Free Republic

The Trump administration will not entertain a French politician’s request to return the Statue of Liberty to France.“Absolutely not. My advice to that unnamed low-level French politician would be to remind them that it’s only because of the United States of America that the French are not speaking German right now,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt in a press briefing Monday, likely referencing an American-French allyship during World War II that snuffed out Nazi Germany. “They should be grateful.”

SNIP The appointments came after Trump last month purged the boards of visitors at the Naval, Army, Air Force and Coast Guard academies as part of his wider push to radically overhaul the military, which he has previously decried as too “woke.”In a post on his social media platform Truth Social Monday, Trump said he had appointed former national security adviser Michael Flynn to the United States Military Academy’s board of visitors, along with Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas); Maureen Bannon, a West Point alum and daughter of MAGA firebrand Steve Bannon; Medal of Honor recipient David Bellavia; and retired...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Thousands of employees returned to the Food and Drug Administration’s headquarters Monday to find overflowing parking lots, long security lines and makeshift office spaces without chairs and other basic supplies. The FDA is the latest agency scrambling to meet the Trump administration’s return-to-office mandate, part of a flurry of actions — including firings and buyouts — intended to radically shrink the federal workforce. Monday was the first day that all rank-and-file FDA staffers were required to report to offices, including the agency’s 130-acre campus just outside Washington. The Associated Press spoke with more than a half-dozen FDA...

A senior Hamas official tells Reuters that Israel is unilaterally ending the Gaza ceasefire agreement. The terror group issues a statement saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government’s decision to resume Israel’s “aggression” against Gaza exposes the hostages “to an unknown fate.”

Report Highlights: Federal and state laws allow prosecutors to charge unlicensed civilians with manufacturing, possessing, or transferring 3D-printed firearms. • Unserialized 3D-printed firearms, known as “ghost guns,” are illegal in seven states. • The Undetectable Firearms Act of 1988 and a 2022 ATF rule permit federal prosecution for 3D-printing firearms if certain legal requirements are not met. • Manufacturing 3D-printed firearms is explicitly illegal in Delaware, Hawaii, Rhode Island, and Washington. • Possessing an unregistered, unserialized 3D-printed firearm is prohibited in Connecticut, New York, and Oregon. • Selling or transferring an unserialized 3D-printed firearm is illegal in all 50 states.

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration fired most of the board of the U.S. Institute of Peace and sent its new leader into the Washington headquarters of the independent organization on Monday, in its latest effort targeting agencies tied to foreign assistance work.The remaining three members of the group’s board — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Defense University President Peter Garvin — fired President and CEO George Moose on Friday, according to a document obtained by The Associated Press.SNIPCurrent USIP employees said staffers from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency entered the building despite protests...

The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement said on Sunday that a delegation met with the Deputy Foreign Minister and Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for the Middle East and Africa, Mikhail Bogdanov, in the Qatari capital, Doha. “The two sides discussed developments in the ceasefire negotiations, the ongoing Israeli violations of the agreement, and the practices that hinder its implementation, including stalling implementation of the humanitarian protocol, preventing the entry of tents, mobile homes [caravans], fuel and heavy equipment,” explained Hamas. “Efforts to rebuild basic infrastructure are also being hindered.” The “dangerous situation” in Jerusalem and the...

I am loving this uproar over that communist terrorist fluffer from Columbia University, Mahmoud Khalil, who the feds detained with an eye towards booting his sorry rear out of our glorious country. First, I love how the commies are crying about it, how suddenly they care about free speech even though they carried absolutely nothing about free speech when normal patriotic Americans were being rounded up for daring to oppose abortion and bogus elections. I love how they’re calling his totally legitimate arrest a “kidnapping” when this guy’s unseemly and eager onanism over his dirtbag Palestinian buddies' kidnapping of innocent...

Israel's ceasefire with Hamas ended early Tuesday after repeated negotiations over Hamas releasing the remaining Israeli hostages failed once again. Fighter jets began targeting terrorist strongholds in the Gaza Strip, according to the Israel Defense Forces—and they also indicated they will increase their use of force if necessary:The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) began striking Hamas terrorist targets across Gaza "in order to achieve the war objectives set by the political leadership, including the release of all our hostages—both the living and the fallen," the office of Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a letter. "This decision comes after Hamas repeatedly...

Harvard undergraduate tuition will be free for students from families making $200,000 or less, starting next fall, the university announced Monday in its latest effort to provide an Ivy League education to those who might otherwise be priced out. Attending Harvard will be completely free for students from families making $100,000 or less, with the university committing to cover housing, health insurance and travel costs between campus and home. Undergraduate tuition at Harvard College was more than $56,000 this year, while total cost of attendance was almost $83,000, according to the institution’s financial aid website. (Harvard College is the undergraduate...

The Israeli military says it is carrying out "extensive strikes" in the Gaza Strip. In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it was targeting what it called "terror targets" belonging to Hamas. Three houses were hit in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza, a building in Gaza City, and targets in Khan You is and Rafah, Reuters reported, citing medics and witnesses. This is the largest wave of airstrikes in Gaza since the ceasefire began on 19 January. Talks to extend the Gaza ceasefire have failed to reach an agreement. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel...

"Delimitation is a Damocles' sword hanging over southern India," says MK Stalin, chief minister of Tamil Nadu, one of India's five southern states, and an arch rival of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). (The other four are Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Telangana.) These five states account for 20% of India's 1.4 billion people. They also outperform the rest of the country in health, education and economic prospects. A child is less likely to be born here than in the north, due to lower population growth rates. Their leaders are worried that the more prosperous south...

My question is why many of the children, when rescued didn't want to go back to their families or rejoin society? They would sometimes commit suicide if they could not return to the tribes that stole them.

The Rio Grande Foundation’s mission can be boiled down to one core principle: the advancement of economic freedom. In its most straightforward definition, economic freedom refers to the ability of individuals and businesses to make voluntary financial decisions and engage in free-market exchanges without undue government interference. Such interference can come in many forms—taxes, subsidies, wage mandates, excessive regulations, and other barriers that restrict free enterprise and personal choice. The concept isn’t new. For decades, the Canada-based Fraser Institute has been a global leader in measuring and analyzing economic freedom through its flagship reports, Economic Freedom of the World and...

~The FReeper Canteen Presents~ Road Trip: Patrick Space Force Base, FloridaPatrick Space Force Base is a United States Space Force installation located between Satellite Beach and Cocoa Beach, in Brevard County, Florida, in the United States. It was named in honor of Major General Mason Patrick, USAAC. It is home to the 45th Space Wing (45 SW). In addition to its "host wing" responsibilities at Patrick SFB, the 45 SW controls and operates Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) and the Eastern Range.The host wing for Patrick SFB is the 45th Space Wing (45 SW), whose Airmen manage all...

A new survey has revealed a rather gloomy attitude to Labour, with policies like the smoking ban driving further support for Nigel Farage and his Reform party. The upcoming ban on disposable vapes and smoking for those born after 2008 is pinned as a key driver of this resentment, with Sir Keir’s government being accused of interfering too much in the lives of Britons. The poll, commissioned by the Adam Smith Institute think tank, suggests Labour’s nanny-state attitude is also fuelling defections to Reform. One in five 2024 Labour voters say they have become more likely to vote for Reform...

Since scientists first began playing around with dangerous pathogens in laboratories, the world has experienced four or five pandemics, depending on how you count. One of them, the 1977 Russian flu, was almost certainly sparked by a research mishap. Some Western scientists quickly suspected the odd virus had resided in a lab freezer for a couple of decades, but they kept mostly quiet for fear of ruffling feathers. Yet in 2020, when people started speculating that a laboratory accident might have been the spark that started the Covid-19 pandemic, they were treated like kooks and cranks. Many public health officials...

Some might call it a “smashing” good time. A rage room in Halifax is providing Canadians with a clever way to blow off some steam amid an intense political climate between Canada and the U.S. — framed photos of U.S. President Donald Trump for smashing, among other items related to the tariff war. “Fed up with the chaos? News cycle getting you down? We hear you—and we’ve got the perfect way to let it all out,” Rage Room Halifax wrote in an Instagram post. Rage Room Halifax is calling it a “smash the tariffs” event where each session includes a...

The electric buses in question were made by a company called Proterra, which went bankrupt two years ago.. A city in Washington is selling nearly half of its electric bus fleet following reliability issues and difficulty getting replacement parts. The Everett City Council voted earlier this week to sell nine of the electric buses, of which only four are in service right now, because of reliability issues, including critical sensors and components that have been failing since they went into service. The city is now looking to purchase retrofitted diesel buses so there are no gaps in service. According to...

On March 17, US President Donald Trump’s senior advisor Elon Musk claimed that there are “Magic Money Computers” operational at several government departments that can “make money out of thin air.” Musk made the remark while speaking to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) during the "Verdict" podcast.Well-known for his dynamic ventures such as Tesla, SpaceX, and X (formerly Twitter), Musk was appointed by Trump as the de-facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The department has been focused on slashing government expenditure for several programs.In the conversation with Cruz, Musk claimed that the DOGE team has discovered 14 “Magic...