Free Republic

On the anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Polish President Karol Nawrocki drew parallels between past and present-day aggression in a message posted on social media. In his statement, he referred to “unresolved injustices” and “sick dreams of an empire.” “Eighty-six years ago, Stalin and Hitler signed the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact—an agreement that paved the way for World War II and claimed the lives of millions around the world. Poland was the first victim of German, and later Soviet, aggression,” Nawrocki wrote on Saturday, August 23rd. He continued: “Germany has still not paid its historical debts, while imperialist sentiments have reawakened in...

Donald McPherson, believed to be America’s last surviving “ace” from World War II, passed away on August 14, 2025. He was 103 years old. McPherson earned the Congressional Gold Medal and three Distinguished Flying Crosses during his service as a US Navy pilot aboard the aircraft carrier USS Essex in the final battles of World War II. McPherson enlisted on January 5, 1943, after the Navy waived a two-year college requirement for its aviation cadet training program. He earned his commission and wings at Corpus Christi, Texas, on August 12, 1944. He was assigned to fly a Grumman F6F Hellcat...

Why is measles dangerous? The recent measles outbreak underscores the need for every child to be vaccinated. Jesse Couk, M.D., a Piedmont infectious disease specialist, explains why measles is dangerous and how it can be prevented.

The last sugar beet factory in California is closing after almost 80 years in business. The Spreckels Sugar Company factory in Brawley in the Imperial Valley has already begun the closure process that will soon lead to the loss of 700 local jobs. The Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative, which owns and runs the factory, said it could no longer keep up with declining sugar prices as well as post-pandemic inflationary pressures. The factory was the last of its kind in the state that turned the root sugar beet into sugar, and marks the latest of a series of companies...

DOGE staffer fights off a mob and sparks a national conversation on violence and virtue, the presidential medal of freedom, and celebrating what this country needs — balls. Thug life. It was 3AM or so a few weeks back when Edward Coristine, a 19-year-old working with the Social Security Administration in Washington D.C., walked Emily Bryant back to her car after a party, and a small mob attacked them — around ten people, according to police who witnessed the assault. Edward shoved Emily in the driver’s seat, slammed it shut, and squared off against the assailants. A couple got around...

Hey Republicans, it’s time to get out the shovels and dig a very deep hole. Then bury forever the stench and false innuendo coming from the Jeffrey Epstein case. Especially now that the dead monster’s cohort, Ghislaine Maxwell, has told the Justice Department that she never once saw President Trump “acting inappropriately in any way” and that he “was never inappropriate with anybody” despite a long association with Epstein. Those should be the final words of the sordid saga and give the GOP the confidence to stop runnin’ scared on the subject and drop its foolish obsession with the case....

Just a reminder that AI isn't up to planet crushing intelligence yet. I asked perplexity.ai, "Who is the woman in the attached photo?" The AI responded:The woman in the photo is Marilyn Monroe. This iconic image is from the famous scene where she sings "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" in the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. The style of her dress, hair, and the classic vintage microphone are all signature elements from that performance. After I pointed out why that couldn't be the case, it suggested maybe Lauren Becall. Without a clear identifying feature, it is not possible to definitively...

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch demurred Saturday when asked if she’d run for mayor in four years. “I’m not a politician. I’m a public servant,” said Tisch, 44, who received a rousing welcome from the roughly 100 people at the Southampton hotspot 75 Main, per an attendee who called her reception “tremendous.” “People think she’s doing a terrific job as police commissioner,” the source said. The commissioner, who was introduced at the breakfast by First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro, spoke for nearly 30 minutes minutes and touched on a range of Gotham-centric topics. She said she opposed President Trump bringing in...

It’s been a long time since I was shocked by anything Donald Trump said. But when the president called in to Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” this week to discuss his on-going efforts to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, he said something that stunned me. “I want to try and get to heaven, if possible,” Trump said. “I’m hearing I’m not doing well. I am really at the bottom of the totem pole. But if I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons.”

An online petition attributed to a group calling itself “Punjabi youth” has drawn more than 1.7 million signatures, calling on federal authorities to release Harjinder Singh, an undocumented immigrant truck driver convicted in a deadly Florida crash.

A fire at Russia's Novoshakhtinsk refinery was burning for the fourth day on Sunday after a Ukrainian drone strike, the acting governor of the region said. A fire was reported at in Novoshakhtinsk on Thursday. The refinery there sells fuel mainly for export, and has annual capacity of 5 million metric tons of oil, or around 100,000 barrels per day. Yury Slyusar, the acting governor of the Rostov region, said he had a meeting in Novoshakhtinsk. "The fire area at the Novoshakhtinsk oil products plant has now been reduced," he said on Telegram. "Since August 21, firefighters have been fighting...

In a game of Russian roulette with a standard Colt revolver, the chances of instant death are one-in-six. Terrifyingly, that’s the same as the odds of humanity being wiped out within 75 years – everyone dead in a cataclysmic and total breakdown of civilisation, according to Oxford University futurologist Toby Ord, an expert on the threat of artificial intelligence. Does it sound impossibly bleak? His colleague Nick Bostrom is more pessimistic still. He rates the possibility of human extinction by the next century as one in four. Pulitzer prize-winning writer Jared Diamond is even less hopeful, predicting our species’ chances...

from the Middle East and Africa. We, as critics of mass immigration and multiculturalism, must understand why individualism, honesty, guilt, and deferring gratification are particular to the West. Helpfully, authors like Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Ed Husain can explain. You do not understand how these people think. They will not produce the same civilisation as us.

Vice President JD Vance remains confident the U.S. can broker an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine despite potential hang-ups that have emerged since President Donald Trump’s meeting this month with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “We believe we’ve already seen some significant concessions from both sides, just in the last few weeks,” Vance said in an exclusive interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.” Vance also weighed in on a Russian missile strike in western Ukraine overnight Thursday that hit an electronics factory owned by a U.S.-based company. Asked by moderator Kristen Welker if he was “enraged” by...

33-year-old newlywed communist Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic Party’s nominee for New York City mayor in this fall’s election, struggled to bench press 135 pounds at a campaign stop in Brooklyn Saturday, needing help by a spotter, reported the New York Post. New York Post excerpt: Mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani struggled to execute a single unassisted bench press rep while trying to impress a crowd at the annual Men’s Day open streets event in Brooklyn Saturday. Photos showed the 33-year-old Socialist, and Democratic Party nominee, was unable to lift a bar loaded with what was said to be 135-pounds off the...

Daily Readings from the USCCBJesus passed through towns and villages, teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” He answered them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.” Luke 13:22–24The context of this passage provides insight into Jesus’ mission and His concern for each and every person. Note that Jesus was traveling toward the large and populous city of Jerusalem. But as He traveled, He passed through “towns and villages” and taught...

Through the use of false accusations, misleading information, and antisemitic conspiracies, Tucker Carlson’s Podcast is being used as a tool to deceive. While Carlson’s newfound disdain for the Jewish State has disgraced him in the eyes of many conservatives and Christians, millions of his followers remain, happily consuming content crafted to stoke public opinion against Israel and the Jewish people as a whole.

Protesters continue to blast the Trump administration’s takeover of policing in Washington, D.C., likening it to an "invasion" even as crime plummets. Demonstrators, who did not appear to be part of a specific organization while on a pedestrian bridge on the I-95 in Virginia near the city this week, said that "our systems are being assaulted." "What the problem is, is that these are the National Guard are like my friends' sons and daughters," one woman told Fox News Digital. "It's their time away from their family. The money being wasted to make a point is really sort of disgraceful...

Bringing the United Nations Security Council's (UNSC) attention to the rise of right-wing extremists and fascist movements, Pakistan has decried the "dangerous stigmatisation of Islam and Muslims". "It is not understandable, and is indeed unacceptable, that every name on the Security Council's terrorism lists is Muslim, while terrorists and violent extremists elsewhere escape scrutiny. There is no non-Muslim in the lists," Pakistan's UN Ambassador Asim Iftikhar said during a UNSC meeting on "Threats to international peace & security caused by terrorist acts". Pakistan decries stigmatisation of Islam, says no non-Muslim name on UN terror lists,” Geo News, August 21, 2025:...

A mosaic uncovered at the site of Hippos near the Sea of Galilee contains a message indicating that the city's ancient residents took extra special care of their senior citizens, according to Israel National News. Hippos belonged to the Decapolis, a group of 10 Hellenistic cities in the southern Levant, but became a major Christian center during the Byzantine period, serving as the bishop's seat and boasting at least seven churches. Archaeologists discovered the colorful mosaic near the entrance to a late fourth- or early fifth-century a.d. building near the ancient forum. It is decorated with images of Egyptian geese,...