Free Republic

Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s debt-fuelled spending not seen since Germany reunification. Germany plans to borrow more than €800bn by 2030, breaking with decades of fiscal restraint to bring defence spending to levels not seen since the cold war. Next year alone, Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government plans to raise more than €200bn from markets, 12.5 per cent more than this year, the finance ministry said on Monday. Between 2027 and 2030, Germany is expected to borrow about €838bn, according to projections. The budget marks a sharp break with the country’s deep-rooted aversion to debt and with Merz’s own party line on fiscal...

HAVANA, July ⁠6 (Reuters) - ⁠Cuba's national ⁠electric grid collapsed ​on Monday at ‌midday, the country's ‌grid ⁠operator ⁠said, leaving around 10 million ​people on the Caribbean island ​nation without power. Cuba has ⁠for months ⁠suffered ⁠from hours-long, ​and more recently, days-long ​power ⁠outages linked in part to an ⁠ailing grid and a U.S. imposed oil ⁠blockade that has cut off the island's fuel supply.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was the Trump administration’s frontman for waging war on Iran during weeks of kinetic operations aimed at decimating its nuclear threat. Since President Trump signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Iran to end the war, without securing significant concessions on its missile or nuclear stockpiles, Hegseth has said little about the shift in strategy — as Vice President Vance takes the spotlight in defending the tenuous diplomacy. The public positioning of the top Trump advisers reflects reporting on their private counsel to the commander in chief, with Trump saying in March that Hegseth was “the...

Critics say the administration is weakening public safety. Proponents say regulations would be where they were before President Joseph R. Biden took office. The Trump administration is scrapping more than three dozen firearms regulations, abandoning a crackdown on illegal sales, restoring gun rights to some people with mental illness and loosening oversight of private weapons transactions. The drastic retrenchment at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the federal agency responsible for enforcing the nation’s gun laws, was not entirely unexpected: President Trump campaigned as a champion of gun rights. In the view of critics and even some A.T.F....

Trump's speech a missed opportunity for unity.

The rise of Nigel Farage has prompted political leaders across Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to game the unthinkable: the breakup of the United Kingdom. Unionists who wish to save the union and nationalists who wish to end it are bracing for constitutional turmoil if Reform UK emerges triumphant – with Farage as prime minister or official leader of the opposition – after the next election. Representatives from each side believe a Farage-led government could trigger a hasty referendum on Irish unification and usher in Trump-style anti-immigration crackdowns that alienate the Celtic nations. The possibility of a strong Reform...

Russia has begun using a new autonomous version of its Molniya strike drone in Ukraine, adapting the cheap fixed-wing attack UAV to hit targets without the control antenna that made earlier models vulnerable to electronic warfare, Defence Blog reported, citing an advisor to the Ukrainian Defense Minister Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov on July 3. The new variant was identified after a Russian Molniya struck a Ukrainian facility and was later found without the usual antenna used for operator control. Ukrainian radio technology specialist Beskrestnov said the drone carried only a camera and an onboard computer, suggesting a different strike profile. Instead...

President Donald Trump said it is “ridiculous” for the United States to maintain its current level of support for NATO “when the relationship is not reciprocal." Referring to the alliance as a "one-sided path” late Thursday, Trump doubled down on his long-argued criticism of allied nations’ defense spending ahead of next week’s planned NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey. Alongside his Truth Social remarks, Trump posted a chart displaying contributions from NATO members, showing the U.S. vastly outspending its allies. The President had earlier complained that the U.S. “spends more money on NATO than any other country, by far, to protect...

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...

Secret Service Missed 102 Warnings Before Butler Assassination Attempt on Trump, DHS Report Finds Inspector general says agents missed 102 warnings that could have prevented the attack on President Trump. BIG LEAGUE POLITICS JUL 03, 2026 A new Department of Homeland Security inspector general report concludes that the U.S. Secret Service failed to act on dozens of warning signs before the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump at his July 13, 2024, campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The report, released Thursday by the DHS Office of Inspector General, details a cascade of communication failures, security lapses, and planning deficiencies that...

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pressed President Trump earlier to cripple Iran. But as Iran asserted its power, the prince urged a cease-fire, and is now pursuing his security priorities.President Trump and his military commanders were in a bind.They had announced the start of a new mission to help guide commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran had effectively closed early in the war. U.S. naval and air power would ward off any Iranian attacks during a tentative cease-fire, the commanders said.But U.S. Central Command was caught by surprise when officials from Saudi Arabia said American forces could...

My 16-year-old daughter, Becky Pepper-Jackson, wants what most kids want: to be herself and play the sport she loves with her friends. As a transgender girl, that simple wish took her all the way to the Supreme Court, where the justices ruled that our home state of West Virginia can bar her from playing school sports with her friends and peers. I always knew that no matter what the court decided, Becky would be a winner because she has shown all of us how to love, accept and be ourselves no matter the outcome.

Prof. Mordechai Kedar is one of the world’s leading experts on Islam and Arab society. In this powerful interview, Prof. Kedar explains why Western models keep failing in the Middle East, why the Palestinian Authority is doomed, and how Israel should adopt the successful clan-based "Emirates" model in Judea and Samaria ( the West Bank) to achieve real stability and peace. Chapters: 00:00:00 – Intro 00:00:53 – Middle East Clan System: Why Muslim States Fail or Succeed 00:10:22 – Why the PA Is Doomed to Fail 00:25:52 – The Spiritual War of Islam – Path to Real Peace 00:44:18 –...

The heatwave wreaking chaos across Europe is a “dramatic warning” to reject climate naysayers, a European Commission vice-president says. Teresa Ribera, executive vice-president for a clean, just and competitive transition, lambasted those who listened to the “vested interests” of the fossil fuel industry rather than scientists and their own citizens. “This is a dramatic warning being sent once again by nature on what it means to have a different climate system,” she told the Guardian. “What we are experiencing today [in the form of record heat] is what we knew could happen, but we have not been smart enough to...

Spain's plan to grant legal residency and work rights to undocumented migrants will be the largest scheme of its kind in European history. There have been at least 1.3 million applications made, more than double the 500,000 the centre-Left coalition government expected. The deadline for applications is on Tuesday. Pedro Sánchez, Spain's prime minister, said the amnesty was an act of justice but also of necessity, to continue Spain's strong economic growth and safeguard public pensions by bringing younger workers into the country. It began on April 16 and by mid-June 360,000 people out of 900,000 applications had been granted...

Men's Journal: Breaking News It seemed hard to believe at first. The National Weather Service was really issuing WINTER storm warnings for snow in late June? But it really happened. Three U.S. states were hit with the winter storm warnings, and Yellowstone National Park was seeing snow. That has a lot of people wondering why and what caused the unusual phenomenon. Even stranger, the summer snowfall alerts were coming as the eastern third of the U.S. faced what could be a record-breaking heat wave with the heat index even predicted to reach 115 degrees in some places. According to USA...

A Paris official has said she holds the US partially responsible for the record-breaking heatwave in France. The comments were made as part of a scathing rebuke to American tourists, immigrants and expats who have been criticising France for its lack of air conditioning across the country. Over the past week, the transatlantic discourse online has also been heating up, with some Americans – many living in desert and tropical climes in the southern US – mocking the French and Western Europeans for not being able to withstand temperatures to which they are accustomed to every year. “Dear American journalists...

The American flag: To some, it’s Old Glory. To others, it’s a MAGA hat on a stick. To fly or not to fly an American flag? That was never a question for Bruce Watson, who has put his national pride on display for years — and nudges neighbors in his small New England town to do the same. “I’m very proud of our flag,” the writer said. “It’s the symbol of ‘We, the People.’” But as the polarized nation marks its 250th birthday, Watson, 72, worries his Stars and Stripes may now need an asterisk. “If we do fly the...

Labour Party leader Keir Starmer got a bit tearful in his resignation remarks, quite a departure from the emotionless, bot-like face he normally presents to the world. But then, he was alluding to his family, people he apparently cares about. He's sad now, but in the days to come, he may realize that he has dodged a bullet – or perhaps a lynching – as the soul-sickening findings published by the Restore Britain Party's leader's Rupert Lowe 219-page Rape Gang Inquiry Report, released June 16, are bruited in international news. Starmer did not envision facing that particular music so soon....

I used to love New York City. You could go there and walk around, unmolested, and enjoy the sights and sounds the city had to offer. Now, the aroma of urine and weed permeates the streets like a poorly ventilated cigar bar on its busiest night. There is no real punishment for crimes short of murder. Walk into a Duane Reade, a pharmacy and convenience store chain owned by Walgreens up there, and you will see less security than in a bank. As leftists insist, “People need to steal to feed their families,” you can’t help but notice that the...