Free Republic

The Ukrainian cross-border incursion into Russia’s Kursk region has yielded spectacular PR results for the Kiev regime, creating an image of success that was completely lacking in last year’s failed summer counteroffensive.But it is also true that, from a strictly military strategy standpoint, the adventure will not generate any game-changing momentum on the ground that would reverse Moscow’s upper hand in the ‘special military operation’.In fact, much to the contrary, diverting that much manpower and equipment to this operation has further weakened the already depleted Donetsk defenses to a point where Russian Federation forces can now see the ‘final’ goal...

Montana officials on Tuesday approved a proposed amendment for the November ballot which would enshrine the right to abortion throughout pregnancy into the state constitution. “Supporters ended up with more than 81,000 signatures, about 10.5 percent of registered voters. The campaign needed just over 60,000 signatures and to qualify 40 or more of the 100 state House districts by gathering the signatures of at least 10 percent of the number of people who voted for governor in 2020 in that district. The initiative qualified in 59 districts,” the Associated Press reported.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s elections chief on Wednesday referred for possible prosecution 597 apparent noncitizens who either registered to vote or cast a ballot in a recent election — a higher number than he normally finds but still a tiny fraction of the state’s electorate. Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose said that of those cases, 138 were found to have cast ballots and 459 registered but did not vote. They were identified as part of a routine review and referred to Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost. The total compares to 148 noncitizen cases referred in 2022, 117 in...

WASHINGTON, DC – Arizona can continue requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote while legal challenges continue in court, but once registered, people can still vote in presidential elections or vote by mail without such proof, a fractured Supreme Court ruled on Thursday. Election law in Arizona has required proof of citizenship since 2004. A divided Supreme Court held in 2013 that a federal law allowing people to register to vote with a federal form that does not require citizenship proof overrides state law, including Arizona’s. Since then, registrants using a standard registration form must present proof, but applicants...

Lyin' Tim Walz Wants To Be Your Neighbor CHICAGO—After listening to Wednesday night's keynote speaker, vice presidential nominee Tim Walz, an MSNBC reporter observed that the Minnesota governor and his family were "so remarkably normal after what we've been through the last four years." It wasn't entirely clear if the comment was intended as a dig at the dysfunctional Biden family, or if Democrats have spent so much time this week vowing to "turn the page" and embrace the future that their supporters have simply forgotten they still control the White House. (RIP, Sleepy Joe.)

Ukraine’s Parliament has created the legal tools for a governmental ban on any religious group that it deems to be too closely tied to Russia by voting for a bill that explicitly bans the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine. However, the ban also directly affects the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), which the Ukrainian government says is too closely tied to Moscow because of its historic ties to the Russian Orthodox Church. After more than a year and a half of legal wrangling over the language of the bill, Ukrainian lawmakers are set to ban the sole canonical body of Orthodox...

Democrats taking the stage of their national convention this week have labeled former President Donald Trump “dangerous,” a “clear and present danger” and a “direct threat to democracy.” On a giant screen, they have flashed images of Mr. Trump with convicted sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein. Former first lady Michelle Obama said Mr. Trump spewed “racist lies.” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul called him “a fraud, a philanderer and a felon.” Sen. Raphael G. Warnock of Georgia called him “a plague on the American conscience.” It’s a far cry from the prevailing sentiment a month ago after a would-be assassin came...

What Is Really Going on at Federal Agencies?Years ago as an intern in D.C., and long before the agencies all locked their doors to visitors, I had the occasion to putter around the Department of Transportation and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. These were obviously not normal workplaces. To my amazement, they were mostly dark, empty, and quiet, and the employees did not seem in the slightest bit busy doing anything at all. It was all kind of spooky. It then occurred to me that these many hundreds of agencies and millions of employees are not really...

The Pentagon on Thursday blasted Houthi rebels for striking an oil tanker and creating an “environmental disaster” in the Red Sea after the merchant vessel was lit ablaze with a million barrels of crude oil on board. Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters the Houthis striking the Greek-owned merchant vessel Sounion on Wednesday was threatening a “catastrophe” in Yemen’s backyard. “That is an environmental disaster that they are going to have to deal with,” she said, also slamming the group’s motives in the attack. “What exactly does this accomplish? They said they were launching these attacks to help...

Talk about irony: The FBI, which was willing to use deadly force over Donald Trump allegedly mishandling classified documents, has been systematically mishandling similar information for years, according to bombshell findings released Thursday by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz. The DOJ-IG said it discovered the FBI’s mishandling of classified information while auditing a contract related to how the bureau destroys electronics containing “sensitive-but-unclassified” information, as well as classified national security information. According to Horowitz’s audit, the FBI labels computers that handle such information when it sends them to a facility to be destroyed. However, it does not label internal...

Ukrainian forces sank a Russian ferry carrying fuel tanks in a missile strike on a port in Russia's southern Krasnodar region on August 22, Russian officials said. "As a result of the damage, the ferry sank in the waters of the Kavkaz port," the Krasnodar region's operational headquarters said on Telegram. The headquarters reported earlier that "a railroad ferry with fuel tanks in the Kavkaz port was attacked" and that emergency services had been dispatched. Images circulating on social media showed a plume of dark smoke rising in the area of the ferry crossing. The port sits in the Kerch...

Douglas Murray joins the Spectator's Freddy Gray to discuss free speech in Britain following the sentences handed down after the riots, how the use of the term 'far-right' had become a tool to attack the working class in Britain and how Douglas himself became a victim of online hate. Transcript link below video.

REPORTER: "Kamala's campaign attacked you for being in this town because it's associated with white supremacy." PRESIDENT TRUMP: "Who was here in 2021? REPORTER: "Joe Biden" PRESIDENT TRUMP: "Thank you."

A ferry loaded with fuel tanks sank in the Russian port of Kavkaz in southern Krasnodar region on Thursday after a Ukrainian attack, local authorities said. The ferry carrying 30 fuel tanks, as confirmed by Fyodor Babenkov, district head of the town of Temryuk which includes the port, sustained significant damage as a result of the attack, which caused a fire. Seventeen crew members were rescued from the ferry, the Krasnodar region governor said on his Telegram channel. The rescue operation is ongoing, and the whereabouts of two additional crew members was unknown, he said. Ukraine has not immediately commented...

WASHINGTON (TND) — The parent company of Jack Daniel’s on Wednesday announced it is ending its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) goals. Executives of the Brown-Forman Corporation wrote to employees in an email shared on social media Wednesday that the company is changing its diversity and inclusion strategy to account for a shift in the U.S.’ “legal and external landscape.” “With these new dynamics at play, we must adjust our work to ensure it continues to drive business results while appropriately recognizing the current environment in which we find ourselves,” Brown-Forman's Executive Leadership team said. The company noted it will...

An urgent manhunt is underway for an Arizona sex offender who allegedly threatened to assassinate former President Donald Trump during his Thursday visit to the U.S.-Mexico border. Ronald Lee Syvrud — whom the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office described as a 66-year-old white man who stands at six feet tall, weighs 220 pounds, and wears glasses — allegedly made the unspecified threats on social media, the Daily Mail reported. A press release from the sheriff’s office revealed that Syvrud, whose last known address is in Benson, has multiple open warrants in Wisconsin for DUI and failure to appear in court, as...

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. can continue to pursue his censorship lawsuit against the Biden administration. The Supreme Court ruled in June that state and individual plaintiffs who alleged the Biden administration violated their First Amendment rights when it pressured social media companies to suppress speech did not have standing to sue. District Court Judge Terry Doughty found Kennedy meets the standard set by the Supreme Court because there is “ample evidence” to show he has been censored in the past at the direction of government actors and “substantial risk” that the censorship will continue....

Boeing Starliner program manager Mark Nappi ... it's no surprise that the company's Starliner crewed flight test is taking longer than expected — so far, almost ten times longer than expected. NASA astronauts Butch Williams and Suni Wilmore are on Day 77 of their eight-day stay aboard the International Space Station. Nappi says he regrets not doing a better job of managing expectations. "I think we all knew that it was going to go longer than that.. We didn’t spend a lot of time talking about how much longer, but I think it’s my regret that we didn’t just say...

“‘Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth’” (Matthew 6:19). You cannot pursue both God and riches. Ours is a society consumed with material things. Status, success, and importance are all too often measured by a person’s financial worth. Those with wealth flaunt it; those without wealth fake it. People often rack up huge debts in their desperate and futile pursuit of happiness through accumulating material things. Sadly, that same materialistic mind-set permeates the church. Instead of offering an alternative, that of being distinct from the world, the church joins the world in its pursuit of riches. Most tragically...

Conspiracy theories. What to some is a sign of critical thinking is, to others, a sign of dangerous insubordination. I was taught by my father that a good argument can stand up to criticism and that finding someone who disagreed was a fine way to test your theory. I’ve never been too bothered when folks disagree with me. In fact, I’m eager to know why. I want to learn whether or not I’m missing something. But these days, it seems that I’m in the minority. The “danger” of conspiracy theories The term has long been used in a derogatory fashion...