Free Republic

“As we warned: the regime has run out of storage capacity. For days now, they’ve been faking tanker transfers while pouring massive amounts of extracted oil straight into the ocean. Deliberate. Criminal. Environmental catastrophe. They are literally poisoning the sea. This is ecocide in real time.”

Forget Keir Starmer’s future as prime minister, the story so far of the elections in Britain is Nigel Farage’s apparent future as prime minister. His Reform UK party has surged spectacularly in the 40 local councils that have declared results so far in England. Perhaps most eye-catching of all is the party’s strong performance in the northwest of England and the Greater Manchester area. In Tameside, the backyard of would-be Labour leadership contender Angela Rayner, Reform took 16 of Labour’s 17 seats. In Wigan, the home patch of culture secretary Lisa Nandy, Reform took all 22 of Labour’s seats. Those...

As the U.S. birth rate continues to plummet to record lows, data shows that a significant percentage of liberals are deprioritizing the importance of marriage and having children, especially among teens. Among conservatives, however, the phenomenon does not appear to be occurring. In an article published last week by the Institute for Family Studies (IFS), sociologists Brad Wilcox and Grant Bailey highlight how the aspirations that many liberals claim to have about marrying and having children are not lining up with their real-world behavior, which appears to be heavily influenced by negative media narratives. They note that mainstream media outlets...

"A truly historic shift in British politics"

Three people hiking on Indonesia's Mount Dukono have died after the volcano erupted on Friday morning. Videos and pictures of the eruption show the volcano, located on North Maluku island, spewing a column of ash stretching 10km (six miles) into the sky. Indonesian officials said they had issued warnings against climbing Mount Dukono which were widely disseminated through social media as well as on banners at trail entrances, but some hikers had ignored them. The three victims were part of a group of 20 Singaporeans and Indonesians hiking on the mountain despite restrictions. The rest of the group was eventually...

A California city mayor is defending his city’s decision to install honorary street signs bearing Charlie Kirk's name near City Hall after some liberal residents criticised the move. Westminster Mayor Nguyễn Mạnh Chí (阮孟志 under pre-1910 French Indochina when "chữ Hán" was replaced by "chữ Quốc, ngữ," developed by Portugese Catholic missionaries) told Fox News Digital that Americans are "lucky we have the freedom of speech here, and we all have to respect that." "Nobody should be murdered or assassinated because of promoting freedom of speech," Mr. Nguyễn said. After Mr. Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, was killed...

Chris Toukonen apparently has a drug problem. He's also a teacher at Lely High School in Naples, Florida. Toukonen, 44, has a shiny new set of felony drug charges to add to his résumé, along with possession of narcotic paraphernalia. According to reports, administrators got wind of suspected drug use while Toukonen was alone in the classroom. They then searched his backpack, found cocaine and fentanyl, and called the Collier County Sheriff's Office. Deputies showed up, investigated, and hauled him off to jail. No other drugs were found in his classroom or his vehicle on campus. Look at those pinpoint...

LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister Keir Starmer insisted Friday that he will not resign after bruising elections that saw his governing Labour Party suffer big losses and the hard-right party Reform UK make major gains. The local and regional elections are widely seen as unofficial referendum on Starmer, whose popularity has plummeted since he led Labour to power less than two years ago Voters have grown impatient for economic growth and dramatic change after 14 years of Conservative government, and many Labour lawmakers have become despairing at the government’s failure to deliver. Starmer said he took responsibility for the “very...

Job creation topped muted expectations in though the plodding U.S. labor market sent up several flags for a potential slowdown this year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. Nonfarm payrolls rose by a seasonally adjusted 115,000 for the month, down from the 185,000 created in an unusually strong March, but better than the 55,000 forecast in the Dow Jones consensus estimate. The unemployment rate held at 4.3%, further proof that the labor market has reached a point where only modest job creation is needed to keep the jobless level steady, given little growth in the labor force. Average hourly...

Nebraskans will vote next week in the U.S Senate primary race to determine which Republican and which Democrat will face off in November for the congressional seat. But a closer look reveals the latest in Democrat election rigging — complete with legal help from Russia Collusion hoaxer Marc Elias. The apparent master plan involves leveraging the primary race to prop up the so-called “nonpartisan” candidate vying for the Senate seat, who, under an “independent” facade, has deep leftist ties that could threaten fair representation in the red state. On May 12, Democrat candidates Cindy Burbank and William Forbes will face...

A Democrat scheme to take over Virginia's congressional seats, setting up Democrat majorities in 10 out of the state's 11 districts, has failed. The ruling comes from the state Supreme Court which invalidated a voter-approved redistricting plan because lawmakers failed to follow the constitutional process that is required to put the measure on a ballot. Democrats, under the leadership of an extreme left Gov. Abigail Spanberger, had rushed through a vote on their plan to put Democrats in the majority in 10 of the state's 11 districts. The division right now is 6-5 with the Democrats in the majority.

TAMPA, Fla. — U.S. forces disabled M/T Sea Star III and M/T Sevda, May 8, prior to both vessels entering an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman in violation of the ongoing U.S. blockade. U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) enforced blockade measures against two Iranian-flagged unladen oil tankers attempting to pull into an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman. A U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet from USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) disabled both tankers after firing precision munitions into their smokestacks, preventing the non-compliant ships from entering Iran. U.S. forces also disabled Iranian-flagged M/T Hasna, May 6, as...

Liberals are getting their masks back out ... or maybe they still have them on because Covid killed us all and this is the afterlife, but we can't be sure it's the afterlife, so they're still wearing them to be safe. Here's the new trend in Libtardville now that hantavirus is trending. [Warning: Three F-bombs 1 minute in] She literally admitted that she's been wearing her mask since 2020.

United Kingdom Keir Starmer Last night, Britain's Labour Party got absolutely trounced in local elections. The BBC has a live tracker with only a portion of the results in as of Friday morning Eastern time. This is what it looked like at time of publishing: The Labour Party, which currently controls Parliament, lost hundreds of seats. Despite being billed as "center-left" by the fake news, it is actually to the left of American Democrats on almost every issue. Voters in the UK just resoundingly rejected them at the polls. The prime minister, Keir Starmer, responded to the voice of the...

Secretary of State Marco Rubio met privately with Pope Leo XIV and other Vatican officials May 7 to discuss the Middle East, the Western Hemisphere, and the need to promote peace and human dignity, according to statements from the Vatican and U.S. officials. Met with @Pontifex to underscore our shared commitment to promoting peace and human dignity. pic.twitter.com/BIZ9SfW5nY— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) May 7, 2026In a statement released after the meeting, the Vatican said the “cordial discussions” first took place between Rubio and Pope Leo before later talks involving Rubio, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and Archbishop Paul...

President Donald Trump has said he will give the European Union until July 4 to ratify its trade agreement with the U.S., threatening to raise tariffs to “much higher” levels if the 27-nation bloc fails to do so. In a post on Truth Social late Thursday, Trump issued a new trade deadline during a “great call” with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, one in which he said both leaders agreed Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon. The conversation took place shortly after the U.S. president pledged to raise tariffs on cars and trucks imported from the EU...

Time to deploy it against the lawfare, election illegality, and other nationwide conspiracies that have targeted President Trump and his supporters in their efforts to Make American Great Again. Dr. Eastman, himself a target of lawfare since his representation of President Trump challenging illegality in the 2020 election, is a senior fellow at The Claremont Institute and a former, long-time professor of constitutional law.The Racketeer Influences and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly known as “RICO,” was passed by Congress in 1970, part of that year’s Organized Crime Control Act. It was designed to reach not just the foot soldiers of organized...

President Donald Trump said Thursday that retaliatory strikes against Iranian targets were “just a love tap." The strikes came as U.S. Central Command said Iranian forces “launched multiple missiles, drones and small boats” while the U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers USS Truxtun, USS Rafael Peralta and USS Mason were transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

The Virginia Supreme Court on Friday struck down a voter-approved Democratic congressional redistricting plan, delivering another major setback to the party in a nationwide battle against Republicans for an edge in this year’s midterm elections. The court ruled that the state’s Democratic-led legislature violated procedural requirements when it placed the constitutional amendment on the ballot to authorize the mid-decade redistricting. This violation irreparably undermines the integrity of the resulting referendum vote and renders it null and void,” the court said in its opinion. Democrats had hoped to win as many as four additional U.S. House seats under Virginia’s redrawn U.S....

WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) — City officials have released body camera footage showing last year’s arrest of Victoria Lang from a McDonald’s in Wichita Falls, Texas. Former police officer Daniel Wilson has been indicted in connection with the case. On August 26, 2025, former Wichita Falls Police officers Wilson and Douglas Gulley were called to the McDonald’s in response to a person refusing to leave the restroom. At the scene, Wilson and Gulley found Victoria Lang, 21, in the bathroom. She refused to identify herself or provide identification to the officers. The footage shows Wilson and Gulley carrying Lang out of...