Free Republic

“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” That Bible verse, found in Proverbs 14:34, is not a political slogan. It is a moral law of history. Nations rise when justice, truth, humility, courage, and reverence for God shape their public life. They decline when sin becomes normalized, truth is considered subjective, and liberty is severed from biblical virtue. The founders of America understood this better than we realize. After the Revolutionary War, George Washington wrote to the governors of the thirteen states and prayed that God would dispose Americans “to do justice, to love mercy,”...

A woman has become the first person to be publicly caned in Indonesia's Aceh province for 'committing obscenity live with a man on social media' under its strict Sharia law. The punishment was handed down after she and her partner were accused of kissing during a TikTok livestream. Images show the woman kneeling and screaming in agony as a masked Sharia police officer repeatedly brings the cane down across her back.

WASHINGTON — They’re not done making their marx on the Democratic Party. Fresh off a recent string of key upset victories, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is eyeing more potential breakthrough wins in Missouri, Michigan, Wisconsin, and possibly Florida over the next few weeks as it works to drag Democrats further to the left. Thus far, the DSA has touted four breakthrough victories in House races, including Melat Kiros in Colorado, Chris Rabb in Pennsylvania, Darializa Avila Chevalier in New York, and Claire Valdez in New York. Additionally, they backed incumbent Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). “We are so cooked,”...

WASHINGTON — The Central Intelligence Agency is not fully cooperating with an investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and the likelihood that it was caused by a laboratory accident, according to a federal watchdog. In a June letter obtained by The Post, Intelligence Community Inspector General Christopher Fox accused CIA Director John Ratcliffe of failing to provide records critical to determining whether the US government was engaged in what an agency officer recently testified was a “cover up” of the pandemic’s origins. The internal watchdog is reviewing whether a team of analysts dispatched by then-Director of National Intelligence...

In the film “Good Will Hunting,” Matt Damon’s character looks with disdain at a U.S. history book he spots in the office of his therapist, played by Robin Williams. “You want to read a real history book, read Howard Zinn’s ‘A People’s History of the United States,’ ” Mr. Damon’s character says. It will “knock you on your a—.”When that movie came out in 1997, Zinn’s ruthlessly negative alternative history was poorly regarded by professional historians but beloved by legions of left-leaning readers. First published in 1980, “A People’s History” became popular mostly by word of mouth. It was the...

Los Angeles pimps used “horrific” acts of cruelty to keep a vicelike grip on a sleazy stretch of south LA road where perverts can buy sex with children, and women turn tricks for as little as $40, cops and prosecutors said. Vile flesh peddlers maintain a thriving sex business on LA’s Figueroa Corridor by branding prostitutes, recruiting girls from foster homes, forcing them to get abortions, and even biting and punching them with Rolex watches, authorities said. The sickening sex trade secrets of the infamous Hoover Criminals gang’s brutal prostitution ring were revealed in a massive takedown of the Hoovers...

In 1825, a rich Welsh industrialist bought an entire American town to prove that socialism could work. He had the money, the buildings, the theory, and hundreds of eager followers waiting to move in. Two years later, it was over. 🧵

...To read it, we never unrolled it physically. Instead, we scanned it with high-resolution X-rays, reconstructed the wound sheet inside the volume, flattened it into a readable surface, and used machine learning to bring out the faint traces of ancient ink...PHerc. 1667 is what survives of a larger roll: earlier attempts to open it by hand -- in the nineteenth century, and again in 1969 and the 1980s -- destroyed its outer layers and left only the compact inner core, about 8 cm of an original height of 19–24 cm. From that surviving portion we have now recovered and read...

A new study compares the carved symbolism of Göbekli Tepe’s Vulture Stone with ritual imagery from the Trypillia culture, suggesting that early farming societies in Anatolia and Eastern Europe may have shared cosmological ideas about time, death, sacred space and the movement of the heavens.At Göbekli Tepe, the famous Vulture Stone has never been easy to read. Its carved birds, snakes, scorpion, abstract signs and headless human figure have inspired competing interpretations for decades. Was it a scene of death ritual, an astronomical code, a mythic narrative, or something more complex? A new study argues that the answer may not...

Tuesday's birthright citizenship ruling by the Supreme Court has provided Americans with the answer to an ever-pertinent question -- who is an American citizen? Debates likely won't cease as the highest court in the land issued a 6-3 ruling on President Donald Trump's executive order -- issued his first day back in office on Jan. 20, 2025 -- saying the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution only grants birthright citizenship to persons who have at least one parent that is a permanent resident or citizen. The court struck down this order, effectively saying that anyone born here under any...

Danny Glover has spent decades portraying men of courage, conviction, humor, and moral clarity. Now, at 79, the beloved actor and activist is facing one of the most personal challenges of his life: Alzheimer’s disease. The “Lethal Weapon” star revealed publicly that he has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, opening up in an emotional interview about the changes already unfolding and the difficult road ahead. Glover said the diagnosis came after he received an honorary Oscar in 2022, a milestone moment in a career defined not only by memorable performances but also by decades of humanitarian work. For many fans, the...

Kamala Harris is quietly strengthening ties with one of the Democratic Party’s fastest-rising progressive stars, holding an extended private phone call with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. The conversation, which took place last week, focused on the future of the party and served as the beginning of what is expected to be a longer series of discussions between the two, Axios reports. “This is about positioning for the 2028 primary where no candidate knows where the lane for support for Palestinian rights is going to be but they know there’s going to be one,” Republican consultant Mike Madrid told...

A waterspout formed over a lake in Germany in a rare weather event that caused a stir in the area. The phenomenon was seen forming over Lake Constance near Lindau on Wednesday, German news agency DPA reported. 1:00 VIDEO AT LINK...............

In the last few decades especially, archaeologists have been forced to admit a humbling truth: our timelines and tidy narratives are incomplete, and in some places, wildly so. Below are fifteen ruins and archaeological cultures that either emerged from total obscurity or still sit at the edge of what we can confidently say. Some are contenders for full-blown “lost civilizations,” others are enigmatic cities that do not fit neatly into our old stories. Together, they show just how much of human history is still hidden – literally – under our feet. Imagine a flash flood tearing through a quiet valley...

The Department of Transportation announced today a return to a technology of the past that feels like it's from the future. Supersonic flight is returning to commercial airlines once again. For too long, outdated rules based on old technology held back American aerospace innovation. Now, we are updating those rules for the first time since the 1970s.Today @USDOT announced a new proposal to enable civil supersonic flight by replacing speed limits with noise… pic.twitter.com/vwR4J88W1F— Director Michael Kratsios (@mkratsios47) June 30, 2026 Ever since the famous Concorde retired in 2003, supersonic flights - with speeds reaching well beyond the speed of...

A prankster at East Brook Middle School in Paramus, New Jersey, just pulled off what might be the most insane yearbook prank you'll ever see. Well, look who's burning books now! Yes, a child was supposed to send in a baby photo and sent in a photo of baby Adolf Hitler instead. And somehow, no one on the yearbook committee or in the middle school offices noticed the baby photo was over 100 years old. Here's more from the Post: 'Earlier today, after students had already received their yearbooks, we learned that the baby pictures section of the yearbook contained...

Sergey Brin spent a career building one of the most valuable companies on earth. It took Zohran Mamdani less than a year in office to convince him New York City real estate wasn’t worth the trouble. Amphitheatre LLC, the family office vehicle tied to the Google co-founder, quietly sold off its stake in a New York apartment fund late last year, according to filings first reported by Bloomberg. The fund, managed by A&E Real Estate, controls nearly 5,900 rent-stabilized units scattered across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. Brin’s exit price was not generous. He accepted roughly six cents on...

Iran’s most senior clerics have called for the assassinations of President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, declaring the leaders mahdour al-dam — or deserving of death. The 88-member Assembly of Experts issued a 10-point statement in which they said killing “the wicked prime minister of the Zionist regime” and “the criminal American president” was a religious duty that must be carried out “under any circumstances.” The clerics — who are constitutionally tasked with choosing and supervising the supreme leader — wrote that the call for their assassinations that avenging the death of supreme leader Ali Khamenei was of...

Zo’s busting the budget. Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s inaugural, record-breaking nearly $126 billion budget passed late Tuesday — growing city spending by more than $10 billion from last year despite his past dire warnings about the Big Apple’s financial situation. The under-the-wire vote by the City Council came just hours before a Wednesday deadline and after frantic last-minute attempts to drum up votes for a spending deal that disappointed lefties and moderates alike. The budget, which includes no significant cuts, ballooned from last year’s roughly $116 billion spending plan, for an approximate 8.5% increase. It passed 45-6, largely on party lines....

Insurgent socialist candidate Melat Kiros defeated longtime Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) Tuesday in Colorado’s 1st District House primary, marking the latest blow to the establishment wing of the Democratic Party. Kiros came out on top of the incumbent, 49.3% to 43.5%, by the time the Associated Press called the race late Tuesday. Kiros’s win in the solidly blue district follows a string of victories by socialist and far-left candidates over incumbent and establishment-backed Democrats in New York in June, and it’s expected to tilt the political makeup of the House Democratic caucus even further to the left after the midterm...