Free Republic

In the lead-up to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, hosted primarily in the United States along with Mexico and Canada, there was widespread criticism from many European fans. Concern that the Trump administration's immigration policies would somehow impact fans' ability to enter the country. Complaints that the host stadiums, places like Los Angeles Stadium, Boston Stadium or Seattle Stadium would somehow prove unworthy of hosting World Cup matches. Those concerns and complaints have proven to be wildly unfounded. The atmosphere in Los Angeles for the U.S. Men's National Team opening match win over Paraguay was widely praised. To the point...

The parent company of Sam Adams said its Boston Taproom ran out of the brand's flagship Boston Lager over the weekend because Scotland soccer fans in Boston for the 2026 World Cup drank four times as much as the bar usually sells. Boston Beer Co. said in a news release that from Thursday to Sunday, the Tartan Army -- Scotland's supporters organization -- drank four times what the company normally stocks during a typical four-day holiday stretch like the Fourth of July, adding that it had to schedule an emergency delivery of beer Saturday morning and are adding extra deliveries...

With Scottish football fans in Boston, bars are saying their beer is getting drunken faster than on St. Patrick’s Day or a sports championship — the Dubliner had its biggest week ever! But first, fans of Iraq and Norway were partying ahead of Tuesday’s game, and what travel on the MBTA trains to Boston Stadium was like.

The trial of Dzhokar Tsarnaev has gripped America, but in Russia the Boston bomber’s trial has received little media coverage, with even the arrival of five Tsarnaev family members from Russia to testify receiving no attention. The relatives are staying in Massachusetts over the weekend, after a sick juror meant their testimony for the defence could not be heard on Thursday. But Russian state-controlled media has shown little interest in their trip to the US, and a decision appears to have been taken that the Tsarnaevs’ links to Russia should be played down. On 8 April, the jury convicted Tsarnaev...

A man being questioned in connection with the Boston Marathon bombings who was killed in Florida early Wednesday by the FBI was reportedly going to admit his role in the 2011 Waltham triple homicide, according to news partner WCVB. Khusen Taramov said he and Ibragim Todashev were being questioned as part of the bombings by the FBI official and law enforcement officers in Orlando. Taramov said Todashev, 27, knew bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev because both were MMA fighters, WCVB reports. Taramov said they were interviewed nearly three hours, and at some point, "something went wrong," and Todashev was killed. Sources...

Unusual, but doing 2 this week... I felt I needed an American icon group (and I thought that I may forget to post it next time). Once again, Brad and Lex listening to a song generation before them (I think first time for them to hear Boston).

Jennifer Byrne, the mother of the two kids, said the incident left her children traumatized. "My daughter called me, I'm at work. She was in hysterics, crying, saying, 'Somebody put a gun to us and took all of our money,'" she said.

With the US-Israel train wreck unavoidable on Tuesday, the challenge now is to pick up the pieces and refocus on thwarting Tehran The prime minister has created the dismal situation whereby even his speech to AIPAC, a day prior to Tuesday’s address to Congress, becomes somewhat problematic. Not only are America’s legislators being asked to choose between their president and the Israeli prime minister, as the veteran administration official Dennis Ross observed at the weekend. But AIPAC’s 16,000-strong, overwhelmingly Jewish audience, in mightily applauding Netanyahu, will be seen by some critics as endorsing a stance against the White House —...

The term for the political tactic of manipulating boundaries of electoral districts for unfair political advantage derives its name from a prominent 19th-century political figure -- and from a mythological salamander.The term, originally written as "Gerry-mander," first was used on March 26, 1812, in the Boston Gazette -- a reaction to the redrawing of Massachusetts state senate election districts under Gov. Elbridge Gerry.Though the redistricting was done at the behest of his Democratic-Republican Party, it was Gerry who signed the bill in 1812. As a result, he received the dubious honor of attribution, along with its negative connotations.Gerry, in fact,...

With so-called Pride festivities set to kick off in three days, the LGBTQ3.14… community in Boston has been confronted with a turd in their punchbowl, in the form of an outbreak of the monkeypox virus. Monkeypox (or mpox, as racist people who can't help themselves from associating monkeys with certain minorities call it) causes symptoms that include "a skin rash or mucosal lesions which can last 2–4 weeks accompanied by fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, low energy and swollen lymph nodes," the World Health Organization informs us. WHO warns that monkeypox can spread: ...from person to person mainly through...

A Democratic National Committee staff member is believed to be behind a profane X post targeting White House adviser Stephen Miller that was published from the DNC’s official account. Paulina Mangubat, 30, a DNC senior digital strategist who previously worked as digital content and creative director for the Democrats, serves on the team responsible for managing the party’s @TheDemocrats X account, which has 2.4 million followers. Her LinkedIn profile says she graduated from Barnard College in 2017 and previously worked as digital and creative director for woke Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.

During and after the American Revolution, there was no registration of firearms in the colonies that were to become the United States. There is good evidence that handguns were commonly owned during this period.One of the primary sources comes from records of the occupation of Boston by General Gage, both before and after the battles of Lexington and Concord. The history of these engagements was meticulously recorded by Richard Frothingham in the History of the Siege of Boston, published in 1873. Frothingham used original sources, particularly the Boston Town Meeting Minutes of 22-28 April, 1775, for the numbers of weapons.After...

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is handing out $500 vouchers to migrants so they can enjoy haircuts, massages and other self-care benefits, despite the city's budget plunging nearly $50 million short. Applicants who are 'low-income, isolated queer and trans migrants, asylum seekers and refugees' are prioritized for the 'wellness allowance.' The initiative, called 'Boston Matters', was created by OUTnewcomers, a nonprofit that advocates for LGBTQ+ migrants in Boston alongside the Mayor's Office for Immigrant Advancement, Mass Daily News reported. Applicants get $250 to $500 toward 'non-clinical care' completely funded by the city agency, which is run by the Democrat's administration. They...

As if World Cup tickets weren't costly enough, getting to those games is slated to cost plenty more than usual. NJ Transit tickets from MetLife Stadium to New York Penn Station after matches are reportedly set to cost more than $100, while prices in Boston are also set to surge. Currently, prices from East Rutherford to Penn Station are just under $13. The Athletic also reported that there will be no price differences for seniors, children or passengers with disabilities, and a final decision on the pricing is expected in the next few days. Last week, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation...

Working in cooperation with the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested five foreigners wanted for murder in their home countries. These arrests included Danny Granado-Garcia (El Salvador), Kele Cristian Alves-Pereira (Brazil), Magno Jose Dos Santos (Brazil), Bryan Rafael Gomez (Dominican Republic), and Altieris Chaves Paiva (Brazil). Boston Mayor Michelle Wu (D) objected, saying "it was just two months ago that I issued an executive order that explicitly forbade ICE carrying out any of its enforcement activity in my city. ICE is an unconstitutional and violent organization that has been terrorizing immigrants all across the...

You know what sounds like a good TV show? “ICE Boston .” I’d watch. In real life, they’re helping clear the streets of New England of criminal illegal aliens, and they’ve nabbed five of them who were let in under the Biden regime and were firmly on the radar of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), a cooperative body of 196 countries that shares information. Advertisement Ironically, the agents are operating out of a city whose mayor, Michelle Wu, pitched a fit over their presence and crafted an executive order in February calling ICE missions “unconstitutional and violent federal operations”...

"He immediately opened the door and struck the clinician and an officer who was outside the door." Police "reforms" in Boston replaced cops with mental health clinicians and social workers, and on Saturday one of those clinicians was attacked by a delusional man wielding a sword. The suspect, who has not been publicly identified, attacked the clinician as well as police officers with the sword. Cops responded by shooting and killing the suspect. The incident took place near the Northeastern University campus on Saturday morning in Boston. Officers were responding to a 911 call about four people armed with guns...

A man accused of hiring a hitman to take out US politicians, including President Donald Trump, says he was pressured by Iran's elite ​Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) to devise the plot. A man accused of plotting to kill US President Donald Trump and other top politicians told the court on Wednesday he was pressured by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to organise their assassinations. Pakistan national Asif Raza Merchant, 47, was charged in September 2024 with seeking to hire a hitman to assassinate unidentified US politicians. He pleaded not guilty to the charges. The IRGC — Iran's elite...

A probe into what city councilors on Wednesday called a “public safety and public health emergency” within the Boston Police Department is moving forward, as the policymakers warned a yearslong surge in retirements, resignations and forced overtime has pushed force ranks to a breaking point. The warnings come as Boston police officers remain among the city’s highest‑paid employees. City payroll data showed the 54 top-paid city workers in 2025 were all members of the Boston Police Department, many of whom earned tens of thousands of dollars in overtime and detail pay alone, some more than $200,000. ... Halfway through the...

A Boston police officer has been charged with manslaughter in connection with the deadly shooting of a carjacking suspect last week. Nicholas O'Malley, 33, of Boston, was arrested Thursday morning and was arraigned in Roxbury District Court in connection with the fatal shooting of Stephenson King, 39, of Dorchester, on March 11. He entered a not guilty plea and was released on personal recognizance, with a condition that he surrender any firearms in his possession. Court paperwork said the manslaughter charge against O'Malley is for "assaulting and beating Stephenson King when they knew or reasonably should have known that the...