Free Republic

In a historic pivot, the Pentagon is reportedly halving its planned purchase of F-35 stealth fighters, signaling a significant shift in U.S. airpower strategy. The move is a long-overdue break from a history of bad procurement choices, like rejecting the superior YF-23. Many would argue the F-35 is a vulnerable “procurement Frankenstein,” unsuited for a future war with China or Russia.

Summary15% tariff on EU goods, less than feared, but higher than hoped French PM savages agreement, no comment from Macron Deal brings relief but leaves unresolved questions European stocks rise BRUSSELS, July 28 (Reuters) - France denounced the trade agreement between the European Union and the U.S. as a "submission" on Monday though other EU states largely backed a deal they acknowledged was lopsided but which averts an economically damaging trade war with Washington.The framework deal, announced on Sunday between two economies accounting for almost a third of global trade, will see the U.S. impose a 15% import tariff on...

🚨 JUST IN: President Trump is DONE with Putin. He just said he's lowering the initial 50 day deadline for sanctions on them to 10 days... "I'm gonna make a new deadline of about 10 or 12 days, from TODAY. There's NO reason in waiting. No reason in waiting. I wanna be generous, but, we don't see any progress being made."

A gunman shot dead five people in a busy market in Thailand on Monday — with chilling video capturing him calmly walking with the gun in his hand just before the mass shooting. The unidentified killer was seen wearing a T-shirt and shorts as he walked toward a market in the capital, Bangkok, with a handgun in his right hand and a large backpack worn to cover his chest and stomach, according to the clip obtained by The Sun. The dead were four security guards and one merchant, according to Siam Bunsom, the commander in chief of Bangkok’s Metropolitan Police...

NATIONAL MILK CHOCOLATE DAY Dive into the ever-popular National Milk Chocolate Day on July 28. When it comes to chocolate, this sweet easily pleases. Since the days are heating up, melt that chocolate down. Drizzle it on some ice cream or mix it into some popcorn. Nobody said this holiday would be difficult. #MilkChocolateDay We've been adding milk to chocolate beverages since the mid-17th century. But, in 1875 Daniel Peter invented milk chocolate by mixing a powdered milk developed by Henri Nestlé with the liquor. It's been milk chocolate bliss ever since. Solid chocolate, when combined with either powdered, liquid...

Kenneth Harris spent most of his days in Atlanta yearning for a life in a place where his dark skin color is not a source of suspicion, but a mark of a shared heritage. His chance came two years ago when he bought a one-way ticket to Kenya. The 38-year-old retired veteran has found a community in the east African country’s capital, where he now runs an Airbnb business. He loves admiring Nairobi’s golden sunset from a rooftop terrace, and enjoys a luxurious lifestyle in a tastefully furnished apartment in an upmarket neighborhood. Harris is part of a growing wave...

CIA Director John Ratcliffe teased on Sunday that the John Durham report "classified annex" will soon come out and show never-before-seen intelligence. Durham investigated the origins of the Russia probe that explored potential collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and the Russian government. "Part of what came out last week was about how John Brennan, Clapper, Comey, they all pushed the known fake Steele dossier into intelligence community assessments and as the basis for Crossfire Hurricane and all that. But what hasn't come out yet, and what's going to come out, is the underlying intelligence that I have spent the...

Daily Readings from the USCCBHe spoke to them another parable. “The Kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened.” Matthew 13:33Yeast is powerful. Though it often accounts for only about 1% of a loaf of bread, it causes that loaf to more than double in size. Of course, it also has the amazing effect of turning the dough soft and flexible as it rises. Without yeast, the dough would remain stiff and much smaller in size. The dough would not become the bread it...

The HPSCI report proves indispensable for understanding what supposed intel Obama withheld from the intelligence community under the guise of executive privilege.Documents released over the last month have exposed a post-election plot designed to derail President Donald Trump’s first term. The recently declassified material reveals former President Barack Obama sought to continue the Russia-collusion hoax Hillary Clinton had launched during the presidential campaign by directing select members of his intelligence community to craft the deceptive Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) on Russia’s efforts to influence the 2016 election. However, a close reading of these documents reveals Obama holds even more culpability...

On today's Morning Joe, the panelists expressed the fond desire, cloaked in analysis, that prices would eventually rise—to Trump's detriment. MSNBC's Ali Vitali nudged Franklin Foer of The Atlantic to echo the show's prevailing sentiment: "We've yet to see the true tangible impact of tariffs in some of these economic reports that we look at. But analysts do say it's coming. And this is a guy who loves to say promises made, promises kept. On this, it doesn't necessarily sound like he's going to be able to, right?Love Vitali's concluding "right?" to Foer. C'mon Franklin. Tell me prices will go...

Earlier this morning President Donald Trump welcomed British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to Turnberry, Scotland where the two leaders will hold bilateral discussions on trade and foreign affairs.The video is prompted to 16:20. The bagpipes stop eventually in the video at 19:30. President Trump and Prime Minister Starmer take questions from the assembled press pool. President Trump calls out the British government for rampant illegal immigration, as Starmer tries to say his govt is deporting illegal migrants back to their home country.Questions centered heavily around the Israeli conflict with Hamas in Gaza. The plight of the Palestinians is a key...

The leaders of Canada’s “Freedom Convoy” are facing up to eight years in prison, an “abusive” sentencing recommendation critics are ripping as “political vengeance.” Tamara Lich and Chris Barber sat in an Ottawa courtroom for their sentencing hearings this week after being found guilty in April of mischief for organizing the trucker protest against then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s ultra-strict vaccine mandate. The protest paralyzed the Great White North’s capital for three weeks in 2022. The Crown is seeking seven years for Lich, 51, of Alberta, and eight for Barber, of Saskatchewan — who was also found guilty of counseling...

Some people may call it the chickens coming home to roost. Media Matters for America (MMfA), a George Soros-funded left-wing censorship group, reportedly may be on the verge of collapse. The organization is reeling after a series of lawsuits and government investigations, which are straining its already frazzled finances. (MMfA raised $19 million in 2023 — and somehow spent $20 million.) But here’s what some may consider poetic justice: The group essentially claims the government is now doing the Right’s bidding in an effort to destroy it.This is the same group, a 2012 report held, that was previously coordinating with...

A computer is only as good as the data you put into it. That warning from the early days of computing -- garbage in, garbage out -- has never been more relevant than in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). AI now drives everything from search engines to image generators, yet instead of providing objective, data-backed insights, it too often parrots progressive narratives, twisting facts to match feelings.Case in point: despite U.S. Census Bureau data indicating that over 75% of Americans identify as white, AI-generated images of “typical Americans” often show mostly non-white groups. This isn’t intelligence. It’s indoctrination, built...

When Elon Musk sued Media Matters in 2023, the law firm of Democratic super-lawyer Marc Elias swooped in to represent the liberal media group. It made little headway against the lawsuit before submitting millions of dollars in legal bills, prompting Media Matters officials to lash out at the firm as they faced financial ruin, according to a new report. According to the New York Times, Elias Law Group originally represented Media Matters against Musk’s lawsuit, which accused the group of manipulating X posts to falsely link the social media platform to white nationalists and anti-Semites, part of what Musk alleged...

Can former federal officials be prosecuted in the Russia-Trump collusion hoax? That is the question arising from the recent actions of Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. Gabbard has released declassified documents over what she says was a “treasonous conspiracy” that was “directed by President [Barack] Obama” to provide “manufactured intelligence” that “Russia had helped Donald Trump get elected.” This was in the face of contradictory intelligence analyses that said the exact opposite: that “Russia had neither the intent nor the capability to try to ‘hack the United States election.’” Gabbard says she is sending these documents to both the...

Business production spending has seen its highest climb since 1997, when accounting for post-COVID reopenings, the Trump administration has announced in a release obtained by Blaze News. Capital expenditures — or capex, which refer to what companies spend on their research and development, software, transportation, and more — are a great way to gauge how much businesses are expanding or developing their operations. Additionally, real wages are also rising, according to the Trump administration, and the growth speed in 2025 has been outpaced by only one previous administration. Business equipment production jumped 11% in Q2 2025 after already garnering a...

Dear FRiends, We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. This means no spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers. And because we are not a 501C, we have preserved our God-given, constitutionally protected right to free speech without government intervention. If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today: Click here: to donate by Credit CardOr here: to donate by PayPalOr by mail to: Free Republic, LLC...

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Sunday that Jeffrey Epstein's former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell deserves a life sentence, rejecting the idea of a potential pardon for the convicted sex trafficker. In an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press," Johnson was asked if he supported a pardon for Maxwell, but the speaker emphasized that the decision ultimately belongs to President Donald Trump. "I think 20 years was a pittance," Johnson said of Maxwell's time behind bars. "I think she should have a life sentence, at least. I mean, think of all these unspeakable crimes." "I mean it's hard to put into...

VIDEOWhile watching the incredible outcome of the trade negotiations between President Donald Trump and the European Union represented by the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, I couldn't help but hear in my mind Charlie Sheen singing his "WINNING!!!" song.