Free Republic

A United Nations agency told countries to “strongly discourage” merchant ship crews from acquiring firearms to defend against piracy, despite 90 sailors being held hostage by Somali pirates. Piracy rose in 2025, according to the annual report from the International Maritime Organization (IMO) released in June, with 171 incidents of successful or attempted attacks on the high seas. However, the agency, tied to the United Nations, took a hard position against potential targets of pirate attacks using firearms to defend themselves, referring to a circular released in June 2015, in a press release issued days after Somali pirates seized an...

Although the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and civil rights laws dating back to 1866 prohibit nearly all racial preferences, most Americans oppose these preferences, and Donald Trump was elected vowing to eliminate DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) – progressives won't give up. Their race-obsessed thinking reduces America to intersectional classifications of oppressed and oppressor. This addled concept is a self-defeating dialectic in which no amount of progress on race relations is ever enough – or even acknowledged. Despite enormous advances, with the possible exception of Palestinians and transgender people, no group is seen as more oppressed and deserving...

The letter highlighted Oklahoma as one possible destination for families choosing to relocate. Jewish and Christian leaders in Tulsa have offered to help receive Jewish Canadian families, while Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt has expressed a willingness to welcome Jewish families seeking safety and new opportunities, according to the coalition. According to the letter, advocates working with affected families reported that more than 2,000 Jewish Canadians have expressed interest in moving because of concerns about their safety.

Citing the importance of the First Amendment, a federal judge in California says the U.S. government can not deport critics of Israel.Judge Noël Wise *** delivered a victory for the student newspaper at Stanford University, which has said some international students were afraid to speak out because of the deportation threat. The decision largely piggybacks on findings from nearly a year ago by a U.S. district judge in Boston, who ruled that the Trump administration violated the Constitution when it targeted people who are not citizens for deportation solely for supporting Palestinians and criticizing Israel. *** Wise wrote that the...

On August 27, 2026, Attorney General Josh Kaul announced that the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) is joining a suit to block a federal policy requiring providers and states to comply with updated U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) funding rules for the next five-year grant cycle. “This is what Josh Kaul isn’t telling you: that this is just another example of him using lawfare to protect special interests like Planned Parenthood, Wisconsin’s largest abortion provider,” stated Heather Weininger, Executive Director of Wisconsin Right to Life. “Instead of expanding their counseling services to patients, Planned Parenthood wants to...

On Saturday, dozens of pro-government groups gathered in downtown Caracas to protest against the U.S. presence in Venezuela.

President Trump raged at “Meet the Press” anchor Kristen Welker Sunday for casting aspersions on his endorsement record — saying she should be reprimanded by the FCC. Welker said Trump had “mixed results” with his highly coveted endorsement in GOP primary elections this cycle, but Trump lashed out at the claim and urged FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr to take the “Threat to our Country very seriously.” “How can anyone be allowed to say this, working for freely given Public Airwaves? Results are attached. Because of this purposeful inaccuracy, she will be reported to the FCC for rebuke or punishment,” Trump...

American author Mark Twain famously stated: “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” Likewise, digging deeper into data sometimes reveals a different picture from what you saw at first glance. After combing through reports from more than 1,200 weather stations across the United States, former University of Alabama climatologist John Christy is challenging a commonly held belief that extreme high temperatures have become more prevalent. According to his report, published this spring in the academic journal Theoretical and Applied Climatology, the data don’t show an increase...

Democrats have struggled to win over Republican voters in recent elections. This year, some Democratic candidates argue they can change that — because they were once Republicans. These party switchers say that they have unique insight into the concerns of voters distrustful of party politics, as well as those who feel they have no real home in either party, and that this knowledge will give them an edge in the upcoming midterm elections. “It is a big tent, right?” said Nancy Lacore, who is looking to flip Rep. Nancy Mace’s (R) seat in South Carolina and who left the GOP...

Senate GOP leaders gave President Donald Trump a clear warning before the Texas primary election in May as he weighed endorsing Ken Paxton over longtime incumbent John Cornyn: If the state attorney general won, Trump’s political operation would have to bankroll the expensive general election campaign to help make the controversial Paxton more appealing to voters, according to multiple Republican sources. But more than three months later, MAGA Inc.’s wallet has so far been closed. And Republicans are growing anxious — as the Democrat, state representative James Talarico, has had the airwaves largely to himself for weeks, spending roughly seven...

Former Fox News host and one-time Trump booster Tucker Carlson declared Friday that President Donald Trump should be removed from office “immediately” over nuclear policy in the Iran conflict. Carlson made the explosive declaration Friday during a lengthy interview with Joe Kent, the former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, who resigned from the Trump administration in protest of the war with Iran. The episode was ominously titled, “LEAKED: Pentagon Nuclear Plans Prove the US Is Out of Options,” with an entire chapter labeled, “Should Trump Be Impeached?” Carlson said he had been “strongly opposed” to both of Trump’s first-term...

Barack Obama’s wife, Michelle Obama, has spent years cultivating an image as America's most relatable first lady, the warm, down-to-earth mom everybody loves. Yet, it seems like every time she opens her mouth, she proves what a horrible person she is. We’re talking Hillary Clinton-level bad. Last month, we learned that Barack Obama’s wife reportedly made sure Cheryl Hines never got a role in Larry David's new HBO series, Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness: An Almost History of America, because Hines is married to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump's secretary of health and human services. Hines...

The US Central Command shared a video in which Admiral Brad Cooper, the combatant command's Commander, shared recent " milestones" the US military has reached during its war on Iran. Among these, he mentioned extensively the US military operations which cleared sea mines from shipping lanes and more broadly spoke of the claimed effectiveness of the naval blockade the US re-imposed in mid-July on Iran.

At the heart of the European Union, Belgium exemplifies better than perhaps any other Western European country the extent to which political elites seem to almost relish the degree to which Europe is being Islamized. In July 2026, Israel's Channel 12 News aired a report warning that Hamas terrorists, including high-ranking members of the organization's Al-Qassam Brigades, now live in Antwerp -- some of whom, according to local Gazans opposed to Hamas, are receiving Belgian citizenship. "Little Gaza," as the neighborhood in northern Antwerp is called in the report, has a large population of Gazans from Khan Younis, a major...

GENEVA (AP) — A shooting at a rave in the northern Swiss canton of Aargau left one person dead and five wounded early Sunday, local police and media reported. Police said they are still looking for potentially more than one suspect. Aargau cantonal police wrote earlier on X that a 22-year-old woman died of injuries at the scene. Four men and one woman, between 24 and 27 years old, were taken to the hospital with injuries ranging from minor to severe. All of the victims are residents of Switzerland, police said. They did not release their names in line with...

Iceland’s voters rejected a proposal to restart negotiations on joining the European Union more than a decade after previous talks ended, the national broadcaster reported Sunday. The vote will put the long-debated issue to rest more than a decade after a euroskeptic government ended EU talks. Opponents defeated the measure by a margin of 52.8% to 47.2%, RUV reported.

A student at MIT claimed he synthesized one of the world’s deadliest chemicals last week — sparking a massive hazmat response and the closure of the lab where he worked. The unidentified grad student arrived at a local emergency room, saying he had synthesized dimethyl mercury, a highly toxic compound that can be fatal if exposed to humans in even the smallest amounts, NBC Boston reported. The student was not authorized to be working with the compound and it was not part of his research, according to school officials. MIT closed off Building 18 where the experiment took place on...

The Canadian government once again colludes with Democrats. As President Trump has repeatedly pointed out, the Canadian government embraces a peculiar notion of national sovereignty: It depends upon the U.S. military for security and expects to sell its domestic products to Americans as if Canada were just another U.S. state. At the same time, it insists on censoring American sources of news, restricting the flow of American goods into Canada, and rebuking American foreign policy decisions. When former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau flew to Mar-a-Lago to meet with President Trump following his 2024 re-election, the Canadian leader’s foremost concern was...

Actress Anna Faris loves her son, Jack, so much that she says she "would do anything for him," including considering becoming a Christian like Jack and his father — Faris' ex-husband, actor Chris Pratt. But she has her concerns about Jack's beliefs, including the fact that he is pro-life. In a recent podcast, Faris said she suggested to Jack that his pro-life convictions are a "luxury" for him. Key Takeaways: * Actress Anna Faris is the mother to 14-year-old Jack Pratt, the son she shares with ex-husband, actor Chris Pratt. * Faris stated on a recent podcast that her son...

A shootout inside Washington Park left one man dead and nine other people injured Saturday night, according to Chicago police, marking the city’s second-worst shooting of the year. Chicago police officers were already in the area monitoring a planned gathering in the park near the 5400 block of South Cottage Grove Avenue when multiple gunmen began shooting around 11:37 p.m., police said. Officers immediately reported “nonstop” gunfire over their radios as people ran for cover. “They’re still shooting,” one officer said as the gunfire continued. Officers quickly called for ambulances and began providing advanced first aid to the injured. Police...