Free Republic

An appeals court ruled Friday that President Donald Trump’s administration can reinstall interpretive panels that critics say whitewash the history of slavery at the site of President George Washington’s home in Philadelphia.The signs would be in the same area where the Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776. A message seeking comment was left Friday with the National Park Service.The new educational panels were designed to replace ones put up in 2010 that told the story of how nine slaves lived in the home along with George and Martha Washington in the 1790s, when Philadelphia was briefly the...

President Trump’s bond with likely New York lawmaker Anthony Constantino is already set — in bronze. Constantino, who got Trump’s endorsement to fill the seat of retiring upstate Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), gifted a $250,000 bronze statue capturing his defiant fist-pump moments after surviving the 2024 assassination attempt in Butler, Pa., the president’s latest financial disclosure reveals. Having won the Republican primary in last month’s election, Constantino is likely headed to Washington to represent the Republican-leaning district. His vote will be vital if Republicans manage to keep the House they hold by a narrow margin. Called “The Defiance Moment,” the...

A British criminal court on Friday handed down multi-year prison terms to two Romanian citizens found guilty of knifing an anti-regime broadcaster outside his residence, a targeted assault the presiding judge explicitly attributed to the directives of the Iranian government, The Associated Press reported. Pouria Zeraati, a prominent host for the London-headquartered, opposition-affiliated network Iran International, survived being stabbed in the thigh during the March 2024 ambush outside his suburban Wimbledon home. Zeraati later left the UK and moved to Israel, saying he feels “much safer" in the Jewish state. Following a jury trial last month, a 21-year-old and a...

Iranian security officials have rejected Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei’s request to attend the burial of his slain father and predecessor, Ali Khamenei, because they fear Israel will kill the son or track him back to his hiding spot, The New York Times reported Saturday. Mojtaba Khamenei seeks to attend his father’s July 9 burial in Mashhad and perform funeral rites, but has so far been refused, the Times said, citing two unnamed Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members and a person involved with planning the multi-day funeral that began on Saturday. Khamenei has not been seen in public since he was...

The SSPX Crisis is not an AbstractionI have tried to stay out of the tribal warfare surrounding the SSPX because I do not belong to anyone’s faction. I just want to be left alone to practice the orthodox Faith. I am a convert, but I am not an uninformed one. Before entering the Catholic Church, I studied Catholic theology, Church history, papal authority, canon law, Vatican II, Tradition, and the Magisterium. I read the Summa cover to cover. I have continued studying ever since. I understand why the consecration of bishops without a papal mandate is treated as an extraordinarily...

By Dr. John BergsmaWe are currently in Cycle A of the Lectionary, reading through the Gospel of Matthew. This Sunday we find Jesus more or less in the middle of his earthly ministry (Matthew 11), and the Readings are marked by a strong theme of the restoration of the world-wide Kingdom of David. 1. Our First Reading is Zechariah 9:9-10: Thus says the LORD: Rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion, shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem! See, your king shall come to you; a just savior is he, meek, and riding on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an...

Cities pull out all the stops despite a scorching heat wave, with historic re-enactments, concerts and dazzling fireworksTwo-and-a-half centuries after adopting the Declaration of Independence, America is marking its semiquincentennial with a coast-to-coast spectacle.Scorching temperatures dampened some of the July 4 weekend fun. A heat dome that brought sweltering conditions to much of the country this past week forced some schedule changes and cancellations Saturday. Temperatures were expected to hit nearly 100 degrees in several major East Coast cities, with officials warning people to stay hydrated and limit activity outdoors.Some festivities, including Philadelphia’s Salute to Independence Semiquincentennial Parade, were canceled...

The United States of America is a miracle.We speak of the American “experiment” as if the outcome is uncertain. That’s because it is. It always has been. There is a civic usefulness in reminding ourselves of the absolute audacity of the Founders. We tend to picture them in frock coats and knee-high breeches. Maybe we should picture them in lab coats. They were mad scientists.Like all brilliant minds they had far-reaching imaginations. They conjured into being that which others couldn’t conceive—first in conversation and debate, then with quill pen and parchment, finally with musket and grapeshot.Not every hypothesis panned out....

Canonical Analysis: The 2026 DDF Decree on the SSPXBy the Canon of Shaftesbury, a judicial vicar in a major archdiocese.The question is whether the Decree and Explanatory Note issued by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) on July 2, 2026 actually accomplished what many have said, namely, the excommunication of six bishops, over seven hundred priests, and an unspecified number of the faithful. The short answer, reading the documents against the Code of Canon Law, is that they did not.The Decree itself names six individuals: four newly consecrated bishops, the principal consecrator (Bishop de Galarreta), and a...

Short 1:25 AI video of what the July 4 250th celebration in DC would have looked like under President Kammy.

SPARKS AND STRIPES! Battleship Texas helped celebrate America's 250th birthday on July 3, 2026, with a drone show, fireworks, and multiple 14-inch gun salutes. The Battleship is currently undergoing restoration before moving to her new location across the harbor, where she will have a visitor center and welcome visitors on board.

DUBOIS — It was a scene straight out of a Mad Max movie. Two tanks met like gargantuan beasts on a dusty field of battle tucked behind the National Museum of Military Vehicles on Friday. The tanks were heralded first by the echoing rat-a-tat-tat of artillery over the hills of Dubois, thrilling a crowd of hundreds that gathered to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary by watching these rumbling 42-ton tanks show off. “Our thinking was this doesn’t have to just be solemn,” National Museum of Military Vehicles founder Dan Starks told Cowboy State Daily. “It can also be fun. And what’s...

In another ruling, US Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, writing for a 5-4 majority, declared that "the writers of the Constitution purposely left the election rules flexible, knowing that there might be future instances in which additional votes would need to be found and counted to reverse an undesired outcome from the election day counts. Therefore there is no specified legal time limit on counting the ballots. Caches of ballots that were somehow overlooked within the five business day limit the Court has created, but subsequently found years later can still be counted. As a hypothetical, say a sufficient...

Last night I celebrated the 4th of July with a group of friends and relatives. After a small firework show at our celebration, it started the lightning and thunderstorm. And so, it was into my friends’ house we went. That said, I grabbed the remote control and searched for either a drone show, or a firework show from some other part of the country that didn’t have to deal with a thunderstorm. In the midst of this, I happened to find this incredible presentation that encapsulated the rich history of America and projected it on to the Washington Monument in...

Pope Leo XIV urged Americans to embrace the U.S.'s history of welcoming immigrants in a virtual address to the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on Friday while accepting the 2026 Liberty Medal in recognition of his commitment to religious freedom.

SpaceX has been moving at an incredible pace this week! Ship 40 completes a full six-engine static fire, Ship 41 begins cryogenic testing (twice), Ship 42 enters production, Booster 21 finishes stacking and Booster 22 is already underway. We also check out the latest Starbase Pad 1 and Pad 2 construction, plus huge progress at Kennedy Space Center's LC-39A and LC-37. Blue Origin has revealed major changes to New Glenn following the launch pad explosion, NASA has announced new Moon missions, Falcon 9, Atlas V and Amazon Kuiper continue launching, Rocket Lab acquires Iridium, the Canadarm2 is repaired during an...

Streamer Sneako declares “New York is an Islamic state” / “This is the Islamic Republic of New Yorkistan” “Islam will be in every household. Inshallah, the whole world will become Muslim.” How do we coexist with this?

BlackRock is best known as a financial behemoth managing trillions in assets. But now the world’s largest money manager is making a different kind of bet: one on the future of American workers. The company’s new Future Builders initiative will deploy $100 million over the next five years to help train and place 50,000 skilled trades workers at a time when America is racing to scale the energy infrastructure needed to power the AI boom. “What better way to celebrate America’s 250th than to honor the men and women who actually built the country, and those who are actually going...

...(text of Declaration of Independence et al) To the Founders: It hasn't been easy. We've made mistakes in the past two and a half centuries. But a lot of us still regard with precious sentiment that you pledged your lives, your fortunes, and your sacred honor. I have tried to uphold the duties imparted unto me as a citizen of this land. In reflecting upon the occasion, I am impressed with the conviction that my efforts have been found lacking. Very, very few of us, it must be said, have dedicated ourselves to uphold the responsibilities that come with the...

Former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao flew to Beijing on June 17, 2026, for a cozy meeting with Chinese Vice President Han Zheng, just three days after her husband, Senator Mitch McConnell, was rushed to the hospital following a reported cardiac arrest at their Washington, D.C. home. Emergency dispatch audio obtained by multiple outlets captured the chaos on June 14: paramedics responded to a “cardiac arrest” call at McConnell’s Capitol Hill residence, with reports of CPR in progress and the 84-year-old senator found unconscious. McConnell was hospitalized that same morning. His office has offered only vague updates, claiming his condition “continues...