Free Republic

***** Tunes For Our Troops ~ The Freeper Canteen Music Dedication Presents: ~ Open Mic: Money and/or Currency ~ *****~ Support The Artists You Hear Throughout The Canteen ! ~ ***** Warning: Not all music may be appropriate for children! Please click with caution. Thank you! Tunes For The Troops This music is provided for the entertainment of our Troops, Veterans, Allies & their families! Enjoy the variety of musical selections that the Canteen DJs provide throughout the thread. Please ping any DJ with your requests for the Troops! All music is removed on Monday.Thanks to all the DJs...

The U.S. missile stockpiles crisis is becoming a growing national security concern as American defense systems are being consumed faster than manufacturers can replace them. A new report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies revealed that the United States fired more than 1,000 Patriot interceptors during the war in Iran, while only 172 replacements have been manufactured so far. The widening gap between missile usage and production is raising alarm inside Washington because critical defense systems including Patriot and THAAD are now under extraordinary pressure. The missile stockpiles shortage is also affecting key U.S. allies that rely heavily...

Ukraine is short of soldiers. It is the main weakness of its army, Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov acknowledged in January, and its commanders have been lamenting since 2024. The shortage of troops forces thousands of men in the Armed Forces of Ukraine to spend months in combat positions without relief, without rest. Could recruiting women be a solution? Two debates resurface intermittently in wartime Ukraine: should the age of men subject to compulsory conscription be lowered? The current minimum age is 25. Should mandatory enlistment for women begin? Both options provoke a strong backlash and broad social rejection. On the...

Prices at gas pumps are starting to sink and oil is on track to drop 20% in May — its largest one-month decline since 2020 — as investors remain optimistic that a deal to end the Iran war is near. As of Friday, national average gasoline prices had eased to $4.39 a gallon, according to AAA. That’s about 17 cents lower than the 2026 peak price of $4.56 a gallon – though it’s still nearly 50% higher than pre-war prices. Brent crude oil had fallen 1.3% to $91.51 a barrel as of about 2:50 p.m. ET Friday. The global benchmark...

Democratic men are having an identity crisis. He’s a prime example.Democratic men are having an identity crisis. Maine’s Graham Platner, the party’s presumptive nominee for U.S. Senate, is a prime example. Mr. Platner presents himself as a savior for working-class Americans while his background screams the opposite and his offensive comments about fellow veterans—including me—speak poorly of his character.The tough-talking Marine veteran struts around in a Carhartt jacket and jeans, but recent reporting relates that he comes from a prestigious family where he had access to an elite private-school education and a lifestyle of privilege. He also plays up his...

Many Democrats — including former Biden aides — “simply don’t believe” Jill Biden’s stunning claim that she feared President Joe Biden was having a stroke during the disastrous 2024 debate, according to a political journalist. Alex Thompson, an Axios reporter who co-authored “Original Sin” with Jake Tapper, the 2025 book about Biden’s mental decline and its cover-up, cast doubt on the former first lady’s attempt to “rewrite this portion of history” during an appearance on CNN Thursday. “Well, a lot of Democrats, including several Biden aides that I’ve talked to since yesterday when this interview came out, just simply don’t...

[Catholic Caucus] Leo XIV Authorises Bishops to Dismiss Monastic SuperiorsIn a Rescriptum ex Audientia Sanctissimi approved on March 25 and published on May 28, Leo XIV introduced a new procedural faculty concerning the governance of religious institutes and monasteries.The measure grants the Vatican Congregation for Religious the authority to permit a diocesan bishop to dismiss the superior of a monastery under canon 699 §2 of the Code of Canon Law.The Dicastery is led by Sister Simona Brambilla, Prefect, and Sister Tiziana Merletti, Secretary.The rescript is signed by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State. It also notes that Pope Francis had...

When is a ceasefire not a ceasefire? When the person declaring it is Donald Trump. Opinions differ about the wisdom of the President’s activities with respect to Iran. Some observers tell us he is playing four-dimensional chess. Some say it more like checkers with no kings.What, after all, is he up to? The commentariat proffers several conflicting narratives. The one common thread is the certainty with which these opinions are uttered. Trump is an idiot. Trump is a genius. For those who say that he has thrown in the towel – that Iran has “won” – I’d offer two observations.First,...

People in many European nations see the European Union more favorably than they did in 2016, when United Kingdom citizens voted to withdraw from the EU. For several years, Pew Research Center has consistently surveyed the U.K. and seven EU member nations: France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden. In these countries, a median of 49% of adults viewed the EU favorably in 2016. Positive ratings ranged from 27% in Greece to 58% in Italy. A year after the Brexit vote, opinions of the EU improved sharply in most countries. Overall, a median of 60% expressed a positive...

An extremist who took to social media to “pray” for a bad cancer result for former Attorney General Pam Bondi has been fired. Her “prayer,” was: “Dear MAGA Lord Jesus, please let her end up with a hole in her throat that she has to push every time she speaks. Dear God, if there is a MAGA God, please let Pam Bondi’s throat cancer be the worst case of cancer anybody’s ever seen.” The horrific comment appeared online from @glitterandcrossbones, which was set to private. Fox reported the comment “appeared to have been posted by Caitlyn Aguiar, who had worked...

Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform, his closely watched forum for public communication, forces new users to follow the far-Right activist Tommy Robinson. Accounts that register to the US president’s social media app, which he launched in 2022 after being banned from Facebook and Twitter, are automatically made to follow a list of around 100 users. It includes Mr Trump, as well as his son Donald Trump Jr, most of the president’s cabinet, and several controversial figures including Robinson. The British hard-Right agitator, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, has courted the Trump administration and was hosted by the US state...

Pastor Franklin Graham sharply criticized Texas Democratic state Rep. James Talarico over his false claims about the Bible supposedly being silent on abortion. Graham is calling it “an absolute lie” for the U.S. Senate candidate to claim the Bible does not condemn killing babies before birth. Graham, CEO of Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, responded after Talarico, the Democratic nominee challenging Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in November, asserted that his Christian faith somehow allows abortion. “I trust Texas women to make decisions about their own bodies, to shape their own destinies in consultation with their...

A federal judge appointed by Barack Obama has banned Donald Trump from adding his name to the Kennedy Center. US District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled Friday that the President-appointed Kennedy Center Board's decision to include his name on the performing arts venue was unlawful. Trump was sued by Democratic Representative Joyce Beatty, who has standing in the case because she serves as an ex officio member of the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees as a member of Congress. 'The Kennedy Center's organic statute makes crystal clear that the Center is to be named for President Kennedy, and it cannot bear...

A hypnotherapist was charged with 20 felony sex crimes he allegedly committed against clients over ten years. William Del Draney was charged on Friday with nine counts of first-degree felony forcible sodomy and 11 counts of second-degree felony forcible sex abuse. Several victims had gone to Draney for an alternative form of therapy, according to a press release from the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office. The allegations against him date back to 2016. "During the therapy sessions, [Draney] would ask the clients to remove [all their] clothes or some of their clothes, after which he would allegedly sexually assault...

"The case has stunned national security observers and raised serious questions about the federal government’s security clearance and vetting systems. —Newsmax In the annals of Deep State WTF-ery, is there a stranger case than CIA officer David Rush turning up with $40-million in 303 one-kilogram gold bars, plus $2-million in cash, plus a stash of 30 mostly Rolex watches? Well, yeah, the stranger story is how the guy got hired by the CIA in the first place. Rush was arrested on Monday, May 18, by an FBI SWAT team at his home in Loudoun County, VA. Agents searched the house...

U.S. equities closed at record highs on Friday, while crude prices slipped, helping the major averages score a winning month, boosted by technology. The Nasdaq Composite settled up 0.2% at 26,972.62, while the S&P 500 climbed 0.22% to 7,580.06. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 363.49 points, or 0.72%, at 51,032.46. All three indexes hit fresh all-time intraday highs earlier as well.

Who will stop the Rain-ier? Scientists are warning that Washington’s Mount Rainier could unleash a catastrophic mudslide that has the potential to devastate three large towns within minutes. Often considered the crown jewel of Washington postcards, the over 14,000-foot-tall mountain is deemed the most dangerous in the US due to its towering height, frequent earthquakes, and precarious location upstream of a population center with over 100,000 people. While there is no evidence Rainier is about to blow its stack, magma is not the most dangerous fallout from the Cascade range’s preeminent volcano.

USA Responds with a Zinger! The Trump administration intends to accept a further 10,000 Afrikaner refugees into the United States in addition to the 6,000 Afrikaners already accepted, raising the 2026 cap to 17,500. Meanwhile, several patriotic Afrikaner organizations appealed to President Trump to help Afrikaners stay in their ancestral home. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump announced he was increasing the refugee cap for white South Africans because of “an unforeseen emergency refugee situation”, signing an executive order to “increase the ceiling to 17,500.” Trump blamed the South African government for “recent increases in the incitement of racially motivated violence”....

Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPCE) stock is up during Friday’s premarket session, trading higher by 9.92% as the company has received positive news regarding a legal settlement.

We let AI run a simulation to see what the first female—that means woman— president in the White House would be like. The simulated results are interesting and eye-opening.