Free Republic

As the French right-wing National Rally is seizing on fiery protests in the country for its pre-election pitch, so are President Trump and his Republican allies in the U.S. The big picture: The Trump administration has used the unrest, which began over education grievances, to bolster its messaging on immigration and the threat of "communists," a group Trump has repeatedly claimed is threatening American civilization. Driving the news: "When you see burning steeples and raging fires in France, just remember that is what the radical 'Dumocrats' want to do to America," Trump said before a Kansas rally crowd Monday.

Three prominent Latin American political leaders have endorsed Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-Florida) in recent weeks, prompting criticism from some Democrats who describe the international support as foreign interference in a U.S. election. Salazar, who is running for reelection in a district President Donald Trump won by nearly 15 points in 2024, has faced backlash for saying that the administration’s signature immigration enforcement polices have gone too far. Now, as she courts Latino voters in South Florida, she has shared public messages of support from friendly right-wing leaders in Latin America, including Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate...

As hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets across France this past weekend in support of student protesters, many displayed a somewhat mystifying rallying cry on their cardboard signs: “Bismillah, c’est les ténèbres.” The phrase, a mash-up of the Islamic blessing “In the name of God” and the French phrase “It’s the darkness,” may make little sense on the surface. The poster addressed Snapchat users with the greeting “Bismillah, c’est les ténèbres,” a seemingly nonsensical phrase that appeared to mimic the colloquial blend of Arabic and French that young people in France sometimes use. The writer then added,...

Message at a Doha security conference comes as allies worry the U.S. will leave them to clean up after the Iran war DOHA—Regional security officials received a sobering American message as they gathered in the Qatari capital and braced for a potential new round of escalation between the U.S. and Iran: They need to look out for themselves. Tom Barrack, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey and President Trump’s special envoy for Syria and Iraq, said the grand bargains that have underpinned global security for decades are undergoing major transformation, and countries in the Middle East and elsewhere should focus on...

The mayor of the previously sleepy French city of Limoges has accused Emmanuel Macron’s government of having failed to properly equip police, claiming that officers ran out of ammunition as rioters stormed City Hall and set the historic building ablaze. Limoges Mayor Guillaume Guérin of the centre-right Républicains party told broadcaster BFMTV that around 700 “ultra-left” Black Bloc rioters joined the protest on Saturday of around 5,000 intent to “destroy, smash, and kill people.” The LR mayor detailed a level of premeditation and planning among the alleged leftist arsonists, saying that they came equipped with a battering ram weighing over...

With civil unrest, rioting and violence increasing across France in recent days, including countless migrants protesting conditions there, another European nation is touting its simple and effective means to enforce the border: Shoot unlawful migrants dead. "Do not come to the Polish border, or you will be dead, shot dead," said Polish Member of European Parliament Dominik Tarczyński in a recent interview. "Do not come to the Polish border. I'm very clear for years." Continued the official: "If you are coming, it's your own risk. Do not cry over that. Do not tell me that you were shot, you were...

As the footage of violent French riots circled the globe this weekend, American conservatives are warning that the same destruction could come to American shores. The threat, as they see it, comes from the burgeoning Red-Green Alliance, a partnership between the far-left and Islamists. A powerful visual of the purported alliance was on display in France this past weekend as crowds waving Palestinian flags protested and rioted alongside French communists and other far-left groups. At the center of the international promotion of France's unrest sits the network funded by left-wing donor Neville Roy Singham, whose groups were central boosters of...

Russia is a pillar of an anti-American axis led by China and joined by Iran and North Korea — the trio providing Putin with the economic backstop, materiel, and manpower he desperately needs. In 2022, Putin and China’s Xi Jinping issued a joint statement of cooperation that bluntly challenged the United States and NATO. The Russian regime is actively abetting Iran’s military operations against the United States, providing intelligence for targeted attacks on U.S. personnel, as well as drone weaponry (which Iran initially designed but Russia can produce at scale). That is to say: While Trump embraces Putin, Putin aids...

France's streets burned, shops were looted and stripped bare and a historic town hall collapsed under arson. Yet the most striking images from Saturday night were not the fires. They were the people who carried on as if nothing was happening.One woman jogged straight through thick black smoke past a burning barricade, treating the chaos like an outdoor treadmill session.Groups of French boomers kept dancing while buildings were torched around them, and a tour guide was filmed continuing her routine for visitors, smiling and pointing out landmarks while flames literally engulfed the city right in front of tourists.?French locals prefer...

The owner of two dogs that mauled a man in a Brisbane park on Friday evening has spoken out in their defence, claiming her dogs are not dangerous. A 37-year-old man was mauled by two pit bulls in Seventh Brigade Park on Kittyhawk Drive in Chermside at around 6pm on Friday. He was found by paramedics with life-threatening injuries to his arms, leg and face while the dogs fled the scene after police fired at them, which resulted in a police search involving aerial support. One dog was located shortly after the search begun but one remained at large overnight...

President Donald Trump warned Monday that Paris is on course to become a “Muslim city very soon,” blaming France’s escalating unrest on mass immigration and saying he had repeatedly urged French President Emmanuel Macron to close the country’s borders. “Paris is going to be a Muslim city very soon, and that wasn’t the deal,” Trump told reporters at the White House as France grappled with days of violent riots, looting, and arson. Trump said he had warned Macron about the consequences of his immigration policies years before the latest unrest. “Emmanuel, he’s a friend of mine. I told him a...

U.S. president said he would be willing to discuss denuclearization with leaders of Russia and China WASHINGTON—President Trump said Monday that he would be open to meeting with the leaders of Russia and China to discuss denuclearization.Trump’s comments came after The Wall Street Journal reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed that he, Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping meet next month to talk about Ukraine in an attempt to negotiate an end to the four-year conflict that would favor Moscow.Trump told reporters that he would be willing to join such a trilateral meeting, “not so much for Ukraine,...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with a bipartisan group of lawmakers on Monday and raised concerns about President Donald Trump's decision to waive key sanctions on Russia, as members of Congress push back against the president's moves to ease economic pressure on Moscow.During the video call, Zelenskyy reported concerns over disruptions to U.S. intelligence sharing and the administration's decision to waive Russia sanctions. He also told lawmakers that critical Starlink services remained degraded, hindering Ukraine's ability to intercept drones from Moscow, according to a readout from Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.).Blumenthal and Tillis led the meeting, which...

Ukraine’s Zelensky wouldn’t be included in proposed talks, as Russia’s leader seeks to negotiate end to war favorable to Moscow Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed that he, President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping meet next month to talk about Ukraine in an attempt to negotiate an end to the four-year conflict that would favor Moscow, said people familiar with the discussions. The plan represents an effort by Putin to capitalize on warming ties between Trump and the Russian leader that have alarmed Ukraine and its allies in Washington and Europe. Such a summit—one without the involvement of Ukrainian...

Jean-Luc Mélenchon and the left see an opening to take the presidency next year. The riots in France turned even uglier on the weekend, spreading across the country and including brazen acts of violence. We’ve explained the underlying fiscal and political woes behind the crisis, but the news this time is the pre-election play by far-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Heretofore Mr. Mélenchon, head of the far-left Indomitable France party, had taken a somewhat detached attitude to the protests. But this weekend he participated in protests in Paris. He also blamed police for “unleashing” on protesters, while condemning looting and arson....

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on Monday that a state of emergency could be imposed "if needed", while adding that curfews were a better solution to the crisis over violent protests. With six months to go before France elects a successor to President Emmanuel Macron, the country was rocked over the weekend by some of its worst street violence in years. The unrest came after weeks of student demonstrations demanding better conditions in schools. "I am absolutely determined to restore order," Lecornu said after a crisis meeting, adding he did not rule out imposing a state of emergency. "If...

AP Photo/Thibault Camus The Fake News Media's purpose isn't to make us pay attention to what matters. It's to tell us not to believe "our lyin' eyes." Such is the case with the France riots, which have turned into an immigrant-driven orgy of violence, mayhem, arson, vandalism, and looting. Of course, that is extremely problematic for The Narrative™️that importing millions of people from impoverished, Third World nations is "cultural enrichment," even if the ungrateful, military-age foreigners inevitably riot for more handouts from their gullible host country. It just so happens that this suits the far-left. Since the Western socialist left...

“Ayesha, Mohammed, Moinnuddin, Jasmeen, Saida, Sameena, Yaseen and the list goes on,” said 60-year-old Mohammed Baba Sharfuddin, as he listed 17 family members and 13 neighbours who he said were deleted from draft voter rolls this month. Sharfuddin’s family has lived in the same property in a Muslim area of Hyderabad in southern India since before independence from Britain in 1947. But their names were removed from the country’s voter register, with polling agents saying they had “permanently shifted” from their residence — part of a mass revision that has resulted in about 130mn people being struck from the rolls....

More than 1,100 Bengali Muslim families have been rendered homeless in a two-day eviction drive across Assam’s Nagaon, Hojai and Golaghat districts, with authorities demolishing homes and reportedly razing more than 10 mosques, some of them over 50 years old. According to media reports, on Sunday, the second day of the operation, authorities demolished the homes of more than 600 Muslim families in the Lutumari Longjap Reserve Forest in Nagaon district, claiming that the structures had been built on encroached forest land. A day earlier, 547 families were evicted under tight security across the three districts — 336 in Nagaon,...

Anthony Albanese says Independent MP Helen Haines was attacked outside her electoral office. A major police investigation is underway and a suspect is in custody, the Prime Minister told reporters at a press conference in Sydney on Monday night. This afternoon Helen Haines was attacked outside her electoral office in Wangaratta,” Mr Albanese said. “Our thoughts remain with Helen Haines at this very difficult time.” Mr Albanese confirmed the Australian Federal Police, Victorian Police, and ASIO were working together on the case. He also confirmed authorities would check the history of the 43-year-old man being treated as a suspect in...