Free Republic

Who celebrates a basketball victory by torching a school bus?New York City reacted to a championship victory by its Knicks basketball team with an orgy of violence and property damage, torching school buses, shattering a police-vehicle windshield, and attacking police officers. The riot was downplayed by the city’s political class and press.The city’s "there is only one solution, intifada revolution" mayor, socialist Zohran Mamdani, offered a generalized, "it is, frankly, unacceptable when we see violence, whether it's directed at those around them or at police officers," while insisting, "there were a select few who acted in a way that does...

MLB rebukes Christian Giants players for citing Bible passage on ‘Pride Night’ capsThe league issued a warning to three San Francisco Giants pitchers after they wrote a Genesis verse on their ‘Pride Night’ caps, while LGBT activists demanded harsher punishment.Major League Baseball (MLB) has issued a warning to three Christian San Francisco Giants pitchers who inscribed a Genesis chapter 9 citation on their team’s specially issued “Pride Night” ball caps last Friday.As it turns out, so-called “Pride Night,” which is purported to be promoting tolerance, is actually about intolerance for Christians. “The writing on the cap violates our rules and...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told President Donald Trump last year that he was the “greatest friend Israel ever had in the White House.” Now, as Trump tries to finalize a deal to end the war with Iran, he’s unloading on Netanyahu with rhetoric that no other American leader has dared to use publicly. He claimed credit for Israel’s existence — “without me, there would be no Israel” — and cursed his judgment in interviews. He even described him as “crazy.” The tension comes as Trump criticizes recent Israeli attacks in Lebanon, which threatened to jeopardize negotiations between Washington and...

The B-52 involved in a deadly crash during a test flight at an Air Force base in California made a sharp right and then nearly completed a 180-degree turn before plunging to the ground at a rate of nearly a mile a minute, limited tracking data shows Tuesday. The B-52 was airborne for 3 minutes and 15 seconds before it crashed, according to AirNav Systems. The flight tracking that was available Tuesday shows the bomber turning to the northeast right after taking off and nearly completing a 180 degree turn before crashing on another runway, according to AirNav Systems. The...

A senior Estée Lauder executive who died in his husband’s arms moments after feeling lightheaded inside their $2.8 million New York City apartment suffered a pulmonary embolism triggered by cosmetic fillers. Kendal Ascher, 56, “suffered acute respiratory failure due to a pulmonary embolism connected to a foreign material after getting cosmetic filler injections,” the city’s medical examiner said Tuesday. Ascher’s Feb. 25 death was ruled accidental in the report, which was given to his loved ones over the weekend. Estée Lauder executive Kendal Ascher died suddenly in husband’s arms in their $2.8M NYC apartment Ascher’s grieving husband, William Howe, told...

FSSP Pilgrimage in Italy Denied the Traditional Latin Mass at Multiple Shrines: While Nuns hear "Confessions" and Eastern Orthodox celebrate liturgiesA report from Italy:We wanted to bring to your attention the story of a group of pilgrims traveling through Italy with a priest of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter. This group was denied the celebration of Mass at the Shrine of San Giovanni Rotondo (Padre Pio), and subsequently at the Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi. At Loreto, they were initially denied as well, but the priest fortunately managed to convince the local authorities of his permission to celebrate....

It's time to release the Memorandum of Understanding between the United States and Iran. Speculation is running rampant about what's in it, and leaks from the administration are making Trump's allies very nervous because they all seem to suggest that Iran's propaganda about what's in it is largely accurate. Vice President Vance is spinning like a top that it's really a great deal, and all the great benefits Iran claims it will get depend on performance, but unless we know what is in the MOU, we don't know what "performance" really means. (snip) One thing we do know is that...

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is speaking on Tuesday about alleged religious discrimination in professional sports, this time directing his attention toward Major League Baseball following reports involving San Francisco Giants pitchers. In a post on X, Uthmeier questioned the league directly, writing: "Do you practice religious discrimination in Florida, @MLB? You’ll be hearing from my office soon.” The remark came after Sports Illustrated reported that three Giants pitchers were warned by MLB after wearing Bible verses on their caps during a recent Pride Night game. The warning, while not fully detailed by the league, has sparked a broader debate...

Give at least a couple of cheers for coercive diplomacy, which is to say diplomacy through bombing. As the Prussian military strategist Carl von Clausewitz told us a couple hundred years ago, “war is the continuation of politics,” or diplomacy, “by other means.” Last week’s bombing may well have finally pushed Iran and all their internal factions to at least signing a memo of understanding that represents at least the beginning of the end of the war. President Trump is a master at coercive diplomacy. He’s also a master of psychological warfare diplomacy with his threats to destroy Iran’s infrastructure,...

Volodymyr Zelensky has urged Donald Trump to hand over the blueprints for Patriot missiles so that Ukraine can produce them domestically to boost its air defences. Diplomatic sources told The Telegraph that the Ukrainian president suggested a licensing agreement during several meetings with his US counterpart at the G7 summit in Évian-les-Bains, France, on Tuesday, and that Mr Trump had indicated that technical discussions should begin. During face-to-face talks, Mr Zelensky showed Mr Trump images of the damage caused by a Russian strike on Kyiv's Pechersk Lavra monastery, as he argued for help strengthening his air defences. Mr Trump later...

Police in Poland are investigating the murder of a Russian artist and vocal critic of President Vladimir Putin. Polish prosecutors said Robert K, known as the artist Semyon Skrepetsky, was shot dead on Monday morning in the Polish town of Biała Podlaska, about 40km (25 miles) from the Belarusian border. The 44-year-old was shot five times in the head, chest and back in a car park in the town, located about 600m (2,000ft) from the Belarusian consulate. Semyon Skrepetsky was the pseudonym used by Robert Kuzovkov. He was known for his caricatures of politicians, including Putin, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko...

The statistics about what happened over the past FIVE decades to the once stalwart and steadfast American black family, the backbone of the black community, are shocking and distressing. In an unflinching account that tries to understand why this disintegration started and why it continues, CBS News gives life to the statistics through intimate portraits of young black adults facing the emotional and financial difficulties of single parenthood. With its candor and openness, "The Vanishing Family" may very well be the most important documentary in recent memory.

I have been searching for quotes on how ineffective full auto fire is in the hands of untrained people. Grok4.1 gives these, but the links do not work or do not show the actual quotes. They may be correct but only in books or videos. If anyone can find an actual link which shows any of the following quotes, I would appreciate it. 1. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman (U.S. Army Ranger, author of On Combat and On Killing) “Full automatic fire is almost useless in the hands of anyone who is not well trained. The tendency is to spray and...

BREAKING: SpaceX has overtaken Microsoft and Amazon to become the fourth biggest company in the world.

Explanation: While cruising around Saturn, be on the lookout for picturesque arrangements of moons, rings, and shadows. One such striking sight occurred in 2005 and was captured by the then Saturn-orbiting Cassini spacecraft. In the featured image, moons Mimas (left) and Tethys (right) are visible on either side of Saturn's thin rings, which are seen nearly edge-on. Across the top of Saturn are dark shadows of the wide rings, exhibiting their impressive complexity. The violet-light image brings up the texture of the backdrop: Saturn's clouds. Cassini orbited Saturn from 2004 until mid-2017, when the robotic spacecraft was directed to dive...

This article, “The Powerhouse of Perception” by Ben-Dror Yemini, argues that military strength alone does not determine geopolitical outcomes; public opinion, narratives, and information influence are also forms of power. (ynet) Main points The author notes the huge military gap between the United States and Iran, but argues that weaker actors can still wield significant influence through determination, public support, asymmetric capabilities, and control over strategic chokepoints. He warns against assuming that a short military campaign could easily force Iran to capitulate. (ynet) A central theme is that Israel and the U.S. are losing the battle for international public opinion....

Catholic aid workers warn that entire communities risk disappearing from the Middle East. Father Jan Zelazny, director of the Polish section of Aid to the Church in Need, met Christian communities as he traveled through Lebanon and Syria at the end of May. “In some places, only small Christian towns remain,” he said. “The Muslims left those areas. There are tunnels where Hezbollah fighters hide. The Christians stay and live in a kind of constant siege.” Many refuse to leave, fearing that departure would mean permanent exile. “They say that if they leave, they will never return,” Father Zelazny told...

Al Arabiya English has obtained a copy of the 14-point agreement expected to be signed on Friday between Washington and Tehran. 1. The Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States, together with their allies in the current war, declare upon the signing of this Memorandum of Understanding an immediate and permanent end to the war on all fronts, including Lebanon, and undertake that from now on they will not launch any hostile action against each other, and will refrain from the threat or use of force against each other. The final agreement will confirm the provisions of this Article...

French President Emmanuel Macron revealed Tuesday that he had a “difficult” meeting with President Trump the previous evening as the closely watched G7 summit got underway. “Yesterday we had a difficult discussion with President Trump,” Macron told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ahead of a group session about Russia’s invasion of its neighbor. The tension is reflective of the strained relationship between Trump and Macron as well as other European leaders, who remain frustrated with the American president over his war with Iran, threats to annex Greenland, and his critiques of Zelensky and Ukraine. “Trump is being his usual self,” a...

Newly revealed details of the secretive US-Iran MOU lay out that it would extend the cease-fire to Lebanon, allow Iran to manage the Strait of Hormuz, temporarily waive Iranian oil sanctions and establish a pathway toward a comprehensive peace agreement, Israel’s Channel 12 reported Tuesday. The framework, which would serve as the basis for broader negotiations between Washington and Tehran, outlines commitments on nuclear issues, sanctions relief, maritime security and the eventual withdrawal of American forces from the region. The following 12 points were first revealed by Axios reporter Barak Ravid, who also works for the Israeli channel. The document...