Free Republic

According to new report, opposition to abortion is more ‘extreme’ than rape.A European abortion lobby is warning against “religious extremism” on the rise across the continent, singling out Catholicism and ignoring the threat posed to Europe by Islam. The 158-page report “The Next Wave: How Religious Extremism Is Reclaiming Power,” published by the European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual & Reproductive Rights (EPF), faults “religious extremism” for the phenomenon of “accelerating financial expansion of movements working to dismantle decades of hard-won sexual and reproductive rights across Europe.”The EPF report derides the “anti-rights and religious extremist actors in Europe” working to oppose...

Ursula's new "European Media Freedom Act" permits the arrest of journalists if it is in the "public interest." ... The act also allows surveillance software to be deployed on devices used by media service providers, editorial staff, or related persons in the “public interest. Who decides the “public interest?” Sophie ... The new law also contains numerous provisions that call for action against alleged "disinformation." Ursula von der Leyen, EU Commission President ... "national lists" are to be created listing the owners and addresses of media outlets, as stipulated in Article 6. Despite its intent to strengthen media freedom, critics...

Germany's foreign minister said on Thursday recognition of a Palestinian state should come at the end of talks on a two-state solution but Berlin would respond to any unilateral actions, after citing "annexation threats" by some Israeli ministers. Johann Wadephul issued the statement before heading off to Israel and the Palestinian territories on a trip Berlin has billed as a fact-finding mission amid heightened alarm over starvation in Gaza. His remarks marked Germany’s strongest warning yet to Israel as Western nations intensify efforts to exert pressure. In recent weeks, Britain, Canada and France have all signaled their readiness to recognise...

Palestinian statehood comes at the end of negotiations for a two-state solution and that process can no longer be held in abeyance, Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said Thursday. “A negotiated two-state solution remains the only path that can offer people on both sides a life in peace, security, and dignity,” he said in a statement issued shortly before his trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories, as reported by Ynet News. “For Germany, the recognition of a Palestinian state comes more at the end of that process. But such a process must begin now.” Wadephul’s remarks follow a string...

Dutch lawyer Arno van Kessel was leading a civil lawsuit against Bill Gates, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, and Klaus Schwab over alleged COVID vaccine-related crimes, he was recently arrested by Dutch special forces in a late-night raid and jailed without formal charges.

Keir Starmer addresses the nation as he announces the UK will recognise a Palestinian state in September

The British government has reportedly tasked a specialist police unit to surveil social media for anti-mass migration opinions as it braces for another potential summer of unrest. Rather than address the concerns of the public, such as removing the mostly young male illegal migrants from the taxpayer-funded hotel accommodations in communities across the country, the UK Home Office has formed the National Internet Intelligence Investigations to “maximise social media intelligence” about anti-mass migration sentiment on social media, according to The Telegraph. The team will work out of the Covid lockdown-enforcing National Police Coordination Centre (NPoCC) in London. It comes amid...

If you have any doubt that the European Union is devolving into a soft totalitarian state, think again. I have been sounding the alarm bells about the developments in Europe for as long as I have been writing at Hot Air, and some of you may have thought me an alarmist engaged in hyperbole. I am alarmed, of course, but by real threats to freedom. The latest assault on freedom--not just in Europe, because the EU and Great Britain are using their criminal and regulatory powers to suppress speech in the US as well as other countries--comes with the breaking...

It’s frightening enough to see full-blown totalitarianism return in Germany, but worse is knowing that it’s happening across the West, including in America. Germany’s Bundestag police commissioner, Uli Grötsch, is trying his best to rid his police force of members of the conservative Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. Grötsch, himself a member of the left-leaning Social Democratic Party (SPD), is tasked with overseeing police misconduct, but instead is using his position specifically to target supporters of the AfD to disqualify them from serving in law enforcement. Speaking to the Rheinische Post, Grötsch flatly stated: “AfD membership and work as a...

France will recognise a Palestinian state in September at the UN general assembly, Emmanuel Macron has said. The French president announced the decision on X on Thursday evening, saying he hoped it would bring peace to the region. Macron published a letter sent to Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, confirming France’s intention to become the first major western power to recognise a Palestinian state. “True to its historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognise the State of Palestine,” Macron said. “I will make this solemn announcement at the...

Poland demands Vatican dismiss two bishops over sermons against illegal immigrationThe liberal Polish government claimed the comments violated the 1993 concordat between the Holy See and Poland.The Polish government has called on the Vatican to punish and dismiss two Catholic bishops who spoke out against the country’s immigration policy.Poland’s ambassador to the Holy See, Adam Kwiatkowski, delivered a diplomatic note to the Vatican’s Secretariat of State complaining about the recent statement by two Polish bishops on immigration and the Polish government.The document accused the bishops of making speeches that “undermine good Polish-German relations, slander the government, and indicate clear support...

People belonging to extremist organisations, including the far-right AfD party, will be blocked from taking up government positions in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, the state's interior minister has announced. Members of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party won't be able to enter public service positions in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate going forward, the state’s interior minister, Michael Ebling (SPD), announced on Thursday in Mainz. The western German state is changing the rules around recruitment for civil servants. Specifically, applicants for government positions will be required to declare that they do not belong to an extremist organisation (and have not...

Last week, on June 26th, the European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Rights (EPF) launched The Next Wave, a “report” that purports to expose the rise of so-called “anti-gender” and “anti-feminist” religious actors in Europe, whose goal is to “dismantle decades of hard-won sexual and reproductive rights across Europe.” Cloaked in the language of human rights, the document is, in truth, a politically charged dossier; reading more like a counter-terrorist threat assessment, and explicitly paints religious advocacy groups as part of an organized extremist threat that needs to be stopped at all costs. “A new alliance of religious extremists,...

“Germany is considering purchasing up to 2,500 armored fighting vehicles and as many as 1,000 battle tanks as part of a joint European effort to create new NATO brigades to deter Russia, according to people familiar with the matter. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has asked Germany to contribute as many as seven combat brigades to the alliance within the next decade. The fighting vehicles and tanks, if approved, would equip these forces, people familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity.” “The order under consideration by Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and the Bundeswehr’s top generals would include as...

"Political control and the concealment of information are hallmarks of totalitarian ideologies," wrote Marine Le Pen in response to the amendment, which cites the murders of Thomas and Lola.. When reality does not mesh with the “narrative,” the left’s standard tactic is to turn to censorship, and the French left is no different. The French Greens and other left-wing parties now want to make sure that news stories are not used for ideological purposes by the “far right,” claiming that certain media outlets are causing a “moral panic” around immigration due to migrant murders. According to a parliamentary amendment tabled...

House raids over speech violations are becoming commonplace across Germany, even as violent crime explodes... On Wednesday morning at 6 a.m., a large-scale police operation was launched across Germany, targeting hundreds of individuals suspected of insulting politicians or spreading “hate and incitement” online. The massive crackdown saw police launch morning raids against 170 individuals, which saw police seize computers, cell phones, and tablets, and conduct searches in multiple locations across the country. The action, which was conducted by the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), uses the new Criminal Code Paragraph 188 to target individuals accused of racism and hate speech....

Keir Starmer tonight defended Canada as an "independent, sovereign nation" after Donald Trump's 51st state of America attacks. As he jetted to Ottawa for key meetings with the country's PM Mark Carney ahead of the G7 summit, Mr Starmer said Canada was also "a much-valued member of the Commonwealth". Last year the US President referred to Mr Carney's predecessor - Justin Trudeau - as "governor" and Canada as "the 51st state" of America. Asked whether he called out the threats, “Canada and the US are our allies. Canada is an independent, sovereign nation, and quite right, too. "And that’s the...

When immigration agents pulled up outside a Los Angeles car wash on a quiet Sunday afternoon, it sparked instant chaos. Some customers at the Westchester Hand Wash, which sits in the centre of a busy shopping area just blocks from the city's airport, froze as the officers in olive-green uniforms approached, CCTV footage obtained by the BBC shows. Two employees who spotted them ducked behind a luxury SUV they were wiping down with a rag. Another worker halfway through cleaning the back window of a car looked up. Then all at once they scattered and ran, some jumping over a...

BERLIN (Reuters) -Europe is capable of sustaining Ukraine's resistance against Russia, even if the United States were to decide to completely halt its military support to Kyiv, the senior military official in charge of coordinating Germany's arms supplies told Reuters.Major General Christian Freuding said NATO's European members plus Canada had already exceeded the estimated $20 billion worth of U.S. military aid provided last year to Kyiv.They accounted for around 60% of the total costs borne by the Western allies, he said."The war against Ukraine is raging on our continent, it is also being waged against the European security order. If...

The democratic will of the Hungarian people to clamp down on the proliferation of LGBTQ+ ideology should be punished by the European Commission, a group of 16 EU countries demanded on Wednesday. In response to recent legislation passed by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s conservative government to ban Pride parades in Hungary, over half of fellow European Union member states signed an open letter demanding that Budapest reverse course or face punishment from Brussels. The “declaration” was signed by the countries of Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, and Sweden. […]...