Free Republic

“Terrible” socialist Spain was the sole NATO member to refuse a major increase in defence spending this week, leaving President Donald Trump threatening tariffs in return. Spain will end up paying more, all told, for the dogged refusal of its government to accept a greater share of the common defence of the Euro-Atlantic area because it will simply pay higher tariffs on trade instead, President Trump said on Wednesday. Apparently enjoying playing the room and getting laughs, President Trump showed a glint of steel as he brushed off Spanish reporters trying to ask questions at his end-of-summit press conference in...

A top former aide to former President Joe Biden testified behind closed doors Tuesday for more than four hours as part of the House Oversight Committee’s investigation into his mental fitness to serve and his White House’s use of an autopen, confirming she was authorized to use the automatic signature device while pushing back on concerns about alleged manipulation or malfeasance. Neera Tanden, who served as director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, explained in her opening remarks Tuesday that she was given authority to wield the autopen. She said she “was responsible for handling the flow of documents...

The Australian Medical Professionals’ Society (AMPS) has done an independent investigation into the WHO, its funders and the beneficiaries of the WHO’s decisions in order to determine whether the WHO is acting as an independent and impartial agency that can be trusted to protect public health. AMPS’ new report: “Follow the Money, WHO’s directing global health policy?” reveals how the World Health Organization (WHO) has allowed and encouraged commercial interests to corrupt global health policy. Executive Summary: The investigation by AMPS considered the potential for donors to the WHO to influence the Organization’s decisions on global health policy. To do...

A hospitality union submitted two new citywide initiative proposals aimed at addressing "excessive CEO-to-worker pay ratios."

Podcast personality Joe Rogan broke with President Donald Trump again over a new issue. “Bro, these ICE raids are (expletive) nuts, man,” Rogan said to two guests Luis J. Gomez and Big Jay Oakerson in a recent episode of his podcast published June 18. “I don’t think if the Trump administration, if they’re running and they said we’re going to go to Home Depot and we’re going to arrest all the people at Home Depot. We’re going to go to construction sites and we’re just going to tackle people at construction sites. I don’t think anybody would have signed up...

President Trump said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “couldn’t have been nicer” during their one-on-one meeting Wednesday on the sidelines of the NATO summit at The Hague. Trump said at a press conference that the two leaders did not discuss details of a ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war, but stressed their shared desire to end the war swiftly. “No, no, I just — I wanted to know how he’s doing,” Trump told the reporter. “It was very nice, actually. We had a little rough times. He couldn’t have been nicer. I think he’d like to see an end to this, I...

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is launching a probe into a Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) report leaked to CNN assessing damage from President Donald Trump’s strikes on Iran, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday. Hegseth announced the probe during the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, saying that the media’s reporting on the leak was spun “to make the president look bad when this was an overwhelming success.” The report was first leaked to CNN, which reported that the preliminary findings suggested that the strikes on Fordow, Natanz and Esfahan nuclear facilities on June 21 did not completely destroy...

[Catholic Caucus] Heterodox German bishop calls for change to traditional Church teaching on genderThe Catechism of the Catholic Church recognizes that '[e]veryone, man and woman, should acknowledge and accept his sexual identity.'Bishop Heinrich Timmerevers of the Diocese of Dresden-Meissen has recently challenged traditional Church doctrine by questioning its stance on “gender identity.”In a recent interview covered by Katholisch.de, taken from the new issue of the “Herder Thema” series, titled “Visibly Recognized: Diversity of Sexual Identities,” Timmerevers claimed that new philosophies must be considered in the development of Church doctrine.“This requires a new way of thinking, which is expressed in Church...

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not travel to next week's BRICS summit in Brazil because of an outstanding arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court (ICC), Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said on Wednesday, APA reports citing Reuters. The ICC issued the warrant in 2023, just over a year after Russia launched its full-scale war against Ukraine, accusing Putin of the war crime of deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine.

Speaking Sunday at a packed Easter service at the Temple of Restoration in Brooklyn, Adams framed the now-closed indictment as a divine test and part of his spiritual journey. “Fifteen months ago, I was indicted for fighting for this city,” he said. “Many people said, ‘He’s finished.’ Many people said, ‘His life is over.’ I was threatened with 35 years in prison. And the day after I was indicted by an over-aggressive prosecutor's office...I stood in front of the entire press and I told them my faith in God is stronger right now than it ever is.” Adams was accused...

Late in the day Tuesday, CNN breathlessly ran their favorite story since the Trump-Musk bromance hit the skids. "Exclusive: Early US intel assessment suggests strikes on Iran did not destroy nuclear sites, sources say." CNN’s “reporters” could barely contain their excitement that their nightmare scenario was over: Trump, it appeared, hadn’t pulled off the most impressive military strike since "Operation Desert Fox." ("Desert Fox" was a 1998 anti-WMD mission, also used Tomahawks for support, but used 600 sorties to target almost 100 targets in Iraq. And as with "Operation Midnight Hammer," not a single U.S. service member or vehicle was...

The Department of Justice (DOJ) sued the entire federal district court of Maryland on Tuesday. The lawsuit challenges a standing order issued by the court to automatically block the deportation of any illegal migrant who files a petition for writ of habeas corpus. It names all 15 judges, as well as the court clerk, as defendants. “Defendants’ automatic injunction issues whether or not the alien needs or seeks emergency relief, whether or not the court has jurisdiction over the alien’s claims, and no matter how frivolous the alien’s claims may be,” the lawsuit states. “And it does so in the...

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) sharply criticized Republicans for removing federal subsidies for Planned Parenthood from the reconciliation bill, saying "they want to rip away health care from millions more Americans. Without these subsidies up to 200 Planned Parenthood centers could close. More than 90% of these closures would be in states where abortion is legal for the voters of the state." Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash) said "there is not a day that ends in 'y' where Republicans are not trying to ban abortion here in Congress. We are talking about women left with no options for the care...

The White House refuted a leaked report that stated Iran’s nuclear capabilities were not totally destroyed in the U.S. airstrike. President Donald Trump announced that Israeli officials believe the U.S. airstrike targeting an Iranian nuclear site over the weekend has made it “totally inoperable” and set the regime back for years. “The devastating U.S. strike on Fordow destroyed the site’s critical infrastructure and rendered the enrichment facility totally inoperable,” Trump told a NATO conference in the Netherlands, reading the statement from the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission

President Donald Trump showed his tender side as he fielded a question from a Ukrainian reporter whose husband remains in the war-torn country. Trump, speaking from the NATO summit in the Netherlands Wednesday, called on the “excited” BBC reporter from Ukraine, who caught him off guard as she shared some of her story while asking if the U.S. intends to sell anti-aircraft missile systems to Kyiv. “Are you yourself living now in Ukraine?” a curious Trump asked. “My husband is there,” she replied, adding that she’s in Warsaw with her children. After answering her question, Trump added: “And I wish...

UPMC has confirmed it will end gender-affirming care for patients 18 and younger in response to the Trump administration’s policies aimed at transgender youth. A spokesperson for UPMC, the region’s largest hospital network, said federal guidance has made it clear clinicians who provide care such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy run the risk of criminal prosecution. UPMC will continue to provide behavioral health support and other care “within the bounds of the law,” the spokesperson added. The spokesperson declined to say when care will end, but impacted families have been told June 30 is the cutoff.

Could you explain the origins of the title, Good Muslim, Bad Muslim? Is it not the case that the US - or the West generally - should be supporting moderate, secular forces within the Muslim world to counteract extremist, fundamentalist currents? MAMDANI: Even when Bush speaks of "good" Muslims and "bad" Muslims, what he means by "good" Muslims is really pro-American Muslims and by "bad" Muslims he means anti-American Muslims. Once you recognize that, then it is no longer puzzling why good Muslims are becoming bad Muslims at such a rapid rate. You can actually begin to think through that...

The UK government has warned that the nation must “actively prepare for the possibility of the UK coming under direct threat, potentially in a wartime scenario”, following a tense 12-day war between Iran and Israel, which threatened to spill over at any moment. The UK has also acknowledged, as has the US Department of Homeland Security, that domestic terrorism is likely because of the Iran-Israel War, but also war with Russia. The UK government said that “confrontation with those who are threatening security,” with Russia’s war in Ukraine described as “the most obvious and pressing example of this.” They added...

Carly Elisabeth Simon was born on June 25, 1943 in Manhattan, New York, and she rose to popularity during the 1970’s as a singer- songwriter, scoring several hit songs throughout that decade and the 1980’s including “Anticipation,” “You Belong To Me,” “Coming Around Again,” the No.1 “You’re So Vain” (featuring Mick Jagger) and “Nobody Does It Better” from the 1977 James Bond film, “The Spy Who Loved Me.”

So what does Trump do now? He may toy with all three approaches. He may ramp up covert attacks. He may float the idea of talks. But ultimately, if the past is any guide, the path he’s most likely to choose is the one that gives him maximum visibility, maximum leverage, and maximum control of the narrative. That means a strike—bigger than before, louder than before, unmistakable in its intent. Not because he’s bloodthirsty. Not because he wants regime change. But because he knows that in the high-stakes theater of international power, survival is a statement—and Iran has just made...