Free Republic

A poll of 1,000 registered voters conducted by Deep Root Analytics found that 87% of those responding were concerned about fraud that misuses taxpayer money. Eighty three percent saw fraud as a factor driving up the cost of living. One respondent pointed out "if crooks are stealing the money the government intended for those in need, taxes will be increased to replace what's what's been illegally taken." Asked what issues the government ought to focus on, 89% said lowering the cost of living, 84% said making communities safer, 80% said protecting the country from foreign threats, and 65% said enforcing...

If the morally-confused Pope Leo XIV continues to assume the role of a partisan podcaster, he will very quickly lose his moral authority.And that’s exactly what Leo is doing.We all expect a pope to talk about and pray for peace in times of war, express a desire for unity in times of political divisiveness, and to always appeal to the best in humanity. That’s not what this pope has done. Instead, apparently under the sway of Barry Obama’s hatchet man and former campaign manager, David Axelrod, Leo is recklessly engaging in a left-wing campaign to damage President Trump’s and the...

What if the real revolution in the Middle East isn’t happening on the battlefield but in the battle for narrative and identity? This fascinating conversation reveals a powerful lesson: that Israel’s greatest opportunity right now may not be military, but cultural. Viewers will discover how decades of misinformation and ideological manipulation, especially driven by Iran, have distorted reality, and why reclaiming the story could change everything. By the end, you’ll see that the future of the Middle East might hinge not just on power, but on who finally tells their story and who listens. Transcript link for exhibition below.

The Arizona Democratic senator said he regrets not seeing the signs that his colleague was “a predator.” Sen. Ruben Gallego said his former close friend, Rep. Eric Swalwell, “betrayed” his trust following revelations of sexual assault allegations and denied having any knowledge of the serious accusations lodged against the California Democrat. “Eric Swalwell lied to all of us — lied to the most powerful people in this country — and they trusted him,” Gallego, an Arizona Democrat, told reporters Tuesday afternoon in his office. “I fell for it,” Gallego said, adding that Swalwell “became very good at being a predator.”...

Federal authorities are warning Missouri officials not to release an illegal immigrant accused of raping and kidnapping a woman in a quiet college town on Easter Sunday — the second violent crime in the state in just weeks involving a suspect in the country unlawfully. The Department of Homeland Security announced Monday that Cristian Lopez-Gomez, a Honduran national who entered the U.S. illegally in April 2024 and was released into the country under the Biden administration, is now charged in the attack in Kirksville, home to Truman State University. Authorities say Lopez-Gomez raped the woman and held her against her...

At least 16 people have been injured after an ex-student opened fire at a high school in south-eastern Turkey. The attacker, who was in his late teens, fired "indiscriminately with a shotgun" before killing himself with the weapon after being "cornered by police", local governor Hasan Şildak said. Those injured include 10 students, four teachers, a cafeteria worker and a police officer, he said. The incident happened at around 09:30 local time (06:30 GMT) at the Ahmet Koyuncu Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School in Siverek district. It has since been evacuated. The wounded were taken to hospital, with five...

The Society of Saint Pius X and the Ordination of New Bishops: the end of the post-conciliar eraFr. Davide Pagliarani, the Superior General of the Society of Saint Pius X, has announced that the SSPX plans to proceed with the ordination of bishops this coming July. This plan has been harshly criticized by many Catholics who do not share the heterodox opinions that the Society was founded to oppose. I do not attend SSPX masses and cannot be described as an admirer of the Society (perhaps they do not admire me either). However, I cannot see any serious objections to...

A divided federal appeals court on Tuesday ordered US District Judge James Boasberg to end his efforts to hold Trump administration officials accountable for flouting his orders in a high-stakes immigration case. The decision comes nearly a year after Boasberg, the chief judge of the federal trial-level court in Washington, DC, said in a blockbuster ruling that “probable cause exists to find the government in criminal contempt” for defying his orders to temporarily halt the deportation of migrants under a powerful wartime authority invoked by President Donald Trump. The Trump administration appealed several times to the DC Circuit Court of...

Richard Dawkins casts the Old Testament God as: "arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction - a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully." (The God Delusion) Dawkins’ description is extreme and one sided, but even Christians struggle...We know that he is the God of life not death, creation not violence, mercy not destruction... Christians take several approaches to the violence of the Old Testament. 1. We can reject the depictions of God here as inconsistent with God as revealed in Jesus...However, this approach is to be rejected because...

Famed Harvard law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz says he believes President Donald Trump could have grounds to expunge his 2019 impeachment in the House after bombshell new evidence revealed the intelligence community failed to disclose that his main accuser had the potential for bias, made a false statement and only had hearsay to back up his allegations. Dershowitz, a Democrat at the time who worked to defend Trump at the impeachment trial that ended in the president's acquittal, said it would be "an interesting, novel approach" for Trump to go to Chief Justice John Roberts, who presided over the case,...

Supporting an independent Kurdish state — carved from Kurdish majority regions in northwestern collapsing Iran and neighboring areas in northern Iraq, northeastern Syria, and southeastern Turkey — would be the ultimate strategic masterstroke.(These regions could first exist as autonomous entities within their countries, as is already the case in Iraq, with a concrete plan for eventual unification.)

Meanwhile, foreign Islamists meeting “residency” requirements receive taxpayer assistance. Andreas Wailzer at LifeSite News reports that the German government, through the Ministry of Construction, has just proposed a new bill that “would give municipalities the right of first refusal if a potential buyer of property has ‘anti-constitutional aspirations.’” But those with “anti-constitutional aspirations” aren’t to be confused with the third-world foreigners and hordes of Islamists who have decidedly not integrated and accepted the German constitution and government as authoritative, instead bringing sharia culture, customs, and pseudo-law to Germany and making no pretenses of hiding their intentions—this is specifically in regards...

A woman named Lonna Drewes accused Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) of drugging and raping her during a press conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday, adding to the weighty allegations of sexual misconduct against the California Democrat. Drewes told reporters she met Swalwell in 2018 while working as a model in Beverly Hills. She said she owned a “fashion software company” at the time and that Swalwell offered to help her with connections. Drewes said they met two times socially and that she believed “he was my friend.” On the third occasion, she said he sexually assaulted her in a hotel...

USS Frank E. Petersen (DDG-121) and USS Michael Murphy (DDG-112) operated in the Persian Gulf after transiting the strait as part of the U.S. plan to “ensure the strait is fully clear of sea mines,” according to a Saturday U.S. Central Command news release. Frank E. Petersen is part of the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group, while Michael Murphy is an independently-deployed destroyer, according to USNI News’ Fleet and Marine Tracker. The pair of ships transited back through the strait to the Gulf of Oman, according to ship spotters.How the U.S. will clear the strait remains an open question. Over...

Another woman accused Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., of rape Tuesday, just hours before the embattled lawmaker is expected to resign from the House. "He raped me. And he choked me. And while he was choking me, I lost consciousness. And I thought I died," Lonna Drewes said Tuesday, while describing an incident that she alleged took place in Swalwell's hotel room in 2018. Drewes said she was working as a model and software engineer in Beverly Hills when she met Swalwell, who offered business and political connections. When meeting him for the third time under the guise of going to...

Spain’s Council of Ministers will approve on Tuesday a royal decree initiating an extraordinary regularisation process for nearly half a million migrants in the country, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced. In a post on X, Sanchez described the move as "normalisation," acknowledging the reality of nearly half a million people, calling it "an act of justice and a necessity." Underlining that Spain is ageing, Sanchez linked the role of migrants to the country being the fastest-growing economy in Europe. "Neither technology nor automation will solve this challenge on their own in the coming years. The path is clear: better integration,...

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth welcomed his Indonesian counterpart — Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin — to the Pentagon today, where the two men announced the establishment of the Major Defense Cooperation Partnership between the two countries. ... The partnership will serve as a framework to advance bilateral defense cooperation between the U.S. and Indonesia in order to maintain peace and stability throughout the Indo-Pacific region. ... The new cooperation agreement features three "foundational pillars" that are based on each country's national sovereignty and mutual respect: military organization and capacity building; training and professional military education; and exercises and operational cooperation....

Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic convert who occasionally has sparred with church leaders over their criticism of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, said in an interview on Fox News Channel on Monday night that the president’s social media post with the Jesus-like image was “a joke.” “Of course, he took it down because he realized a lot of people weren’t understanding his humor,” Vance said. He repeatedly dismissed the focus on the president’s fight with the pope, saying it “isn’t particularly newsworthy” and there will be disagreements from time to time with the Vatican. But Vance also suggested the...

SWALWELL 2028!!!Why not? Eric Swalwell (if not hit with massive lawsuits) will have time on his hands to run. Plus scandal can't harm him any more since he has fallen as low as one can go.Ultimately, Swalwell 2028 merch would be a big humor hit. As an ice breaker, imagine walking into a party wearing Swalwell 2028 gear. It would definitely inspire a lot of laughter

The first direct negotiations between Israel and Lebanon in move 40 years began today (Tuesday) at the American State Department. The meeting is taking place at the US State Department in Washington, with Israel making it clear before it began that the talks will have no impact on the fighting in Lebanon. At the same time as the talks opened, the IDF announced preparations for increased fire from Hezbollah. As they began, incessant alarms sounded in Kiryat Shmona and other settlements in the Galilee region, after a drone strike at the entrance to Nahariya. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio...