Free Republic

They buried him. They mourned him. And they have gathered to pick his successor. But it’s still all about Pope Francis. More than two weeks after Francis died, the cardinals who will begin voting in the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday to pick the next pope have been signaling whether they want to follow Francis’ lead, turn back or find some compromise between the two. In homilies, public and private conversations, and most of all in remarks to their fellow cardinals in daily meetings behind the Vatican walls, the people who will choose the next pope have been holding what amounts...

It’s a killer birthday gift. The legal defense fund for Luigi Mangione reached more than $1 million in donations Tuesday, with droves of starry-eyed supporters pitching in to help the alleged UnitedHealthcare CEO assassin on his 27th birthday. “Happy 27th Birthday to the man, the myth, the legend. You are so loved. May you stay healthy and strong and keep the fighting spirit inside you,” one anonymous fan wrote while donating $27 on Mangione’s birthday. “This is my 7th donation, and I will keep donating as long as I need to. You are fighting for your life, but know there...

Frio County [Texas] Judge Rochelle Lozano Camacho, Pearsall officials among 6 suspects charged Frio County sheriff’s deputies arrested the following suspects on May 2 after an investigation by the state attorney general’s office: Pearsall City Council member Ramiro Trevino on one count of vote harvesting Pearsall Independent School District board member Adrian Ramirez on three counts of vote harvesting Former Frio County Elections Administrator Carlos Segura on one count of tampering with evidence Pearsall City Council member Racheal Garza on one count of vote harvesting Rosa Rodriguez, who the Frio County Sheriff’s Office described as a campaign worker, on two...

In another significant win for law enforcement, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced one of the largest fentanyl seizures in U.S. history, underscoring the ongoing efforts to combat the drug crisis plaguing American communities. The bust, which seized enough fentanyl to kill millions, is just another stark reminder of the deadly threat posed by illegal drug trafficking and the importance of a strong, border-focused strategy that was ignored during the Biden administration. On Tuesday, Bondi announced that authorities made one of the biggest fentanyl busts in U.S. history with the seizure of 11.5 kilos of the drug, including three million fentanyl...

In an exclusive and remarkably candid interview - the first since he left office - Joe Biden discusses what he really thinks of his successor's first 100 days, plus his fears for the future if the Atlantic Alliance collapses It is hard to believe that the man I greet in the Delaware hotel where he launched his political career more than half a century ago was the "leader of the free world" little over 100 days ago. Joe Biden is still surrounded by all the trappings of power – the black SUVs, the security guys with curly earpieces, the sniffer...

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that attempted overnight Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow ahead of the commemorations of the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union over Nazi Germany showed Kyiv's tendency to commit "acts of terrorism." Russian air defense forces downed 14 Ukrainian drones on Wednesday, the city's mayor said, as Kyiv targeted the Russian capital for the third consecutive day. The drones forced most of the Russian capital's airports to close hours before Chinese President Xi Jinping was due to fly in for a visit that Kyiv has made clear it opposes. In a call with...

The European Commission has published a "roadmap" outlining its plans to end Europe's reliance on Russian energy in the coming years. Under the plans, imports of all Russian gas and liquefied natural gas to European Union member states will be banned by the end of 2027. "No more will we permit Russia to weaponise energy against us... No more will we indirectly help fill up the [Kremlin's] war chests," European Commissioner for Energy Dan Jorgensen said in a news conference in Strasbourg on Tuesday. In response to the plans, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the Reuters news agency on Tuesday...

WASHINGTON/BEIJING, May 7 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and chief trade negotiator Jamieson Greer will meet China's economic tsar He Lifeng in Switzerland this weekend for talks that could be the first step toward resolving a trade war disrupting the global economy. News of the planned Geneva meeting, first announced by Washington late Tuesday, sent U.S. equity index futures higher. Stock markets in China and Hong Kong followed suit during Asian trading on Wednesday. The talks come after weeks of escalating tensions that have seen duties on goods imports between the world's two largest economies soar well beyond...

Friedrich Merz is spending his first day as leader of Germany visiting France and Poland, promising a “fresh start” to EU relationships and signalling defiance to President Trump in saying they will never accept an “imposed” peace on the Ukraine War. The French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed newly appointed Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Paris on Wednesday, the leaders of the two largest and richest countries in Europe publishing a joint statement vowing greater cooperation on defence, economics, and the Ukraine War. Merz will later today travel to Poland for more meetings, which in both cases he said were to launch...

The Federal Reserve is set to extend its pause on interest rate cuts on Wednesday amid concerns that President Trump’s tariffs will unleash fresh inflationary pressures while also hurting growth, a tricky combination that could lead to painful trade-offs for the central bank. A decision to stand pat would keep interest rates at 4.25 percent to 4.5 percent, a level reached in December after a series of cuts in the second half of 2024. Fed officials are in wait-and-see mode for now. They are closely tracking the incoming data for signs that consumer prices are rising again after a multiyear...

Trial coverage brought to you by OneTaste This project is about exposing the damage left behind by a DOJ that was politicized and weaponized during the Obama-Biden years. OneTaste isn’t alone. Americans across the country have been unfairly targeted for political and cultural reasons, victims of a system that was turned against the people it was meant to protect. Nicole Daedone’s fight for freedom is bigger than her own case. It is about defending every citizen’s right to fair treatment and real justice in this country. This is Nicole’s passion and OneTaste’s mission to stand up, speak out, and fight...

Pennsylvania man Calvin Crew has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 2022 murder of Uber driver and mother-of-four, Christina Spicuzza. The victim’s family told the court they chose to spare his life, asking prosecutors not to pursue the death penalty. Who Is Calvin Crew? Calvin Crew was found guilty of fatally shooting Christina Spicuzza during a robbery while she was working as an Uber driver in February 2022. In addition to the life sentence without parole, he was handed 13 to 26 years for kidnapping and robbery. His defense claims that Crew was...

The United States has reportedly encouraged intelligence agencies to ramp up spying efforts in Greenland amid President Donald Trump repeatedly floating the idea of taking over the Arctic island.... The Wall Street Journal reported, citing two sources, that high-ranking officials working under Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Habbard sent a "collection of emphasis message" to the heads of various intelligence agencies last week. Intelligence agencies have been directed to learn more about the independence movement on the island and the general attitude of the Greenlanders towards American resource extraction, the Journal added. The agencies have been asked to use tools...

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted operations in Nashville this week, resulting in the arrests of a convicted child sex predator and an alleged gang member, but the mayor of the city said the arrests were not focused on making the city safer. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shared Democratic Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s letter to the city about the ICE arrests. “Our top priority is keeping people safe, and we’re deeply concerned that what appear to be federal actions are making that harder,” O’Connell wrote. “Overnight, we understand that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agents detained people...

Jason Riley makes his living by his pen — and wastes no ink or time in mincing words. “There’s a lot of intellectual cowardice going on in the country right now, and it’s a product, I think, of the ascendance of progressivism,” he tells The Post in an interview about his new book, “The Affirmative Action Myth: Why Blacks Don’t Need Racial Preferences to Succeed.” The book’s title alone is sure to spur debate. Its author, a Wall Street Journal columnist and Manhattan Institute senior fellow, is somewhat bemused by his position as a provocateur. “I find it annoying that...

Former President Joe Biden told the far-left BBC waiting to drop out of the 2024 presidential race until just a few months before Election Day made no difference to the outcome. “I don’t think it would’ve mattered,” Biden answered when asked if he’d waited too long to withdraw. “We left at a time when [trails off] we had a good candidate. She was fully funded. And what happened was, I had become—what we had set out to do, no one told me to do, we’d become so successful, our agenda was hard to say ‘I wanna stop now.’” He rambled...

According to an internal memo reviewed by The Lever, the Trump administration is reportedly preparing to welcome the first wave of white South African refugees to American soil within days. On February 7, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order halting all U.S. aid to South Africa, citing “government-sponsored race-based discrimination,” including racially discriminatory property confiscation. It can be recalled that South Africa’s EFF leader Julius Malena was again calling for genocide against white South Africans at a rally last year. Julius Malena told supporters, “We must be able to explain to our people what black consciousness is and why...

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum warned on Fox Business Tuesday about America’s deepening energy shortfall and said that misguided climate policies could give China the upper hand in both the global energy race and artificial intelligence development. House lawmakers voted 246-164, with support from 35 Democrats, to overturn a Biden-era EPA rule that lets California enforce a de facto national ban on gas-powered cars by 2035. During an appearance on “Kudlow,” Burgum said that U.S. energy shortfalls could allow China to outpace America in artificial intelligence and other power-hungry technologies. “The real energy emergency that we have right now is that...

A Virginia homeowner allegedly shot and killed a three-sport high school athlete after the teenager and two pals banged on the shooter’s door while playing “ding dong ditch” early Saturday, authorities said. Tyler Chase Butler, 27, was charged Tuesday with killing 18-year-old high school senior Michael Bosworth Jr. and injuring one of his friends during what police initially reported was an attempted burglary on a residential block in Fredericksburg around 3 a.m., the Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office said. Butler claimed to detectives that a trio of teens were trying to break into his house, but the wounded teenager insisted they...

The Biden administration authorized federal law enforcement four years ago to target Americans engaged in "concerning non-criminal behavior" in the name of fighting domestic terrorism, with a specific eye on those serving in the military, owning firearms, or spreading what officials considered to be "xenophobic" disinformation, according to newly declassified documents. The stunning breadth of the mandate was disclosed when Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard recently released a fully unredacted version of the prior administration’s "Strategic Implementation Plan for Countering Domestic Terrorism." The June 2021 memo exposed for the first time the law enforcement and intelligence framework that led...