Free Republic

ARLINGTON— The Navy took a major step forward in delivering game-changing hypersonic strike power to carrier pilots when it awarded California startup Castelion a contract nearing $105 million to fully integrate the Blackbeard hypersonic weapon onto the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. The deal puts U.S. forces on a fast track to field its first operational air-launched hypersonic strike weapon from carrier decks by 2027. Unlike land-based ballistic missiles, Blackbeard is made for Navy aircraft carriers and can be launched from an F/A-18 fighter jet operating hundreds of miles from shore, giving the U.S. enhanced capabilities to strike an adversary’s missile batteries...

YOU ARE SPECIAL "I don't know why I was even born," the young sailor confided! "I'm ugly. I'm not talented. I've never been what you would call smart. I don't really have any friends. And I can't seem to do anything right. I feel like I've spent my whole life letting people down. Sometimes I wonder if even God could love me!" That conversation took place more than a decade ago, but I still remember it as if it were yesterday. That one and a lot of others over the years with the same message: "I'm no good; I'm...

According to on-air reports, which were covering other topics when it occurred, shots have been fired at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Video of C-Span's coverage shows people ducking below their tables while the head table, where President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump were sitting, evacuated. The anchor can be heard breaking in to point out the developing situation. 🚨BREAKING NEWS — SHOTS ALLEGEDLY FIRED — Trump EVACUATED from WHCD pic.twitter.com/8ZVZFe3Oqc— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) April 26, 2026The situation is fluid, and this post will be updated as more information becomes known. UPDATE:It is now being reported that the Secret...

Did you know that a secretive thing called private equity owns almost 10 per cent of the UK economy? Did you know that it controls the jobs of several million people and may well own your local hospital, water supply, children’s school or even your home? No? Here is a book that aims to straighten you out on all that. Private equity is one of those things that you either know about or don’t. If you are in the finance business you know, because it is the story of the past quarter century. If you are not in that world,...

President Trump and first lady Melania were dramatically evacuated from the White House Correspondents' Dinner less than 30 minutes after arriving. It was unclear what happened, but there were reports of a shooter.

Greetings from Ukraine. I'm in the Kharkiv oblast, which the huge numbers of Russian speakers all around prefer to call the Kharkov oblast. But, whichever your preferred vowel, this oblast is oh, such a blast. Last night, the actual Russians (from Russia, that is) tried to take a town about fifteen kilometres away from where I am. They were repulsed by the Ukrainians, but the artillery fire, drones and bombs from just beyond the horizon gave me a bit of a sleepless night. Or maybe it was the food, which leaves a lot to be desired compared to Lviv or...

Ministry says it will take a deeper dive into cause once current slide stops movingOn a sunny Friday morning, Kelly Ziebart walks through mountains of mud and dead grass that have heaved off the hills, just south of Fort St John, B.C. "Look how far the road slid down here," he said, pointing to damage along the closed road into Old Fort. "I think they're talking 50, 60 metres." This is the third landslide to hit the community of roughly 150 people since 2018. Once again, it has destroyed the only road in or out of the hamlet along the...

Family, friends and supporters of Virginia Giuffre held an emotional memorial vigil in Washington DC marking the first anniversary of her death. With the White House in the background, her brother Sky Roberts spoke of how his sister, a prominent accuser of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, had turned "pain into purpose". The event was held ahead of the arrival of the King and Queen in Washington DC on a state visit. Giuffre's lawyer Sigrid McCawley repeated calls for the King to meet Epstein survivors, saying it was a "missed opportunity". McCawley said she appreciated the concerns about the King not...

The Baby Boom were mostly still in their cradles or unborn when The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer came out in 1947, which makes the film a historical document – one of our first glimpses of a generation gap forming in postwar America. The whole idea of the teenager is really less than a century old, and by the late '40s it was edging out the "bobby-soxer" – a largely female phenomenon that was launched into public consciousness with the shrieking fans who descended on Frank Sinatra's performances at the Paramount Theater in New York during the war. In his book...

Members of the screenwriters union overwhelmingly ratified a four-year agreement with Hollywood studios and streamers on Friday, bringing an end to a surprisingly smooth and quick process that brought a prolonged strike the last time around. Union leaders said 90% voted to approve the deal struck between the Writers Guild of America West, Writers Guild of America East and Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Studios will now shift to negotiations with actors and directors. Leaders of the unions emphasized gains in health coverage. “In the face of industry contraction and runaway health care cost inflation, writers were able...

April 30, 2011 turned out to be one of Washington’s weirder nights. The president of the United States had just secretly ordered the raid that would take out Sept. 11 attack mastermind Osama bin Laden and he was about to deliver jokes at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. But it was the barbs that President Barack Obama and headliner Seth Meyers hurled at real estate mogul-turned-reality TV star Donald Trump that created a political narrative that lives on: jokes = presidential revenge campaign. (For the record, Trump has said he had a good time. He told The Post’s Karen...

Mullally will meet the head of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics during a four-day visit starting Saturday, her first abroad since being enthroned last month as the Church of England's top cleric. The audience comes 60 years after a historic meeting in 1966 between then archbishop Michael Ramsey and pope Paul VI, the first at that level since the Church of England was created in the 16th century, when king Henry VIII broke with Rome. Relations have been steadily improving since although in 2016 their successors noted "new disagreements", particularly on the ordination of the women – making Mullally's visit...

More Americans are choosing to walk away from difficult relationships instead of working through them, a new survey has revealed. Nearly two in five Americans — 38% — say they have gone "no contact" with a friend or family member in the past year, according to a survey of 2,000 adults conducted in March by Talker Research for the therapy platform Talkspace... Younger Americans were far more likely than older generations to report cutting someone off. The survey found that 60% of Gen Z respondents had gone "no contact," compared to 50% of millennials, 38% of Gen X and 20%...

The Mexican government says two US agents who died last weekend in a car crash had not been authorised to operate in the country.The officials, who reportedly worked for the CIA, had taken part in a raid on suspected drug labs in the northern state of Chihuahua before their vehicle skidded off a mountain road and exploded.Following an investigation ordered by President Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico's security ministry said that "neither had formal accreditation to participate in operational activities" and that federal authorities had not been informed of their presence.The incident comes amid at-times fraught relations between Mexico and the US...

JPPI says Beijing’s escalating rivalry with the US, alignment with Muslim nations, and adoption of anti-Western narratives is changing its previously positive attitude to JewsAntisemitism is rising in China, a country previously considered almost free of anti-Jewish hatred, according to a new research report by the Jewish People Policy Institute. Anti-Jewish tropes have moved from marginal online spaces into official media, academia, and state-sanctioned discourse, often through a deliberate and complete blurring of distinctions between Israel, Jews, and Judaism, the study found. Update: After publication of this article, the Chinese Embassy in Israel firmly rejected the findings in the study,...

California drivers could be seeing lower gas prices once a new mega-pipeline project reaches completion, flooding the state with the much needed black gold. In a recent joint announcement, Phillips 66 and Kinder Morgan, Inc. said its Western Gateway Pipeline project was moving forward following the closure in the state of multiple refineries. “Customer response during the open season underscores the importance of Western Gateway in addressing long‑term refined products logistics needs in the region,” Phillips 66 Chairman and CEO Mark Lashier said. Once fully operational, the massive pipeline will stretch from St. Louis, MO. to California, and be able...

San Francisco health authorities are raising urgent concerns after a powerful synthetic opioid was detected in the city for the first time, and is already being tied to a fatal overdose earlier this month. Officials with the San Francisco Department of Public Health say the drug, known as cychlorphine, surfaced in a counterfeit pill, prompting alarm over its extreme potency and unpredictable presence in the illicit drug market. “We believe it is more potent than fentanyl. It was found we believe in someone using a counterfeit pill,” Daniel Tsai, director San Francisco Department of Public Health told ABC7. Law enforcement...

World map of gasoline prices…..Germany 9.36, France 8.80, Russia 3.30, Hong Kong 15.36…..

In the summer of 1905, two men held a private conversation in Tokyo that the world wouldn't find out about for nearly two decades. No treaty was signed. No announcement was made. But in that room, the United States quietly handed an entire nation over to colonial rule — and set in motion a chain of events that would end at Pearl Harbor forty years later. This is the story of the Taft-Katsura Agreement, the secret deal that validated Japanese imperial ambition at the exact moment it needed validation most. We cover the Meiji Restoration and Japan's transformation from feudal...

Black women have a higher murder rate than white men.