Free Republic

By RACHAEL BUNYAN FOR MAILONLINE and MARK NICOL DEFENCE EDITOR FOR THE DAILY MAIL PUBLISHED: 05:38 EDT, | UPDATED: 11:52 EDT, 25 June 2021 Russia on Friday launched sweeping military manoeuvres in the Mediterranean Sea just hours after warning the UK it will defend its borders using 'all possible means' following an incident with British destroyer HMS Defender in the Black Sea. The military drills, featuring warplanes capable of carrying hypersonic missiles and several warships, come as a British carrier strike group is in the area. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkob on Friday warned Britain and the US that...

senior NATO officer has warned of China's "shocking" military development and growing diplomatic clout, as the trans-Atlantic alliance toughens its stance on Beijing. Air Chief MarshalSir Stuart Peach, who is stepping down on Friday after three years as chair of NATO's military committee, told the Financial Times that the alliance's 30 member states needed to do more to decide what China's military ambitions might mean for them. The FT interview, published on Friday, comes as tensions simmer between China and the West, against the backdrop of a Washington-Beijing trade war, increased military aggression and a string of cyberespionage attacks. ach...

As a small child Anthony Hendrie lived through the horrors of the Blitz in his home in Chatham, England He remembers cowering under a Morrison shelter when the family did not have time to get to the basement. As China rises and flexes its muscles, it is crucial that we remember the lessons of WW2.

Scientists think that a cluster of comet shards may have smashed into Earth's surface 13,000 years ago... While the first Homo sapiens emerged between 200,000 and 300,000 years ago, much farther in the past than this impact, the researchers found that this comet crash actually coincided with significant changes in how human societies self-organized. This work builds on previous research that has suggested that a significant impact may have preceded the beginning of the Neolithic period, the first part of the Stone Age in which a number of major developments in human civilization took place, including notable steps forward in...

An attorney for George Floyd’s family said Friday that family members were feeling anxious ahead of a sentencing hearing for former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin. Family attorney Ben Crump told The Associated Press that family members were feeling “anxious and tense.” Floyd’s brother Philonise, his brother Terrence and his nephew Brandon Williams plan to make victim impact statements at Chauvin’s sentencing. Philonise Floyd often occupied the Floyd family’s assigned seat in the socially distanced courtroom where Chauvin’s trial was held. He also testified as part of prosecutors’ efforts to humanize George Floyd to the jury, recalling their childhood in...

A resident missing in the Surfside apartment collapse told her son the building was making loud “creaking noises” a day earlier, he said. “She just told me she had woken up around 3, 4 in the morning and had heard like some creaking noises,” her son, Pablo Rodriguez, told CNN on Thursday after part of the 12-story building tumbled to the ground. “They were loud enough to wake her.” “It was like a comment that she made offhand, like that’s why she woke up and she wasn’t able to go back to sleep afterwards,” he added. “Now, in hindsight, you...

One of the House Democrats alongside Vice President Kamala Harris on her visit to the “border” — which was actually hundreds of miles from the epicenter of the migrant crisis — gleefully referred to the Texas area they were touring Friday as “the new Ellis Island.” The eyebrow-raising moment came courtesy of Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), an ally of President Biden who represents El Paso and was part of Harris’ trip delegation.

LINCOLN — Gov. Pete Ricketts stepped up his fight against President Joe Biden on Thursday by ordering state agencies to resist the federal 30-by-30 initiative. Among other things, the order requires agencies under the governor’s control to stop providing money or staff support for any projects involving permanent conservation easements. It also puts an 18-month hold on state protections for new endangered species and directs the Department of Agriculture to publicize which local governments have taken positions opposing or supporting the Biden administration’s goal of conserving 30% of the nation’s land and water by 2030.

The head of the Vatican Secretariat for the Economy said he hopes efforts at financial transparency and reform will foster Catholics' trust ahead of the annual Peter's Pence collection. In an interview with Vatican News June 25, Jesuit Father Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves, prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, said Catholics "have the right to know how we spend the money given to us." "Sometimes contradictions arise from a lack of knowledge, which, in turn, comes from a lack of transparency," Father Guerrero said. Peter's Pence is a papal fund used for charity, but also to support the running...

A U.S. Army veteran married to a New York Times editor is launching a new career: Narcing on fellow veterans for “extremism.” Kristofer “Kris” Goldsmith denounces his fellow soldiers and demands the creation of a new, 100% woke combat force. In other words, he is the press’ favorite kind of veteran. In February, one month after the January 6 incident and just a few weeks after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin issued a stand-down order against extremism in the armed forces, Goldsmith founded Sparverius, LLC. He describes Sparverius as a “veteran-owned open-source intelligence firm” focused on fighting “disinformation” and “domestic extremism.”...

A liberal Massachusetts town has created a fund that will be used to pay reparations to eligible black residents to “repair past harms” it committed against them or their ancestors. The Amherst Town Council voted 12-1 earlier this week in favor of establishing the fund, council clerk Athena O’Keeffe confirmed. No money is in the fund yet, but town finance officials have proposed a plan to put $210,000 in the account later this year, the Daily Hampshire Gazette reported.

A past and potentially future leading Republican contender for the presidency is weighing in on behalf of Britney Spears as the 2000s pop icon tries to rid herself of her father’s heavy hand in a bitter conservatorship debate. "#FreeBritney," Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, tweeted on Thursday. "I just want my life back," Spears said. "All I want is to own my money and for my boyfriend to be able to drive me in his car. I want to sue my family." During a virtual hearing in Los Angeles Wednesday, the "Toxic" singer gave 20 minutes of compelling testimony in which...

It’s time to raise the sails and go full speed ahead for Celebrity Cruises. The cruise line will be the first cruise line to sail from the United States in well over 15 months when Celebrity Edge sets sail on Saturday, June 26, from Fort Lauderdale. There was a worry with Celebrity guests in the last few days when the CDC put Celebrity Edge on code red on June 21; however, this seems to be the case of one single a-symptomatic crew member who has recently been removed from the vessel. It means the ship, the crew, and the guests...

On Wednesday, the creator of the mRNA technology used in some of the covid vaccines told Fox News that the government is not being open about the vaccines’ dangers. Dr. Robert Malone told Tucker Carlson that a video in which he explained his concerns and findings had been removed from YouTube. He believes that there is insufficient research on the risks for young adults and teens, and that they should not be forced to get vaccinated. “My concern is that I know there are risks, but we don’t have access to the data….and so, I believe people have the right...

Core personal consumption expenditures, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation reading, rose in May by the most in nearly three decades as the U.S. economy continued to gain momentum while COVID-19 lockdown restrictions eased.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley, in testimony at a hearing Wednesday on the Defense Department budget, said — in comments that have since gone viral — “I personally find it offensive that we are accusing the United States military … of being ‘woke’ or something else because we’re studying some theories that are out there.” In a lengthy introduction, Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz claimed the military’s introduction of the study of extremism and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s one-day stand-down order is the “number one” complaint he hears from service members. He ultimately asked...

Thus, a very horrible human being used a weapon of mass destruction against his own citizens. The United States and the rest of the "civilized" world expressed horror and outrage. Wait. Wut? Biden has publicly said that he is willing to use weapons of mass destruction against American citizens. No expressions of horror? No expressions of outrage? It's all good then?

Diocesan "Pride Month Conversation Resources" The month of June is reserved for the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Roman Catholic Church, while the secular and Jesuit world commemorates a month celebrating a deadly sin (pride) and a sin that cries to Heaven for vengeance (sodomy).Despite the Church's teachings on same-sex relations (still a mortal sin...), some bishops and dioceses continue to promote "pride month" activities. The Diocese of Lexington, Kentucky, led by a notorious dissident, Bishop John Stowe, has sent a memo to diocesan parishes with "pride month conversation resources."We received the packet from a novus ordo diocesan...

Kamala Harris traveled to El Paso on Friday, more than 90 days after she was appointed “border czar.”81-million vote recipient Kamala Harris was greeted by… Trump supporters.This wasn’t the welcome wagon Kamala Harris was expecting!

Five people were shot, including two suspects, during an attempted robbery at a multimillion-dollar Hollywood Hills home early Friday, Los Angeles police said. Three armed suspects tried to rob someone at about 2 a.m. outside the home reportedly owned by Fashion Nova founder and CEO Richard Saghian. Shots were fired during the attempted hold-up, prompting one man working security at the home to return fire, striking two of the suspects, one fatally, LAPD spokesman Jeff Lee told The Post.