Free Republic

The US military is shifting its focus from asymmetric wars in the Middle East to near-peer rivals. Those rivals, namely Russia and China, have had two decades to see how the US fights and find ways to counter its strengths. After nearly two decades of counter-terror operations around the world, the United States military has recently begun shifting its focus away from this form of asymmetric warfare and back toward the potential for near-peer conflicts with nations like China or Russia. Despite maintaining the most powerful military apparatus on the globe, this pivot won't be without its challenges. Over the...

The Secret Service reportedly interceded two years ago on behalf of President Joe Biden's son, Hunter, in an alleged attempt to quash evidence of a gun purchase after the revolver vanished.Agents tried to obtain the paperwork for the gun's sale to Hunter Biden from the store where he bought it, however, the owner refused to hand over the documents, according to two sources who spoke to Politico.

In Ukraine, the Kremlin was wary of sending in the armor in large numbers until it appeared separatist troops in the east neared defeat. ere's What You Need to Remember: The Estonian military planned to buy the missiles before Russia invaded Crimea and eastern Ukraine, but the war certainly frightened Estonia enough into buying more of them—and doing it faster. It was more than eight years ago when a tank force from the Georgian army’s 42nd Mechanized Infantry Battalion fought its way overnight through Tskhinvali, South Ossetia. The tanks were in trouble. They were moving too fast, outrunning their infantry...

Polarized view of the black hole in M87. The lines mark the orientation of polarization, which is related to the magnetic field around the shadow of the black hole. Credit: EHT Collaboration ===================================================================== Wits University astrophysicists are the only two scientists on African continent that contributed to the study. The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration, a multinational team of over 300 scientists including two astrophysicists from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits University), has revealed a new view of the massive object at the center of the M87 galaxy: how it looks in polarized light. This is the first time...

Over the opposition of the State Police Crime Lab and civil libertarians, Massachusetts district attorneys can create their own database of partial DNA profiles after getting a judge's approval as part of a secret grand jury investigation.

According to a new report, President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden was involved with a gun incident a few years ago which is extremely ironic considering the Biden Administration is aggressively pushing to enact more gun control against the American people. The new allegation against Hunter Biden allegedly took place in October of 2018 when there was an incident between Hunter Biden and his deceased brother, Beau Biden’s wife Hallie Biden. The two started dating after Beau Biden died. The report claims that Hallie Biden threw away Hunter Biden’s gun in the trash can which was later found by law...

Veteran investor Ray Dalio warns that governments across the globe are planning to outlaw Bitcoin because the financial elite cannot tolerate something that they don’t have monopoly control over. “Every country treasures its monopoly on controlling the supply and demand. They don’t want other monies to be operating or competing,” Dalio told Yahoo Finance. “So, I think that it would be very likely that you will have it, under a certain set of circumstances, outlawed the way gold was outlawed,” he added. Dalio cited the 1934 Gold Reserve Act, which ended all private holding and use of gold as money....

Utah’s mask mandate will end April 10 after the Republican governor signed a bill that lays out a new timeline for lifting some of the state’s CCP virus restrictions. Masks orders will remain in place for schools and gatherings of more than 50 people. Businesses can also choose to require them. Gov. Spencer Cox signed the measure on Wednesday, the same day that vaccinations opened to all people aged 16 and older.

Senator Paul is in favor of states loosening guidelines, and re-opening their economies sooner rather than later. He voted against the CARES Act, which includes billions of dollars in federal aid for Kentucky, citing its $2 trillion price tag. “I think it’s one of those things that looks good on the front end, who’s going to turn down a thousand dollars, but we have to think about the unintended or long-term consequences of what this could do to the country,” Sen. Paul said.

After becoming the first transgender federal official to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Dr. Rachel Levine said she’s “humbled” and thankful for those who have fought for equality for decades. On Wednesday, the Senate confirmed Levine’s nomination to serve as U.S. assistant health secretary. Levine formerly served as Pennsylvania’s health secretary and stepped down when President Joe Biden nominated her for the federal post. Levine issued a statement thanking Biden for trusting her with the key position. She also thanked those who have supported her, particularly in the LGBTQ community. “As I prepare to take my oath of office...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday announced an intensified coronavirus lockdown going into Easter, warning that new mutations raised the specter of a potentially deadly "third wave" of COVID-19 as Europe struggles in its vaccination campaign. Speaking early Tuesday, Merkel said restrictions would be extended until April 18. She called on citizens to stay home and for shops to close for five days over the Easter holiday. "We are now basically in a new pandemic. The British mutation has become dominant," Merkel said after late-night videoconference sessions with leaders of Germany's 16 states. "Fundamentally, we face a new virus of...

High-level sources have indicated that Gov. Gavin Newsom is having a sexual relationship with one of his top aides, a Los Angeles news outlet is reporting. With California in the throes of the Governor-induced lockdowns and economic chaos, the revelation could sink the hopes of Newsom as he battles a growing recall movement. Many of Newsom’s other employees know about the affair and are prepared to leave the governor’s office, sources told the Los Cerritos Community Newspaper. The Governor, husband to Jennifer Siebel Newsom and father of four children, made major changes to his communications office last week to prepare...

THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR continue to interest experts, who claimed they had uncovered a "place of power" used by the order and a possible clue that they were on the hunt for the Ark of Covenant. The Catholic military order was active for almost 200 years until their abrupt demise. At the height of their power between the 12th and 13th century, the Templars were among the most skilled fighting units of the Crusade period and managed large Christian economic organisations across Europe and the Middle East. But their sudden reduction in power inspired the rise of legends and has seen...

The remaining homeless people living along Echo Park Lake were given 24 hours to leave their encampment after protesters clashed with police Wednesday night. A heavy police presence was still in place on Glendale Boulevard and Park Avenue Thursday morning as a fence was put up to close off the park. Roughly 30 to 40 tents could still be seen scattered behind the fencing but the people living in those tents were told they would have to leave. LAPD later declared two unlawful assemblies and gave an order to disperse from Santa Ynez Street and Glendale Boulevard. Police said officers...

Last night around 10 o’clock I went to Echo Park to watch the protesters police have blocked all the streets nobody can come close to Echo Park while the demonstration happen workers put up a fence around Echo Park

Boulder Police Officer Eric Talley lost his life at this week’s mass shooting when a man open fired at a grocery store killing 10 people including Officer Talley. President Biden and fellow Democrats are using the tragedy to push for gun control. But, Talley’s family is saying hold up as the slain officer was a Second Amendment advocate and would never want his name associated with gun control. Eric Talley was an 11-year veteran of the Boulder Police Department and a father of seven.

Three years after the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act took effect, Democrats in Congress are ready to roll back some of the most critical reforms.The business tax cuts have been maligned as contrary to the interests of workers. In reality, the corporate tax cut succeeded at allowing new business investment, creating jobs, raising wages, and increasing the economy’s size.The economic history of the 2017 tax cuts should lead policymakers who are intent on raising the corporate income tax, or repealing parts of the individual tax cuts, to question their convictions.The tax cuts were intended to increase new investments in the...

What Does the Republican Party Stand For? There are specific policies that offer a clear alternative to where the Democrats are taking America. They are not ideologically driven, they are pragmatic. For two fleeting years after Trump was elected president, the GOP controlled the White House and both houses of the U.S. Congress. This level of one-party control for the GOP was almost without precedent. Apart from 2003-2007—the end of George W. Bush’s first term in office and the beginning of his second—you have to go back all the way to 1953, the first half of Dwight Eisenhower’s first term,...

President Biden holds his first official news conference since taking office.

A recent survey found that more than one-third of Americans overestimate by as much as a factor of ten the probability a person with COVID-19 will require hospitalization.Researchers involved in the Franklin Templeton/Gallup study asked Americans in December what “percentage of people who have been infected by the coronavirus needed to be hospitalized." The correct answer is not precisely known, the authors note, but the best available estimates place the figure between 1 and 5 percent.Many people’s perceptions of the data, however, were completely off.“Less than one in five U.S. adults (18%) give a correct answer of between 1 and...