Free Republic

Vladimir Putin's underfire defence minister Sergei Shoigu was seen limping through a palace hall in Belarus today, months after the Kremlin denied that he had suffered a heart attack. The Russian defence minister — notionally in charge of Russia's invasion of Ukraine — was seen limping in the Palace of Independence in Minsk, with his right hand in his pocket. No explanation was immediately given for his condition.

Two separate airstrikes were carried out in "collective self-defense," the U.S. military in Africa announced Sunday, with the first occurring on Dec. 14 and the second on Dec. 17, according to a report from Voice of America. The strikes were made at the request of the Federal Government of Somalia in support of Somali National Army forces, with the first strike killing seven militants and the second killing eight al-Shabab fighters. Somali government forces have been supported by air support from the U.S. and other governments, with the U.S. ramping up pressure on the group in recent months. In October,...

Washington — The House Jan. 6 committee is holding what is expected to be its final meeting on Monday, when members will vote on formally adopting the committee's final report and possible criminal referrals to the Justice Department. The proceedings mark the culmination of the panel's nearly 18-month-long investigation into the attack on the U.S. Capitol, which featured testimony from dozens of witnesses and a series of high-profile hearings that examined the assault and former President Donald Trump's role in stoking his supporters to storm the building. The committee is expected to make criminal referrals to the Justice Department for...

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KTXL) — After searching for her dog for over a year, a West Sacramento woman is going to have him back home in time for Christmas. Fourteen months after looking for her dog, Sandra O’Neil received a call about the whereabouts of her beloved companion, who was found approximately 1,600 miles away. “When they told me he was Kansas, I was shocked,” O’Neil said. Zeppelin, a German shepherd mix, went missing in October 2021. A woman in the rural town of Louisburg, Kansas found Zeppelin on her property, took him in her home for the night and...

If you receive Social Security benefits, there's an important letter coming to you in the mail this month. The Social Security Administration is sending out letters throughout December with information on beneficiaries' cost of living adjustment coming in January. Don't throw out the letter and don't lose it. You may need it for a number of reasons, including proof of benefit amount when applying for loans or energy assistance. So keep that letter in a safe place. The letter notifies beneficiaries of their new 2023 benefit amount, according to the SSA, which will increase by 8.7% in January. Those who...

Dr. Darren Beattie of Revolver News is very high on Trump’s latest speech, and so is Steve Bannon. Watch: 12 min

The media has been having a field day since Elon Musk’s poll asking users if he should step down as the head of Twitter, which now shows the votes favor him leaving. But questions have arisen as to why Musk would conduct such a poll this early into his role as CEO of the platform. Clearly, it does not make sense Musk would put himself in such a vulnerable position, especially as he’s already made himself a ‘deep state’ enemy number one in the wake of the explosive Twitter files releases. Currently, various media headlines are attempting to link the...

John Dean, White House counsel for former President Richard Nixon, said he expects charges to be brought against former President Donald Trump this week because of the "overwhelming case" made by the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021 insurrection. According to Politico, the January 6 committee will decide through a vote Monday on whether to recommend charges against former President Donald Trump to the Department of Justice and is poised to pursue that he be charged with insurrection, obstruction of an official proceeding, and conspiracy to defraud the US government. The committee is also expected to release a...

Russia today announced joint naval maneuvers with China. Several Russian warships would take part in the maneuvers, which are scheduled to take place in the East China Sea between Wednesday and December 27, the Russian Defense Ministry said today. The main objectives of the exercises are to "strengthen naval cooperation" between Russia and China and "maintain peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region". The Russian Ministry of Defense also said that the exercises would also include the firing of rockets, artillery and the defense against submarines. According to the information, Russia wants to use a missile cruiser, a frigate and...

News reports in Israel indicate that the country’s new government will be sworn in at the Knesset this coming Wednesday or Thursday. This will be more than seven weeks after the general election, and just before the time allotted Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu to cobble together a coalition runs out. Widespread hostility is expected to greet the incoming leadership which, from the moment the election results were announced, has been predicted by international and Israeli news organisations and commentators to be “extreme”. The New York Times Saturday warned that the government-to-be poses a “significant threat to the future of Israel...

Former Vice President Mike Pence on Monday urged the Justice Department against indicting former President Trump ahead of a House panel’s expected announcement to refer Trump on criminal charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the Capitol. “I hope the Justice Department understands the magnitude, the very idea of indicting a former president of the United States,” Pence said on Fox News. “I think that would be terribly divisive in the country at a time when the American people want to see us heal. At this time of year, we’re all thinking about the most important things in...

Former national security adviser John Bolton called the political philosophy of former President Trump “performance art” as Bolton mulls a potential 2024 presidential bid. Bolton, who served in the Trump administration from 2018 to 2019, told NBC’s Ali Velshi on Saturday that the “fundamental point in politics is philosophy.” “Everything else flows from that. Donald Trump has no philosophy,” Bolton said. “Donald Trump doesn’t think in policy terms. There is no Trumpism. And there is no real succession to Donald Trump.” Bolton said Trump is an outlier in the GOP with no clear vision for the party’s future. “It’s not...

Vladimir Putin is a relative of all royal families of Europe. Russian president Vladimir Putin was a mystery almost for everyone during the moment of his election. He seemed to be a man with no past, inspired with the symbol of the new epoch, but deprived of historic roots. The research, which was conducted by journalists from the Russian city of Tver, became a sensation. As it became known, the parents of the Russian president came from the Kalininsky area of the Tver region. The president’s family tree is not traced after Putin’s grandfather Spiridon Putin, who left the Tver...

The drones were unleashed in the early hours of Monday as many people slept, hitting critical infrastructure in and around Kyiv in Moscow's third air attack on the Ukrainian capital in six days......As a result of the attack , critical infrastructure facilities were damaged,' Vitali Klitschko said. Kyiv's mayor said no one had died or been wounded in the attacks. Hours later, Volodymyr Zelensky urged the leaders of northern European nations to ramp up the supply of air defence systems. A video shows the explosion from a distance, as a blinding flash of light can be seen as the drones...

Bloomberg reporter Lydia Wheeler took an absurd dive into criticism of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh which served to illustrate her apparent entrapment inside a liberal bubble which filters out any news contrary to an authorized narrative. And the narrative she was promoting was an attack upon Kavanaugh on December 12 in "Kavanaugh’s Holiday Party Appearance Renews Supreme Court Ethics Questions."According to Wheeler, Kavanaugh's crime was attending a party hosted by a (GASP!) conservative:

The ABC, CBS and NBC evening news shows completely blacked out news on a devastating Federal Reserve report that ravaged President Joe Biden’s propaganda that the economy added 1 million jobs in the second quarter. The Philadelphia Federal Reserve released a Dec. 13 report revealing that its estimates for “the employment changes from March through June 2022 were significantly different in 33 states and the District of Columbia compared” with estimates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Current Employment Statistics (CES). Specifically, the report found that only “10,500 net new jobs were added during the period rather than the...

Ain’t this a kick in the … head. Rising mortgage rates courtesy of The Federal Reserve’s tightening to fight Bidenflation has led to a Covid-level plunge in the NAHB Homebuilder Market Index. Everything seems to be going down with a sinking M2 Money growth. And today, the 10-year US Treasury yield is up over 10 bps. Watch out mortgage rates!

The Kremlin dismissed the idea that President Vladimir Putin was travelling to Belarus on Monday in order to push Minsk to take a more active role in the conflict in Ukraine, the RIA Novosti news agency reported. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said such reports were "groundless" and "stupid".

Independent voters doubt President Joe Biden’s mental fitness and believe he is too old to be president, a Harvard/Harris poll found over the weekend. The poll asked respondents, “Is Joe Biden mentally fit to serve as President of the United States or do you have doubts about his mental fitness for office?” Sixty-four percent of independents doubt Biden’s mental fitness, along with 79 percent of Republicans and 27 percent of Democrats. Overall, 58 percent of respondents said they doubt Biden’s mental ability.

Recently, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen carelessly revealed the devastating cost of the Ukraine war. “It is estimated that more than 20,000 civilians and 100,000 Ukrainian military personnel have died to date,” she said. The comment drew sharp backlash and the E.C. later deleted the comments from video recordings of the address. The censorship was left unexplained and demonstrated the confusion of the purveyors of the approved narrative. If Von der Leyen’s estimate is true, that is nearly ten times the number of dead Ukrainian soldiers reported by the Ukrainian government. The E.C. president’s remark shows that even...