Free Republic

In the final quarter of the 20th century, the far-right was primarily associated with antisemitism and racism. By the end of the first quarter of the 21st century, however, its exclusionary rhetoric had increasingly shifted toward immigrants, while its traditional antisemitic positions had, in significant parts of the European radical right, been replaced or reframed through Islamophobic discourse. Zionism and pro-Americanism, once regarded as two major ideological enemies, increasingly became part of its own political identity. The U.S.-Israel alignment that accompanied this sharp paradigm shift contributed to the transformation of the far-right from a marginal movement with limited electoral support...

SSPX is actually more faithful to Vatican II than the Vatican itselfLeo XIV and his Vatican actually reject certain key portions of Vatican II — on doctrinal development and ecumenism — that the SSPX accepts. When Leo XIV condemned the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) for refusing “to accept certain fundamental elements of the Church, beginning with various points of the Second Vatican Council,” most Catholics might have inferred that the pope considered complete acceptance of the teachings of Vatican II to be an essential requirement of the Faith. As such, it could come as a surprise to many...

Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev warned Monday that World War III "will undoubtedly begin" if President Trump persists in his "insane course" of regime change. Following the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Medvedev predicted Iran will pursue nuclear weapons "with triple the energy" and dismissed European reactions as "toadyism. Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev issued a stark warning Monday that continued US efforts to topple foreign governments will inevitably trigger global conflict. Speaking to state news agency Tass, Medvedev declared that if President Donald Trump "continues his insane course of criminally changing political regimes, it will...

[Catholic Caucus] Pope Francis ‘secret decrees’ undermined defendants’ rights in Cdl. Becciu trial, lawyers sayDefense attorneys told Vatican judges that unpublished papal decrees unlawfully expanded prosecutorial powers and violated Cdl. Angelo Becciu’s fundamental rights under Vatican law.Defense lawyers have told the Vatican appeals tribunal that “secret decrees” issued by Pope Francis unlawfully expanded prosecutorial powers and undermined the fundamental rights of defendants in Cardinal Angelo Becciu’s trial.On Tuesday, during the resumption of the appeals phase of the Vatican’s so-called trial of the century, defense attorneys for Becciu and eight co-defendants argued before the Vatican City State Tribunal that four confidential...

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia belongs among the ranks of self-respecting nations and will not act under external pressure, responding to new US sanctions and Western efforts to isolate Moscow. More to come ...

WASHINGTON — For generations, official American documents have been meticulously preserved and protected — from the era of quills and parchment to boxes of paper to the cloud, safeguarding snapshots of the government and the nation for posterity. Now, the Trump administration has sought to expand the executive branch’s power to shield from public view key administration initiatives. Officials have used apps like Signal that can auto-delete messages containing sensitive information rather than retaining them for record-keeping. And they have shaken up the National Archives leadership. To historians and archivists, it points to the possibility that President Trump will leave...

The Washington DC housing market is in a standstill as federal employees' cushy salaries are still under threat by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cuts. More than 25,000 rental properties and 9,800 homes are listed in the DC Metro area, with nearly 10,000 rentals and 500 homes just in the District of Columbia alone as of early April, according to Zillow. And although Spring is always a hot time on the market for sellers, buyers are hesitant to snap up homes as their federal and federally-adjacent jobs are still under the threat of massive layoffs as Musk worked...

For over a year now, pro-Russian voices have circulated the conspiracy theory that Ukraine was close to signing a peace deal in the spring of 2022, only to be thwarted by the West. Although this narrative has repeatedly been debunked as disinformation, it stubbornly persists in some circles.The central premise of the theory is that, only a few weeks into the war, Ukraine was ready to sign a deal with Russia amid peace talks in Istanbul until Western powers, led by former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, ordered Kyiv to scrap the deal. It is thus argued that blame for...

GARDENERS have been warned that their habit could leave them at an increased risk of heart disease. Medics found that pollutants in the soil could have a 'detrimental effect on the cardiovascular system'. The results of the analysis pushed experts to recommend that people wear a face mask, if they are in close contact with the soil. Experts at the University Medical Center Mainz, Germany said pollution of air, water and soil is responsible for at least nine million deaths each year. They highlighted that more than 60 per cent of pollution-related deaths are due to heart issues such as...