Free Republic

Transcript SummaryThe text draws parallels between Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange (1971 film, based on Anthony Burgess's 1962 novel) and perceived real-world trends in criminal justice, particularly in Canada under Liberal policies, and extends to the UK.Key parallels claimed:Dystopian society with rampant youth violence, yet government favors "rehabilitation" over punishment, including lenient bail, short sentences, early transfers to lower security, and a "hug-a-thug" approach that avoids deterrence.In the film, the Ludovico technique uses drugs and forced exposure to violence to condition aversion to it; the author likens this to Justin Trudeau's 2017 stance against revoking citizenship of returning ISIS fighters...

[Catholic Caucus] Cardinals’ letter against Trump’s foreign policy is a blatant political attackCardinals Cupich, McElroy, and Tobin speak of their concern for ‘religious liberty’ and ‘the right to life’ after years of silence under the Biden administration, even when it spied on Catholics and locked up pro-lifers.By now it shouldn’t be surprising when Catholic clergy counter-signal President Trump. It happened first when Pope Francis attacked him for wanting to build a border wall in 2016. It happened in December of last year when Leo indirectly rebuked him for his peace plan in Ukraine, which he said would “break apart” the...

Over the past couple of years, I have had several posts here expressing skepticism about whether electric vehicles (EVs) were really the wave of the future. Most recently, I had a post on December 17 noting the rapid decline of EV sales in the U.S. during the fourth quarter of 2025, following the expiration of certain tax credits on September 30. Overall, my take has been that the EV market has been propped up by government subsidies and benefits and, like all businesses dependent on government handouts, would likely shrink drastically (if not completely disappear) without them. For a different...

Syria’s Al Qaeda regime is massacring Kurds to free imprisoned ISIS terrorists, state sponsors of Hamas in Turkey and Qatar are being named to boards running Gaza and thousands of democracy protesters are being massacred in Iran while Al Jazeera defends the regime. This isn’t American foreign policy, but it is Qatar’s foreign policy. The White House’s foreign policy in the Muslim world is now virtually identical to Qatar’s foreign policy apart from Israel. And as thousands die in Iran after empty promises of support, there is a bigger picture here of institutional capture by a tiny and powerful Islamic...

Either the federal government exercises authority over immigration enforcement or the state of Minnesota does. It has been disconcerting to watch Minnesota governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey go out of their way to defend not only the violent actions of illegal aliens residing in their state but also the criminal behavior of citizens who endanger the lives of law enforcement officers and everyone around them by obstructing necessary arrests. The Department of Homeland Security has been spectacularly transparent about the targets of its operations in the North Star State. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are going after...

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday said it’s “very unlikely” that the Supreme Court will overturn President Donald Trump’s use of emergency powers to impose tariffs, with a potential decision from the court looming as early as this week. “I believe that it is very unlikely that the Supreme Court will overrule a president’s signature economic policy,” Bessent said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “They did not overrule Obamacare, I believe that the Supreme Court does not want to create chaos.” In June, the Supreme Court upheld a key Affordable Care Act provision that set up a panel to recommend...

Events in Europe, the Middle East, and here are moving so quickly, it seems that decades of deceit, corruption, and just plain stupidity are nearing their end sooner than we could have imagined. Here’s a sample of the tremors this week which promise to undo the near past. IranCredible reports indicate 23,000 civilians have been murdered by the mullahs’ forces, and videos (again made public due to the extraordinary efforts of Elon Musk’s teams to work around the mullah's blackouts) reveal incredible brutality. Corpses with catheters and heart monitors still attached support accounts of persons being snatched from hospitals and...

Every time I write about this subject it has gotten yet a little more ridiculous. The background is that back in 2019 New York, both State and City, set themselves targets for “emissions” reductions and energy transformation that are quite literally impossible as a matter of physics, thermodynamics, and cost. And then, just to show who is the boss here, they made the impossible targets mandatory by statute. In the case of New York State, the statute in question is the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA or Climate Act). Among the many requirements of that statute, the most...

For him, extreme volatility and risk are not a problem but an opportunity.Is Iran next? That was the question the world was asking this weekend. As both protests and repression escalated, President Trump repeatedly warned that the U.S. would not stand idly by if the theo-thugocracy in Tehran fired on protesters. The mullahs’ response came from their usual playbook. They carried out a bloodbath and threatened to attack American bases and assets across the region if Mr. Trump raised a hand against them. As in Venezuela, Russia and China aren’t doing much either way. Joint exercises involving the Chinese, Russian,...

The United States and Venezuela announced Friday they are pursuing the possibility of reestablishing diplomatic relations, coming a week after a U.S. military operation that captured former leader Nicolás Maduro in Caracas and extradited him to face drug-trafficking charges in New York.A U.S. delegation, including diplomats and security personnel, visited Venezuela to evaluate the potential reopening of the American Embassy in Caracas, the State Department said in a statement sent to media outlets. The department did not immediately return a request for comment.The embassy has been shuttered since 2019, when ties were severed during U.S. President Donald Trump’s first term...

The State Department is taking decisive action against five individuals who have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to censor, demonetize, and suppress American viewpoints they oppose. These radical activists and weaponized NGOs have advanced censorship crackdowns by foreign states—in each case targeting American speakers and American companies. As such, I have determined that their entry, presence, or activities in the United States have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States. Based on these determinations, the Department has taken steps to impose visa restrictions on agents of the global censorship-industrial complex who, as a result, will...

Most Americans are not antisemitic, but concerns over Israel reflect “a real backlash to consensus view in American foreign policy,” United States Vice President JD Vance assessed in a Monday interview… The vice president said Fuentes serves as a “useful foil” for some pro-Israel conservatives, allowing them to avoid a substantive discussion about US policy toward Israel. Vance said that while he believes “Israel is an important ally... we’re also going to have very substantive disagreements with Israel – and that’s OK.”

Since the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center towers, many have designated September 11, 2001 as the true close of the 20th century. That event indeed changed many things in the United States and in the world. It was a sign that the American-led global order established after World War II had become fragile and hollowed out. But in the decades that followed, our leaders clung to the pieties and perspectives of the pre-9/11 period, applying obsolete solutions in a new era with much different problems. In retrospect, Donald Trump’s 2015 presidential campaign was the true start of the...

U.S. President Donald Trump’s new national security strategy appears to blow up some of the key principles behind 80 years of European collective defence, challenging the foundation of the continent’s relationship with the country. But on whether the White House will — or even can — follow through on many of its more radical or transformative demands, many European capitals will likely need more convincing. In a blistering attack, Trump’s new policy portrays Europe’s governments as weak and ineffective. Migration has destroyed the continent’s self-confidence, it claims, accusing the European Union of contributing to a loss of national sovereignty, weakened...

Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, Marco Rubio, delivers a passionate series of remarks in support of President Trump’s foreign policy.Outlining the impact of federal policy under President Trump from the perspective of what is in America’s best interest, Rubio notes how foreign policy meshes with domestic policy and is specifically the combination of national security interests that secures prosperity for all American people.“For the first time in four decades American foreign policy is based on what is in our interests,” Rubio notes. The entire segment is well presented. WATCH:.This level of authenticity is very difficult to fake. Secretary...

In a late-night Truth Social post published on Thanksgiving evening, President Trump called for “reverse migration” and promised sweeping changes to U.S. immigration policy. His message came in the wake of a tragic shooting in Washington, D.C., where a 29-year-old Afghan national allegedly gunned down two members of the National Guard. One soldier has died, and the other remains in critical condition. In a later reported incident, Fox News published that an "Afghan national was arrested this week after posting a video of himself on TikTok indicating he was building a bomb with an intended target of the Fort Worth...

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright might possibly be the biggest unsung hero in the Trump 2.0 Cabinet. While his fellow Cabinet secretaries like Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth regularly get the big headlines, Wright flies a bit under the radar. But, that doesn't mean he's not busy taking bold, common sense actions to push America toward policies that prioritize affordable, reliable, and secure energy sources. Regular readers of RedState will know that Wright has been taking bold action to undo burdensome regulations and policies implemented by the Biden administration. Our own Ward Clark has...

Administration allies say they are fed up with the Defense Department’s third-most senior leader and his foreign policy surprises. More than a half dozen diplomats interviewed in Washington and Europe also complain that the Pentagon’s once steady consultations have slowed as Colby’s office crafts that strategy, along with a review of troop locations worldwide.That uncertainty deepened after the Pentagon quietly decided not to replace a rotational Army brigade in Romania, Hungary and Slovakia — a move the Romanian government learned of only two days before it was announced, according to a U.S. defense official and a Romanian official.One NATO diplomat...

Like a ‘friendly’ poker game, the ‘peace process’ was an end in itself. The president decided to win.In the 77 years since the formation of the Jewish state, and for the 2,000 years since the destruction of the Second Temple, the West has understood peace in the Middle East—peace between Arabs and Jews—as impossible.Semantically, the “Peace Process” was the continuing enjoyment of a process which could be ended only by peace. What, then, have the West, the world and the United Nations been doing in regard to the Mideast since 1948?The terrorist Yasser Arafat was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize...

The subject of refugees entering the United States has been one we've steadily covered on these pages over the past few years, especially during President Joe Biden's term in the White House, when people from around the world were allowed to stream across the border with Mexico - and take flights into the nation's interior - practically unhindered by authorities. On Thursday, the Trump administration announced that it will be making a major change to how immigration works regarding refugees who are allowed to enter the U.S., starting the end of Oct. through the end of the fiscal year (that...