Free Republic

The European auto industry is a case study on how short-sighted trade policy goals, results in consequences. Previously, German auto companies like Volkswagen entered into trade agreements with China and began manufacturing their vehicles with immediate financial success in the market. However, it did not take long for Chinese auto companies to reverse the engineering and begin to deliver the same quality vehicles at much lower prices. The Chinese then stop purchasing the Volkswagen vehicles and purchase the cheaper version, while simultaneously begin exporting those same vehicles into the home market from where the technology originated. Today, with a double-digit...

President Trump declared Sunday that the Strait of Hormuz is open after the US hit 140 targets in Iran over the latest attack on cargo ships in the critical passage. Trump doubled down on US Central Command’s insistence that the key oil choke point was now open following an intense bombing campaign against Iran overnight, which targeted missile and drone sites, naval assets, ammunition storage facilities, communication networks, and surveillance locations. “Yeah, it’s open. We bombed the hell out of them last night,” he told NBC’s “Meet the Press,” contradicting Tehran’s warnings that the strait remains closed.The president went on...

During filming of We're Not Dressing, a 1934 musical comedy that came out a month before Carole Lombard ascended into the top rank of screwball comedy heroines with Twentieth Century, her co-star Bing Crosby discovered that the actress had a rather extreme reaction to her one notable phobia. As recalled by Gary Giddins in Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams: The Early Years 1903-1940, Crosby had to slap Lombard in one scene. "At her request, he refrained during rehearsal, but when the scene was filmed, she responded violently. Howard Hawks liked to take credit for creating Lombard as a comic...

The finding, made by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen, shows that genes are not always inherited only from parent to offspring. Some genes can move, and in this case, the researchers directly observed evidence that a jumping gene can pass between species, from predator to prey. Jumping genes are genetic parasites found in bacteria, plants, animals, and humans. They can be released inside cells as small RNA molecules from ribonucleic acid (RNA), then use specialized mechanisms to insert themselves into other parts of the genome. When they land in a new place, they can...

As any Catholic master of ceremonies will tell you, it takes only the tiniest sartorial mishap to lend a Python-esque flavour to moments of the utmost solemnity. On 1 July the rebel traditionalist Society of St Pius X (SSPX) created four new bishops in defiance of Pope Leo XIV during a five-hour open-air Latin Mass in a Swiss alpine meadow. The consecrating prelates wore dark-red velvet chasubles over scarlet-and-gold dalmatics with matching gloves. They descended from their thrones bearing sacred chrism. Afterwards the new bishops stood in a row, mitres perched on their heads for the first time. For traditionalist...

In 2006, Tue Lue Vang was convicted for repeatedly raping a 10-year-old girl over a two-year period. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was set to deport him to Laos when Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn) decided to pardon him, hoping this would allow Vang to stay in the US. Walz explained "where Mr Vang grew up it was customary for older men to marry and have sex with girls as young as 12. Admittedly, the girl he had sex with was under this age, but a mere two-year discrepancy isn't enough to justify expelling him from the country. He hasn't...

Named Rimrock Draw, the site - which was thought to have once been an ancient rock shelter - is now believed to date back a staggering 18,250 years. University of Oregon researchers working at the site unearthed two stone tools made from orange agate as well as extinct camel and bison teeth. By Radiocarbon dating the enamel from the teeth, it was possible to determine how old they were. "This early date aligns well with the oral histories of the tribal nations in the region, many of whom have stories about witnessing geological events like the Missoula floods, a series...

After the sudden death of US Senator Lindsey Graham was announced Sunday morning, the race for the US Senate in South Carolina has burst wide open, and it appears Nancy Mace wants in. South Carolina Congresswoman Mace finished last in June's GOP primary for South Carolina Governor, after garnering just 12 percent of the vote. Yet, multiple reports circulated on Sunday morning that Mace was considering re-entering the political arena. South Carolina's current Governor, Henry McMaster, who is term-limited, will select a temporary replacement for Graham, and that candidate will need to win both a primary and a general election...

Rev Dr Bernard Randall, a former school chaplain who lost his job after telling students in a sermon they did not have to accept LGBT ideology, has won a legal settlement after a seven-year battle. The path has also been cleared for his return to ministry in the Church of England after safeguarding concerns that led to him losing permission to officiate for the last seven years were overturned. The long-running saga began in 2019 when Dr Randall preached a sermon in the chapel of Trent College - a Church of England-affiliated independent school in Nottingham - in response to...

Lindsey Graham's death will kick off a breakneck campaign for his Senate seat Republicans face a sudden August primary to fill a full six-year term. By Alec Hernandez 07/12/2026 Lindsey Graham’s sudden, unexpected death will kick off a rapid campaign to pick the next likely senator from South Carolina — with a full six-year term on the line to replace the longtime senator. Graham was up for reelection in November, having just dispatched primary challenger Mark Lynch just over a month ago. He was set to face Democrat Annie Andrews, a doctor who fairly comfortably won the Democratic primary. Republicans...

The digital economy runs on data centers, a vital core of modern infrastructure most people never see. But there’s a debate brewing about data centers, with plenty of misinformation aimed at slowing data center development and, in some cases, halting it altogether. The Goldwater Institute has put together the following Free-Market Guide to Data Center Infrastructure to dispel some of the data center misconceptions.Is it just “Big Tech” that needs data centers? What is really driving their growth?No, it’s not just about “Big Tech.” Data centers are the 21st-century version of a power plant or water tower, providing the essential...

“FBI Director Kash Patel wrote on X on Sunday morning that the agency was 'assisting local authorities and has made every necessary resource available.' Graham was a vocal supporter of US involvement in conflicts abroad, including both the Russia-Ukraine war and the Iran clashes. Graham has also been targeted by Iranian leaders. An Iranian State TV host noted in a Sunday broadcast that she congratulated 'the Iranian people on the death U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, who has been sent to hell.'“

What began as a roadside fire in northern Jackson County has rapidly grown into Oregon’s largest active wildfire, drawing hundreds of firefighters, aircraft, heavy equipment, and structural protection resources from across the state as crews work to protect homes and slow the fire’s advance through rugged forestland north of Rogue River. Maps The East Evans Creek Fire has quickly become the region’s most significant wildfire emergency of the summer, expanding from a small ignition Friday afternoon into a fast-moving incident that has forced evacuations, closed major roadways, and prompted one of Oregon’s largest coordinated firefighting responses this fire season. As...

A massive bull bison tossed a tourist into the air, seriously injuring him, in a heart-pounding caught-on-camera attack at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. Video shows the unidentified man being thrown 8 feet in the air like a ragdoll by the wild bison at the Bridge Bay Campground Friday, Cowboy State Daily reported. The tourist was walking with his grandson when the powerful herbivore attacked. Video shows the man running around a copse of pines to try to escape the bull, which was giving itself a dust bath moments earlier. The bison suddenly charged the two tourists, and then viciously...

William Lawrence, a progressive running in the Democratic primary for the U.S. House in Michigan, is responding to backlash over his previous criticism of Black political leaders. The Huffington Post on Saturday published Lawrence’s comments from a 2024 episode of his podcast, in which the Democrat accused some Black lawmakers of being “a pillar, frankly, for establishment, capitalist, imperialist American power.” “It’s a big problem for left politics in this country, and it gets us every single time,” Lawrence said in the episode. “It really defangs the white left and puts us in impossible positions, really.” The Democratic candidate addressed...

A federal appeals court struck down the higher education restrictions of Florida’s “Stop WOKE Act” that restricts critical race theory (CRT) indoctrination in the state’s public colleges and universities. Breitbart News reports that the ruling pertains to the Stop Wrongs Against Our Kids and Employees Act (Stop WOKE Act), which Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed in 2022. CRT is a Marxist ideology which “claims that all of our institutions — our government, our economy, our culture — are based on racial hierarchy, with whites on top and blacks at the bottom. Even things that look race-neutral are, on closer...

Californians are set to notice a major change the next time they stroll through a grocery store. State officials have ordered a sweeping overhaul of food packaging that will alter how millions shop. From July 1, food manufacturers and retailers across the Golden State will no longer be allowed to slap 'sell by' dates on most packaged foods sold to consumers, under a controversial new law aimed at tackling food waste and clearing up widespread confusion over expiration labels. The shake-up, which will be felt across supermarket shelves statewide, effectively strips out a long list of familiar date markings that...

The LGBTQ+ cruise ship that Patti LuPone is performing on has been blocked from entering Egypt after being banned from entering Turkey. CNN confirmed Friday that Egyptian authorities did not allow Virgin Voyages' Scarlet Lady to enter its waters. Rich Campbell, the president and CEO of Atlantis Events, told the outlet, "We had full approval and they denied us clearance at the 11th hour."

President Donald Trump is leaning hard on major U.S. companies to cut consumer prices, recently warning gasoline retailers of "big problems" if they didn’t reduce the price of gasoline commensurate with the price of crude, while crediting Walmart for its summer rollback of thousands of prices, as inflation sits at a three-year high and Republicans brace for a difficult midterm. ***annual inflation climbed to 4.2% in May, the sharpest 12-month reading since April 2023, driven mostly by an energy shock tied to the U.S. war against Iran.Gasoline prices alone were up 40.5% year over year, according to the Bureau of...

Yet another ceasefire with Iran has been violated by its madman mullahs, triggering U.S. military action in response. Whether Iran’s actions are the result of a firmly entrenched new leadership or the result of an internal struggle to achieve that status remains uncertain. Regardless, however, that uncertainty brings into focus a major concern over whether a regime player will reach out to accept an outside offer of nuclear assistance. We don’t know whether North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, 44, was simply attempting to promote his tough guy image or was serious, but a comment he made last year needs...