Free Republic

Japanese World Cup fans put American sports culture to shame over the weekend as videos circulated across social media showing Japanese supporters staying behind after matches to clean up trash throughout the stadium. Many even brought their own trash bags, viewing it as a sign of respect for the host country, the players, fellow fans, and the venue itself. Their display of courtesy was quickly contrasted with the aftermath of the New York Knicks' NBA Finals victory over the weekend, when crowds poured into the streets, smashing vehicles, setting fires, and causing widespread destruction across parts of the city.

Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney has said that the “new world order will be built from Europe” with his country playing a key role in comments that echo a speech earlier in the year interpreted as a criticism of President Donald Trump. During a visit to Ireland, Carney said that that Canada was “the most European of non-European countries, and we are transforming our cooperation with the EU.” In January, Carney addressed the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, taking aim at the erosion of the rules-based international order in comments which were seen as a pointed reference to Trump’s...

President Donald Trump called into Fox News’s Fox & Friends on Thursday morning and told the hosts that he has always wanted to invade Iran’s Kharg Island, one of the country’s key energy infrastructure sites. Trump ranted at the media coverage of the war in Iran and fumed, “The Wall Street Journal, they did an editorial today about we’re not hitting them hard enough.” “I mean, it is just, ‘not hitting them hard enough.’ We dropped $250 million worth of bombs on them last night. The whole thing is crazy. And they’re really in submission. They just don’t know it...

European confidence in an American “security guarantee” has hit a historic low, a survey suggests, with only one in 10 people across 15 countries seeing the US as an ally and majorities in all doubting it would come to their aid if they were attacked. The survey, published on Wednesday by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) thinktank before critical G7 and Nato summits in France and Turkey over the coming weeks, revealed “deep European distrust in the US”, the authors said. It also showed that, while many Europeans felt relations with Washington would improve once Donald Trump leaves...

A poll shows many Democrats would rather live in a different country and wave goodbye to the United States of America, the news coming as more in the party view socialism favorably. The Elon University/YouGov America 250 National Survey that was performed between April 30th and May 4th asked respondents, “Is there any other country on Earth you would rather live in than the United States today?” to which 55 percent of Democrats said yes. Thirty-eight percent of Independents said yes while only 10 percent of Republicans gave the same answer. The survey targeted U.S. adults with a sample size...

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine arrived on Sunday afternoon in London for talks with the leaders of Britain, Germany and France as Europe considers taking a more active role in peace talks with Russia after more than a year of unsuccessful U.S. mediation. Ukraine and its European allies see a new opening to revive talks that have stalled as Moscow made uncompromising territorial demands and Washington shifted its focus to the war with Iran. They note that Russia’s recent battlefield setbacks and mounting economic strains could make a peace settlement more appealing to the Kremlin, a scenario that is also...

The Sunland-Tujunga Fourth of July Parade, the longest-running Independence Day parade in the San Fernando Valley, has been canceled after organizers say the city withdrew support and left them facing at least $20,000 in traffic control and street closure costs. “The mayor’s office jerked us around for so long,” said Lydia Grant, president of the Sunland-Tujunga Neighborhood Council. “It’s devastating. We’ve been doing this parade for over 50 years.” Organizers announced Monday that it was ”with great sadness” that they’ve be unable to host the parade. The event, hosted annually by the Sunland-Tujunga-Shadow Hills Rotary Club and the Neighborhood Council,...

A real autopsy from the party would have concluded that voters rejected Democrats in the last election because of their anti-American policies. It was the anticlimax of the year when last week Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin finally released his party’s “autopsy” analyzing what led to its spectacular failure in 2024. It’s almost 200 pages long, but I’ll save you some time: There’s nothing in it about the Democrat Party’s fundamentally anti-American positions and therefore no indication that Democrats are interested in adapting to voters; rather, they’re still dead-set on physically eliminating their opposition. The report’s debut was...

A bill that critics say will stop journalists from reporting on government fraud passed the California Assembly today with votes in favor from Marc Berman, D-Menlo Park, and Diane Papan, D-San Mateo. Assembly Bill 2624, dubbed the Stop Nick Shirley Act for the Youtuber who exposed fraudulent government-funded charities in Minnesota, now goes to the Senate. State Sen. Josh Becker, D-Menlo Park, said via text on Tuesday night that he hasn’t read the bill yet because, at that time, it was still over the in Assembly. The bill’s author, Assemblywoman Mia Bonta, who is married to California Attorney General Rob...

SALISBURY, N.C. (WBTV) - A group of people allegedly vandalized 200 American flags at a park in Rowan County this week. The flags at Salisbury Veterans Memorial Park on Miller Street were first stolen and vandalized on Sunday, May 17. Salisbury police said the flags were replaced but then vandalized again the next day.

European negotiators agreed late on Tuesday to implement the controversial trade agreement concluded last summer with the US. However, the deal — signed in the Scottish city of Turnberry — remains fragile as long as US President Donald Trump continues to use tariffs as a tool of political pressure. Diplomats and MEPs reached an agreement late on Tuesday to implement the contentious EU-US agreement, which eliminates duties on most US industrial goods imported into Europe. The negotiations concluded two weeks after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose 25% tariffs on EU cars if Europeans did not implement the agreement...

Donald Trump was for the Iran war before he was against it. His latest post on social media about the conflict indicated that he is once more calling off a sweeping military action, this time at the behest of his Gulf allies who are apparently quaking at the thought of a renewed conflict. Trump’s initial sentence was quite a mouthful: I have been asked by the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, and the President of the United Arab Emirates, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to hold...

Ever since the Never Trumpers left the Republican Party and rushed into the arms, politically and financially, of the Democrats, it's been pretty clear that all the "conserving conservatism" talk was a smokescreen. They wanted to run the Republican Party, and when they were rebuffed, they exited to grift off the Democrats. I wrote about Jeb!'s former communications director now embracing Hasan Piker and Nick Fuentes because he wants to preserve "democracy" against Donald Trump, and we all know that David French, who ran into the arms of The New York Times, argued that the best way to fight abortions...

Venezuela’s deposed president, Nicolás Maduro, never enjoyed the charisma or genuine popularity of his predecessor, ‘El Comandante’ Hugo Chávez. So all the murals, billboards and installations dotted around Caracas urging the release of the 63-year-old statesman – along with his wife Cilia Flores – from American captivity, don’t exactly feel like a grassroots effort. ‘Bring them home!’ reads one mural, evoking the Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas. Meanwhile, a stopwatch installed in Caracas’s Bolivar Square counts how long it has been since the presidential couple were abducted by the US army in early January. Maduro currently resides in the Metropolitan...

Europe will not submit to a more “brutal world”, and can instead be the base from which a new international order can be rebuilt, Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister, has said. Carney was speaking as the first non-European leader to attend a meeting of the European Political Community, which opened on Monday amid high tensions in the strait of Hormuz and renewed doubts about the US commitment to Nato. “We don’t think that we’re destined to submit to a more transactional, insular and brutal world, and gatherings such as these point to a better way forward,” he said. In...

A fallback plan to ensure Europe can defend itself using NATO’s existing military structures if the U.S. departs is gaining traction after getting buy-in from Germany, a long-term opponent of a go-it-alone approach. The officials working on the plans, which some officials are referring to as “European NATO,” are seeking to get more Europeans into the alliance’s command-and-control roles and supplement U.S. military assets with their own. The plans—advancing informally through side discussions and over dinner meetings in and around the North Atlantic Treaty Organization—aren’t intended to rival the current alliance, participants said. European officials are aiming to preserve deterrence...

American intelligence agencies have obtained information that China in recent weeks may have sent a shipment of shoulder-fired missiles to Iran for its conflict with the United States and Israel, according to U.S. officials. The officials said that the intelligence is not definitive that the shipment has been sent, and that there is no evidence that the Chinese missiles have yet been used against American or Israeli forces during the conflict.

Construction of a “transformational” new railway line linking China, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan will allow goods to transit from east to west across Eurasia a whole week faster. On the way, it’s also predicted to have a transformational impact on the economy of Kyrgyzstan, one of the slowest developing countries on the continent. Now, the “CKU” will give direct transit options for most of Central Asia while unlocking substantial natural resource opportunities among a depressed, mountainous region of Kyrgyzstan. The trilateral agreement to build the 300-mile-long railway was signed on December 27th, 2024, and construction began the following year. $1.1 billion...

Poll in Spain: Trump and Netanyahu are seen as two of the three most dangerous leaders in the world. Trump was ranked as the biggest threat to world peace, followed by Russian President Putin. Spaniards perceive Netanyahu as more dangerous to peace than Iran's new leader. 81% of survey respondents said Trump is endangering global peace - more than any other leader. The Spanish government is considered the most hawkish in Europe against Israel and President Trump's policies. Why it matters: The survey reflects the worsening criticism in Spain towards Israel and the US, also among citizens and not just...

Canadian MPs passed radical Bill C-9 in a 186-137 vote, and conservatives are now calling on Christians to pray and ‘flood senators’ with phone calls and emails opposing the bill. OTTAWA, Ontario (LifeSiteNews) — The majority of Canadian MPs have voted to pass a Liberal bill that will allow the criminalization of religious expression and belief when quoting parts of the Bible, including about homosexuality and gender.