Free Republic

During a recent press conference in Jerusalem, Benjamin Netanyahu made a statement that stirred strong reactions. Citing historian Will Durant, he said: "History proves that, unfortunately and unhappily, Jesus Christ has no advantage over Genghis Khan. Because if you are strong enough, ruthless enough, powerful enough, evil will overcome good." Though later clarified as a reflection on the harsh realities of history rather than an attack on Christianity, the statement invites a deeper theological response… The cross does not look like victory. It does not resemble the triumphs of emperors or conquerors. Christ does not defeat his enemies; he allows...

Senate Democrats are fighting tooth and nail against the SAVE Act, arguing that requiring Americans to prove their identity with a photo ID when they go to the polls to vote — even when the ID itself is given away for free — prevents eligible voters from casting ballots. They contend proving citizenship would make voting harder for millions who lack ready access to birth certificates or passports, supposedly disenfranchising black and Hispanic Americans. Yet democracies all over the globe, both in the wealthy West and in the developing world, enforce similar rules. Every country in Africa, for example, requires...

On 18 March, Cardinal Parolin addressed a plenary meeting of the French bishops by letter, delivering a message, or series of messages, from Pope Leo. The letter called on the bishops to defend Catholic schools and not to forget the care due to priests guilty of abuse, and it also addressed the question of the Traditional Mass: ‘Dear brothers, you intend to address the delicate subject of the Liturgy, to which the Holy Father pays particular attention, in the context of the growth of communities attached to the Vetus Ordo. It is concerning that a painful wound continues to persist...

A married mom who vanished last year may be tied to a string of mysterious deaths and disappearances of US scientists and military officials with access to potentially sensitive information, according to a report. Melissa Casias, who worked with her husband as an administrative assistant at Los Alamos National Laboratory [LANL] — famous for developing nuclear weapons during the Manhattan Project — has not been seen since she dropped lunch off for her daughter in New Mexico last summer. She is one of four high-clearance people who have died or gone missing since June 2025 with connections to UFO-linked retired...

[Catholic Caucus] Cardinal Roche says liturgy meant to promote unity, not personal preferenceDebates over the liturgy should ultimately be understood through the lens of unity, not individual preference, said Cardinal Arthur Roche, prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. “When we go to church, we don’t go to church to worship simply as an individual but as a family. We go together as the congregation which is called by God,” Cardinal Roche told OSV News March 17 in his office at the Vatican. “This sense of congregation goes back as far as Old Testament...

Hamas’s Protester Cohorts: How Direct Terrorist Coordination Exposes the “Genocide” Lie Against Israel. The false accusation that Israel is committing “genocide” in Gaza is not a grassroots cry for justice—it is a carefully orchestrated propaganda campaign directed by the very genocidal terrorists who started the war. Since Hamas’s barbaric October 7, 2023 massacre—when its fighters slaughtered 1,200 Israelis, raped women, burned families alive, and took 251 hostages—the terrorist group has openly coordinated with, financed, and celebrated the anti-Israel protest movement in the United States. This unholy alliance dismantles the “genocide” libel once and for all. If the protests were truly...

Kate Middleton and Prince William are helping to mark history. The Prince and Princess of Wales stepped out to witness the first woman cleric to lead the Church of England during a service at Canterbury Cathedral on Wednesday, March 25. Prince William represented his father, King Charles, 77, at the ceremony in which Dame Sarah Mullally was installed as the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury. It is an established tradition that the heir to the throne takes on the role of leading the royal family in witnessing the event. Prince William, 43, and Princess Kate, 44, arrived shortly before the service...

Under Senate Bill 132, signed by Governor Newsom in September 2020 and authored by Senator Wiener, any male inmate who declares a female gender identity must be housed, addressed, and treated as a woman, regardless of criminal history, surgical status, or biological sex

Pamela Genini, a 29-year-old model and entrepreneur who also appeared on reality TV in Italy, was stabbed to death on her balcony in Milan in October last year, allegedly by her wealthy, 52-year-old ex-boyfriend, who’d been stalking her and begging her to take him back, according to officials. When her body was being moved to her final resting place on Monday, cemetery workers became alarmed when they realized the coffin would not close properly — and there were loose screws, the Italian news agency ANSA reported. The coffin was opened — and the stunning model’s head was missing. Fresh silicone...

1. Introduction In recent decades, distortions resulting from pervasive non-market policies and practices have left critical minerals supply chains of market-oriented economies vulnerable to a myriad of disruptions, including economic coercion. Correcting these vulnerabilities is imperative, as critical minerals are strategic assets integral to modern and innovative industrial economies, and diverse, resilient, and market-based supply chains are essential for our economic and national security. To this end, the United States and the United Mexican States (“Mexico”) (collectively, “the Participants”) seek to develop a new paradigm for preferential trade in critical minerals supported by price floors and other measures, and have...

Sir Keir plans to appoint the Mayor of London to the House of Lords after May's local elections, according to reports. Labour faces major losses at the local elections based on current polling. Suggestions that Sir Sadiq could soon become a life peer come after the mayor was awarded a knighthood last January. A person familiar with the matter told the Financial Times that conversations had also taken place involving the PM offering Sir Sadiq a cabinet role. Such a move could form part of the a potential cabinet reset after the local elections. It is a move that would...

IDF finds Hezbollah tunnel near south Lebanon church as group 'exploits' Christian population. The IDF also stated that Hezbollah prevents Christian civilians from fleeing combat zones and "has even fired at them" in the past. The IDF uncovered a Hezbollah tunnel stocked with weapons near a church in southern Lebanon, the military announced on Friday, emphasizing the threat the terrorist organization poses to Lebanon's Christian population. The tunnel was discovered by the IDF's Givati Brigade in the Lebanese village of El-Khiam. The area had previously been cleared by the IDF in December 2024. Therein, three shafts were discovered, as well...

We have long heard about the financial plights of solidly blue states. Places like New York and California have the highest taxes and the highest costs of living in the country. But there is a new blue state story where Democrats refuse to back off their ideological insistence that high taxes will get their state to the fiscal promised land. That place is Massachusetts. Massachusetts is on the verge of a financial implosion. The reason: Massachusetts Democrats' grand plan to replace the state's taxpayers with migrants is not the grand plan they expected it would be, and the state is...

The Idaho Senate on Friday afternoon passed a GOP-backed bill that would criminalize transgender people for using bathrooms aligned with their gender identity, sending the measure to Gov. Brad Little for his signature. It is one of the harshest anti-trans measures in the U.S.

A massive power outage left tens of thousands of people without electricity Thursday night across South Orange County and parts of San Diego County. San Diego Gas & Electric reported that more than 100,000 customers were initially affected. Video taken near the Civic Center in Mission Viejo showed one of the areas impacted by the blackout. Other areas that were impacted included Laguna Hills and Laguna Niguel. The cause of the outage was not immediately known.

On July 27, 2022, a video was posted to the IslamicTV YouTube channel of Shiite children in Houston, TX performing a song titled “Salute, Commander”, which is an Iranian children’s anthem pledging allegiance to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The video had been first posted by the Islamic Education Center of Houston, TX, on its Facebook and YouTube accounts, but these posts were later removed. The children performed the song in English and Farsi. The song’s lyrics say: “[Khamenei] is calling on his children, his soldiers… In spite of my age, I will be your army’s commander… May my father...

Car crash-prone Tiger Woods reportedly rolled his luxury SUV on Friday in yet another Florida roadway washout for the golf great. Woods’ condition after the Jupiter Island rollover crash wasn’t immediately clear, but a witness told TMZ that the golfer appeared to be fine. Photos from the two-vehicle crash shared by local outlet WPTV showed a Range Rover on its side along Beach Road. The fender fracas comes days after Woods, 50, made his golf return at the TGL Finals.

On March 17, the U.S. national debt slipped past $39 trillion. If you're thinking, 'Wow, it seems like we just crossed the $38 trillion threshold,' you are correct. It was a mere 150 days ago on October 21. As of March 17, the national debt stood at $39,016,762,910,245.14. This happened despite a 294 percent increase in tariff revenue and the media relations program known as DOGE.The pace of debt accumulation is staggering, and it’s accelerating. In 2020, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected that the debt wouldn’t hit $37 trillion until 2030. Oops. Just how fast is Uncle Sam shoveling...

The House of Representatives has formally rejected a Senate-passed funding measure that would have reopened most of the Department of Homeland Security while leaving Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection without resources. Speaker Mike Johnson labeled the Senate’s late-night proposal a “joke” and confirmed the House will instead advance a clean 60-day continuing resolution to fund the entire department. The partial shutdown of DHS, now stretching into its sixth week, continues because Democrats have demanded new restrictions on immigration enforcement as the price for any deal. President Donald J. Trump issued an emergency directive directing the use...

US Vice President JD Vance held a tense phone call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this week, in which he chided the premier for making overly optimistic predictions about the war in Iran, Axios reports. Vance took Netanyahu to task over how likely the latter said regime change would be, the outlet reported. “Before the war, Bibi really sold it to the president as being easy, as regime change being a lot likelier than it was. And the VP was clear-eyed about some of those statements,” a US official tells Axios, using Netanyahu’s nickname.