Free Republic

Fifty-one years ago today, April 30, 1975, the last American helicopter lifted off the Saigon embassy roof. We had won. Nixon and Kissinger’s Paris Peace Accords forced the North to recognize South Vietnam’s sovereignty. America promised air power and supplies if they violated it. The ARVN was finally ready to defend itself. Then Watergate. Democrats won huge majorities in 1974. They slashed aid by over 75%, banned any U.S. response to Soviet rearmament of the North, and watched as the Communists violated every agreement. No bullets. No gas. No tires for their Jeeps. South Vietnam collapsed—not from lack of courage,...

Our own commercial shipbuilding industry has a lot of catching up to do. We should pass the SHIPS for America Act to support it as soon as possible. Last month an eye-popping headline came out of the Chinese shipping and logistics industry: Cosco, a state-owned shipping conglomerate based in Shanghai, had struck a deal with another state-owned firm – China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) – for 87 new vessels across all segments of its fleet. Maritime Executive said the order includes “ultra-large container ships, ultra-large bulk carriers, ultra-large oil tankers, grain transport ships, multi-purpose heavy lift vessels, MR tankers, ro-ro...

… If cigarettes are suddenly back in the frame, it’s because they suit the mood. “We have moved on from clean girl culture and we're interested in this sort of hedonistic, slightly rebellious, even nihilist culture,” says Wellman. Pop culture is starting to grow bored with self-optimization and more interested in looking messy and a little destructive — think “Brat Summer” — a vibe that suits cigarettes. In popular media, smoking signals someone is “cool, edgy and sexy,” according to Grace Kong, an associate professor of psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine with expertise in preventing youth tobacco use. Cigarettes...

Unmanned Surface Vessels and Submarines Form Ghost Fleet's Core · U.S. Navy Plans 10 of Each by 2028 · Aegis Combat Systems and Multiple Missiles Onboard Deployed Ahead of Carrier Strike Groups.. Within and outside the U.S. military, critics frequently point out that aircraft carrier operations — long a showcase of America's supreme military power — have become dangerously vulnerable. The concern is that China has been building up its arsenal of long-range anti-ship ballistic missiles and hypersonic missiles capable of destroying U.S. aircraft carriers and Aegis destroyers, potentially cornering the United States in a contingency. China has completed development...

Archaeologists from the University of Warsaw have discovered a concentration of shipwrecks near the ancient port of Ptolemais in northern Libya... one of the five cities that formed the Pentapolis of Cyrenaica, established by the Ptolemaic dynasty between the late 4th and 3rd centuries BC. The city emerged as a major hub for maritime trade until the Arab conquest in the 7th century AD.Covering a stretch of over 100 metres, the large concentration of submerged material suggests that multiple shipwrecks accumulated over time as a navigational danger for ships approaching the harbour.After a 13-year hiatus due to the Libyan civil...

US and five Latin American nations accuse Beijing of politicizing maritime trade after canal port dispute. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned China that "the sovereignty of our hemisphere is non-negotiable" after the U.S. and regional allies accused Beijing of detaining Panama-flagged ships in a dispute tied to canal port control. In a joint statement with Bolivia, Costa Rica, Guyana, Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago, the U.S. said China’s actions targeting Panama-flagged vessels were a "blatant attempt to politicize maritime trade" and infringe on regional sovereignty, framing the dispute as a broader strategic test over control of one of the...

American officials are considering foreign designs and having U.S. warship components built in overseas yards as part of an expansive manufacturing study proposed in the Fiscal Year 2027 budget,... Specifically, the Pentagon has directed the Navy to consider Japanese and Korean shipyards and designs for use in the U.S. fleet, USNI News has learned. Earlier this week, when asked about the study, the now former Secretary of the Navy John Phelan told USNI News that the Department of the Navy was considering foreign shipyards for not only auxiliary supply ships, but also for work on U.S. warships... South Korea and...

Spanish archaeologists have documented over 30 shipwrecks in the waters between the Rock of Gibraltar and the port of Algeciras.This discovery follows a three-year study titled Project Herakles. Led by the University of Cádiz, the team identified 151 archaeological sites and 134 total wrecks, according to The Guardian...The researchers worked with colleagues from the University of Granada to document 34 specific wrecks.These vessels represent a diverse array of eras and cultures:Punic era: One ship dating back to the fifth century B.C.Roman period: 23 Roman ships and two late Roman ships.Medieval period: Four vessels, including three that may clarify seafaring practices...

The easiest way to misunderstand the Navy’s shipbuilding mess is to treat it as a shipyard story. That is how the issue is usually framed. Too few workers, too much complexity, too much bureaucracy, too many delays. None of that is wrong, but it is only the visible part of the problem. The deeper problem sits upstream. The Navy’s procurement troubles reflect not just industrial strain, but a long stretch of strategic drift. If Washington cannot decide what kind of fleet it wants, shipbuilders will never deliver it on time... For most of the Cold War, the Navy knew what...

In April, President Trump signed an Executive Order titled Restoring America’s Maritime Dominance. It aims to address the nation’s dependence on foreign manufacturers of commercial and military ships. To make this possible, we are going to have to restore conditions and levels of investment that haven’t been seen since the 1970s. That was the last time the U.S. had anything approaching global maritime dominance. The U.S. needs warships as well as containerships and bulk ships, and it needs them pronto. We don’t have the workforce required to mount the kind of resurgence the government is looking for, and costs are...

The United States has burned through thousands of missiles since the Iran war began on Feb. 28, diminishing the armaments needed in a potential future conflict with China tied to its tensions with Taiwan.The U.S. military has used 1,100 long-range stealth cruise missiles — nearly all of the total number left in Washington’s stockpile — and fired off more than 1,000 Tomahawk cruise missiles, The New York Times reported. The U.S. only produces roughly 100 Tomahawks a year, meaning under current production, it could take 10 years to replace.In addition, in less than eight weeks American forces have spent more...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is arguing that the war in Iran has already ended because of the ceasefire that began in early April, an interpretation that would allow the White House to avoid the need to seek congressional approval. The statement furthers an argument laid out by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during testimony in the Senate earlier Thursday, when he said the ceasefire effectively paused the war. Under that rationale, the administration has not yet met the requirement mandated by a 1973 law to seek formal approval from Congress for military action that extends beyond 60 days. A...

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media. I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving be made for everyone: for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. ~ 1 Timothy 2:1-2 Religion Forum threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate of any kind. Prayer For America I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before Me in the gap on behalf...

NATO is considering ⁠ending ⁠its recent practice of holding annual summits, six sources ⁠told Reuters, a move that could avoid a potentially tense encounter with U.S. President Donald Trump in his ​final year in office. Trump's administration has engaged repeatedly in scathing criticism of many of the U.S.-led defence alliance's 31 other members, most recently ‌berating some for not providing more assistance to U.S. military operations against Iran.

A groundbreaking Harvard study has found that AI systems outperformed human doctors in high-pressure emergency medicine triage, diagnosing more accurately in the potentially life and death moments when people are first rushed to hospital. The results were described by independent experts as showing “a genuine step forward” in the clinical reasoning of AIs and came as part of trials that tested the responses of hundreds of doctors against an AI. The authors said the results, published in the journal Science, showed large language models (LLMs) “have eclipsed most benchmarks of clinical reasoning”. One experiment focused on 76 patients who arrived...

WILLIAMSPORT — The township in Lycoming County that is embroiled in controversy with the developer of a Bass Pro Outpost store is looking for a new solicitor. Joseph F. Orso III resigned Wednesday after three weeks citing irreconcilable differences regarding legal strategy in the development case at the site of the old Lycoming Mall. The township and its supervisors are under court order to sign a subdivision plan needed by Famvest, a State College developer, to proceed with its plans for a Bass Pro on the site of a former Best Buy. Famvest is consolidating two parcels it owns to...

In a major move to address the growing issue of birth tourism, Republican Sen. Rand Paul is introducing a constitutional amendment that would end birthright citizenship. His amendment would grant birthright citizenship only to children born in our nation with at least one parent who is a U.S. citizen. Sen. Paul shared the full text of the resolution in a post on X: I am introducing a Constitutional Amendment to end Birthright Citizenship. Under current interpretations of American law, anyone born on American soil automatically becomes a U.S. citizen, regardless of whether the parent was here legally or not. This...

A Republican strategist is helping Americans coordinate small-dollar donations to help pro-American candidates win primary races against pro-amnesty establishment candidates. “The problem a lot of grassroots candidates face is they never get the necessary funds to actually get their message heard by people,” said strategist Ryan Girdusky, who has founded Homeland PAC. He told Breitbart News: When they do [get the funds], they can succeed, especially if it’s about immigration, like Dave Brat did [in 2014 Virginia]. So, by working on and making sure these messages can get out and spending [funds] on behalf of these candidates, I think we...

Police said Wednesday they had arrested a Jewish man suspected of assaulting a French nun in Jerusalem the previous day, saying they had a zero-tolerance policy on attacks against religious figures. “The suspect, a 36-year-old male, was identified and subsequently arrested by police,” the force said in a statement, adding it viewed with “utmost severity” any violent act “driven by potentially racist motives and directed toward members of the clergy.” The suspect was arrested on Tuesday, the same day as the attack. On Thursday, police released footage of the assault, which showed the suspect running up from behind the nun...

Missing State Senate candidate from western Oklahoma found dead A candidate for State Senate has been found dead, his campaign said in a news release. April 30, 2026 Addison Kliewer, Special Projects Producer/Digital Editor Barry Christian, a candidate for Senate District 38, disappeared on Tuesday. He was found dead on Thursday, according to a news release from his campaign. Investigators on scene near Erick, Oklahoma The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation confirmed that investigators were on the scene near Highway 30, just south of the town of Erick. OSBI confirmed to KOCO that a truck matching the one belonging to...