Free Republic

Scott Bessent, the US treasury secretary, advised Donald Trump not to host Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, having called the Ukrainian president a “little f**ker”, a “special-needs child” and “Mr Bean on crack”, according to a new book. The suggestion that a US cabinet official described a world leader in such terms is included in Regime Change, a blockbusting account of the second Trump administration by New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, set to be published worldwide on Tuesday. News of Bessent’s alleged remarks may embarrass the Trump administration, although the meeting that did take place...

JZN INPWZJ LE BLON ZHY KGLSNR VN GX JPBB VS ZNHR MALQMY HWHPAYJ JZN YMS. —IPBBPHV QHTBLY IPBBPHVY

Backing for the British monarchy has plummeted to its lowest point in over three decades of Ipsos research, with just 55 per cent of the public now wanting the country to remain a monarchy. The dramatic 11 percentage point decline over the past three years represents a significant decline in support for the Crown. The survey of 1,062 British adults was carried out in March 2026, in the weeks following Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's arrest on suspicion of misconduct in public office. Younger generations have proven particularly disenchanted, with merely a third of those aged 18 to 34 expressing support for maintaining...

Luke Salmons, a former North Yorkshire police officer, won a discrimination settlement after his department wrongfully fired him for challenging the seminar’s instructors during a debate on religion.

"Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man" (James 2:5-6). Showing favoritism to the rich is inconsistent with God’s choice of the poor. Wealth and poverty are not necessarily spiritual issues. Many wealthy people are godly Christians and many poor people are unbelievers. But generally speaking, God has chosen poor people to populate His kingdom. Jesus said, "It is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven....

Pope Leo XIV remains widely popular among U.S. Catholics, but a new survey suggests partisan divisions are beginning to shape views of the pontiff. A Pew Research Center survey found 78 percent of Catholics view Leo favorably, down from 84 percent last year. The decline was driven largely by Republican Catholics and less-frequent churchgoers. The survey follows a period of public tension between Pope Leo and President Donald Trump. In April, the pontiff spoke out against war, warning that it was driven by unnamed leaders gripped by a "delusion of omnipotence." Trump later responded with a series of social media...

The Islamic Republic of Iran has announced that they have closed the Strait of Hormuz. The reality on the ground shows that ships continue to travel through the waterway unimpeded, with U.S. naval assets in the region confirming that the Strait is completely open.Despite the announced closure of the Strait of Hormuz by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Navy (IRGC-N), vessel traffic appears to be continuing, with several vessels using both the Iranian and U.S. announced traffic separation schemes. pic.twitter.com/05fjVSSaYE— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) June 20, 2026🚨 JUST NOW: Iran caught LYING that they "closed" the Strait of Hormuz againCENTCOM: "Commercial ship...

A civil war appears to have broken out between Texas Democrats over support of U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico, with Rep. Jasmine Crockett and her supporters refusing to help the progressive radical win office. The fractures between the two groups first became clear after Talarico reportedly invited Crockett to make the keynote address at the upcoming Texas Democratic State Convention later this month. Crockett claimed that the invite was an “afterthought” and that she has refused to return the missed call or even listen to the voicemail left by Talarico. Talarico called Crockett and asked her to make the keynote...

Daily Readings from the USCCBTwelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time“What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.” Matthew 10:27–28When you pray, does God “whisper” to you? Do you sense His presence? Has He convicted your heart about Himself and all that He has revealed? Most likely He has, in His own silent way. God rarely speaks to us...

A Latin scholar in Germany recently discovered two lost sermons written by fourth-century church father Augustine of Hippo about the mysterious Witch of Endor from 1 Samuel 28.Professor Christian Tornau, a Latin scholar at the University of Würzburg, made the discovery after receiving a phone call in 2024 from an employee of the Bad Doberan Monastery Association in northeastern Germany, according to a press release from the university earlier this month.The employee asked Tornau for his help in deciphering a 12th-century manuscript that contains six sermons by Augustine and is housed at a monastery in Pelplin, Poland.Tornau ultimately discovered that...

An 'exhausted' NHS consultant died of drug and alcohol overdose in a hospital on-call room after his ninth 13-hour night shift in a row, an inquest has heard. Dr Naeem Ahmed was discovered slumped in a chair at Poole Hospital, Dorset, with two syringes and a half-empty bottle of Jameson whiskey nearby. During his final night shift, on June 21 2025, the 50-year-old consultant's clinical decision making was 'faultless' and concerns were only raised after his shift had finished and a doctor could not find him for the handover. The doctor, who had finished his ninth of 11 shifts in...

Late this week Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli declared in an interview with Israeli Army Radio that Tel Aviv "will be at war with Syria sooner or later," highlighting that the alliance between Damascus and Turkey poses a "strategic challenge" to his country.The Likud official said, "There is no way that a jihadist regime rooted in ISIS and Al-Qaeda, whose aspiration is the unification of Jerusalem, can live in peace alongside the State of Israel."In a separate interview with Kol Barama, a prominent Israeli ultra-Orthodox radio station, Chikli identified Syria as part of a "radical Sunni axis of evil"...

Ever since the May 7 Labour wipeout in the local council elections - elections, mind you, that British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer knew he was on course to get savaged in, so tried mightily to cancel or postpone for one flimsy reason or another until taken to court by Nigel Farage's Reform UK - Starmer has heard what might be described as the ticking of the clock in Capatin Hook's crocodile following him around.The ticking only got louder as Labour ministers resigned either in disgust that Starmer himself had not at the election losses the party had suffered. A...

In the end the G7 summit hosted by France came out with a strong statement of support for Ukraine including provision of weapons to attack deep inside Russia... In the aftermath of the G7 statement a strong statement from Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova saying: 'in the event of aggression by any NATO state against any Russian region, our response will be decisive and devastating for those who initiate such a move'... The issue of trade with China also figured at the G7 in particular the matter of 'critical minerals' supplied mainly by China was discussed... The US taking...

On Saturday, Vice President JD Vance departed on Air Force Two for Switzerland, to be a part of the negotiations with the Iranian leaders to solidify the terms of the end of the Iran conflict in the MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) and to further shore up the tentative ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. According to VP Vance, special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have been on the ground in Switzerland in preparation for the talks to resume on Sunday.Vice President JD Vance is wheels up from Washington, D.C., en route to Switzerland 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/uEeFTnx5Dn— Luke Schroeder (@VPPressSec) June 20,...

@EricLDaugh NOW: Mark Levin fumes and demands the Trump administration "stop trashing, smearing, bullying the little state of Israel!" "Stop cozying up to and telling us that the enemy regime in Iran is now more rational, more moderate, and a regime that we can deal with!" "I don't know what's going on. But if people think they can bully a little country and people who've existed 4,000 years...into surrendering their defense...they got another thing coming. I think it's outrageous!" "We used to see SecWar and Joint Chiefs Chairman tell of the fantastic marriage between our militaries in defeating the enemy....

Video Transcript SummarySummary of the UK Rape Gang Inquiry Report DiscussionThe transcript is a detailed, hours-long reading and commentary on the independent Rape Gang Inquiry Report (released around mid-2025, led by MP Rupert Lowe with survivor Sammy Woodhouse and others). It examines the systematic grooming, rape, trafficking, torture, and exploitation of vulnerable girls (overwhelmingly white British, often young teens or preteens) by organized networks, primarily Pakistani Muslim men, across Britain.Core FindingsScale and Nature: The report estimates at least 250,000 victims (likely an underestimate) over decades, starting in the 1950s–1970s and accelerating with mass immigration post-1997. Crimes occurred in at least...

The United Nations International School in Turtle Bay sent a letter to parents Wednesday announcing it confiscated the yearbooks that also contained racist language and launched an investigation to determine “consequences” for those involved.The school said it discovered “hate speech, including swastikas and antisemitic, xenophobic, racist, and homophobic remarks” in the “autograph” section of multiple yearbooks.

The union representing city school principals is ordering its members to keep quiet if investigators ask about school procurement practices, in the wake of The Post’s bombshell exposé on Chancellor Kamar Samuels’ alleged involvement in shady, no-bid contracts.The missive, signed by Laurelton School Principal and CSA District 29 chair Estelle Moore, warns that the probe by the Special Commissioner of Investigation, the independent Department of Education watchdog, is ongoing.

California Democrats just handed their gubernatorial nomination to a man whose pandemic-era résumé includes a role the party would prefer voters never examine: he was the place where the truth about COVID-19’s origins was sent to be quietly buried. That is the picture that emerges from the trove of records Tulsi Gabbard declassified on her way out the door as Director of National Intelligence. Among the documents her office released on June 18 is correspondence describing how a whistleblower complaint, one alleging that the Intelligence Community believed COVID escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology and that Dr. Anthony Fauci...