Free Republic

At first glance, Mike Waltz’s visit to Israel this week may look like a new UN ambassador’s routine orientation tour – a series of meetings, border briefings, and handshakes meant to signal continuity. But nothing about the timing or the choreography of this particular visit suggests anything routine. Waltz’s first major foreign trip since taking office is not just a symbolic gesture. It is the operational rollout of the Trump administration’s Gaza plan, carried out under the umbrella of UN Security Council Resolution 2803, which the US drafted and pushed through. And the visit comes just days after the UN...

When Stephen Scheeler became Facebook's Australia chief in the early 2010s, he was a true believer in the power of the internet, and social media, for public good. It would herald a new era of global connection and democratise learning. It would let users build their own public squares without the traditional gatekeepers. "There was that heady optimism phase when I first joined and I think a lot of the world shared that," he told the BBC. But by the time he left the firm in 2017, seeds of doubt about its work had been planted, and they've since bloomed....

It bars children younger than 16 from holding accounts with Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube and Twitch. The platforms face fines of up to 49.5 million Australian dollars ($32.9 million) if they fail to take reasonable steps to remove the accounts. TRANSCRIPT As young Australians, we will be completely silenced and cut off from our country and the rest of the world with this ban. It's like we've just grown up with this our entire lives and now it's just being taken away from us all of a sudden. We wouldn't even know what else we...

Donald Trump did not rule out expanding US military operations beyond Venezuela to Mexico and Colombia. The president sat down with Politico in an interview released on Tuesday where he said he would consider using military force on two US allies in Latin America. Trump cited Mexico and Colombia's drug trade into the US as he continues threatening to overthrow Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Mexico is the primary country for drug trafficking into the US for a variety of narcotics, including heroin, cocaine, and fentanyl. Since early September, the Trump administration has launched 22 strikes on alleged drug-trafficking vessels in...

Israeli operatives are conducting widespread surveillance of US forces and allies stationed at a new US base in the country’s south, according to sources briefed on disputes about open and covert recordings of meetings and discussions. The scale of intelligence gathering at the Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC) prompted the US commander of the base, Lt Gen Patrick Frank, to summon an Israeli counterpart for a meeting to tell him that “recording has to stop here”. Staff and visitors from other countries have also raised concerns about Israel recording inside the CMCC. Some have been told to avoid sharing sensitive information...

The Church of England is to launch a poster campaign aimed at challenging the anti-migrant message of Tommy Robinson, whose “Unite the Kingdom” movement has urged its supporters to join a carols event next weekend to “put the Christ back into Christmas”. The posters, which will go on display at bus stops, say “Christ has always been in Christmas” and “Outsiders welcome”. They will also be available for local churches to download and display over the festive period. ... The Rev Arun Arora, bishop of Kirkstall and co-lead bishop on racial justice for the C of E, said: “We must...

France has refused to reveal the whereabouts of €18bn in frozen Russian assets in discussions over the European Union’s future funding for Ukraine.The majority of the cash is being held by commercial banks, which Paris has argued should be protected from the €140bn “reparations loan” for Kyiv.Despite publicly backing a scheme which envisages using frozen Russian assets in Europe to guarantee a loan to Kyiv, France has emerged as a potential blocker by refusing to allow private, commercial banks from being plundered to aid Ukraine, according to reporting by The Financial Times.EU member states are caught up in fractious talks...

ISRAELI SOLDIERS TESTIFY WE WERE ORDERED TO 'STAND DOWN' HOURS BEFORE OCT. 7 "We received orders on Oct. 7 to cancel all patrols along the Gaza border from 5.20 a.m. till 9.00 a.m"

Actor Jim Caviezel is set to play imprisoned former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro in a new biopic. Caviezel, who starred as Jesus in Mel Gibson’s 2004 movie The Passion of the Christ, has reportedly already secretly filmed the new movie, titled Dark Horse, in Brazil for three months in 2025. The upcoming film is directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh and written by Brazil’s former Culture Secretary under Bolsonaro, Mário Frias. According to The Guardian, Dark Horse offers a “heroic” portrayal of the divisive Bolsonaro, who is currently behind bars. The right-wing politician served as president of Brazil between 2019 and 2023...

Is Britain’s upstart Reform party really as committed to free speech as they would have us believe? Tucker Carlson was meant to converse with leader Nigel Farage on his trip to London last week. But, Cockburn hears, Farage pulled out after the stateside controversy about Carlson’s recent choice to chat with “groyper” leader and bête noire Nick Fuentes. Who knew the leading light of the British right would be so sensitive about “platforming?” Top Farage advisor James Orr, who also serves as an Anglo-whisperer for Vice President J.D. Vance, made excuses on Reform’s behalf. “It’s the donors and consultants, always,”...

42-year-old tow truck driver was hit while helping stranded motorist on WednesdayThe driver wanted in connection with a fatal hit and run on Highway 401 earlier this week has been identified, police say. The collision happened just after 7 a.m. on Wednesday near Oxford Road 3. A 42-year-old tow truck driver was helping a stranded motorist when they were struck and killed. Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) released a photo of the suspect vehicle, which was a blue commercial tractor and trailer with a black tarp on top. Police say they have located the vehicle. "I just want to say thank...

BANGKOK/PHNOM PENH, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Thailand said its fighter jets struck Cambodia on Monday in an attempt to cripple its military capability, as a re-eruption of border hostilities derailed a fragile ceasefire brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump. Each side blamed the other for starting clashes that broke out during the night and intensified before dawn and spread to multiple locations, with one Thai soldier and four Cambodian civilians killed, according to officials. Cambodia accused Thailand of "inhumane and brutal acts" of aggression, stressing it had not retaliated, while Bangkok said it carried out air strikes on military targets...

Everyone knows that so called “double tap” strikes on land are legal, Obama did it all the time, but CNN keeps inviting land lawyers on to say narco terrorists have special privileges at sea. Let’s look at the admiralty law: 🧵 Source: International law studies @NavalWarCollege “Rudderless and Adrift: States’ Unwarranted Timidity Respecting Stateless Vessels Andrew Norris” Ships without a recognized flag, “stateless vessels”, are the outlaws of the ocean. They don’t have a clear nationality, so no country claims responsibility for them. International law already allows governments to stop, board, and enforce laws against these vessels.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has reportedly filed hundreds of criminal complaints against members of the public for insulting him during his tenure as a politician. According to research conducted by the Welt am Sonntag newspaper, Merz is “one of the most sensitive politicians in the history” of the German republic. Die Welt’s Sunday paper reported that during his time as a member of parliament, Merz filed criminal complaints against citizens for calling him names such as “little Nazi”, “asshole,” and “filthy drunk”, among others. The paper said that documents from a law firm commissioned by Merz to file such complaints...

Donald Trump Jr. revealed that his father, President Donald Trump, may walk away from Ukraine due to the lack of progress towards a peace deal. Speaking at a forum in Doha on Sunday, Trump Jr. criticized the major corruption in Ukraine, which penetrated the highest levels of government in Kyiv, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s longtime chief of staff Andriy Yermak, who resigned after facing a massive embezzlement probe. Yermak, the former lead negotiator for Ukraine who was widely regarded as the second-most powerful figure in the nation, resigned after anti-corruption investigators raided his home last month in connection with...

*Ramaphosa urges global efforts to debunk white persecution myths * Trump boycotted G20 summit over alleged mistreatment of whites * Ramaphosa: supremacy ideas are harming national security JOHANNESBURG, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Ideas of white racial superiority are a threat to South Africa's post-apartheid unity, its sovereignty and its diplomatic relations, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday, calling for global efforts to debunk false stories about white persecution. Ramaphosa was speaking at a conference of the co-ruling African National Congress (ANC), the party of Nelson Mandela that defeated racist white minority rule in South Africa three decades ago. "Some in...

2,000-year-old Jerusalem city wall uncovered. The section of the wall unearthed at the Tower of David Museum is among the longest and most intact segments ever uncovered. JNS Staff. A section of Jerusalem’s city wall dating from the Hasmonean period more than two thousand years ago has been unearthed in the city’s Tower of David Museum, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Monday. The wall was discovered during an excavation on the grounds of the museum, located just inside the Jaffa Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem, adjacent to the citadel, within the historic complex known as the Kishle,...

Amid the growing tension between our nation and theirs, Venezuela just released a video showing an unmistakable display of military force targeted at the U.S. Thousands of soldiers stood in formation as commanders gave a direct message to America. Basically, they confirmed that Venezuela is ready to put up a fight. Watch the roughly 3-minute clip here for yourself: VIDEO AT LINK.............. Backup here, if needed: 🇻🇪🇺🇸 VENEZUELA MILITARY TO U.S.: “WE ARE READY FOR A PROLONGED WAR”Venezuela just staged one of its most aggressive military displays in years, and the message wasn’t subtle. More than 5,600 fighters stood in...

The Idaho saloon owner who promised free beer to citizens willing to help U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) identify and deport illegal aliens is now facing death threats, but he remains undeterred in his mission. Bar owner Mark Fitzpatrick told Fox News, “At Old State Saloon, we really aren’t strangers to speaking out boldly about conservative Christian values and truth and putting the truth out there,” the outlet reported Sunday. The saloon’s announcement about free beer ignited a firestorm online with people applauding and criticizing the move, per Breitbart News. “ALERT: Anyone who helps ICE identify and ultimately deport...

I'm glad to hear you dug up your Constitution, Joe. I can't find ours.Franklin Roosevelt: The War President Masked as SaviorThe Myth of Economic Redemption From the perspective of John T. Flynn’s The Roosevelt Myth, the 32nd presidential administration under Franklin Delano Roosevelt was not the enlightened, benevolent era of national salvation portrayed by official hagiographers and establishment historians. Instead, it was marked by political opportunism, economic failure, and ultimately, a deliberate march toward war as a means of salvaging Roosevelt’s collapsing domestic credibility. (Prior to his time in the leadup to the 1933 Presidential campaign as an FDR supporter,...