Free Republic

A Whitby father who got a two-year house arrest and three years of probation for firing at armed home intruders who shot his son won’t face a longer sentence after it was upheld. Last week, the Court of Appeal for Ontario dismissed the Crown’s appeal of the length of the man’s sentence, which they argued as “demonstrably unfit.” A panel of three Ontario Court of Appeal judges, however, stated they saw “no error” in the sentence. “Nor do we find that the sentence was manifestly unfit,” the appeal judges added. The appeal decision, published online earlier this week, detailed the...

The Constitution’s stated goals are in the Preamble: a more perfect Union, justice, domestic tranquility, common defense, general welfare, and the blessings of liberty for living and for posterity. If those are the ends you actually love, the consistent opposites are what undermine them: Disunion and factionalism that treat the country as a temporary alliance of tribes rather than a single people under one law. Injustice—unequal application of law, corruption of courts, or rule by status instead of by rules. Disorder that the government fails to suppress: endemic crime, riots, or private violence that makes ordinary life insecure. Weakness or...

This week: deep thoughts.

Transport for London has clarified that comedian Ricky Gervais never submitted controversial advertisements for his vodka brand featuring references to stab vests for approval to run in the city's transport network. The clarification came after Gervais posted images of the advertisements on social media on October 31, 2025, claiming they had been rejected by authorities.

A man dressed as the iconic “Star Wars” villain Darth Vader on Wednesday appeared to defend the use of Flock cameras before the San Diego City Council, assuring that “this is what the emperor needs.” The man approached the podium to address the Public Safety and Livable Neighborhoods Committee meeting, with the character’s signature breathing audible to the council chamber’s microphone. The council addressed him as “Darth Vader.” “This is what the emperor needs. This technology will help us find the rebel scum and the hidden base on Hoth,” the man said, referring to the ice planet from “The Empire...

https://x.com/MelissaRedpill/status/2090215457005391960 Brian Cates - Political Columnist & Pundit repostedMelissa Redpill@MelissaRedpill·23hHUUUGESomething big is about to happen with deportations in America. You should be ready for this…I just spoke with a senior DHS official. They shared deportation numbers with me that frankly stunned me.+27,000 deportations. Last week.+3,600 a day average.Tracking for 1.4 million deportations across the calendar year.+69,000 illegals are in DHS jails waiting to be deported at this moment.And you haven’t heard a blip about it in the corporate press. Why? My DHS source says “stealth tactics.”“We’re everywhere in every major city. We tell no one. Plain clothes. Beat up old...

In the second century A.D., Roman emperor Hadrian commissioned a temple dedicated to the gods. To this day, the Pantheon still possesses the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world. How do these ancient Roman concrete structures withstand the test of time? Well, superior engineering for one. For example, skilled artisans used lighter aggregates higher in the Pantheon's dome. Roman seawalls owe their extreme longevity in part to their “self-healing” capacity. Exposure to seawater facilitated the continued growth of crystalline structures in the concrete. Researchers have also focused on volcanic ash as a secret to the durability of Roman concrete...

After most of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus’ top legislative goals failed this year, Rep. Rachel Williams, who heads the hard-line conservative group, told reporters they needed “reinforcements in Cheyenne.” On Tuesday, the caucus failed to reach that goal, instead losing majority control in the House and backsliding in the Senate. The caucus, which officially formed in 2020, won majority control of the House for the first time in 2024. But when most of its top legislative goals fizzled in the 2026 budget session, the group’s leadership blamed the failure on lacking a supermajority in the House and insufficient support in...

Earlier this year, shortly after it was announced that the publisher Simon & Schuster had bought the rights to Jason Arday’s memoir, the then professor of sociology of education at Cambridge University gave an interview to The Bookseller. “I always wanted to be a person who flew close to the sun,” Arday mused. “But sometimes I wonder: did I fly too close?” On the evidence of his book – due to be published in the UK on August 27 – and all that has emerged about Arday in recent weeks, the answer is probably yes. Titled Great and Unfortunate Things,...

South Carolina’s Sen. Darline Graham (R) defended her headline-making debate performance — in which she blurted out “I’m not that informed on national security” — by insisting she was just “being honest.” Graham, 62, was appointed to finish out her brother Lindsey Graham’s term after the elder’s sudden July 11 death at age 71, and is running for a shot at the full term this fall after being endorsed by President Donald Trump. While Lindsey Graham was a well-known foreign policy hawk who spent decades in Congress, his sister tried to backpedal during a Wednesday appearance on Fox News’ Hannity,...

For years, the United Arab Emirates has been a lifeline for Iran’s sanctions-battered economy, despite political tensions between the two countries. But that relationship was imperiled on Tuesday, when the Emirates announced a total embargo on trade and transactions with the Islamic republic. If the threat holds, Iran would lose not just a major market for its goods but a portal to the world economy, analysts say. The embargo highlights both the depth of the economic relationships that Iran has cultivated across the Gulf region and the strain they are now under. The war that the United States and Israel...

"I visited Piddington in Oxfordshire, a village that is planning a referendum on becoming independent from the United Kingdom and could potentially then ask to join the United States. The move is in response to a British government proposal to house 1,200 asylum seekers at a former military base on the outskirts of the village of 350 people. I spoke to parish council chair Tim McNally and other villagers about their plans and how joining the USA could change Piddington. If you're American please let me know what you think in the comments!"

Charles Baudelaire, a French poet, gets credit for the line about the Devil’s greatest trick being to convince you he doesn’t exist. (No, it wasn’t Kevin Spacey in the movie “The Usual Suspects.”) Usually people reach for it to describe evil operating in plain view, unbothered, because nobody bothers to look.It came to mind reading the Democratic Socialists of America’s 2025-2026 platform. More precisely, it came to mind watching what happens to that platform once it reaches any election campaign.Nothing about the document itself is hidden. It sits on the organization’s website. The national political committee adopted it formally. Fox...

A Somali refugee turned St. Cloud businessman whose childcare center has racked up years of state licensing violations is now one step closer to the Minnesota Legislature. Abdi Daisane won last week’s Democratic primary with 62.5% of the vote, advancing to the November general election against Republican Mike Conway in House District 14A. Daisane, who was born in Somalia and spent time in a Kenyan refugee camp before entering the United States, has owned Blooming Kids Child Care Center in St. Cloud since 2017. Alpha News first reported on the center’s history of violations in July 2024, when Daisane was...

Tiny East Texas Town of Under 1,000 Implodes Over Dirty Water Cover-Up, Retaliatory Arrests, Fired Judge, Mass Resignations, and 15 Years of “Bad Policing” The Henderson County District Attorney and County Attorney have informed the Trinidad, Texas Police Department that they will no longer accept ANY cases for prosecution solely investigated or filed by the department until further notice. The letter, obtained by local media, effectively neuters the Trinidad PD’s ability to bring meaningful criminal cases. The Henderson County Sheriff’s Office will now handle crimes inside city limits. Pending cases will be reviewed one by one. The prosecutors themselves requested...

State Rep. Angie Nixon upset Trump impeachment witness Alexander Vindman in Florida’s Democrat Senate primary on Tuesday night.Nixon, who ran to the left of the TDS-addled Vindman, defeated the fired National Security Council (NSC) aide by a 56-44 percent margin.Vindman has built his campaign around his obsessive hatred of President Donald Trump and anyone who supports him, repeatedly calling President Trump a “Russian asset” and calling the MAGA movement a “nihilistic cult bent on establishing dictatorship.”

Senator Darline Graham’s (R-SC) shocking debate fail has gone viral — with observers on both sides roasting the senator’s stunning lack of command on key issues. The defining moment in Graham’s debate with Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) came when co-moderator Greta Van Susteren asked: “Are Taiwan and the South China Sea national security issues for the United States? And if so, why or how?” “I’m just gonna be honest here,” Graham replied. “I’m not, on national security- I’m not that informed on national security, so- but I do support the military. My brother was in the Air Force for 33...

Examples of what happens to the woman of countries that are ruled by Islamists.

President Donald Trump proclaimed on Tuesday that talks with Iran were not happening, a direct contradiction to his own son-in-law and top negotiator Jared Kushner, who said a day earlier that the negotiations were ongoing. “There are no talks or conversations going on, or scheduled, with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the president posted to Truth Social on Tuesday. “The Naval Blockade remains in full force and effect. The Hormuz Strait is open and operating. All water mines have been removed or detonated. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” But Trump’s post may have been news to Kushner,...

California’s super-rich have plenty of luxury bunkers to choose from — but this one takes doomsday prepping to a whole new level. A massive network of underground vaults is being carved into the Swiss Alps, offering the ultra-wealthy a heavily fortified place to stash everything from priceless art and gold to vintage Ferraris and expensive wine. The complex will house about 20 private vaults buried under more than 100 meters of solid rock — a natural fortress designed to keep criminals out. Each underground cave is being sold on a 99-year lease, with prices starting at nearly 1 million Swiss...