Free Republic

With former intelligence officials warning of 1,000 Chinese spies for every ten from the West, reports of 1,200 Chinese spies embedded in Australia, and Chinese spies being “everywhere” in the U.K., China is very busy trying to push its will and policies on the world—which brings me to Minnesota.AdvertisementIf the agitators in Minnesota are merely protesting removal of U.S. criminal illegal aliens, doesn’t it seem odd that BreakThrough News, a “nonprofit” propaganda arm of the People’s Forum, would circulate a video showing the struggle between federal agents and an armed Alex Pretti, alongside a call to support the People’s Republic...

Americans love ghost stories. We may loath to admit it, but many of us secretly believe that haunted tales of things that go bump in the night are every bit as true as the more mundane facts of life, such as “the sky is blue.” We choose to believe them because they are fun and we enjoy feeling a little spooked from time to time, even though the better part of our judgment knows they cannot possibly be real. SNIP>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Though perhaps the most haunted place in America is neither a hotel nor a plantation, neither an abandoned insane asylum...

In the dystopian novel 1984, George Orwell wrote, “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” The true meaning of that line was never more clear than watching the truly bizarre photo op of California governor Gavin Newsom heralding the success of the greatest boondoggle in history: his high-speed train to nowhere. Without laying a single yard of track after burning $12 billion, Newsom showed a diesel freight train on a conventional track to create the appearance of a working railroad.I have been writing about this boondoggle for...

The Washington Post Publisher and Chief Executive Will Lewis announced Saturday evening he would depart after just two years at the paper, a tenure marked by controversy and crisis.Lewis called his time "two years of transformation" in his resignation note, but it was defined by turbulence rather than a clear path, and it ended with brutal job cuts. The paper's chief financial officer, Jeff D'Onofrio, will serve as acting CEO. More than a third of the newsroom was laid off Wednesday after Lewis' promises of radical innovations failed to staunch several years of annual losses in the tens of millions...

George Orwell was on to it almost 80 years ago—the problem of below-replacement level birth rates. In a short book written for the Britain in Pictures series in 1947, written just as Britain was emerging from wartime rigors into an uncharted postwar future, Orwell noted that despite an upward blip in birth rates during the war, “the general curve is downward. The position is not quite so dangerous as it is sometimes said to be, but can only be put right if the curve not only rises sharply but does so within ten or at most twenty years.”David Veksler/Unsplash.com“Otherwise,” he...

Those on the Left are notorious for their “do as I say, not as I do” rhetoric. They fly around in jets while screeching about climate change, they talk about affordability but want to raise your taxes at every chance they get, they pass soft-on-crime laws while enjoying private security, and so on.Georgia Dem Sen. John Ossoff has reportedly taken the hypocrisy to an almost ludicrous level. He’s opposed to voter ID and the SAVE Act, you see, but if you want to come to his campaign event, be prepared to show your papers. The level of gall is almost...

A vast majority of Americans — including Democrats and ethnic minorities — favor requiring photo identification (ID) to vote, according to an analysis from CNN Senior Data Reporter Harry Enten.The data undercuts claims by some Democratic lawmakers that voter ID laws are broadly unpopular and intended to disenfranchise non-white voters.Speaking during a Feb. 3 segment on CNN, Enten cited recent Pew Research Center surveys showing 83% overall support for photo voter ID requirements. Support has remained consistently above 75% since 2018, the data suggest. 🚨NEW: CNN's Harry Enten: "A photo ID to vote is not controversial in this country. It...

Historians never tire of analyzing the fall of Rome. There were many causes, but an oft-neglected one is the corruption of the Roman family and the related population collapse that occurred in the centuries before the empire’s fall. Rome’s original greatness depended in part on its commitment to family. A classic Roman virtue extolled in the quintessential Roman poem the “Aeneid,”—was “pietas” or “piety.” This term referred to deep devotedness to one’s family, particularly one’s parents, as well as gods and country. Early Romans valued marriage, fidelity, honor, and looked down on self-indulgence. Their successes must be attributed, at least...

Some have called the internet "Pandora's Box" and that is becoming obvious to governments around the world from the US to Israel to China, Russia etc. etc. all seeking ways or already finding ways to control the 'information superhighway' to protect their interests. This week France's government with another move against social media raiding the offices of the "X" social media platform in Paris...

It’s known as “Don Colossus.” At 15 feet tall, the statue of President Trump, mounted on its 7,000-pound pedestal, is about the height of a two-story building — a giant effigy cast in bronze and finished with a thick layer of gold leaf. For more than a year, the golden statue has been at the center of one of the stranger moneymaking ventures of the Trump era. A group of cryptocurrency investors paid $300,000 to have a sculptor create it as a tribute to Mr. Trump, an outspoken crypto proponent. Then they used it to promote a memecoin called $PATRIOT....

Gov. Josh Shapiro is the heavy favorite to win the 2026 governor’s race in Pennsylvania. Don’t take this writer’s word for it. That’s the word both from people who rate political races for a living, and people who are trying to make a buck by divining the future. Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity and her Republican allies understand those odds, and the various tactical disadvantages they’re up against. But right now, those in and around the state Republican Committee’s winter meeting in Harrisburg insisted this weekend, they’ve got two things that are worth building a long-shot campaign around: Unity and time....

Transcript SummaryThe transcript is from an interview on The Rubin Report between host Dave Rubin and Harmeet Dhillon, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division at the DOJ.Dhillon discusses a case involving an anti-ICE protest that disrupted a service at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota. She describes it as the "Church Cities case" (referring to Cities Church), not specifically the "Don Lemon case," though Don Lemon is one of the indicted individuals.The charges stem from violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act of 1994, which protects abortion clinics and houses of worship from obstruction,...

Keir Starmer should step aside in favour of a caretaker prime minister who would run the country until a leadership contest is held in the summer, Labour MPs have argued. Despairing Government backbenchers argue that unless the Prime Minister quits over the Peter Mandelson crisis, the party is heading for disaster at the Gorton and Denton by-election later this month – followed by annihilation in May’s local elections. They hope the Cabinet will this week persuade Sir Keir to quit and allow a ‘non-contentious’ candidate such as Defence Secretary John Healey or Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn to be a...

At least one aspect of US higher education is shifting back toward sanity: The Supreme Court has successfully killed blatant racial quotas in college admissions, a boon to all students. Yes, lefties are dismayed that black and Latino enrollment is down at the highest tier of American universities, but that ignores serious good news: Academic “mismatch” is over as students of all races are now going to the schools they are best qualified for. The Hispanic and African-American teens who no longer get waved into Yale or MIT don’t simply sit at home or take a burger-flipping job; they head...

In a stark warning, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) called on California Governor Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta to prioritize public safety by honoring ICE detainers for more than 33,000 criminal illegal aliens currently in state custody. The announcement highlights the grave risks posed by California’s sanctuary policies, which have already led to the release of thousands of dangerous offenders back into communities since January 20, 2026.

The man set to become one of the world’s youngest artificial intelligence billionaires started his entrepreneurial journey as a bored preteen living in Los Angeles. When Ali Ansari was 12, living with his family in a single room at his aunt’s house in Woodland Hills, his immigrant mother told him to stop wasting time staring at his phone and try making money with it. He took his father’s loafers and listed them on eBay for $50. “My dad was like, ‘Why the hell did you sell my shoes?’ ” Ansari said. “My mom was like, excited.” While it was a...

It's all connected. I don't just mean in the sense that the various degenerates and perverts who afflict our world all seem reminiscent of similar degenerates and perverts on other continents: Thus the son of the Crown Princess of Norway, presently on trial in Oslo for the rapes of four women, comes across merely as this season's Hunter Biden, albeit considerably less lavishly remunerated and without (yet) a short-lived artistic pre-eminence. But, more parochially, I am thinking of the reflections - through a glass, darkly - of the wretched headlines in this little website's above-mentioned musical content. Thus, a famous...

The chaotic events led to five arrests, according to a security alert A chaotic scene unfolded in Milan Saturday as police deployed water cannons and tear gas against demonstrators just steps away from an Olympic ice hockey rink.A group known as the Unsustainable Olympics Committee organized demonstrations highlighting concerns related to the environmental, economic and social impact of the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics. Demonstrators also protested the presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Italy, The Associated Press reported.The clash with police occurred near Milan’s Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena, a newly built venue that has faced scrutiny...

MOVING BEYOND CAPE BOJADOR The early Portuguese explorers believed that the oceans were impassable below Cape Bojador, a point on the West African coast. When sailors set aside their fears and moved past Cape Bojador, they found that their fears were groundless, that their limitations were imaginary. We all have our own Cape Bojador. We fear things that we need not fear. We draw boundaries around areas of our lives and decide that we can't go past them. Since we believe these false paradigms, we will stay within their artificial boundaries and lose whatever experiences we might have found...

After injuries and fatalities caused by sharp strings, falls and celebratory gunfire, an event that dates back centuries returns. In the streets of Lahore there are hints that the kite flying festival, Basant, has returned. Someone is fishing a kite from electricity cables, the distant sound of a drum beat, a flash of neon when you look up in the walled city's narrow streets to a stretch of sky. This party is above. As the sun sets across the city, on every rooftop we can see families and friends, laughing, shouting, watching as kites zig zag, circle, and soar through...