Free Republic

For so many years now, the American intelligence community has been methodically hijacked by left-wing operatives working from the inside to sabotage political dissidents and cover up regime corruption. The left didn’t just politicize intelligence; they fully and totally weaponized it. And while the damage they’ve done to public trust and constitutional order could take decades to undo, someone has to start the cleanup… And Tulsi Gabbard just did. As Trump’s acting Director of National Intelligence, Gabbard is taking a flamethrower to one of the worst corners of the intelligence swamp: the National Intelligence Council. And according to senior officials,...

Walmart – the nation’s largest private employer – warned of possible price hikes on Thursday given the uncertainty in the tariff environment. "We will do our best to keep our prices as low as possible but given the magnitude of the tariffs, even at the reduced levels announced this week, we aren’t able to absorb all the pressure given the reality of narrow retail margins," Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said in a statement as the retailer reported its first quarter results, which met Wall Street expectations. Consumers could see price hikes as soon as the end of May, Walmart Chief...

President Donald Trump on Thursday said he would skip Russia-Ukraine peace talks in Istanbul and downplayed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision not to attend. Speaking in Doha, Trump said the Russia-Ukraine war "has to stop." The president lamented the lives lost and money spent on the war effort. "We spent $350 billion there – just handed. Nobody even knows where the money is. There’s no accounting. There’s no one. It’s just give him money," Trump said, referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. "I have to hand it to him. I think he’s the greatest salesman, maybe in history. Every time...

NATIONAL CHOCOLATE CHIP DAY On May 15, we recognize a morsel of a thing on National Chocolate Chip Day! This tiny piece of chocolate makes a big impact to any recipe you add it to! #ChocolateChipDay Have you ever wondered how a single ingredient would change a recipe? If it weren't for one curious baker, it would be hard to imagine where we would be without the invention of chocolate chips. In 1937, Ruth Graves Wakefield of Whitman Massachusetts must have been curious about what a little bit of chocolate would add to her cookies. While working at the Toll...

A district attorney in Colorado has given probation and community service to an illegal alien teenager who killed a young woman in an automobile accident. The accident occurred in Aurora last July when the 15-year-old, a Colombian national, was illegally driving at 90 mph in an area with a 45 mph speed limit. The victim, Kaitlyn Weaver, was coming home from work when the car plowed into her vehicle, effectively killing her instantly. She officially died two days later when her family took her off life support.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) proposed Wednesday to spend $1 billion per year on the state’s failing high-speed rail project through cap-and-trade programs, even as his budget drowned in massive deficits. As Breitbart News reported, the governor’s revised budget plan sought cuts to a variety of programs to make up a $12 billion deficit. He even proposed cutting off new enrollees for “free” health care to illegal aliens. But high-speed rail — a program that is decades late and $100 billion over budget without a single station being built — will continue to be funded, as Newsom continues to embrace...

A state district court judge in Missoula on Tuesday ruled that a 2023 state law banning many gender transition-related medical services for transgender minors is unconstitutional, prohibiting its enforcement. The 59-page ruling from district court Judge Jason Marks found that Senate Bill 99, backed by Republicans largely along party lines during the legislative session two years ago, violates the Montana Constitution’s rights to privacy, equal protection and free speech. The law had been temporarily enjoined before it was scheduled to take effect. The Montana Supreme Court upheld that block in 2024. The court found that plaintiffs, including transgender teen Phoebe...

When word emerged last year that Nicholas Cage will take a break from making a nonstop string of movies to play John Madden in yet another movie, it was a curiosity. We didn’t know then what we know now. Christian Bale appears in the same film, as the legendary Al Davis. Cage has been in some things that, well, aren’t good. Bale’s work rarely lands in that category. The mere mention of Bale’s name gives Madden cachet. Up the ying yang. (If you’re never seen The Prestige, what are you waiting for? If you start now, you will have...

Tal Shahar Carmon, a friend of the late Tze’ela Gez, shared Thursday morning on Kan Reshet Bet the heartbreaking account of Hananel Gez’s conversation with his children following the murder of their mother in a terror attack near Bruchin. “These were unbearably difficult moments,” she said. “Their father communicated it to them in an incredible way, allowing each child to respond in their own manner.” “He told them that he and their mother were on their way to bring their new baby into the world, and that on the way, a terrorist shot at their mother. He explained that he...

The country that was just recently considered the heart and key player of Europe, wants to deal a crushing blow to democracy. This is the only way to explain the decision of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, to classify the Alternative for Germany (AfD) as a “confirmed right-wing extremist party”. The establishment of the republic has long been looking for an opportunity to remove the undesirable AfD from the political field of the country. Many were not happy with the fact that Alice Weidel’s party was not shy about telling the truth,...

A clinical trial led by Monash University found that the common diabetes drug metformin significantly reduced knee pain in people with osteoarthritis and overweight or obesity, potentially delaying the need for knee replacements. Over six months, participants taking metformin experienced greater pain relief than those on placebo, offering a promising, low-cost alternative treatment. ======================================================================== Metformin may reduce knee pain in overweight patients with osteoarthritis, offering a low-cost alternative to early knee replacement surgery, according to a Monash University trial. A widely used diabetes medication may help relieve knee osteoarthritis (OA) pain in people who are overweight or obese, potentially delaying...

In recent years, out-there, creative or trendy baby names were all the rage — now it seems like the classic, old-fashioned ones are popular again. According to Jennifer Moss, founder and CEO of BabyNames.com and baby-name consultant Taylor A. Humphrey, grandma-like names such as Eleanor, Eloise, Elodie, Alma, Margaret, Nora and Bennett, are “super trendy” for girls this year, originally reported by Yahoo! Life. “On the boys’ side, we’re seeing the ‘trad name,’ or old-fashioned names, stick — like Theodore, Oliver, Owen, Silas and Jasper,” Colleen Slagen, author of the forthcoming book “Naming Bebe,” also told the outlet. “…I’m hearing...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Turkey on Thursday to underscore his commitment to ending the war, as his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin stayed away, sending a junior delegation instead. Zelensky, who is slated to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in capital Ankara, wasn’t expected to meet with the Russian negotiating team that separately arrived in Istanbul on Thursday morning. But a meeting between lower-level Ukrainian negotiators and the Russians remains possible, perhaps as early as Thursday afternoon. No time for that encounter has been set so far. Senior U.S. negotiators are also scheduled to travel to Istanbul on...

Karma took the wheel. The serial Tesla road-rage driver who landed back behind bars for allegedly assaulting a teen driver and her mother in Hawaii last week was found beaten to a bloody pulp in prison. Nathaniel Radimak, 39, was assaulted by inmates at Halawa Correctional Facility around 4:25 p.m. Monday, the Hawaii Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation told ABC 7. In one viral video, Radimak jumped out of his charcoal-colored 2022 Tesla Model X with no license plates, armed with a pipe, and pummeled the truck behind him on Jan. 11, 2023. Another victim of Radimak’s rage, identified as...

The first 100+ days of the second Trump administration (it’s now actually 113 days) have seen a near total abandonment of the fantasy that this one country’s government can change the weather and “save the planet” by suppressing use of hydrocarbon fuels and impoverishing the people. Biden administration “climate” and energy policies amounting to thousands of pages in regulations and hundreds of billions of dollars in grants and subsidies to uneconomic energy projects have been swiftly reversed. Examples in just the past few weeks include: - The announcement by the Department of Energy just yesterday (May 12) of no fewer...

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy began high-level talks Thursday at Ankara's Presidential Complex, as Türkiye continues its diplomatic efforts to broker peace in the Russia-Ukraine war. Erdogan personally welcomed Zelenskyy at the entrance to the complex before the leaders moved to closed-door discussions, according to Turkish officials. High-level delegations join crucial discussions The meeting, which began after Zelenskyy arrived at Esenboga Airport at 12:14 p.m. local time, comes ahead of anticipated Russia-Ukraine peace negotiations, though no date has been confirmed for those talks. Several key Turkish officials joined the bilateral discussions, including National Defense Minister Yasar...

🇺🇸Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem 🇮🇱(5/15/25)[Prayer]Water, Rivers, and Streams in the BibleGenesis 15:17-2117 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi[a] of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— 19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by...

For years, Christian media has often been viewed as a backwater source—like something seen in a Saturday Night Live skit. A source for snickers, but not for sensible information. But, as Dr. Ted Baehr, the publisher of “Movieguide,” likes to say in effect, “The good news is: The bad news is wrong.”

15 May 2025Thursday of the 4th week of EastertideSt. Isidore Church, Grand Rapids, MichiganReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: C(I).First readingActs 13:13-25God has raised up one of David's descendants, Jesus, as SaviourPaul and his friends went by sea from Paphos to Perga in Pamphylia where John left them to go back to Jerusalem. The others carried on from Perga till they reached Antioch in Pisidia. Here they went to synagogue on the sabbath and took their seats. After the lessons from the Law and the Prophets had been read, the presidents of the synagogue sent them a message: ‘Brothers,...

Leah covered yesterday how United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer avowed to secure the country’s borders. “A one nation experiment in open borders, conducted on a country that voted for control,” Starmer said on Monday. “Well, no more. Today, this Labour government is shutting down the lab. The experiment is over. We will deliver what you asked for time and again, and we will take back control of our borders” "Every area of the immigration system — work, family, and study — will be tightened up so we have more control,’’ Starmer said. “We will create a system that is...