Free Republic

Next Tuesday, Rep. Tom Kean Jr. — missing from action for more than three months due to an unspecified medical condition — is scheduled to make his return to his official duties in Congress. Later that same day, he’ll be returning to the campaign fundraising circuit, too. According to an invitation shared with POLITICO, a reception in support of Kean, a top Democratic target this fall, has been scheduled for the evening of June 30. Few other details are known about the fundraiser; Kean’s spokespeople declined to comment, though they did not deny the event’s existence. Kean also has at...

Sir Keir Starmer is locked in a stand-off with his home secretary Shabana Mahmood after the prime minister refused to allow her to immediately sack her junior minister. Mahmood has demanded the dismissal of Mike Tapp, minister for migration and citizenship, after he wrote an unauthorised article calling for overseas care workers to be exempt from tough new UK immigration controls. Tapp wrote in The Times that it was his “strong belief” that migrant care workers should not have to wait longer to seek permanent settlement in the UK. Mahmood proposed last year that migrants would have to spend a...

A small plane crashes into a 109-story skyscraper in Beijing, sending debris down the building's side. Local reports say the pilot Liu Junhua was conducting a solo flight in the local airspace, took off from Shifosi Airport at 17:30, and at 17:40 prepared to return for landing. While joining the westbound route for Runway 18, the aircraft did not join the approach, deviated from the local airspace and continued flying on a constant heading of 270 degrees. VIDEO AT LINK..................

At 4:14 a.m., Russia’s Voronezh missile production plant was engulfed in flames. This facility was described as a key link in the production chain for Kh-101 cruise missiles and Iskander-K missile systems — weapons Russia has used to threaten Ukrainian cities from hundreds of miles away. But in this operation, Ukraine did not wait for those missiles to be launched. Instead, the strike targeted the place where they were being assembled, stored, tested, and prepared. According to the scenario covered in this video, the operation began with two F-16s, electronic decoys, and 16 low-flying FP1 drones. While Russian air-defense systems...

The murder case of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf has renewed attention once more after the conviction of the accused killer, Karmelo Anthony. The tragedy occurred in April 2025 during a Texas high school track meet, where Anthony fatally stabbed Metcalf. A jury has sentenced the 19-year-old killer 35 years in prison. He will be considered for parole eligibility only after serving half of his term. In the meantime, a mob group demanding the release of the convicted murderer has been arrested in Texas after engaging in harassment and assault of a woman. On June 21, an altercation broke out in the...

In 2008 Joe Biden was Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, with oversight jurisdiction of the U.S State Dept. Foreign Service and the passport office, along with and all foreign policy nominations etc. In 2008 John Brennan was working for the Obama campaign when someone from his outside government group, The Analysis Corporation, “hacked” into the state dept database to access the passport files and State Dept records of Barack Obama. John O. Brennan, Obama’s then top terrorism and intelligence adviser, was the owner of The Analysis Corp. The company was cited in March 2008 for penetrating the files...

Ann Blyth, the actress of Hollywood’s Golden Age whose breakout came in 1945’s Mildred Pierce, has died. She was 98. The Academy Award nominee “died peacefully of natural causes” on Wednesday, according to KABC’s George Pennacchio, who noted her passing comes two months before her 99th birthday. Born Aug. 16, 1927 in Mount Kisko, New York, Blyth began performing on children’s radio shows at age 6, before landing her first Broadway role in Lillian Hellman’s Watch on the Rhine in 1941. While touring with the show in Los Angeles, she landed a contract with Universal Studios. -snip Blyth is survived...

On Thursday’s broadcast of Bloomberg’s “Balance of Power,” Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL) responded to Sen. Chris Murphy’s (D-CT) proposal to raise the minimum wage to $25 an hour by saying that “I’m delighted that Sen. Murphy is talking about this and I think the voting record of a lot of us, the Democrats that had led on this before is we’re willing to do it, it was $15, plus inflation adjustments.” Co-host Joe Mathieu asked, “I want to ask you, quickly, with our small amount of time remaining here, Congressman, if you think raising the minimum wage would help. …...

As readers may recall, in recent years, after announcing a rare bit of activity from yours truly, I have generally observed that I am engaging in such against the advice of my doctors. So it was that I spent over a month in Ukraine, venturing hither and yon and trying to stay one step ahead of the bombs and drones. I was there to research a personal project, but did not manage to complete my work, and was planning to return in late summer. I understand that, in a world where Victoria Nuland and Lindsey Graham lob darts at the...

New York City Democratic socialist mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, a DSA-backed candidate who has made no secret of his contempt for federal immigration enforcement, vowed Thursday to defy a 6-3 Supreme Court ruling, declaring that New York would "do everything that we can" to keep Haitian and Syrian TPS recipients in the country despite the Court's decision. The remarks came just hours after the Court ruled that the Trump administration can move forward with ending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti and Syria, holding that most statutory challenges to those decisions cannot be heard in federal court. As RedState reported...

The Swedish EV brand, which is majority-owned by China’s Geely, was authorization by the Commerce Department authorization under the connected vehicles rule. The U.S. Commerce Department won’t allow Polestar to sell vehicles in the United States beginning with its 2027 model year, in the latest restriction targeting connected vehicle technology tied to China. Polestar, a Sweden-based electric vehicle maker majority-owned by Chinese conglomerate Geely Holding, said Thursday it would not appeal the decision. The denial falls under the Connected Vehicles Rule, which bans the import and sale of vehicles featuring certain connected technologies, including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, cellular connectivity, and certain...

A major World Cup controversy is brewing as Iran accuses the United States of politicizing football ahead of the tournament. Iranian officials claim Team Melli faces strict travel restrictions, allowing players to enter the U.S. only on match days and requiring immediate departure afterward. Iran also says several federation officials, administrators, media personnel, and support staff were denied visas despite all players receiving approval. Tehran argues the measures create an unfair competitive environment and violate the principles of equal treatment in international sport. Iranian authorities have vowed to raise the issue with FIFA, insisting politics should not interfere with the...

We view dealings with Iran from one election to another, whereas Iran views its wars as a global matter that affects everything and runs on a cosmic timetable. Recently, I watched the 1966 epic Khartoum, with Charlton Heston and Laurence Olivier. Khartoum dramatizes the struggle between British General Charles Gordon and the Sudanese religious leader Muhammad Ahmad (the Mahdi) during the 1880s siege of Khartoum. In the film, the Mahdi informs General Gordon that Allah has commanded him to pray at every major mosque in the world and kill all who refuse to submit to him. Whether entirely accurate or...

The Mamdani regime in New York City has already been making noises about moving on this sort of thing, and now the LA County Board of Supervisors is following suit. People will call this socialism but in some ways this is worse. They’re not just proposing a government takeover of private property, what they’re proposing to do is to use government power and taxpayer money to seize private property and turn it over to their political allies who will run ‘community groups’. This is fundamentally no different than politicians using eminent domain to seize property and transfer it to their...

If the 2026 FIFA World Cup has taught international visitors anything, it's that Americans take air conditioning very, very seriously. Between the matches, sightseeing and cross-country road trips, European fans have discovered what may be the tournament's most unexpected MVP: aggressively chilled indoor spaces. According to TikTok, where #WorldCup has surpassed 8 million posts and #WorldCup2026 has reached nearly 2 million, videos marveling at America's devotion to air conditioning have become one of the tournament's defining off-field trends. Alongside clips about cowboy culture, Costco runs and late-night IHOP breakfasts, visitors are documenting a newfound appreciation for a country that apparently...

A new complaint requests that the federal government investigate the tax-exempt status of a left-wing nonprofit that has allegedly fomented violent riots. The Center to Advance Security in America (CASA) filed the complaint Tuesday morning with the IRS seeking an investigation into People’s Forum, Inc., a New York-based Nongovernmental Organization (NGO) linked to socialist megadonor Neville Roy Singham. CASA’s complaint alleges that People’s Forum routinely organizes and funds protests that engage in illegal activity. "People's Forum Inc. is the tax-exempt fiscal sponsor of many progressive and radical organizations, including the Venceremos Brigade, which engage in demonstrations often crossing the threshold...

26 June 2026Friday of week 12 in Ordinary TimeSt. Josemaría Escrivá Temple (Guadalajara) Jalisco State, MexicoReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: A(II).First reading2 Kings 25:1-12The sack of Jerusalem and the final deportationIn the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with his whole army to attack Jerusalem; he pitched camp in front of the city and threw up earthworks round it. The city lay under siege till the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. In the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, when famine...

An investigation by the House Oversight and Accountability Committee has found that 571,000 federal employees and retirees have failed to pay their share of income taxes, depriving the U.S. Treasury of more than $6.3 billion in revenues. The number of tax scofflaws working for Uncle Sam is continuing to surge, with tax debt among federal workers growing 32% since 2021. And the number of current and former government employees who aren’t paying taxes has increased by 43% in three years, according to House Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., who serves as chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform....

Details of the alleged vandalism to the recently refurbished Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C. were revealed in a court filing. According to Deputy Director for the National Park Service Frank Lands, the incident took place shortly after the resurfaced pool was filled again with water on June 9, ABC News reported. "The U.S. Park Police responded to an NPS report of damage to the reflecting pool, including a caulk over the foam sealant that was cut with a sharp knife or razor and destruction of delaminating surface material. In addition, approximately 70 fence post tops were thrown into the pool,"...

Politicians, government bureaucrats, central bankers, spy agencies, and mainstream news outlets lie to us every day. For some people, the previous sentence is patently obvious. For others, that sentence represents “fringe” thinking. For certain law enforcement agencies in North America and Europe, that sentence reveals potentially dangerous “extremism.” “Extremism” is such a morally squishy word. It means nothing. It suggests that the average beliefs of the average person in the average part of an average town are, on average, correct. Should a person’s beliefs move too far away from the “average,” then that person will eventually fall into the “extremist”...