Free Republic

A number has come to dominate conversations about national survival: 2.1. This is the total fertility rate required to maintain a stable population in developed nations, the threshold demographers call the replacement rate. Below it, demographers warn, societies face inevitable decline, irreversible aging, and fiscal collapse. Governments have structured immigration policy and long-term planning around this single figure as though it were the pulse of civilization itself. The replacement rate is primarily a demographic and actuarial metric, designed to answer one question: Will there be enough workers to sustain pension systems, healthcare costs, and tax revenues as a population ages?...

FIFA has confirmed that rainbow flags will be permitted inside Lumen Field when Iran face Egypt in Seattle's designated "Pride Match" on Friday, dismissing lobbying efforts from both Muslim-majority nations. The world governing body stated that the 2026 World Cup is "an inclusive event that welcomes people from all backgrounds," adding that "fans of all sexual orientations and gender identities are welcome at matches and events."

French prosecutors have opened a judicial investigation after investigators said one of the attackers filmed the fatal assault on 17-year-old Louis before the footage helped police identify five suspects. He was discovered by a construction worker at about 9:00 a.m. the following morning and was taken first to Narbonne Hospital before being transferred to Perpignan for specialist treatment. Louis spent three days in a medically induced coma before dying in the hospital on Tuesday. Prosecutors believe he was lured to a construction site on Quai d'Alsace in Narbonne on the evening of 19 June, where he was allegedly attacked by...

Two hundred and fifty years after the Declaration of Independence, we speak of the founders with a reverence that can flatten them into marble—preordained, wise, and magnificent. But George Washington is a far more interesting figure than the monument allows. He was, by most accounts, a mediocre battlefield general. He lost more engagements than he won. He was outmaneuvered at Long Island and badly beaten at Brandywine, and lost Philadelphia in the aftermath. As president, of course, he was transformative, setting precedents for executive restraint and the peaceful transfer of power that still define the office.But neither the flawed general...

Harrowing footage has revealed the extent of the damage and chaos inflicted on Venezuela by a pair of massive earthquakes last night. The back-to-back 7.1 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes struck near the coast, sending terrified residents racing out from swaying apartment blocks as walls collapsed and clouds of dust rose over the capital. 'High casualties and extensive damage are probable and the disaster is likely widespread,' the US Geological Survey said, 'with an initial death toll estimate likely between 10,000 and 100,000.' On Thursday, Venezuelan authorities said at least 164 people had been killed, while hundreds more have been injured....

Louisiana pastor beats up a man who allegedly threatened to r*pe and kill his wife and grandchildren. VIDEO AT LINK.............. GIVE ME THAT OLD TIME RELIGION!...............

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The Justice Department has announced charges in a “sophisticated” criminal operation that it says used high-powered drones to deliver weapons, drugs, cell phones and escape tools into prisons in east coast states. US Attorney Keyes the middle district of Georgia, Federal Bureau of Prisons and FBI investigators in Atlanta, say the rogue drone operation led out of a former daycare in Macon, Georgia where multiple drones were launched on covert missions to deliver the contraband by air to 10 federal prisons at night. “We’re here to announce the unsealing of an indictment that charges the most sophisticated and sprawling criminal...

The White House on Wednesday officially asked Congress for $87.6 billion in supplemental funding to pay for the Iran war, curtail the ongoing Ebola outbreak and provide aid to U.S. farmers, among other requests, according to a copy obtained by The Hill. In a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought asked for $67 billion for the Defense Department, down from an expected $200 billion first floated by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in March. But even with a smaller price tag, the bill will need some support from Democrats to...

Praising a proposal to require Texas public school students to read Bible stories and passages in class, supporters say the perspective is an important acknowledgment that the nation was founded on Judeo-Christian values. Rabbis and Jewish leaders, however, criticized the biblical passages chosen by the State Board of Education as heavy on Christianity and dismissive of Judaism, reducing the term Judeo-Christian to “a fig leaf at inclusion.” The State Board of Education kicked off a week of meetings Monday by hearing from more than 400 experts, teachers and concerned citizens on two proposals — one that would overhaul the state’s...

Brian and Jen Wagner got into a verbal spat with the Somali family in the suburb of Shakopee, Minnesota, this week. The family claimed they were accosted out of the blue while looking through the neighborhood, with video showing Brian Wagner told them: 'Nobody wants you here.' 'Not a single person here wants you,' he added, the footage shows. 'I can smell you from here.' He then appeared to reference ongoing fraud investigations in Minnesota that have been connected to the Somali community, as he questioned: 'Where’d you get your money for the house? All you do is steal.' A...

U.S. — In a powerful showing of solidarity with the algae discoloring the newly-renovated Reflecting Pool, liberals across the nation have begun adding green pond scum to their drinking water. Democrats are proudly guzzling the verdant potable, a small act of daily rebellion against the tyranny of President Trump. The trend gained momentum after activists began posting videos of themselves drinking murky green water under the hashtag #StandWithTheScum. Influencers competed to demonstrate their commitment by consuming increasingly opaque beverages. "Take that, Donald," said local liberal woman Amy Gunther as she videoed herself gulping down another glass of algae. "Team...

A Mexican national who was previously deported from the United States returned illegally, then tried to launch a drug-and-guns business relationship with a stranger he met in a Chicago truck dealership parking lot by offering to sell him a pound of methamphetamine and an AK-47, according to federal court records. That stranger turned out to be a federal informant. Now, Leonel Mercado Jaimes is charged with distributing nearly a pound of methamphetamine after authorities say he followed through on the drug sale and later admitted he had re-entered the country illegally after being deported in 2015. According to a federal...

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the Trump administration can turn away migrants who show up at the US-Mexico border before they apply for asylum, in a victory for the White House’s immigration crackdown that prompted a tense exchange between two justices. The high court ruled 6-3 in favor of a policy known as “metering,” in use during President Trump’s first term as well as Barack Obama’s administration, which capped the number of people who could apply for asylum each day. Immigration advocates had claimed that aliens should be considered to “arrive” in the US once they reached the border...

A Florida woman was just let off by a judge after pleading insanity. Her crime? Drowning her 15-month-old toddler and stabbing her husband and teenage daughter when they tried to stop her. Yes, it's apparently legal to drown your toddler if you're stressed due to Covid?? Big news for Casey Anthony wannabes out there! I think "waiving" a jury trial may have worked in the defendant's favor this time around. But for judge de la O, it may have been a major misstep. "This was a bench trial. It’s time to impeach this judge. My office will be drafting articles...

In the fourth and final decision issued today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Mullin v. Doe, a case concerning whether the Administration may terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designations. In a majority opinion authored by Justice Samuel Alito, the Court held that the challengers—TPS beneficiaries from Syria and Haiti—were not entitled to interim relief blocking the termination of their TPS designations. The Court concluded that the TPS statute limits judicial review of non-constitutional claims and prevents courts from second-guessing the agency’s TPS termination decisions on those grounds. Justice Thomas filed a concurring opinion. Justice Kagan filed a dissenting opinion,...

Who could have imagined that after centuries of despots, dictators, conquering armies, and ideological movements that swallowed entire nations, the new socialists would finally reveal who our real and final enemies are — “the billionaires.” When Mayor Mamdani declared that New York’s latest wave of left‑wing politics would “never forget the working citizen,” he left out the part he hopes no one notices: in celebrating this new vision, they’ve managed to forget the law‑abiding citizen entirely. Both working people and the unemployed can be law‑abiding — but that doesn’t seem to matter anymore. Today, you may rob, steal, rape, murder,...

A BRIT influencer is facing the death penalty after she was charged with the murder of a 26-year-old man in Dubai. Brooke George, 23, from Gravesend, Kent, travelled to the luxury Gulf city with the British man after developing a relationship online.

Everyone is arguing about whether USAID was wasteful. Nobody is explaining what it was actually for.Yesterday the Daily Caller ran a piece noting that since Trump gutted USAID, right-wing candidates have swept Bolivia, Chile, Honduras, Costa Rica, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia. The left hasn't won a single Latin American presidential election since the funding stopped. Meanwhile, Ro Khanna went on a podcast and said Elon Musk "possibly sentenced to death" 4.5 million children by dismantling USAID. Musk threatened to sue him. The right points to USAID grants for transgender operas in Colombia and DEI workshops in Serbia and asks why...

Private jets can now qualify as green investments under EU rules after the bloc's second-highest court overturned a decision to exclude them from its sustainable finance framework. On Wednesday, the EU General Court ruled that the manufacture of private jets cannot automatically be considered environmentally harmful and should not be barred from the EU's list of activities eligible for green investment. The case was brought by French aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation, which challenged a 2023 European Commission regulation excluding private jets from the list of activities deemed environmentally sustainable. But judges have now found that the environmental impact of private...