Free Republic

Europeans are divided over whether the EU should move closer to the United States or to China, according to new polling shared exclusively with POLITICO that highlights how Donald Trump’s second presidency has upended long-standing geopolitical loyalties. In a survey conducted in June by pollster Public First across 24 EU countries, respondents in eight countries leaned toward stronger relations with China, nine favored the U.S. and seven were effectively split between the two. In 14 countries, the single most common response was “I don’t know” — with more people giving that answer than backing either Washington or Beijing. The responses...

The end is nigh! Longtime Morning Joe regular Richard Haass has traditionally been one of the show's more measured voices. But, along with others [looking at you, Willie Geist], his tone has, in recent times, become more strident. On Thursday's show, Haass "celebrated" our country's 250th by telling people they shouldn't be hopeful—"sanguine," as he put it—about its future. Claiming that our democracy "is not in great shape," Haass warned that we might not have a democracy left to celebrate in only five or ten years.Get the rest of the story and view the video here.

Ford announced a 10 percent decrease in U.S. vehicle sales for the second quarter with the automaker citing ongoing supplier issues affecting its F-Series trucks as a major cause of the shortfall. However, Ford’s EV sales dropped an astonishing 40 percent during the same time period. CNBC reports that Ford suffered a 10.3 percent decline in its second-quarter U.S. new vehicle sales, the automaker reported Thursday. The decline was attributed to two primary factors: persistent supplier problems affecting the company’s crucial F-Series pickup truck line and a substantial drop in all-electric vehicle sales. The Detroit-based automaker sold 549,200 vehicles during...

Win some blue-state and blue-city races, and the cocky new socialist Jacobins believe that they have either already taken over the Democratic Party or will soon absorb it. And in reaction to these new swarms, an increasingly terrified and ossified old Democrat guard either limps away from the hive or invites them in to take over more. It is fascinating but ultimately depressing to watch old-style Democrats say or do anything to avoid the new mob of Robespierres. Democrat candidates who recently begged for a Schumer/Pelosi/Jeffries endorsement now are telling them to get in line at the guillotine. Jewish American...

Questions are being raised over how the daughter of a congresswoman landed a $411,000-a-year council job over three other candidates who reportedly scored better than her in interviews. Erica Lee Carter, 46, the daughter of late Texas Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, was appointed as the Harris County Administrator earlier this year in a hotly contested hiring process with over 400 applicants. The role is one of the best paid government jobs in Harris County, which covers over five million people including the city of Houston, with applications coming from CEOs and politicians across the country. But according to a review...

Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined the majority in determining that President Donald Trump's Executive Order 14160, which determined that the U.S. should be like most other nations on earth and not grant citizenship to the newborns of illegal aliens, could not take effect. But in his concurrence he also outlined a roadmap for the president's agenda to move forward, through Congress. Kavanaugh, in his concurrence, said the case should have been resolved under federal law, not the Constitution. And he diagrammed a possible legislative path for that to happen. A report at Fox News explains Congress first wrote the...

If Democrats do not win the midterm elections, black Americans will be “back in the cotton fields,” Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) recently claimed Johnson made the bizarre claim during an appearance on the #RolandMartinUnfiltered daily broadcast. “It’s a GOP war on black America, and if we don’t stand up and fight back, we’re going to be back in the cotton fields,” Johnson asserted, clarifying what he meant by “fighting back.” He said it is not a call to arms but a call to protest, although he did not specify if he is imagining wild and violent riots reminiscent of the...

Hilarious! 😅

Rhode Island has become the first state to take on big ... self-checkout? Legislation passed and signed in the Ocean State limits the number of self-checkout lanes a store is allowed to have, and it's based on the ratio of normal checkout lanes with cashiers. The goal is to protect jobs. Here's WPRI: 'Today, we're protecting jobs and strengthening customer service,' [Rhode Island Governor Dan] McKee said. 'Whether it's helping a customer with an issue, assisting a senior, or ensuring accessibility for people with disabilities, this law is about preserving choice and keeping people at the center of the shopping...

An arrest warrant for Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill was issued Thursday, minutes after a 16-count felony indictment was handed down in New Orleans Criminal District Court. The Republican state official’s bond totals $400,000, records show, which include $25,000 for each felony charge. Murrill is accused of eight counts of malfeasance in office and eight counts of intimidation. A New Orleans grand jury reviewed evidence this week about whether Murrill sought to intimidate local New Orleans public officials, including Mayor Helena Moreno and District Attorney Jason Williams, sources said. Murrill told the officials in May that they had imperiled their...

Philadelphia's Salute to Independence Semiquincentennial Parade has been canceled due to extreme heat in the weather forecast, organizers told vendors and participants early Friday morning. The parade was set to take place Friday in Old City. Temperatures are set to exceed 100 degrees and feel even hotter due to humidity as the region enters Day 5 of a heat wave. On Thursday, July 2, the city tied its record high temperature of 103 degrees. Organizers told vendors their first responsibility was the safety of the participants and guests. The production company running the parade was reaching out to participants individually...

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was planning to head to Brussels last month to deliver what would be a bombshell announcement in a meeting with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s top military chiefs. The U.S., he planned to say, was preparing additional cuts to its forces in Europe that would go beyond the canceled deployment of an armored brigade to Poland and the earlier withdrawal of an infantry brigade from Romania, people familiar with the matter said. But Hegseth’s proposal was nixed after it was shared with Marco Rubio—President Trump’s national-security adviser—and other senior officials, the people said. Instead, Hegseth said...

Check out the utter state of policing in the UK. The guys surrounded. The mob circling him are clearly the aggressors. Right. So, he's being closelined to the floor, punched in the face. Guess who the female cop decides to tackle? Oh, you just knew it was coming, didn't you? The people who attacked him get away. Then this happens. I mean, fair enough. That was pretty dumb. Some people in the comments claimed he was just reacting and didn't even know it was a copper. I don't know about that, but if she hadn't charged into the wrong guy,...

Birmingham police arrested an allegedly drunk teen who was amid a fight with three other teenagers. The incident has sparked outrage on the internet with many demanding answers and accountability. According to video footage shared by @Re_mi_gra_tion on X, four teenagers were seen having an argument while bystanders watched the situation unfold. One of the four, wearing a white T-shirt, was described in the post as allegedly drunk. The boy in the white t-shirt was seen backing away as the three other teens began slowly closing in on him. Initially, they appeared to be having a calm conversation until the...

The Democratic establishment is in denial as a socialist insurgency grows inside its own party. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer calls Democrats "a great united party," even as Democratic Socialists of America-backed challengers defeat incumbents and organize as a disciplined voting bloc. Party leaders dismiss them as a fringe, but the DSA is building a "Freedom Caucus of the left" with the power to withhold votes, pressure leadership and force a socialist agenda. Socialism is becoming the Democrats’ answer to MAGA because both movements are responding to the anger of Americans who feel forgotten by providing solutions. The median first-time...

While questions remain about what led investigators to a Vinton County home where 16 children were found living in what authorities described as "deplorable conditions," newly obtained court records show deputies had an arrest warrant for one of the home's occupants the day the children were discovered. Authorities executed a search warrant at the home Tuesday and found the children inside. Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson has described the conditions as "pure evil." Four adult members of the Siders family were arrested and each is charged with 16 felony counts of endangering children. They are being held in the Vinton...

“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” That Bible verse, found in Proverbs 14:34, is not a political slogan. It is a moral law of history. Nations rise when justice, truth, humility, courage, and reverence for God shape their public life. They decline when sin becomes normalized, truth is considered subjective, and liberty is severed from biblical virtue. The founders of America understood this better than we realize. After the Revolutionary War, George Washington wrote to the governors of the thirteen states and prayed that God would dispose Americans “to do justice, to love mercy,”...

U.S. officials believed that Israel might have been plotting to kill Iran’s top negotiators while Washington was engaged with Tehran in delicate talks this spring to reach an interim peace deal, according to current and former American officials. Killing senior Iranian leaders had been part of Israel’s strategy from the start of the war. But American concerns about the targeting of two particular Iranian officials — Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, and Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of the Parliament — spiked during delicate cease-fire negotiations that began in April. Fearful that an Israeli assassination effort would doom the negotiations,...

A year after a University of California, Berkeley professor was killed during a custody dispute in Greece, his family says they're fighting to try to get alleged squatters out of his East Bay home. The family of Przemyslaw Jeziorski said the alleged squatters have been living in the Berkeley home for months, but California's eviction process has made removing them far more complicated. Jeziorski was shot and killed in Greece last July in the middle of a custody battle. The boyfriend of Jeziorski's ex-wife later confessed to the shooting. Jeziorski's ex-wife, Nadia Michelidaki, died by suicide in a Greek prison...

deepening rift within the Democratic Party is coming into sharper focus as the establishment grows frustrated with the rising influence of the party’s socialist wing. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., called out her Democratic colleagues for their "disrespectful" welcome of socialists into the "big tent" party. "I think that there are a lot of very disrespectful comments that are coming from some parts of the Democratic Party that are dismissing the voters who elected these individuals," Jayapal told CNN. Her comments come as socialism gains ground within the Democratic Party, with socialist candidates securing major primary victories and unseating established Democrats.