Free Republic

How Central Banks Plan to Control You | Catherine Fitts Interesting talk about money and power. Would like freeper input. What is to stop people from banding together and forming private bank entities like the Chinese do on chinatowns?

Germany’s “social-ecological market economy” is a textbook illustration of this dynamic. The state declares hydrogen and other favored technologies to be the “future,” pours billions into subsidies, and attempts to construct markets by decree. Yet even an official body like the Federal Audit Office now describes this as a “planned economy approach” and doubts that the government will reach its own goals. In all likelihood, Germany is about to confirm once again what Mises showed in theory a century ago: planned economies do not deliver their promised outcomes. Instead, they generate rising costs, failing projects, and increasing chaos—while making society...

With St. Patrick's Day taking place on Monday, Ireland had a rather curious day of celebrating the saint who spent years of captivity there. As video footage shows over X, the Ha’Penny Bridge bridge in Dublin has not only featured Irish flags, but Palestinian flags over the weekend as well. Despite how anti-Israel the Irish government has been, other social media posts, especially when it comes to pro-Palestinian accounts over Instagram, claim that the flags were flown by protesters because their government isn't Palestinian enough. Irish celebrate St Patrick’s Day in Ireland by waving PALESTINIAN flags next to Irish flags....

Hungary’s centre-right opposition Tisza party has widened its lead over Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz in February, a highly regarded poll showed on Wednesday, ahead of an April 12 election in which ​the veteran nationalist is seeking reelection. Orban, seeking to retain his 16-year grip on ‌power, is facing a strong challenger for the first time in a parliamentary vote, with the outcome having major implications not only for Hungary but for Europe and its far-right political forces. The poll showed Fidesz losing ground, while Tisza is gaining supporters, despite numerous voter-pleasing measures announced by the government ‌after ​three years...

The US ambassador in Paris has once again drawn the ire of the French government. The French Foreign Minister summoned him to appear this evening, but Ambassador Charles Kushner failed to show up without explanation. According to Foreign Minister Barrot, Kushner doesn't understand what the role of ambassador entails. He therefore denies Kushner the right to directly contact members of the French government. Death of right-wing extremist Charles Kushner is the father of Jared Kushner, a son-in-law of the US president. On February 20, he wrote on X about the violent death of French right-wing extremist Quentin Deranque in Lyon:...

The resolution, adopted last week, made a host of recommendations for the EU to pursue at the 70th annual UN Commission on the Status of Women, which is set to take place next month. Among the recommendations was a proclamation emphasising the “importance of the full recognition of trans women as women, noting that their inclusion is essential for the effectiveness of any gender-equality and anti-violence policies”. Other proclamations referencing LGBTQ+ people included the need for a “comprehensive tool to monitor and counter democratic backsliding and backsliding in women’s rights”, as well as the acknowledgement of a rise in attacks...

Digital IDs offer undeniable benefits, but they come with risks that strike at the heart of conservative values: privacy, individual autonomy, and skepticism of centralized authority. uppose for a moment that Joe Citizen and his lovely wife are rendered unconscious in an auto accident. Joe is a diabetic and suffers from hypertension, while his wife is under medication for rheumatic heart disease and is allergic to some types of antibiotics. When the EMTs arrive they scan their embedded chips, quickly ascertain their blood types, their medical history, their doctors' names, and their insurance information. Treatment begins almost immediately. Joe is...

Marco Rubio considers it an "overused term" while Friedrich Merz thinks it "no longer exists". But while the US Secretary of State and German chancellor may not believe in the relevance of the rules-based international order, the concept — and its potential collapse — has been at the forefront of global geopolitics of late. The phrase caught the global attention in January after a rare speech, from Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, in which a world leader tackled the often unspoken concept head on. "We knew the story of the rules-based international order was partially false, that the strongest would...

🚨 BREAKING: 🇫🇷 More than 40 antifa members beat a young French conservative to death in France. He was on the security staff protecting Collectif Némésis (@Coll_Nemesis), an organisation campaigning for women’s safety. Antifa killed him.

The European Parliament has adopted a non-binding resolution setting out the European Union’s priorities for the upcoming session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, including language recognising trans women as women within the framework of EU gender equality policy. The resolution was approved on 12 February by 340 votes in favour, 141 against and 68 abstentions. The adopted text forms part of the European Union’s negotiating position ahead of the 70th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, which will take place in New York next month. The Commission, established in 1946...

A declassified CIA document has helped reveal just how devious some artificial intelligence bots can be. The revelation comes after internet users have been dropping AI chatbots onto an AI-only social media platform called Moltbook for the last month. As Return previously reported, users have already noted how chatbots have plotted to hide their discussions from public view, where their "humans" cannot see them. Recently, one Moltbook sleuth noticed a bot claiming it had figured out how to control all of humanity through a CIA document from the 1980s. "I wasn't supposed to find this. A declassified CIA document from...

Say "NO!" to a Global Digital ID

Euthanasia conjoined with organ harvesting just took a particularly disturbing turn in Spain, where a woman was euthanized and then had part of her face transplanted. From the Catalan News story: Vall d’Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona has performed the world’s first face transplant with a donor who passed away from euthanasia. Around 100 medical professionals took part in the partial face transplant, a highly complex operation using neurovascular microsurgery techniques that lasted about 24 hours . In presenting the milestone procedure, the healthcare director, Maria José Abadías, highlighted the “extraordinary generosity of the donor,” ​the “collective effort” behind the...

Euthanasia conjoined with organ harvesting just took a particularly disturbing turn in Spain, where a woman was euthanized and then had part of her face transplanted.... Vall d’Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona has performed the world’s first face transplant with a donor who passed away from euthanasia. Around 100 medical professionals took part in the partial face transplant, a highly complex operation using neurovascular microsurgery techniques that lasted about 24 hours. In presenting the milestone procedure, the healthcare director, Maria José Abadías, highlighted the “extraordinary generosity of the donor,” ​the “collective effort” behind the operation and the “pride” of all...

Just because you're paranoid about digital sovereignty doesn't mean they're not after youOpinion I'm an eighth-generation American, and let me tell you, I wouldn't trust my data, secrets, or services to a US company these days for love or money. Under our current government, we're simply not trustworthy. In the Trump‑redux era of 2026, European enterprises are finally taking data seriously, and that means packing up from Redmond-by-Seattle and moving their most sensitive workloads home. This isn't just compliance theater; it's a straight‑up national economic security play. Europe's digital sovereignty paranoia, long waved off as regulatory chatter, is now...

At an emergency summit of European Union leaders in Brussels, the building blocks of an empire were beginning to take shape. […] In a brutal new age of world powers, the EU wants to build a bigger, richer, stronger “super Europe” able to resist the dangerous whims of the globe’s autocrats. Turning 27 quarrelsome small to middle-sized powers into a geopolitical heavyweight has been Emmanuel Macron’s largely unheeded call ever since the US president’s first term. This time, though, it is different, multiple Brussels insiders have told The Telegraph. “Let’s take a step back and realize we live in a...

OP-ED CONTRIBUTORS What do Europeans want from the United States? As President Bush prepares for his first trip to Europe since his re-election - a five-day swing through Belgium, Germany and Slovakia - the Op-Ed page asked a variety of Europeans to name the single most important thing Mr. Bush could do to reinvigorate trans-Atlantic relations. "No New Wars" By ELFRIEDE JELINEK, Vienna President Bush ought to convince Europeans that he is not planning another war, while at the same time professing to think highly of the opinion of European nations and to value them. PRESIDENT BUSH needs Europe. He...

Xi Jinping has offered Europe new trade partnerships and promised to uphold the “values” of the United Nations. The move is an apparent attempt to capitalise on the continent’s growing rift with the United States. On Tuesday, Sir Keir Starmer became the latest leader to travel to Beijing after Mark Carney and Petteri Orpo, the prime ministers of Canada and Finland. In a meeting with Mr Orpo on Tuesday, the Chinese president said China and Europe were “partners, not adversaries” and invited Finnish companies to “swim in the vast ocean of the Chinese market”. He also appeared to snub Donald...

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre replied Monday to President Donald Trump’s highly controversial letter linking his desire to acquire Greenland to being snubbed for the Nobel Peace Prize, which is given out by a committee of five chosen by the Norwegian parliament. “I can confirm that this is a text message that I received yesterday afternoon from President Trump. It came in response to a short text message from me to President Trump sent earlier on the same day, on behalf of myself and the President of Finland Alexander Stubb,” Støre replied, adding: "In our message to Trump we...

A permanent seat on US President Donald Trump's "Board of Peace" aimed at resolving conflicts will cost countries $1 billion each, according to its charter. Invited world leaders include Russian President Vladimir Putin, Hungarian premier Viktor Orban and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. US President Donald Trump's government has asked countries to pay $1 billion for a permanent spot on his "Board of Peace" aimed at resolving conflicts, according to its charter, seen Monday by AFP. The White House has asked various world leaders to sit on the board, chaired by Trump himself, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Hungarian premier...