Free Republic

Former President Donald Trump on Friday met with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán at Mar-a-Lago, drawing a swift rebuke from President Joe Biden on the campaign trail.In a readout of the meeting, the Trump campaign said that the two “met today at Mar-a-Lago to discuss a wide range of issues affecting Hungary and the United States, including the paramount importance of strong and secure borders to protect the sovereignty of each nation.” The campaign also shared photos of the meeting.Orbán, who has sought to turn his country into an “illiberal state” while resisting the expansion of NATO and additional aid...

The European Commission will propose on Tuesday ways for the European Union to boost its arms industry so it can shift to “war economy mode” in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Thierry Breton, the European industry commissioner, will lay out proposals to encourage EU countries to buy more weapons together from European companies, and to help such firms increase production capacity, according to EU officials. “We need to change the paradigm and move into war economy mode. This also means that the European defense industry must take more risks, with our support,” said Breton, previewing the package. Breton, a...

Just one day after President Biden delivered a State of the Union address many liberals said put to rest questions about his mental fitness, the president raised eyebrows with several gaffes in Pennsylvania.

A suspected gang member was arrested early Saturday in connection with a drive-by shooting that killed a 3-year-old boy hours earlier at an eastside Athens trailer park. One of the gangs reportedly bragged about the shooting on social media. Julian Omar Cubillos was booked into jail at 3:30 a.m. for malice murder, criminal gang activity and multiple counts of aggravated assault in connection to the death of Kyron Zarco at Hallmark Estates off of Spring Valley Road. When fatally shot at about 5:30 p.m. Friday, The child was watching TV with his 9-year-old brother who also was shot, as was...

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban lent his support to his long-time ally Donald Trump's bid to return to White House after meeting the former U.S. president in Florida late on Friday. The two discussed "a wide range of issues affecting Hungary and the United States, including the paramount importance of strong and secure borders to protect the sovereignty of each nation," according to a statement from Trump's campaign. Orban has long been at odds with his fellow European Union members over a range of issues, including refusing to send weapons to Ukraine and keeping up economic ties with Moscow since...

British High Court Judge Dame Karen Margaret Steyn ruled that former President Donald Trump's suit for damages against Orbis Business Intelligence, a consultancy founded by former MI6 officer Christopher Steele, was "likely to fail" and that "Trump is liable for the entire amount of Orbis' legal expenses." She ordered Trump to pay £300,000 as a down payment before the total costs are decided by a specialist judge. Orbis has estimated that its costs to defend against Trump's suit exceed £600,000. The dossier prepared by Steele for Hilary Clinton's unsuccessful 2016 campaign for president falsely accused Trump of engaging in sex...

The United States will not send troops to Haiti after a stunning eruption of gang violence seemingly designed to bring down the Caribbean nation’s enfeebled government and its unpopular prime minister, Ariel Henry. On Monday night, nearly five days after powerful organized crime bosses launched a wave of deadly and apparently coordinated attacks, the US news group McClatchy reported there had been “frantic” exchanges between US and Haitian diplomats that had raised the prospect of an emergency deployment of US special forces to help restore order. A national security council official poured cold water on the suggestion there would be...

Haiti is "in a state of chaos" as brutal gang members attack police officers with machetes, a journalist in Port-au-Prince has claimed. Violence has plagued the country's capital of Port-au-Prince for years, but the situation has escalated drastically as gangs demand that Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry resign. A state of emergency has been declared in the country after gangs attacked two prisons, setting many criminals free. It is now thought that 80% of the Haitian capital is controlled by these gangs. Describing the violence in the country, a journalist said that cannibalism has been witnessed on the streets as...

Italian diocese urges Catholics to join Muslims for prayers and meals in RamadanAn Italian diocese is instructing its priests to participate in Islamic rituals, citing Pope Francis’ directives on interreligious dialogue.The Diocese of Bergamo issued a communiqué on Monday urging priests to seek out opportunities for interreligious dialogue during the “holy month” of Ramadan by invite the faithful to join in praying with Muslims and joining in the Iftar ritual meal.The letter from the northern Italian diocese asks the faithful to pray for “a continuous realisation of all the dimensions that make up humanity desired by the Creator” and for...

The Hamas terrorist organization is starving Palestinians in Gaza by stealing food that arrives in humanitarian aid shipments and then selling it on the black market, according to Zvika Klein, editor of the Jerusalem Post. Those who cannot afford to pay the exorbitant prices are going hungry, he said — not for lack of aid deliveries, but because Hamas seizes the aid on entry and uses it to enrich itself and fund its ongoing war against Israel. Klein’s account of the situation in Gaza corroborates anecdotal information from social media videos, showing people selling food supplies delivered through international humanitarian...

Hollywood star Robert De Niro is panicking at the prospect of former President Donald Trump winning in November and reclaiming the White House, predicting that Trump “will come looking for me.” Robert De Niro voiced his paranoid fantasy during a Friday appearance on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher. “If he wins the election, you won’t be on the show anymore. He’ll come looking for me. There’ll be things that happen that none of us can imagine,” De Niro said.

On Friday’s broadcast of ABC’s “The View,” Senate Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) stated that the problems on the border are not due to President Joe Biden reversing several Trump-era policies, cited Republicans who saw the Senate border bill as Democrats “moving in a tough, strong direction” on the issue, and stated that by opposing the Senate bill, Trump said, “hold it out for political advantage and let this so-called crisis fester for another year.” Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin asked, “Well, Senator, Biden was right last night to bring up the strong bipartisan border bill that Trump essentially killed...

During a portion of an interview aired on Friday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Source,” Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) declared, “there should not be white men in red states telling people across this country, telling women and pregnant folks across this country what we can do with our own bodies.” Host Kaitlan Collins asked, “What do you make of that, when we hear from some lawmakers, like Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), who say, on the idea of some states that don’t have any exceptions, ‘[T]wo wrongs don’t make a right.’ And the question is ‘not whether a woman should be forced...

Banks are growing increasingly confident in the capabilities of online banking, according to Steven Reider, the founder and president of Bancography, an Alabama-based consulting firm that advises banks on branch planning and strategies. That confidence can lead to significant savings since the average freestanding bank branch costs around $2.6 million a year. In just two months, Bank of America's 41 closures might have saved it almost $100 million. .....And now, credit unions are playing a more significant role than ever before - offering very similar services to traditional banks and eating up a share of the market. Unlike banks, their...

Large convoy of Ukrainian air defense systems destroyed by what looks like an Iskander. Update: it looks to be multiple Patriot launchers and a possible radar.

Criminals with ties to MS-13 and other gangs are selling fake green cards and social security cards to migrants on street corners in Queens — a dangerous security threat as rogue newcomers pour into the Big Apple. This week The Post spotted at least 10 men camped out in broad daylight at four different corners along Roosevelt Avenue in Queens, hawking the bogus documents for $80 to $250. The forged social security numbers can be used to open up a bank account and potentially obtain a real driver’s license.

In March of the year AD 538, the late Roman general, Belisarius, pulled off one of the most incredible feats in military history: he successfully defended the massive city of Rome—with its 12 miles of circuit walls—with a scant 5,000 soldiers, against a vast army of Goths that outnumbered his own some 15 or 20 to 1. Indeed, by the time the Gothic King Vitiges broke up the siege after twelve frustrating months, it had become unclear which side was the besieged and which was the besieger. Unable to prevent the Romans from bringing in supplies or leaving the city...

SNIP ASML declined to comment on Wednesday. However, Wennink spoke at an event in The Hague and said he was concerned the business climate in the Netherlands was worsening. "Some of these elements that made us a great company, those elements are under pressure," he said, citing increasing regulation and a plan to scrap a tax break given to highly skilled immigrants. POTENTIAL CURBS ON FOREIGN STUDENTS Around 40% of ASML's 23,000 employees in the Netherlands are not Dutch. Europe's largest tech company sources parts from around the globe but currently assembles its machines in Veldhoven, Netherlands before shipping them...

On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Senate Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) stated that people have negative views of the economy “because they remember” how things were about a year ago under President Joe Biden. Schumer said, “We had the greatest two years that we’ve had in a very long time, in terms of production for middle-class people, for American values.” Later, co-host Joe Scarborough asked, “Let’s talk about the economy. … [W]e just got a new report in, breaking news, once again, job hiring blew past expectations…275,000 new jobs over the past month. You look at all...

Auto workers at a Toyota engine plant in Troy, Missouri, have signed up 30 percent of their 1,000 co-workers to join the United Auto Workers (UAW)—a first at Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, on the heels of the union’s announcements of organizing campaigns at Volkswagen, Hyundai, and Mercedes-Benz. Workers at the plant just outside St. Louis build 2.6 million cylinder heads per year. Should they stop building them, it would cut off supplies for all of the company’s engine plants in North America. Toyota is still working to build up its supply of chips and other inventory, following pandemic lockdowns...