Free Republic

“IN AN UNCERTAIN world, China is the biggest certainty.” So proclaimed a Chinese spokesman in December. Amid a war in Europe, turmoil in the Middle East and America’s rewriting of the geopolitical order, some in the West may be inclined to agree. As The Economist went to press, Britain’s prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, was visiting China’s president, Xi Jinping, the latest among a series of Western leaders who have headed to Beijing in search of deals and dependability. Yet in recent days politics in China has proved anything but certain. On January 24th the defence ministry said that the...

BLUF: With the impossible third reelection of DJT, the political left knows they are losing “bigly” and are desperate. The changes Team Trump is making are not superficial like with previous Republican administrations; no, these are substantive, foundational, and will permanently remove the funding and power from political leftists of all stripes from now on, forever. But the leftists aren’t going to take this lying down. If they can’t have their own version of America, no one can. They’d rather watch it burn than see MAGA ever succeed. The tragic irony in all this is that the resistance the left...

Labour is on course for its worst result in an election in 116 years in May as Scottish voters desert it, a new poll suggests. Against a backdrop of major dislike for Keir Starmer, Anas Sarwar's party is on course to take just 15 per cent of the vote in the Scottish Parliament election. A survey by YouGov today suggests it will remain the third largest party at Holyrood, but with Reform forming the largest opposition group to the Scottish National Party, also leapfrogging the Tories. Less than a third (32 per cent) of Scots who voted for Labour at...

Sydney Sweeney doesn’t associate herself with the nickname “MAGA Barbie.” The actress spoke candidly about all the controversy surrounding her since her American Eagle Outfitters “Great Jeans” ad dropped last July, with some accusing it of being “Nazi propaganda” that praised her blond hair and blue eyes. In an interview with Cosmopolitan published Thursday, Sweeney was asked about being labeled “MAGA Barbie” by some on the internet — especially after it was revealed she’s been registered as a Republican since June 2024 — even though she hasn’t directly spoken about her political views. “I’ve never been here to talk about...

29 January 2026 Thursday of week 3 in Ordinary Time Interior of Santa Maria in Aracoeli, RomeReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: A(II).First reading2 Samuel 7:18-19,24-29'The house of your servant will be blessed for ever'After Nathan had spoken to him, King David went in and, seated before the Lord, said: ‘Who am I, O Lord, and what is my House, that you have led me as far as this? Yet in your sight, O Lord, this is still not far enough, and you make your promises extend to the House of your servant for a far-distant future. You have constituted...

B.C. Premier David Eby says Alberta separatists meeting with the U.S. administration and seeking financial backing is an act of "treason," as the issue of national sovereignty loomed over a meeting between the premiers and Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday. "To go to a foreign country and to ask for assistance in breaking up Canada, there's an old-fashioned word for that, and that word is treason," said Eby, ahead of the closed-door meeting in Ottawa. He was reacting to reports that members of U.S. President Donald Trump's administration have held meetings with members of the Alberta Prosperity Project, a...

Text-FormatDiscussions MonthlyLong Lead30-& 90-Day Hawaiian More Outlooks FMA 2026 MAM 2026 AMJ 2026 MJJ 2026 JJA 2026 JAS 2026 ASO 2026 SON 2026 OND 2026 NDJ 2026 - 27 DJF 2026 - 27 JFM 2027 FMA 2027 0.5mn Feb 2026 Climatological Values (1991-2020) for FMA Tools Used (see Discussion for explanation)Tools Discussion (updated as new tools are implemented) Canonical Correlation AnalysisEnsemble Canonical Correlation AnalysisOptimal Climate NormalsClimate Forecast SystemScreening Multiple Linear Regression ToolProbability of Exceedence

You know your protest is organized when you show up to a restaurant in South LA to protest ICE and the only sign of DHS in the place is a couple TSA agents who probably just got off their shift at LAX. BREAKING: A large crowd of anti-ICE demonstrators has gathered in Lynwood, CA. Sources tell me two TSA officers were eating at a restaurant when someone mistakenly identified them as ICE agents. Dozens of protesters then showed up.

Matthew Alvarez Interviews Joyce Simmons, an American Patriot

Transcript SummaryThe text draws parallels between Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange (1971 film, based on Anthony Burgess's 1962 novel) and perceived real-world trends in criminal justice, particularly in Canada under Liberal policies, and extends to the UK.Key parallels claimed:Dystopian society with rampant youth violence, yet government favors "rehabilitation" over punishment, including lenient bail, short sentences, early transfers to lower security, and a "hug-a-thug" approach that avoids deterrence.In the film, the Ludovico technique uses drugs and forced exposure to violence to condition aversion to it; the author likens this to Justin Trudeau's 2017 stance against revoking citizenship of returning ISIS fighters...

A documentary about a sitting first lady is unusual. A $40 million documentary, released theatrically while its subject occupies the White House and retains full editorial control, is something else entirely. That is the situation surrounding Melania, a feature-length documentary about Melania Trump, which premiered this week at Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center before a global theatrical rollout backed by Amazon MGM Studios. The film, which reportedly follows roughly 20 days surrounding the Trumps’ return to the White House, has sparked questions not because of what it reveals, but because of how, when and why it exists at all.From its price...

Pope Leo doubles down on Vatican rejection of ‘Co-Redemptrix’At a time of apostasy, impurity, and confusion, the faithful do not need a diminished Mother.On Thursday morning, Pope Leo XIV publicly praised a Vatican document that has already sparked one of the most serious Marian controversies in decades.Addressing the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Pope commended the doctrinal note Mater Populi Fidelis, issued under the extremely controversial Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, infamous for his books on kissing and orgasms.Leo praised the Fernández document, saying it “encourages popular Marian devotion, deepening its biblical and theological foundations, and at the...

Another government shutdown looks increasingly likely by the end of the week. Democrats are demanding that major changes to Department of Homeland Security enforcement policy be written directly into the budget agreement. Those changes would largely shut down President Trump’s deportation efforts.Trump has already made some changes. For example, DHS removed Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino – who had become a political lightning rod – from his assignment in Minneapolis. Democrats, however, are pressing for far more sweeping changes. They want to require judicial warrants for immigration arrests, force ICE agents to be easily identifiable, and grant states the authority...

The new lawsuit is part of a wave of litigation seeking fines for undocumented immigrants for failing to depart the country.The Trump administration sued a Virginia woman for almost $1 million as part of an escalating drive to get undocumented immigrants to leave the U.S. by levying court-imposed fines.The lawsuit, filed last week in U.S. District Court in Richmond, seeks $941,114 plus interest from Marta Alicia Ramirez Veliz for allegedly failing to leave the U.S. for more than three years after a Justice Department appeals panel ruled against her in an immigration case in 2022.Officials appear to have arrived at...

The focus of immigration raids has turned away from Los Angeles and shifted to Chicago and Minnesota but arrests in L.A. have continued, with federal agents deploying new tactics. Federal agents are moving faster, making it difficult for immigration activists to respond before the targets are whisked away, organizers and activists say. At a recent training session for 300 immigration activists in Los Angeles, the main topic was Minnesota and the changes to federal immigration tactics.For the last few months, federal law enforcement officers have intensified their efforts to locate and deport immigrants suspected of living in the country illegally....

The Trump administration has suggested it is planning to "draw down" federal forces in Minnesota if there is cooperation from officials, after the fatal shootings of two US citizens in the state. At a press conference in Minneapolis, Homan vowed to continue the immigration enforcement operation, but added he wants "common sense cooperation that allows us to draw down on the number of people we have here". "We are not surrendering our mission at all. We're just doing it smarter," he said. The deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti have ignited local protests and public outcry across the country,...

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s legislature on Thursday approved opening the nation’s oil sector to privatization, reversing a tenet of the self-proclaimed socialist movement that has ruled the country for more than two decades. The National Assembly approved the overhaul of the energy industry law less than a month after the brazen seizure of then-President Nicolás Maduro in a U.S. military attack in Venezuela’s capital. The bill now awaits the signature of acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who proposed the changes in the days after U.S. President Donald Trump said his administration would take control of Venezuela’s oil exports and revitalize...

About 1.2 million Russian troops have been killed, wounded or are missing since its invasion of Ukraine almost four years ago, a rate of casualties for a major military power not seen since World War II, a new report from a prominent international think tank says. And the enormous human toll has secured relatively small territorial gains on the battlefield, with Russia increasing the amount of Ukrainian land under its control by just 12% since 2022, the report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) says. The report calls into question assumptions in many circles, including in the...

Senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk said Wednesday that Hamas never agreed to disarm, casting doubt on whether the terror group will fulfil a key US and Israeli demand included in the American-backed plan for postwar Gaza. Abu Marzouk’s statement runs contrary to the insistence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump that the terror group give up its weapons in the near future as part of the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire. Trump has repeatedly asserted that Hamas “promised” to lay down its arms, and has threatened the group over the issue. Abu Marzouk also...

ABC News’ Patrick Reevell reports from London where growing frustration over the U.K.’s migration policies has caused more citizens to align themselves with Nigel Farage’s far-right movement