Free Republic

Robert Prevost’s last act on social media before he became pope was a retweet. It was April of last year. Donald Trump had hosted Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele in the Oval Office, where the two men laughed about the unlawful deportation of a U.S. resident to El Salvador’s CECOT prison. Cardinal Prevost saw the post — a Rocco Palmo dispatch citing the words of Washington Auxiliary Bishop Evelio Menjivar — and reposted it to his Twitter following. Image “Do you not see the suffering?” Menjivar had asked in the Catholic Standard. “Is your conscience not disturbed? How can you stay...

WHAT HAPPENED: A 19-year-old Afghan migrant was arrested in France for allegedly raping sheep and goats at an educational farm near Marseille. The animals were found tied up and injured, prompting the farm owners to install cameras that captured the acts. Police from an anti-crime unit arrested the suspect on April 10 after catching him in the act. Authorities said DNA evidence linked him to multiple abused animals. The suspect, who arrived in France in November 2025 and was awaiting residency, denied the allegations through an interpreter.

New police data shows foreign nationals feature disproportionately in violent offences, with sharp regional disparities and rising political pressure. Germany’s latest police crime statistics (PKS) have reignited the migration debate, with new data showing a stark overrepresentation of foreign nationals in violent offences. According to the figures, non-German suspects—particularly from Syria and Afghanistan—feature disproportionately in serious crimes. While foreign nationals account for around 15% of the population, their share of violent crime suspects is significantly higher. The imbalance is especially visible at regional level. In several federal states, including Bavaria, Berlin, and Baden-Württemberg, roughly half of all suspects in violent...

Texas Congressman Keith Self has dropped a bombshell on the growing reality of Sharia-adherent communities taking root inside the United States. Far from some future hypothetical, these enclaves are here, now, and operating openly in his own district.Self laid it out plainly: “Sharia is alive, well, and operating in Plano, Texas. Right now, as I speak, there is an existing Sharia-adherent enclave run by the East Plano Islamic Center in my congressional district. It’s been functioning for 12 years right in our midst. This is not a hypothetical or future threat. It is here, now and operational.”He continued: “It is...

A former Los Angeles Unified School District employee has been charged in what prosecutors described as a pay-to-play scheme that directed more than $22 million in contracts to a single technology company, making it one of the largest money laundering schemes in the district’s history. Officials with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office allege that between 2018 and 2022, 53-year-old Pasadena resident, Hong “Grace” Peng, who worked as a technical project manager for LAUSD, of illegally awarding Innive, a Texas-based tech company, millions of dollars worth of contracts for work on the district’s My Integrated Student Information System (MiSiS)....

Heart-pounding audio captured the frantic moments before Sunday’s fatal collision involving an Air Canada passenger plane and a firefighting truck at LaGuardia Airport — with one air traffic controller admitting after they “messed up.” Air traffic controllers urged an incoming plane to go around as the crash unfolded on the ground, killing the jet’s pilot and co-pilot, according to LiveATC audio. The truck was cleared to cross the airport’s Runway 4 before air traffic controllers urged a Frontier plane bound for Miami and the vehicle to stop. “Stop, stop, stop, stop,” the controller frantically demanded. “Truck 1, stop, stop, stop....

The Oscars, once Hollywood's premier celebration of cinematic artistry, have increasingly come under fire for prioritizing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) mandates over pure merit and storytelling excellence. Titled "Why the Oscars Suck: Diversity, Equity Inclusion Standards Fail Art," this critique highlights how the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Representation and Inclusion Standards-introduced in 2020 and fully enforced for Best Picture eligibility since 2024-have transformed the awards into what many view as a politicized checklist rather than a genuine honor for filmmaking achievement.

Two people have been taken to hospital overnight after an alleged machete attack in the heart of Melbourne's CBD, days after a fatal stabbing in a separate incident in the city's outer north. Police allege a 25-year-old Manor Lakes man armed with a machete attacked a man and a woman near the corner of Queen and Flinders streets just after 2:30am on Monday. The woman in her 20s was transported to hospital in a serious condition with upper body injuries. The man, believed to be in his 20s, was treated for mid-body injuries and transported to hospital in a stable...

More than 30 arrests for charges of rape, malicious wounding, assault, firing a weapon. Virginia just decided that the way to go is with the ‘free all the illegal alien criminals’ party. And that leads to women being stabbed to death at bus stops. By Muslim illegal aliens with 30 priors because arresting them and handing them over to ICE interferes with what is currently the supreme cause of the movement after previous stints with ‘BLM’ and ‘Hamas’ (not to mention the drag queens). It’s not good for America. It wasn’t good for Stephanie. But it’s working out pretty well...

Advocating for diverse viewpoints on campuses is now apparently akin to saying “All Lives Matter,” or pushing a supposedly sinister Make America Great Again plot. That’s according to two recent op-eds, penned by professors at Stanford and Johns Hopkins, opposing efforts to get professors and students with different opinions onto campus. Academia has lost public trust precisely because anyone not of the far-left is admonished on campuses. Accusing proponents of viewpoint diversity of being Trumpy conspiracists certainly doesn’t help. Any professor who truly cares about academia should want more views on campus, regardless of their own politics. “It’s profoundly anti-intellectual,...

Maryan Hashi remembers the thoughts running through her mind when she began hitting the ski slopes in northern Sweden. As a Black woman from Somalia, she felt like an “alien.” “Am I wearing the correct clothing for this? Does it fit? Do I look weird? Am I snowboarding correctly? Do they think it’s weird I’m on the slope?” she said. “But I carried on — I felt if I didn’t, I was never going to commit to anything in my life.” A few years later, snowboarding is the 30-year-old student’s big passion and it is helping her integrate into her...

I reveal here that I have finally read a likable DEI book, one that I found so because—beyond any doubt whatever—this book will infuriate the DEI faithful. Make no mistake, I don’t like this book in the same way I might enjoy a Douglas Murray takedown of leftist shibboleths or a Thomas Sowell skewering of the economic-egghead fringe. Rather, for DEI proponents, it’s a realistic adjustment of expectations in a post-Floyd era, in which the ashes of DEI doctrine are being scraped from the floor even as you read this. Authors Kenji Yoshino and David Glasgow have at least one...

The BBC must stop box-ticking casting that 'shoe-horns' ethnic minority actors into period dramas, a review has urged. In a damning independent report into the corporation's content, the BBC was also told it needs to improve coverage of the working class and women over 60 if it is to keep engaging audiences. The broadcaster has been conducting 'preachy' diversity casting in a string of its dramas, resulting in ethnic minorities ending up in inappropriate settings, the review found.

Ranya Brooks will serve as the inaugural director of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Office of Belonging, Community, and Connection, Dean Jeremy M. Weinstein announced Friday afternoon in an email to students, faculty, and staff. Brooks, who most recently served as director of workforce engagement for Harvard University Campus Services, will begin her new role on Jan. 26. The appointment follows a six-month search launched after the departure of Robbin Chapman, who previously led the school’s diversity office. Chapman left during the broader rebranding of the Kennedy School’s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts into what is now the OBCC. During the...

The National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE) has published its second “State of the Chief Diversity Officer” (CDO) report. Following up on the 2023 survey, the 2025 study shares some interesting findings. Have efforts to rid higher education of DEI’s influence been, from NADOHE’s members’ perspective, a decidedly undesirable success? The report received responses from 394 CDOs and academic diversity officers (ADOs) and asked how these roles had changed either positively or negatively since 2023. Although one might expect such a study to illustrate that DEI is in danger on higher-ed campuses, the findings don’t convincingly indicate...

As the Democrats continue to wail and screech over U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in Minneapolis, Portland, and elsewhere, the receipts continue to pile up showing that they are in fact cheerleading and trying to protect some of the worst criminal elements in our society. One reality they continue to ignore is that if blue state “sanctuary” mayors and governors hadn’t purposefully reneged on their sworn duty to keep the public safe, and if ideologues like former President Joe Biden hadn’t opened the floodgates at the southern border to any and all comers, many of these enforcement operations...

You’ve heard of DEI in the workforce, but DEI in the National Football League isn’t all that different of a ball game. And after looking at the stats, BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock determines it’s been doing far more damage than good. In 2018, 19 quarterbacks averaged more than 250 passing yards per game. Now, in 2025, there are only five quarterbacks who average more than 250 passing yards per game. “There are five quarterbacks that average more than 250 passing yards per game: Dak Prescott, Matthew Stafford, Jared Goff, Patrick Mahomes, and Drake Maye. ... What are we watching? What...

The New Year festivities in the Netherlands left two people dead, saw 'unprecedented' violence against police and destroyed a 19th century Amsterdam church. A 17-year-old boy from Nijmegen and a 38-year-old man from Aalsmeer were killed in fireworks accidents. Three others were left seriously injured. One person has been arrested in connection to the teenager's death, but authorities have not yet revealed any information on the suspect's identity and an investigation is ongoing.

https://x.com/nicksortor/status/2003272753953247254 0:53 VIDEO at link...............

For many of us who grew up in the fifties, sixties, and seventies, Britain had a distinct identity—one rooted in tradition, culture, and a shared sense of belonging. But over the past few decades, that Britain has slowly transformed, replaced by a new, complex reality. From the days of neighborhood corner shops, Sunday roasts, and traditional family values, to a country that now feels more fragmented and uncertain. This video takes you through the journey of how Britain’s identity evolved and why so many of us feel like we're losing touch with the country we once knew. The slow disappearance...