Free Republic

"Blessed are the poor in spirit . . . those who mourn . . .the gentle . . . those who hunger and thirst for righteousness . . . the merciful . . . the pure in heart . . . the peacemakers . . . [and] those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness" (Matt. 5:3-10). By the world’s standards, Christ’s definition of happiness is shocking and contradictory! A quiz in a popular magazine characterized happy people as those who enjoy other people but aren't self-sacrificing, who refuse to participate in negative feelings or emotions, and who...

During oral arguments at the Supreme Court on Wednesday, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson made her case for why the children of foreign tourists ought to qualify for birthright American citizenship if they are born in the United States while their parents are on vacation. The case, known as Trump v. Barbara, will decide whether or not President Donald Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship for the U.S.-born children of illegal aliens and foreign tourists, often referred to as “anchor babies,” is constitutional. […] “I was thinking about this and I think there are various sources that say this, that...

After announcing a 2029 target for migration to post-quantum cryptography (PQC), Google issues a new warning that a quantum system could attack a Bitcoin (BTC) transaction in about nine minutes. The tech giant warned it won't happen today but it's a possibility one should be prepared for sooner than later. Understanding quantum threat to cryptocurrency Cryptocurrencies are virtual currencies that rely on cryptography to encrypt or conceal sensitive financial details from those other than transacting parties. Though the most powerful supercomputers active today will take thousands of years to decrypt cryptography, the cryptocurrency community fears quantum computers will be able...

Donald Trump threatened to stop supplying weapons for Ukraine in order to pressure European allies to join a “coalition of the willing” to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, according to people briefed on the discussions. The strait has been in effect closed by Iran after the US and Israel attacked the Islamic republic in late February, choking a route through which a fifth of the world’s oil typically passes.

The Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) affliction among Democrats has been well-documented at this site and others going way back to his first term in office. Indeed, not a day goes by that we don't see it on display in some form or another, whether it's in the form of a speech on the House floor, a media interview, or a post on social media. Some of the more notable instances that come to mind are Democrat Rep. Al Green's (TX-09) unhinged outbursts during Trump's addresses to Congress, two of which have gotten him escorted off the floor, after which Green...

Anthropic on Tuesday confirmed that internal code for its popular artificial intelligence (AI) coding assistant, Claude Code, had been inadvertently released due to a human error. "No sensitive customer data or credentials were involved or exposed," an Anthropic spokesperson said in a statement shared with CNBC News. "This was a release packaging issue caused by human error, not a security breach. We’re rolling out measures to prevent this from happening again." The discovery came after the AI upstart released version 2.1.88 of the Claude Code npm package, with users spotting that it contained a source map file that could be...

There are mixed emotions here: It’s good that the Department of Homeland Security shutdown is ending. It’s ridiculous that Congress had to go through multiple rounds to fund just one agency, making the latter part of this saga a Republican circus. Make no mistake, this was a Democrat-caused shutdown. They supported it, kept TSA workers without pay, causing many to quit, and left our homeland vulnerable to terror attacks during Operation Epic Fury. We haven’t even considered the natural disaster scenarios that could’ve occurred; FEMA would’ve been paralyzed. Alas, the House GOP is going to support John Thune and the...

Texas Congressman Keith Self has dropped a bombshell on the growing reality of Sharia-adherent communities taking root inside the United States. Far from some future hypothetical, these enclaves are here, now, and operating openly in his own district.Self laid it out plainly: “Sharia is alive, well, and operating in Plano, Texas. Right now, as I speak, there is an existing Sharia-adherent enclave run by the East Plano Islamic Center in my congressional district. It’s been functioning for 12 years right in our midst. This is not a hypothetical or future threat. It is here, now and operational.”He continued: “It is...

If you thought Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson had already set the bar low for her performance during oral arguments, she managed to make herself look even worse during the Supreme Court’s birthright citizenship case. The case centers on President Donald Trump’s executive order challenging the modern (mis)interpretation of birthright citizenship. During questioning, Jackson tried to redefine the concept of allegiance to a country by comparing it to being subject to local laws while traveling abroad. "I was thinking, you know, I'm a U.S. citizen, am visiting Japan. And what it means is that, you know, if I steal someone's wallet...

Meet the ‘Mohammeds’ running the Church’s migration agenda. The Catholic News Herald, “Connecting Catholics in North Carolina”, bragged that the refugee case coordinator for the Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte, had been recently honored. His name? Ashir Haji-Mohamed. The latter part of the name meant that he had made a pilgrimage to the Islamic holy city of Mecca. Haji-Mohamed, a former Somali refugee, had previously been in the news for helping resettle Syrian Muslims, as well as Jordanians and Turks, in North Carolina. After the Biden retreat, Catholic Charities of Charlotte had also worked to bring Afghans to North Carolina....

Oakland workers are ready to be paid a lot more. Worker advocates in Oakland are pressing for a $30 minimum wage, mirroring a similar goal from socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani from across the country. A worker’s organization, One Fair Wage, is hoping to put forward a ballot initiative to raise the minimum wage in the area. The organization believes the wage increase will help workers with the expensive cost of living in the Bay Area, especially with the affordability crisis. The push comes as Oakland continues grappling with a deep structural budget shortfall and ongoing fiscal instability,...

A call came to my home one night in late June 2003: “Do you want to see The Passion?” Of course, I did. Everybody in Christendom did... Looking back now, it’s hard to believe how the political fuss pretty much overwhelmed any discussion of the artistic merits of the movie. No one could have fathomed in that moment that Gibson would be the first victim of the cancel impulse, as his stunning and very personal movie about Jesus arguably destroyed his career, even as it made him the wealthiest man in Hollywood. Few faith-based filmmakers have any idea what makes...

A homeless nonprofit paid the son of San Francisco’s top human rights boss $10,000 to prepare five slides for a panel his mother moderated — as she was signing city contracts worth millions to the organization, according to prosecutors. Sheryl Davis, former head of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, was arrested Monday on a slew of public corruption charges stemming from her time leading the scandal-scarred Dream Keeper initiative, a $120 million plan to aid the city’s black communities. Davis signed city contracts worth more than $3.5 million to Homeless Children’s Network, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that provides substance...

Maybe you've seen this story circulating on X. The Daily Mail ran with a borderline fake news headline: "Bullet used to kill Charlie Kirk did NOT match rifle allegedly used by suspect Tyler Robinson, new court filing claims." The first paragraph of the story dialed that back a bit. [emphasis added]The bullet that killed conservative commentator Charlie Kirk may not match the rifle used by suspected killer Tyler Robinson, a bombshell new court filing states.Robinson, 22, is facing capital murder charges and a potential death sentence for Kirk's murder at Utah Valley University on September 10.But his defense attorneys now...

The Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchate has announced the cancellation of all public Easter celebrations in Syria for 2026, citing ongoing security concerns and unstable conditions across the country. In an official directive addressed to clergy in the Patriarchal Archdiocese of Damascus, the Patriarchate confirmed that this year’s observances will be significantly scaled back, with services limited strictly to prayers held inside churches. “As we stand at the threshold of Holy Week, and in light of the current unfavorable circumstances, we have decided, in coordination and agreement with the other Churches, that this year’s Easter celebrations (2026) will be limited to...

Since its creation some 47 years ago, the Islamic Republic of Iran has demonstrated resourcefulness and dedication to its goals of regional hegemony and proliferation of Islamic radicalism. As a result, the extent of Iranian military recovery from the attacks in June 2025 should not have been surprising. Clearly, if the regime remains in control in Tehran, it will not relent and will continue to represent a danger to the West. Specifically, should the present conflict leave the regime with the resources to do so, it will seek to recover quickly and even expand its capabilities, including further developing its...

President Donald Trump is reportedly considering firing U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi in recent days but publicly praised her performance after the report surfaced, as congressional scrutiny over the Justice Department’s handling of Jeffrey Epstein case files intensifies, according to The New York Times. Trump has floated Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin as a possible replacement but has not made a final decision, the Times reports. The deliberations over Bondi’s future intersect with mounting bipartisan pressure on the Justice Department to fully release materials related to the sex offender Epstein, placing the attorney general at the center of an...

Guest Post by Matt Van Swol I think I know why everything sucks… …and it’s because everything is fake We are getting fake college degrees that cost 4 years and six figures that teach you fake education and get you fake jobs. We are eating fake food, with fake ingredients, funded by fake research. We are scrolling through fake lives, with fake relationships, who take fake, curated vacations to promote brands that make fake products. We are voting for fake candidates, who run on fake promises, inside a fake system that was never designed to fix anything. We are raising...

Local police said initial findings suggested a "system malfunction" caused multiple vehicles to stop in the middle of the road on Tuesday. Videos on social media have documented the outage, with one appearing to show it resulting in a highway collision, although police said no injuries had been reported and passengers exited their vehicles safely. Baidu did not immediately respond to a request for comment. According to the police statement, posted on social media site Weibo, the cause of the incident is still under further investigation. Baidu operates its Apollo Go driverless taxi service in dozens of cities across the...

If the United States is the world’s largest oil producer—in fact, if we are energy independent—then why are we still at the mercy of global events? And how can prices spike instantly when the gasoline in the tank was made from cheaper oil weeks ago? People like easy answers, such as “corporate greed.” That is emotionally satisfying, but it doesn’t tell the full story. What’s happening is a function of global markets, supply chain realities, and predictable patterns in consumer behavior. In fact, much of what we’re seeing is exactly how the system is designed to work. The U.S. leads...