Free Republic

Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, leading to frequent blackoutsThe Ukrainian city of Chernihiv is in total blackout following what the authorities describe as a "massive" assault by Russian missiles and drones, with hundreds of thousands of people affected.Across the wider Chernihiv region, four people are reported to have been killed as residential neighbourhoods were struck in the town of Novhorod-Siverskyi.Ten others were injured, including a 10-year-old girl.The country's most northerly region is the latest to be hit in an intensifying series of attacks on civilian infrastructure as Russia targets energy supplies, the rail network, homes and...

Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson on Tuesday announced her office has completed its review of the state's voter registration list against citizenship data in the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ SAVE database. Nelson said she has identified over 2,000 potential noncitizens, who possibly voted illegally in recent state elections. The list of potential noncitizens have been turned over to local counties, who will conduct their own investigations into the eligibility of the identified voters. Those the state believes voted in a state election illegally will be referred to the Office of the Attorney General for prosecution. “Only eligible United...

SACRAMENTO, CA — In a historic move, California's famous black bears, in cooperation with the NAACP, met on the steps of the state capitol to demand that they now be referred to as "Bears of Color." "For too long our people have suffered with this outdated and harmful epitaph," a spokesbear told reporters gathered at a press conference. "This is not the name we chose for ourselves. We demand to be called Bears of Color from now on." Gathered members of the press looked on in confusion as a coalition of bears took turns at the microphone, explaining their...

The City of Portland assisted a controversial anti-ICE organization in securing a vacant office space on the ground floor of an apartment building directly across the street from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility, which has been under siege by demonstrators, many of whom are involved with Antifa networks, since early June. The Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition (PIRC), a taxpayer-funded non-governmental organization (NGO), is known for conducting trainings on how to disrupt ICE operations, as well as providing guidance to illegal immigrants on the best practices to evade apprehension by federal authorities. [snip] According to a letter obtained...

Ron Paul, a former House of Representatives member and presidential candidate, hammered President Trump on Monday over a post calling his son, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), a “nasty liddle guy.” “In an hysterical rant over the weekend, President Trump has blasted Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) as a couple of ‘wackos’ who refuse to vote with the Republican Party,” Ron Paul, a Libertarian and former Republican who represented Texas in the House and thrice ran for president, wrote in a social media post. “Meanwhile, President Trump has just announced that his first in-person fundraiser of the...

A group of frontline House Republicans on Tuesday called on Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to “immediately” address the expiring enhanced ObamaCare tax credits once the government shutdown ends. Led by Reps. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.) and Jen Kiggans (R-Va.), 13 lawmakers told Johnson that millions of their constituents would face a massive spike in health premiums without an extension of the subsidies before their expiration at the end of the year. “Our Conference and President Trump have been clear that we will not take healthcare away from families who depend on it. This is our opportunity to demonstrate that commitment...

America’s military brass now wear more ribbons than warriors of old—symbols of a “participation trophy” culture that risks dulling the nation’s warfighting edge.As America faces the very real threat of an armed conflict with a peer competitor—the People’s Republic of China (PRC)—it is worth noting that since the fall of the Soviet Union, America’s military has been infected by a peacetime mentality deluged with grade inflation, careerism, and politics and, for the purposes of this article, an awards program that makes our senior officers and senior enlisted look like cheap, tin-pot military dictators.After two years of bloody fighting in...

Democrats have sworn up and down for years that we didn't need legislation like the SAVE Act to clean up our voter rolls. "It's already against the law for illegal immigrants to vote," they argued.They also insisted illegal immigrants weren't voting in elections.But that thing that never happens happened again.DHS wrote, "All Americans should support President Trump and Secretary Noem’s efforts to ensure that only Americans vote in American elections. DHS has revamped the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database to ensure government officials can swiftly verify statuses, stopping entitlements and voter fraud."Here's more from Fox News:A Texas election...

It’s funny because for the longest time, it was conservatives who were faulted for embracing retrograde notions and ideas. But in 2025, it seems, the retrograde people are mostly on the Left.Not solely, though. There is a contingent of people who call themselves conservatives who are, without a doubt, retrograde. We’ll get to that in a minute.But first, let me echo the excellent points made yesterday here at The American Spectator by David Catron, who castigated what he rightly called the “ridiculous” No Kings rally on Saturday. The rally, which supposedly drew some $294 million in funding from the Usual...

A man dressed in a Donald Trump costume was allegedly assaulted by another man during a "No Kings" rally in Swampscott, Massachusetts. In cellphone video of the incident, the suspect, Michael Curll, kicks Jonathan Silveira from behind. He knocked him off balance and grabbed him by his neck. According to police, Curll then ran at Silveira from behind and grabbed him around his waist and used his leg to hook around his legs, causing him to fall over. Curll claimed that Silveira hit him with a flagpole and bruised his eye, but Silveira is denying that ever happened. “I guess...

NEW YORK — Democratic voters in America’s largest city are ready to elect socialist Zohran Mamdani as mayor because they think socialism and communism have gotten a bad rap but are now the future of both their city and their party. In a series of on-the-streets interviews, New Yorkers told The Washington Times that Mr. Mamdani’s socialist-style agenda comes “from the heart” and will help regular Americans, especially racial minorities.“I think he has strong ethics. When he speaks, he seems to speak from the heart. I think he is thinking very hard about what he’s saying,” said Corey Griswold, 43,...

A flight bound for Los Angeles International Airport on Monday evening was diverted after a communication issue resulted in the pilots thinking people were trying to breach the cockpit, officials said. An American Airlines flight left from Eppley Airfield in Omaha around 4:40 p.m. and returned to the airport about 20 minutes later for an unknown reason, according to flight tracking website FlightAware.A spokesperson for the Federal Aviation Administration told KTLA-TV Channel 5 that the plane was diverted because of an issue with the plane’s internal phone communication system. The pilot reportedly declared an emergency and turned around after he...

WASHINGTON — President Trump no longer plans to hold a second in-person summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin “in the immediate future” after Russia rejected Trump’s demand to stop the war in Ukraine along the current battle lines. “I don’t want to have a wasted meeting,” Trump told reporters Tuesday afternoon when asked why he axed the sitdown. “I don’t want to have a waste of time

The administration’s rush to process thousands of White South Africans coincides with plans for overall admissions set as low as 7,500.The Trump administration’s plan to overhaul the U.S. refugee resettlement process, including a drastic reduction in overall annual admissions, coincides with a concerted effort to prepare thousands of White South Africans to relocate to the United States through the system, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post and people familiar with the matter.If the administration succeeds, almost all people admitted to the U.S. as refugees — as many as 7,000 from a maximum potential pool of 7,500 — could...

Boeing Starliner: Never forget: Incompetence + arrogance => astronauts refused to fly Starliner, and when they were made to, it was a disaster. From Eric Berger's book: “BOEING HAS AN ASTRONAUT PROBLEM” (p.291) “When the SpaceX engineers could be corralled, they were eager to hear feedback from the NASA astronauts , excited to work with them, and attentive to their suggestions. By contrast, Boeing engineers seemed indifferent to hearing from the four commercial crew astronauts.” (p.293) “There was an arrogance with them that you certainly didn’t see at SpaceX.” (astronaut Hurley, p.294) “Boeing also underperformed. Not only were its engineers...

Senior department officials who were defense lawyers for the president and those in his orbit are now in jobs that typically must approve any such payout, underscoring potential ethical conflicts.President Trump is demanding that the Justice Department pay him about $230 million in compensation for the federal investigations into him, according to people familiar with the matter, who added that any settlement might ultimately be approved by senior department officials who defended him or those in his orbit. The situation has no parallel in American history, as Mr. Trump, a presidential candidate, was pursued by federal law enforcement and eventually...

More than 420 anti-science bills attacking longstanding public health protections – vaccines, milk safety and fluoride – have been introduced in statehouses across the U.S. this year, part of an organized, politically savvy campaign to enshrine a conspiracy theory-driven agenda into law.An Associated Press investigation found that the wave of legislation has cropped up in most states, pushed by people with close ties to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The effort would strip away protections that have been built over a century and are integral to American lives and society. Around 30 bills have been enacted...

President Trump speaks at a White House celebration of Diwali, the annual Hindu, Jain, and Sikh festival celebrating victory of light over darkness.

CHICAGO (AP) — The music begins low and ominous, with the video showing searchlights skimming along a Chicago apartment building and heavily armed immigration agents storming inside. Guns are drawn. Unmarked cars fill the streets. Agents rappel from a Black Hawk helicopter.But quickly the soundtrack grows more stirring and the video — edited into a series of dramatic shots and released by the Department of Homeland Security days after the Sept. 30 raid — shows agents leading away shirtless men, their hands zip-tied behind their backs.Authorities said they were targeting the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, but only two of...

A Michigan man will serve 18 months in federal prison over threats against President Trump that were posted on social media in January. Richard James Spring originally faced four felony charges as a result of the investigation, but three of those charges were dismissed, court records show. He pleaded guilty on June 12 to one count of threats to kill and injure the president. Sentencing on that charge took place on Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan in Grand Rapids. In addition to the 18 months in prison, court records show, he will be...