Free Republic

Have you ever wondered why it seems as though some on the left are bent on destroying the country? Have you also wondered why some leftists have a certain affinity for foreign causes and countries but couldn’t connect the dots? Does it also seem that some on the left are just following along as “useful innocents” (or the other I-word)?AdvertisementA piece from Glenn Beck, the non-profit Mauro Institute, and the Washington Free Beacon will go a long way in answering these questions. When it comes to the fringe far left, they always seem to reach for the extremes in beliefs...

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans are proposing sweeping changes to the nation’s voting laws, a long-shot priority for President Donald Trump that would impose stricter requirements before Americans vote in the midterm elections in the fall. The package expected to be released Thursday reflects some of the party’s most sought-after election changes, including requirements for photo IDs before people can vote, proof of citizenship and prohibitions on universal vote-by-mail and ranked choice voting — two voting methods that have proved popular in some states. The legislation faces a long road ahead in the narrowly-split Congress, where Democrats have rejected similar...

Right now, drone-metal pioneers Earth are touring Europe. On Tuesday night (Jan. 27), Earth were slated to play at the Bologna, Italy venue TPO, which hosts cultural events as well as underground bands. According to various reports from the show, Earth did not perform because Dylan Carlson, the band's frontman and sole permanent member, objected to the Palestinian flag hanging in the venue.

The bodies of 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been returned by Russia, Kyiv has said, in the latest exchange between the warring countries. Russia received 38 bodies in return, Moscow's chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said. Medinsky posted a photo on Telegram apparently showing the exchange, with individuals dressed in biohazard suits standing next to a line of white refrigerated trucks used to transport bodies. The last swap took place in November last year when Russia returned 1,000 bodies to Ukraine and received 30 in return. There has not been an exchange of prisoners of war since October 2025, with both sides...

The U.S. deficit with its global trading partners nearly doubled in November as the shortfall with the European Union swelled and the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs worked their way through the economy, the Census Bureau reported Thursday. Following a month where the trade deficit hit its lowest level since early 2009, it shot up to $56.8 billion, an increase of 94.6% from October. Of that gain, about one-third came with the European Union, where the goods deficit rose by $8.2 billion. The goods deficit with China decreased by about $1 billion to $13.9 billion. On a year-over-year basis,...

This is just one more example of a Tucker-Carlson-esque pattern of doing anything he can to avoid showing sympathy to Israel and the Jews. ... Vance: "Today we remember the millions of lives lost during the Holocaust, the millions of stories of individual bravery and heroism, and one of the enduring lessons of one of the darkest chapters in human history: that while humans create beautiful things and are full of compassion, we're also capable of unspeakable brutality. And we promise never again to go down the darkest path."

Sanctuary cities are "sanctuaries for criminals" who endanger communities, President Donald Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, said Thursday morning in his first press conference after arriving in Minneapolis. Homan said he was deployed to Minnesota earlier this week to help restore law and order and remove dangerous criminal illegal aliens from local communities. He made clear his focus is public safety — not politics or headlines. "I didn't come to Minnesota for photo ops or headlines," Homan told reporters. "I came here to seek solutions." Homan said more than 10 million illegal aliens entered the country under the Biden administration,...

A large mob of protestors surrounded a restaurant in Los Angeles after mistaking airport security workers for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. The demonstrators gathered outside of Ten-Raku, a Korean BBQ spot in Lynwood, on Wednesday night after hearing reports that federal officers were allegedly inside. In reality, they blared airhorns and whistles and shouted at off-duty TSA officers who were just trying to enjoy dinner, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office told the Daily Mail. When confronted about mistaking the airport staff for ICE, one irate demonstrator gave the excuse that people get 'emotional' and make 'mistakes,' noting...

Daily Readings from the USCCBJesus said to his disciples, “Is a lamp brought in to be placed under a bushel basket or under a bed, and not to be placed on a lampstand? For there is nothing hidden except to be made visible; nothing is secret except to come to light. Anyone who has ears to hear ought to hear.” Mark 4:21–23What guides your life? What influences your decisions? Many are motivated by worldly desires, such as wealth or status. Others seek fulfillment in fleeting pleasures. Some take their inspiration from cultural icons or those deemed successful by society. But...

You know what the common thread is here, but we have a deep dive into the leftist mayhem over Immigration and Customs Enforcement. For some reason, these progressives think the law doesn’t apply to them, their self-righteous disposition being a legal and physical shield from harm. That is precisely wrong, as Renee Good and Alex Pretti, two activists who’ve been shot and killed by immigration officers for interfering in law enforcement actions, have learned. It’s also set the city of Minneapolis on fire. Kevin Bass posted an excellent Twitter thread about these incidents and found that two-thirds of the confrontations...

With the clock ticking down to a potential government shutdown this Friday, Senate Republicans are reportedly considering a move that could leave the southern border wide open to invasion.A group of Republican senators is now openly discussing whether to split the Homeland Security appropriations bill away from a six-bill funding package in order to avert a partial government shutdown that would impact the Pentagon and several other major federal departments, according to The Hill.The six-bill package includes funding for the Departments of Defense, Health and Human Services, Labor, Education, Transportation, State, and financial services-related agencies.DHS, the very agency responsible for...

105 days to go!

US stocks sank in mid-morning trading on Thursday on a tech-driven selloff as investors came away from megacap tech earnings fretting about AI spending. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) led losses, shedding roughy 2.6% amid an over 10% plunge from Microsoft (MSFT). The S&P 500 (^GSPC) and Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) followed the tech sector down, shedding 1.5% and 0.8%, respectively, following Wednesday's muted performance.

A South Carolina woman who believed she was buying a puppy was ambushed by three brutes who fatally shot her, set her body on fire and left her to burn inside a car on the side of the road.Dana Marie Kinlaw, 40, was lured to a rural road in Effingham, South Carolina, on Jan. 22 when she was allegedly killed by 19-year-old Iryanna Jarissa Fleming and 31-year-old Daquinn Taheen Thomas and Nikko Christopher Carraway, according to the Florence County Sheriff’s Office. Officials believe Kinlaw’s death was part of a retaliation murder for a recent killing in neighboring Darlington County, WBMF...

According to a statement released by University College London, a team of researchers led by Simon Parfitt of University College London and London's Natural History Museum reviewed materials unearthed at the Boxgrove Paleolithic site in southern England in 1990. Among the artifacts, the scientists identified a 500,000-year-old tool made of elephant or mammoth bone. The outer layer of elephant bone would have been softer than stone, and yet harder than the bones of other animals. "Elephant bone would have been a rare but highly useful resource, and it's likely this tool was of considerable value," Parfitt said. The age of...

Kristi Noem has been left utterly humiliated as her hard-charging ICE agents were given new rules last night to ignore 'agitators' and only arrest 'criminal' migrants as part of Trump's new deportation agenda. *** Trump appointed Homan to take command of immigration enforcement in Minnesota. Homan is a longtime rival of Noem and her rumored lover, Corey Lewandowski. [Ed. note: gratuitous, superfluous] 'This is common sense cooperation that allows us to draw down the number of people we have here. Yes, I said it. Draw down the number of people here,' Homan told reporters.New guidance for ICE directs agents to...

According to a Live Science report, hafted stone tools dated to as early as 160,000 years ago have been discovered in central China. More than 2,600 stone tools were uncovered at the site of Xigou, and some of them appear to have been attached to a handle or shaft, making them the oldest known composite tools in eastern Asia. Michael Petraglia of Griffith University explained that the use of a handle improved tool performance by allowing the user to increase leverage, and by providing more force for actions such as boring holes. These tools are thought to have been used...

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said Wednesday that his time as an elected official will permanently end when he finishes his term as governor. “I will never run for an elected office again. Never again,” Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee, said in an interview with MS NOW. Walz had said this month that he would not seek re-election as governor — sending shock waves through state and national politics — but he did not go so far as to say he would not consider another elected position down the line. In explaining his decision Wednesday, Walz talked about the...

SciNews reports that a new study of the bones of small animals recovered from Mezhyrich, the Upper Paleolithic site of four mammoth-bone structures in central Ukraine, indicates that at least one of the buildings had been used for more than 400 years. The four structures, made with hundreds of mammoth bones and tusks, range in size from about 130 to 260 square feet. It was not clear if the structures had been used as dwellings, or if they were created as bone beds, food caches, burials, or for religious purposes. Wei Chu of Leiden University and his colleagues dated the...

PARKERSBURG, W.Va. – Today, Governor Patrick Morrisey announced that the West Virginia National Guard, the West Virginia State Police, and the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation have received signed Memorandums of Agreement from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to participate in the 287(g) Program, enabling designated local officers to perform certain immigration officer functions under ICE’s direction and oversight. “The Biden administration’s border policies allowed millions of people to unlawfully enter our country as massive amounts of deadly fentanyl flowed across the southern border and into West Virginia,” said Governor Morrisey. “We are proud to partner with...