Free Republic

Canada's military will take a bigger role in the North over the next two decades as climate change and increasingly aggressive foes threaten Arctic sovereignty, says a new defence policy document released(opens in a new tab) Monday. ... It allocates $9.5billion over 20 years to start ramping up production of artillery ammunition, $307 million for early-warning aircraft and $2.7 billion to buy long-range missiles. It projects that annual defence spending will have doubled between 2016 to 2026. All of that still leaves Canada shy of the minimum 2 per cent the NATO allies agreed to spend last July. NATO's latest...

Anti-government protests in Budapest bear a strong resemblance to external powers' actions that are aimed at rocking "undesired" governments, some observers argue.Thousands of Hungarian protesters marched in Budapest over the weekend to express their dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Peter Magyar, called by the American state-funded media outlet Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty a "rising challenger" to the Hungarian prime minister, led the rally. He announced the creation of a coalition of liberals, conservatives and fragmented opposition leaders to run against Orban in the European Parliament (EP) election in June. "Step by step, brick by brick, we are taking back...

Cara Castronuova, a former Golden Gloves boxing champ and celebrity fitness trainer on the reality show “The Biggest Loser,” claims she’s collected enough signatures to run in the Republican primary for US Senate against retired NYPD detective Mike Sapraicone. Both Castronuova, who’s recently worked as a Newsmax reporter, and another wannabe GOP candidate, businessman Josh Eisen, filed petitions to qualify for the ballot, the state Board of Elections confirmed Monday. If their petitions are not successfully challenged, the two would face off against Sapraicone — with the winner then taking on heavily favored three-term Democratic incumbent Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand on...

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is the latest person dealing with problems with a Boeing jet. Blinken and other State Department officials who are in Europe for talks about the wars in Ukraine and Gaza were forced to ride by car between Paris and Brussels Wednesday because the Air Force C-40 jet, a modified version of the Boeing 737 used commercial airlines, developed unspecified problems, according to the press pool traveling with him. Blinken travels on aircraft from the Air Force fleet. The top US diplomat arrived without incident to the Belgian capital for a meeting of the NATO...

The open letter denounced those who wrote in objection to director Jonathan Glazer's moral equivalence between the Jewish State and Hamas Actors Joaquin Phoenix, Debra Winger, Chloe Fineman and nearly 150 other Jewish Hollywood creatives signed a letter Friday defending filmmaker Jonathan Glazer’s Oscars acceptance speech last month that critics saw as equating Israel with the Nazis and Hamas. The open letter accused Glazer’s critics of suppressing speech within Hollywood, stating, "The attacks on Glazer also have a silencing effect on our industry, contributing to a broader climate of suppression of free speech and dissent, the very qualities our field...

A clown ‘police officer’ is a regular fixture at Jerusalem demonstrations, where she aims to connect with the hearts of people from all sectors.Public protests don’t seem like the obvious setting for the distribution of love and hearts. But for one performance artist, that’s exactly what they are. “Hashoteret Az-Oolay” (Policewoman Then-Maybe) has been a regular fixture at Israeli street demonstrations for the last three or so years. In her big shoes, old-fashioned police uniform and red nose, adorned with flowers and hearts, she has become an inherent part of all sorts of crowds: anti-government protesters, Jewish ultra-Orthodox protesters, Palestinian...

A new study led by Jarmo Kikstra, a research scholar in the IIASA Energy, Climate, and Environment Program, explores whether reducing production and consumption growth could make a significant contribution to resolving the climate crisis. As the effects of climate change become more severe and the scale of environmental damage gains magnitude, some researchers disagree about the desirability and feasibility of further economic growth in high-income countries. More recently, the case has been made for exploring a "degrowth" (or post-growth) strategy. Such a strategy would entail reducing less necessary forms of production and consumption (rather than growing them) with the...

Trump called into conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt’s show Thursday morning and was asked about recent comments he made that were perceived to be critical of Israel’s campaign in Gaza. “And so, are you still 100 percent with Israel? And what’s your advice to Netanyahu, beyond ‘Get it over with in a hurry?’” Hewitt asked. “Well, that’s all the advice you can give. I mean, that’s the advice,” Trump said. “You’ve got to get it over with, and you have to get back to normalcy.” “And I’m not sure that I’m loving the way they’re doing it, because you’ve got...

While Trump and Netanyahu were close allies for years, the former president turned on the embattled Israel leader after Netanyahu congratulated then-President-elect Biden for winning the 2020 election while Trump was still trying to overturn the results. In interviews for a book about his Middle East peace efforts, Trump, according to its author, used an expletive to describe Netanyahu and said he believed the Israeli leader never really wanted to make peace. Ari Fleischer, the former White House press secretary who serves on the board of the Republican Jewish Coalition, said he wished Trump would “let his personal grievances with...

The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday handed over transcripts of an interview with President Biden's ghost writer Mark Zwonitzer, whom the president gave classified documents, but refused to release audio of ex-special counsel Robert Hur's Biden interview. While the DOJ has handed over transcripts of Hur's interviews with Biden that led him to conclude the president is 'elderly' and 'well-meaning' but has a 'poor memory,' Republicans are unsatisfied. They insist they need audio of the interview too. They subpoenaed transcripts, notes, audio and video files largely related to Hur's interview - giving Attorney General Merrick Garland until Monday at...

Last year 70,000 Americans lost their lives to Communist China’s genocidal fentanyl offensive. To put that into perspective, we have already lost more innocent Americans to China’s unconventional warfare than we lost soldiers to Hitler in the entire course of World War II. Similarly, if one were to consider the 1,000,000 American deaths caused by COVID19, a biological weapon made in China’s military lab in Wuhan, one would begin to get an idea of the scope of China’s unconventional warfare efforts to bring America to its knees.If one were to add the complicity of the Biden White House in insuring...

A woke professor at Baylor University has come under fire for blasting acclaimed Harry Potter author J.K. Rowing for her opposition to normalizing the transgender movement, calling her out for her apparent ‘hatred of trans-people.’ While this is deeply troubling, it is hardly the worst thing about him. Founded in 1845 and claiming 16,000 students, Baylor University is the world’s largest Baptist University and one of the oldest. Like many once-faithful institutions that have gone before her, however, Baylor is deeply compromised and is inexorably on the downgrade. Not only have they hosted Beth Moore and Jemar Tisby for a...

This call is so bad it feels like a fix.Referees generally catch too much flak when they botch a call, but this one from the New Jersey high school basketball playoffs utterly defies belief. The No. 3 ranked Camden Panthers were on the verge of winning vs. Manasquan when their opponents took the ball down the court and hit a very obvious buzzer beater. Cheering and sadness then reversed, as referees inexplicably waved off the final shot — saying it came after the buzzer. This isn’t even a borderline call. In real time it’s incredibly clear that Manasquan got it...

A heartbroken father has called for the death penalty for three children who beat his 13-year-old son to death, leaving him 'disfigured beyond recognition'. The three suspects, all aged under 14 at the time of the murder, are accused of bullying their classmate, named only as Wang, over a long period before killing him in northern China's Hebei province last month. 'He was beaten alive and his body was disfigured beyond recognition,' Wang's father wrote on Douyin, a Chinese social media platform. 'I hope the government will be fair, open and just, punish them severely, and that the killers will...

A new restaurant in Finsbury Park boasts burratas, rarebit and tacos – all made with crickets. But is insect protein really the future?With jaunty yellow branding, moody lighting and the promise of ‘small plates’, Yum Bug, a new restaurant in Finsbury Park, north London, might be any trendy rollout. In fact, it is one of a kind. Yum Bug advertises itself as ‘Britain’s first permanent edible insect restaurant’. Rather than lamb, tofu or fish, Yum Bug uses crickets for its protein. Inside, brave pioneers eat dishes including Welsh rarebit made with minced cricket, burrata with whole roasted crickets, even pulled...

How Putin is selling Russians a bitter pill in sweet coating - NEW TAXES WILL BE FAIR FOR THE POOR! Half hour of monologue, rest will be Q&A with comments. Details of growing up in Russia, 1991 collapse of USSR, taxes in Russia and what it goes to in USSR.

Afire broke out on the Russian missile ship Serpukhov in the Kaliningrad region, causing significant damage, according to RBC-Ukraine source within special services. The source says the fire engulfed the Serpukhov on April 7. It is a small missile ship of Project 21631 Buyan-M (the fifth ship in the series). Since the full-scale war against Ukraine began, the Russians have already lost many ships, including those of the Black Sea Fleet. Recently, the Ukrainian military attacked large landing ships in Crimea, Yamal and Azov. The Ukrainian Navy also confirmed the damage to the Russian medium reconnaissance ship Ivan Khurs. On...

ABC's telecast of South Carolina's win over Iowa is the most watched basketball game, college or pro, since 2019.For the third time in seven days, the NCAA women’s basketball tournament drew its largest audience ever.Some 18.7 million people watched South Carolina cap an undefeated season by beating Iowa, 87-75, in Sunday’s championship game, according to preliminary Nielsen ratings (which may edge up when final numbers come in early Tuesday). The audience is the largest ever for a women’s basketball game in the United States — and among the biggest for any women’s team sporting event.Sunday’s broadcast on ABC and ESPN...

President Trump on Monday sued Juan Merchan, the far-left judge overseeing the Stormy Daniels ‘hush payment’ trial. The lawsuit is currently under seal, but the court docket reveals Trump requested a change of venue and asked for a stay on the expanded gag order. President Trump last Friday filed a motion requesting that Judge Juan Merchan be recused because of his daughter’s political work.

"G*d d*mn America!" was the first and only serious crisis of Barack Obama's ascension to the Democrats' presidential nomination in 2008. Obama's longtime pastor, Jeremiah Wright of Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ, said those words repeatedly in an infamous videotaped sermon. In an earlier age, a presidential contender sitting still and keeping his mouth shut during years of sermons like Wright's would have torpedoed Obama's presidential ambitions. Anyone from the early GenX cohort and older thought there was a non-zero chance Obama might be toast. Anyone younger — largely denied the Civics classes prior generations were raised on and...