Free Republic

Ahead of its grand opening, the first reviews for Disney’s eye-wateringly expensive “Star Wars” hotel are beginning to roll in. The Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser at Disney World opens to its first paid guests March 1, but last week it hosted members of the media and popular YouTube and TikTok channels for a free preview. The hotel, which only offers a two-night stay, is billed as the ultimate immersive “Star Wars” experience. Guests are encouraged to dress up (Disney provides some pricey options on its site), take part in special missions and enjoy an “excursion” to the planet Batuu, also...

EU countries will send "fighter jets" to Ukraine at Kyiv's request to help it counter the Russian air and land assault, the bloc's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Sunday. "We're going to provide even fighting jets. We're not talking about just ammunition.... snip Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has told the EU "they need the kind of fighting jets that the Ukrainian army is able to operate... some member states have these kinds of planes," Borrell said.

host of foreign policy “experts” are now explicitly calling for “regime change” in Russia following Vladimir Putin invading Ukraine. Reminiscent of the establishment’s failed calls for regime change in countries like Afghanistan and Iraq, whose military conflicts cost countless American lives and resources, the sentiment appears to be at odds with the majority of the country. Nearly three-quarters of Americans oppose playing a major role in the unfolding conflict.Benjamin Wittes, a Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Washington, D.C.-based Brookings Institution, epitomized the establishment’s ultimate policy goal for Russia in a recent tweet: “Regime change: Russia.”

Billionaire Democrat megadonor George Soros says the United States, and other transatlantic nations, must “do whatever is in their power” to back Ukraine against Russia in the ongoing conflict overseas. After Russia first invaded Ukraine on February 24, Soros says the U.S. and its allies ought to have as much involvement in the conflict as possible even as Americans overwhelmingly oppose U.S. involvement.

The Russian military has likely recognized that its initial expectations that limited Russian attacks would cause the collapse of Ukrainian resistance have failed and is recalibrating accordingly. The Russian military is moving additional combat resources toward Ukraine and establishing more reliable and effective logistics arrangements to support what is likely a larger, harder, and more protracted conflict than it had originally prepared for. The tide of the war could change rapidly in Russia’s favor if the Russian military has correctly identified its failings and addresses them promptly, given the overwhelming advantage in net combat power Moscow enjoys. Ukrainian morale and...

The Russian rouble plunged nearly 20% to a new record low versus the dollar on Monday and the euro sank more than 1% after Western nations announced a harsh set of sanctions to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, including blocking some banks from the SWIFT international payments system. read more The risk-sensitive Australian and New Zealand dollars also tumbled, while the safe-haven yen rallied as Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his military command to put nuclear-armed forces on high alert on Sunday, the fourth day of the biggest assault on a European state since World War Two. The...

Putin apparently learned nothing from Russia's 9.5 year war in Afghanistan. During that fiasco, 15,000 Russians were killed and 35,000 were wounded. The same country that bested Germany in WWII was defeated by the Mujahjideen armed with American supplied surface-to-air missiles. The battered and worn Russian war machine withdrew its forces from Afghanistan. America said, "Hold our beer," while marching merrily to war singing, "The Yanks are coming-the Yanks are coming!" Unfortunately, America ignored the huge sign at the border with flashing red lights that warned: WELCOME TO AFGHANISTAN-THE GRAVEYARD FOR EMPIRES!That didn't end well for us either. In 2022,...

Desperate to avoid the shadow of Vladimir Putin’s bigoted regime falling over Ukraine, LGBTQ combat volunteers told The Daily Beast that members of the gay community had been rushing to prepare for this invasion of Ukraine in recent weeks. Now, they stand ready to fight back and resist a Russian occupation if Putin’s forces look to remain on Ukrainian soil. Veronika Limina, who lives in Lviv in the far West of the country, has been running a camp, teaching volunteer LGBTQ cadets basic combat and paramedic skills.

The Biden administration is delaying decisions on new oil and gas drilling on federal land and other energy-related actions after a federal court blocked the way officials were calculating the real-world costs of climate change. The administration said in a legal filing that a Feb. 11 ruling by a Louisiana federal judge will affect dozens of rules by at least four federal agencies. Among the immediate effects is an indefinite delay in planned oil and gas lease sales on public lands in a half-dozen states in the West, including Wyoming, Montana and Utah. The ruling also will delay plans to...

A federal mask mandate for airline passengers will remain intact despite a rule issued Feb. 25 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to ease mask guidance in other settings. The mask mandate for airline passengers and airports, issued by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), remains in effect until at least March 18, when it expires. The mandate could still be extended. “The mask requirement remains in place, and we will continue to assess the duration of the requirement in consultation with CDC,” TSA spokeswoman Alexa Lopez told news outlets on Feb. 25. The TSA mandate was announced...

People in Moscow and other Russian cities stormed ATMs and bank branches in search of cash, both in roubles and dollars, as they feared a collapse of the national currency and inability to use international payment systems. Queues of people seeking to withdraw foreign currencies started to form as early as Thursday morning, after the decision by Russia’s president Vladimir Putin to start a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, sending the rouble to its historic lows. A Financial Times reporter could witness that some branches of international banks ran out of US dollars by midday that day. -snip- “I withdrew money...

The U.S. for the first time has approved the direct delivery of Stinger missiles to Ukraine as part of a package approved by the White House on Friday. The exact timing of delivery is not known, but officials say the U.S. is currently working on the logistics of the shipment. The officials agreed to discuss the development only if not quoted by name. The decision comes on the heels of Germany's announcement that it will send 500 Stinger missiles and other weapons and supplies to Ukraine. The high-speed Stingers are very accurate and are used to shoot down helicopters and...

SMART SHOOTER, a world-class designer, developer, and manufacturer of innovative fire control systems that significantly increase the accuracy and lethality of small arms, will present its SMASH 2000 Plus Fire Control System and SMASH Hopper Light Remote-Controlled Weapon Station (LRCWS) at the DEFEA Defence exhibition in Athens, Greece. Ideal for defense, HLS, maritime patrol, border control, strategic infrastructure protection and counter-UAS, SMASH is a combat-proven Fire Control solution that ensures each round finds its target. SMART SHOOTER's SMASH technology enhances mission effectiveness through the ability to accurately engage and eliminate ground, aerial, static or moving targets during both day and...

House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., explained on Sunday the two reasons he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin, who he described as "reckless, evil and dangerous," has raised the alert status for his nuclear forces to "special regime of combat duty" as Russia continues to invade Ukraine

A leadership school funded and built by the Chinese Communist Party to train political party officials in southern Africa has opened in Tanzania, as part of Beijing’s efforts to export its model of governance. The Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Leadership School, for which China’s ruling party provided US$40 million in funding, was opened on Wednesday by Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan and several neighbouring countries’ leaders. Located in Kibaha, near the port city of Dar es Salaam, it will serve political parties in the region and be a platform for China to enhance exchanges with them as a form of “party-to-party...

Russia’s central bank has urged calm amid concerns that Western economic sanctions could trigger a run on its banks this week. The Bank of Russia insisted it had the “necessary resources and tools to maintain financial stability and ensure the operational continuity of the financial sector”. On Saturday, the EU, US, UK and Canada announced that the central bank’s assets will be frozen in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This would restrict its ability to use its $630bn international dollar reserves to support Russia’s commercial banks, affecting the ability of businesses and individuals to obtain foreign currency. At the...

Friends it's Sunday night again and time to relax. Warm up the tubes for another 4 hours of classic radio Americana. Listen LiveInfo *tonight's show will be available at the "Info" link starting tomorrow.

In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait in a naked war of territorial aggression. The next year, the US and an allied coalition intervened under the auspices of the United Nations Security Council, repulsing the Iraqi invasion. Today, as Russia is engaged in a similar aggressive war against Ukraine, there is no similar American effort in the offing — even as Ukrainian leaders have pleaded for Western assistance. There are many dissimilarities between the situations in 1991 and 2022, but the biggest one is this: Saddam Hussein, rather famously, did not have nuclear weapons. Vladimir Putin has approximately 6,000 of them. And...

Message to Russian troops from Kyiv's Defenders. Video at Link (Language Warning)

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) – A 19-year-old accused of multiple road-rage shootings in Florida has been arrested again. Officials with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said Emanuel Bullard was arrested for a fifth incident after a victim recognized him on the news. According to the sheriff’s office, the incident with the latest victim happened in December 2021. Bullard, who was out on bond for the previous reports, was placed under arrest. Sheriff John Mina took to Twitter, posting in part, “I’m confident he will remain in jail this time.” He is currently being held on a $10,000 bond.