Free Republic

Lists of very British things can be relied upon to have evergreen entries – tea, fish and chips, pubs, queues, small talk about weather – based on venerable stereotypes that nobody wants to debunk or discard. Less cited but still quintessentially British is the class system, which still persists in all its layers and fine gradations nearly thirty years after Labour deputy prime minister John Prescott (and not, as often claimed, John Major) proclaimed that "We are all middle class now." If I were to make a personal list of British things I would include comedies produced by Ealing Studios...

Government is not your friend. It cares about its own preservation, not yours. That’s why citizens who resist the government’s authority are tried for treason, while governments that resist the people’s authority award themselves immunity. Ostensibly, governments are formed to protect the lives and liberties of citizens. In practice, governments sacrifice their citizens’ lives and liberties whenever expedient (see, e.g., open borders and mass migration, COVID lockdowns and experimental “vaccines” that are neither safe nor effective, the “global warming” hoax and “green energy”-induced inflation, and the reckless European push for WWIII against the Russian Federation). Over the course of human...

Rapper Nicki Minaj urged young Americans to get involved in the upcoming midterm elections and “vote red” while doubling down on her support for President Trump in an interview on Saturday. The Grammy-nominated hip-hop star said on “My View with Lara Trump” that young voters shouldn’t assume their voices don’t matter as Americans prepare to head to the polls Nov. 3. “Now is not the time to think that your voice will not be heard,” Minaj said. “Your voice will not only be heard, but your voice is very necessary right now for the country and for the world. We...

Archaeologists have uncovered a 4,000–year–old tomb that belonged to one of ancient Egypt's most powerful officials – with a mysterious 'portal to the afterlife'. The discovery was made at the Bubasteion Necropolis in Saqqara, one of Egypt's most important archaeological sites. Hieroglyphs reveal the tomb belonged to a senior official named Sakhnetio-Btah, who lived during the time of the Old Kingdom.

Strong crashing waves from the violent nor’easter uncovered a 19th-century shipwreck buried under Nantucket sand as the storm battered the East Coast with heavy rain, gale-force winds and coastal flooding. A pallet of waterlogged timber held together by rusted nails and strands of seaweed was discovered on a beach on the south shore of the famed Massachusetts Island Saturday, according to video shared by the Nantucket Current on Saturday. The wooden segment is believed to be from the Warren Sawyer, a New Orleans-bound schooner that crashed on nearby Miacomet Beach in 1884. The ship, carrying cargo consisting of cotton and...

Iman Dashti, a Michigan University student, confronted Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed this week about his habitual whitewashing and rationalization of Islamic terrorism. Dashti, who said his family is a victim of the Iranian regime’s theocratic persecution, pressed the candidate at a college town hall, asking him numerous times to denounce one of the world’s most odious tyrannies. Did El-Sayed regret not speaking out against the tyrannical clerics of Iran? Would he now renounce those who held vigils supporting the mass murderer Ayatollah Ali Khamenei? Would he “unequivocally” condemn the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — a group that’s not only...

I am a graphically minded person, and have struggled with a way to effectively portray the reality of our political system in America, and none of the graphic descriptions I see describe it the way I see it. I have given this much thought over the years, and I have always found this particular question puzzling: why would they have ever given us this model shown below?The only way this graph above (which is the traditional one accepted by the vast majority of Americans) makes any sense is if it were created and pushed by people who were either Communists...

She’s back on the campaign trail – and some Democrats wish she’d go back to Brentwood. Former Vice President Kamala Harris hasn’t yet ditched her reputation for clumsy answers while stumping for controversial US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan this week to try to help shore up vulnerabilities with black voters. More Harris rallies are planned for Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) in Georgia and Nevada gubernatorial Aaron Ford, who is the state AG — but some Democrats are already saying no thanks. Adam Hamilton, the megachurch pastor who is the Democrats’ Senate candidate in Kansas, flat-out rejected the idea...

Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed once called for repealing a Michigan law that made it a felony for people who knew they had HIV to have sex without first informing their partner — a position he is standing by eight years later as he campaigns in one of the nation’s most competitive Senate races. As he unsuccessfully ran for Michigan governor in 2018, El-Sayed repeatedly took aim at the law. The law carried a prison sentence of up to four years for people who knew they were HIV-positive and engaged in sexual penetration without first informing their partner of their...

President Trump has reportedly rejected a seven-day cease-fire proposed by Iran and expects to resume bombing the country after the midterm elections. As part of the proposed cease-fire, Tehran pledged to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume negotiations on dismantling its nuclear program in exchange for the US ending its blockade of Iranian ports. However, Trump is “skeptical” Iran will agree to his demands and has told aides it is “likely” the US military restarts airstrikes after the November contests, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing US officials. It’s unclear what level of strikes Trump is planning...

A federal appeals court upheld on Friday the Pentagon’s blacklisting of Anthropic from military contracts, handing a victory to President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in their battle with the AI startup over safety guardrails on its technology. The 2-1 decision by the US Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. came in a lawsuit by Anthropic challenging its March designation by the Pentagon as a national security supply chain risk, which the startup says has cost it billions of dollars in lost business and damaged its reputation ahead of a highly anticipated initial public offering. The court’s majority...

Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken is pushing back against accusations that she called her chief of staff a “dirty Mexican,” issuing her first direct denial as the controversy threatens to engulf City Hall. Aitken released the statement Thursday after her chief of staff, Berenice Ballinas, made the damning allegations that also claimed the mayor questioned the staffer’s sexuality during a trip to Disneyland. “These allegations are extremely serious, and they deserve to be investigated. I did not use the racial slur attributed to me, and I have always been a champion of the LGBTQ community,” Aitken, a Democrat, said in her...

WASHINGTON — President Trump on Friday ordered the cancellation of $810 million in congressionally appropriated funding, including large sums meant for illegal immigrants and race-focused programs, in the second “pocket” rescission in 49 years, The Post has learned. The action eliminates 11 pools of unspent money at seven federal departments and agencies as part of a drive by fiscal hawks to whittle down executive-branch expenses. “In accordance with… the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, I herewith report 11 rescissions of budget authority, totaling $810 million,” Trump wrote in a notice to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). “The...

An 18-year-old American kid is dead. Another freshman teammate is in the hospital. And the man charged with the killing should never have been here. Federal law enforcement sources tell Fox News congressional correspondent Bill Melugin that the suspect in last weekend’s fatal stabbing of a UMass Dartmouth football player is a Nigerian national who overstayed a B-2 visitor visa, was shielded from deportation by the Biden administration in 2022, and was reportedly shielded again when the Trump administration approved another deferred-action request in October 2025. Chukwunonso Uzoma David Uzoma Eze, 19, a UMass Dartmouth student, is charged with murder...

According to the message of Titus Calpurnius Siculus, a Roman poet from the 3rd century CE, in ancient Rome, in the arenas of amphitheatres, bears were supposed to appear hunting for seals. The writer specifically mentions here an event during the reign of Emperor Nero (54-68 CE). The author does not specifically mention a polar bear or a bear living in a cold climate. As we know, however, only polar bears hunt seals. If this was true, it would confirm how far the Roman merchants could reach or how far they cooperated. Finally, let us not forget that the Romans...

McDonald’s is spending billions of dollars to boost its franchises, an effort to cement its title as the leader in fast food amid growing competition. The chain announced Wednesday that it will invest $8.5 billion by 2036 on a series of initiatives, including remodeling restaurants, retraining its 2 million employees and adding new menu items to target high-protein eaters. About $5 billion will be spent in the next three and a half years alone, a combination of capital support as well as rent relief for franchises. It’s all part of a multiyear strategy to win back diners and capture more...

What happens when two massive hurricanes collide? It looks like we are about to find out. Hurricane Polo and Hurricane Odalys are heading directly toward one another. Meteorologists have some theories about what will happen as they slam into one another, but nobody really knows. Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Nolo is poised to become Hurricane Nolo. We are being told that it could drop several feet of rain on some parts of Hawaii. Of course the east coast is not being left out of the chaos either. An absolutely huge nor’easter is already causing severe flooding on the east coast. We...

For sixteen years she was the most photographed privately owned jet in Britain: a Hawker Hunter painted banana yellow at the nose, fading through red and blue into deep-space black at the tail, with a scatter of stars down the fuselage. Airshow crowds called her Miss Demeanour. On Tuesday evening she went into the Pacific Ocean about five miles off Morro Bay, California, wearing grey camouflage and an American civil registration. The pilot got out. The jet did not. At roughly 6:50 p.m. local time on 22 September, the aircraft — an MK-58 Hawker Hunter registered N345AX and flown by...

People who sat in that room and the papers that quoted them in 1991 describe an unemployed man who liked the $15 a day and the free meals as the lone holdout in the case. The Post reports: But 35 years ago, jurors told The Post, Newsday, the Daily News and the Associated Press that the actual holdout was an unemployed man who wanted to keep the trial going so he could continue getting paid by the court for his civic duty. A law enforcement source from the time also told The Post this week that the holdout was a...

It's 9/25, and America has every reason to pour itself a cup of ambition. Friday marks Dolly Parton Day in cities and states across the country, exactly one month after the country music legend died. The date, of course, is no accident. September 25, or 9/25, is a nod to Parton's 1980 hit "9 to 5," and cities are using it to celebrate a woman whose legacy grew far beyond country music. Nobody is leaning into it quite like Nashville. Music City is going pink for the day. Participating venues will play "9 to 5" at 5 PM, businesses and...