Free Republic

As part of its celebration of the 250th anniversary of American independence, the Claremont Institute’s Center for the American Way of Life has published my Provocation, “Government by the Unelected: How it Happened, and How it Might be Tamed.” This full-length essay seeks to assess how the Founders’ principles have fared after 250 years. I argue that government by the consent of the governed has gradually diminished—especially in the 20th and 21st centuries—and has been substantially replaced by the government of a permanent, unelected, and allegedly expert class. The fuller work traces the history of this development, pointing both to...

Erik Conover racked up nearly three million YouTube subscribers by showcasing mansions, posting fancy travel vlogs, and sharing “lifestyle content” on how to survive in expensive places like New York City. But his next home will not be so luxurious: state prison. That’s where Conover is headed for four to 10 years, after he pleaded guilty on Friday to two felony charges, first-degree assault and reckless conduct. His plea was made after he led New Hampshire cops on an eight mile chase in March, at one plowing into an officer who tried to arrest him and then starting a second...

The Department of Justice is closing a Democrat-created bureaucratic loophole that has allowed legal and illegal migrants to get a huge quantity of taxpayer aid since 1997, despite a 1996 law limiting aid to citizens. The loophole was created by President Bill Clinton’s administration after Congress passed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), which was intended to “strengthen… the principle that [legal and illegal] immigrants come to America to work, not to collect welfare benefits.” “We now retract that [1997] opinion and offer the best reading of the phrase ‘Federal means-tested public benefit,'” President Donald...

A trans woman who copped to slaughtering her parents tried to skip out on her sentencing in a Utah court because it would be too tough on her — as she revealed that she has converted to Islam, and made an excuse for the cold-blooded murders on Friday. “If only I had gotten help this would have been preventable,” said Mia Bailey’s lawyer — reading a statement she wrote. Bailey, 30, was handed a sentence of 25 years to life in prison on Friday, after the court heard emotional testimony from both her brothers, who say they fear for their...

Jane Slater is one of the top Cowboys reporters — and now she’s clearing up some fake news about herself. The 45-year-old NFL Network reporter, who primarily covers the Cowboys, responded on Sunday to a bogus report that claimed she had been killed in a “tragic domestic violence incident.” “I don’t think so? But does this mean there is glitch in the matrix? I’m gonna wrap myself in bubble wrap until NYE,” Slater said responding to a fan who asked if she was still alive while linking to the report.

A post from Customs and Border Protection featuring a snarling, dried primate corpse removed from a traveler’s luggage has sparked renewed scrutiny over illegal bushmeat smuggling into major U.S. airports. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials in Chicago said agriculture specialists at O’Hare International Airport seized prohibited food items from a passenger arriving from the Congo, including what the agency described as nonhuman primate meat, after a post by the agency’s Chicago office drew more than one million views within 24 hours on X. “A passenger from Congo believed the food they were bringing was fine; it was not. In...

President Trump received some rare good polling news Monday as a new survey shows him with his highest approval rating since early fall. The poll of likely voters by InsiderAdvantage shows 50% approve of the job Trump is doing while 41% disapprove, with the remaining 9% undecided. Monday’s results mark the highest raw approval rating for the president in an InsiderAdvantage survey since late September, when 52% of respondents approved of his performance.

This song is the personal testimony of Anna the prophetess, the daughter of Penhanuel, of the tribe of Aser, of the people of Israel (Luke 2:36-38)! It is in the time of great Roman oppression and Anna has experienced and observed the despair of her people and the mighty oppressive power of Rome and her armies for many years. Notice in the lyrics of this song that Almighty God; her Lord and Savior; is ALWAYS observing her and taking care of her! She is ALWAYS in His ETERNAL presence and watchful eye. He always is hearing her prayers and sees...

In an interview with host Leland Vittert on NewsNation, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla) claimed that "President Trump is a bigger threat to American values than Islamic terrorists. The scope of the massacres and atrocities of these terrorists is more limited. Only thousands of people are killed every year in one brutal assault after another both in America and in other countries." "In contrast, Trump has mesmerized and deluded tens of millions of voters in two elections," the Congresswoman asserted. "Despite the efforts of an almost unanimous media pounding away at him with nearly a 100% negative coverage and despite...

Explanation: Shiny NGC 253 is one of the brightest spiral galaxies visible, and also one of the dustiest. Some call it the Silver Coin Galaxy for its appearance in small telescopes, or just the Sculptor Galaxy for its location within the boundaries of the southern constellation Sculptor. Discovered in 1783 by mathematician and astronomer Caroline Herschel, the dusty island universe lies a mere 10 million light-years away. About 70 thousand light-years across, NGC 253 is the largest member of the Sculptor Group of Galaxies, the nearest to our own Local Group of Galaxies. In addition to its spiral dust lanes,...

A newly engaged elementary school teacher who confessed to “making out” with an 11-year-old boy in her classroom broke down in tears as she was sentenced to six years in prison, just half of what prosecutors had wanted. Madison Bergmann, now 26, was a fifth-grade teacher at River Crest Elementary School in Hudson, Wis., until a student’s father discovered 35,000 text messages she’d shared with his son over just three months last year — in which she gushed about how much she loved them touching and “making out.” Cops searched her classroom and found a folder with the victim’s name...

Former Madera County benefits eligibility worker Leticia Mariscal, 55, of Madera, was arrested today on charges that she stole tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of other people’s CalFresh benefits during a multiyear scheme, U.S. Attorney Eric Grant announced. CalFresh is a financial assistance program that provides qualifying California residents with monetary benefits they can use to buy food. It was formerly known as the food stamp program. According to court records, between December 2020 and April 2025, Mariscal improperly used county databases to which she had access through her job to obtain identifying information for individuals who were elderly...

The US Vice President added that Europe's immigration policies have caused a significant backlash from the native populationLONDON, December 22. /TASS/. The erroneous economic and migration policies of European countries have led to cultural stagnation and discontent among the continent's population, US Vice President JD Vance said. "I think their economic policies have produced very broad-based continental stagnation. Their immigration policies have caused a significant backlash from the native population. I think that Europe doesn’t have a very good sense of itself right now, and you see that reflected in various measures of economic and cultural stagnation," he said in...

In a significant policy shift, the Trump administration has directed the CDC to halt all scientific research on monkeys and apes, advancing its broader push to phase out animal testing. The CDC must evaluate every monkey in its care to determine which are healthy enough for sanctuary relocation. The agency had about 500 primates in 2006, though current totals are unclear. The Trump administration did not detail plans for animals too sick to be relocated. The CDC must also establish a rigorous vetting process for potential sanctuaries, estimate relocation costs, and ensure the facilities are of high quality. The administration...

Why does Europe hate its Christians?Europe is witnessing a stark rise in anti Christian hatred and violence, with thousands of incidents targeting Christians, churches and other expressions of faith, according to a new study.The latest report from the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe, published by the European Centre for Law and Justice, compiles official police records, independent research and data from international bodies. It records 2,211 anti Christian hate incidents in 2024, including 274 physical assaults. While the overall number of recorded incidents fell slightly compared with the previous year, the report notes that this was...

Among those joining AAF are John Malcolm, the head of the foundation’s legal and judicial studies center, Kevin Dayaratna, the head of the foundation’s data analysis center and Richard Stern, the director of the foundation’s economic policy studies institute. AAF says it is bringing on about a dozen other staff members. Malcolm is taking seven members of his center’s team.

This week, in Commonwealth v. Kurtz, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld the use of a “reverse keyword” request that led police from a pool of Google searches to a suspect in a 2018 kidnapping and rape, concluding that the data fell under the long‑standing “third‑party doctrine.” The opinion announcing the judgment said that when people type searches into Google without extra privacy tools, they effectively share those queries with the company and assume the risk that Google may hand them to police.​ The ruling means that, under both the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment and Pennsylvania’s own search‑and‑seizure protections, those basic...

The Iconic Final Dialogue from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) The most famous and often-quoted scene involving Marilyn Monroe's character, Lorelei Lee, and her boyfriend's father (Mr. Esmond Sr., played by Taylor Holmes) occurs at the end of the film. Lorelei cleverly defends her views on money, beauty, and marriage, winning over the skeptical father-in-law. This exchange is widely regarded as one of the movie's highlights for its witty satire on gender roles and wealth. The scene (approximate transcript): Mr. Esmond Sr.: Have you got the nerve to tell me you don't want to marry my son for his money? Lorelei...

A man walking his dog past the newly renamed Trump Kennedy Center on Friday expressed disbelief at what he described as a lack of public outrage over the latest visible change to the iconic D.C. performing arts venue. Workers on Friday added President Donald Trump's name to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts after the cultural institution's board voted unanimously to do so. The move marks the latest development in the administration's broader effort to reshape the institution. "There should be hundreds of people out here! Where are the people!?" the man identified Andrew Howard is heard...

A “60 Minutes” segment on the notorious CECOT prison in El Salvador, where the Trump administration has sent hundreds of illegal immigrants, was postponed by CBS News on Sunday, sparking controversy within the newsroom now led by Bari Weiss. The segment was spearheaded by reporter Sharyn Alfonsi, who interviewed some of the illegal immigrants who were sent to CECOT and have since left the prison where they say they endured “brutal and torturous conditions” while incarcerated, The Wall Street Journal reported. CBS News said Alfonsi’s segment would air at a later date after the company “determined it needed additional reporting.”...