Free Republic

No doubt there is much more to the story, but this is awesome: Years before the air strike that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Israeli intelligence had been quietly mapping the daily rhythms of Tehran. According to reporting by the Financial Times, nearly all of the Iranian capital’s traffic cameras had been hacked years earlier, their footage encrypted and transmitted to Israeli servers. One camera angle near Pasteur Street, close to Khamenei’s compound, allowed analysts to observe the routines of bodyguards and drivers: where they parked, when they arrived and whom they escorted. That data was fed into complex algorithms that...

Along the sloping banks of the San Lorenzo Creek in Hayward, steps from the oldest Japanese garden in California, chaos unfolds. The creek is a favorite gathering spot for the Bay Area’s wild turkeys..

As tensions escalate in the Middle East with recent joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran, I find myself reflecting on a profound encounter that reshaped my understanding of faith, courage, and divine intervention. What the secular world views as mere geopolitics, many Christians recognize as part of a larger spiritual narrative: a storyline where oppression crumbles and the Gospel flourishes. President Donald J. Trump’s role in these developments – his flaws notwithstanding – exemplifies a righteous stand against tyranny, potentially ushering in freedom for the Iranian people and opening doors for spiritual revival.

California Governor Gavin Newsom shared the strange origin story behind the infamous “Newscum” nickname, a moniker coined by President Donald Trump. In a late-night phone call, Newsom claims the president called him to test out the nickname, which he later adopted in his public tirades against. In a candid interview on “The Rest Is Politics” podcast, Newsom recounted the unusual exchange, which took place late one night in 2025.

Ukraine's government says Russia indicated during recent talks in Geneva that it could accept U.S.-backed security guarantees as part of a potential post-war settlement, though major differences remain unresolved. On Saturday, Kyrylo Budanov, chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said in a televised interview that Russian representatives signaled openness to security guarantees proposed by the United States, reported Reuters. "At the last talks, the Russian side said for example that they would accept the security guarantees offered to Ukraine by the United States," Budanov said.

March 2 (Reuters) - The Trump administration plans ​to drop its ‌appeals defending executive orders that sanctioned ​four major ​U.S. law firms, the ⁠Wall Street ​Journal reported on ​Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. The U.S. ​Justice Department ​is expected to abandon ‌appeals ⁠to trial-court rulings against the actions targeting Jenner & ​Block, ​WilmerHale, ⁠Perkins Coie and Susman ​Godfrey, the report ​said.

The lesbian “diversity hire” captain of a Royal New Zealand Navy ship that ran aground and sank off Samoa has been charged with negligence along with two other officers over the loss of the vessel. The $100 million HMNZS Manawanui, which was under the command of UK-born homosexual Yvonne Gray, crashed on the south side of Upolu on October 5, 2024, due to human error including failure to turn off [the] autopilot, an inquiry found last year.

Over the weekend, the FBI confirmed that a mass shooting at an Austin, Texas, bar was an act of terrorism. The suspect, Ndiaga Diagne, a 53-year-old naturalized citizen from Senegal, was pictured wearing a "Property of Allah" sweatshirt and reportedly had a t-shirt bearing the Iranian flag on it. Bill Melugin also confirmed that he was naturalized under the Obama administration. But in the wake of this shooting, people are recalling video from the border dating back to 2023, where refugees from Senegal were crossing our open borders without any vetting. This was an absolute dereliction of duty on the...

Explanation: How well do you know the night sky? OK, but how well can you identify famous sky objects in a very deep image? Either way, here is a test: see if you can find some well-known night-sky icons in a deep image filled with filaments of normally faint dust and gas. This image contains the Pleiades star cluster, Barnard's Loop, Orion Nebula, Aldebaran, Betelgeuse, Witch Head Nebula, Eridanus Loop, and the California Nebula. To find their real locations, here is an annotated image version. The reason this task might be difficult is similar to the reason it is initially...

A Russian mogul who once called sex-trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell his “soulmate” was found dead in a luxury Moscow apartment Monday, just weeks after his name surfaced in the Jeffrey Epstein files.

With only three women left, the Akuntsu were decimated by a government-backed land grab in the Amazon. Pugapia and her daughters Aiga and Babawru lived for years as the only surviving members of the Akuntsu, an Indigenous people decimated by a government-backed push to develop parts of the Amazon rainforest. As they advanced in age without a child to carry on the line, many expected the Akuntsu to vanish when the women died. That changed in December, when Babawru – the youngest of the three, in her 40s – gave birth to a boy. Akyp's arrival brought hope not just...

Actress Susan Sarandon said that she has been blacklisted in Hollywood due to her calls for a ceasefire in Gaza. “I was fired by my agency, specifically for marching and speaking out about Gaza, for asking for a ceasefire,” Sarandon said Friday during a conversation with Reuters. Her remarks came just before she was honored with the International Goya award at the Spanish Film Academy’s ceremony in Barcelona. “It became impossible for me to even be on television,” Sarandon said. “I don’t know lately if it’s changed. I couldn’t do any major film or anything connected with Hollywood.” Sarandon, who...

[Catholic Caucus] DC bishop equates God with DEI in blasphemous comments at Black History Month MassWashington Auxiliary Bishop Roy E. Campbell blasphemously claimed “God is DEI” (diversity, equity, and inclusion) during a homily for the archdiocese’s annual Black History Month Mass at St. Joseph Church last weekend. During his homily for the February 21 Mass, Campbell reflected briefly about how the Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) is sung shortly before the distribution of the Holy Eucharist and reflected on the word “Dei” (Meaning God), then falsely compared the term to DEI, saying “God is DEI,” per the Catholic Standard, the...

Nick Sortor@nicksortor·2h🚨 JUST IN: Video surfaces showing a Kuwaiti man rushing to help a U.S. fighter pilot who had just been shot down during Operation Epic Fury“Are you fine? You are safe! Thank you for helping us,” the man saidThankfully, ALL six American pilots have now been accounted for

But a new study has found a growing connection between cannabis use and detrimental effects on mental health. Smoking weed has previously been found to have an impact on the brain by altering dopamine activity that closely resembles patterns observed in psychosis. Now, a study led by McMaster University and published in The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry has shown that increasing cannabis use and worsening mental health symptoms are appearing together more and more often. “We see that Canadians who use cannabis tend to be more likely to meet criteria for anxiety and depressive disorders, and more likely to report...

A disgraced small-town mayor who was allegedly caught by her kids having sex with a drunken 16-year-old boy at a booze-fueled pool party ordered emergency contraception on DoorDash afterward. Misty Roberts, the 43-year-old former leader of tiny DeRidder, La., is now on trial for third-degree rape over the 2024 alleged tryst. After news spread of Roberts’ reputed romp with the teen in the town of 9,800, the mother of the victim — a friend of the defendant’s son — texted the then-mayor to ensure she was not pregnant, to which she replied she was on birth control, prosecutors told jurors...

Hearing confirms American taxpayers are funding all the following foreign terrorist organizations:- Taliban- Shabaab (in Somalia)- Hamza Network (Sudan)- Hamas- Islamic Jihad (Gaza)- Hezbollah (Lebanon)- Qatayib al-Hezbolla (Iran)- Hayat al-Khudr (Syria)

Big Tech is planning multi-billion-dollar investments in its own energy generation. Combined with the ongoing AI boom, the massive expansion of data centers is stretching every capital market framework to its limits. Even the European bond market is increasingly in the crosshairs of companies and investors. For the heavily indebted states of the European Union, this is not good news. The “credit pump” could rightfully claim its place as a symbolic flag of the European Union. With virtually unlimited access to the bond market, politics magically transforms an inexhaustible credit stream into political maneuvers and ideological wizardry. Through this manipulation...

In light of recent news out of the Middle East, we have to rewrite the old dictum — provenance disputed — that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness. Because you know those Iranian-made Shahed drones Russia keeps smacking Ukraine with? Yeah, we hit Iran last weekend with a copycat version of the very same drone. In July of 2025, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth headed up a Pentagon event showing off 18 American-made drone prototypes, that had gone from drawing board to development in just an average of 18 months. By comparison, the...

Team Gavin Newsom could not resist a cheap shot against President Trump following the bombing of Iran, and it promptly blew up in their faces. As The Gateway Pundit reported, the United States and Israel launched ‘Operation Epic Fury’ against Iran over the weekend. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was eliminated in a joint military operation conducted by Israel and the United States this weekend. At least 40 other senior Iranian regime leaders were also killed in the strikes. Several Democrats predictably condemned the attack. Not surprisingly, Newsom was one of them. Following the bombing, Newsom’s team slammed Trump...