Free Republic

~Here's a cheery headline from the Russian press: Markov: an attack on Russia's strategic aviation is grounds for the use of nuclear weapons. That would be Sergey Markov, former advisor to Tsar Vlad, who admittedly is somewhat partial to nuke-rattling: in the early stages of the Ukraine war, he threatened to nuke the UK, for what reason I forget - the exciting new Islamic blasphemy laws? the paedo rape gangs? This time, however, Mr Markov was responding to the weekend's Ukrainian drone strike deep inside Russia. By "deep", I mean Siberia. Which supposedly took out forty of Putin's 120 strategic...

The audacious attacks on Russian airfields highlight the power of unconventional, asymmetric warfare — and the threat to U.S. strategic bases and ports, experts say.Ukraine’s surprise Sunday strike that used relatively inexpensive drones to knock out a significant portion of Russia’s long-range bomber capability was arguably the single largest blow to Moscow in its three-year war on its neighbor and a stunning display of asymmetric warfare. The out-of-the-blue drone blitz elicited glee among Ukraine’s backers in Washington, but also a chilling realization: The United States is increasingly vulnerable to just such a low-tech, low-cost strike. “The Pentagon should be very...

Israel warned Wednesday that it is “prepared” to “act accordingly” to stop Greta Thunberg’s so-called Freedom Flotilla Coalition from reaching Gaza — as the eco-activist frolicked and filmed smiling social media content on the Mediterranean Sea.

Explanation: Is the sky the same every night? No -- the night sky changes every night in many ways. To better explore how the night sky changes, the USA's NSF and DOE commissioned the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Cerro Pachón, Chile. In final testing before routine operations, Rubin will begin to explore these nightly changes -- slight differences that can tell us much about our amazing universe and its surprising zoo of objects. With a mirror over 8 meters across, Rubin will continually reimage the entire visible sky every few nights to discover new supernovas, potentially dangerous asteroids, faint...

The crew of a cargo ship carrying 3,000 vehicles to Mexico, including 800 electric vehicles, abandoned ship after they could not control a fire in waters off Alaska's Aleutian island chain. Smoke was initially seen coming from the deck loaded with electric vehicles Tuesday, according to a Wednesday statement from the ship’s management company, London-based Zodiac Maritime. There were no reported injuries among the 22 crew members of the Morning Midas.

Texas lawmakers are taking a stand against chemical-laden processed foods, pushing a bill that would require warning labels on snacks and soft drinks containing ingredients banned in other countries. Senate Bill 25, which passed unanimously in the state senate, is now awaiting Governor Greg Abbott’s signature. If signed into law, it would force food manufacturers to disclose whether their products contain substances deemed unsafe by regulators in Australia, Canada, the European Union, or the United Kingdom. The list of affected products is extensive. Skittles, M&M’s, Doritos, and Mountain Dew are among the brands that could soon carry labels warning consumers...

President Donald Trump said Wednesday he discussed the recent drone attacks by Ukraine on Russia and developments concerning Iran in a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov confirmed the two spoke. During the conversation, Putin told Trump that Russia will have to respond to the Ukrainian drone attacks, the U.S. president said. "It was a good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate Peace," he said in a Truth Social Post. "I stated to President Putin that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and, on this, I believe that we...

If it’s happening in Georgia, you can bet it’s happening all over the country. Embedded bureaucrats are quietly rewriting the policies voters put in place. Georgia’s Medicaid program exists to serve the state’s most vulnerable — low-income children and foster youth, pregnant women, and disabled adults. It was never meant to be a vehicle for radical politics. But recent revelations about how the state awarded multibillion-dollar Medicaid contracts show exactly how far left-wing ideologues inside government agencies will go to push their agenda. Internal documents reveal that senior staff at Georgia’s Department of Community Health inserted ideological land mines into...

It turns out Volodymyr Zelensky did have another card to play.Ukraine’s astonishing drone attack on military airfields and critical assets deep inside Russia on Sunday blindsided the Kremlin, destroyed at least a dozen strategic bombers and marked a seismic shift in modern warfare.The mission, dubbed Operation Spider’s Web, was a fresh reminder to leaders of the world’s most advanced militaries that the toughest threats they face today are not limited to their regular rivals with expensive gear. Instead, swarms of small, off-the-shelf drones that can evade ground defenses can also knock out billions of dollars of military hardware in an...

This week, President Donald Trump’s border czar said that he is “convinced” there will be a major terrorist attack in the United States as a direct result of former President Joe Biden’s open border policies. “It’s coming,” Homan said in an interview on Fox News, adding that there were 2 million “got aways” who crossed the border during Biden’s tenure. “Why did 2 million illegal aliens pay more to get away?” Homan told Hannity. “They could have paid half of what they paid to cross the border, turn themselves in to Border Patrol agents, get released that same day, get...

The Dutch government collapsed on Tuesday after the Party for Freedom led by Geert Wilders pulled out of the coalition over the government’s asylum policy. Wilders had been adamant leading up to the collapse that without strict restrictions on immigration, his party would leave the coalition government. Wilders made good on those threats Tuesday. “We had no choice. I promised the voters the strictest asylum policy ever, but that was not granted to you,” said Wilders, according to The Wall Street Journal. The Netherlands’ prime minister, Dick Schoof, said Tuesday following the Party for Freedom’s exit that he would hand...

BEIJING (AP) — For most Chinese, the 36th anniversary of a bloody crackdown that ended pro-democracy protests in China passed like any other weekday. And that’s just how the ruling Communist Party wants it.Security was tight Wednesday around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, where weeks of student-led protests shook the party in 1989. Under then-leader Deng Xiaoping, the military was sent in to end the protest on the night of June 3-4. Using live ammunition, soldiers forced their way through crowds that tried to block them from reaching the square. Hundreds and possibly thousands of people were killed, including dozens of soldiers.The...

The Justice Department on Tuesday charged two Chinese researchers with attempting to smuggle a fungus dubbed "Fusarium graminearum," into the U.S. which it claimed scientific research "classifies as a potential agroterrorism weapon." The two researchers, identified as 33-year-old Yunqing Jian and 34-year-old Zunyong Liu, were allegedly receiving funding from the Chinese government for their research, and were allegedly citizens of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The pair, who were supposedly dating, allegedly lied to U.S. officials about the fungus in Detroit last year, with Liu stating he did not know how the material ended up in his luggage. He...

Momentum has built for the U.S. government to formally designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization in the weeks since President Donald Trump’s Middle East trip, lawmakers and other sources familiar with the effort tell the Washington Free Beacon. While the parties involved iron out the final details, sources working on the effort said that lawmakers have multiple avenues to financially cripple the Muslim Brotherhood, a global Islamist organization that preaches terrorism against Israel, the United States, and Western governments. The recent push began building steam last month, when the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy...

Three days after Ukraine launched its most complex attack against Russia since the full-scale war began, details of how it was carried out and the damage it caused to Russia’s strategic bomber fleet are still emerging. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy described the operation, dubbed “Spider’s Web”, as “absolutely brilliant”, although the extent of Russian military losses remains unclear. On Wednesday, he said that of the 41 planes damaged, half cannot be repaired. The attacks targeted at least four Russian military air bases, the furthest of which from Ukraine is the Belaya base in the Siberian region of Irkutsk, around 4,850...

Citigroup announced Tuesday that it’s ending its policy restricting banking services to businesses selling firearms, citing “regulatory developments, recent executive orders and federal legislation.” The policy, which required retailers to limit gun sales to people over 21, was originally implemented in 2018 after a 19-year-old shot and killed 17 students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. However, in a statement released Tuesday, the bank indicated it will “no longer have a specific policy regarding firearms.” “The policy was intended to promote the adoption of best sales practices as prudent risk management and didn’t address the manufacturing of...

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that recent U.S. tariff increases will reduce federal deficits by $2.8 trillion over the next decade, primarily through increased customs revenue and lower interest payments on federal debt—more than enough to offset the projected cost of President Donald Trump’s proposed tax cut bill. In a separate analysis, the CBO recently estimated that extending the 2017 tax cuts, as proposed in the administration’s new tax and spending bill, would increase the deficit by roughly $2.4 trillion over the same period. That legislation would reduce federal revenues by $3.67 trillion while cutting spending by $1.25 trillion,...

The Army announced on Tuesday that it "surpassed" its fiscal year 2025 recruiting goal of bringing in 61,000 recruits, and there are still four months left to go. This year’s goal is more than 10% higher than the 55,000 recruits targeted in fiscal 2024, demonstrating a surge in interest and enthusiasm for Army service. Recent recruiting momentum has seen average contracts per day exceeding last year’s levels by as much as 56% during the same period. The Army has not reached its recruiting goals this early in the year since 2014, Army officials said in a statement. Army Chief of...

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he had a "good conversation" with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a call about Ukraine's recent drone attack and Iran. Following Ukraine's major drone attack deep on air bases inside Russia, Trump reported that Putin told him Russia "will have to respond". Trump also warned in a social media post that the phone call, which lasted more than an hour, would not "lead to immediate Peace". The two leaders also discussed Iran, and Putin suggested he could help with nuclear talks with the country. The conversation between the two leaders marks the first...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The United States Navy announced this morning that the USS Harvey Milk will be officially renamed the USS No Homo. Christened the 'Harvey Milk' four years ago in honor of the infamous gay sexual predator, the ship's name change reflects a broader effort by military leadership to clarify that the Navy isn't actually that gay. "Despite the uniforms, the Navy isn't just nancy boys and fairies," said Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. "The names of our ships ought to reflect that non-gayness. It's hard enough for them already, wearing their fruity little sailor outfits, without also having...