Free Republic

President Trump and senior US officials said Monday they’re closing in on a sweeping peace framework to end the war in Ukraine — featuring “Article Five-like” security guarantees, a multibillion-dollar rebuilding plan, progress on tough territorial disputes, and a possible 50/50 split of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant — but Kyiv has added that many key details remain unknown. The goal, officials said, is to create a package that stops Russia from pushing further into Ukraine and gives Kyiv the strongest-ever shield against future aggression — with Trump touting the negotiations as being “closer now than ever.” The proposed NATO-style guarantees...

Saint Andrew’s Chapel, a prominent Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) congregation in Sanford, Florida, overwhelmingly voted to leave the denomination just two years after joining it, with the final tally 669–108. One of the largest PCA churches in the country, with more than 1,100 members, Saint Andrew’s was formerly led by the late R.C. Sproul. The decision to disaffiliate comes months after senior pastor Burk Parsons was suspended indefinitely from the pulpit after being found ‘guilty ‘of unbecoming pastoral conduct by the PCA’s Central Florida Presbytery. Parsons previously plead guilty to similar charges in 2019 and received admonition at that...

BREAKING: Despite leftist attempts to cancel, jail, and bankrupt him for over a year now, Elon Musk is now worth an astounding $600 BILLION — the most of any individual in world history, per Forbes This absolutely DWARFS George Soros’ $7.5 billion. It’s game on 😏🔥

New York Times best-selling author Lee Strobel shared that Hobby Lobby has purchased half a million copies of his book “The Case for Christmas” to give away at stores. Once an atheist, the former Chicago Tribune legal editor became a Christian in 1981 after investigating the evidence of Christianity and Jesus’ claims that he is the Son of God. “People are sending me photos of the Free Gift they received from Hobby Lobby after shopping there—my new book ‘The Case for Christmas,’” Strobel posted on social media. “Hobby Lobby is giving away half a million free copies to customers at...

Authorities in Nicaragua have prohibited tourists from bringing Bibles into the country amid an escalating crackdown on religious freedom. Central American media outlet CentroAmérica360 reported that notices at Tica Bus terminals in Costa Rica, which serve routes to Managua, listed books, magazines, printed newspapers, and cameras as prohibited—alongside knives, perishable food, and drones. Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) has raised the alarm over the issue, as faith leaders in the country have already been subjected to arbitrary detention, and public religious events are frequently restricted to groups “approved” by authorities. Since April 2018, the government has closed more than 5,000 independent...

A peace deal between Russia and Ukraine will fail unless it is backed up by “robust” security guarantees from western powers, the UK prime minister has said. Keir Starmer, speaking ahead of talks with European leaders in Berlin, told MPs on Monday he was opposed to any agreement that did not include sufficient military guarantees for Ukraine, as Kyiv comes under mounting US pressure to sign up to a Trump-backed plan. Starmer said: “European history is full of peace agreements that failed and sometimes led to even greater conflict. And that is why it’s really important we attend to this...

Last week, the National Association of Evangelicals published its monthly newsletter, whereby it heralded the Christmas season not by celebrating “joy to the world” but by repeating its annual Yuletide claim that because Christ was a “refugee,” all Christians are obligated to welcome all immigrants (regardless of status) into our country, our towns and our neighborhoods. How are we to do this? How exactly are some 60 million American evangelicals purportedly represented by the National Association of Evangelicals to welcome the “sojourner” and “foreigner” in our midst? What practical steps does the association suggest we take?

Astonishing footage showed Vladimir Putin’s £300million Kilo class attack sub being obliterated by “Sea Baby” drones at a key Russian port. Ukraine’s state-of-the-art devices entered a sprawling Russian naval base completely undetected in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, 1,575km from Kyiv. In the dramatic footage, an enormous explosion sends chunks of debris showering over other parked ships moments after the sophisticated strike. The devastating blitz marks a huge blow to Mad Vlad’s bloody war in Ukraine. Putin’s multimillion-pound vessel suffered critical damage following the unprecedented attack and is now out of action according to Ukraine’s SBU special operations chiefs....

Is the American Left finally waking up from its decades-long climate catastrophism stupor? For years, climate alarmism has reigned as political catechism: The planet is burning, and only drastic action — deindustrialization, draconian regulation, even ceasing childbearing — could forestall certain apocalypse. Now, at least some signs are emerging that both the broader public and leading liberal voices may be recoiling from the doom and gloom. *** The moral panic is slowly evaporating. Millions of Americans may still believe warming exists, but far fewer view it as an imminent existential threat — let alone embrace sweeping upheavals in energy policy...

The family of a man who stabbed a SoCal deputy with a screwdriver before being shot and killed while he ran away was awarded $13.1 million by a jury in a lawsuit.

SINGAPORE — Sentosa Island boasts the luxury, five-star Ora and Michael hotels, with palm-tree-lined pools, lobbies flanked with luxury stores, and a casino that adjoins both hotels and buzzes with gamblers. The Singapore resort is also where a group of federal employees from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration were sent for a work trip in the final hours of the government shutdown. Internal FDA records obtained by CNBC show 31 agency staffers traveled to Singapore in mid-November for a conference of the International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use, or ICH — a trip...

Donald Trump has doubled down on his attacks on Rob Reiner after the Hollywood star and his wife were apparently murdered. The President appeared to blame Reiner and Michele's killings on the liberal director's 'Trump Derangement Syndrome' in a Monday post on Truth Social. Hollywood celebrities and Republicans pushed back on his statement, with some calling it 'disgusting and vile.' But the President seemed undeterred in his criticism of the late director. When pressed by a reporter in the Oval Office about his previous statement, he said: 'Well, I wasn't a fan of his at all. He was a deranged...

Almost as quickly as Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese could pretend not to notice who shot up Bondi Beach on Sunday — a horrific act of Islamic terror against local Jews during Chanukah — the Labor leader announced swift action to insure that such an attack could never happen again. "What swift action might that be?" I can hear you ask. "Roll up the ISIS cell in Sydney that apparently everybody knew about? Expel unassimilated foreigners? Teach Australian police to, I don't know, shoot back right away instead of standing around with their thumbs up their you-know-whats?" Nah. According to...

We have received word that the Pennsylvania House of Representatives plans to vote on a package of seven abortion bills this coming Wednesday, December 17th. It is critically important that we raise our voices against these dangerous bills, which would allow abortion up to the moment of birth and widespread taxpayer funding of abortion. One measure would also wipe out parental rights, allowing an abortionist to perform an abortion on a minor girl without the parent’s consent. Here’s more: A set of extreme abortion bills in Pennsylvania could make the Keystone State one of the most radical pro-abortion states in...

Everything everywhere in the West is going to hell on three different fronts, and the weekend's news — you know, the stories I wallowed in all Saturday and Sunday instead of waiting for Monday morning — provides three perfect (and perfectly chilling) examples.... But then I had a happy thought, courtesy of the Blogfaddah himself, Glenn Reynolds. "If," he asked on Sunday, "the Intifada has been globalized, doesn’t that mean that it’s been, well, globalized on both sides?" Glenn took it a step further."If it’s a global Intifada, then isn’t a mosque or Islamic 'charity' that, say, provided the guns...

TUKWILA, Wash. — A Flash Flood Warning is in effect for a dam break on the Green River near Tukwila, which is causing the potential for "life-threatening flash flooding." The National Weather Service (NWS) issued the alert at 11:51 a.m. Monday, saying that the Desimone Levee on the Green River, has failed. Kent, Renton and Tukwila all could experience flash flooding as a result of the dam break. Residents and businesses east of the Green River in the Orillia area in Tukwila, Renton, Kent are under a Level 3 (Go Now) evacuation notice. People in that area should go north...

Nope, not satire. Links to X comments deriding Albanese .....

Four teachers at a Wisconsin school have been accused of locking children in a pitch-black 'dungeon' as a cruel punishment tactic. A lawsuit launched by the furious parents of three children at Thurston Woods Public School in Milwaukee accuses the staff members of traumatizing their children. Filed on December 8, the legal document alleges that between 2022 and 2024 the teachers would routinely place young children in a boiler room to scare them. 'When asked about 'the dungeon' by their parents, some students would become so scared, stressed and upset that they would begin to cry,' the lawsuit reads. 'Students...

Korea Zinc on Monday announced a $7.4 billion smelter project that will be funded largely by the U.S. government as Washington pushes to cut its reliance on China for a range of critical minerals. Under the plan, Korea Zinc will sell new shares worth $1.9 billion to a joint venture controlled by the U.S. government and unnamed U.S.-based strategic investors, who would then control around 10% of the South Korean firm. The U.S. Department of Defense will hold a 40% stake in the venture, while Korea Zinc's stake will be less than 10%, the company said. Korea Zinc will secure...

The mother of Naveed Akram, who, along with his father, allegedly killed more than a dozen people at a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, on Sunday, insisted her son was a “good boy.” Footage shows Naveed Akram, 24, and his father, Sajid, calmly leaving a rented home in Campsie late Sunday afternoon, climbing into a silver hatchback, and driving toward Bondi Beach. Less than 90 minutes later, police say the pair opened fire on a Hanukkah celebration, killing at least 15 people and wounding dozens more in a targeted attack on Jews. The footage contradicts what Akram...