Free Republic

Russia's war machine has become such an integral part of its economic engine that its military industry is likely to keep expanding even after the fighting in Ukraine ends, according to a report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "The end of hostilities will not lead to a radical cut-off of military investment," wrote CSIS analysts in a report published on Thursday. Now in its fourth year, Russia's war with Ukraine continues even as Russian President Vladimir Putin's administration weathers sweeping Western sanctions. And while cracks are starting to show, the Russian economy may still be able to...

Enquiring minds want to know: What the heck is up with Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein? Whether it’s a slow news month or just proof that the news business has a sweet tooth for the salacious, all media outlets – both old and new – have been working overtime to explain the bizarre machinations of Team Trump to either expose or cover up (take your pick) the truth about Epstein’s predilection for pedophilia. SNIP I posit that we can build a logical explanation for why Trump is protesting so hard that the Epstein story is a hoax or a waste...

Kids came for pizza, stayed for a cartoon rodent in handcuffs.The worker allegedly stole a customer's credit card during a June birthday celebration and racked up charges across town. He's now facing three felony charges—and no, dressing like a mouse did not help him sneak away. In news that feels extremely 2025, a Chuck E. Cheese employee was arrested in full mouse costume for allegedly committing credit card fraud—because apparently, some days you wake up thinking you'll spend the afternoon making kids smile, and end it in handcuffs with a giant foam head on the squad car. Jermel Jones, 41,...

President Donald Trump’s administration is considering a move, called a “pocket rescission,” that would effectively rescind federal funding and potentially bypass congressional approval, Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought said on July 27.The strategy occurs when a president submits a rescission proposal under the Impoundment Control Act—requesting Congress to cancel previously appropriated funds—within 45 days of the end of the fiscal year, Sept. 30. The funds are withheld during the 45-day congressional review period, and if Congress doesn’t act before the fiscal year ends, the funds expire.When a rescission request is made outside of the fiscal year-end window,...

China’s unexpected advances in artificial intelligence in recent months have top U.S. researchers baffled. DeepSeek, seen as a cost-effective AI breakthrough for China, was a wake-up call for U.S. industry technologists, but many appear to have hit the snooze button. DeepSeek’s rapid development of a model matching American frontier AI companies’ outputs for seemingly lower costs caught many national security officials and researchers off guard this year.OpenAI’s Katrina Mulligan, who is working to foster closer ties between her company and military and intelligence officials, said DeepSeek stunned government and industry sources alike.Ms. Mulligan told an AI conference in June that...

An attempted firearms purchase led to the arrest of a Jamaican citizen who the town of Old Orchard Beach had hired as a police officer, FOX News reported on Monday afternoon. Jon Luke Evans entered the U.S. legally in September 2023, but overstayed his visa, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) stated. He was due to return top Jamaica on October 1 of that year but never boarded his flight home. The Maine Wire contacted the Old Orchard Beach Police Department seeking information about when Evans was hired, the status of his employment and what type of vetting the...

A water monitor lizard that escaped from its owner's home in Massachusetts was spotted a week later across the state border in Connecticut. Police in Webster, Mass., said the 5-foot lizard, named Goose, escaped from his owner's home July 18 by jumping out from a second-story window. Monitor lizards are not legal to keep as pets in the state without a permit, and authorities said Goose's owner did not have the required paperwork. Goose was spotted Friday in Thompson, Conn., about 5 miles from Webster. Town officials said the monitor was seen in the Little Pond area of Wilsonville Road...

He joins an increasingly crowded field hoping to take control of one of South Carolina’s Senate seats. President Donald Trump has sought a court-ordered deposition of Rupert Murdoch as part of his ongoing defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal over its reporting on his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.The president specifically asked that the court set the timeline for Murdoch's deposition to 15 days, Reuters reported.Trump has struggled to contain political fallout from his administration's handling of the Epstein case and reports about his relationship with the late billionaire have persisted throughout the controversy. The Wall Street Journal, for its...

Sir Keir Starmer has presented a UK-led peace plan for the Middle East to Donald Trump as he met the US president in Scotland. The Prime Minister started work on a plan with France and Germany over the weekend after an emergency call with the two countries’ leaders, Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz. His official spokesman had said earlier that he planned to share details with key allies, including Arab states, in the coming days. In a readout of his meeting with the US president, Downing Street said the two reiterated calls for an immediate ceasefire to pave the way...

New York State Attorney General Letitia James joined California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced at a joint press conference on Monday that they are suing the U.S. Department of Agriculture over demands to turn over Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) applicant data. The attorneys general are leading a coalition of 20 states and Washington, DC in their lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s administration. The coalition argues that the extensive demand for SNAP applicant data will violate residents’ privacy, put immigrants at risk, and hinder the ability of states to provide food assistance to those...

A 44-year-old man who joined local politics as the face of a Democrat-led law enabling the expungement of criminal records, being a former cocaine dealer, has been charged after allegedly assaulting a woman, according to recently released court documents. Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D-Mich.) — whose “clean slate” criminal justice program allowed him to wipe his own criminal record, the New York Post reported. El‑Alamin was appointed to Flint City Council’s First Ward seat in March last year, filling the vacancy left by the passing of Councilman Eric Mays. He also subsequently won the special general election held on November 5,...

A Philadelphia landlord is fighting to evict squatters who broke into her rental property and have been living there for over two months. Naydia Smith tells The Daily Wire that a couple with five young children broke into the house in April or May, at which point they began trashing the home. She was first made aware of the squatters in June, when her business partner Richard Watson’s parents received an anonymous call about the intruders. On June 7, Watson’s parents confronted and filmed a man in the house. The man — whose documents found in the house appear to...

Trump has struggled to contain political fallout from his administration's handling of the Epstein case and reports about his relationship with the late billionaire have persisted throughout the controversy. President Donald Trump has sought a court-ordered deposition of Rupert Murdoch as part of his ongoing defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal over its reporting on his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.The president specifically asked that the court set the timeline for Murdoch's deposition to 15 days, Reuters reported.Trump has struggled to contain political fallout from his administration's handling of the Epstein case and reports about his relationship with the late...

The latest attempt to demonize Israel.Ryan Grim, a “journalist” for the pro-Hamas propaganda site Drop Site News, claimed on Friday that the Israeli government “planned very specifically to cut off food” to Gaza, “and then when re-opening it, to control it militarily and have 4 aid sites for 2 million people. This was a well thought out plan agreed to at the highest levels.” To that, an X user replied: “lol Ryan is lying to you all. the aid is in Gaza waiting for the UN to pick it up. They wont do it.”That was indeed the case, as AIPAC...

Tom Lehrer, the popular and erudite song satirist who lampooned marriage, politics, racism and the Cold War, then largely abandoned his music career to return to teaching math at Harvard and other universities, has died. He was 97. Lehrer had remained on the math faculty of the University of California at Santa Cruz well into his late 70s. In 2020, he even turned away from his own copyright, granting the public permission to use his lyrics in any format without any fee in return. A Harvard prodigy (he had earned a math degree from the institution at age 18), Lehrer...

During discussions on Sunday Morning Features about the key players pushing the Russia collusion hoax, Government Accountability Institute President Peter Schweizer threw another name in the hat: Trump-appointed CIA Director Gina Haspel. Haspel was the CIA station chief in London in 2016 and 2017 under then-CIA Director John Brennan. She was appointed in 2018 and stepped down in January 2021 after she “threatened to resign” if Trump appointed Kash Patel as her deputy, Axios reported. “What role did she play not only in perhaps creating this, but what role did she play in suppressing it when she was CIA director...

Some black Americans, we hear, are moving back to the land of those who sold their ancestors into slavery. That’s one way of putting it, anyway. But as is said, home is where the heart is. The heart is often happier, too, when your formerly upper-middle-class self can now live like a king in a country of relative serfs.The Associated Press (AP) covered this topic on Saturday. Relating stories of black Americans relocating to Kenya, the news organ wrote (with the expected woke suppositions):Kenneth Harris spent most of his days in Atlanta yearning for a life in a place where...

Darkness is no longer your ally. You represent an existential threat to the citizens of the United States, and US Border Patrol's Special Operations Group will stop at nothing to hunt you down.

The Deep State is a budget-busting, bureaucratic tyranny, crushing capitalist meritocracy and social values. It is a self-directed, out-of-control monster that fights MAGA tooth and claw. However, the brilliant computer “nerds” of Elon Musk’s Department Of Governmental Efficiency are already using the first version of their Artificial Intelligence software tool. It may eventually curb the Deep State as much as possible. From an article at The Washington Post:DOGE builds AI tool to cut 50 percent of federal regulationsThe tool, called the ‘DOGE AI Deregulation Decision Tool,’ is supposed to analyze roughly 200,000 federal regulations to determine which can be eliminated...

At one of #Iran’s universities, the IRGC spread the American flag on the ground, but not a single student will step on it.