Free Republic

Stephen A. Smith tore into both Republicans and Democrats Friday for lacking clear leadership, suggesting the country is facing a political vacuum while bluntly asking, “Where’s the leadership?” “Look at the Republican Party right now. It’s Trump. You know what I said the other week on my show? I said, ‘Y’all do know he’s leaving in 2028, right?’ Unless he circumvents the 22nd Amendment and runs for a third term, he’s leaving,” Smith said of the GOP on “Real Time with Bill Maher.” “JD Vance, you ain’t [Trump]. Don’t think you are. Marco Rubio, thank God he doesn’t try to...

The U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has been accused of “God-washing” the war in Iran. Leading a Christian worship service at the Pentagon, he prayed for "every round to find its mark" and for “overwhelming violence" against America's enemies. During the service, which was livestreamed and attended by military personnel, Hegseth also quoted from the Psalms, saying: "I pursued my enemies and overtook them, and did not turn back till they were consumed." Speaking to Sky News, U.S. pastor Rev Andy Campbell said the use of Scripture in conversations around the Iran war is troubling: “If you go to war...

"The very feature that causes harm also drives engagement," researchers sayArtificial intelligence (AI) chatbots are so prone to flattering and validating their human users that they are giving bad advice that can damage relationships and reinforce harmful behaviors, according to a new study that explores the dangers of AI telling people what they want to hear. The study, published in Science, tested 11 leading AI systems and found they all showed varying degrees of sycophancy -- behavior that was overly agreeable and affirming. The problem is not just that they dispense inappropriate advice but that people trust and prefer AI...

Vice President JD Vance speculated that UFOs could actually be “demons” flying around Earth, contending that ancient civilizations believed they had encounters with such vile creatures. “I don’t think they’re aliens. I think they’re demons anyway, but that’s a long discussion,” Vance told conservative podcaster Benny Johnson. “I mean, every great world religion, including Christianity, the one I believe in, as understood, there are weird things out there,” he later added. “When I hear about [an] extra natural phenomenon, that’s where I go to: The Christian understanding that there’s a lot of good out there, but there’s also evil out...

The Lancet has retracted a 49-year-old unsigned commentary on the safety of cosmetic talc after two researchers discovered the author was a paid consultant to Johnson & Johnson, at the time a leading producer of talc products. The anonymous commentary has been used for decades by corporate defense attorneys to claim scientific proof of talc products’ safety, according to critics. But one such attorney says the paper “would not be relied upon to any significant degree.” Published in 1977, the article argued against government-mandated regulatory testing for asbestos in cosmetic talc. Around that time, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration...

Babylon Bee Join Toggle navigation menu Banner Ad 11 Pickup Lines For Getting Chicks At A 'No Kings' Rally Politics · Mar 30, 2026 · BabylonBee.com Ashlin Galbraith / Shutterstock Image for article: 11 Pickup Lines For Getting Chicks At A 'No Kings' Rally Banner Ad A "No Kings" rally isn't just an excuse to take off work while protesting a thing that doesn't exist in America — it's also a great way to find love. Knowing what the chicks at a "No Kings" protest want to hear is the key. The Babylon Bee spent the weekend compiling the most...

Michigan synagogue attack was act of terror inspired by Hezbollah, FBI says Attacker Googled, “What time is the Trump rally in Michigan?”

The Bible is more concerned with the theological meaning of circumcision than its ethnic significance. First commanded to Abraham, circumcision in the Bible does not constitute the brit (covenant) itself, but is the most permanent ot (sign) of someone who undertakes to live in covenant with God. Without this commitment, circumcision carries only surgical meaning; and without circumcision, the Bible’s commandments that were intended to be suffused with higher religious dimension lose their value. The circumcision of the flesh is also a picture of the greatest circumcision need – that of the heart... Only God can perform a circumcision of...

U.S.-mediated peace talks between Russia and Ukraine have not reached a dead end, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on March 30 in response to a question from the Kyiv Independent, arguing that negotiations are merely postponed. The comments come as diplomacy appears stalled, with the U.S. now focused on the war in Iran and no new Kyiv-Moscow-Washington talks scheduled. Despite the pause, Zelensky sought to project momentum, even as fundamental disagreements — particularly over territory — remain unresolved. "The trilateral meeting must take place; it is undoubtedly being postponed because the U.S. is currently focused on Iran," Zelensky said about a...

I don't think many people saw this one coming, but it makes sense in a perverse way. Events in the Middle East have conspired to create a situation in which Ukraine has become an indispensable ally and munitions supplier to Gulf Arab states. Nobody in the world has as much experience fighting Iranian drones as does Ukraine, and they have become extraordinarily proficient at destroying them before they do any damage, and at a price that cannot be beat. The Gulf states, having blown through an awful lot of their anti-air magazines, are having to quickly learn how to defend...

When Air Force Times reporter Michael Scanlon wrote that the A-10 Warthog had been pulled into maritime interdiction missions in the Strait of Hormuz, it landed like a jolt. This was not the airplane most people expected to hear about in a sea fight. But according to Scanlon, that is exactly what happened. During a Pentagon briefing, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine said the A-10 was now operating along the southern flank of Operation Epic Fury, targeting Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fast-attack watercraft in the Strait of Hormuz. That detail matters because it confirms something the host of the...

Connecticut already has some of the toughest gun restrictions in the country, and a new bill advancing in the state legislature targets Glocks and Glock clones. Backed by Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (D), state House Bill 5043 advances a ban on popular handguns that have been on the market for over 40 years and are commonly used for lawful self-defense. The measure, advanced last week in a partisan vote of the House Judiciary Committee, ambiguously bans the future manufacture, sale, and importation into the state of "convertible pistols" defined as "any semiautomatic pistol with a cruciform trigger bar" that could...

VIDEOBrian Craig, in his first radio broadcast since returning from his Steve Kane Radio Show luxury cruise to the Caribbean, made a bold prediction. He predicted that AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) would blame January 6 PTSD for causing her to ILLEGALLY use campaign contributions to buy expensive crazy pills aka ketamine treatment. We shall see if Brian Craig is correct but if he is your humble correspondent is predicting that the very first person to laugh out loud over that wild claim will be... Jussie Smollett.

On Monday’s CNN This Morning, the network cast President Trump less as the Commander-in-Chief than as a common street criminal. Global affairs analyst Kim Dozier -- who was a longtime overseas reporter for CBS News -- likened Trump’s negotiating posture toward Iran to an armed robbery, suggesting the U.S. was telling Tehran: agree to Washington’s demands, “or else this is a stick-up.” Discussing the gap between competing U.S. and Iranian proposals, Dozier brushed aside diplomacy as little more than window dressing. “The fact of the matter is the 15-point plan that the U.S. has put forward versus Iran's five-point plan...

A new Tourism Bill passed Nepal’s National Assembly last week. It will require climbers to have previously climbed a 7,000’er in Nepal before tackling Everest. In part, the move will prevent inexperienced or unfit climbers on the mountain, but it also boosts the country’s thriving expedition business. Every year, new regulations are proposed for trekking and mountaineering in Nepal. We then wait to see which ones are actually implemented, and how. The difference this time is that the Everest rules are on the verge of becoming national law. This differs significantly from the regulations of the Department of Tourism or...

Why would an American citizen with enough intellect to obtain an I.D. to vote see merit in assisting American citizens without enough intellect to obtain an I.D.?That is my question. Who favors and who disfavors Voter ID?

State officials have awarded the City of Sacramento $2.5 million to support equity efforts in the local cannabis industry. The funding comes from the Cannabis Equity Grants Program for Local Jurisdictions, administered by the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (Go-Biz).

The University of Southern California (USC) and Los Angeles television station KABC tried to have a gubernatorial debate on March 24. The qualifying criteria for being invited included polling numbers and fundraising thresholds. Six candidates made the cut: four Democrats: Katie Porter, Tom Steyer, Eric Swalwell and Matt Mahan, and two Republicans: Chad Bianco and Steve Hilton. Democrat Xavier Becerra, who didn't make the cut, called the qualifying criteria "biased. Every one of those who were invited is white. They should all withdraw from this racist so-called debate." His reasoning was so powerful that USC decided to cancel the debate...

The Trump Administration has been clear that its national defense strategy is to defend the homeland and deter China. To achieve these goals, the new funding made available in the FY 2027 defense budget should be focused on expanding capacity across the services—especially in sea power and airpower with large procurement orders for existing programs and investments in next-generation capabilities like the B-21 and F-47. America’s long-neglected strategic deterrent needs funding to defend the homeland, to include necessary support for programs like the Sentinel missile and Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine. New spending needs to prioritize the Indo-Pacific and the Western...

At the beginning of the Iraq War, David Frum published an article in National Review entitled “Unpatriotic Conservatives,” attacking those on the right opposed to the war—including the founders of this magazine, Patrick J. Buchanan, Scott McConnell, and Taki Theodoracopulos. Almost a quarter-century later, Frum’s arguments stand out as particularly lazy and dishonest smears. Almost everyone acknowledges that the Iraq War was a mistake sold to the American people on false pretenses, directly causing the deaths of 460,000 Iraqis and 4,506 American servicemen, destroying Iraq’s ancient Christian community, and replacing a stable government with a power vacuum that has been...