Free Republic

While political pressure mounts on British Prime Minister Keir Starmer amid rising tensions within the Labour Party, attention inside 10 Downing Street has unexpectedly shifted to an unlikely figure who seems completely unbothered by the unfolding drama - Larry the Cat. As Starmer faced a day of political turbulence, marked by the resignation of multiple junior ministers and increasing pressure from within his own party, Larry was seen casually roaming around Downing Street, repeatedly appearing near the iconic black door while media crews gathered outside. The situation took a humorous turn when the cat’s official X account commented on the...

This is what a major city looks like after years of suffering under criminal-friendly, incompetent, woke (but I repeat myself) leadership. Chicago, where mayors are concerned, seems to have a predilection for going from bad to worse, and never has that been more apparent than in the term of the feckless, incapable Mayor Brandon Johnson. Crime is spiking in Chicago again. The long weekend beginning with "Juneteenth" on Friday, June 19th, has now, as of this writing, seen 22 people shot, with five dead. President Trump has weighed in on the matter, offering to do for Chicago what he did...

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (WHTM) — A New Jersey man will face federal prison time after he acted as a flight instructor without a valid pilot’s license when his plane crashed, killing a student pilot on board. Philip McPherson II, 37, of Riverside, was sentenced Thursday to 78 months in prison, or 6 1/2 years, on federal involuntary manslaughter and related charges, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The charges arose from a Sept. 28, 2022, plane crash in suburban Allentown. A student pilot was killed and McPherson was seriously injured. McPherson pleaded guilty in October...

The Hezbollah terrorist organization on Sunday condemned the ongoing direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, ahead of a fifth round of talks scheduled to take place on Monday in the United States. In a statement, Hezbollah said it had become "clear and certain" that the direct negotiations involving the Lebanese delegation in Washington were aimed at endorsing "dictates imposed by the US administration that undermine Lebanon's sovereignty." The group claimed the negotiations would shift Lebanon's political position "to the side of those reconciled with the Zionist occupation and its illegitimate entity." Hezbollah asserted that "no good whatsoever can come from...

Tashkent looking for more control over mining-sector value chain.Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan are strengthening economic connections, signing a variety of agreements covering mining, banking and tourism. Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov and his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ali Asadov, presided June 16 over a signing ceremony in Tashkent of a cooperation agreement under which the two countries will jointly develop an Uzbek gold deposit as well as other mineral resources. Ural Yusupov, Uzbekistan’s deputy mining minister, previously indicated that Tashkent was intent on conducting comprehensive surveys of precious metal deposits in the Kashkadarya and Surkhandarya regions, along with critical mineral deposits in Karakalpakstan...

At a press conference earlier this month, a reporter told Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear that people in Boyd and Greenup counties had been "caught off guard" by a deal local officials unveiled to bring a very large data center to the area. A number of Boyd County residents had packed a town hall the day before to lambast county judge-executives and other local leaders in part over concerns about what a proposed hyperscale data center could mean for electricity bills and the local environment. Beshear in response said he was not going to let a data center come into the...

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said Sunday that President Trump will take military control of the Strait of Hormuz if the U.S.-Iran framework agreement falls apart, escalating the administration's rhetoric on the same morning Vice President JD Vance landed in Switzerland for talks with Iranian negotiators."If this deal fails, Trump is going to take the strait over by force," Graham said on CBS's Face the Nation. "The United States will control the strait. We will charge a fee for those who go through."The comments came hours after Trump floated the same idea on Truth Social, saying that if the...

Actor Timothy Busfield wants a judge to dismiss a grand jury indictment tied to sexual abuse charges, arguing the case is unfair and lacks evidence. Busfield filed the motion earlier this week. The motion says the case is unfair and lacks evidence. Last week, KOB 4 reported on a new independent investigation that found there was not evidence to support the allegations. Two boys say Busfield assaulted them while he worked with them on a TV show filming in Albuquerque. The case now turns on whether a judge allows the indictment to stand or dismisses it.

President Trump tore into lefty Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Sunday over spiraling violence in Chicago – after a bloody weekend in the Windy City left at least five people dead and 22 others wounded, according to reports.

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the head of Iran’s negotiating team, called on the United States and President Donald Trump to tone down what he described as hostile rhetoric toward the regime in Tehran. “The United States should be cautious in its statements. Our forces are ready to respond," ...

A few years ago, to help my mind get over the grind of writing The 33 Strategies of War, I bought a pool table. After a hard day’s work, I would settle into the game of pool and make myself completely focus on the green felt, the cue stick, the stripes and solids. It ended up being the perfect choice of a diversion. Pool, it became clear to me, is all about angles. First, there are simple angles, as you must hit the cue ball to either side when you are not straight on. This is often not as easy...

Explanation: What if you could see the entire sky -- all at once -- for an entire year? That, very nearly, is what is pictured here. Every 15 seconds during 2025, an all-sky camera took an image of the sky over the Netherlands. Central columns from these images were then aligned and combined to create the featured keogram, with January at the top, December at the bottom, and the middle of the night running vertically just left of center. What do we see? Most obviously, the daytime sky is mostly blue, while the nighttime sky is mostly black. The twelve...

So, guys, anything new? Here at Guitar World, we believe in hitting artists with the hard questions first. “Not much at all,” Geddy Lee deadpans. The bassist is speaking via Zoom from his home studio, a wall of basses behind him. “I’ve just been playing a lot of cards with Al, trying to win some money off him.” “He always does,” says Alex Lifeson, joining in on Zoom from his own home music sanctuary. “He’s vicious at Go Fish.” While we’re on the subject of games, suffice to say that nobody – including, for the longest time, Lee and Lifeson...

The Seed That Alfred’s Fathers PlantedFathers. And you who would be fathers. On this day I bring you no new words. What I must say to every man who still feels the old fire in his chest, I would have said yesterday and will say again tomorrow. But upon this field of battle forming before us, I will speak it plainly now. Go back with me before Runnymede, before any charter or parliament, before the long road that led to rights written on parchment. Go back to the time when the English peoples were scattered kingdoms and the sea itself...

The Health Ministry announced on Sunday that it has received a report of another person suspected of having Ebola after returning from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The man, who returned to Israel two days ago, sought medical treatment after developing a fever, headache, and diarrhea. The ministry stressed that the case remains only a suspected one at this stage. Officials said the required series of laboratory tests is already underway, with results expected in the coming days. The patient is being treated in isolation in accordance with protocols for highly contagious infectious diseases. He has been transferred to...

Texas Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick had a forceful rebuke of Democrat U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico’s radical claims about Biblical doctrine, warning that the far-left candidate is putting himself in danger of “going to Hell.” Democrats initially framed Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian and current Texas state representative, as a mainstream figure and rising political talent capable of appealing across partisan lines due in part to his ostensible faith background, which was swiftly quashed not only by his strident left-wing stances on abortion, sexuality, and more, but by claiming Christianity endorses them. The Christian Post reports that, while addressing the...

The Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein announced that he would veto an attempt to legalize abortion in the country. In February, a committee in the Principality of Liechtenstein launched a popular initiative to decriminalize abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. The initiators have also demanded that the ban on providing information on abortion be lifted and that health insurance cover the cost of an abortion. Hereditary Prince Alois of Liechtenstein announced that he would veto it once the Landtag, the Parliament of the principality, passed a law decriminalizing abortion. In an interview with Liechtensteiner Vaterland on Wednesday, he was...

Sen. Adam Schiff (D–Calif) wants "federal money for subsidies for movies to be made in Hollywood. For over 100 years movies made in Hollywood have entertained the world. Lately, though, more and more movies are being made in other states and countries where costs are lower. It's not fair. I've drafted legislation that will help offset the higher California costs by providing more federal support for this historically vital industry." "Critics say the high cost of making movies in California is our own fault," Schiff observed. "They say that corruption and incompetent government are self-inflicted wounds. Well, Spencer Pratt said...

SAN DIEGO, CA — NASCAR will celebrate Pride month this year by featuring its first all-Subaru race at the Navy 250 in San Diego. Feeling that being hosted at a Navy base was not quite gay enough, NASCAR officials decided to up the ante by requiring all entrants drive a Subaru station wagon with at least 17 bumper stickers. "Now that's what I call 'Pride'," said NASCAR CEO Steve O'Donnell. "There will be little sailor outfits, Subarus, and 'It's Raining Men' blasting on the loudspeakers. We're going all in this year. The crews are going to all do the 'YMCA'...

Israelis overwhelmingly view the war with Iran and the subsequent deal between Tehran and the United States in a negative light, with 92.1 percent of Israelis believing the Islamic Republic to have won, according to a survey published Sunday. The poll of 3,644 respondents, conducted between June 17 and 20 by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in collaboration with the Agam Institute, paints a stark picture of public sentiment following the US-Iran deal. The survey found that even among voters who support the right-wing bloc led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, 93.1% believed Iran had won. Furthermore, 82.9% of respondents...