Free Republic

The Iranian regime executed more than 1,600 people last year — marking a three decade high not seen since the end of the Islamic Republic’s war against Iraq in 1989. The shocking figures were included in a joint report released by the nonprofit Iran Human Rights and Together Against the Death Penalty, which estimated that in 2025 at least four people were put to death each day in Iran. In total, at least 1,639 were executed in Iran last year, the highest reported number since the post-war bloodbath in 1989, where an estimated 1,700 political prisoners were executed, according to...

WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice under former President Joe Biden “withheld evidence” and approved “aggressive arrest tactics” when targeting pro-life defendants — and then slapped them with longer prison sentences than pro-abortion ones, according to an explosive internal review released Tuesday. The DOJ revealed the stunning abuses in a nearly 900-page report after examining more than 700,000 records related to the Biden administration’s prosecutions under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. The 1994 law was passed to protect access to houses of worship, religious institutions, abortion clinics and pregnancy resource centers. But the Biden DOJ was...

DC is in full meltdown mode after Eric Swalwell announced on Monday he would resign from Congress amid explosive sexual misconduct allegations — sparking a firestorm of speculation from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. The bombshell departure of the high-profile Trump critic came via a somber written statement in which Swalwell apologized for his conduct and admitted to “mistakes in judgement” while still pushing back on the most serious accusations — including an ex-staffer who claimed he raped her. But his attempt to control the narrative quickly unraveled. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) torched Swalwell in a series...

According to a statement released by the University of Liège, a 2,000-year-old fragment of papyrus recovered from the archives of the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology in Cairo preserves 30 previously unknown verses written by Empedocles of Agrigentum, a Greek philosopher who lived in the fifth century B.C. The work of Empedocles had been known only through quotes recorded by later authors, such as Plato, Aristotle, and Plutarch. Papyrologist Nathan Carlig of the University of Liège realized that the papyrus fragment, labeled P. Fouad inv. 218, was an unknown fragment of Physica, a poem written by Empedocles. These verses concern...

A new study of southern Norway's Raknehaugen mound conducted by Lars Gustavsen of the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research suggests that it does not contain a burial and may have been built in response to a landslide, according to a Phys.org report. "I actually discovered the landslide scar more or less by accident," Gustavsen said. "While investigating the visibility of the mound using LiDAR data, it suddenly appeared in one of the visualizations I was using to analyze the landscape," he said. When the mound was excavated in 1869 and 1870, no central burial mound was found. Excavations in...

A sixth-grade educator withdrew from consideration for Minnesota’s Teacher of the Year award after photos of him dressed in leather bondage while participating in an XXX-rated BDSM performance resurfaced online. Thomas Rosengren, a teacher and theater director in the Atwater Cosmos Grove City public school system, was named one of 11 finalists for the coveted award last week. On Monday, though, Education Minnesota tweaked its list, adding a brief note that Rosengren “has withdrawn from consideration.” Alpha News Minnesota reported that the sudden elimination came just four days after it reached out to Education Minnesota inquiring about damning photos that...

Rep. Eric Swalwell finally quit Congress on Monday amid accusations of rape and sexual abuses, but the larger scandal is how long he got away with it. Fellow Democrats kept mum for years, though his sleazy behavior toward women has reportedly been long known; nor did the left-leaning media in California or Washington investigate the rumors — even after he notoriously fell for a Chinese “honeypot” agent. Dems plainly only turned on Swalwell in a bid to thin the field in California’s governor race, where two Republicans now lead the nonpartisan “jungle” primary and so might lock out the donkeys...

Archaeologists have uncovered a previously unknown remnant of Thomas Jefferson’s era at Monticello: a brick kiln used to build his home. The kiln was recently found on the east side of the Founding Father’s home amid an excavation that began in March, officials said. Monticello historians believe it dates back to the early 1770s, sometime before Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It was part of the construction of Monticello I, the first version of Jefferson’s home. The current structure reflects a later rebuild and expansion completed after his time in France, after 1789. Photos from the site...

Nobody really budgets for a financial car crash in April. But that’s exactly what millions of Americans are dealing with this year. Instead of the refund they were counting on to finally pay off Christmas gifts or fund a summer trip, tax season 2026 is handing them a bill. And for a lot of people, it’s not a small one. It’s the kind of bill that makes you want to throw your laptop out a window. The reasons aren’t actually that complicated – the government practically set a trap for anyone with a side hustle. Between confusing tax law changes,...

The Department of Homeland Security is investigating allegations that embattled lefty California Rep. Eric Swalwell illegally employed a Brazilian nanny, officials said. Swalwell allegedly hired the nanny for his children and she continued to work for the family after her work authorization permit expired in 2022, the California Post exclusively revealed. DHS is now investigating after the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) referred the case to the department, Politico reported. “USCIS has been collecting information on the allegations involving Congressman Eric Swalwell hiring of a Brazilian national as a nanny without lawful work authorization,” DHS spokesperson Lauren Bis...

A new text poll is asking California voters if they would write in former Vice President Kamala Harris on to the ballot for the California governor’s race. The poll, according to shared screenshots, lists three to four questions on the California Democrat. It asked about the chances of the voter writing in Harris’s name, and then it asked in the scenario that Harris was actually running a write-in campaign, who the voter would elect. The survey then asks the voter whether he or she thinks the process of writing someone is easy or not. According to the California Secretary of...

According to a Phys.org report, Haichao Li of Sichuan University led a team of researchers in the analysis of fragments of iron discovered in southwestern China at the Sanxingdui site, a city occupied between 2800 and 600 B.C. So far, eight sacrificial pits containing metal objects such as bronze masks, trees, and figurines have been excavated at the site. The three iron fragments, which appear to have been parts of an ax-like weapon, were discovered in Pit 7. Because this object was found in the sacrificial area, the researchers suggest that it had ritual significance. Metallographic and scanning electron microscopy-energy...

According to a Phys.org report, a team of researchers led by Jean-Luc Houle of Western Kentucky University explored two Late Bronze Age mounds in Mongolia known as khirigsuurs for evidence of feasting. Khirigsuurs, found in Mongolia and parts of southern Siberia, usually contain human burials and are surrounded by deposits of horse skulls. These are sometimes accompanied by horse neck vertebrae and hooves, and the burned bones of sheep or goats. Houle and his colleagues looked for the rest of these horses and evidence of butchering at khirigsuur ZK-956, which has been dated to between 1054 and 906 B.C. A...

... Vance's popularity has dropped by 21% since the start of the term in 2025. Compared to other Vice Presidents in recent history, he holds the worst rating at this stage of a term, with a score of -18.

FILE PHOTO: An aerial view of the island of Qeshm, separated from the Iranian mainland by the Clarence Strait, on December 10, 2023. Nicolas Economou/Reuters With thousands of US ground troops reportedly on the way to the Middle East, speculation is mounting that they may be assigned to take Iran’s Kharg Island, a key fuel hub in the northern Persian Gulf which handles 90% of Tehran’s oil exports. But Kharg is just one of dozens of Iranian islands in the gulf, and others may be more important to securing the safe passage of ships – and naval vessels –...

The islands of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb, and Lesser Tunb in the Persian Gulf hold the key to the global economy's most vital chokepoint: the Strait of Hormuz..In the current landscape of the West Asia conflict, the islands of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb, and Lesser Tunb have transformed from sleepy patches of sand into what military analysts call “unsinkable aircraft carriers". While the world watches the missile exchanges between major powers, these three tiny landmasses in the Persian Gulf hold the key to the global economy’s most vital chokepoint: the Strait of Hormuz.The story of how these islands became part...

Federal prosecutors are investigating a New York City Council member and an aide to Gov. Kathy Hochul in connection to charges against leaders of a homeless shelter nonprofit accused of stealing more than $1 million. The councilmember and the aide are sisters. Feds probing Farah and Debbie Louis City Council member Farah Louis and her sister, Debbie Louis, who serves as the governor's assistant secretary of New York City governmental affairs, have not been charged, but prosecutors are also looking into whether they accepted bribes related to the alleged scheme. Sources told CBS News New York political reporter Marcia Kramer...

Lefty billionaire Stephen Cloobeck dramatically cut ties with Eric Swalwell and revealed he has kicked him out of his mansion — hours before the congressman dropped his run for California governor. “I am no longer supporting Eric,” Cloobeck told The Post in an exclusive interview. “F—ing tell everyone I’m a libertarian. F— you, Democrat Party. I’m a libertarian now.” The ugly break-up between the timeshare mogul and Bay Area congressman — who pulled out of the governor’s race late Sunday — marks yet another stunning point in Swalwell’s cratering political career. Following public allegations Friday of rape, sexual assault and...

WASHINGTON — Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel revealed that his island nation is bracing for an attack from the US and declared that he is willing to die resisting President Trump. Since last December, the US has imposed a blockade around Venezuela as part of its Operation Southern Spear effort, and used that to cut off oil supplies to Cuba, which has since plunged further into an energy crisis. “I don’t think there would be any justification for the United States to launch a military aggression against Cuba, or for the US to undertake a surgical operation or the kidnapping of...

Top Secret Location this time, as I get a unique opportunity to inspect an ultra rare Medieval Wayside Cross, next to a lost Roman road, deep on a private estate with no public access. Believed to have been erected in the 13th or 14th centuries to provide reassurance for Christians travelling the ancient Roman road, this remarkable survivor has never been seen on video before and it speaks of the afterlife of the Roman road, before it disappeared from view. Along the way we get to see a well-defined surviving section of the road in the form of a causeway...