Free Republic

... Despite the promise of talks, many Ukrainians expressed fear that the White House was again being strung along by the Kremlin. “Of course, we shouldn’t take all this as a prelude to the end of the war,” Volodymyr Fesenko, a Ukrainian political analyst, wrote in a social media post, echoing a widely held view. “On Putin’s part, this could be another insidious maneuver,” he added. Mr. Fesenko said that Mr. Putin’s approach could range from “imitating real negotiations to trying to lure Trump into a negotiating trap in order to sell him a ‘softened’ version of peace on Russian...

Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s (R-Tenn.) nascent gubernatorial bid has kicked off a shadow race for her Senate seat in the event she wins, with Reps. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) and Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) each eyeing the seat. Burchett confirmed to The Hill that he would be interested in the Senate seat if Blackburn was elected governor. CNN first reported Burchett’s interest in the seat. Ogles, too, said he would be interested in the Senate seat. “Definitely interested in it. I’ve expressed my interest,” Ogles told The Hill. Ogles joked about going up against Burchett for the position: “We’ll probably do some sort...

When the going gets tough, the tough … pop in a pacifier? That’s the surprising stress-busting move thousands of young adults in China are making — swapping melatonin and meditation for an adult-sized binky. Once a niche quirk, the silicone soothers are supposedly now big business on Chinese e-commerce giants like Taobao and JD.com, where they are priced anywhere from a budget-friendly 10 yuan ($1.40) to a luxury 500 yuan ($70). They’re sold as sleep aids, stress relievers, even smoking-cessation tools — and shoppers are gobbling them up. Some online sellers move thousands each month, according to the South China...

DEI is collapsing under its own contradictions—no longer able to define who qualifies, who deserves preference, or why identity should outweigh merit. Donald Trump’s executive orders banning Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI)-related racial and gender preferencing have ostensibly doomed the DEI industry. But DEI was already on its last legs. Half of all Americans no longer approve of racial, ethnic, or gender preferences. DEI had enjoyed a surge following the death of George Floyd and the subsequent 120 days of nonstop rioting, arson, assaults, killings, and attacks on law enforcement during the summer of 2020. In those chaotic years, DEI was...

This past weekend, I appeared on “Fox News Sunday” as a panelist, opining on matters ranging from the shambolic state of the Democratic Party to an absurd and protracted culture war skirmish. If you watch the clips in those hyperlinks, and crank the volume all the way up, you may notice a faint commotion outside the studio. A small handful of "pro-Palestinian" protesters were creating as much noise as they could, chanting, banging on pots and pans, and blaring a police-style siren (ironically, I'd bet that many, most, or all of these agitators also support defunding the police, which is...

The Kremlin confirmed that Russian leader Vladimir Putin was expected to meet with President Trump in the coming days, saying that the meeting was being planned for a location that would be named later. The Russian statement on Thursday came hours after Trump said there was a “good chance” he would meet with Putin. The idea was raised by Russia during a meeting between special envoy Steve Witkoff and the Russian leader on Wednesday. Witkoff relayed the idea to Trump. During the meeting with Witkoff, Putin provided “concrete examples” of Russia’s conditions for agreeing to peace, according to Secretary of...

Shipwreck @shipwreckshow Food stamp restrictions got folks crossing the register lane just to check what's approved! RFK wasn't messing around. Welcome to the life of "just the necessities" like the rest of us.

BREAKING: President Trump just directed his Department of Commerce to perform a NEW CENSUS that doesn’t include illegal aliens. https://x.com/GuntherEagleman/status/1953417968269816272

The influence that even a minority Muslim population can have in a democratic state can cause unthinkable damage, but Western leaders have their heads in the sand. In 1836, fighting for the independence of Texas, a small band of Texans in San Antonio took up the defense of a Spanish mission, known as the Alamo, against the much larger army of Mexican General Santa Anna. Despite their courage, all defenders were killed, giving rise to the battle cry—”Remember the Alamo.” That battle cry served to motivate other Texans to later defeat the Mexicans. There are times when democratic nations may...

Damage scanners are taking over more rental car return lots — and customers aren't happy. Since Hertz rolled out AI scanners in April, it has faced backlash for charging almost $1,000 for tiny scuffs. Now Sixt, a premium rival with 100 locations in the US, has in recent weeks begun using a similar tool called Car Gate.

7 August 2025 Thursday of week 18 in Ordinary Time St. Albert of Trapani Catholic Church, Houston, TexasReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: C(I).First readingNumbers 20:1-13Moses makes water flow from the rock at MeribahThe sons of Israel, the whole community, arrived in the first month at the desert of Zin. The people settled at Kadesh. It was there that Miriam died and was buried. There was no water for the community, and they were all united against Moses and Aaron. The people challenged Moses: ‘We would rather have died,’ they said, ‘as our brothers died before the Lord! Why...

“Debanking” seems like something out of paranoid dystopian fiction, but this horrific abuse of government power is already all too real. We’re almost glad the Biden crew deployed it against then-former-President Donald Trump in 2021: That not only ensures he’s aware of this outrage; it points to how even the powerful are vulnerable. It’s as simple as it is scary: Government regulators give a quiet nod to financial institutions that certain people or industries are to be “unpersoned,” and pretty soon they get the same treatment as North Korean tyrants, terrorists or drug kingpins: locked out of the financial system,...

@PeterSchiff If you were a customer of Euro Pacific Bank, make sure to follow the updates on the bank's website, now that I have regained control. Qenta—the company that purchased the right to custody the gold and silver previously held by the bank on behalf of customers (among other assets)—just told a federal judge that it should be allowed to keep all of the appreciation in the gold and silver since it was transferred to their custody, to be held for customers, on Sept. 30, 2022. The gold and silver were worth about $25 million then; they are now worth...

The Supreme Court of Texas has ordered the top Democrat in the Texas state legislature to respond to a lawsuit filed by Gov. Greg Abbott that seeks to remove him from office.In an escalating battle over Texas redistricting, Mr. Abbott filed the lawsuit on Tuesday, accusing state Rep. Gene Wu of renouncing constitutional mandates “by fleeing the state of Texas to break quorum, obstruct legislative proceedings and paralyze the Texas House of Representatives.”Mr. Wu, chair of the Texas House Democratic Caucus, led an exodus of party lawmakers from the state earlier this week. (Snip) In his lawsuit, Mr. Abbott called...

Had the American people not rallied around President Trump as odious phony prosecutions engulfed him during his presidential campaign, he may not have been re-elected president and instead endured a terrible fate. In South America this week, we are seeing how bad it could have been. Late yesterday, Brazil's manic, freakish, version of Judge James Boasberg, Justice Alexandre de Moraes, ordered Brazil's equivalent of President Trump, former President Jair Bolsonaro arrested for questioning the 2022 Brazilian presidential electoral result, that, as with President Trump, he was mysteriously defeated in by a narrow margin after showing significant strength on the campaign...

Passengers aboard a Cathay Pacific flight from Los Angeles to Hong Kong endured a nightmare journey that may have just broken the record for the world's longest commercial flight - but not in distance. Flight CX883 took off from LAX at 12:55 am on August 4 with nearly 300 passengers onboard, expecting a 13-hour transpacific trip. But a freak weather event over Hong Kong turned the flight into a 29-hour ordeal in the sky - and on the tarmac.

Thieves are targeting one type of car above all others, with this U.S. vehicle stolen far more frequently than any other make or model, new data shows. The Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, which retails for around $75,400, had a theft rate 39 times higher than the average for all vehicles with the model years 2022 to 2024, according to a new report from the Highway Loss Data Institute, or HLDI. The Camaro sports car retails for between $32,495 and can rise to around $50,000, depending on the finishings, transmission type and other options a buyer selects. Pickup trucks and other pricey...

A Spanish town has become the first in the country to ban Muslims from using public facilities to celebrate religious Eid festivals just weeks after a nearby area was rocked by anti-migrant riots. The controversial ban was passed in Jumilla, a town in the Murcia region with a population of around 27,000 - roughly 7.5 per cent of whom come from mostly Muslim countries. The motion was proposed by Spain's conservative People's Party (PP) and backed by the hard right Vox party. It prohibits the public facilities such a sports halls and civic centres being used for 'religious, cultural or...

A Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) analyst and co-author of the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA), which tied then-President-elect Donald Trump to allegations of Russian interference, claimed former CIA Director John Brennan controlled the ICA’s contents and dissemination, according to a Tuesday report. The anonymous whistleblower shared the behind-the-scenes creation of the infamous “Russiagate” document, in an interview with Michael Shellenberger and Alex Gutentag’s Public on Tuesday. The whistleblower asserted former senior CIA officer Susan Miller, who previously claimed involvement in the ICA, “had no role in the ICA,” according to the report. “Members of Miller’s analytic team participated in the...

“And some of the scribes said to themselves, ‘This fellow blasphemes’” (Matthew 9:3). To charge someone with blasphemy was truly a serious statement for one to make in the religious culture in which Jesus ministered. But that was the outlandish accusation against Him brought by the scribes because they rejected His claim to forgive sins (Luke 5:21; cf. Mark 2:7). They knew that forgiveness comes only from God (Isa. 43:25; Mic. 7:18–19), but because they didn’t believe Jesus was God’s Son, they had to conclude He was blaspheming. Unlike the paralytic and his friends, the scribes felt no need for...