Free Republic

With high-altitude surveillance balloons back in vogue, it’s worth taking a look at how the Soviets considered fighting these tricky targets.From 1956 onward, the reconnaissance balloons that drifted at high altitudes from the Western nations into the territories of the Warsaw Pact states had become a serious nuisance for the Soviet military authorities. Balloons of this kind might be carrying propaganda leaflets, but they could also be carrying reconnaissance equipment or even a bomb. A full 67 years before a U.S. Air Force F-22 fighter jet shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon off the coast of South Carolina after it...

“Good evening. I’m Sarah Huckabee Sanders. “Being a mom to three young children taught me not to believe every story I hear. So forgive me for not believing much of anything I heard tonight from President Biden. From out-of-control inflation and violent crime to the dangerous border crisis and threat from China, Biden and the Democrats have failed you. “They know it. And you know it. “It’s time for a change. “Tonight, let us reaffirm our commitment to a timeless American idea: that government exists not to rule the people, but to serve the people. “Democrats want to rule us...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) announced what has been described as the “largest tax relief proposal” in the Sunshine State’s history, which includes permanent sales tax relief on baby and toddler necessities, gas stoves, and more. Speaking in Marion County, DeSantis briefly highlighted the state of affairs economically in Florida, noting that the state has one of the lowest per capita tax burdens in the country and no income tax while promising to “keep it that way.”

The 20-second footage shows the unidentified straphanger dressed in gray jeans and blue vest being rocked to sleep by the train car. Unbeknownst to him, a mangy rat seizes that moment to race up his leg and onto his shoulders. The rodent-ridden rider then wakes up and puts his hand behind his neck– only to find the rat making its way back down his arm. The spine-tingling video is just the latest in New York City’s ongoing battle against vermin. According to one recent report, maintenance crews in Battery Park City have even resorted to using dry ice to kill...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday released body-worn camera footage from an evening last month when officers said a man fired a shot that grazed an officer’s face and police returned fire, killing the man.

Vijaya Gadde, who received a $12.5 million severance package when she was fired as policy director in October by new Twitter CEO Elon Musk, testified before the House Oversight Committee that The Post’s reporting was censored in large part because photos from Hunter’s laptop “looked like they may have been obtained through hacking.” Gadde also admitted that Hunter Biden never claimed to the company that the laptop was hacked — as opposed to legally provided to The Post. The committee’s Republican majority said it planned to press hard for evidence of “collusion” between the FBI and Twitter to censor The...

Staffers at NBC News and MSNBC are planning a walk-out in protest of recent workforce cuts, their union says. In a statement on Wednesday, the NBC Guild said more than 200 workers plan to walk off the job on Thursday, saying the the broadcast giant has “repeatedly broken the law, disrespected the rights of its employees, and illegally terminated hard-working union journalists.” “For three years we’ve done award-winning work without a contract that would secure fair pay, adequate raises, health & safety standards, dependable benefits, and a viable future,” the union said. “Management wants us to walk back to at-will...

Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL) criticized the border wall system that was built to deter illegal migration because it has not stopped historic numbers of illegal immigrants during President Joe Biden's term. Frost, who is the first Gen Z member of Congress at the age of 25, said the "monument of fear" reminds him of an old statue from the Soviet Union era during the House Oversight and Accountability hearing about the ongoing crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. "In comes the wall, which we've heard a lot about. We know that crossings haven't decreased since we spent $15 billion, once again,...

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has never shied away from shilling for Ukraine. But for Tuesday night’s State of the Union address, the Kentucky Republican took it up a notch with a wardrobe statement piece.

Driving kids to Vacation Bible School would become a misdemeanor in Nebraska if a recent proposal by Nebraska Senator Megan Hunt (D) passed into law. Hunt proposed to "amend" a bill that would protect children from adult-themed drag performances (LB371) by striking all the language and replacing it with similar language to bar children from attending a "religious indoctrination camp" instead.Hunt's amendment (AM74), filed on January 23, defined a religious indoctrination camp as "a camp, vacation Bible study, retreat, lock-in, or convention held by a church, youth group, or religious organization for the purpose of indoctrinating children with a specific...

A suspect on probation for hit-and-run allegedly shot and killed police officer Peter Jerving Tuesday morning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. NBC News reported Jerving was 37-years-old and was shot following a foot pursuit of 19-year-old Terrell Thompson. Thompson was suspected in a robbery and “fled on foot after they arrived at the robbery scene about 1:15 a.m. on the city’s south side.” Officer Jerving was able to catch Thompson and two struggled, then Jerving was shot.

Dungy’s unapologetic devotion to Christ when faced with attacks on his faith is something Christians should seek to mimic. Former NFL head coach Tony Dungy made his first-ever appearance at the March for Life in Washington, D.C. on Friday, and predictably, Twitter’s leftist blue checkmark brigade is out in full force demanding he be canceled for it. After tweeting on Thursday morning that he and his wife would be attending the annual gathering of pro-lifers, Dungy, an outspoken Christian, soon found himself on the receiving end of a wave of attacks from left-wing activists masquerading as journalists. Within hours of...

At Russia’s request, Pink Floyd founding member Roger Waters spoke at the United Nations Security Council meeting on Wednesday. The musician’s address was largely an anti-war broadside, as he condemned the for-profit military industrial complex and stressed the devastating toll of war, both on people and the environment. As the subject of the meeting was Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine, Waters did eventually get around to that as well. Waters condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as “illegal,” but also said it was “not unprovoked.” He added, “So I also condemn the provocateurs in the strongest possible terms.” This remark about...

Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has made the sensational claim that the United States was behind the bombing of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline in September last year. Writing in his blog on Substack on Wednesday, Hersh said US Navy divers planted explosives at the pipelines in June last year, under the guise of BALTOPS 22 NATO exercise. The article says that the bombing of the Nord Stream pipeline was the culmination of months-long planning and preparations by the US. President Joe Biden and all his top leadership team participated in a series of top secret discussions in...

WASHINGTON — A Saudi appeals court has increased the prison sentence of US citizen Saad Almadi over a series of political tweets from 16 years to 19 years in a “middle finger” to President Biden, his son tells The Post. A State Department official told Ibrahim Almadi of the latest blow handed down by the Saudi judicial system after the White House publicly condemned the elder Almadi’s treatment. “It’s not a slap in the face, it’s a middle finger,” Ibrahim told The Post, noting that his septuagenarian father has “lost more than 80 pounds” since his arrest in November 2019...

Journalist Chris Wallace said Republicans did President Biden a favor with their heckling of him during the State of the Union address Tuesday. “I mean, they literally played into his hands. You know, I don’t know if the people at the White House as they were drafting it at Camp David this weekend envisioned that happening the way it did, but it played out perfectly,” Wallace said on CNN following the speech. Republicans heckled Biden after he accused some in the GOP of wanting to cut funding for Social Security and Medicare, with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) shouting “liar”...

Google’s blog entry about Bard contains an animated graphic designed to demo the Bard user experience, and, long story short, the AI in it wrongly claims the James Webb Space Telescope took the first ever picture of an exoplanet. Google also tweeted the animation with this statement in it.

Michael Matt to Bishop Schneider: “Should priests comply with the order to suppress the Latin Mass?”They say that rumors are nothing more than gossip with a purpose. Well, when it comes to the winged rumors about Francis cracking down on the Latin Mass again – perhaps as soon as Easter Monday – let’s hope that gossip is all it turns out to be. On the other hand, forewarned is forearmed. And, whether the rumors are based in reality or not, it’s a safe bet that, sooner or later, the Vatican will be here and, trust me, they won’t be here...

cant say ive ever seen a SOTU rebuttal do such damage...they are BOILING!!!!!///she hit the target..

Pour a bourbon, true Americans. The patriots are winning! Now, you might be saying: “Woah, KDJ (not to be confused with KJP, which happens sometimes in the PJ Media Slack app). How are we winning?” We are winning in several ways, and I’m about to spell them out. For starters, the Chinese commies have been buying farmland that — oddly — is near some of our secret squirrel military bases. The “Fufeng Group” recently dropped mad stacks — $2.3 million — on 300 acres near the Grand Forks Air Force Base, which is home to some top-secret drone technology. But...