Free Republic

The US is engaging in “extreme rightwing tropes” with echoes of the 1930s and threatening “chilling” interference in European democracies, British MPs warned ministers on Thursday. The House of Commons rounded on Donald Trump’s national security strategy, which stated that Europe was facing “civilisational erasure” and vowed to help the continent “correct its current trajectory and promote patriotic European parties”. Matt Western, a Labour MP and chair of parliament’s joint committee on the UK government’s national security strategy, said: “The United States consensus that has led the western world since the second world war appears shattered. “The prospect of United...

Former Trump White House official Marc Short told Politico’s Dasha Burns that the Democratic Party will likely dominate the 2026 midterms. In an appearance on CSPAN’s Ceasefire alongside Democratic strategist Adrienne Elrod, Short said that the Republican Party is already set to endure heavy losses in the upcoming elections. “I think it’s going to be a really steep climb, Dasha,” said Short, in relation to GOP midterm efforts. “The reality is that Americans like divided government. They don’t want one party in control. Each time there’s been one party in control, there’s been a backlash.” The once chief of staff...

My guest today is Andrew Kolvet, who was Kirk’s close confidant. Since the assassination, he’s taken on many of Kirk’s responsibilities, including hosting “The Charlie Kirk Show.” Andrew Kolvet: …“Now, Charlie’s mission was to say: Hey, before us are two roads. You can either go grievance politics, socialism, free stuff populism, Mangione-ism, Mamdani-ism, or you can go MAGA.“ …“I think this is the through line for Israel — is you do not have to support Israel to belong to the team, at least in a traditional historical sense…I’m an American. I’m born in this country. My kids are going to...

The Gospel Coalition (TGC) sounded the alarm over a growing number of Protestant intellectuals, pastors, and influencers converting to the Catholic faith. Written by TGC’s Andrew Voigt, the article is framed as a strategic response to stem the tide of conversions. It warns of the effectiveness of Catholic apologetics, particularly online, and urges Protestants to develop a more robust counter-narrative. According to Voigt, Protestant apologetics has focused more on addressing atheism and secularism while Catholic evangelization efforts have been more directly aimed at engaging Protestants. An Italian Protestant pastor, Leonardo De Chirico, is quoted in Voigt’s article as saying that...

He grew up on a farm in Indiana, the son of a factory worker and eldest of five children. He studied at Liberty, a Christian university founded by the conservative pastor and televangelist Jerry Falwell, and recalls wearing a T-shirt expressing opposition to the Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. Two decades later, Justin Douglas is running for the US Congress – as a Democrat. He is among about white 30 Christian clergy – pastors, seminary students and other faith leaders – known to be potential Democratic candidates in next year’s midterm elections, including a dozen who are already in the...

Ursula von der Leyen also said she has always had "a very good working relationship" with US presidentsBRUSSELS, December 12. /TASS/. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the US president should not interfere into democratic processes in the EU member countries. "It is not on us, when it comes to elections, to decide who the leader of the country will be, but on the people of this country <…> That’s the sovereignty of the voters, and this must be protected," the European Commission president told Politico in an interview. "Nobody else is supposed to interfere, without any question."...

President Donald Trump suffered a major political setback on Thursday in his push to pass congressional redistricting in red states. After months of arm-twisting by the president, top allies and aligned groups, the Indiana Senate voted down a new map championed by Trump that would have created two more right-leaning congressional districts in the solidly red Midwestern state, where the GOP controls seven of Indiana's nine U.S. House seats. The districts of Democratic Reps. Frank Mrvan and Andre Carson would have been eliminated. The vote in the chamber was 31-19, with 21 Republicans joining 10 Democrats in voting against the...

The United States has ordered the expulsion of Venezuela’s consul general in Miami, AFP reported on Sunday. The expulsion comes amid reports linking the diplomat to an alleged Iranian plot to target sensitive U.S. facilities with cyber attacks. According to the report, the Venezuelan embassy in Washington was notified on Friday that Livia Acosta Noguera, the consul general in Miami, had been declared persona non grata and had until Tuesday to leave the country...

The United States would suffer a devasting defeat and lose its biggest aircraft carrier if it tried to stop China invading Taiwan, according to a top secret Pentagon report. War games showed the U.S. would be overwhelmed by China's arsenal of around 600 hypersonic weapons, along with missiles and nuclear submarines. The grim assessment, revealed by the New York Times, confirmed the conclusions of previous war games, but it also highlighted wider concerns about the future direction of the U.S. military and its continued reliance on outdated methods. *** Ships like the $13 billion USS Gerald R. Ford - the...

We have reached one of the most critical turning points in modern history, but most people don’t seem to understand this. Without a doubt, 2025 has been a year of war. There has been war in Ukraine, war in Iran, war in Gaza, and lots of other regional conflicts as well. But as I have been warning my readers, 2026 could potentially be far worse. Decisions that world leaders make during the months ahead will determine which way things go. Let us hope that they make their choices wisely. According to CNN, White House officials are coming up with plans...

A new US National Security Strategy (NSS) has accused Europe of economic, political and cultural deterioration, sending shockwaves through Brussels but delighting the continent's populist parties. The controversial strategy, signed by US President Donald Trump, warns that Europe is on the brink of 'civilisational erasure' due to decades of decline, and condemns its practice of 'censorship' and 'mass migration' that will render the continent 'unrecognisable in 20 years or less'. The report crystallises in stark terms the growing fracture between the EU and its most important ally, the United States, threatening to torpedo a relationship that has defined global politics...

Democrats continued their run of successes in special elections by flipping a state House seat in Georgia Tuesday, according to a projection from the CNN Decision Desk. The Democratic victory, in a district that voted for President Donald Trump by about 12 percentage points last year, comes ahead of next year’s critical midterms, when Georgians will vote in closely watched races for Senate and governor. Eric Gisler, a Democrat who owns a local olive oil store, will defeat Republican Mack “Dutch” Guest in the 121st House District, in the northeastern part of the state, near the college town of Athens....

Democrat Eileen Higgins has flipped the Miami mayor’s office, defeating Republican Emilio Gonzalez and marking the latest sign of the party’s momentum heading into next year’s midterms, according to Decision Desk HQ. Higgins is the first Democrat to become mayor of Miami since 1997. She bested Gonzalez, a former Miami city manager who served on President Trump’s Homeland Security Department transition team, to succeed incumbent Mayor Francis Suarez (R). The race is technically nonpartisan.

"Here’s a hard truth Republicans don’t want to hear: Nancy Pelosi was a more effective House speaker than any Republican this century," she wrote. "I agree with her on essentially nothing. But she understood something we don’t: No majority is permanent." The congresswoman wrote that unlike Republicans, when Democrats hold the majority, "they ram through the most progressive policies they can," and "deliver for the coalition that elected them while they are in power." Continuing her criticism of Congress' dysfunction, Mace maintained that "the current House is restrictive and ineffective," producing "control with barely any results." She argued that "Republican...

A gang of Philadelphia teenagers accused of robbing a Dick's Sporting Goods store in Florida while attending a football tournament have been named and shamed by a no-nonsense sheriff. Members of the eight-strong mob were arrested and hit with felony charges after their alleged December 6 theft spree - something they may not have expected in their Pennsylvania home city, whose district attorney is a notoriously woke prosecutor called Larry Krasner.

Sheriff Grady Judd Press Conference Eight teens from PA here in Polk to compete in football tournament arrested for felony retail theft at Posner Park Media Contact: Juliana Rivera, PIO The Polk County Sheriff’s Office has arrested eight teenagers who were caught in the act of conspiring to steal more than $2,000 worth of merchandise from Dick’s Sporting Goods in Posner Plaza, Davenport. Click here to see the news conference: https://youtu.be/U9sCasgpfOU On Saturday, December 6, 2025, at approximately 10:55 a.m., PCSO deputies responded to a report of retail theft in progress at the Dick’s Sporting Goods. The store manager contacted...

Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) gave the very strong impression that she had personally viewed a classified video of a suspected narco-terrorist drug boat involved in an alleged “double tap” strike during an interview with CNN.Actually, she did more than give the impression. She flat-out claimed she watched the video. With her own eyes.Duckworth described it as “deeply disturbing” during an appearance on CNN's “State of the Union” Sunday, accusing War Secretary Pete Hegseth of committing “essentially murder” and a potential war crime.When host Dana Bash asked her if she had viewed the video, she did not waver.“I have seen the...

Country singer John Rich recounts a private dinner with the president, where Trump questioned why people at his rallies were booing vaccines, and how Sen. Lindsey Graham responded to his answer, during a Tomi Lahren interview.JOHN RICH: Being a conservative is not an interchangeable word with being a Republican. They are two different things, they really are. I mean, Lindsey Graham is not a conservative. Oh, I can't stand him. He's a warmonger. He's one of the most disgusting people I have ever had the displeasure of sitting across a table from. He called me a conspiracy theorist in front...

A total of 32 individuals who were working with Boeing had complained to regulatory authorities that there had been retaliations against those who raised safety concerns against the company. Two of them have died recently. Joshua Dean, who was a quality auditor for Spirit AeroSystems, a supplier of Boeing, passed away. Despite his healthy lifestyle, Dean went to a hospital a couple of weeks before his death as he was having trouble breathing…He developed pneumonia and a bacterial infection. Dean had complained to the FAA on “serious and gross misconduct by senior quality management of the 737 production line…” Before...

A leading scientist’s warning about intensifying technological competition has been interpreted by the market as a starting gun. Shares of U.S. quantum computing companies soared after John Martinis, a 2024 Nobel Prize laureate in physics, stated in a recent Bloomberg interview that China is catching up rapidly, with the U.S. lead potentially narrowed to “nanoseconds.” The episode highlighted how geopolitical anxiety can fuel a market frenzy. “China has caught up quickly… I’m worried that maybe we’re nanoseconds ahead of them,” Martinis said. While intended as a serious warning about eroding U.S. technological supremacy, the financial market drew a different implication:...