Free Republic

Far-left politicians want to annihilate property rights — and a large share of young voters are buying into it. That’s a red flag: Our school systems have become socialist indoctrination factories. This week Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a leftist agenda-setter, called on the federal government to confiscate half the value of the nation’s largest artificial intelligence companies. He’s targeting OpenAI, Anthropic (creator of Claude) and xAI, for starters. Making his announcement on Facebook and in a New York Times opinion essay, Sanders said he’ll introduce legislation to slap these companies with a 50% “ownership tax” — literally grabbing company stock...

PIERRE, S.D. (South Dakota Searchlight) – After 14 incumbent South Dakota lawmakers lost their seats in the 2024 Republican primary, 16 lost on Tuesday, according to unofficial results from the Secretary of State’s Office. The 2024 shakeup was described as “an earthquake” by Spearfish Rep. Scott Odenbach, a Republican incumbent who won his own primary that year and was elevated to majority leader of the House of Representatives with support from the newcomers. In the 2026 primary, those former newcomers made up the majority of the ousted incumbents. snip Several of the lawmakers who lost their seats in the 2024...

Glenn Beck is sounding the alarm over Democratic New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s new housing proposal, warning that he's laying the groundwork for expanded government control over private property.The new “Block by Block” housing plan includes taking aggressive legal action against landlords — and even transferring their properties to the tenants themselves.“Through our new citywide campaign, Fix the City, we will focus on the worst landlords in New York City. When necessary, we will take aggressive legal action to remove negligent owners and property managers,” Mamdani said in a speech announcing his plan.

Reports that the Venezuelan intelligence agency is targeting and spying on the Venezuelan Jewish community as well as on Venezuelan companies and organizations with ties to Israel is deeply troubling, asserted the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). “We are deeply troubled by a recent news report alleging that the Venezuelan Intelligence Service (SEBIN) is spying on the Venezuelan Jewish community,” said ADL National Director Abraham H. Foxman. “Venezuela under the regime of Hugo Chavez has a history of harassing the Jewish community in that country,” he said. “It is chilling to read reports that the SEBIN received instructions to carry out clandestine...

How Does Society Readjust its Direction in Case of Deviation from its Law? "If an instrument of governing is dictatorial, as in political systems in the world today, the society's vigilance towards deviation from law will have only one way to gain readjustment. That is violence, which means revolution against the instrument of governing. This violence or revolution, even if it is an expression of the feeling of the society against deviation, is not carried out by the whole society. It is undertaken only by those who have the initiative and boldness to proclaim the will of the society." The...

In one of his first actions as mayor, Zohran Mamdani relaunched the Office to Protect Tenants and appointed Cea Weaver as its director. Weaver, a fellow member of the Democratic Socialists of America, has claimed homeownership is a “weapon of white supremacy” and clamored to “seize private property!” How Weaver plans to navigate the little problem of constitutionally protected property rights is left unclear. But in the words of the mayor on election night, “there is no problem too large for government to solve, and no concern too small for it to care about.” It’s sad but unsurprising Weaver has...

New York Councilwoman Vickie Paladino is sounding the alarm about a line in Mayor Zohran Mamdani's inaugural speech. There was a lot in Mamdani's remarks to parse, including his assertion that New York will move toward the "warmth of collectivism" rather than "rugged individualism." As many pointed out, collectivism has a pretty high body count.But socialists like Mamdani don't care. They'll do whatever it takes, and stack as many bodies as necessary, to achieve their utopia. Mamdani made a boatload of promises in his address, including free universal childcare, free buses, and a $30 minimum wage.There was also another line...

Growing up in the 70’s and 80’s, watching the Christmas specials was a huge part of Christmas. Before the day of DVR, and when VCR tapes were just emerging, catching the live Christmas specials was an exciting event and my eyes were glued to the TV. I caught every nuance of every program over the years, and of course had questions. Like, in Frosty the Snowman, why does Karen wear gloves and mittens yet her legs are fully exposed to the cold? And if you watch carefully, when the children run out of the school house, a little boy jumps...

The City Council’s far-left majority is pushing the Big Apple into a “communist dystopia” with Stalinesque legislation designed to control how private property is sold — and penalizing owners $30,000 if they resist. The “Community Opportunity for Purchase Act,” or COPA, forces sellers to let “community land trusts” and other nonprofits providing affordable housing make first offers to buy residential buildings with at least three units once they’re on the market – and then match competing private-sector offers. The bill, sponsored by Brooklyn Councilwoman Sandy Nurse, was introduced in May 2024 and has gained steam in recent months after Democratic...

The U.S. Supreme Court announced today it would not hear a case that could have given a final decision over who can access millions of acres of public land in the West. The justices provided no reasoning for declining to hear the case. This means an issue that has roiled the public-land hunting community for years is, at least for now, settled in part of the West. Corner crossing remains legal in Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah — states covered by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals — said the hunters’ attorney, Ryan Semerad. However, corner crossing...

Officials say they need the land to meet state-mandated affordable housing targets.. In a case drawing national attention, Cranbury Township is moving forward with its plans to seize part of a historic 175-year-old family farm to build affordable housing, despite fierce push-back and an active lawsuit. The Middlesex County township recently hired a company to appraise 12 acres of the Henry family farm, according to NJ.com, which is the first step toward possibly condemning the land through eminent domain. Local officials have maintained that they need the land to meet state-mandated affordable housing targets. The Henry family — which has...

Utah is planning on taking water away from farmers and ranchers right now”.. They are currently writing new legislation that is going to put new regulations on farmers and ranchers water use — We need your help. We need to save the farmers and ranchers” “The verbiage in the bill is that they are going to require them to use less water, water that has been already granted to them from generations past, or they're going to require them to use more water saving technologies. But who is going to pay for that? It sure as hell isn't going to...

The Maude family has maintained a grazing allotment with the U.S. Forest Service Buffalo Gap National Grasslands since the inception of the agency. Charles and Heather Maude have carried on the practices implemented by generations before them, including irrigating the river bottom to grow a feed crop. After the USFS alerted them that a small segment of land might be fenced incorrectly for ownership, they were indicted for theft of federal property. Those charges have been dropped, but a solution to the original issue has not yet been determined. ... Charles and Heather Maude no longer face the threat of...

If you watched Donald Trump's cabinet meeting on Wednesday, you may have seen Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins hold up a photo of the Maude family of South Dakota. I'd heard a little bit about the fifth-generation ranching family before that, but I decided to learn more because I couldn't believe the story Rollins told about how the Joe Biden administration treated them. It's unbelievable. Or maybe it's not, given all we're learning about the last four years. ... Trump Admin is reversing Biden-era failures in 100 days! The U.S. Gov has dropped charges against the Maude family, victims of...

It looks like a case of the bigger they are, the harder they fall: Konstantin Strukov, one of Russia’s wealthiest businessmen and once close to President Vladimir Putin, is now facing criminal charges and the threat of state asset seizure. His flagship company, the gold mining firm Uzhuralzoloto, is set to be nationalized by the Russian government amid a broader wave of corporate takeovers by the state. With an estimated fortune of $1.9 billion, Strukov comes 78th on Forbes' list of Russia’s richest people. In addition to his business ventures, he was also active in politics, having served as deputy...

For three decades, Andy Henry has declined $20-30 million offers for his 21-acre, 175-year-old farm. Ironically, local government is using his perseverance to take the entire property via eminent domain and replace pasture with affordable housing. Grass for concrete? Legacy surrendered? No deal, Henry says. Period. Full stop. On South River Road, in Middlesex County, N.J., warehouses and industrial buildings have replaced the once abundant farms of yesteryear—except a lone holdout. “My family sacrificed on this land for 175 years,” Henry adds. “All the other farms disappeared. We did not. We will not.” In 1850, Joseph McGill—Andy Henry’s maternal great-grandfather—bought...

Ranchers say their hands are tied as reintroduced wolves—listed as endangered—are feasting on cattle instead of hunting elk and deer.. Descendants of rewilded wolves are taking a heavy toll on cattle in Northern California and Oregon, killing calves and full-grown animals and putting stress on cow-calf operations and ranchers’ pocketbooks. Because wolves are listed as an endangered species under state and federal law, ranchers are hamstrung: They can’t shoot or harass these protected predators. The penalty for killing a wolf is steep; federal law carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison and a $100,000 fine, unless a rancher...

THE Bushmen of the Kalahari — among Africa’s last indigenous peoples — are on the verge of losing their ancestral homeland after the Government of Botswana stepped up a campaign to force them into squalid resettlement camps. The Government has sent heavily armed wildlife guards into the Central Kalahari Game Reserve — an area promised to the Bushmen “in perpetuity”. Some 200 to 250 Gana and Gwi Bushmen live in the area, having drifted back after previous evictions. The Government banned all outsiders, including journalists, from the area. It said a disease had been discovered in the Bushmen’s goats, which...

South Africa's state-owned Land Bank said on Monday a plan to allow the state to seize land without compensation could trigger defaults that could cost the government 41 billion rand ($2.8 billion) if the bank's rights as a creditor are not protected. Land Bank is a specialist bank providing financial services to the commercial farming sector and other agricultural businesses. President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Aug. 1 that the ruling African National Congress (ANC) is forging ahead with plans to change the constitution to allow the expropriation of land without compensation, as whites still own most of South Africa's land...

The king of the Zulu tribe has formed an unlikely alliance with a right-wing Afrikaner lobby group to fight the South African government’s plans to take land from white owners without compensation. King Goodwill Zwelithini said that his motivation in working with “the Boers” was their shared concern for the country’s food security, which he feared would be threatened if President Ramaphosa pressed ahead with his controversial expropriation plans.