Free Republic

BENGALURU, India (AP) — Ocean temperatures warmed by human-caused climate change fed the intense rainfall that triggered deadly floods and landslides across Asia in recent weeks, according to an analysis released Wednesday. The rapid study by World Weather Attribution focused on heavy rainfall from cyclones Senyar and Ditwah in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Sri Lanka starting late last month. The analysis found that warmer sea surface temperatures over the North Indian Ocean added energy to the cyclones. “When the atmosphere warms, it can hold more moisture. As a result, it rains more in a warmer atmosphere as compared to a...

Rome's rise created a supply challenge on a massive scale. This segment uncovers the harbour system at Portus and Ostia that helped keep the empire running, and why its remains are so important today. The Roman 'Mega-Harbour' that Powered an Empire | 6:00 BBC Timestamp | 905K subscribers | 3,502 views | December 10, 2025

Israel's Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter unleashed a pointed retort at NBC News anchor Kristen Welker on Meet the Press on Sunday, dismissing her citation of casualty figures from the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry as unreliable propaganda. Welker referenced the ministry's reported death toll while grilling Leiter on civilian casualties during Israel's operations in Gaza and Lebanon. Leiter fired back: "Kristen, you just quoted the Gaza Health Ministry. That’s like quoting MS-13 Social Welfare Ministry." The analogy, equating the ministry to the brutal Salvadoran gang MS-13, quickly went viral via the Washington Free Beacon's X post. Link to...

We have reached one of the most critical turning points in modern history, but most people don’t seem to understand this. Without a doubt, 2025 has been a year of war. There has been war in Ukraine, war in Iran, war in Gaza, and lots of other regional conflicts as well. But as I have been warning my readers, 2026 could potentially be far worse. Decisions that world leaders make during the months ahead will determine which way things go. Let us hope that they make their choices wisely. According to CNN, White House officials are coming up with plans...

The Tower of David Museum has recently undergone comprehensive renovation work and in the process, an astonishing archaeological discovery has been unearthed. Just in time for the Hanukkah holiday, when we remember how the Hasmonean Maccabees fought and gained victory over their Greek oppressors 162 years before the birth of Yeshua (Jesus), a huge section of ancient wall from the Hasmonean era has been found underground. The Tower of David is an iconic part of Jerusalem’s old city skyline, and has been made into an impressive museum. The Israel Antiques Authority (IAA) have been carrying out excavations at the historic...

FReepers of a certain vintage will recall that strange species of missive, the “Opus.” Periodically members would leave, but would pen an “Opus,” the lengthy explanation. I never quite understood these; they seemed a bit self-important to me. Today is my 25th anniversary on FR. I’m not going to anywhere, so this is my “No-Pus.” Many thanks to my FRiends for this great community. Apologies if I’ve ever been unduly unkind. As of today I have 12,777 replies, 1.4 per day on average for 25 years. When I post a stat like this, some of my FRiends will point out...

This is what the newspaper Berlingske writes the day before Denmark's military intelligence service releases its annual threat image report. According to Thomas Ahrenkiel, head of the intelligence service, smaller countries are now facing a world where there is more "law of the jungle than rules-based world order." We now see that the three major military powers, the US, Russia and China, in their different ways do not support that world order, he tells the newspaper. The report states that the US is now using "its economic and technological strength as a tool of power, even against allies and partners."...

Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) took a page out of the authoritarian, theocratic Iranian regime’s playbook over the weekend, deeming the country he serves “The Great Satan” during a rant on The Dean Obeidallah Show. Johnson offered his evaluation of his country after host Dean Obeidallah submitted that President Donald Trump’s strikes on alleged drug runners in the Western Hemisphere were “defining us as some kind of-, like a Putin-esque type of nation.” “Yeah, we are the world’s No. 1 bully, and we’re using our immense, unrivaled power to rule over those who have less power. And we’re doing it with...

According to the Los Angeles Fire Department, the fire was reported at 9:20 a.m. on Foothill Boulevard, just below the 210 Freeway overpass. No children were aboard at the time, and the driver was transported to a local hospital for minor smoke inhalation injuries. Aerial footage showed a large plume of smoke emerging from below the underpass. The smoke led to the closure of the Osbourne Street offramp, according to Caltrans. Fire crews were at the scene but appeared to keep their distance from the flames. Experts say fires involving lithium-ion batteries, commonly used in electric vehicles, are typically controlled...

Matt Walsh Applies Proper Logic to Determine We Shouldn't Take Any Asylum Seekers at All

This is the dramatic moment that US commandos stormed a Venezuelan oil tanker in a breathtaking airborne takedown amid ratcheting tensions in the Caribbean. Footage released by the Trump administration on Wednesday showed American forces swooping on the tanker in helicopters and rappelling down ropes. Troops with guns drawn darted up stairs to the bridge to take control of the vessel off the coast of Venezuela. Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote in a statement on X: 'Today, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, and the United States Coast Guard, with support from the Department of War, executed a...

Radnor High School and Radnor Township Police are investigating an AI-generated video that allegedly depicts several students inappropriately, according to an email sent to families by Principal Dr. Joseph MacNamara. "I am writing to address concerns and rumors regarding an AI-generated video that was reported to depict several of our students in an inappropriate manner," MacNamara wrote. "We understand how upsetting and serious this situation is, and we want to assure you that we are treating it with the highest level of urgency and care.

Moment U.S. forces seized massive oil tanker off Venezuela “As you probably know, we’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela,” Trump said. “Large tanker, very large, largest one ever seized actually.”

On Friday, the Supreme Court announced that it would hear challenges to President Donald Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship. The 14th Amendment automatically makes all babies born on American territory citizens. Trump’s effort to overturn the traditional reading of the constitutional text and history should not succeed. Ratified in 1868, the 14th Amendment provided a constitutional definition of citizenship for the first time. It declares that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside." In antebellum America, states...

ATLANTA -- Democrat Eric Gisler claimed an upset victory Tuesday in a special election in a historically Republican Georgia state House district. Gisler said he was the winner of the contest, in which he was leading Republican Mack “Dutch” Guest by about 200 votes out of more than 11,000 in final unofficial returns. Robert Sinners, a spokesperson with the secretary of state's office, said there could be a few provisional ballots left before the tally is finalized. “I think we had the right message for the time,” Gisler told The Associated Press in a phone interview. He credited his win...

Only one American woman in politics, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, made Forbes’s 2025 list of most powerful women. Wiles, the White House’s first female chief of staff, is ranked 66th on the Forbes list, behind figures like pop star Taylor Swift, television host Oprah Winfrey and General Motors CEO Mary Barra. But the fact that Wiles, a veteran political consultant who also served as Trump’s campaign co-chair in 2024, is the only one on the list who works in American politics highlights the low number of women in powerful positions within the federal government. Other women in...

One week after the Sioux Center Library board voted 8-1 to continue offering a sexually explicit book called “Icebreaker” to any patron with a library card, it has been discovered that the library also stocks a book called “Identical” in the 12-year-old section of the library.Bookshelves The book graphically details multiple incidents in which a 9-year-old girl is sexually abused by her father, including one incident while her identical twin sister watches. In addition, the book contains violence, including self-harm and suicidal ideations, profanity and derogatory terms and drug and alcohol abuse. The abuse of the daughter, Kaeleigh, started when...

BOOM!’ Conservatives Applaud Erika Kirk’s Stunning Takedown of Candace Owens Isaac Schorr Wed, December 10, 2025 at 3:04 PM EST Conservatives are applauding Turning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk after the grieving widow delivered a stunning takedown of the conspiracy theories about her husband’s death in what is widely being viewed as a rebuke of Candace Owens. Owens has promoted countless conspiracy theories about Charlie Kirk’s assassination over the last few months, even going so far as to implicate some of his closest friends and coworkers in what she has described as a plot to betray him. On Wednesday, Erika...

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday announced its third interest rate cut of the year as policymakers moved forward with the cut to support the labor market despite elevated inflation. Fed policymakers voted to lower the benchmark federal funds rate by 25 basis points to a new range of 3.5% to 3.75%. The move follows rate cuts of that size in September and October, which were the first of the year. Policymakers have been tracking economic data showing a slowdown in the labor market in recent months as companies adjust to shifts in trade and immigration policy. Meanwhile, inflation has trended...

Explanation: Sculpted by stellar winds and radiation, this dusty interstellar molecular cloud has by chance assumed an immediately recognizable shape. Fittingly known as The Horsehead Nebula, it lies some 1,500 light-years distant, embedded in the vast Orion cloud complex. About five light-years "tall," the dark cloud is cataloged as Barnard 33, first identified on a photographic plate taken in the early 20th century. B33 is visible primarily because its obscuring dust is silhouetted against the glow of emission nebula IC 434. Hubble Space Telescope images from the early 21st century find young stars forming within B33. Of course, the magnificent...