Free Republic

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that United States President Donald Trump wants a "speedy" settlement to the conflict in Ukraine after being asked about Trump's comments that Russian President Vladimir Putin is "playing with fire." "It is clear that the American side, which is making considerable efforts for peaceful regulation, and President Trump personally, want a speedy settlement. And we repeat once again and are grateful for the mediation efforts of President Trump personally," Peskov said. "There is definitely a huge number of nuances in the context of what is to be discussed, which cannot be sacrificed. And...

"For months, LA fire victims have been asking: where did the $100M from the FireAid concerts go? I followed the money — and it leads to a shadowy nonprofit called the Annenberg Foundation. Let’s just say the rabbit hole gets dark — fast." 5149jamesli X (3 min. video)

Caltrain has installed RailSentry, an AI-powered technology, at the Churchill Avenue rail crossing in Palo Alto to enhance safety. The system uses cameras and lidar to detect and distinguish between objects, alerting a security operations center if any intrude on the tracks. While RailSentry is a significant improvement, it is part of a larger effort including pavement markers, signage, and upgraded fencing to address safety concerns at the crossing. There were more than 230 vehicle-track incursions in which a tow truck was required to get a vehicle off the tracks on Caltrain’s corridor between 2020 and April 23, 2025, according...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), a potential Democrat presidential primary candidate, is again calling for the abolishment of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which enforces the nation’s immigration laws. Ocasio-Cortez won her congressional race in 2018 partly on a platform that promised to dismantle and ultimately abolish ICE, even suggesting that illegal aliens deserve a “right of passage” into the United States. Ocasio-Cortez eventually dropped the “Abolish ICE” talking point from her stump speech after polls found that even a majority of Democrats did not want the federal agency to be wiped out. In a new campaign email, just as...

French President Emmanuel Macron’s wife delivered a scathing four-word remark just moments after shoving him in the face, a lip reader has revealed. Shocking footage showed Brigitte Macron, 72, place both hands on her husband’s face before shoving him firmly just moments after the president’s plane door opened upon arrival in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, on Sunday evening. While the embarrassed-looking leader claimed the pair were “squabbling,” a professional lip reader has since decoded the shocking exchange. “As the aircraft door opens, President Macron is seen turning toward Brigitte. In an unexpected moment, she pushes him in the face,” a...

Stephen Hawking had a frightening response when asked about his thoughts on the future of artificial intelligence in 2014. The world-renowned theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author, who passed away in March 2018 at the age of 76, was best known for his work in the fields of general relativity and quantum gravity. He went on to pen the 2002 book The Theory of Everything: The Origin and Fate of the Universe, which has sold more than 25 million copies across 40 different languages. However, it was in his final book, published seven months after his death, titled Brief Answers to...

One of my favorite things about traveling is being able to see how laws and social taboos (what silly things they are) change across countries. Differences between Japan and the United States extend beyond simply bowing and taking off your shoes to enter places. The following ten things are not only rare in the United States, but most of them are also illegal. And so naturally, I feel compelled to do all of them whilst adventuring in the Land of the Rising Sun. Snip Buy Cigarettes from Vending Machines Japan has an interesting relationship with cigarettes. Should you need a...

Since the beginning of the Oregon legislative session in January, my wife and I have been having ongoing discussions about whether we should leave Oregon for another state, where the leftists are not in control, or whether we should stay and fight to stop the landslide of insanity that grips Oregon right now and will cross borders to contaminate other red states. We have many friends here, established doctors and dentists, and a great one-story house between the mountains to the East and the Pacific Ocean to the west. We attend a strong church that teaches out of the Bible....

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in a statement on Wednesday that the Russian delegation led by President Vladimir Putin's aide Vladimir Medinsky is ready to present a memorandum to Ukraine on June 2 in Istanbul. "The Russian side, as agreed, promptly developed a corresponding memorandum, which sets out our position on all aspects of reliably overcoming the root causes of the crisis. Our delegation is ready to present this memorandum to the Ukrainian delegation and provide the necessary explanations during the second round of resumed direct negotiations in Istanbul next Monday, June 2," the Russian diplomat stated.

Over the decades, NASA has managed to capture a number of astonishing photos from space, showcasing how beautiful the cosmos really is. Take these unique details on Saturn’s moon Iapetus as the perfect example. Or how about an eerie snapshot taken by the so-called ‘most isolated man in the universe?’ These photos have a way of pulling you in and honestly, I could scroll through them for hours on end. I'm not alone; one social media user has re-shared two stunning photos of Uranus captured by NASA which have since gone viral. The US agency launched its James Webb Space...

In recent years, Americans have learned a hard truth: “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.” During COVID-19, we were told to trust the experts, obey mandates, and silence our dissent. Over time, the truth emerged—much of what we were sold was false, and the price we paid in lives, education, and finances from their false narrative scam was extreme.Now, many of those same voices are repeating another falsehood: that cutting Medicaid will cause Americans to die.Recently, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and 19 House conservatives called for “structural reforms” to Medicaid in a letter supporting...

The Babylon Bee would like to announce that we have officially joined National Public Radio in suing the government for not giving us tens of millions of dollars. The Bee only recently became aware that the government is supposed to give us a bunch of money for reporting the news. Apparently, the government not giving us truckloads of cash is totally illegal. Our not knowing that was frankly a pretty big oversight, and we fired all of our lawyers as a result. We hired new lawyers though, and they filed a motion this morning to join NPR's lawsuit in order...

The industry’s blame game will not end the US national health care nightmare. The shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was met by many people online with a morbid sense of inevitability. The often callous nature of the US health care system has long been a point of wide discussion, with evidence piling up that the way the country provides medical services is costly in both money and human life. The health industry’s executives — insurers, pharma, even hospitals — have become popular villains. The killing of a human being is morally repugnant — full stop. But many people still...

A rapid 14-day environmental review has seen a new uranium mine approved in Utah. The endorsement is part of a refreshed Trump administration process to fast-track permissions for energy and mining projects. The Velvet-Wood uranium project received a green light on Friday. It is owned and operated by the Canadian company Anfield Energy. The approval tick comes 11 days after the Interior Department ordered the Bureau of Land Management to review the mine’s environmental impacts within two weeks, as opposed to the prior timeline of months or years.The dynamic new approach has been expected since President Donald Trump declared a...

Republicans are falling into a familiar trap. From President Trump to Vice President JD Vance to Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), a growing number of party leaders have come to believe that coercive labor unions are a permanent part of American politics, so the Republicans might as well forge an uneasy truce if not an outright alliance with them. To build that bridge, Hawley released his first of several promised pro-union bills in early March. The thinking seems to be: If labor unions are here to stay, why not put political expediency ahead of deeply held Republican principles like worker freedom...

KEY POINTS -The ultra-wealthy are increasingly moving their gold to Singapore. -A growing sense of unease is driving the surge. - Wealthy investors are also opting for physical gold bars instead of paper for several reasons. The ultra-wealthy are increasingly moving their gold offshore as economic and geopolitical uncertainty roils markets — and Singapore is emerging as a favored destination. Not far from the city-state’s airport sits a six-story facility covered in onyx and fortified by tight security. Tucked behind its steel doors are gold and silver bars amounting to about $1.5 billion. Known as “The Reserve,” the storage facility...

Participants who ate the collagen bar lost double the weight of those who didn't. (Prostock-studio/Shutterstock) ============================================================= In a nutshell * A specially engineered collagen supplement that swells in the stomach helped participants lose twice as much weight as those who didn’t take it, without following a calorie-restricted diet. * Participants who consumed the collagen reported feeling significantly less hungry and more satisfied before meals, suggesting the supplement worked by promoting satiety. * In addition to weight loss, the collagen group saw reductions in waist size, blood pressure, and fatty liver index, while also preserving muscle mass, indicating broader health benefits...

After decades of mass illegal immigration into the United States, untold millions of illegal aliens have settled throughout the country, competing with Americans for government benefits, jobs, and now, for homes. For most illegal aliens, obtaining a mortgage from a traditional bank — without a social security number or a credit score — is nearly impossible. But as millions of illegal aliens flooded the country, a new industry has cropped up to capitalize on the new customer base, selling financing catered to the illegal population. One entity at the forefront of this industry, a Daily Wire investigation has revealed, is...

A Virginia archaeologist who is allergic to mint said her reaction is so severe that she's been hospitalized because of a stranger's "toothpaste breath" from three feet away. Kyleigh Digiovanni, 25, of York, Virginia, has found it painful to brush her teeth ever since she was a child, but her family initially thought she was just being "fussy," she shared with news agency SWNS. (See the video at the top of this article.) When Digiovanni started to tell family members that her toothpaste "burned" — and when she got red rashes on the inside of her mouth at age 10...

Active-duty sailors diagnosed or displaying symptoms of gender dysphoria must choose to leave the service by June 6 or they will be involuntarily separated, according to a policy released last week from the Navy.Under the new rules, those who voluntarily separate from the service may receive voluntary separation pay at a rate twice the amount received if they were to leave involuntarily and will likely not have to pay back bonuses or incentive pay, as long as the sailor has served at least six years.Active duty sailors have until June 6 to put in for the voluntary separation for an...