Free Republic

I have lived in Budapest for most of the last five years and traveled extensively throughout Western Europe in that time. Over and over again in my travels, I face Europeans demanding that I justify the policies of that ‘monster,’ Viktor Orbán. To be fair, they are under no obligation to support Orbán and his Fidesz party, but it would be nice if these critics had any idea what they were talking about. They usually don’t—especially when it comes to migration. Long ago, I concluded that these Europeans, including British bien-pensants, have to scapegoat Orbán to escape blame for the...

For decades, Madison has worn its reputation for protest as a civic badge — from Vietnam War demonstrations to the Act 10 Capitol occupation in 2011. That tradition is surging again, with another mass protest planned for Saturday Since President Donald Trump took office for a second term last year, Madison police say protests have grown more frequent, drawing crowds to the Capitol, campus and city streets. In response, the Madison Police Department has begun holding a series of community conversations. This effort, department leaders said, is to explain how officers balance public safety with protecting the right to demonstrate...

San Francisco is restoring eighth-grade algebra after more than a decade, with the San Francisco Board of Education voting 4-3 Tuesday night to approve the change, reversing a controversial policy that had eliminated the course in middle schools in the name of equity. The vote follows years of debate over academic rigor, access and declining outcomes, as families increasingly pushed the district to expand advanced coursework options. "Families want to see a public school system that offers rigorous coursework. This is absolutely an instructional strategy," school board President Phil Kim said, according to The New York Times. "But it’s also...

Archaeologists have uncovered a 2,000–year–old sling bullet with a taunting message for its target – 'Learn your lesson'.The small, almond–shaped weapon, which would have been shot out of a handheld projectile pocket, was found in the remains of the ancient city of Hippos in Israel.It measures 3.2 x 1.95cm (3.2 x 0.76 inches), weighs 38 grams and was likely used by the Greek defenders of the city.While dozens of lead sling bullets have been found at the site, this one stands out – as it is the first one to bear this specific inscription...And it joins similar bullets inscribed with...

Senators passed a last-ditch Homeland Security funding bill early Friday, moving one step closer to ending the 42-day partial shutdown that has sparked major travel chaos at airports across the US. The last-ditch deal, struck before lawmakers headed off for spring break, will see most of the Department of Homeland Security reopened, but contains no funding provisions for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and parts of Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Democrats are framing the outcome as a win, but their demands for ICE agents to be unmasked were notably absent from the bill. “In the wake of the murders...

Critics say she’s not the brightest bulb! A state lawmaker has a dim-witted plan that would force the Empire State Building and nearly all of New York City to go dark after 11 p.m. — but detractors say the plan would let criminals run wild under the cloak of night. The “Dark Skies Protection Act,” sponsored by Manhattan Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, would require Big Apple businesses and residents to hit the off switch between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. to save energy, help migratory birds and avoid “light pollution,” according to the proposed bill. The goal is to “preserve and...

For weeks now, frustrated travelers trying to catch flights all over the United States have been caught in hours-long security-check lines as overwhelmed Transportation Security Administration agents were forced to work without pay. It’s not the first time that federal funding for TSA — a highly visible service that impacts millions of Americans daily — has been caught up in a political brawl in Congress, this time over immigration enforcement. It doesn’t have to be this way. In fact, it never should have happened, not even once. That’s because taxpayers and travelers already pay for transportation security, not through their...

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The “extraordinarily low” six-month sentence handed to a trans illegal immigrant who admitted to sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy in Manhattan sparked outrage Wednesday from a victims’ rights group and left even former prosecutors in shock. Legal eagles were baffled by the slap-on-the-wrist plea deal the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office struck with Nicol Alexandra Contreras-Suarez, a 31-year-old transgender woman from Colombia, in the vicious 2025 assault of a 14-year-old boy in East Harlem. “I didn’t know you could get six months on this,” said Seth Zuckerman, a former prosecutor in the Brooklyn DA’s Office and current criminal defense lawyer. “It’s...

Longing for a free homeland, hope for change and a deep love for Cuba drew thousands to the streets of Hialeah, where chants of “Libertad” echoed through the city during a “Cuba Libre” rally Tuesday evening. The gathering at Milander Field was part protest, part celebration — a vibrant echo of a Cuban fiesta. Hats reading “Make Cuba Great Again” and shirts proclaiming “Cubans from Morón” — a central Cuba town where protesters recently set fire to the Communist Party headquarters — or “Patria y Vida” dotted the crowd, while music, from Celia Cruz classics to reggaeton, pulsed through the...

Philadelphia County District Attorney Lawrence Krasner was slammed by the White House Wednesday after he brazenly threatened to arrest and jail ICE agents at airports — warning that even a pardon from President Trump wouldn’t protect them. The George Soros-backed Democrat unleashed the wild threat at Philadelphia International Airport days after Trump deployed ICE officers to at least 14 airports nationwide to assist TSA agents and help reduce the grueling lines that have plagued travelers amid the partial government shutdown. “The president cannot pardon you and yes I will put you in handcuffs, and I will put you in a...

WASHINGTON — Democrats keep making demands to fund the Department of Homeland Security — leaving in limbo thousands of federal workers who can’t afford to miss another paycheck on Friday. Senate Republicans accused Democrats of derailing a once-promising sign earlier this week of getting a deal done to end the partial shutdown of DHS with their latest proposal. Democrats unveiled their counteroffer Wednesday that GOP sources described as more demands, though Dems insisted they are just digging in on existing asks to reform Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Nonetheless, the proposal threw a wrench in the talks — and a...

August 19, 1953: The Iranian military, with the support and financial assistance of the United States government, overthrows the government of Premier Mohammad Mosaddeq and reinstates the Shah of Iran. Iran remained a solid Cold War ally of the United States until a revolution ended the Shah’s rule in 1979. Mosaddeq came to prominence in Iran in 1951 when he was appointed premier. A fierce nationalist, Mosaddeq immediately began attacks on British oil companies operating in his country, calling for expropriation and nationalization of the oil fields. His actions brought him into conflict with the pro-Western elites of Iran and...

Archaeologists have analyzed a mass grave in southeastern Europe that held the remains of women and children who were violently murdered 2,800 years ago...The grave was unearthed at the archaeological site of Gomolava, located near the modern town of Hrtkovci in northern Serbia. Originally founded as a settlement on the Sava River in the sixth millennium B.C., both settled and mobile cultural groups used Gomolava repeatedly over the centuries. By the ninth century B.C., semisedentary groups in the Carpathian Basin were consolidating around sites like Gomolava, creating tension over land use and ownership...Archaeologists discovered postholes around the burial pit that...

A Los Angeles jury found Wednesday that Meta’s Instagram and Google’s YouTube harmed a young user with features designed to hook kids — in a bombshell verdict that “shakes Big Tech’s predatory business model to its core.” The high-profile case involved a 20-year-old woman who claimed she became dangerously obsessed with the apps at a young age because they were deliberately built to be addictive, using features like infinite scroll and autoplay. The tech giants were found liable for $3 million in damages. The multi-million-dollar judgment is likely to grow, as the jury of seven women and five men will...

WASHINGTON — Airline passengers are experiencing some of the highest security wait times in the 25-year-history of the Transportation Security Administration — with some taking more than four-and-a-half hours to make it through checkpoints, a top official told Congress Wednesday. TSA acting administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill testified to the House Homeland Security Committee that her beleaguered agency is “being forced to consolidate” and “may have to close smaller airports if we do not have enough officers.” “It is a fluid, challenging and unpredictable situation. We understand this is frustrating and disruptive,” she added. “This is unacceptable.” More than 480 Transportation...

Los Angeles homeless people are being put up in brand new apartments in ritzy neighborhoods that cost taxpayers up to $1.5 million per room, the California Post can reveal. At least $2.6 billion of taxpayers cash has been spent buying and renovating hotels, motels and dorms for the huge unhoused population in the city and county since 2020. The properties were all purchased with $1.3 billion from Governor Gavin Newsom’s Homekey initiative, which then renovated with another $1.3 billion in funding from the city and county of Los Angeles. Some of the suites, which are staggered across neighborhoods such as...

No link. Just wondering. Hate to see it disappear.

Elon Musk is demanding a Delaware judge step aside from a high-stakes Tesla case after she allegedly “supported” a LinkedIn post mocking a $2 billion verdict against him in a separate California case. Lawyers for Musk and Tesla filed a motion in Delaware’s Court of Chancery seeking the recusal of Chancellor Kathaleen St. J. McCormick from overseeing consolidated shareholder lawsuits, arguing her conduct “create[s] a perception of bias” that taints the proceedings. The explosive filing centers on activity tied to McCormick’s LinkedIn account following a federal jury verdict in California that found Musk liable over tweets he posted in 2022...

President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice just got a leader to oversee its newly created unit to prosecute fraud, and it so happens he’s from California, which has been making headlines for its alleged fraud cases. The US Senate on Tuesday confirmed Colin McDonald, an associate deputy general at the Justice Department, 52 to 47 to be in charge of the DOJ’s new fraud division. The division is part of a broader attempt by the Trump administration to declare “war on fraud” that was exposed in Minnesota and could also appear in California. “Similar schemes are now surfacing within California’s...