Free Republic

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov commented on Thursday regarding threats issued by U.S. President Donald Trump to BRICS, an organization comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates. Trump claimed the group has "anti-American policies" and said he will impose tariffs on it and its allies, with Peskov replying that BRICS "does not respond to threats" and is not aligned against any country, News.Az reports citing foreign media.

YouTube on Tuesday announced it’s beginning to roll out age-estimation technology in the U.S. to identify teen users in order to provide a more age-appropriate experience. The company says it will use a variety of signals to determine the users’ possible age, regardless of what the user entered as their birthday when they signed up for an account. When YouTube identifies a user as a teen, it introduces new protections and experiences, which include disabling personalized advertising, safeguards that limit repetitive viewing of certain types of content, and enabling digital well-being tools such as screen time and bedtime reminders, among...

During the USSR’s 73 years of existence, the list of wars it waged is enormous—a total of 25, including conflicts in the Caucasus, the Baltics, Finland, Poland, Germany, Japan, Afghanistan, Spain, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia. Since 1991, Russia has continued to exist in a state of permanent war: Georgia, Chechnya, Syria, and now the most senseless war of all—against Ukraine. Why? The answer is in the title of this essay: Russia can exist only in a state of permanent war. Therefore, the goal of the Russia-Ukraine war is war itself. Nothing more.

KEIR Starmer can’t stop his party from tanking in the polls. He can’t stop the economy spiralling the drain. But there is one thing the Prime Minister can stop: People calling their sons Keir. As improbable as it may seem, there have been babies named Keir since records began. That is usually socialist parents naming their children – as Starmer’s did back in 1962 – after Labour Party founder Keir Hardie. But for the first time on record, there were no babies called Keir in the UK in 2024. Starmer hasn’t made the name mud: He’s made it extinct. There...

Mass migration was the overwhelming driver of near record high population growth in England and Wales last year, sparking warnings that Britain is fighting for its very “survival”. The three top years for population growth in modern history were 2022, 2023, and 2024 says the Office for National Statistics, revealing the population of England and Wales rose by 706,881 people in the year up to mid-2024 to a total of 61.8 million people. The official statistician noted that 98 per cent of the population growth was due to the net migration of 690,147 during the time period, the BBC states....

Indian state refiners have temporarily ceased purchasing Russian crude oil this week, primarily due to concerns over potential secondary tariffs threatened by U.S. President Donald Trump and reduced discounts on Russian oil. This decision by state-controlled refiners, which represent over 60% of India’s refining capacity, marks a shift from their regular imports of Russian oil since 2022. Indian refiners are now seeking alternative crude supplies from the Middle East and West Africa and have requested urgent guidance from the Indian oil ministry regarding future Russian oil flows.

Daily Readings from the USCCB"Do you understand all these things?” They answered, “Yes.” And he replied, “Then every scribe who has been instructed in the Kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old.” Matthew 13:51–52At times, Jesus’ words are difficult to understand. How well do you understand what He teaches you? He often teaches in figures of speech, as well as with parables. The passage quoted above concludes a section in which He speaks three subsequent parables. The third of these parables, the parable about the fishnet,...

Palestinian statehood comes at the end of negotiations for a two-state solution and that process can no longer be held in abeyance, Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said Thursday. “A negotiated two-state solution remains the only path that can offer people on both sides a life in peace, security, and dignity,” he said in a statement issued shortly before his trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories, as reported by Ynet News. “For Germany, the recognition of a Palestinian state comes more at the end of that process. But such a process must begin now.” Wadephul’s remarks follow a string...

Even after the Ukraine war ends, Russia will continue to pose a threat to its neighbours unless the world works to “change the Regime” in Moscow, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday morning. Russia’s leadership is mentally “stuck in another era” and rejects the “post World War Two” world order, warned President Zelensky as he called for regime change against Moscow to remove the threat permanently. Addressing an Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) conference remotely by a video link plagued with technical difficulties, when he could be heard the Ukrainian leader decried fresh overnight airstrikes by...

His Predecessor of the same name, Leo XIII, created John Henry Newman Cardinal. Today, Leo XIV proclaimed him Doctor of the Church. From the Bollettino (in Italian). On July 31, 2025, the Holy Father Leo XIV received in audience His Most Reverend Eminence Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. During the same audience, the Holy Father confirmed the affirmative opinion of the Plenary Session of Cardinals and Bishops, Members of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, regarding the title of Doctor of the Universal Church, which will soon be conferred on Saint John...

The rapid growth of Islam in the United Kingdom has—largely on account of its rapidity—caught many in the country by surprise. London, Birmingham, Leicester … city after city has been transformed. The native, culturally British people of these isles have increasingly fled to rural parts as urban areas have ceased to resemble what they previously were. Concurrently, such cities and large towns have become places of extreme unsafety, especially for women. Now, in those rural refuges—often areas contending with considerable poverty and marginalisation—the government has set up ‘migrant hotels’ where significant populations of migrants, legal or otherwise, are sheltered at...

A Marine Corps veteran’s wife has been released from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention following advocacy from Sen. John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican who backs President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration crackdown. Until this week, Mexican national Paola Clouatre had been one of tens of thousands of people in ICE custody as the Trump administration continues to press immigration officers to arrest 3,000 people a day suspected of being in the U.S. illegally. Emails reviewed by The Associated Press show that Kennedy’s office said Friday that it put in a request for the Department of Homeland Security to release her...

President Donald Trump's 25% tariffs on Indian goods will do little to slow the role of the Asian country as a key hub for manufacturing iPhones, even when it means more expensive smartphones for U.S. consumers, analysts and industry executives said. Apple has realigned its India exports to almost exclusively serve the U.S. market, with nearly all the $3.2 billion-worth iPhones exported by Foxconn from India going to the United States between March and May. It's "too early to say" if recent events or future changes in Trump's stance will alter Apple's manufacturing plans in India, an industry executive familiar...

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The term "pallyweid" can be used to describe a specific type of rhetoric or narrative about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that is both misleading and one-sided, often found in discussions that accuse Israel erroneously of “apartheid” and “genocide.” Here's how the key elements can be incorporated into the term: Pallyweid and the Apartheid SlurThe term pallyweid draws from the "apartheid" false accusation leveled at Israel, which critics claim is based on systemic racial segregation akin to the policies of South Africa during apartheid. In reality, Israel’s legal and political framework is far different from the brutal racial segregation of the South...

The fact that Trump is threatening sanctions against India for buying Russian oil and to hammer Russia to somehow force Putin to his knees and accept whatever terms Europe demands, proves that Trump is now taking advice from Lindsey Grachm, NATO, their puppet EU leaders, and the Neocons with the likes of Cheney in the background witgh a HUGE smile on her face. When we look at sanctions, history shows us that this Neocon tool that they always deploy out of hatred, has never worked even once. It just makes the Neocons feel all warm and fussy inside as they...

An orange shape was spotted on surveillance footage near Jeffrey Epstein’s prison cell on the final night of his life — and forensic experts are questioning the federal government’s explanation of the mysterious object. The shadowy object, seen in video obtained and reviewed by CBS News, moves up the stairs to Epstein’s cell block at the Metropolitan Correctional Center around 10:40 p.m. the night before the 66-year-old convicted sex trafficker was found hanged. Federal investigators previously concluded the pixelated blob was a corrections officer “carrying linen or inmate clothing,” but forensic experts who spoke to the network as part of...

I can imagine that headline getting a lot of people upset – you’re not supposed to call people ugly –but some people are ugly and everyone knows it. I’m not talking exclusively physically, though that’s a big part. A good-looking woman, for example, can be rendered completely unattractive if she’s stupid or, I assume, liberal (it’s never really happened, in my dating experience, as most liberal women could easily pose for “before” photos for any number of ailments and afflictions, so them being attractive is only theoretical). The thing about liberal women is they seem to have deliberately chosen to...

Some Thoughts on Our DOE Report Regarding CO2 Impacts on the U.S. Climate July 31st, 2025 by Roy W. Spencer, Ph. D. PREFACE: What follows are my own opinions, not seen by my four co-authors of the Dept. of Energy report just released, entitled A Critical Review of Impacts of Greenhouse Gas Emissions on the U.S. Climate. Starting sometime tomorrow, the comment docket at DOE will be open for anyone to post comments regarding the contents of that report. We authors will read all comments, and for those which are substantiative and serious, we will respond in a serious manner....

A third person has been arrested in the vicious mob beating of a white man and white woman early Saturday morning in downtown Cincinnati that garnered national attention after video of the attack went viral. A total of five suspects have been charged so far, with three now in custody. The woman victim who was sucker punched and seen knocked out and bleeding from her mouth was revealed in court Wednesday to be Russian and that she flew home on Sunday, the day after the attack. The third person arrested, Jermaine Matthews, 39, turned himself Tuesday evening and was arraigned...