Free Republic

The Iranian regime folks are not happy campers right now. They're being squeezed by the U.S. blockade that's costing them an estimated $435 million a day. As Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent explained, that's going to cause their Kharg Island operation to be "shut in" soon. That's the money that sustains the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) that would then be cut off. Meanwhile, the U.S. is even seizing its ships, like the MV Touska, that tried to run the U.S. blockade with some bad materials aboard that could have helped their missile program. So what are the regime's options? They...

Two years and two weeks have passed since Gov. Gavin Newsom issued his first return-to-office order, which directed state employees to begin working from government offices two days a week. Newsom upped the in-office requirement to four days last year, but subsequently postponed that mandate after facing steep push-back from state employees and labor groups. In the intervening time, unions have filed lawsuits, lawmakers have introduced legislation and state workers have continued rallying, all to push back against the governor’s mandate.

Democrats cheered a redistricting measure that reportedly passed in Virginia on Tuesday. The passage gives the Democrat-controlled state legislature the ability to redraw the commonwealth's congressional map ahead of the 2026 midterms. Except there are already questions about whether this will stand, as we reported. On Wednesday afternoon, Tazewell Circuit Court Judge Jack Hurley Jr. ruled that Tuesday's referendum is unconstitutional and issued an injunction preventing the certification of the election maps. Judge Hurley has also denied any motion to stay his ruling pending appeal. That decision will likely be appealed. Democrats like House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY-08) were...

The state of “current” affairs is not good. An Atlantic current that’s key for maintaining the climate could collapse sooner than we thought, potentially bringing about a global weather apocalypse, per an alarming study in the journal Science Advances. “This is a key result with implications for the future climate of the Atlantic and beyond,” the international team of researchers wrote in the paper. The at-risk current in question is the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC, a “conveyor belt of the ocean” that circulates warm water toward the ocean surface from the tropics to the Northern Hemisphere. This oceanic...

DoorDasher EXPLODES Over Wrong Address… Then Crosses the Line (just get your own food and avoid the crazy)

Thieves have destroyed nearly 75 fire hydrants on the west side of Detroit in the last 48 hours, stealing parts and putting lives at risk. Crews with the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department are racing to repair the broken hydrants along Southfield Road and across the west side after thieves tore through dozens in about two days. "We think the number is about 75 so far," DWSD Deputy Director Sam Smalley said. The thieves are targeting metal nozzles and stems on top of the hydrants, which are worth about $600. Executive Fire Commissioner Chuck Simms said the vandalism is a...

In declaring an extension to the ceasefire in the Iran war, President Trump signalled clearly enough that he would prefer to strike a peace deal with Tehran. J.D. Vance, the vice-president, has been kicking his heels, waiting to return to the Pakistani capital Islamabad for another go at achieving a breakthrough. The Iranians keep blowing hot and cold on whether they are ready to play their part. Trump suggested in a social media post earlier this week that he believes this is because Iran’s government is ‘seriously fractured’. His ceasefire extension is aimed at allowing the regime time to deliver...

On March 26, 25-year-old Noelia Castillo Ramos was put to death by the Spanish government. She had not committed any crime. In fact, she was the victim of a horrendous one. In 2022, Ramos was sexually assaulted by a group of men, which compounded her existing mental struggles and led to at least two suicide attempts. One of the attempts left her with permanent injury and constant pain. Eventually, she appealed to die by euthanasia, which had been legalized in Spain in 2021. For two years, her parents tried to save her with the help of a Christian law group....

A Canadian university is advertising five research positions, but applicants must be a part of the LGBTQ+ community to apply. Memorial University of Newfoundland posted five new Canada Research Chair (CRC) positions that are open to current employees of the liberal arts school, but there's a catch. In order to be eligible to apply, the applicant has to be a member of an equity group, including the 2SLGBTQIA+ people, a woman, Indigenous, a racialized person, or a disabled, according to the job postings viewed by the Daily Mail. The five-to-seven-year gig, which pays up to $200,000 CAD ($145,000 USD) annually,...

On April 26, 1986, Soviet engineers at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant were conducting a safety test. Doomed by a fatal design flaw and pushed to the limit by human negligence, reactor 4 exploded amid an attempted shutdown during a routine procedure, setting off a chain of events that ultimately released radioactive material hundreds of times greater than that of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima... While science has allowed us to understand the circumstances of the explosion itself, it has taken much more work to uncover the layers of mismanagement, negligence and misinformation that resulted in human suffering, ecological...

Many people now believe that words can cause lasting harm.A new paper suggests a link between censoriousness and mental illness. The Wall Street Journal article is paywalled, but here is a link to the original paper. First comment is a summary of the paper. Personality and Individual Differences.pdf

Blockade of Hormuz threatens to choke Iran’s trade lifelines and push a fragile economy toward collapse. Mounting losses, inflation and internal divisions raise doubts over Tehran’s ability to sustain prolonged conflict. The economic viability of Iran’s resistance is facing an unprecedented existential threat due to the US naval blockade of the strait, which accounts for over 90 percent of Iran’s $109.7 billion in annual trade. Beyond immediate revenue loss, the blockade creates a catastrophic “storage clock” for Iran’s energy infrastructure. With only about 20 million barrels of spare onshore storage capacity and a surplus production of 1.5 million barrels per...

The 2026 season-opener between the Indiana Fever and Dallas Wings will be one of the most highly anticipated games in WNBA history. However, it is nowhere near a sellout as of this writing due to outrageous ticket prices. This is the first time ever that the Indianapolis-based organization is struggling to sell seats. Cost is the primary factor in the stark decline of sales for the Fever home-opener, which reflects a larger concern for the WNBA. Someone has to pay for the increased player salaries but the demand may not match the financial expenditure. The 2026 WNBA season will get...

~ The FReeper Canteen Presents ~ ~ Remembering Our Troops!! ~ America’s Team! U.S. Marines with 3rd Radio Battalion, III Marine Expeditionary Force Information Group and U.S. Army Soldiers with 1st Extended Range Sensing Effects Company, 1st Multi-Domain Effects Battalion, 1st Multi-Domain Task Force, pose for a photograph at Japan Ground Self-Defense Force Hijyudai Maneuver Area, Oita Prefecture, Japan. U.S. Marines and U.S. Army Soldiers performed a field setup and tear-down of electronic warfare systems as a part of the field training exercise portion of Resolute Dragon 23. RD 23 showcased the first ever bilateral operations with U.S. Army...

The UK government has agreed to pay France another £660m to curb the number of asylum seekers travelling across the Channel, including plans to fund a riot squad to “contain and disperse” people trying to board small boats. Under a three-year deal to be signed on Thursday by the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, 1,100 enforcement, intelligence and military officers – an increase of 40% – will be employed to track down smuggling gangs and people seeking refuge. A 50-strong riot squad will be trained in “crowd-control tactics” and will “stop illegal migrants in their tracks”, according to the Home Office....

At least 23 people, including three children, were killed Tuesday in three separate attacks blamed on jihadists and criminal gangs in northeastern and northwestern Nigeria, according to two security reports. Suspected Boko Haram jihadists killed 11 people in a raid on a village in northeastern Borno state, while 12 others were killed in attacks on two villages in northwestern Zamfara state, according to two security reports prepared for the United Nations and seen by AFP. Jihadists have been waging a 17-year armed insurgency in the northeast, while kidnapping-for-ransom gangs known as bandits have been terrorising communities in the northwest and...

Druzhba means ‘friendship’, which is nowhere to be found these days. Today, Ukraine restarted the flow of Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia through the Druzhba pipeline that it kept shut to further boost the election of Péter Magyar. In exchange for that, the EU was finally able to approve the long-awaited 90 billion Euro loan to Kiev – although it must be noted that both Budapest and Bratislava ‘opted-out’, meaning no Hungarian or Slovak money is part of it. But there isn’t time to celebrate because, also today, Russia announced that it will close a major oil pipeline into...

Being a Christian girl in Pakistan means living as a target. Teenagers Maria, Sidra, Niha, and Elishba are just four of countless girls who have been abducted from their homes and forced to convert to Islam in the past year. Sidra and Niha were both abducted less than a month ago, in March 2026. The abuse goes beyond kidnapping. Maria was taken in July and forced to marry a 30-year-old Muslim man. She later gave a statement saying she had done so of her own will and was now a follower of Islam. Despite the efforts of Maria’s parents in...

I purchased some stereo computer speakers w/woofer from a vendor on Amazon. They arrived on schedule but the box had already been ripped open and the cables shoved in all tangled up like a backlash on a fishing reel. The protective sleeves for the items were at the bottom of the box. Also, the other owner neglected to put the instructions back in the box. So, I'm gwine return it. I formerly returned items for free dropoff at the nearest UPS store. But, they've changed it. Now it's either Whole Foods or Rent A Center. However, Rent A Centers locally...

Labour is trailing in the polls and the prime minister's personal ratings have plumbed the depths. The party is facing losses in forthcoming elections: losing control of Wales, shedding councillors in England, and going into reverse in Scotland. To put the tin lid on it, the prime minister has been on the back foot over his appointment of Lord Mandelson to the job of ambassador to the US, and the subsequent sacking of senior civil servant, Sir Olly Robbins, in a row over security vetting. So the question being asked around Westminster is not 'should there be a Labour leadership...