Free Republic

Ukraine says it has handed Russia a “memorandum” on a proposed ceasefire, urging Moscow to do the same in return, as fresh talks next week emerge as a possibility. Russia has proposed a second round of Moscow-Kyiv talks for Monday June second, calling Istanbul “the central location for talks”. The Secretary of the Russian Security Council Sergey Shoigu thanked Turkey for its “significant efforts” to support talks, saying on Thursday they had ensured “security and creating favorable conditions for the delegations’ work”. Should these talks materialise, they would come over two weeks after the historic but unproductive first set of...

A Colorado couple who burned a cross in front of a black mayoral candidate’s campaign sign to generate voter sympathy was convicted Friday of conveying false information about a threat. Prosecutors argued that although Ashley Blackcloud, who is indigenous and Black, and Derrick Bernard, who is Black, orchestrated and broadcast the hoax to aid the candidate, their actions still amounted to a criminal threat. The cross burning happened in 2023 during the run-up to the mayoral election in Colorado Springs, the state’s second-largest city. Images and video of the episode were emailed to local news outlets to boost the campaign...

What I learned from debating at Oxford and CambridgeWhen I was growing up, people often said British politics were where America’s would be in five, ten or 20 years. What this meant was that Britain was more to the left of America: more secular, more socially liberal, more environmentalist, more globalized. The assumption was that, over time, the left would always win out, so wherever Britain was now, America would soon be. I traveled to the United Kingdom in May to debate the students and faculty of Cambridge and Oxford Universities in large part because that old assumption is dead...

The movie The Big Short—dramatizing the reckless behavior in the banking and mortgage industries that contributed to the 2008 financial crisis—captures much of Wall Street's misconduct but overlooks a central player in the collapse: the federal government, specifically through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These two government-created and government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) encouraged lenders to issue risky home loans by effectively making taxpayers cosign the mortgages. This setup incentivized dangerous lending practices that inflated the housing bubble, eventually leading to catastrophic economic consequences. Another critical but overlooked factor in the collapse was the Community Reinvestment Act. This federal statute was intended...

A U.S. federal judge has inflicted another blow to the Trump administration’s efforts to end a multiple Biden-era parole program for hundreds of thousands of migrants*** U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani of Massachusetts on Wednesday ordered the Trump administration to resume processing applications from those migrants who are seeking work permits or renewing their status. Talwani, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, rejected the Trump administration's claim that suspending the parole programs was within its broad discretion to direct immigration policy. Federal law still requires agencies under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to follow a lengthy process for...

Dr. Joe Sansone is a Florida psychotherapist that has been a one-man wrecking ball against the CV19 bioweapon vax. He has lawsuits in Florida and a bill pending in the Minnesota Legislature. Dr. Sansone is lining up other bills at state legislatures to get the mRNA vaccines and other mRNA products pulled off the market. Even though the CV19 vax has a huge track record of death and disability, the shots are still on the market. Why? Dr. Sansone says, “I think with politicians, it comes down to one of three things: cowards, corrupt or out of touch. The bottom...

...Pacific Gas and Electric Company has finally revealed the staggering price tag for dismantling the century-old hydroelectric facility: $532 million. That’s the estimated cost PG&E submitted to state regulators on May 15, a half-billion-dollar teardown that will be funded by PG&E customers, many of whom also risk losing the year-round water supply the system delivers to 600,000 people across Northern California. ...Tony Gigliotti, PG&E’s senior licensing project manager, told SFGATE the half-billion-dollar figure is still a “very high-level estimate,” but it’s meant to reflect the full scope of the task ahead. “We did the best we could with the information...

A Louisiana rapper who was convicted on gun charges is now thanking President Donald Trump for pardoning him, saying he is "giving me the opportunity to keep building -- as a man, as a father, and as an artist." NBA YoungBoy, whose real name is Kentrell Gaulden, made the statement as Trump issued a number of pardons Wednesday. Last year, Gaulden was sentenced by a federal judge in Utah after he acknowledged possessing weapons despite being a convicted felon. However, he reached an agreement that resolved Utah state charges against him and settled two sets of federal charges against him...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis voiced skepticism about President Trump’s negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program, arguing that the theocratic regime can’t be trusted. The Sunshine State governor warned that “trying to cut a deal with Iran” is “hazardous,” and emphasized that Tehran is “not a traditional country” that can be treated in a “traditional way.” “I don’t see them as being good faith actors and in any way, shape or form. And the reality is they cannot be allowed to enrich uranium, period. End of story,” DeSantis told conservative radio host Mark Levin. “They are a militant Islamic government....

On April 28, 2025, in a Parliamentary election in Trinidad and Tobago, the United National Congress (UNC) party won 26 of 41 seats. This was a resounding defeat for the People’s National Movement (PNM) party, which had been in power for ten years. The PNM lost, in large part, because of their unrealistic assumptions about the nature of violence and firearms. The Prime Minister for most of the ten years had been Dr. Keith Rowley. PM Rowley stepped down on March 16. His Successor, PM Stuart Young, called for a snap election on March 18, to be held on April...

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Wednesday that it has used laser weapons to destroy enemy airborne projectiles during the ongoing conflict, a revelation that boosts Israel’s strategic technological advantage. The Jerusalem Post reported: In a historic breakthrough, the IDF on Wednesday announced that an unnamed laser defense system similar to the much celebrated Iron Beam laser system has shot down dozens of aerial threats during the war. … Head of the Defense Ministry’s Directorate of Research and Development Brig.-Gen. Yehuda Elmakayes stated, “During the war, we deployed several high-power laser system prototypes, resulting in significant achievements, culminating in the...

Omer Shem Tov, kidnapped by Hamas on October 7th, tells Bianna Golodryga how he survived starvation, isolation and mental abuse in Hamas tunnels until his release in February. 24:13 min interview.

Democratic socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is surging, cutting ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s frontrunner status in the Democratic primary to just a single digit lead, according to a new poll released Wednesday. The latest PIX 11/ Emerson College poll has the Queens state Assemblyman holding his own with Cuomo for 10 rounds of ranked-choice voting before being eliminated with a nine-point spread, 54.4% to 45.6%. But with less than a month to the June 24 Democratic mayoral primary, only a small fraction of voters appear to be up for grabs, with 3.5% of voters still undecided, according to the survey conducted...

The Supreme Court will be issuing Opinions from the October 2024 term this morning at 10:00 a.m.A list of those cases can be found here:October 2024 termScotusblog will be live-blogging the Opinion release and we will be following along and trying to make sense of the Court's rulings.live-blog of OpinionsThere are also several pending cases on the Emergency Docket. Those can be found here:Emergency DocketOnce an Opinion has been announced from the bench it will be posted on the Supreme Court's website located here:SCOTUS Opinions

The close relationship between the United States and Europe transcends geographic proximity and transactional politics. It represents a unique bond forged in common culture, faith, familial ties, mutual assistance in times of strife, and above all, a shared Western civilizational heritage. Our transatlantic partnership is underpinned by a rich Western tradition of natural law, virtue ethics, and national sovereignty. This tradition flows from Athens and Rome, through medieval Christianity, to English common law, and ultimately into America's founding documents. The Declaration's revolutionary assertion that men “are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights” echoes the thought of Aristotle, Thomas...

You may feel terrible about being a member of the Republican Party because it’s the stupidest party in American politics until you remember that the Democrat Party exists – and no, the Libertarian Party is not actually a party; it’s the motley crew of pot-addled sophomores holding forth in the dorm suite common area at 2 a.m. of American politics.

Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “The Last Word” that a federal court’s decision to halt President Donald Trump’s tariffs showed he was not a “king.” Host Lawrence O’Donnell said, “I know this is a big a big night for Minnesota with Canada as your your biggest trading partner next door. You were up in Canada last week. You have a whole new discussion now to be had with Canada. None of Donald Trump’s tariffs apply anymore.” Klobuchar said, “We do and I will say, number one, you and I have been nerding out on this over and...

Donald Trump’s rambling speeches and stream-of-consciousness press briefings could be symptoms of his “cognitive decline,” according to one of America’s top rhetoric experts. The warning comes as Trump and his aides are seeking a congressional probe into Joe Biden’s mental state during his one-term presidency. The extent to which Biden, now 82, hid his capability has led to major questions over whether he was fit to lead the country.

Democrats are trapped by the toxic DEI ideology they created—too afraid to reform, too broken to survive without it. A few Democrat officeholders, activists, and pundits are finally coming to their senses that their brand is toxic to a majority of the American people. The Biden administration killed what was left of it in a number of ways. First, it serially lied to Americans about the cognitive decline and cancerous condition of President Joe Biden, both while in and after office. Only when caught did the complicit media fess up that the Biden inner circle serially misled the American people...

Why did the court strike down some tariffs? The U.S. Court of International Trade ruled that President Trump didn’t have the authority to impose sweeping tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977, or IEEPA. What tariffs are covered by the ruling? The ruling voids many of the Trump's administration’s moves on trade. That includes fentanyl-related tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, and the reciprocal tariffs—some of which were already on hold—that affect virtually every U.S. trading partner. What tariffs aren’t affected? Those that weren't justified under IEEPA. For instance, levies on autos, steel and aluminum aren't covered....