Free Republic

With all the talk about Twitter shadow banning conservative commentators, National Review's Jim Geraghty wondered whether the social network also had the gall to go after conservative politicians. So he looked at the number of retweets and likes Senator Ted Cruz's tweets receive on average and compared them to California Democratic Senator Kamala Harris. Harris has only half of Cruz's followers: 1.5 million versus 3.2 million. As such, you'd expect Cruz to be retweeted more often by his followers. Surprisingly, that's not the case. But that's not even the most shocking part. Look at the difference; it's gigantic. Texas Republican...

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has called on Germany's Angela Merkel to do "everything possible" to reverse Brexit and keep Britain part of the European Union. "It would be a mistake of historic proportions if the United Kingdom leaves the European Union," Blair told Business Insider Deutschland. "Even Europe -- especially Germany -- has a lot to lose," he went on to say. "It is in all our interests to maintain barrier-free trade across the continent and to hold liberal democracies together in times when authoritarian structures are resurgent." And so, he argued, "Germany should do everything possible to...

According to the British newspaper the Daily Express, Russia's president Vladimir Putin has escalated his war of words against the West yesterday into "war games." "In a show of force," the newspapers continues, "the Russian president demonstrated his fearsome new Sarmat missile." Fearsome it is, indeed. The missile travels at 20 times the speed of sound and can carry up to 12 nuclear warheads f0r 6,000 miles. Because of this, NATO has dubbed the missile "Satan 2." The successful test launch is shown in what the Daily Express calls an "Easter message" from the Kremlin. In the footage, the Satan...

The supposedly conservative Times of London (owned by Rupert Murdoch) has published a rather long article about the Stormy Daniels controversy. Although you'd expect a conservative newspaper to be critical of both Donald Trump and the (former) porn actress, nothing could be further from the truth. The Times clearly has a favorite in this match. And it's not the U.S. president. In the article, one Daniels-admirer after another is quoted. We are told that she's extremely intelligent, clever, and smart. Feisty. She has as thick a skin as anyone. Oh yeah, Stormy Daniels is one tough lady. '“She is basically...

In an interview with the New York Times, former Trump confidant and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie lashed out at unnamed people in the White House for trying to discredit Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president and Trump's former campaign manager. "She’s gotten a bad rap at times," Christie said, "but I think that’s because of some of the really awful people inside the White House who have been trying to hurt her, as opposed to anything the press came up with on its own." As The Hill points out, "Conway is one of the last major figures from the...

Italy has been hit by a historic political earthquake. Sunday's election results speak for themselves: the two populist parties (the Five Star Movement and Lega Nord) have won, while the establishment-mainstream parties have been all but wiped out. The mostly leftist Five Star Movement (started by Beppe Grillo) took home more than 30 percent of the vote. Although progressive in most of its views, FSM is also eurosceptic, making its resounding victory a major problem for Brussels. The Five Star Movement's brother-of-another-mother, the right-wing Lega Nord (Northern League), also performed extremely well with around 17 percent of the vote, making...

"Marcin Czepelak, the Ambassador of Poland in The Netherlands, doesn't agree with the international criticism that the holocaust law which the Polish parliament has recently adopted is a way to stifle the academic debate on the history of Poland in the Second World War." I am observing with growing concern the media coverage on recent events in Poland, especially misunderstandings and misperceptions around the new law on the National Institute of Remembrance (Instytut Pamięci Narodowej – IPN). In many cases they tend to present Polish actions as motivated by nationalistic feelings or intention to whiten our history. Which is even...

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, during his 20th annual state of the nation speech on Sunday, said that "Christianity is Europe's last hope." He added that European leaders have "opened the way to to the decline of Christian culture and the advance of Islam." Orban also stated that Hungary will continue to oppose efforts by the European Union and (to a lesser degree) the United Nations to encourage mass migration from the Middle East and Africa. That's all controversial enough in today's climate, but Orban wasn't done yet. He also described Europe as being steadily conquered by migrants. "Born Germans,"...

Dutch Foreign Minister Halbe Zijlstra said for years that, when he was working for oil company Shell in 2006, he attended a meeting in Russia with President Vladimir Putin. Putin, Zijlstra explained on several occasions, said he aimed to restore "Greater Russia" in its full glory. Belarus, Ukraine, and the Baltic states were all part of this "Greater Russia." On Monday, we found out that Zijlstra wasn't in any meetings with Putin back in 2006. He admitted this to Dutch daily the Volkskrant after having repeated the story for years, including at his political party's congress back in 2016. [VIDEO]...

The United Nations has issued a report in which it states that al-Qaeda's global terror network remains "remarkably resilient" as ISIS quickly heads towards defeat. In some regions, the reports argues, al-Qaeda now poses more of a threat than ISIS. The report, sent to the UN Security Council, says that AQAP -- al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, based in Yemen -- has now become the communications hub for the entire organization. "Al-Qaeda affiliates remain the dominant terror threat in some regions, such as Somalia and Yemen, a fact demonstrated by a continuous stream of attacks and foiled operations," the report...

A Wall Street Journal editorial is demanding "radical transparency" on the Mueller investigation not only from the FBI and Congress, but also from other news outlets. Several days ago, Senators Chuck Grassley and Lindsey Graham released a less redacted version of their criminal referral letter to the Justice Department concerning Christopher Steele -- the former British spy and author of the infamous dossier alleging collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. The letter from the two senators clarifies the recently released House Intelligence Committee's memo describing FISA surveillance abuse by the FBI, and provides even more evidence that the Clinton...

The Jewish community of Antwerp (Belgium) has released CCTV footage of an attempted car ramming incident on an Orthodox Jewish family Saturday morning. A Jewish father and his son were on their way to the local synagogue when they suddenly had to jump out of harm's way because a car was coming directly at them. (Note: the two were walking on the sidewalk.) Here's the footage: [VIDEO] Police have arrested the driver. According to Israeli public broadcaster Kan News, the driver is of Muslim origin. He was tracked down through the footage of the license plate and is to be...

Don Cheadle has shown his real face on Twitter. The actor, one of Hollywood's favorite sons, couldn't help himself when U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley criticized him and his fellow "stars" on Twitter for politicizing the Grammys. [HALEY'S TWEET] Cheadle's response tells us all we need to know about his attitude toward women who dare disagree with his politics: [CHEADLE'S TWEET] Although he undoubtedly thought his followers would appreciate the insults to Haley, the opposite was the case. Many Twitter users accused Cheadle of being a sexist. ...

European ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday have rubber-stamped the EU-27's negotiating position for the Brexit period. The instructions for Michel Barnier, the block's chief negotiator with Britain, set a deadline for December 31, 2020, for the end of the transition, but with the caveat that this period can last longer if necessary. That's highly problematic because the EU demands that Britain accepts all EU laws and the supremacy of the European Court of Justice during this transition. Britain must even abide by the EU's trade policy. This means that while Britain can negotiate trade deals with other countries during...

Former Tory party leader/Foreign Secretary William Hague has penned a column for the Daily Telegraph in which he claims Brits must let allies know the country is not "retreating from the world." He argues that allies fear Britain is opting for isolation: Be in no doubt that we benefit enormously from the international presence and reputation of the United Kingdom, be it diplomatic, humanitarian, military or educational. And our friends everywhere are currently looking at us, quizzically and rather searchingly as we negotiate Brexit, to assess whether we are shrinking back from them as well. Is this the UK sorting...

Friday night, Donald Trump Jr. joined the growing choir calling on the United States Congress to release the FISA memo that has Congressional Republicans saying that people are "going to jail." Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com "I don't know what's in it," the president's oldest son told Tucker, "but if all of these guys are saying people's heads are going to roll, people may get fired and people may actually go to jail. I think the American people deserve to know." He added on Twitter: [TWEET] Democrats have all voted against all members of Congress getting permission to read...

After President Trump allegedly declared certain countries (especially in, but not limited to Africa) "sh*thole countries," "many of us felt a sense of relief," British commentator Katie Hopkins writes at The Rebel. Like many supporters of the president, she believes that, unlike most politicians, Trump is telling it like it is. "Straight talk -- like a blast of fresh air on a clammy bus." Although she could've focused on that and explained why many of the countries mentioned by Trump are indeed not exactly heaven on earth, she had a different perspective. Instead, she asked her Twitter followers who live...

Although Trump has been far from perfect so far as president, he's a great upgrade from Obama. For instance, see Trump's major tax cut bill and his other job-growth policies, and his appointment of conservative judges. And that's not all: he's fulfilled his promise to restore relations with Israel. Clearly, the only Jewish state and the only Mideast democracy is well aware of that fact: A new poll shows that a wide swath of Israelis approves of United States President Donald Trump's performance in his first year of office. According to the Gallup poll, 67% of Israelis say they approve...

Horst Seehofer -- the leader of the Christian Democrats (CDU) ally, the Christian Social Union -- is calling on Angela Merkel and Social Democratic Party (SPD) leader Martin Schulz to make sure that the talks between Merkel's CDU and Schulz's SPD are successful. Seehofer says the Social Democrats shooting down the results of the talks on Sunday would absolutely be a "catastrophe" for Germany. When asked by German newspaper Bild whether he has faith in the SPD -- which seems to be internally divided on the question whether or not it should form a coalition with the CDU -- Seehofer...

Facebook has said on Wednesday that it will broaden its investigation into whether Russia meddled in the 2016 referendum on Great Britain's membership in the European Union, The Wall Street Journal reports. The company made the announcement after a request from a "committee of U.K. lawmakers." One of those lawmakers is Damian Collins who said he welcomed Facebook's decision. "Facebook has a responsibility," he said. "They recognize the seriousness of the problem and that lots of people, Parliaments, and governments are really concerned about it." That sounds quite fascinating and all, but what The Wall Street Journal fails to mention...