Free Republic

Lockheed bets on F-35 upgrades to remain relevant in an airpower race with China that favors revolution over evolution US F-35 in a file photo. Image: US Air Force Bested at the next-generation US fighter competition, Lockheed Martin is betting big on turning the F-35 into a “fifth-gen-plus” fighter — retrofitting tomorrow’s tech into yesterday’s jet to stay in the game. This month, multiple media sources reported that Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Taiclet announced that the defense giant will not challenge the US Air Force’s decision to award the US$20 billion Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter contract to rival...

A Russian satellite believed to be part of Moscow’s nuclear anti-satellite weapon program appears to be malfunctioning, with erratic movements suggesting it may no longer be operational. The development could be a major blow to Russia’s military space ambitions, US analysts said. Cosmos 2553 was launched just weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Over the past year, it has shown signs of uncontrolled tumbling, according to radar data from LeoLabs and optical tracking shared by Slingshot Aerospace with Reuters. The satellite is believed to serve as both a radar tool for intelligence gathering and a platform for radiation testing....

Yusuf Said Abu Durra (Arabic: يوسف سعيد أبو درة) was an Arab Muslim jihad gand leader during the terror campaign of 1936-1939. Abu Durra was a close disciple of the Muslim preacher Izz ad-Din al-Qassam. He was eliminated in 1940 by the BritishLetter to HitlerOn December 23, 1938, Abu Durra appealed to Nazi Germany for assistance, addressing a letter to "Adolf Hitler, the great Führer of Germany, who has brought his nation eternal honor and glory." Mallmann, K., Cüppers, M. (2010). Nazi Palestine: The Plans for the Extermination of the Jews in Palestine. United Kingdom: Enigma Books, p.41Great German Führer,...

The U.S. Army’s newest long-range hypersonic weapon will be called “Dark Eagle” the Pentagon announced Thursday after a successful test flight. The land-based, truck-launched system is armed with hypersonic missiles that travel 3,800 miles per hour with a range of 1,725 miles. They can reach the top of the Earth’s atmosphere and “remain just beyond the range of air and missile defense systems until they are ready to strike, and by then it’s too late to react,” according to Army statements in a March 2023 Congressional Research Service report. In December, the U.S. Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office,...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The federal government is reversing the termination of legal status for international students around the U.S. after many filed court challenges against the Trump administration crackdown, a government lawyer said Friday.The records in a federal student database maintained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had been terminated in recent weeks, often without the students or their schools being notified. Judges around the country had already issued orders temporarily restoring the students’ records in dozens of lawsuits challenging the terminations.More than 1,200 students nationwide suddenly lost their legal status or had visas revoked, leaving them at risk...

CAROL STREAM, IL — Long-running religious magazine and online publication Christianity Today announced on Friday that it had converted to Islam. "After looking deep within ourselves, we decided that it was time for the magazine to convert fully over to Islam, the religion of peace," said Editor-in-Chief Russell Moore. "Islam is way less controversial and just makes more sense for us." According to sources, subscriptions to the magazine were unaffected by the conversion because Christians don't subscribe to Christianity Today anyway. In an online article making the announcement, Moore wrote that Islam was superior because it didn't follow trinitarian doctrine....

The founder of the Article III Project, Mike Davis, promised that arrests would soon be made following a closed-door meeting with DOJ officials this week. Davis assured Steve Bannon on his War Room show that Trump’s Justice Department will begin arresting law enforcement officials very soon. “After several meetings with officials inside the Trump Justice Department, arrests will begin soon,” he said. “I met with the attorney general, Pam Bondi, the deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, the acting No. 3 Chad Maisel, and the incoming No. 3, Stanley Woodward. And I want to reassure the War Room posse that they...

HARRIS FIGHT FUND Over the last few months, Republicans have escalated their attacks on an unlikely target: ActBlue, the platform Kamala Harris and many Democrats use to receive campaign contributions. In the next hour or so, Donald Trump himself is expected to sign a "presidential memorandum" asking his Attorney General to perform some kind of investigation into ActBlue. Let's be clear on what this is about: Donald Trump wants to make it harder for people like you to contribute to Democratic candidates so it's easier for billionaires like Elon Musk to buy elections.

California authorities say they caught an alleged “serial cat killer” after the man was supposedly captured luring a feline on camera. Santa Ana Police Department said in an Instagram post Wednesday that they received multiple reports about “the suspected abuse and killing of cats in a local neighborhood.” Reports from neighbors said that a man was luring neighborhood cats to his property where he then allegedly harmed or killed them. Police say these reports came in over several weeks. Alejandro Acosta Oliveros, 45, was “positively identified by several victims and witnesses as the suspect responsible for acts of animal cruelty,”...

Pope Francis passed away two days ago, on Easter Monday. He had been the leader of the Catholic Church for just over 12 years. He presented himself as a well-intentioned and deeply religious man, none of which I ever doubted. But good intentions are the paving stones of the road to hell. I often tried to find some positive things about Francis so that I could admire him. But unfortunately I think that his overall impact on the world and on the church was overwhelmingly negative. Thinking that he was working to uplift the poor and downtrodden of the world,...

David Murray of Abacus Data says polls in Canada suffer response bias and, independent of that, voters are returning to their preferred party and aren't as much "elbows up" against Trump. He has the race 39-39 at this time in terms of the Canada-wide popular vote, with the Liberals having the edge in a more efficient distribution.

Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) is apparently going to outline in an upcoming speech a “war plan” to defeat President Donald Trump (R) who won her state during the 2024 presidential election. During an interview with Politico about the speech she will deliver in Lansing on Thursday, Slotkin claimed the president is doing “a whole bunch of things that I think are a threat to our economy and a threat to our Democracy and I have a responsibility on behalf of my state to point that out and try to do something about that,” the outlet reported on Thursday. A recent...

Luigi Mangione pleaded not guilty to all charges Friday in the federal case brought against him alleging he killed United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Mangione, who has attracted a significant fan following, denied murder through the use of a firearm, another gun offense and two counts of stalking. Military whistleblower Chelsea Manning again showed up to support the alleged murderer in Manhattan Federal Court

An interesting report from the U.K reflects British government officials who feel their legal position against ‘free speech’ in Great Britain is now part of the negotiations for President Trump’s tariffs. Essentially, the tariff discussion is encompassing more than just tariffs; if the nation does not support traditional freedoms and liberty, they could face stronger tariffs from the USA.The messenger for this dynamic is not coincidentally Vice President JD Vance, who aligns closely with the tech platforms. The tech control agents are bitterly opposed to President Trump’s tariff position, and this nuance is quite possibly a way to give the...

The founders learned this week they aren't getting their business back and their foundation is getting audited. There is a battle under way over the ownership and identity of the iconic ice cream brand Ben and Jerry's — and its radical leftist founders, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, appear to be losing badly. Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal indicated that Cohen was trying to gather investors to buy back the brand that he and Greenfield sold to Unilever 25 years ago. This buyback initiative came just weeks after Unilever removed the company's anti-Trump CEO Dave Stever, allegedly on...

VATICAN CITY (AP) — More than 250,000 people paid their last respects to Pope Francis over three days of public viewing by ordinary mourners and statesmen alike that ended Friday, the eve of his state funeral in St. Peter’s Square and burial in a basilica outside the Vatican’s walls. World leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump and Argentine President Javier Milei, along with royalty, converged on Rome for the funeral, but the group of marginalized people who will meet his casket in a small crosstown basilica are more in keeping with Francis’ humble persona and disdain for pomp.The Vatican said...

Explanation: Main belt asteroid 52246 Donaldjohanson is about 8 kilometers long and 3.5 kilometers across. On April 20, this sharp close-up of the asteroid was captured at a distance of about 1100 kilometers by the Lucy spacecraft's long range camera during its second asteroid encounter. Named after American paleoanthropologist Donald Johanson, discoverer of the Lucy hominid fossil, the elongated asteroid was likely formed about 150 million years ago from a gentle collision of two smaller bodies creating its characteristic contact binary shape. Launched in October of 2021, the Lucy spacecraft will continue its travels through the main asteroid belt in...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Why not tax the millionaires?As Congress begins drafting a massive package for President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” with trillions of dollars in tax breaks and federal program cuts, it’s a question that won’t seem to go away.Trump himself has mused he’d “love” to tax wealthier Americans a little bit more, but the Republican president has also repeatedly walked it back. This week, the president dismissed a tax hike as “disruptive” when asked about it at the White House.But still it swirls.And it’s setting up a potential showdown between the old guard of the Republican Party, which...

A Chinese-owned and operated factory complex in Ohio illegally imported workers from China, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio. Last week, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio released a statement saying that federal officials had seized $126 million in assets related to an investigation into illegal staffing and money laundering. “It is alleged that many of the workers were illegally smuggled into the United States, primarily through Mexico, and encouraged to travel to the Dayton area to be employed by one of the target entities and serve as a workforce...

While media pundits and other high-profile Democrats have relentlessly fearmongered about President Trump’s plans to “gut” entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicaid, it turns out Gavin Newsom was quietly doing exactly that. From Kristen Hwang at CalMatters just yesterday: In 2022, California made sweeping changes to its Medi-Cal program that reimagined what health care could look like for some of the state’s poorest and sickest residents by covering services from housing to healthy food. But the future of that program, known as CalAIM, could be at risk under the Trump administration. In recent weeks, federal officials have signaled that...