Free Republic

When the power cut out and his signal dropped, TJ knew something was wrong. Seconds later, the banging started on his front door. Terrified, he stood as still as possible with his wife and three-year-old daughter, hoping they wouldn’t be noticed. But the Chinese police officers broke down the door, shoved his wife and child into a separate room and began to question TJ. “They grabbed my clothes and grabbed my hands so I couldn’t move. I could hear my daughter crying so much in the room next door but I couldn’t go to her, I couldn’t hug my wife,”...

Ah, there’s the question. And the simplest, straightest answer is the most obvious. Since everything in life is the outcome of choices for individuals’ great nations, for average nations, and for falling nations, the answer is always yes, based on the choices her people make. But we must keep in mind that making no choice at all turns out to be a choice, considering the recent outcome in New York City and in the state of Maine. It’d be great if we could laugh when we see that the people in New York City, who were too lazy to get...

The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a chilling warning that cancer cases are exploding around the world, with the disease expected to soon affect more than 90 percent of the global population. The WHO said cancer remains the world’s second-leading cause of death after cardiovascular disease. The disease is already killing more than 26,000 people every day. According to the agency, the world is now seeing nearly 10 million cancer deaths and 20.6 million new cases every year. Without urgent action, the WHO warns that the number of new cancer cases will soar to 35 million annually by 2050.

Since the changes to American voting procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic—and the disputed 2020 presidential election that culminated in the events on Jan. 6 in Washington—millions of Americans have questioned whether the country’s election system is sufficiently transparent and secure. Whatever one thinks of the events of 2020, restoring public confidence in elections is a pressing national issue. With this in mind, the U.S. House of Representatives recently passed the SAVE Act (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility). The legislation would require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections. Applicants would generally be expected to present acceptable...

Lindsey Graham: 43% Mitch McConnell: 44% Bill Cassidy: 55% Chuck Grassley: 56% John Cornyn: 54% John Thune: 51%

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...