Free Republic

The House of Representatives on June 14 passed its annual defense policy bill with GOP-approved culture war amendments that are certain to put the House on a collision course with the Democrat-controlled Senate.The final tally on the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) vote was 217–199, with six Democrats voting in favor and three Republicans voting against.The $883.7 billion bill, which has more than 1,000 pages, provides continued funding for military aircraft, ships, vehicles, and weapons programs. It also includes a 4.5 percent pay raise for U.S. service members and about 15 percent in additional pay for some junior enlisted...

It’s not like this is a shocking survey. We’ve known that for years, the Palestinian people, the so-called innocent civilians, support Hamas. They voted them into power back in 2005 and have allowed the terror group to rule the Gaza Strip for nearly a generation. The international community thinks Hamas can be reasoned with—are they taking hits from Hunter Biden’s crack pipe? You cannot if anything has shown us over the past few weeks and months. They’ve rejected every ceasefire proposal because civilian casualties are not a byproduct of their operations; it’s their agenda. And the people here, for the...

Members of a small far-right group advocating the annexation and settlement of southern Lebanon are set to hold a video conference on Monday, claiming their approach is the “only solution” to the ongoing clashes with Hezbollah amid increasingly vocal calls for Israel to invade its northern neighbor. “More assassinations in Lebanon, more firing of missiles, more alarms in the northern settlements, and no real change is visible on the horizon,” the Uri Tzafon organization said in a statement last week decrying the current escalation in the north. As an alternative, it invited the public to participate in what it is...

Pro-Palestinian protesters reportedly firebombed “the side of a building” on the University of California Berkeley (UCB) campus and claimed that students had been “attacked” on another campus. In a post on Instagram on Thursday, Palestine Action in the United States shared a post from an anonymous user who claimed responsibility for firebombing the side of Koshland Hall, a building at UCB that houses “labs from the Department of Molecular & Cell Biology.”

The Ukrainian air force’s Dolgintsevo air base is one of the most vulnerable bases in Ukraine. Situated near Kryvyi Rih just 45 miles from the front line in southern Ukraine, the base is within range of Russia’s best Lancet drones. Since the extended-range version of the Lancet—the so-called “Product 53”—debuted in August, the drones have attacked Dolgintsevo every few weeks, aiming for any warplanes parked in the open at the base’s tarmacs. In nine months, Lancets have struck at least four jets at Dolgintsevo: two Mikoyan MiG-29s and two Sukhoi Su-25s. The first two strikes, last fall, took the Ukrainian...

Vice President Harris lauded the Biden administration’s moves to protect recipients under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program Saturday, the 12th anniversary of the Obama-era policy. “The story of Dreamers is a story of America. Dreamers across our Nation serve in our military, teach in our classrooms, and lead our small businesses as entrepreneurs. They are our neighbors, classmates, and loved ones,” she wrote in a statement. “Their ambition and aspiration power our communities, economy, and country – and they deserve our protection.”

Former French President François Hollande said he will run as a candidate in the snap legislative elections after throwing his support behind the far-left-led “New Popular Front” alliance. Seven years after leaving office from a presidency mired by Islamic terrorism and economic hardship, François Hollande has returned to the frontlines of French politics, throwing his hat in the ring to once again serve as a deputy in the National Assembly. Hollande, a longtime member of the Socialist Party, was nominated by the leftist party to represent the so-called “New Popular Front” in the constituency of Corrèze, Le Figaro reports. “In...

During Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” host Bill Maher warned that Democrats were headed for an election loss in November if they did not improve their position on immigration. According to the HBO host, a pattern had emerged in Europe that he blamed on unfettered immigration. Maher said the pattern would repeat itself in the United States. “By reviving Trump’s asylum ban, Biden has undermined American values,” he said. “And then they all stand back and go, ‘We don’t want to be called a racist. So we will not make a move on to immigration.’ It’s going to get...

It's not clear who knew about an embarrassing double-date for Canada's HMCS Margaret BrookeCanadian navy patrol boat HMCS Margaret Brooke passes by Russian nuclear-powered cruise missile submarine Kazan and frigate Admiral Gorshkov as it enters Havana's bay in Cuba on June 14, 2024. (Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters)The Royal Canadian Navy now finds itself in the unusual position of both shadowing Russian warships as a threat in the Caribbean and sharing an anchorage with them as a guest in the port of Havana — because Canada accepted an invitation to send a patrol ship to Cuba while the Russian navy is in town....

The current visit to Cuba and the Caribbean by a contingent of Russian naval war vessels and submarines indicates Russia’s growing displeasure with the U.S. military policy and support for Ukraine.Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested this week that Moscow could take asymmetrical steps if Western countries were to supply Ukraine with weapons that were then used on Russian soil.In addition, these types of trips show support and solidarity for friendly countries and familiarize the crews with the ports and Caribbean waters. The Russians have been conducting these types of trips periodically.For a second consecutive year, prominent Russian military and security...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – Iran and Sweden carried out a prisoner swap Saturday that saw Tehran release a European Union diplomat and another man for an Iranian convicted in Stockholm of committing war crimes over his part in 1988 mass executions in the Islamic Republic. The arrest of Hamid Nouri by Sweden in 2019 as he traveled there as a tourist likely sparked the detentions of the two Swedes, part of a long-running strategy by Iran since its 1979 Islamic Revolution to use those with ties abroad as chip in negotiations with the West.

<p>ST PETERSBURG, Russia, June 5 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday he could deploy conventional missiles within striking distance of the United States and its European allies if they allowed Ukraine to strike deeper into Russia with long-range Western weapons. Putin, in his first face-to-face meeting with senior editors of international news agencies since the war in Ukraine began, said the West was wrong to assume Russia would never use nuclear weapons, and said the Kremlin's nuclear doctrine should not be taken lightly.</p>

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Last summer, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip celebrated the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha the way it’s supposed to be: with large family feasts, meat shared with those less fortunate, and new clothes and gifts for children. But this year, after eight months of devastating war between Israel and Hamas, many families will eat canned food in stifling tents. There’s hardly any meat or livestock at local markets, and no money for holiday treats or presents — only war, hunger and misery, with no end in sight. “There is no Eid this year,” said...

It seems Joe Biden has learned absolutely nothing from the border crisis. How else to explain this?The Biden administration is making plans to announce one of the largest immigration relief programs in recent history, developing a policy that would offer legal status to hundreds of thousands of immigrants living in the country without proper documents, four people familiar with the plans told CBS News.A program being developed by White House officials would offer work permits and deportation protections to unauthorized immigrants married to U.S. citizens, as long as they have lived in the U.S. for at least 10 years, the...

The UK's Daily Mail released an exclusive and terrifying report — complete with a map — showing which international criminals are operating in your state.The Biden Administration is responsible for this mess.America's migrant gang invasion MAPPED. Is YOUR neighborhood affected? https://t.co/Yh0NxmaO8J via @MailOnline— Winston Willow (@courdeleon02) June 14, 2024The article focuses on three groups that have illegally crossed into our nation thanks to President Biden's suicidal plan of leaving the borders unprotected:ISISVenezuelan gangsChinese drug farms using slave labor.Federal law enforcement recently arrested eight suspected terrorists with links to ISIS who crossed Biden's border. They were busted in New York City,...

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Friday spoke out for the first time about Russian warships in Cuban waters, criticizing the Biden administration for espousing "weakness" on the global stage. Footage released by the Russian Defense Ministry on Thursday showed the frigate Admiral Gorshkov and nuclear-powered submarine Kazan sailing into Havana Bay, about 100 miles south of Florida. They were not carrying nuclear weapons but were armed with Zircon hypersonic missiles and Kalibr cruise missiles. The Cuban Foreign Ministry described the Russian naval presence as a reflection of the country's "historically friendly relations" with Moscow, even greeting the ships with a...

The U.S. House of Representatives has recently passed an amendment as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2025. The amendment H.R. 8070 will automatically register all draft-age male U.S. residents with the Selective Service System for a possible military draft, based on information from other Federal databases. This new system of automatic draft registration would replace the existing system, in place since 1980, in which young men have the freedom to decide whether or not to sign up for the draft. According to People’s World, the automatic draft registration proposal was initiated by the Selective...

Support for Hamas also coincides with the Biden administration's and some European nations' ongoing promotion of creating a Palestinian state right next to Israel. This move would not only open the door for more atrocities against Israelis, but would also put Israel in grave danger because the Palestinian state, even under the supposedly watchful eye of a chaperone, would essentially be ruled by the same murderers and rapists who took part in the October 7 carnage. These European nations — Ireland, Norway, and Spain — have sent a message to the Palestinians that the only way they can get international...

The Biden administration is close to finalizing a treaty with Saudi Arabia that would commit the U.S. to help defend the Gulf nation as part of a long-shot deal to encourage diplomatic ties between Riyadh and Israel, U.S. and Saudi officials said. But the success of the diplomatic effort hinges on Israel’s commitment to a separate Palestinian state, and more immediately an end to the war in Gaza, an unlikely proposition amid months of fruitless cease-fire talks and an Israeli weekend raid to retrieve hostages from the heart of the territory. The U.S. aims to present Israeli leaders with an...

Democrats plan to disrupt Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to a special joint session of Congress on July 24 in an unprecedented show of hostility to the democratically-elected leader of a close American ally. 56 Democrats boycotted Netanyahu’s speech in 2015, when Republicans invited him to argue against then-President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran. This time, Axios reports, “Democrats plan to go bigger than a boycott”: The proposals include a press conference, a vigil, or an event with families of those taken hostage by Hamas, many of whom feel Netanyahu hasn’t done enough to free their loved ones....