Free Republic

Sir Tony Blair has called for a major rethink of net zero policies, arguing that limiting energy consumption and fossil fuel production is "doomed to fail". In a new report, the former Labour prime minister says voters "feel they're being asked to make financial sacrifices and changes in lifestyle when they know the impact on global emissions is minimal". He does not call for Labour to halt its push to decarbonise the UK economy - but says all governments need to rethink their approach, as it is not working. The Tories - who have joined Reform UK in opposing net...

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) is set to join President Trump during a Tuesday visit at the Selfridge Air National Guard Base in the Great Lakes State, the White House said. The appearance comes just a couple of weeks after Whitmer took heat from both sides of the aisle for a White House visit earlier this month, her second since the inauguration. After Trump brought the governor into the Oval Office during an executive order signing involving her state, a photo of Whitmer appearing to hide her face behind folders garnered ridicule and underscored the tough political terrain of the...

Stalin, a cynical and clever leader, didn’t experience any epiphany but simply knew that taking it easy on the Orthodox Church was important for winning the war. First, many Soviet citizens remained secretly religious (which was not directly forbidden), so the “legalization” of Orthodoxy helped to keep the nation at war united – quite a crucial thing. Second, the Allies were pushing Stalin towards loosening his grip on the religious: the oppression of the faithful was bad publicity, internationally speaking. Third, in 1943 the Red Army was regaining the Soviet lands previously occupied by Germans. The occupants, trying to gain...

While more than 55,000 unionized workers for Los Angeles County are set to strike Monday evening, county officials said there is simply no money to meet the employees’ demands. The members of Service Employees International Union Local 721, including public works employees, library workers and mental health professionals, were expected to walk off the job for 48 hours, starting at 7 p.m. Monday, accusing the county of failing to negotiate a new labor contract fairly. “We faced nothing less than disrespect at the bargaining table,” a union leader said during a rally, claiming the county's proposal was a 0% increase...

This is what I am fighting for: Here are the Ten Commandements of Real Journalism: Journalists are not lawyers in a court of law trying to prove a case or activists campaigning for a cause. Our job is to seek the truth no matter what and follow the facts wherever they lead us regardless of political outcomes or consequences. It is not the role of a journalist to decide what people should think. Our duty is to search for the whole truth and communicate accurately and honestly so the audience or reader can make up their own mind.Thou shalt not...

SICK Putin has returned the disfigured body of a tortured Ukrainian journalist - after Russian pawns removed her brain and eyes. Award-winning reporter Viktoria Roschyna, 27, was brutally beaten to a pulp in occupied Ukraine where she was being held as a prisoner of war. Vile Vlad's troops sent a body bag to Ukraine, marking the corpse as an "unidentified male". But DNA testing confirmed the emaciated body - with her head shaved and a neck bone broken - was Roshchyna's. Ukrainian authorities confirmed there were "numerous signs of torture and cruel treatment". Investigators also found burn marks on her...

Europe would struggle to collectively muster 25,000 troops to be part of a “deterrence” force in Ukraine because its armies are undermanned and underfunded, sources have disclosed. The Times was given a rare insight into conversations between Europe’s defence ministers and military chiefs as they thrashed out plans for a “coalition of the willing” force. Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the British chief of the defence staff, is said to have asked his counterparts on the Continent if they could put together a 64,000-strong force to send to the country in the event of a peace deal.

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that Russia and Ukraine need to submit "concrete proposals" for ending the conflict, or Washington will step back as a mediator, US Department of State spokesperson Tammy Bruce revealed on Tuesday. "We are now at a time when concrete proposals need to be delivered by the two parties on how to end this conflict. How we proceed from here is a decision that belongs now to the [US] president [Donald Trump]. If there is no progress, we will step back as mediators," Rubio said, according to a readout by Bruce during a...

California lawmakers in the Assembly Public Safety Committee are blocking a proposal that would make it a felony to purchase 16 and 17-year-old children for sex. Assemblyman Nick Shultz, the Democratic chairman of the committee, confirmed AB 379, a bill to crack down on the consumers of the child sex trafficking industry, will move forward on Tuesday, but without the proposed felony charge. It's the latest development in a debate that has been underway for more than a year at the state capitol as lawmakers target criminals who buy children for sex. Last year, Republican State Senator Shannon Grove first...

Explanation: Where are Saturn's ears? Galileo is credited, in 1610, as the first person to see Saturn's rings. Testing out Lipperhey's recently co-invented telescope, Galileo did not know what they were and so called them "ears". The mystery deepened in 1612, when Saturn's ears mysteriously disappeared. Today we know exactly what happened: from the perspective of the Earth, Saturn's rings had become too thin to see. The same drama plays out every 15 years because Saturn, like Earth, undergoes tilt-driven seasons. This means that as Saturn goes around the Sun, its equator and rings can tilt noticeably toward the Sun...

President Donald Trump got tens of thousands of likes on Truth Social when he announced that his recently introduced tariffs could lead to substantial reductions in income taxes for American workers earning less than $200,000 a year, leading conservatives to celebrate online. For context, in a post shared on Truth Social on the morning of April 27, 2025, President Trump strongly defended his tariff strategy, describing it as laying the foundation for the creation of countless new jobs. In addition, the president emphasized the positive impact that the tariffs will have on income tax, specifically for Americans who would be...

DAY 100Press Briefing by the White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Unleashing Economic Greatness.Inbound Investments So Far:Project Stargate, led by Japan-based Softbank and U.S.-based OpenAI and Oracle, announced a $500 billion private investment in U.S.-based artificial intelligence infrastructure.Apple announced a $500 billion investment in U.S. manufacturing and training.NVIDIA, a global chipmaking giant, announced it will invest $500 billion in U.S.-based AI infrastructure over the next four years amid its pledge to manufacture AI supercomputers entirely in the U.S. for the first time.IBM announced a $150 billion investment over the next five years in its...

Mark Carney defeated conservative challenger Pierre Poilievre in Canada's 2025 federal election to become the next Prime Minister of America's 51st state. What exactly does he have planned for The Great White North? Nine improvements Carney is bringing to a Canada near you: 1. Shorter wait times for assisted suicide: If you need a hip replacement, however, you might have to wait several years. 2. All parents will be required to trans their kids: There's no better way to show solidarity with the trans community. 3. The means of maple syrup production will be seized for the proletariat: A classless...

Elon Musk on Tuesday praised a Treasury Department report detailing hundreds of millions of dollars in "improper payment requests" as a "big deal."In a repost on X from the Department of Government Efficiency, it was stated that when the Treasury Department went "live with its first automated payment verification system," it reported identifying and rejecting $334 million in payment requests because of "missing budget codes, invalid budget codes (i.e., the payment was not linked to the budget), [and] budget codes with no authorization (i.e., the budget had already been fully spent)."DOGE added that the Treasury Access Symbol is an identification...

It’s not usual that we see a soccer player score two goals at once. And that’s just what happened in the British Premier League, in the match where champions Liverpool massacred Tottenham Hotspur by 5-1. Dutch forward Cody Gakpo scored Liverpool’s third goal in the final match, and proceeded to reveal his undershirt with the words ‘I belong to Jesus’ were visible to millions watching the match around the world – and even greater ‘goal’. Of course, the United Kingdom being as is, Liverpool is set to be reprimanded by the Football Association (FA) for Gakpo’s actions. The Telegraph reported:...

Lakers star Luka Dončić donated the entire amount requested on a GoFundMe drive to restore a vandalized mural in downtown Los Angeles that was created as a tribute to the team’s late Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna “Gigi” Bryant. The mural located on Main Street near West 14th Street was created by artist Louie “Sloe” Motion shortly after Kobe, Gigi and seven others were killed in a helicopter crash in January 2020. Video recorded Tuesday morning showed graffiti spray-painted over most of the mural, which had shown the Hall of Fame basketball star kissing his smiling...

A suspected ISIS member was arrested in connection with the Jan. 1 attack on Bourbon Street that killed 14 people and injured at least 57 others, Iraq's judiciary said Sunday. Following a request from the U.S. for assistance in the investigation, Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council said the individual “was arrested for inciting the Jan. 2025 truck attack in the United States," according to Al Arabiya News, a Saudi state-owned international Arabic news channel. The unnamed suspect is “a member of the external operations office of the Daesh terrorist organization" — the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group known ISIS....

A recent survey reveals that over 40 percent of Tesla owners say they have experienced vandalism targeting their vehicles, but less than 20 percent regret buying a car from Elon Musk. Kelley Blue Book reports that a new study conducted by Guardian Service, a company specializing in helping consumers find insurance plans, has found that a significant portion of Tesla owners are facing vandalism and targeted hostility. The survey, which polled 508 Tesla owners, aimed to shed light on how these incidents, coupled with rising insurance costs, are reshaping the EV ownership experience in America. According to the findings, 40...

Matt Petgrave, the man who slashed the throat of ice hockey player Adam Johnson in October 2023, will not face any charges, UK prosecutors announced on Tuesday. Petgrave was arrested in November 2023 on suspicion of manslaughter and was immediately released on bail. Former NHL player Adam Johnson, 29, died from a massive injury to his neck during a game in 2023. The former Pittsburgh Penguins player took a skate blade to the neck. He was playing in England for the Nottingham Panthers when an opposing player’s blade cut his neck during a ‘collision.’ Video of the incident shows Matt...

NATIONAL SHRIMP SCAMPI DAY National Shrimp Scampi Day on April 29th gives us a tasty way to celebrate. On this day, we honor the delicious dish of shrimp cooked with butter, garlic, lemon juice, and white wine. #NationalShrimpScampiDay Scampi is a culinary term for small lobster known as Nephrops (also known as langoustine or Dublin Bay Prawns) and which is completely unrelated to this day. The day is wholly dedicated to the buttery, garlicky, lemony, and wine-sauced preparation of shrimp. Prepare the dish using fresh or frozen shrimp. When serving the dish, add a side of noodle or rice, steamed...