Free Republic

In Part 1 (link below), I argued that the House of Representatives was designed to grow. For most of American history, it did. Then, in 1929, Congress froze the House at 435 seats. It has remained there ever since. Part 2 asks a different question: If the House is supposed to grow, how large should it be? At first, I thought the answer might have something to do with human nature. Maybe there was something buried deep in our DNA — some limit on how many people we can know, trust, manage, or represent. I was wrong. The deeper I...

80 years before Lexington and Concord, before the founding fathers were even children, Americans used events in the mother country to engineer a little remembered revolution that transformed the colonies and helped to define the nation we know today. Forgotten Revolution: The 1689 Boston Revolt | 16:32 The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered 1.64M subscribers | 4,480 views | June 26, 2026

Today, the word colonialism is treated almost like a curse word. Mention it in a classroom, on social media, or in many political circles, and you’ll immediately hear words like exploitation, racism, oppression, genocide, and theft. For many people—especially younger generations—colonialism has become history’s ultimate villain, the so-called “original sin” from which nearly every modern problem supposedly springs. As a conservative, I’ve always thought this view was far too simplistic. Now, before anyone starts sharpening their pitchforks, let me be clear: colonial powers absolutely committed injustices. Wars were fought. Peoples were conquered. Resources were taken. Some populations were devastated. These...

Keeping up with the prom joneses. Gone are the days of posing in gowns and tuxes at a designated classmates’ house while snacking on some chips and soda before hitching a ride to prom. Today, highfalutin parents are spending upwards of $30,000 on over-the-top pre-prom parties that are in the same realm as an A-lister jetting off to a fancy award show. Think professional photographers, stunning decor and catered food so good it could tempt high schoolers to skip prom altogether. Proud Philadelphia mom Lanise Gartei spared no expense when it came to her daughter Lakyia’s prom send-off. She not...

Michigan lawmakers are investigating a childcare provider that received more than $1.1 million in taxpayer-funded childcare reimbursements despite allegations that it does not appear to operate at its listed address. The investigation centers on 1st Premier Learning Academy & Daycare in Clinton Township and was launched by the Michigan House Oversight Subcommittee on State & Local Public Assistance Programs. According to an investigative report, the facility received $1,121,641 in Child Development & Care (CDC) Program reimbursements between fiscal years 2023 and 2026, yet committee staff said repeated site visits found no evidence that children were being cared for at the...

As Americans prepare to celebrate Flag Day and the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, historian William Federer says the nation's founding ideals cannot be separated from its longstanding belief that rights come from God, not government.In an interview with The Christian Post ahead of Flag Day on June 14 — commemorating June 14, 1777, when the Continental Congress passed a resolution adopting the first official United States flag — Federer reflected on the religious themes woven throughout American history, including the addition of "one nation under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance and "In God We Trust" to...

For more than 500 years, historians have debated the mysteries hidden within this famous Renaissance painting. A remarkable glass rhombicuboctahedron, an unidentified young man, and a strange inscription have led some researchers to question whether Leonardo da Vinci may have played a role in its creation. One of Leonardo da Vinci's Greatest Unsolved Mysteries | 8:34 Secessio | 11.9K subscribers | 79,939 views | June 12, 2026

The algae in the Reflecting Pool has been almost completely removed despite liberal activists' best efforts to impede the removal of algae and destroy the pool's renovations. Greenwater Services was contracted in April by the Department of the Interior for the "procurement and installation of a fully integrated Nano Bubble Filtration System designed to replace the existing, failing filtration infrastructure at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool." But the company has come under fire from left-wing media outlets, who claim a conflict of interest because a part-owner of the company is a GOP donor, and that the company has a lack...

President Trump declared Thursday that “the Communists are finally making their move,” days after three socialist candidates won Democratic House primary elections in New York. “I’ve been waiting and preparing for this for a long time,” the president’s Truth Social post said. “It’s easy to be a Communist — All you have to do is say, ‘I’ll give you everything,’ but that means you’re taking it away from others that have earned it.” “Over thousands of years, that Ideology has not worked once,” Trump added. “The game is on. Enjoy watching! President DONALD J. TRUMP”

Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin suggested Thursday that it may be time for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to step aside for new Democratic leadership. The Democratic Party hasn’t “fully recovered” since being “soundly defeated in 2024,” Slotkin, a Democrat , argued during an appearance on SiriusXM’s “Straight Shooter with Stephen A” – hinting that Schumer (D-NY) and Jeffries (D-NY) are to blame. “To me, the lesson was simple. Democrats had too many priorities. They tried to make everyone happy and answer every question. When you prioritize everything, no one knows what you actually stand...

Who could have imagined that after centuries of despots, dictators, conquering armies, and ideological movements that swallowed entire nations, the new socialists would finally reveal who our real and final enemies are — “the billionaires.” When Mayor Mamdani declared that New York’s latest wave of left‑wing politics would “never forget the working citizen,” he left out the part he hopes no one notices: in celebrating this new vision, they’ve managed to forget the law‑abiding citizen entirely. Both working people and the unemployed can be law‑abiding — but that doesn’t seem to matter anymore. Today, you may rob, steal, rape, murder,...

...Although the researchers found traces of ancient human DNA in one pigmented calcite crust sampled in Escoural Cave (Portugal), to their surprise they also found ancient human DNA in several nonpigmented parts of the cave wall in Escoural as well as in Covarón Cave (northern Spain), which had initially been sampled as negative controls.The study shows that human DNA can be preserved on cave walls long after the populations that visited the cave have disappeared...Of the 54 samples collected, only five yielded authentic ancient human mitochondrial DNA...two of these samples showed no detectable faunal mitochondrial DNA, a rare finding that...

At a hilltop site in northern Albania, archaeologists have uncovered remains of what researchers believe is the region's first identified Illyrian temple, a find that may help resolve the mystery of the lost city of Bassania.According to Arkeonews, researchers from the University of Warsaw and the University of Tirana made the discovery at Bushat, roughly 10 kilometers south of Shkodra. There, on the acropolis of a settlement rediscovered in 2018, they exposed the full stone foundations of a large rectangular building at a site that may be the long-sought Bassania.Measuring 13.6 meters by 9.6 meters, the building has proportions similar...

An illegal immigrant who allegedly exposed himself to one woman before trying to drag another woman into the woods at a Virginia park was arrested last year on felony drug trafficking charges but was released after sanctuary jurisdiction officials refused to cooperate with federal immigration officials, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Moises Domingo Rico Rosales, a Nicaraguan national who DHS says illegally entered the US in Arizona in 2022 before being released under the Biden administration, was arrested Tuesday after Fairfax County police said he was linked to two separate incidents at Wakefield Park in Annandale, Virginia....

Delaware Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester avoided answering where socialism has been “beneficial” when giving her thoughts on the recent New York primary elections. **SNIP** Rather than comment on what impact this could have on the broader Democratic Party, Blunt Rochester celebrated the wins as a whole. “I think that, first of all, the fact that people are engaged at a level they’ve never been engaged before is a positive thing, especially in the 250th anniversary of this country,” Blunt Rochester said. “We want people to participate. What I can say, though, about Democrats, and as someone who is working to...

Heidelberg University researchers have deciphered the inscription on an ancient curse tablet, which was once used to invoke deities and demons in order to harm an enemy. The "magical" artifact from the Roman province of Lower Germania was discovered during excavations carried out in the Dutch municipality of Heerlen. The lead tablet, which dates to the 2nd century A.D., is distinctive...Heerlen, the site of the former Roman military settlement of Coriovallum... artifact, which measures 9.3 by 4.8 centimeters (3.7 by 1.9 inches), contains three distinct groups of characters, as revealed by an analysis conducted at the Institute for Papyrology using...

This image will help us discover countless new exoplanets. The full Euclid image. Image credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, CFHT, image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre and E. Bertin (CEA Paris-Saclay) Pointing the telescope to look at the central region of the galaxy wasn't just because it’s pretty or because Euclid can. The research team will use this incredible image and the data behind it to discover and characterize planets. This is possible thanks to a technique known as microlensing. Any object with mass warps spacetime. Galaxies, clusters, and black holes can create a strong gravitational lensing effect: space-time warps so much that...

Federal immigration agents have nabbed more than 10,000 migrant gangbangers since the start of President Trump’s second term, the US Department of Homeland Security announced Wednesday. The milestone, reached just a year and a half after Trump launched his sweeping mass deportations agenda, includes arrests tied to murder, assault with a deadly weapon, drug trafficking, racketeering conspiracy, robbery and extortion, according to DHS. “Many of these gang members were released into our country by Joe Biden,” said DHS Sec. Markwayne Mullin. “These vicious criminals murdered, assaulted, robbed, and terrorized innocent Americans for sport.” “Thanks to the Secure America Act, ICE...

Ex-Mayor Eric Adams’ former top adviser and political power broker was arrested Wednesday, and authorities raided the homes of several ex-NYPD officials as part of multiple corruption probes. Frank Carone, 56, had his home searched by the feds in the early morning operation and was arrested in an alleged bribery scheme that also involved his brother Anthony Carone, 54, according to police sources. Separately, the FBI seized former chief of department Jeff Maddrey’s phone seized today, sources said. And the NYPD and the FBI conducted search warrants to seize phones from Assistant Chief James McCarthy, and the NYPD’s former top...

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) is offering a warning about the rise of a “dirtbag left” within the Democratic Party, a reference to candidates on the left who have run and won primaries while identifying themselves as democratic socialists. Two such candidates, community activist Darializa Avila Chevalier and New York State Assembly member Claire Valdez, emerged victorious on Tuesday night in New York Democratic House primaries. Both candidates are democratic socialists who were backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Chevalier defeated Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, while Valdez beat progressive candidate and Brooklyn...