Free Republic

Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) announced Tuesday that he’s retiring after almost two decades in Congress, making him the third Florida Republican to opt against seeking reelection in the House. “I came to Congress to solve problems, to fight for working families, and to help ensure this country remains a place where opportunity is available to everyone willing to work for it,” Buchanan, who serves as the No. 2 Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, said in a statement. “After 20 years of service, I believe it’s the right time to pass the torch and begin a new chapter...

Minnesota police arrested anti-ICE protesters outside the SpringHill Suites by Marriott in Maple Grove on January 26, 2026, after the demonstration escalated with objects thrown at officers and property damage, leading to an unlawful assembly declaration. Demonstrators targeted the hotel because they believed it to be the one in which Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino was staying. For context, this marks a major change in Minnesota police policy following a fateful conversation between President Trump and local leaders that followed Gov. Walz backing down to President Trump, during which the MPD apparently agreed to resume aid to enforcement efforts. Regardless,...

Join with fellow FREEPERS across the world to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Agri-Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, Technology, Religious Freedom and the Media. 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 debate of any kind. Finally, brothers, rejoice. Set things in order. Be encouraged. Agree with one another. Be at peace. And the God...

"[God] seated [Christ] at His right hand in the heavenly places" (Eph.1:20). Christ occupies the highest place of power, prominence, authority, and honor. To exalt someone is to elevate that person in status, dignity, power, and honor. As God, Jesus possesses all power and authority and is deserving of all honor and glory. But when He was on earth, most people refused to give Him the glory He deserved. Instead they mocked and eventually murdered Him. Just prior to His death, Jesus prayed to the Father, "Glorify Thou Me together with Thyself, Father, with the glory which I ever had...

Two lawsuits alleging antisemitism—one involving Stanford University and another tied to the spring 2024 anti-Israel encampment at the University of California, Los Angeles—will move forward, the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law announced on Jan. 22. The Stanford case stems from a July lawsuit filed by the Brandeis Center on behalf of Shay Laps, a Jewish Israeli researcher who alleges that he faced “discrimination and insidious, malicious conduct intended to permanently tarnish his reputation and career” at a Stanford lab, including tampering with his research, being locked out of a lab and a fabricated sexual harassment complaint...

Hundreds of students across the Bay Area walked out of their classes Wednesday to protest the recent killings of two people in Minneapolis by federal agents and President Donald Trump’s nationwide immigration crackdown. The local walkouts — which included a march through the streets of downtown San Jose, along with other walkouts near San Leandro — added to a growing number of protests across the nation following the fatal shooting of ICU nurse Alex Pretti by federal agents over the weekend in Minneapolis. The killing came just weeks after another federal agent fatally shot a mother of three, Renee Good,...

At an emergency summit of European Union leaders in Brussels, the building blocks of an empire were beginning to take shape. […] In a brutal new age of world powers, the EU wants to build a bigger, richer, stronger “super Europe” able to resist the dangerous whims of the globe’s autocrats. Turning 27 quarrelsome small to middle-sized powers into a geopolitical heavyweight has been Emmanuel Macron’s largely unheeded call ever since the US president’s first term. This time, though, it is different, multiple Brussels insiders have told The Telegraph. “Let’s take a step back and realize we live in a...

Gold extended its blistering rally on Thursday to hit a record just shy of $5,600 an ounce, as investors sought safety amid geopolitical and economic uncertainties, while silver came within a whisker of breaching $120. Spot gold shot up 2.6% to $5,538.69 an ounce by 0349 GMT, after hitting a record $5,591.61 earlier in the day. "Growing U.S. debt and uncertainty created by signs that the global trade system is splintering into regional blocs as opposed to a U.S.-centric model (are leading investors to pile into gold)," said Marex analyst Edward Weir.

There is a cynical reason why Democrat leaders keep illegal aliens in the country. It is not for humanitarian reasons. The net effect of increases in both legal and illegal immigration in the 2020 Census shifted 17 House seats and 17 Electoral College votes. It resulted in a net gain of 14 seats in blue states. Ten seats shifted from red states and four from battleground states. It’s partly due to districts with high percentages of noncitizens who lean heavily Democrat. “Of the 24 districts where one in five adults is not an American citizen, twenty were won by a...

Kitco News) - Investment demand remains the driving force in the gold market as prices surpass $5,000 per ounce. But the marketplace is evolving, with tokenized gold growing in popularity as investors look to protect themselves from monetary uncertainty, geopolitical risk, and declining confidence in traditional financial hedges. On Monday, the world’s largest gold-backed stablecoin, Tether Gold (XAU₮), published its fourth-quarter performance report, showing that it now accounts for more than half of the entire gold-backed stablecoin market. In the report, Tether noted that last year the global digital gold market saw its valuation grow to $4 billion, up from...

Ireland has joined 10 other European countries calling for Israel to halt demolitions of the headquarters belonging to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in east Jerusalem by Israeli authorities. Earlier this month, Israeli bulldozers began demolishing the compound, having effectively banned the organization from operating in the country in January 2026. The joint letter was signed by Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee and the foreign ministers of Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Portugal, Spain and the UK. It described the demolition as an unprecedented act which marked the “latest unacceptable move” to undermine a UN...

China has suspended imports of Irish beef following the detection of an outbreak of bluetongue in County Wexford last week, while more cases of the virus have been confirmed in three additional cattle herds in the county. Minister for Agriculture said that his department informed Chinese authorities of the cases and that they “subsequently informed us that they have suspended the acceptance of Irish beef exported from Ireland with effect from 27 January 2026”. Minister Heydon added: “As with all temporary suspensions, it is a matter for the importing country when they will recommence the acceptance of exports of Irish...

🚨 BREAKING: DNI TULSI GABBARD was just spotted at the Fulton County GA election site raided by the FBI involving likely 2020 election fraud — as ballots were seized and computers were examined WOW, this is getting serious! 🔥Tulsi plays no games. Liberals are terrified at this sight. EXPOSE THE FRAUD! Show the people, Trump was right! pic.twitter.com/c8ZihO2n7m— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) January 29, 2026

Does anyone remember Doug From Upland? He used to come up with some glorious song lyrics to mock the left.The chorus of Bad, Bad LeRoy Brown by Jim Croche came to me today while working out. Now I need the verses to go with the chorus . . . and the chorus could be improved as well.Here it is: Bad, bad Orange Man Baddest man in the whole damn lan' Badder than Ghengis Khan Meaner than the Devil's band!

A Christian college, The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, continues to be excluded from the Chicago Public Schools student teacher program after suing for religious discrimination, the college’s lawyer told The College Fix. In an exclusive interview, senior counsel on the case Jeremiah Galus said that as of Jan. 7, Chicago Public Schools still wasn’t allowing Moody’s student teachers to work in its schools.... Moody began offering a Bachelor of Arts in elementary education in 2024. However, according to an ADF news release, Chicago public school leaders refused to employ Moody’s student teachers unless the college abandons its religious hiring...

CHINESE police will help to stop Channel crossings under a deal signed between Sir Keir Starmer and Xi Jinping today. The two leaders will ink an intelligence-sharing agreement to halt the supply routes of gear for smuggling gangs. More than 60 per cent of all small boat engines last year were manufactured in China, with other parts also sourced there. UK and Chinese authorities will pool information to disrupt the operations in the latest move to get a grip on illegal immigration. Sir Keir trumpeted the deal as he became the first British PM in eight years to visit China....

This republic has changed dramatically in recent years -- politically, morally, and, perhaps most significantly, demographically. Section 15 of the Virginia Declaration of Rights (a precursor to The Declaration of Independence) that was adopted by the Virginia Constitutional Convention on June 12, 1776, states: “That no free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue and by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles.” Does that appear to be the case today? Let’s go item by item. Clearly, many of us are not firmly adhered to...

Science News reports that 430,000-year-old wooden tools likely crafted by Neanderthals or Homo heidelbergensis individuals have been discovered in Greece by a team of researchers led by Annemieke Milks of the University of Reading. The site, which is now a coal mine, is located in the central Peloponnese Peninsula. The rare wooden tools were recovered from waterlogged ground 100 feet beneath the surface, in an area that had been an ancient lakeshore, among thousands of pieces of wood, bone, and stone. One of the artifacts, identified through use-wear analysis as a 2.5-foot-long digging stick, was recovered in four pieces. Milks...

Science Magazine reports that five stone blades made from chert outcrops in central France have been found more than 400 miles away in central Spain by Manuel Alcaraz-Castaño of the University of Alcalá and his colleagues. The team members unearthed the yellowish tools at the Peña Capón rock shelter near the Sorbe River, where people fished for salmon and hunted deer, horses, and rabbits between 26,000 and 22,000 years ago. Dating of charcoal and animal bone in the several layers where the chert tools were recovered indicates that the materials were imported for a period of about 1,400 years. "Their...

The reevaluation of 16 flint and radiolarite tools found among bear remains in a cave in the Alps suggests that traveling Neanderthals carried the stone tools with them, according to a Phys.org report. Microscopic examination of the tools by Davide Delpiano of the University of Ferrara and his colleagues detected evidence of retouching, indicating that tools had been sharpened repeatedly, yet no stone flakes or chips were uncovered in Caverna Generosa. Analysis of the chemical makeup of the stone used to make the tools revealed that it had come from a few miles away, much further down the mountain. The...