Free Republic

Last month, the Arab-American Business and Professional Association (ABPA) unveiled the first of its "Welcome to Little Palestine" signs in Bridgeview, a suburb 15 miles southwest of Chicago. The sign was erected at 83rd Street and Harlem Avenue, welcoming visitors to an area stretching from 79th Street to 113th Street that ABPA calls one of the largest Palestinian-American communities in the United States. A second sign followed at Westfield Plaza on 87th Street. ABPA president Rush Darwish declared at that unveiling: "This unveiling is more than a sign -- it is a declaration of who we are."The designation came after...

Police accused a semi-truck driver from New Jersey of causing eight accidents on a Chicago highway before attempting to strangle another driver on April 28 in an alleged instance of road rage. Police alleged that the suspect was driving “recklessly,” which resulted in a string of collisions on I-57 northbound, according to an Illinois State Police (ISP) news release. The suspect, 25-year-old truck driver Hassan A. Moutassim of Jersey City, New Jersey, reportedly removed a driver from another crashed vehicle and allegedly started “battering the driver, including an attempt to strangle the victim,” the press release stated. The alleged victim...

As I recover from foot surgery in Chicago, my break from the Walk Across America has given me time to do more than reflect. I’ve seen so many things on my walk so far through small towns, big cities, ghettos, suburbs, open-air drug markets, posh farmers markets and even the occasional country market. Throughout it all, I’ve seen Americans of so many stripes, and they’re all moving forward, moving with a sense of purpose in their work and in their belief in God. And when I returned home to the South Side of Chicago, I was struck by the stillness...

Nick Fuentes, part of the twisted “WOKE REICH”, just got exposed as the MONSTER he truly is. A woman shows up at his Illinois home… and this coward SPRAYS her with mace, then SHOVES her down the stairs like a ragdoll. She crashes hard onto the concrete, crawling in pain while he stands over her like some deranged predator. This is the same Fuentes who is telling everyone to ”VOTE DEMOCRAT” to stick it to Trump and Republicans, and physically assaults women for daring to confront him. Battery charges? Mysteriously dismissed. But the video doesn’t lie. This is not a...

A suspect is in custody after a shooting inside a Chicago hospital left one police officer dead and another critically injured on Saturday morning, law enforcement sources said. Around 10:45 a.m., two Chicago police officers were shot at Endeavor Health Swedish Hospital, located at 5140 N. California Ave. in Chicago's Ravenswood neighborhood. Police took the suspect to the hospital to be checked out before going to jail for a separate offense before the shooting broke out, police sources told NBC Chicago. One of the officers was shot in the head, sources told NBC Chicago. Both were taken to a different...

The Constitution Party has begun maintaining a national list of candidates running with the party in the 2026 election cycle. Party leadership has previously said that recruiting candidates would be a major priority moving forward. The party shared the current list Tuesday, stating that additional candidates will be added as filing deadlines pass in other states. As of publication, the list includes 28 candidates across four states, with the majority concentrated in Utah and Nevada. In Utah, the party is fielding 16 candidates, most of whom are running for county-level offices. These include commission and council seats in Cache, Salt...

CHICAGO—Barack Obama’s new presidential center isn’t a cheap date, and neither is his adopted hometown. When it opens June 19, it will set at least three modern-era records for a former White House occupant: time taken to be completed, project cost and the price to get inside. At $30, adult admission to see the 44th president’s story is more than at any other U.S. presidential library, a Wall Street Journal review shows. That is 59% higher than the average for presidents from John F. Kennedy through George W. Bush...... Still, the GOP should tread cautiously. One of their own isn’t...

A majority of U.S. Catholic voters supported Donald Trump in his 2024 presidential victory. Yet across the broad Catholic political spectrum – even among conservative-leaning bishops – there is dismay over Trump’s unprecedented verbal assault on Pope Leo XIV, the first American to lead their church. Leo says he is sharing a Gospel message and not directly attacking Trump or anyone else with his appeals for peace and criticism of attitudes fueling the war. Criticism of Trump came from Archbishop Paul Coakley, head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and from Minnesota-based Bishop Robert Barron, who only a few...

An Illinois woman who claimed she was detained by ICE for nearly two days was actually relaxing at a hotel getting spa treatments, according to a $1 million defamation suit filed by a county sheriff. US citizen Sundas “Sunny” Naqvi, 28, gained national attention last month when she and a band of supporters – including Cook County, Ill., Commissioner Kevin Morrison – publicly insisted she was unlawfully detained by ICE officers for roughly 43 hours. Naqvi claimed that after landing back in the US from a work trip to Turkey on the morning of March 5, she was detained for...

The name of President Obama came into play this afternoon at the political corruption trial of former governor Rod Blagojevich as an associate of political fund-raiser Tony Rezko testified that Rezko asked him to write a $10,000 check to Friends of Obama. The Chicago Sun-Times reported in January 2008 that Glenview businessman Joseph Aramanda, who is testifying today, made the donation as part of a scheme orchestrated by Rezko. Aramanda gave $10,000 in campaign cash to Obama’s U.S. Senate campaign on March 5, 2004, according to records. The money came from part of a finder’s fee Aramanda received, but did...

The Justice Department on Friday charged three Azerbaijani gangsters with plotting to murder a Brooklyn-based Iranian-American author and activist last year. The case stems from the July arrest of Khalid Mehdiyev, who was collared near Masih Alinejad’s home with an assault rifle after the beefy and bearded 24-year-old was filmed ringing Alinejad’s doorbell and lingering on her porch in a leafy part of the New York City borough. The other two men facing charges are 43-year-old Rafat “Rome” Amirov, a resident of Iran who was arrested on Jan. 26 in New York, and 38-year-old Polad “Haci Qaqa” Omarov, who was...

The radical culture war on public art. The Mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, has called for the removal of a mural of Iryna Zarutska, a young Ukrainian refugee whose brutal murder was caught on video, because, according to Mayor Smiley, because of its “misguided, isolating intent”. Providence has a BLM street mural covering three blocks and a “Love is a Many Gendered Thing” mural, but Mayor Smiley urged supporting artists “whose work brings us closer together rather than divide us” and remembering Irina’s murder divides us. Unlike BLM and “Love is a Many Gendered Thing” which bring us together. In...

Rashida Tlaib had the crowd eating out of her hand. It was March 2018, and the hookah lounge in a working-class suburb outside of Chicago was packed. Warm and engaging, switching frequently between English and Arabic, Tlaib - a Michigan State representative with larger ambitions - pleaded for out-of-state donations to help her become the first Palestinian American in Congress. She unashamedly told the audience that her Detroit constituents often declared: 'Rashida is a warrior, and this is a war we're in.' Sitting in the front row, Rafeeq Jaber listened intently, seemingly impressed and knowing a thing or two about...

The Bulls are cutting bait with Jaden Ivey, waiving the guard following comments on social media livestreams against the LGBTQ community and the Catholic church. The team announced he was waived “due to conduct detrimental to the team” in a statement. Growing concerns about Ivey date back to last month and his comments on a livestream on his personal Instagram account on Monday about the LGBTQ community were the last straw for the Bulls, according to the Chicago Sun Times. Ivey has been posting several lengthy videos on his social media in recent weeks, with the topic of the NBA’s...

The Chicago Bulls waived shooting guard Jaden Ivey “due to conduct detrimental to the team,” the team announced in a statement on Monday. Ivey had increasingly been posting on social media about his religious beliefs and recently made anti-LGBTQ comments. The Bulls’ decision reportedly came after he criticized the NBA for celebrating Pride Month, which he called “unrighteousness.”

One of the most revolting aspects of the terrible story of the murder of Sheridan Gorman was the reaction of Chicago Alderwoman Maria Hadden, who is, of course, a Democrat. Gorman was a freshman at Loyola University Chicago who was walking on the beach with her friends when an illegal migrant named Jose Medina-Medina approached her and shot her in the head. In response, Haddon did her best to shift the blame from Medina-Medina to Gorman, claiming that she “startled” him, as if that justified murder, and completely ignored the fact that Medina-Medina was an illegal migrant who should never...

An illegal Venezuelan migrant accused of executing a Loyola University Chicago freshman from New York entered the US under the Biden administration, and was released under Chicago’s sanctuary city laws before the killing, the Department of Homeland Security said Sunday. Jose Medina-Medina, 25, allegedly murdered 18-year-old Sheridan Gorman early Thursday morning while she walked along the Chicago lakefront with her friends, according to a DHS release obtained by Fox News. The illegal alien was caught and released at the border under President Joe Biden’s administration in May 2023, according to the DHS. Medina-Medina was also previously released from local custody...

The Windy City is blowing travelers away with its new tourist fee. Chicago's City Council has unanimously voted to create a Tourism Improvement District - and raise hotel rooms taxes in that district to 19 percent, one of the highest in the country. That’s higher than Las Vegas - and far above cities like Los Angeles, where hotel taxes sit closer to 14 percent. Under the plan, a new 1.5 percent surcharge will be added to hotel stays at larger properties, with the money funneled into tourism marketing efforts run by Choose Chicago. On a $300 hotel room, visitors could...

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker is attempting to blame former President Donald Trump for the murder of college student Sheridan Gorman by an illegal immigrant living in Chicago's "amnesty zone". Pritzker claims the Trump administration should stop "politicizing heinous tragedies" and instead focus on "real solutions" to prevent such violence. However, critics argue Pritzker's policies of shielding illegal immigrants from deportation have contributed to rising crime in the state.

The cold-blooded execution of Loyola University freshman Sheridan Gorman last week has sparked heartbreak and outrage across the country – including condemnation by President Donald Trump outside Air Force One on Monday morning – as yet another American family is shattered by an illegal immigrant allowed into the country during the Biden administration