Free Republic

The plan imposes an unsustainable financial burden on taxpayers today and in the future After last week’s near unanimous approval by San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors (our 11-member City Council) to establish a “fund” to accept and distribute so-called Reparations to qualified city recipients, will Mayor Daniel Lurie veto it? In July 2023, San Francisco’s African American Reparations Advisory Committee unveiled a sweeping reparations plan aimed at “addressing historical injustices against Black residents.” Make no mistake, this scheme goes far beyond a mere 7-figure payout. The 100-point Reparations proposal includes the highly publicized $5 million lump-sum payments to eligible Black...

~A happy third day of Christmastide to you. Waking on Boxing Day to hear that President Trump had dispatched the USAF across the Atlantic to take out the compounds of "scum", I naturally assumed he was referring to 10 Downing Street: A teacher in an English school was accused of posing a risk to children and referred to the Government's counter-terrorism programme after showing Donald Trump videos to his US politics class... Henley College, a sixth-form in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, with more than 2,000 students, reported the politics lecturer to the local child safeguarding authority, which concluded a referral to Prevent,...

Billionaires including Peter Thiel, the tech venture capitalist, and Larry Page, a co-founder of Google, are considering cutting or reducing their ties to California by the end of the year because of a proposed ballot measure that could tax the state’s wealthiest residents, according to five people familiar with their thinking. Mr. Thiel, 58, who owns a home in the Hollywood Hills and operates a personal investment firm from Los Angeles, has explored opening an office for that firm, Thiel Capital, in another state, and spending more time outside of California, three of the people said. Other billionaires who appear...

Clinton won in 1992 by selling a recession that was already over; the lesson for 2026 is simple—ignore real economic gains, and a fake downturn can still decide an election. As the 1992 campaign approached, incumbent president George H.W. Bush was seen as a shoo-in for reelection. The First Gulf War ended in 1991 with a spectacular U.S. victory at the head of a coalition that had expelled Saddam Hussein from Kuwait with few losses. For much of 1991, Bush’s approval ratings hovered between 90 and 70 percent. By February 1992, an obscure Arkansas governor, Bill Clinton, emerged as the...

00:00 – Why Hamas Is a Religious Movement, Not a Nationalist One 08:05 – Why Islam Claims Land Can Never Leave Muslim Rule 13:20 – Why Western Leaders Misread Hamas’s Intentions 14:45 – October 7: What Hamas Was Trying to Achieve 16:55 – Why Western Media Repeats Hamas Casualty Claims 18:58 – What Jihad Really Means in Islamic Doctrine 23:40 – Demographic and Cultural Jihad in the West 25:10 – Qatar’s Role in Supporting the Muslim Brotherhood 27:25 – How Qatar Became a Global Islamist Power Broker 29:40 – Iran, Hamas, and the Sunni–Shia Alliance Against Israel 30:35 – Debating...

Although there is much to lament in the unconstitutional and illegal policies of the Trump administration, not enough has been said about its lack of compassion and basic human decency. How does it change us as a nation to witness countless acts of cruelty by our government? How does it change how we talk in our society to see a president refer to other nations as “shithole” countries or to tell a female reporter, “quiet, piggy”?

Last month’s mass shooting at a child’s birthday party in Stockton that left four people dead, 13 injured and more than 150 guests at the targeted event likely severely traumatized, should have been a rallying moment for California’s political leaders. In addition to calling for more gun control, elected leaders could have doubled down on support for crime victims — specifically by improving access to emergency financial assistance and trauma recovery services, as well as violence intervention programs. Available data shows these investment strategies to be effective in lowering crime rates.

Trump’s uncharacteristically wooden address to the nation revealed a panicked president

There is a Christmas manufactured for display windows and marketing campaigns, bright, hurried, and quickly forgotten. There is the Christmas our Founders knew, quiet, severe, inward, and bound to something far older and more demanding than comfort. They did not inherit a nation wrapped in ribbon. They brought one into being through cold hands, empty stomachs, and resolute faith. When George Washington crossed the Delaware on Christmas night, there were no speeches to stir the heart and no crowds to bear witness. There was no certainty of success. There was only an obligation. The men who followed him were unpaid,...

Millions of Americans want to move to Canada. While few have actually left the country after Trump’s latest victory, they fantasize about living under a leftist government with free health care. And during the recent debates about ObamaCare’s self-destructing subsidies, every self-respecting liberal vehemently denounced America’s backward ‘paid’ health care. Every civilized country has free health care, they insist. Just look at Canada. Canada does have free health care in the sense that there are government insurance systems that cover “medically necessary services” funded by paying 70% more in taxes than Americans. This ‘free health care’ comes with a 3...

Diversity is not our strength California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat, posted to X his support for the “migrant community” in California over the state’s legal immigrants and citizens. “Migrant” is the new word for “illegal” alien. “Migrant communities are vital to California’s vibrant culture and world leading economy. In CA, we’ll continue to protect our migrant communities this #InternationalMigrantsDay and every day.” Because as Democrats love to say, “Diversity is our strength.” Yet nothing is further from the truth. British historian Arnold Toynbee warned, “Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder.” “According to Toynbee, civilizations start to decay...

The ammunition boxes stacked on the stage opened up to reveal figurines of angels and an infant Jesus lying in his manger. Six actors sang plaintive carols, accompanied by readings of the brooding poetry of Kharkiv writer Serhiy Zhadan. The audience sat, transfixed by the almost unbearable intensity of the spectacle. The nativity play, performed on a recent evening at Kharkiv’s puppet theatre, was a reminder that conflict has seeped into the fabric of almost everything in Ukrainian life over the past four years. “We can’t just put on comedies and escape from reality,” said Oksana Dmitrieva, the nativity play’s...

Putting baby Jesus in zip ties places the Christmas story as a polemic against the Trump administration and its immigration law enforcement. Here in Dallas and elsewhere, individuals have been motivated by these narratives to attempt to kill ICE agents. Despite the virtues signaled by many Christian pastors across the United States, the demonization of law enforcement is not consistent with the teaching and praxis of Jesus. In fact, Mary and Joseph conformed to difficult imperial mandates compelling them to move and register in the hometown of Joseph. Herod is the dark evil figure of the Christmas story, and the...

Marian Morgan, for example, was sentenced in 2013 to nearly 34 years in prison for running a Ponzi scheme and was ordered to pay $17.5 million to dozens of investors, most of which remains unpaid. In 2021, she filed a statement in court saying, “I want to pay restitution to my victims so they know I am truly sorry for the damage I caused.” But in May, Trump commuted her sentence “to time served with no further fines, restitution, probation or other conditions.”

I never fail to be amazed at what we get used to. Trundling along in the New York subway the other day, I saw all the usual sights. Turnstile hoppers, of course, who never fail to aggravate me. “Why am I the only mug who’s paying?” is my general feeling. “Why did I just effectively pay for that guy’s journey as well?,” I think. Members of the National Guard and an officer from the Washington Metropolitan Police Department on foot patrols in the U Street neighborhood of Washington, Sunday, Nov., 30, 2025. Members of the National Guard and an officer...

Members of the MAGA faithful gathered here Thursday to kick off Turning Point USA’s America Fest, the largest meeting for the organization since its founder, Charlie Kirk, was shot to death on a Utah college campus in September. Despite that somber backdrop, the event quickly devolved into a spectacle of MAGA infighting.

... As I have had cause to remark a thousand times, nothing works anymore. When I observe that of the UK, English readers get mildly peeved. When I observe it of the Fifth Republic, French readers start gabbling and waving their Gauloise-stained hands around so animatedly their strings of onions fall from their shoulders. And, when I observe it of the United States, American readers get particularly chippy. But I'm an equal-opportunity civilisational doom-monger: we're all going over the falls, and arguing that the canoe of the Euro-pussies or the tight-assed Brits is a foot-and-a-half ahead isn't really much consolation....

One of President Donald Trump's top aides has some thoughts on Elon Musk. In a series of interviews with Vanity Fair published on Tuesday, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles weighed in on Musk's time as the de facto leader of DOGE, her thoughts on the Musk-led shuttering of USAID, and Musk's personality quirks. "The challenge with Elon is keeping up with him," Wiles told the outlet, calling Musk an "avowed ketamine" user who "sleeps in a sleeping bag" in an office building adjacent to the White House during the daytime. "He's an odd, odd duck, as I think...

Dan Bongino has said he will leave his role as the FBI's deputy director in January. "I want to thank President Trump, AG (Pam) Bondi, and Director (Kash) Patel for the opportunity to serve with purpose," Bongino wrote on X. It comes after US President Donald Trump said earlier on Wednesday the former podcast host "did a great job" in office, and "wants to go back to his show". Bongino, who was appointed to the role by Donald Trump in February, was previously a New York City police officer and a US Secret Service agent. In recent years, he built...

President Trump defended White House chief of staff Susie Wiles in an exclusive interview with The Post Tuesday — saying she was right to tell Vanity Fair he has an “alcoholic’s personality” and that he has full faith in Wiles to continue in her role.Trump, 79, reiterated that he avoids alcohol, saying in the interview he has a “possessive and addictive type personality” and that he wasn’t offended by her word choice. “No, she meant that I’m — you see, I don’t drink alcohol. So everybody knows that — but I’ve often said that if I did, I’d have a...