Free Republic

Thousands of cruise line passengers are trapped in ports in the Persian Gulf due to ongoing military strikes in the Middle East. Cruise ships have become stationary hotels as the conflict in Iran has left many stranded. Escalating hostilities have raised fears over safety in the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most vital shipping lanes. The Daily Mail wrote that at least six big ships are said to be stationary and awaiting word regarding when they can leave. These passengers are docked or anchored in port cities such as Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates...

Iran’s Assembly of Experts has selected Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Ali Khamenei who was eliminated in US-Israeli strikes, as the next Supreme Leader of Iran, according to a report by Iran International on Tuesday evening. According to the report, Mojtaba’s selection was made under heavy pressure from the Revolutionary Guards. Mojtaba, 56, lost his wife in the strike in which his father was eliminated. Earlier, the Assembly of Experts’ building in the city of Qom was bombed while votes were being counted to determine Khamenei’s successor. Due to fears of targeted eliminations, the 88 members of the Assembly of...

Last week, FBI Director Kash Patel fired a dozen agents who worked on the case investigating Donald Trump for taking top-secret materials to his Mar-a-Lago residence after his first term was over. Those agents have now been revealed to be part of an elite group specializing in assessing threats from Iran, according to two reports. Multiple sources with knowledge of the personnel move told the New York Sun and confirmed to MS Now that the layoffs impacted the counterespionage group tasked with investigating threats from foreign adversaries out of Iran just days before the US bombed its leaders. Trump green-lit...

The father of a teenage boy accused of killing four people in a shooting rampage at a high school in the US state of Georgia has been found guilty of murder, child cruelty and other charges His prosecution marks the third time that a US parent has been held criminally responsible for a mass shooting carried out by their child... ... Prosecutors argued he ignored numerous warning signs, including a notebook detailing how his son planned to kill students and teachers. During the trial, the jury heard how Colin Gray had bought his son an AR-style rifle for Christmas the...

America’s war on Iran has revealed much about its allies. Israel is as steadfast as ever, as secretary of war Pete Hegseth pointed out on Monday. Australia and Canada have also made clear their unequivocal support for the military action. In Europe, however, the response has been lackluster. Hegseth regretted the faintheartedness of “traditional partners who wring their hands and clutch their pearls, humming and hawing about the use of force.” ... The timidity of Europeans towards regime change in Iran is in stark contrast to their aggressive attitude towards regime change in Russia. Last year Von der Leyen called...

A new method of studying the contents of soil samples has revealed Stone Age people in Sweden were buried in decorated fur-and-feather clothing.More than seven millennia ago, Stone Age mourners in what is now Sweden buried a boy with a crown of woodpecker feathers and, in another grave, interred a woman with multicolored fur-and-feather footwear, a new study finds.These details were unearthed thanks to a newly developed technique that can identify traces of hair and feathers in soil taken from ancient graves, the researchers said...In the study, published Feb. 20 in the journal Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, Kirkinen and colleagues...

Facing a $100 million revenue shortfall largely due to federal Medicaid reimbursement cuts, Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, the largest affiliate of the national abortion business, has begun selling Botox injections and other cosmetic procedures to generate new income. The affiliate, which serves Northern California and Nevada, is introducing the services amid significant financial pressures. It closed five abortion clinics and laid off nearly 15% of its staff in 2025 after losing substantial Medicaid funding following a July spending bill under President Trump. Stacy Cross, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, said of the funding gap, “We’ll never fill...

Louisville, KY—The recent lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton against Aid Access and its operators further validates the urgency facing Kentucky. The Texas Attorney General has taken legal action against Aid Access GmbH, Aid Access B.V., and associated individuals operating an international abortion-by-mail enterprise that allegedly ships abortion-inducing drugs into Texas in direct defiance of state law. Kentucky is confronting similar aggressive and intentional targeting. Kentucky Right to Life has spoken out, and we will continue to highlight entities such as Aid Access, ABUZZ, Safe Choice, and AbortionFinder who actively market abortion-inducing drugs to Kentucky girls and women...

Nobody should be surprised that Iran has adopted the Hamas strategy of conducting warfare out of hospitals and schools, and I suppose we shouldn't be surprised that Pravda is covering it up. Yet I continue to be a bit shocked at the latter, because I still can't quite wrap my head around the idea that an institution that is key to upholding Western constitutional values would betray us in favor of the worst people on Earth. Silly me. There really is no level of depravity to which many of these people will not stoop. Holy sh*t Members of the basij...

What to know about the nature, the mindset, the over-riding presumptions that power the pro-abortionist? In many cases, of course, their bottom line—an abiding contempt for unborn babies (second only for their hatred of us) — is shockingly clear. But if that scorn is obvious to us, isn’t that animosity towards the little one even more self-evident to them? How can they not see what they are doing, and to whom? Let’s take a moment to explore the mechanisms they use to shield themselves from the cruelty on display, what they are doing to hapless unborn babies. There is a...

A Nashville elementary school has cleared the record of a first-grade teacher who was disciplined for refusing to read a book about same-sex marriage to his young students, according to a report. KIPP Antioch College Prep Elementary issued a “final warning letter” to teacher Eric Rivera in January after he declined to read an LGBTQ book to his class that was included in the language arts curriculum. Due to his Christian beliefs, Rivera said he could not in good conscience read the book to his class, according to legal group First Liberty Institute, and he asked a colleague to read...

This sack of crap is declaring the war a failure while our men and women are actively engaged in combat.

On Monday, I wrote about Spanish Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s decision to block the U.S. from using jointly operated military bases on its territory for strikes on Iran. President Donald Trump wasted no time responding forcefully, saying Tuesday that the U.S. is "going to cut off all trade with Spain." Trump made the comments from the White House during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. He noted that some European nations have been helpful to the U.S. regarding Iran, saying Germany has been “great.” He also praised NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, calling him “fantastic.” Then he spoke...

3 SOLDIERS DIED TODAY. NOT FOR OIL. NOT FOR LAND. FOR THE CHILDREN. March 1, 2026. 11:47 AM. The Pentagon confirmed: 3 American service members killed in action. 5 more wounded. The first casualties of Operation Epic Fury. The media will use their deaths to question the war. We will use their sacrifice to tell you WHY this war is being fought. ⚡ WHAT HAPPENED IN THE LAST 24 HOURS While every camera on Earth pointed at Tehran — the real operation happened in silence. — Interpol arrested 7 people across 4 European countries. France. Germany. Austria. Belgium. All connected...

In a recent piece for National Review, Philip Klein astutely points out a fundamental difference between a potential confrontation with Iran and the quagmire that became the Iraq War: There will be no full-scale U.S. ground invasion under President Trump. Klein argues that with Iran’s military already crippled by sanctions and precision strikes, and Trump unwilling to commit to a major land advance, this won’t devolve into another endless occupation. He’s right, but the analysis stops short of the full picture. A war with Iran, should it come to that amid escalating tensions, would be short, sharp, and transformative, not...

Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has reportedly been appointed Iran's new Supreme Leader. Mojtaba, 56, Ali Khamenei's second oldest son, has strong links to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and was chosen by Iran's Assembly of Experts 'under pressure from the Revolutionary Guards', according to Iranian opposition outlet Iran International. Mojtaba is not a high-ranking cleric, has never held office and does not have an official role in the regime. But he served in the Iranian armed forces during the Iran-Iraq war and is believed to wield considerable influence behind the scenes. He has been touted...

[Catholic Caucus] Heterodox Austrian priest criticizes celibacy while appearing with female companion in publicThe chaplain of Vienna’s St. Stephen Cathedral has taken many heterodox positions in the past, including support for female ordinations and blessings of same-sex couples.The chaplain of Vienna’s St. Stephen Cathedral has repeatedly appeared with a blonde woman at high society events while downplaying priestly celibacy as an “elastic concept.”Chaplain Anton (called “Toni”) Faber has drawn the attention of the press in recent months for appearing at high society events like the famous Vienna Opera Ball with a blonde woman named Natalie Nemec accompanying him as his...

I've only just begun...and I just have to say this is a "must read" especially this year! Not a quick read, but compelling, and a fabulous detailed history that none should ignore. Prof. Turley is thorough and thoughtful. We are going through troubling times these days, and back before the ratification of our Constitution, there was much turmoil right here while the people worked on forming a system of government. Fabulously done! I have many other things to do, but I can't put it down. So...I guess I'm reading for a while.

***Marco Rubio insisted Tuesday that he was misunderstood one day prior when he said the US attacked Iran on Saturday because “we knew that there was going to be an Israeli action” that would “precipitate an attack against American forces.” Rubio walked back his prior statements after President Trump flatly denied that Israel chose the timing of the attack — maintaining in an Oval Office pool spray hours earlier, as he had in interviews, that he chose to attack after unsuccessful US-Iran talks Thursday in Geneva. “This was a question of timing, of why this had to happen as a...

TThe Democrat party is the party of hate. They hate, in no particular order, white people, masculine men, law and order, Christians (especially those who enjoy a traditional Mass), personal responsibility, the “cisgendered,” the 2nd Amendment, merit-based hiring, punctuality, the physically fit, standardized exams, voting requiring photo ID, America, Donald Trump, and God. When President Trump invokes the Almighty, the donkeys squee and wet their knickers, lest their heads explode. A thinking person, which precludes most on the left, might ask, whom, then, do Democrats love? Well, the list is long, and again, in no particular order — except...