Free Republic

Scheduled to start at 4:30 pm Eastern. Replay post will be around 5:30 pm at the same link

President Trump's announcement on Wednesday that he was launching an "Economic D-Day" on Iran has been met with a combination of bluster and panic in Tehran. The IRGC is huffing and puffing as usual, claiming they will cut undersea cables and isolate the Arab Gulf states from the Internet, shutting down the banking system in the region. One wag even suggested that brave Revolutionary Guards soldiers, whose claim to battlefield glory is to slaughter innocent children in the streets of Iranian cities, would invade Kuwait to seize U.S. bases there. I know a few former specops guys who are licking...

The U.S. Navy’s effort to establish a new route through the Strait of Hormuz and to shuttle tankers through it under cover of darkness appears to be a success so far. A lot of preparation went into this, involving both the destruction of Iranian surveillance and naval assets as well as clearing mines the Iranians had already emplaced in the straits. The U.S. naval presence likely prevented the Iranians from mass mine-laying using dedicated ships. Instead, they turned to small boats that could carry a single mine and would simply drop it at random. As a result, Iran has no...

Hollywood has spent years peppering films and shows with transgender cast members, but Lilly Wachowski — who identifies as transgender — isn’t reaping the benefits. "The Matrix" co-creator, formerly known as Andy Wachowski, is now struggling to find financing for "The Hunted," a $10 million dystopian political thriller featuring an entirely transgender cast. “Well, if you’re excited for a brand-new all-trans movie, I’ve got terrible news for you,” BlazeTV host Stu Burguiere jokes. “Of course, these are the Wachowski brothers who made 'The Matrix' movies and now they’re called, in the article, the Wachowski sisters,” he explains.

Organizers of an East Texas pastoral summit are seeking 300 pastors for a Saturday gathering centered on the Muslim Brotherhood and what organizers describe as its threat to America. “The Muslim Brotherhood wants to destroy America. We need 300 pastors to stop them,” a promotional flyer for the Northeast Texas Pastoral Summit declares. Pine Baptist Church will host the August 22 event from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 284 FM 1522 in Pittsburg. Pastor Ben Warrick invited church leaders to join him for “a full day of awareness training” in a July 7 post. Organizers list admission as free...

In perhaps the least surprising revelation of this campaign cycle, besides the epiphany that the guy with a Nazi tattoo turned out not to be very nice to women, was that the Deputy Legislative Director for nominally Republican Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) just enlisted in the legions of blasphemous, demonic Democrat James Talarico. For any Texans wondering if, in retrospect, they should’ve given Ken Paxton a shot instead of sticking with the incumbent, you’ve got your answer: Hell yes. This turncoat, one Jacob Smith, had a central role in developing policy for an allegedly Republican senator, yet he slid seamlessly...

The world of women’s cycling is currently embroiled in a bizarre scandal involving the alleged use of bra padding to increase the bust area of ​​female competitors and modify airflow around the body. Known as “chest fairing,” the controversial practice can allegedly decrease drag and give competitors an unfair advantage during races. According to experts, a smaller bust can favor the formation of a kind of “air pocket” at the level of the cyclist’s abdomen, which marginally increases the drag coefficient. For example, Bert Blocken, professor of aerodynamics at Heriot-Watt University (Scotland), told the British newspaper The Telegraph

If your object is to save the west, then the public discourse is nowhere near where it needs to be. The necessary action is comparatively easy, at least according to the US Department of Homeland Security. But the problem is intractable and insoluble as long as, beyond a few redoubts of the Trump Administration, the west's ruling class insists in framing it in mendacious and self-contradictory terms. For example, diversity is our strength, yet mysteriously leads to "a whole host of challenges", including - per "conservative" bigwig Edwina Currie - the need for brothels in small Oxfordshire villages ...because, apparently,...

The number of U.S. troops killed or wounded in the war with Iran has risen to 774 after the Pentagon added dozens of injured service members to its casualty count in recent days. The number listed as wounded climbed from 697 on Wednesday to 756 on Thursday, an increase of 59, according to the War Department's Defense Casualty Analysis System on Friday. The number of American military deaths remained at 18. The Pentagon did not immediately explain the sharp increase, including when or where the newly recorded injuries occurred. The War Department has divided the casualties into two categories following...

Explanation: Recorded the night of August 12-13, images from four dedicated meteor-monitoring cameras at an astronomical observatory in Czechia were aligned and combined to create this all-night, all-sky view. On that night, the total count came to 1,706 meteors. And since that coincided with the peak activity of the 2026 Perseid Meteor Shower, most are perseids. Their overwhelming numbers make them easy to spot. Quite convincingly, perseid trails all trace back to a single radiant on the sky at the upper right, a region in the annual shower's eponymous constellation Perseus. But meteors belonging to other much less active showers...

In the wake of accused plagiarist and serial fabulist Jason Arday’s death, an influential band of activists within Great Britain’s largest academic union is demanding action—not to change the policies at Cambridge that led the school to hire and defend Arday, but to “shield other black academics from scrutiny from what they view as a racist, right-wing conspiracy,” the investigative journalist Ben Ryan writes for the Free Beacon. An activist caucus within the University and College Union held a virtual organizing meeting Tuesday night to discuss Arday’s death. “The Free Beacon obtained a recording of the raw and emotional gathering...

An Alabama jury has returned a $9.25 million verdict against the New York Times. The plaintiff is Kai Spears, formerly a member of the Alabama basketball team: An Alabama jury has awarded former Alabama basketball player Kai Spears $9.25 million after finding The New York Times defamed him by incorrectly linking him to the 2023 killing of Jamea Harris in Tuscaloosa. *** The Times reported that Spears had been in the passenger seat of a vehicle connected to the shooting, citing an anonymous source familiar with the investigation. This is the story, in brief: Harris, a 23-year-old mother from Birmingham,...

A routine knee replacement meant to restore 72-year-old Glenda Dorton's mobility has instead left her facing an uncertain future after her family says the wrong medication was injected before surgery. The Centerville, Tennessee woman arrived at Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital Midtown in Nashville on August 14 expecting a procedure that millions of Americans undergo each year. Her family says the operation itself went well, but what happened before it began changed everything. According to her daughter-in-law, Kristina Dorton, the medication placed into Glenda's spine for a pre-surgical epidural was not the intended anesthetic. She says it was potassium, a drug...

BEIJING — Chinese humanoid robots broke records set by humans, including beating Usain Bolt’s 100-meter sprint world record, on the opening day of the Olympics-like World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing on Saturday. More than 2,000 humanoid robots were participating in the event, the organizer said. The five-day games, now in its second year, are a spectacle demonstrating China’s rapid progress in advanced robotics as the technology race with the U.S. heats up, with 51 events and more than 1,000 competitions taking place including running, table tennis and soccer. The games, which are taking place in the National Speed Skating...

The Toronto Tempo debuted a new “non-binary” mascot ahead of their WNBA matchup with the Indiana Fever in an apparent swipe at controversial star Sophie Cunningham. The Tempo revealed Dez, a butch, non-binary Borealis Blue Snapping Turtle who uses she/they pronouns and “has a fondness for soft shell tacos,” the team said in an Tuesday announcement unveiling the new mascot. Dez also has a partner in crime, anthropomorphic arctic hare named Dot who uses standard she/her pronouns.

The U.S. Department of Education on Friday recommended stripping the American Bar Association of its longstanding authority to accredit nearly 200 law schools across the country. According to a leak, a 500-page staff report concluded that the group is not sufficiently “separate and independent” from the larger ABA, operates like a cartel, and has injected its own political ideology into the process, the Wall Street Journal reported. Assistant Secretary of Education David Barker put it bluntly: when there’s no competition, “accreditors feel free to inject their own political preferences, their own ideologies into the work that they do.” The ABA...

Here’s some revolting ‘sole’ food. A Dunkin’ employee was filmed washing his feet at a kitchen sink at the chain’s location aboard a Staten Island Ferry — prompting a city Health Department investigation, The Post has learned. An eyewitness spotted the employee lifting his tootsies and using sink water to wash his feet behind the counter and immediately began filming the stomach-churning scene, calling it “disgusting.” The footage — posted to TikTok Aug. 11 before it quickly spread across other social media platforms — shows the worker standing in front of the sink on what appears to be an Islamic...

The UK government has put out a pamphlet for migrants to inform them about social norms and expectations of life in England. The booklet is intended to help migrants "understand what is expected of [them] when living in the UK." More than 1.3 million migrants currently live on UK welfare benefits. The book defines and explains what rape is and that it is illegal, and in detailing the legal age of consent states, "sex with someone under the age of 16 is a serious crime in the UK. There are no exceptions to this rule. Even if they say yes,...

Hunter Biden replied to a blunt question from Bill Maher about a possible presidential run with a self-deprecating joke about his past. The comedian opened his interview with the son of former President Joe Biden by saying he was “so sick” of hearing about his laptop controversy. “I know everything about the laptop,” Maher said on Friday’s episode of “Real Time.” “More things than I want to know. I’ve seen you with your dick out. I’ve seen you with a crack pipe in your mouth.” He then pivoted to a more timely matter. “My question: Are you running for president?”...

A software engineer trying to control his DJI ROMO robot vacuum with a PlayStation controller accidentally discovered access to roughly 7,000 devices across 24 countries. So, you know one drone can look in your backyard, But a robot vacuum can go throughout your entire house, right? And if that robot vacuum has cameras, a microphone, room mapping, cloud connectivity and a backend that treats authorization like a side quest. Congratulations, man. You didn't just buy a vacuum cleaner You bought a rolling surveillance package with a mop. Wow. And I just want to get on this thing. Why the hell...