Free Republic

@historyinmemes Ronald Reagan was giving a speech in West Berlin when a balloon popped very loudly. He was completely unfazed. This occurred in 1987, which was 6 years after John Hinckley Jr. tried to assassinate the President.

More recently, the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war have demonstrated the effectiveness of UASs. In those conflicts, unmanned systems have been used at a scale and sophistication far beyond those of any previous conventional war. UASs and loitering munitions (LMs) proved crucial to Azerbaijan’s victory. Ukraine’s Turkish-built Bayraktar drones grabbed headlines early in the 2022 invasion when they destroyed Russian vehicles with precision munitions.2 Russian Lancet-3 LMs have likewise been documented destroying high-value Ukrainian targets such as surface-to-air missile systems and howitzers.3In addition to purpose-built systems, Ukrainian volunteer groups have used commercially purchased and custom-built unmanned aerial...

Pro-lifers must work diligently to shift public opinion against abortion, but they neglect the current political reality at their peril.With Tuesday’s relatively easy passage of an Ohio constitutional amendment that effectively bars that state’s legislature from regulating abortion in the state, abortion advocates are now convinced that they not only have the public on their side but have found political gold. They now view abortion as such a winning issue that they think it can pave the way to enacting a wide range of other leftist goals. They are largely mistaken, as abortion mercifully remains a highly contentious issue in...

@VigilantNews Dr. McCullough: "The COVID Shots Were a Disaster" "People quietly know these shots didn't work," remarked Dr. @P_McCulloughMD They're also "unsafe," he attested. "Athletes take these shots, they have cardiac arrest. We know myocarditis causes cardiac arrest. That's proven. So these kids getting myocarditis with the shots and they continue to exercise, they're going to have cardiac arrest." As such, trust in vaccines has hit rock bottom. The BMJ issued an "emergency" communication because more and more people are walking away from the vaccine schedule altogether.

An Iranian-born Pentagon aide, who was revealed earlier this year to be part of a years-long, Tehran-backed influence operation, also sought to undermine the leading resistance group to the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to a new report delivered to President Biden. Ariane Tabatabai has retained her security clearance and position as chief of staff to the Pentagon’s assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict — despite a bombshell Semafor report in September detailing her ties to senior Iranian Foreign Ministry officials. But Tabatabai and founding members of the influence operation, known as the Iran Experts Initiative, were...

The 2023 election cycle wasn’t pretty for Virginia Republicans. Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s attempt to control both chambers of the state legislature in Richmond went up in smoke when Democrats retained control of the state Senate and retook control of the House of Delegates. Was it an "earthquake?" No, Democrats have a slim majority in a lower chamber. Overall, Virginia returned to its 2021 political landscape. Or did it? Republicans likely gain one senate seat and lose a few house seats in Virginia, a state Biden won by 10 points, and Twitter is treating it like a political earthquake. https://t.co/x7OjtJWqFO— John...

For those who like their turkey on the table and on the tube, Mystery Science Theater 3000 has your Thanksgiving viewing figured out. The series all about riffing on cheesy movies will launch its first “Mega Turkey Day Marathon Telethon,” this year, and the event doubles as a booster for a crowdfunding effort—something it’s had great success with in the past—for MST3K season 14. Turkey jokes aside, Thanksgiving holds a special place in the heart of MST3K fans since the show actually premiered on Thanksgiving 1988 and has held (non-telethon) Thanksgiving marathons in the past. For 2023, there will be...

A very worth while watch of 37:21 minutes of the dynamics that have played out in the Middle East since the 1880s on until the beginnings of ISIS.

Secret Service agents tasked with protecting President Joe Biden's granddaughter Naomi Biden opened fire after three people attempted to break into an unmarked agency vehicle in Washington, D.C. The agents saw three people breaking a window of the parked and unoccupied Secret Service vehicle while out with Naomi Biden in the Georgetown neighborhood on Sunday night. One of the agents opened fire using a service weapon, and it is believed that no one was struck by gunfire, the Secret Service said in a statement.

A week ago, the political commentariat was oohing and ahhing about just-released New York Times polling showing President Joe Biden trailing former President Donald Trump in five out of six battleground states surveyed. Among the most significant findings within the data was Trump's commanding lead (59-37/+22) on voters' top issue: The state of the US economy. We also told you about a then-fresh CBS News poll that showed many more voters believe their personal finances would be better off if Trump returned to power, versus if Biden remained in the Oval Office. The split wasn't close (45-18/+27). In the days...

The office of the Israeli President has claimed that Issac Herzog received a phone call from Emmanuel Macron in which the French President backtracked on his comments on Friday suggesting the Jewish state was intentionally killing “women and babies” in Gaza. In an interview with the BBC on Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron called upon Jerusalem to enact a “ceasefire” as it attempts to root out the Islamist Hamas terrorists behind the October 7th attacks that left over 1,400 people dead and over 240 people taken hostage from Israel.

A famous comedian has announced his conversion to Catholicism and repentance for what he characterized as a failure to show “Christ’s forgiveness” to those he disagreed with. Rob Schneider, a “Saturday Night Live” alumnus known for starring in the comedy movies “Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo” and “The Animal” as well as his multiple appearances in Adam Sandler movies, announced on X on Oct. 31 that he had converted to Catholicism. Schneider’s post, which coincided with his 60th birthday, began with a declaration that “I am the luckiest man in the world” and featured shout-outs to his wife, Patricia, and their...

Brent Leatherwood, the current president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), epitomizes the progressive agenda that seeps through some corners of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). His ascension to this role followed the tenure of Russell Moore, another figure known for his progressive leanings. Leatherwood’s actions and policies reflect a continuation of this progressive infiltration, diverging from traditional, conservative Baptist values. The growing concern among conservative Southern Baptists has now manifested in the form of a petition demanding Leatherwood’s removal from the ERLC. This petition, having amassed over 700 signatures, resonates with a significant portion of the SBC...

The U.S. launched another round of airstrikes against facilities used by Iran and its terrorist proxy in Syria on Sunday night in response to those groups continuing to launch attacks on U.S. throughout the region. “U.S. military forces conducted precision strikes today on facilities in eastern Syria used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iran-affiliated groups in response to continued attacks against U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria,” said Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. “The strikes were conducted against a training facility and a safe house near the cities of Abu Kamal and Mayadin, respectively.” Senior U.S. defense...

Distraught Jewish veteran Mervyn Kersh was one of nine D-Day veterans to march past the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday - but he fears another war could be on the horizon and the sacrifices of the Greatest Generation could be in vain. The father-of-three, 98, served in the Second World War as a private with the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, fighting through Belgium, Holland and Germany. He was also sent to help survivors of Adolf Hitler's death camp: Bergen-Belsen, where 70,000 or more people died including many Jews. Speaking yesterday, as he remembered his comrades, Mervyn said tearfully: 'It was a...

MSNBC contributor and presidential historian Jon Meacham said Monday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that former President Donald Trump was using the language of Nazi Germany. During a weekend rally, Trump said, “In honor of our great Veterans on Veterans Day, we pledge to you that we will root out the communists, marxists, fascists, and radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country. That lie, steal, and cheat on elections.” Host Joe Scarborough said, “I think he should probably give some pay some royalties to Mussolini’s family trust because when he starts talking about rooting out...

Indi Gregory, a critically ill eight-month-old baby girl from Britain who was taken off life support over the weekend following a legal battle, has died overnight, her family said on Monday. Gregory's parents lost a legal fight last month to keep her on life-support machines and have her transferred to a Vatican children's hospital in Rome. The baby died at 0145 GMT, Dean Gregory, her father, said in a statement issued by charity Christian Concern. Gregory suffered from a rare, incurable and degenerative mitochondrial disease which meant that her cells did not produce enough energy. Her doctors in Britain's National...

In the recent election cycle, we witnessed a disturbing series of victories for the party of death, the Democrat party—a party that, from any honest Christian perspective, flagrantly tramples on the sacredness of human life. The heinousness of abortion and the expansion of the culture of death isn’t just an issue for Sunday sermons—it’s a glaring red alert for anyone with a shred of moral clarity. The question that’s burning a hole in the minds of those who value life is plain: Why does this party, so brazen in its support for abortion, keep clinching such victories? Let’s cut through...

Former President Donald Trump is on course to win the 2024 presidential election with 292 electoral college votes to Joe Biden‘s 246, according to a major new study Multilevel Regression and Poststratification (MRP) modeling conducted by Stack Data Strategy. MRP has been used to successfully predict outcomes in UK and Spanish elections in recent years, with around 15,000 respondents from across the United States taking part in this study.With Trump at the top of the ticket, Republicans can expect to flip Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.“Our research is the largest exercise of its kind so far this cycle and we...

Let’s be clear: News agencies may claim that these people were just doing their job. Documenting war crimes, unfortunately, may be part of it. But it’s not that simple. It is now obvious that Hamas had planned its October 7 attack on Israel for a very long time: its scale, its brutal aims and its massive documentation have been prepared for months, if not years. Everything was taken into account — the deployments, the timing, as well as the use of bodycams and mobile phone videos for sharing the atrocities. Is it conceivable to assume that “journalists” just happened to...