Free Republic

The education story of the year has been the “Southern Surge.” An intrepid group of southern states have led the nation in post-pandemic recovery. In a decade, Mississippi moved from 49th to seventh in the nation on fourth-grade reading scores, despite remaining the poorest state. According to Harvard’s 2024 Education Recovery Scorecard, Louisiana is the only state to recover to 2019 achievement levels in both reading and math, while Alabama matched pre-Covid scores in fourth-grade math alone. All other states continue to lag prior achievement levels. Much of this success has rightly been credited to a handful of commonsense reforms:...

During this Christmas season, it’s good to take a look at what the true meaning of the birth of Christ was. It was not only God being born on earth, although it certainly was that. The birth of Jesus, in fact, was the restoration of the divine Kingdom on earth, with the King of Kings renewing the line of King David and King Solomon. This is important to know, since there are a lot of people in the world today who think that Jesus will only establish His kingdom at His Second Coming. In fact, it was established 2,000 years...

“‘The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field’” (Matthew 13:44). The treasure of salvation is not evident to unregenerate people, which is why they don’t naturally seek it. They don’t understand why believers prize God’s saving kingdom so much and why they willingly give up so much—their self-sufficiency, sinful pleasures, and expensive worldly goods and social status—to gain what appears to be so insignificant and barely visible. Kingdom living is too narrow and unattractive to the unsaved, and that’s why so few find this life or desire to walk it (Matt. 7:14)—in reality, most of the...

A small town committee in South Carolina kept a Nativity display in a market parking lot in defiance of the mayor’s order that it be taken down. The controversy began in Mullins, South Carolina, around Thanksgiving when Kimberly Byrd, head of the Mullins Beautification Committee, said her committee would decorate the town’s new marketplace “like a Hallmark movie” for the Christmas season, believing it would draw in business. The group paid for the decorations out of their own pocket and included a Nativity scene, but Mayor Miko Pickett reportedly asked that it be removed, fearing it would offend residents of...

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly said the US "needs" Greenland for security reasons and has refused to rule out using force to secure it.Denmark summoned the United States ambassador on Monday (Dec 22) after US President Donald Trump appointed a special envoy to Greenland who immediately vowed to make the Danish autonomous territory "a part of the US". Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has repeatedly said the US "needs" the resource-rich Arctic island for security reasons and has refused to rule out using force to secure it. On Sunday, Trump appointed Louisiana governor Jeff Landry...

Trump’s uncharacteristically wooden address to the nation revealed a panicked president

A 33-year-old villager was trampled to death by an elephant in India when he was trying to take a selfie with the animal. One witness said, "It was really terrifying.

"Call of Duty" video game creator Vincent Zampella reportedly died in a car wreck on a mountainous stretch of highway near Los Angeles this weekend. The California Highway Patrol says the single-car crash was reported around 12:45 PM Sunday afternoon near mile marker 62 on the Angeles Crest Highway in Altadena. Two people were involved in the crash, according to the CHP, with one of the victims pronounced dead at the scene. NBC Los Angeles was the first to report that person was Vincent. The video game developer was reportedly driving the car and was heading south when the car...

George Conway, the former conservative lawyer-turned-ardent critic of President Donald Trump, has filed paperwork to run for Congress in New York City as a Democrat, a source close to Conway confirmed. While he hasn’t formally launched a congressional bid or commented on it publicly, new paperwork filed Monday with the Federal Election Commission shows Conway plans to run in the crowded primary in the 12th Congressional District. Democrat Jerry Nadler, who currently represents the district, isn’t seeking re-election. “George is a seasoned fighter against Trump and Trumpism, and he’s considering taking that fight to Congress. Today, he filed paperwork that...

On Monday, President Donald Trump, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, and Secretary of the Navy John Phelan announced a new series of what they called "Trump Class" battleships, a new initiative to revamp and restore the maritime industry and shore up America's maritime dominance. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was also in the Oval Office and offered remarks. Navy's new class of Large Surface Combatants: THE BATTLESHIP.The most lethal surface combatant ever constructed. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/7AH5G4IJj5— The White House (@WhiteHouse) December 22, 2025The president was flanked by images of the first Golden Fleet battleship, "The U.S.S. Defiant." Trump opened his remarks...

We've seen some interesting polling numbers over the past week. First, there was the congressional Democrats polling at their lowest number ever in a Quinnipiac poll, at 18 percent approval. As a CNN data nerd termed it, that's "lower than the Dead Sea." Then they made things worse by deciding to scuttle the DNC autopsy report they had been working on as to why they lost in 2024, making it clear they wanted to keep their heads in the sand. Now, the approval numbers have jumped up again for President Donald Trump, according to a new InsiderAdvantage poll.The poll of...

Hunter Biden just shocked the Democrat party by essentially condemning his father’s entire four years in the White House. During a rare interview on the ‘Shawn Ryan Show’ while promoting his new book, Hunter called out Joe Biden’s immigration policies for failing the American people and prioritizing illegals over veterans. “We don’t want immigrants coming here illegally, DRAINING us of resources, and being prioritized above people that are actual, literal heroes. People that are still recovering from years of endless war, or anybody else in our society,” Hunter said. Maybe this is why his family tries so hard to keep...

One by one, they are singing, the men who used to do dirty deeds for the late Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez and his successor, Nicolas Maduro. Nobody knows what’s going to happen, whether the United States will attack, and whether Maduro will fall. But these Venezuelans sniff change in the air. As more countries exit Venezuela’s orbit, more allegations are likely to emerge. Two of the men are in prison here in the U.S.: Hugo “El Pollo” Carvajal, the former spy mastermind, and Cliver Alcala Cordones, a former general, both of whom have written letters to President Donald Trump airing...

Almost 100 mayors in the state of Minnesota have sent a letter to state lawmakers complaining about the fraud scandal and how it is going to impact the communities they serve. They are clearly not happy with the leadership of Governor Tim Walz and his connections to the fraud scandal that has rocked the state in recent weeks. The scandal is still unfolding and it’s unclear what the final tally will be, but it’s looking like something in the tens of billions. It’s shaping up to be the largest theft of taxpayer dollars in American history. Is there any wonder...

Screencap of Twitter/X video. A video that is making the rounds on social media right now shows two young, liberal women who have been following ICE agents in their car. The agents have clearly noticed because one of them comes over to the car an gives them a serious one-time warning. The account that posted the video to Twitter/X claims that this happened in Columbus but it might as well be any city in the country. The left is harassing ICE agents all over the place. When the woman who is driving cracks her window, the ICE agent can be...

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Agri-Business; End to Sex Slavery; Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. (1 John 5:14) I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone: for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. ~ 1 Timothy 2:1-2 Religion Forum Threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to...

At the center of this debate lies approximately 210 billion euros ($246.42 billion) in Russian state assets .... The EU’s financial system has benefited for decades from a reputation for stability, predictability, and political restraint. Sovereign investors from Asia, the Gulf and the Global South have viewed European financial infrastructure as relatively insulated from geopolitical turbulence. The perception that sovereign reserves can be repurposed under political pressure threatens to erode that trust. This is not a hypothetical concern. Efforts to diversify reserves, reduce exposure to Western financial systems and develop alternative clearing mechanisms have been accelerating for years. The frozen...

Russia's Foreign Ministry has begun evacuating the families of diplomats from Venezuela, a European intelligence official told AP on Monday, as the United States pursues its third sanctioned oil tanker in the Caribbean and President Donald Trump convenes senior national security officials at his Mar-a-Lago resort. The evacuations, which started Friday and include women and children, come as Russian officials assess the situation in Venezuela in what the intelligence source described as "very grim tones." The withdrawals signal heightened concerns about stability in the South American nation as the Trump administration escalates its four-month pressure campaign against President Nicolas Maduro's...

The U.S. Navy has confirmed to TWZ that the armament package for its first “flight” of its new FF(X) frigates will not include a built-in Vertical Launch System (VLS). There had been widespread questions about whether the ships would include a VLS array after renderings were released with no such feature readily apparent.A lack of any type of VLS on the FF(X) design is a glaring omission that can only raise questions about the operational utility and flexibility of the ships. At the same time, the new frigates will be able to carry modular payloads, including containerized missile launchers, on...

There is a Christmas manufactured for display windows and marketing campaigns, bright, hurried, and quickly forgotten. There is the Christmas our Founders knew, quiet, severe, inward, and bound to something far older and more demanding than comfort. They did not inherit a nation wrapped in ribbon. They brought one into being through cold hands, empty stomachs, and resolute faith. When George Washington crossed the Delaware on Christmas night, there were no speeches to stir the heart and no crowds to bear witness. There was no certainty of success. There was only an obligation. The men who followed him were unpaid,...