Free Republic

Fellow Citizens of Freedom, America’s Founding Fathers imbued the nation with a deep seated understanding of and passion for Liberty that is an inspiration to the world. As an Australian active in 1945 commemoration in Indonesia, a nation which won independence in that year, I am a huge admirer of Douglas MacArthur. In an open letter to President Trump, I examine America’s enduring spirit of freedom and linked capacity for self-examination and redirection. I hope you will read my letter at the blog (https://freedom-demokrasi-and-civilised-humanity.com/2018/06/15/open-letter-to-the-leader-of-the-free-world-our-common-heritage-defending-freedom-today/) and discuss it here. Geoff Fox

The families of Australian victims of the MH17 tragedy have written a heartbreaking open letter warning soccer fans this year's World Cup in Russia is “under a dark shadow”. In May, prosecutors investigating the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014 say they identified the missile used to shoot down the plane as coming from a Russian military unit. All aboard died, two thirds of them Dutch and 38 of them Australian residents. “That a sophisticated weapon belonging to the Russian Army was dispatched and used to shoot down a civilian aircraft should be of grave...

SYDNEY, June 11, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – Minister for Women Tanya Davies was one of just eighteen members of the New South Wales Parliament to vote against a measure restricting pro-life witness in the vicinity of abortion facilities in a contentious overnight vote last week. The bill passed with 61 votes in favor around 1:20 AM Friday morning, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports, after several hours of debate. It makes it a crime punishable by jail time to film people entering or exiting abortion facilities, or engage in conduct the law deems “harassment” or “intimidation,” within 150 meters of an abortion...

Gold is one of the rarest elements in the world, making up roughly 0.003 parts per million of the earth’s crust. But how much gold is the world digging up each year and what countries produce the most? In 2017, global gold mine production was a reported 3,247 tonnes. This figure is down 5 tonnes from the previous year and marks the first annual drop since 2008, according to the GFMS Gold Survey 2018. The driving forces behind the drop in output were environmental concerns, crackdowns on illegal mining operations and rising costs. This raises the question I’ve explored recently...

For the umpteenth time, the United Nations General Assembly has voted to condemn Israel for defending itself. By a tally of 120 to 8, the members declared that Israel was guilty of “excessive use of force” against Palestinians who were protesting the opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem. The resolution also requested recommendations to protect Palestinians. For 10 weeks now, the two sides have clashed at the border, resulting in 120 Palestinian deaths. Israeli Defense Forces warned protesters not to approach the Israeli-Gaza border on May 14, the day of the embassy opening. They did anyway - some armed...

CANBERRA, Australia, June 12, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – A new law in Australia requires Catholic priests in Canberra to break the sacred seal of confession to report a child-sex abuser. The law, which has drawn fierce opposition from Archbishop Christopher Prowse of Canberra, could result in faithful priests being jailed who refuse to comply. A bill passed on June 7 by the Legislative Assembly of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) extends mandatory reporting of child abuse to cover churches and church activities, including the Catholic confessional. All the political parties in the Assembly supported the measure. A Roman Catholic priest cannot...

he Australian state of New South Wales recently passed legislation banning pro-life protesters from coming within 150 meters of abortion clinics (almost 500 feet). The legislation passed with a vote of 61 to 18. The law even makes it a crime to attempt “a communication that relates to abortions, by any means.” Legislators’ overwhelming support is surprising given these draconian provisions, which the Sydney Morning Herald described as “the creation of a broad communication offense.” The penalties under the law are significant with the first offense carrying a penalty of up to six months in jail, and up to 12...

A FREMM vessel designed by Fincantieri in Sydney’s harbor. PHOTO: FINCANTIERI CANBERRA, Australia—U.S. allies are embarking on a naval shopping spree as territorial standoffs intensify in the Pacific. Contracts valued at about $70 billion are up for grabs from Australia to Canada, as governments update aging fleets to protect shipping lanes and their territorial waters. While defense spending globally had fallen over the past decade, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute expects spending this year to be the highest since the close of the Cold War. Nations in Asia and the Middle East are leading the charge. That is a...

SYDNEY, Australia - Laws requiring Catholic priests to break the seal of confession in some cases passed the Australian Capital Territory’s Legislative Assembly in Canberra June 7.The purpose of the Ombudsman Amendment Bill 2018 was to expand the Reportable Conduct Scheme governing allegations of child abuse and misconduct to include religious organizations.The legislation passed without amendment. The Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn has nine months to negotiate with the government on how it will work before the start of reportable conduct requirements.Writing in The Canberra Times June 7, Archbishop Christopher Prowse of Canberra and Goulburn said he supported the revised...

A saltwater crocodile has eaten a dog that made a mockery of it for years, to the horror of onlookers. At Goat Island Lodge, south of Darwin in the middle of the crocodile-infested Adelaide River, guests had gathered to watch pup Pippa perform her favourite trick — running at Casey the crocodile to scare her back into the river. But to the alarm of those looking on, including owner Kai Hansen, Pippa ran straight at her head — and Casey "did what crocs do".The video of Pippa being dragged into the water was made worse by the screams of bystanders,...

Within days, Australians will get to see the first of the RAAF’s new Joint Strike Fighters—just months after the jet’s noisiest critics told an inquiry it was a ‘jackass of all trades and masterful of none’. Two members of the Air Power Australia group went on to tell the Senate committee the aircraft was ‘a broken and obsolete design, unsuitable for modern combat’. The reality, say Australian fighter pilots and senior members of the ADF with intimate knowledge of the JSF’s capability, is vastly different. RAAF chief, Air Marshal Leo Davies, tells The Strategist that while the JSF, now officially...

Aboriginal settlement in Australia was no accident but the result of large-scale migration by skilled maritime explorers, research shows. Experts have made the finding using wind and ocean current modelling, similar to that deployed in the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. The process was designed to simulate likely routes between the islands of Timor and Roti and more than 100 now-submerged islands off the Kimberley coast. “There’s always been a lot of speculation about how Aboriginal people made it to Australia and a lot of people have argued that people might have made it here by accident,” study...

Recently, author and speechwriter Don Watson has questioned the impetus for Australia to become a republic. In the April edition of The Monthly, he wrote: In a world filling with tyrants, Queen Elizabeth and her descendants represent a sort of anti-tyranny. He goes on to note: Our democracy works imperfectly well, and it is hard to see how any of its practical imperfections would be remedied by going republican. In effect, the governor-general, who is appointed by the elected government, acts as a de facto ceremonial head of state, while we maintain the pretence that Elizabeth is the sovereign. Like...

Attacks on small businesses by vegan activists are on the rise, according to the Countryside Alliance. Death threats, stoked by social media and encouraged by international groups of activists, have caused butchers and farmers to “live in fear.” Marlow Butchers, in, Ashford, Kent, was targeted earlier this month by activists who daubed red paint on the doors and windows of the shop. Since then, the business has been subjected to online abuse. Wayne Marlow, who runs the business with his father and brother, told Kent Online: “On the internet, it has been very threatening. It has got ridiculous — activists...

The army’s fleet of 22 Tiger armed reconnaissance helicopters (ARHs) appears to face an uncertain future with the Department of Defence confirming that they will be replaced in the mid-2020s and that they will not be upgraded in the meantime. Until then they will continue to receive a number of apparently minor improvements through a capability assurance program. Enthusiasm for the Tigers has waxed and waned over recent years and now, following another lengthy grounding, a Defence Department spokesperson was prepared only to say: “The capability assurance program is limited and designed to ensure Tiger remains effective until a replacement...

"As a gurantor of this de-escalaltion area with Russia and Jordan, the United States will take firm and appropriate measures in response to Assad regime violations" Heather Nauert of the US State Department speaks late Friday 5/25/2018 With the Syrian regime dropping leaflets in southwestern Syria near the Golan Heights and Jordan urging rebel-jihadist forces to disarm and with the expectation of Syrian government military action in the region, the United States has begun to cry foul. This going into a weekend statement reminds me of what President Trump did earlier this year when he discussed Syria on a Friday...

An Australian archbishop is facing up to two years in prison after being convicted of concealing child sex abuse by a fellow priest in the 1970s. Archbishop Philip Wilson is the highest ranking Catholic official to be convicted of covering up sexual abuse, part of a global scandal which has dogged the Vatican for decades. The 67-year-old archbishop of Adelaide was found guilty of having concealed the abuse of altar boys by a pedophile priest colleague, James Fletcher, in the 1970s, when he was an assistant parish priest in the state of New South Wales. Wilson's legal team argued that...

Australian company Titomic has unveiled what it claims is the world's largest metal 3D printer at its fully automated Melbourne facility. Utilizing a patented process co-developed with Australian federal scientific research agency the CSIRO, the 3D metal printer boasts a build area 9 m long, 3 m wide and 1.5 m high (29.5 x 9.8 x 4.9 ft), however the printing process isn't constrained to this booth size, meaning it could be used to print even larger objects. The unit prints layer by layer like existing 3D printers, but rather than relying on metal powders that are fused using extreme...

Around 50 competitors have remained in Australia illegally after going missing during this year's Commonwealth Games, a government official has said. Nearly 200 others hold bridging visas and are applying for refugee status. Australia has warned it will deport those who stay in the country illegally, after dozens of competitors - including many from Africa - disappeared from the competition. The numbers are a dramatic increase on other international sporting events... Australian media had speculated that anywhere between 20 and 100 athletes had absconded during the Golden Coast Games, which ended on 15 April. They included eight members of Cameroon's...

The gathering winds for Crossfire Hurricane, after all, came largely from that blowhard. Panicking at the sight of Donald Trump’s Super Tuesday wins in March 2016, Brennan had by the following month formed the beginnings of a spying operation against him, and managed to enmesh a bunch of other agencies in it, thinking that would keep the outside of the CIA’s cup clean. How do we know this? Because a “senior” member of the intelligence community — back when such a figure thought talking out of school about such matters would serve the cause of delegitimizing Trump — leaked the...