Free Republic

Bath House berry and Bill the cigar's deportations, the circus parade clown collection.

Results mean coalition of recently installed PM has supermajority in lower house of parliament Japan’s conservative governing coalition has dramatically strengthened its grip on power after a landslide victory in Sunday’s elections in what will be seen as an early public endorsement of the new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi.Her Liberal Democratic party (LDP) was projected to win as many as 328 of the 465 seats in parliament’s lower house, well above the 233 it needed to regain the majority it lost in 2024. With her coalition partner, the Japan Innovation party, she now has a supermajority of two-thirds of seats,...

Trump 2.0 isn’t just governing—it’s assembling an all-star Cabinet whose wit, discipline, and seriousness rival any administration since the founding.Has Donald Trump 2.0 assembled the best circle of advisors in the history of the American republic? George Washington had Thomas Jefferson as Secretary of State and Alexander Hamilton as Secretary of the Treasury. Impressive. But is it any more impressive than having Marco Rubio as Secretary of State or Scott Bessent as Secretary of the Treasury? Jefferson and Hamilton are at the tippy-top, but largely for the same reason that Samuel Johnson said that Homer was the greatest poet: because...

Republicans and Democrats alike decry the lack of oversight for America’s famous antipoverty experiment. ‘Fraud by design.’ When the Trump administration targeted billions of dollars in federal welfare funds recently over fraud concerns, it singled out five Democratic-run states.An examination by The Wall Street Journal found that the main federal aid program the administration is seeking to block, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, has long been plagued by poor financial oversight and questionable spending in states led by both Republicans and Democrats.Auditors in numerous states, including Connecticut, Louisiana and Florida, have uncovered problems with TANF—once America’s primary welfare...

Three weeks ago, my beloved San Francisco 49ers were unceremoniously dispatched from the NFL playoffs by the Seattle Seahawks, who are vying for their second Super Bowl championship today. The result didn’t surprise many; the Niners were hobbled by injuries to many of their best players and, frankly, enjoyed more than a bit of luck in getting as far as they did this past season. But every year, the Grim Reaper comes for all but one team, and my guys could not evade his grip. More alarmingly, in his new book, the writer Chuck Klosterman predicts the Reaper will soon...

Authorities in Arizona were seen Saturday night leaving the home of “Today” show co-host Savannah Guthrie’s sister as the search for their missing 84-year-old mother, Nancy Guthrie, continues. According to KGUN, the Scripps News Group station in Tucson, authorities spent “several hours” inside Annie Guthrie’s home before leaving with what appeared to be a brown paper sack and another larger item. However, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department (PCSD) did not say why they were at the home.

Pima County Sheriff’s Department detectives are searching a septic tank behind Nancy Guthrie’s house, with drone footage showing them opening a manhole cover in the backyard.

Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick was top of mind for The Washington Post ahead of Super Bowl LX on Sunday. Kaepernick was described in the story as Super Bowl LX’s "most relevant" figure despite the 49ers not making it and the subject of the story being out of football for nearly 10 years. "The game will be played in his former home stadium, in the place where his protest made him a national lightning rod and a global symbol," Adam Kilgore wrote of Kaepernick. "The social issues swirling around America’s largest sporting spectacle carry distinct echoes of what...

So stop asking

In Boston, Mayor Michelle Wu (D) declared that "every single human being has the legal right to come to the United States and seek shelter. We are the richest and most prosperous nation in the world. It shouldn't be hard for us to understand why people would want to live here. We have the billionaires who can be taxed to give immigrants a lifestyle unattainable anywhere else in the world. As a matter of equity, we owe it to immigrants, many of whom are too ignorant, too ill, or too unmotivated to support themselves, a decent standard of living that...

U.S. Vice President JD Vance sat with influencer and boxer Jake Paul as they watched the U.S. women’s hockey team ease to a 5-0 win over Finland at the Winter Olympics on Saturday. Vance and his family entered during the intermission at the end of the first period, with the U.S. leading 1-0. Paul joined them shortly after. Paul’s fiancee Jutta Leerdam is a speedskater for the Netherlands at the Milan Cortina Games. Vance sat with his youngest child, daughter Mirabel, on his lap. Usha Vance, wearing a sweatshirt with “USA” in big letters, clapped along to Queen’s “We Will...

A foreign-born Democrat went completely mask-off during an interview that is going viral with a borderline genocidal statement against white people. Social media users are in a total frenzy after discovering an interview Texas State Rep. Gene Wu (D-Houston) did with liberal journalist Jose Antonio Vargas of Define American back in December 2024. At one point in the discussion, Vargas asked Wu what it would take for Democrats to start winning again in Texas and across America. His response was horrifying. Wu, who was born in China, responded by saying that voters of color will start winning only when they...

[Catholic Caucus] Bishop Strickland: The Church is facing a ‘real emergency’An emergency measured by silence where there must be answers. In tolerance where there must be correction. In shepherds who refuse to name wolves while those who simply want to guard the flock are treated as a problem.Long before we knew about politics, before we knew the arguments, before we knew how to quibble over details, we were taught something in school that shaped our bones. At the Alamo, there came a moment when there were no more letters to send, no reinforcements coming, no negotiations left to try. The...

Dems have been calling for ICE body cameras, but as I noted a few days ago... Body cameras have far more consistently proven that law enforcement acted correctly than otherwise. There’s a reason that Secretary Noem is happy to go along with the idea and why most police departments realized that body cams were a good thing once the impact became clear. In both the Renee Good and Alex Pretti cases, it was cameras and body cameras that provided the damning evidence that dismantled the ‘bloody shirt’ that the media was waving hysterically after the two radicals attacked law enforcement....

WASHINGTON — President Trump announced Thursday that a massive prayer event will be held on the National Mall this coming May — declaring it is time “to rededicate America as one nation under God,” as the nation celebrates its 250th birthday this year. Trump revealed the event during remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast at the Washington Hilton, where he also doubled down on his commitment to religious liberty in the US. Trump did not specify why May 17 was selected, however, shortly before the Declaration of Independence, the colonial Congress had declared May 17, 1776, a national day of...

Thai PM claims election victory as early results show conservatives ahead Jonathan Head - South East Asia correspondent; Thanyarat Doksone Sun, February 8, 2026 at 11:31 AM EST Prime Minister Anutin Charnavirakul has claimed victory in Thailand's general election, with early vote counts putting his ruling conservatives well ahead of their rivals. Anutin said his success belonged to "all Thais, no matter whether you voted for us or not", after his party's expected result defied opinion polls that had placed the reformist People's Party ahead. With 56% of the votes counted, Anutin's Bhumjaithai party projected to win 197 seats in...

8 February 2026 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time St. Gerolamo Emiliani Sanctuary, Lake Como, ItalyReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: A(II).First readingIsaiah 58:7-10Then will your light shine like the dawnThus says the Lord:Share your bread with the hungry,and shelter the homeless poor,clothe the man you see to be nakedand do not turn from your own kin.Then will your light shine like the dawnand your wound be quickly healed over.Your integrity will go before youand the glory of the Lord behind you.Cry, and the Lord will answer;call, and he will say, ‘I am here.’If you do away with the yoke,the clenched...

🚨 BREAKING: Japan’s right-wing PM Sanae Takaichi is set to win a LANDSLIDE VICTORY of up to 326 seats in today’s election, per exit polling 233 is a majority WOW! Being anti-mass migration is POPULAR in Japan The whole world needs more leaders like this! 🇺🇸 🇯🇵

@TRobinsonNewEra It's becoming very common of invaders waiting outside nightclubs and frogmarching drunk women away to rape. Be careful out there, girls stay in groups, they've imported beasts. Hat's off to the guy filming, very likely saved these girls from rape.

A lawyer for the truck driver who caused the deadly Humboldt Broncos bus crash says his client is one step closer to being deported to India. Lawyer Michael Greene says Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has rejected one of two last bids for Jaskirat Singh Sidhu to stay in the country. “The wheels are set in motion now and the (Canada Border Services Agency) is under a legal obligation to remove people as soon as possible,” Greene told The Canadian Press on Thursday. He said he’s not sure when that might be but plans to ask for a deferral, until...