Free Republic

From the 1950s gangs of North London to the ruins of the Roman Empire, from the rise of the Berlin Wall to the Troubles in Northern Ireland, from the horrors of the Vietnam War to those of Biafra, Beirut, Iraq and elsewhere, as well as the beautiful bleakness of the Somerset countryside

A Christmas Prayer By Rian B. Anderson It was Christmas Eve 1881. I was fifteen years old and feeling like the world had caved in on me because there just hadn't been enough money to buy me the rifle that I'd wanted so bad that year for Christmas. We did the chores early that night for some reason. I just figured Daddy wanted a little extra time so we could read in the Bible. After supper was over I took my boots off and stretched out in front of the fireplace and waited for Daddy to get down the old...

“A mass casualty situation has been declared after an explosion ripped through a Pennsylvania nursing home leaving multiple people trapped. The blast tore through Silver Lake Healthcare Center in Bristol Township, Pennsylvania at around 2.17pm. First responders and emergency management officials had described the scene as a gas explosion. However, that will not be confirmed until the agency can examine the scene up close, Nils Hagen-Frederiksen, the press secretary at the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, told the Associated Press. There is no word on how many people have been injured. The explosion was labeled a mass casualty incident by Upper...

BRISTOL TWP., Pa. (WPVI) -- Two people are dead after an apparent gas explosion collapsed part of a nursing home in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday afternoon, leaving an unknown number of people trapped in the rubble. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro confirmed the two deaths at a news conference Tuesday evening. Rescuers believe five people remain unaccounted for, Shapiro said, but he cautioned that the numbers remain preliminary. Action News has also learned that at least 21 people were sent to various hospitals. The extent of their injuries remain unclear.

Alberta gets OK to begin collecting signatures for referendum to leave Canada While President Trump has half-joked about Canada becoming the 51st state of the U.S., arguably the "reddest" province in that nation now expects a voter referendum in 2026 asking residents if they'd like to secede from the motherland. A court had previous stopped an effort to put the question before Albertans, but now the province's election commission has given the OK for organizers to begin collecting signatures. According to Global News, Elections Alberta says the proponent, the Alberta Prosperity Project, and its chief executive officer, Mitch Sylvestre, have...

Prior to reading this update. Mexico sanctioning Violent takeover of Mexican silver mine lets provide some context Silver is already in multi‑year structural deficit, with demand exceeding mine and scrap supply and drawing down inventories.​ Industrial demand for Silver is surging from solar, electronics, EV/solid‑state batteries, defense, aerospace, robotics and AI hardware.​ India is monetizing silver through record imports and growing use as savings and investment within its financial system.​ New RBI rules encourage silver to enter the banking system as collateral (along with gold) Tight physical markets and backwardation show paper benchmarks are losing clean control over silver pricing.​...

The governor of Minnesomalia, everyone: 🚨BREAKING: Tim Walz MELTS DOWN over JD Vance declaring people don’t have to apologize for being white"You hear the vice president talk about now, white people don't have to apologize for being white?! Everyone KNOWS what they're doing!"pic.twitter.com/cxAc4X7JR8— Jack (@jackunheard) December 23, 2025I'm confused. JD Vance was talking about equality under the law for all Americans during a comment about documented anti-white discrimination that has been widely prevalent in American companies and schools over the last decade. "In the United States of America, you don't have to apologize for being White anymore," says @VP."We don't...

Former Vice President Mike Pence did not mince words about the mass exodus from the influential Heritage Foundation to his own group, Advancing American Freedom, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Monday. The Journal reported that AAF was “slated to hire about 15 of Heritage’s employees including several of its prominent leaders” on Monday, and Pence told the outlet that he believes Heritage has “fallen” and “abandoned its principles” in recent years. “Why these people are coming our way is that Heritage and some other voices and commentators have embraced big-government populism and have been willing to...

Turkish authorities closed Ankara’s airspace as a precaution after it lost contact with the plane and diverted multiple commercial flights away from Esenboga Airport. The commander's death was later confirmed by Turkish and Libyan officials. ============================================================= urkish officials temporarily closed down airspace over its capital of Ankara on Tuesday night after a business jet that carried Libya’s top military commander crashed near the city after he concluded an official visit to the country. The plane carrying Chief of the General Staff of Libya’s armed forces Muhammed Ali Ahmed Al-Haddad and four others lost contact roughly 30 minutes after departing Esenboga...

Donnie Allen allegedly shot and killed 27-year-old Benjamin McComas at a Cleveland light rail station around 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 14, according to Fox 8. Allen was charged with aggravated murder and arraigned on a $1 million bond. Court records reviewed by Fox News Digital show Allen was charged with drug possession, breaking and entering, vandalism, obstructing official business and possessing criminal tools in relation to a separate incident at a Cleveland light rail station on Dec. 4. His bond was initially set at $15,000, which was later lowered by Judge Joy Kennedy to $5,000 on Dec. 8. In that...

KYIV, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Ukrainian forces have pulled out of the embattled eastern town of Siversk, Kyiv's military said on Tuesday, as Russian troops wage a battlefield offensive aimed at threatening key cities critical to Ukraine's defences in the east.The fall of Siversk comes with Ukraine under U.S. pressure to quickly negotiate peace in the nearly four-year-old war triggered by Russia's invasion, and puts Russian forces closer to the hub of Sloviansk, some 30 km (20 miles) to the west.The Reuters Daily Briefing newsletter provides all the news you need to start your day. Sign up here.Sloviansk is a...

A forklift driver was allegedly talking on the phone when he struck and killed a 45-year-old man. According to WTOC, new information has emerged about a fatal forklift incident that occurred in April at the Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America site. The report states that 45-year-old Sunbok You, the CEO of Hyundai subcontractor SBY America, was struck and killed at the HL-GA Battery Company construction site. While speaking with workers at around 4:45 p.m. on March 21, You walked across a road before being struck by a forklift. The Bryan County Sheriff’s Office told WTOC reporters at the time that...

Donald Trump has said the US will keep or sell the crude oil contained on tankers it has seized off the coast of Venezuela, as well as the vessels themselves.The US president's comments came as Washington continues to pressure the South American country's leader Nicolás Maduro to stand down.Speaking to reporters in Florida on Monday, Trump said of the oil "we're going to keep it", adding: "Maybe we will sell it, maybe we will keep it. Maybe we'll use it in the Strategic Reserves. We're keeping the ships also."The Trump administration has accused Venezuela of using oil revenues to fund...

A Delaware state trooper was killed Tuesday during a shooting at a Division of Motor Vehicles building and the shooter has also died, authorities said. The Delaware State Police said it responded to an active shooter situation at a DMV location in Wilmington. Authorities later said that one suspect was in custody and that there was no longer an active shooter incident.

TRUMP'S MOST IMPORTANT ACHIEVEMENT. Experts estimate that during the Biden administration, around 9 million migrants crossed illegally into the United States and remained in the country. As illegal border crossers, they are what immigration officials call "removable," that is, subject to expulsion from the country on the grounds that they entered without authorization. The wild influx during the Biden years strained communities nationwide, burdened government budgets, caused social disruption, led to an alarming number of violent crimes, and, in general, made a mockery of U.S. immigration law. Plus, the situation is difficult to reverse; it would be exceedingly difficult, if...

BETHESDA, Md. (WBFF) — A $2.3 million home in one of Maryland’s wealthiest neighborhoods has become the latest test of the state’s ability to respond to squatting, exposing how legal gaps, slow court processes, and limited enforcement can leave communities waiting for action – even when ownership is clear and criminal complaints are filed. The Bethesda case, now winding through Montgomery County courts, mirrors a pattern Spotlight on Maryland has documented statewide: Vacant homes, disputed occupancy, and neighbors caught between civil law and public safety concerns. Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy’s office said it cannot comment on this matter...

"Guns don't kill, people do." True or false, truth or lie, "people" do use their thoughts and words to help push their decisions to invalidate, as non-persons, other classes of "biological-organisms"-with-23-paired-chromosomes-which-are-totally-indistinguishable-from-humans; and whether or not to sentence the "non-persons" to termination because they want their land or money, or because if those 23-chromosome things are allowed to live it will curtail their ability to "do it" with whomever and whatever their supreme will dictates (what Ralph Nader called "gonadal politics"). So, yesterday, Jonathan Turley ("Democratic Despotism: The American Left Moves from Censored to Compelled Speech") noted: In Illinois, Democrats have...

TULSA, OKLA. (KTUL) — Repairs to multiple county overpass bridges along Interstate 44 and the Will Rogers Turnpike are nearing completion after an over-height commercial truck struck several structures earlier this month, transportation officials said. Work continues Monday on the N. 4300 Road overpass northeast of State Highway 28, where eastbound I-44 traffic remains reduced to one lane. The bridge is still closed to local traffic but is expected to reopen by Monday afternoon. Crews are also preparing for overnight repairs at the N. 429 Road overpass near Adair. Eastbound lanes of I-44 will be narrowed to one lane beginning...

EAST GREENWICH, R.I. (WPRI) — Maria Bucci, the chair of the Cranston Democrats and a former candidate for mayor, has been arrested and charged with driving drunk in East Greenwich. Body-worn camera video released by police shows that Bucci was pulled over on Division Road just after midnight Thursday. According to the police report obtained by 12 News, Bucci was stopped after an officer saw her swerving on the road. Her arrest was first reported by GoLocalProv. The report says Bucci’s vehicle had “a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage” and she was slurring her words. “You know who I...

Two teenage hikers in distress, with no food, water, warm clothes, or cold-weather gear, were rescued late Friday night after another hiker found them soaking wet and freezing after they fell into a brook on Mount Monadnock in Jaffrey, New Hampshire, officials said. According to a New Hampshire Fish and Game press release, at around 10 p.m. on Dec. 19, the other hiker called New Hampshire State Police, who contacted the Fish and Game Department to request a rescue of the two hikers in distress on the Ferry Spring Trail. Through contact via cellphone, officers found out that the two...