. "I'm not even talking about NATO expansion, although that's obvious. Today, we are told that we have no right to force anyone to resolve their security issues the way we want, nor...

The Biden DOJ went ahead and conducted its banana republic raid of Mar-a-Lago in 2022 in order to keep Biden as the nominee. (A plan that ultimately failed.) The raid went ahead even though the FBI warned about a lack of probable cause. The FBI did not believe agents had probable cause to raid President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in August 2022 — but former President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice approved the search anyway, according to newly released records. An FBI official even noted that agents had spent six “counterproductive” weeks trying to establish they had grounds for a search...

I know some were asking the same question: why would White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles sit down with Vanity Fair for this candid interview? She offered brutal assessments of some of the Trump administration’s top figures, from JD Vance to Pam Bondi; Wiles was no-holds-barred. For starters, you need to talk to the media, even if you hate them. President Trump does this daily. Second, it once again highlighted that even when you cooperate, and they all did, the mainstream press will still cook you. It’s why many have flocked to other sources of information. You can’t trust...

♥️🇺🇸 🇮🇹♥️ @CB618444 · 1h Make. It. Make. Sense. 🙄 NYS fines Hyundai & Kia $9 million for failure to stop criminals from stealing their cars. It’s like fining Macys for selling clothes from a rack rather than locked cabinets. I know a non-profit fraud case here that was reported by multiple people to Big Tish involving millions & you know what she did? NOTHING.

An unhinged liberal woman from Orland, California, filmed herself berating an elderly Target worker for wearing a Charlie Kirk “Freedom” shirt and posted it to TikTok. According to her Facebook profile, the woman, Michelea Ponce, works as a nurse at Enloe Health, a nonprofit healthcare system based in nearby Chico, CA, where she has held patient care roles. On Monday, Ponce posted a video of herself confronting the woman as she was putting baby clothes on the shelves, demanding to know why she was wearing the shirt. “Why are you taking my picture?” the older woman asks. Ponce continues to...

I grew tired of always having to scramble around to find my favorite Carols, so I took time to gather them onto a single page. Then I went looking for better versions. And then I thought that family and friends might enjoy having their own copy, too, and they’ve been enthusiastic. So, then I thought of my FRiends. These aren’t the secular chestnuts-roasting, fire-so-delightful carols for playing in the background while you do other things (with a couple of exceptions). When you hear/feel/sense the Holy Spirit nudging and inviting you to spend some special, personal time interacting with the Christmas...

A Brooklyn pastor pleaded guilty Tuesday to embezzling $3 million over seven years from a day care associated with his church. The Rev. Paul Mitchell, 60, admitted in federal court that he broke the Eighth Commandment — “Thou shall not steal” —while leading East New York’s Changing Lives Christian Center. Prosecutors accused the pastor of pocketing money intended for the supervision and personal development of young people in the church’s care. Officials said he even used the embezzled funds to purchase his fiancée’s engagement ring. “The defendant treated his organizations’ accounts as his own personal piggy bank, stealing millions of...

Left-wing podcaster Jennifer Welch voiced concern on “I’ve Had It” Tuesday about toxicity in American politics despite her record of using hateful rhetoric against conservatives. Welch previously praised a “No Kings” protester who rejoiced over Charlie Kirk’s assassination and described White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller as a “Nazi Jew.” After guest Katie Couric complained on the podcast about right-wing media spending time condemning left-wing individuals, Welch said it was “even more nefarious” that such content was what America’s enemies supposedly desire. “[W]e know that a lot of our country’s adversaries want that type of social...

UKHIYA, Bangladesh (AP) — In moments when she is alone, when there is a break in the beatings from her husband, the girl cries for the school that was once her place of peace in a world that has otherwise offered her none. Ever since the military in her homeland of Myanmar killed her father in 2017, forcing her to flee to neighboring Bangladesh with her mother and little sisters, the school had protected Hasina from the predators who prowl her refugee camp, home to 1.2 million members of Myanmar’s persecuted Rohingya minority. One day in June, when Hasina was...

The Vegas teens who callously mowed down a biking retired police chief in 2023 were sentenced up to life in prison. Both teens will be eligible for parole in the mid 2040s, according to 8NewsNow. As previously reported, Jesus Ayala, who just turned 18, is facing murder charges after he fatally struck 64-year-old retired police chief Andreas Probst. On August 14th, 2023 two teens allegedly stole a Hyundai, took the vehicle on a hit-and-run crime spree, and recorded it with a phone. On August 29th, Las Vegas Police Detectives found the phone recording on social media and determined it was...

In two weeks, New York City will inaugurate a new socialist mayor. In a few weeks, Chile will inaugurate a new president from the Right. In Seattle, a socialist is now the mayor, but in Argentina, Ecuador, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Bolivia, and Paraguay, leaders from the Right are governing or starting to govern. What in the world is going on? Socialism is dead but alive and well in New York City and Seattle. Of course, they don't really call it “socialism” but rather the "affordability" crisis. Did you ever read about a socialist country that made things more affordable?...

Wednesday 17 December 2025 The Relics of St. Lazarus of Bethany, Larnaca, CyprusReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Violet. Year: A(II).First readingGenesis 49:2,8-10Until he comes, the sceptre will not pass from JudahJacob called his sons and said:‘Gather round, sons of Jacob, and listen;listen to Israel your father.Judah, your brothers shall praise you:you grip your enemies by the neck,your father’s sons shall do you homage,Judah is a lion cub,you climb back, my son, from your kill;like a lion he crouches and lies down,or a lioness: who dare rouse him?The sceptre shall not pass from Judah,nor the mace from between his feet,until he...

🇺🇸Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem 🇮🇱(12/17/25)[Prayer]The Scriptures in Handel’s “Messiah”1 Corinthians 15:5757 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.Holy Bible, The King James Version________________________

VD MYQ NVGK P OFRFTPJ SY EF EFPSFR, GFRX KVH P TFPH DQJJ YD VRGSTQISVYRG; VD MYQ NVGK KVH SY GQIIFFX, OVBF KVH P XFGSVRPSVYR, PRX EVX KVH IYRAQFT. -- PQOQGSQG NVJJVPH KPTF

Since 1912 and the election of Woodrow Wilson, the Democrat Party has been America’s left-wing political party. Nonetheless, over the decades it has maintained tenuous ties to the basic tenets of the nation’s founding. In the 1930s, beginning with what was a de facto “cult of personality” centered around Franklin Roosevelt, the Democrat party establishment began wallowing in myopic party loyalty. It was that myopic party loyalty extended to Barack Obama together with a psychotic obsession with Donald Trump that has led to the Democrat party evolving into America’s Marxist/socialist political party and the greatest internal threat to the nation...

In Minnesota, home to the largest population of Somali immigrants in the U.S. and the site of numerous fraud investigations, fraudsters received $12.5 million in student loan and education grant money, according to a letter Education Secretary Linda McMahon sent to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. The letter calls on Walz to resign, and states that a new fraud prevention system at the department has found over $1 billion in “attempted financial aid theft,” including by international fraud rings and artificial intelligence (AI) bots. “[Y]our careless lack of oversight and abuse of the welfare system has attracted fraudsters from around the...