Free Republic

A grotesque homeless encampment continues to expand on Manhattan’s West Side and now covers 12 city blocks with theft, drugs and prostitution flourishing in broad daylight Under new rules in Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration, the NYPD is no longer authorized to clear the encampments. The city Department of Homeless Services is in charge of conducting the sweeps, but it hasn’t done so. One vagrant went so far as to call the mayor “awesome” for allowing the unsanitary encampment to thrive and halting police raids that once cleared out the unsightly settlements. “Most people would agree that leaving people on the...

Even Ohio and Iowa, after trending Republican for years, are battlegrounds in the midterm elections. An old saying suggests that the road to the White House runs through Ohio. For more than 125 years, the Buckeye State has served as the nation’s bellwether. More recently many Midwestern states—not only Ohio, but also Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Minnesota—have turned either ruby red or navy blue. That polarization has hit a tipping point. The heartland is set again to become the nation’s pre-eminent battleground, and Democrats need to appreciate what that means for the future. The history is dramatic. Barack Obama won...

Iran has conveyed seven conditions to Washington for the start of any negotiations, Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei said Saturday, as President Donald Trump weighs whether to resume major attacks on Iran.“The United States, if it wants to extricate itself from the predicament it has created, must accept Iran’s rights and conditions,” Rezaei wrote on X, saying the seven demands had been communicated to Washington.He did not spell out all seven in the post. Earlier Saturday, however, Rezaei told Al Jazeera that Tehran was demanding an end to the war “on all fronts,” the release of frozen Iranian...

President Trump announced he was creating a new “AI Force” and designating a new AI “czar” Saturday to keep the industry from engaging in bad practices – after doubling down that fears of AI superintelligence are just another “hoax.” Trump compared a brewing panic over AI to a series of other events he has branded hoaxes. “Over the years, there have been many Hoaxes, all generated by the Radical Left Dumocrats, for purposes of destroying our Country,” he posted on Truth Social. “RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA, UKRAINE, UKRAINE, UKRAINE, Global Warming, Impeachment Hoax #1, Impeachment Hoax #2, Men in Women’s Sports,...

The EU instructs: "If you’re one of the millions of people every year entering EU borders from a third country, you need to be aware of an important rule under the EU Plant Health Law. You cannot introduce any plant or plant material into the EU unless it is accompanied by an official certificate from the Plant Health Authority in its country of origin. This simple rule has been put in place to protect European agriculture and forestry from the entry and spread of new dangerous plant pests and diseases which could be present on imported plant, fruit, vegetable, seed...

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday criticized the US decision to deny Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas a visa for the second year in a row, preventing him from attending next week's UN General Assembly in person. Guterres “deeply regrets" Washington's decision, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. “The Secretary-General is concerned about the impact of this decision on the ability of the State of Palestine to participate fully in the work of the United Nations," Dujarric said in a statement. The State Department announced Wednesday that visa sanctions against Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) members and PA officials would be...

This is a short operational update posted by U.S. Central Command. Hi, I’m Admiral Brad Cooper, Commander of U.S. Central Command, here with a message to all Americans and an operational update on missions in the Middle East. CENTCOM forces have supported more than one billion barrels of crude oil leaving the Gulf. That’s one billion barrels of crude oil out through the Strait of Hormuz in the last couple of months. We’ve reached this significant milestone while assisting over 2,000 commercial ship transits through the Strait by providing coordinated protection. Clearly, momentum is building. Primary transit lanes in the...

President Trump released his epic video “Lion versus the Jackal” Friday night on X. The video puts film clips together of President Trump versus the socialist mob who have hunted him since (before) his first day in office. The film starts with President Trump and our beautiful First Lady, Melania Trump, walking down Pennsylvania Avenue waving at the thousands of fans following his 2017 inaugural. They had no idea what was about to hit them! The Federal Government, the Deep State, declared war on the US President and his supporters and tried to destroy him from Day 1. The video...

YARDLEY, Pa. (AP) — Mary Ryan may be a registered Republican but she has never voted for President Donald Trump, turned off by his crass style of politics and chaotic approach to governing. But the 60-year-old medical writer from the Philadelphia suburbs has consistently backed her party’s congressman, five-term Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick. Until now. This year, Ryan is so fed up with Trump and his grip on Congress that she is planning to vote in November for Fitzpatrick’s Democratic opponent in the 1st Congressional District, Bob Harvie, a twice countywide elected commissioner who is a former social studies teacher.

President Trump faced questions yesterday about banning MSNBC, CNN, and Politico from the White House grounds. He doubled down, saying they’re fake news and intentionally peddle false stories. He’s not wrong, and for now, they’re done. Starting tomorrow, they’re no longer invited on campus. Yet calling this a muzzling of the press is a gross overreaction. Obama tried it with Fox News; Biden did it to The New York Post. No doubt they’ll be invited back, but for now, the process is the punishment until the inevitable lawsuit is filed. "I think it’s hard for you to argue against a...

The Skeptic Research Center's 2024 study of over 3,000 U.S. adults showed majorities of Hispanic (59%), Black (69%), and Asian (55%) women, plus many men in those groups, selected 'true' for the statement, compared to lower rates among white respondents. Liberal millennials led at 55%, while even 31% of graduate degree holders agreed; the same group held misconceptions about incomes and college admissions. Slavery existed for millennia worldwide, from ancient Mesopotamia to Africa and the Americas, long before the race-based transatlantic trade driven by Europeans. The findings spotlight gaps in understanding slavery's global history amid America's pivotal role in its...

I’ve known and supported President Trump for many years, and I offer these thoughts in the spirit of friendship and concern. Sometimes the strongest thing a leader can do is say less, listen more, and let his actions speak for themselves. I’m praying for our President, as I hope all Americans will, and I’m asking him to remember the example of Ronald Reagan: humor, courtesy, respect, and a presidential manner even in difficult times. Mr. President, I say this as a friend. For just a little while, try being quiet. You may be surprised how loudly that silence speaks.

Hundreds of thousands of Iranians flooded the streets of Tehran on Friday for a government-organized rally calling on civilians to join the military and prepare to “sacrifice their lives.” > It was the largest demonstration in the country since the United States and Israel attacked Iran in February.

Federal authorities arrested an illegal migrant Friday for repeatedly lying about her citizenship to land a job at an aerospace manufacturer and US military contractor where she worked for three decades. Mexican national Alma Patricia Contreras Villafana, 54, of South Los Angeles, was taken into custody by Homeland Security officers after a standoff at the Torrance factory operated by Howmet Aerospace, where she worked as a machinist. ... Court papers say Contreras Villafana first secured employment at a Howmet subsidiary in 1996 by attesting on her Form I-9 that she was a US citizen. In fact, she had been ordered...

MS NOW reporter was denied entry into the White House grounds and asked to hand over her badge

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is rushing to Jimmy Kimmel’s rescue as the unlikely allies fight President Donald Trump’s efforts to protect taxpayer-owned airwaves from inundation by leftwing propaganda and hate speech.The Senate Commerce Committee, chaired by Cruz, marked up the JAWBONE Act on Wednesday morning. It now awaits action before the Senate.The bill might be more about Cruz, who has a record cozying up to establishment media, earning chits ahead of an expected anti-Trumpism presidential run.

Bern, 18.09.2026 — Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, hybrid threats and critical dependencies pose challenges for the state, the economy and society. With the 2026 Security Policy Strategy, the Federal Council is positioning Switzerland to navigate this environment. The strategic priorities for the coming years are to strengthen resilience, improve capabilities for resistance and protection, and strengthen defence capabilities. On 18 September, the Federal Council took note of the results of the consultation process and approved the Security Policy Strategy. Work has already begun on implementing its 10 objectives and 46 measures. The international security situation has become increasingly...

In spring of 2021, a man visits a small storefront in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He tells the woman at the desk – the business owner– that he wants a nursing degree. What happens next, captured on undercover video, helps unravel one of the largest healthcare fraud schemes in recent U.S. history, operating heavily in South Florida’s tight-knit Haitian immigrant networks. The con secretly recruited and collected money from people who wanted to buy, not earn, nursing diplomas. Isaac Bledsoe is a federal Special Agent in Charge of the Inspector General’s Miami office at Health and Human Services. He says his...

One of Britain's richest people, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, says he has lost confidence in the UK, describing the country as "on the slide". The founder of petrochemical giant Ineos, who also owns a large stake in Manchester United, said the UK was in decline due to a combination of high taxes and high immigration. He told the BBC failing to invest further in North Sea oil and gas amounted to "insanity" and warned gas storage was so low that the UK could "run out of gas" if there was a cold snap this winter. ... Sir Jim, whose wealth is...

Cuba experienced a total power failure Friday, according to the U.S. Embassy in Havana. The embassy said the failure was due to the "collapse of Cuba’s electrical grid." According to Cuban regime media, the reason for the collapse is under investigation and the timeline to restore power is unknown." "All U.S. citizens in Cuba or planning to travel to Cuba should be aware and plan accordingly. There are reports of cellphone and internet outages," the embassy added, noting that Cuba’s electrical grid is "increasingly unstable," which has led to "multiple" nationwide power outages in the last few months.