Free Republic

Right now, the fight for control of Ukraine is taking place in the skies above Kyiv and in the streets of Mariupol. However while the conflict between Russian and Ukrainian forces in the sky and on the land has ground to a stalemate, Vladimir Putin and his virtual war machine dedicated to sowing disinformation are decidedly losing the information war. The Russian invasion of Ukraine marks the first major conflict in Europe to take place in the age of social media, an online space that Vladimir Putin has spent decades working to dominate. Over the years, Putin has carefully constructed...

During a rendezvous at the United Nations General Assembly, the Iranian regime's foreign minister lodged a formal complaint with his Swedish counterpart about the trial of Hamid Noury, a former Iranian official, in Stockholm. Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told Sweden's Ann Linde that all the documents provided to the court are "fabricated." A month prior, a spokesman for the regime's Foreign Ministry had warned, "We will naturally use all our diplomatic means to obtain and enforce Hamid Noury's rights." Who is Hamid Noury, and why is the regime clearly terrified of his trial in Sweden? Hamid Noury was a low-ranking official in...

Human rights usually feature prominently in America's political rhetoric but fade insignificance when it comes to concrete action. That trend can take a historic turn when it comes to Iran, where a genocidal madman has taken the presidency. That the presidency of Ebrahim Raisi in Iran hasn't galvanized governments in the West and in the U.S. in particular to pursue his prosecution is still a mystery. Human rights groups, UN experts, Nobel laureates, scores of elected officials, lawmakers, and journalists have already expressed outrage over Raisi's rise to power. And justifiably so. In 1988, Raisi was one of the members...

Trump 2020 advisory board member Ken Blackwell defends the president's messaging on law and order.

There are several truisms about the Iranian regime. It is a deeply intolerant, religiously fanatical regime with a death grip on power through suppression and a corrupt system of bribes, payoffs and family connections.Tony Soprano has nothing on the mullahs’ regime.Like any insular group of Mafiosos, the mullahs ruling Tehran are a deeply paranoid bunch. They regularly suspect traitors in their midst and engage in periodic purges that would do Josef Stalin proud; right down to public hangings.They also desperately manipulate—sometimes clumsily—social media and the Internet in general in a vain attempt to trash opponents and to stifle debate about...

The FIRST STEP Act is the beginning of a transformation of America’s federal criminal-justice system into what it should have always been: a system that makes America safer. This legislation unites conservatives, police and civil rights advocates, civil libertarians, business leaders and supporters of social justice. Supporting this legislation means supporting ideas that all Americans want - from police to Democrats to Republicans - an America that is fair, an America that puts Americans first, and that makes America safe. The fact that law enforcement groups like the Fraternal Order of Police and The International Association of Chiefs of...

Democrats believe in democracy. As long as elections return Democratic majorities. Today the Democratic Party is going to court to avoid losing legislative districts. If only purely objective, independent judges draw the lines, all will be well. The Democrats’ concern for fairness is oddly convenient. While they controlled the government, they were happy to leave redistricting to state legislators. But over the last quarter century Republicans have done most of the winning and today control two-thirds of state legislative bodies. Now Democrats oppose letting the people’s elected representatives set election rules. Every ten years election lines must be adjusted to...

It wasn’t supposed to happen. But Donald Trump was elected president. Establishment politicians, Washington pundits, foreign governments, and just about everyone else was shocked, even horrified. They tried to maintain business as usual. Even Republican Party big-wigs hoped nothing much would change. However, the president has been busy working to secure our borders, keep out terrorists, cut federal regulation, strengthen the military, roll back Obamacare, and cut taxes. And Congress? Not so much. Which has left the American people frustrated. But the special election to fill Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ former Senate seat gave them an opportunity to speak—again. Former...

They say past is prologue. Let’s hope so in this fall’s election for Virginia attorney general. In a state of so many founders that advanced the cause of individual liberty, religious freedom and the rule of law, Republican John Adams is running for attorney general on a record and platform that fully embraces this cause. Not only does Virginia’s John Adams share the Massachusetts founder’s name and principles, but he’s actually related to Presidents John and John Quincy Adams. The original John Adams talked famously of “a government of laws, and not of men,” and his son John Quincy remarked...

Remember a few weeks ago when civility was cool ? Or, had you already forgotten? Remember the days after Rep. Steve Scalise was bleeding out at second base in Alexandria, Virginia? " Kindness builds communities ." Everyone was Mr. Rogers, glad to be your neighbor . Not anymore. Not with the Four Horsemen of the Voter Suppression Apocalypse on the loose. Brennan Center graphic All it took to forget that civility was cool was for the President’s Commission on Election Integrity to hold their first meeting. I’m on that Commission, and I get to experience the ugliness and dishonesty...

I have spent my life public service and public policy fighting for conservative ideals. Limited government, free-market policies, traditional values, American exceptionalism – these are the issues that gave rise to the Reagan Revolution and the modern day Republican Party. Over the past 30-plus years since Ronald Reagan urged America to partake in a “rendezvous with destiny,” these principles have come under attack – not just from the liberals, but from within our own party. We have watched Republicans talk about reining in government on the campaign trail, only to become part of the problem the minute they are sworn...

"LGBT agenda will be unhinged." A new religious liberty executive order protecting Christians from the onslaught of former community organizer Barack Obama's radical LGBT agenda may be in the works soon, says former Donald Trump advisor Ken Blackwell. “My anticipation is that we will see an Executive Order and it will be more than window dressing,” Blackwell, senior fellow for Human Rights and Constitutional Governance at the Family Research Council, told LifeSiteNews, predicting that Obama's “aggressive LGBT agenda will be unhinged." “We have a great plan to attack the administrative state,” he said. “We will have to be very meticulous...

Against the odds, and most pundits’ predictions, Donald Trump has been elected president. His opponents prematurely popped champagne corks. He’s now making appointments and setting policies. He’s not alone. The Republican Party dominates state government as well, holding most of the governorships and legislatures. In half the states the GOP holds a “trifecta,” both houses of the legislature and the executive. It is time for Republicans to govern. To start, those elected must never forget where their authority comes from: the Constitution and the people. Public officials are chosen to represent the rest of us and must act in...

Gays Can Be Reformed, Just Like Arsonists, Trump’s New Domestic Policy Adviser Has Said By Amy Ellis Nutt November 19 Ken Blackwell, tapped last week by President-elect Donald Trump to head domestic policy during the businessman's transition to the White House, has made anti-LGBT statements for years. Among them: Homosexuality is a sin, and gay people, just like petty thieves and fire-setters, can be rehabilitated. The Ohio politician has long endorsed a controversial mental health practice known as conversion therapy or reparative therapy. The goal is to cure a person of his or her homosexuality, and in the case of...

“I agree with these folks that Trump is no conservative, and he’s more interested in redefining the Republican Party than in unifying it,” Blackwell explained. “I believe he is self-centered enough, and wants a win this election enough, that these folks can get his attention and perhaps find common ground. If not, he’ll have a problem this November.”

As world leaders gathered in Paris last month for the United Nations climate summit, many seemed surprised that several large oil companies, including BP and Shell, endorsed a carbon tax as a "key element" of any international climate deal. Less surprising was the preference of those in the renewable energy sector to see a tax on carbon. The implication was of course that if major companies - oil companies in particular - want to tax themselves, who are we to stand in the way? It must be an indication that the climate crisis is so acute that even they have...

i>This column was coauthored by Bob Morrison. The former President of Lebanon, Amine Gemayel, is a Maronite Christian. He recently warned of “an exodus approaching biblical proportions.” Gemayel told a gathering in Zurich of Christian Solidarity International (CSI) and other human rights activists that the current wave of church burnings, murders, and riots against Christians in the Mideast is the work of radical Islamists. The former Lebanese leader’s own brother had been assassinated in Beirut by these same jihadists. President Gemayel’s warnings echo those issued two years ago by Vienna’s Catholic prelate. Christoph Cardinal Schönborn in 2012 told a religious...

Editor's Note: This column was coauthored by Bob Morrison. President Obama is receiving plenty of criticism for his selfie cellphone portrait at the funeral of South Africa’s revered leader, Nelson Mandela. What the president had to say in tribute to Africa’s greatest statesman was largely overshadowed by the press pictures of Obama, Prime Minister David Cameron, and Denmark’s shapely blonde chief of government, Helle Thorning Schmidt. The three leaders are shown, dressed appropriately enough in mourning black. But they are seen yucking it up like teenagers while First Lady Michelle Obama sits up attentively, the perfect picture of dignity and...

Someone in the Obama campaign should find a new line of work. They've adopted as a slogan the single word: Forward! You've heard those complaints from conservatives that Obama is a socialist? Well, Forward! is one sure way to validate those concerns. Forward! has been the slogan of Marxists for more than a century. Vorwärts is not a soccer rival to Harry Potter's Hogwarts school, that home of witchcraft and wizardry. Vorwärts was the German language name of the Socialist newspaper for generations of European leftists. In Russia, Vladimir Lenin's Bolsheviks used the word Vperyod! Now, if you had been...

In Congressman Jim Moran’s (D) hometown of Alexandria, Virginia, a few years ago, some New Year’s Eve reveler ran his car into a pedestal in the middle of Washington Street. He knocked down a statue that had stood there for decades. The very liberal, very politically correct folks in Alexandria jumped at the chance to get rid of the soldier on the pedestal. That soldier is a Confederate Johnny Reb. They were about to ship Johnny off to the old soldiers home when Richmond intervened. It seems the statue was put up with state funds and couldn’t be moved without...