Free Republic

Nine protesters blocked access to Elbit Systems’ factory in Staffordshire by attaching themselves to five ‘lock-ons’ to launch the direct-action group ‘Silence Elbit Drones’. Al Jazeera spoke with spokesperson Audrey Corno, who said the group aims to disrupt Elbit’s operations over its supply of military equipment to Israel.

A veteran Chicago police dispatcher was pinned inside her wrecked car, with nine broken ribs and two fractured vertebrae, when a man climbed into the back seat and stole her driver’s license and credit cards, prosecutors say. The man’s girlfriend then got into the front seat and began patting the injured victim’s waistline, apparently looking for more valuables. Victoria Mesarina, a dispatcher with the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications for 26 years, was driving home in uniform when another vehicle slammed into the driver’s side of her car in the 3300 block of West Douglas Boulevard around 2:30...

The parish council chair of Piddington, an English village with a population of around 350, has told Newsweek they plan to formally ask to join the United States if the British government goes ahead with its plan to house 1,250 male asylum seekers at a site on the edge of the village. President Trump has made little secret of his desire to expand American territory, suggesting at various points that Canada, Greenland and the Panama Canal could come under Washington’s authority. Speaking to Newsweek, Piddington chair Tim McNally said the parish council would proceed with plans to join the US...

[Catholic Caucus] No Response to Traditional Pilgrimage’s Papal Audience RequestPilgrims process towards St Peter’s Basilica during last year’s Ad Petri Sedem pilgrimage in Rome, Oct. 25, 2025 (Photo: Edward Pentin)Is Pope Leo XIV missing an opportunity to heal wounds felt by traditional Catholics by not meeting with a large representative group of them next month?The Holy Father has so far not responded to a request for a papal audience from the leaders of an annual traditional Catholic pilgrimage to Rome — despite the request having been made nine months ago and the Pope saying last year he would like to...

Add it all up, and the future looks more expensive. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimated that if yields remain more than 80 basis points over baseline projections, the U.S. will spend $2.7 trillion on annual interest payments by the end of the decade—more than Medicare or Social Security retirement benefits. “The real threat is the debt spiral. If interest begets debt, and debt begets interest, eventually debt will spin out of control. A fiscal crisis, once unthinkable, is now a distinct possibility,” Maya MacGuineas, president of the CFRB, said on Monday. The budget watchdog and others have...

The Eighth Circuit ruled that Missouri must use its 2025 congressional map in November, holding that switching to the 2022 map after the August primary violates the Constitution. The court ordered entry of a permanent injunction, but paused it for one week. The court held that Article I, Section 2 protects voters’ ability to participate in the selection of congressional nominees. Switching maps after the primary would leave some voters choosing among nominees they had no opportunity to select. The court rejected arguments that the Supreme Court’s stay or approaching election deadlines made the appeal moot. It reached the constitutional...

This morning, President Trump announced on social media that the U.S. is working on a trade deal that would enable purchases of potash from Belarus: The conflict in Iran has raised the cost of fertilizer to American farmers, so the administration is under pressure to address that cost. Potash (potassium) is an important fertilizer, but its cost has been impacted only slightly by the Iran conflict. Still, a trade deal that would lower the cost of potash would be welcomed by farmers. Hence this morning’s announcement. But there is not yet a deal with Belarus. What is going on is...

Last week, President Donald J. Trump removed CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House grounds after years of false reporting. The First Amendment protects their right to publish; it does not entitle them to a hard pass, briefing room seat, or place in the press pool. Access changes are nothing new. What is new, however, is the sudden claim that it becomes sacred only when the outlets are friendly to the Radical Left. The rule was never “every outlet gets in.” It was always “our side stays in.” For years, Democrat Administrations have restricted, punished, and locked out...

United States-Israeli strikes have “completely destroyed” a synagogue in Tehran, according to Iranian media, as the attacks across Iran killed more than a dozen people overnight. “According to preliminary information, the Rafi-Nia Synagogue … was completely destroyed in this morning’s attacks,” the Shargh newspaper reported on Tuesday. According to Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency, the synagogue was destroyed when an adjacent residential building in central Tehran was attacked. Footage showed civil defence workers amid the rubble, with Hebrew-language books scattered on the ground. The report said that due to the narrowness of the streets surrounding the building attacked, the exterior...

🏆 WE DID IT! 🏆 For the first time since 1914, there have been no North Atlantic hurricane formations by September 21st. Fay did not attain hurricane strength overnight, and has since weakened, with maximum sustained wind speeds dropping from 70 to 50 mph. Weakening is expected to continue over the next couple of days. No other storm formations are expected for at least the next seven days (but that can change). The only other two times that this has happened since 1851 were in 1905 (October 8th) and 1907, respectively, and like 1914, the 1907 season featured no Atlantic...

"The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government. No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting," the pool members, including Fox, said in a statement. Fox News has joined its rival networks — ABC, CBS, NBC and even CNN — in suspending pool coverage of President Donald Trump after the White House on Monday turned away CNN. "The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government. No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting," the pool members, including Fox,...

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva met New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani ​on Monday for a first chat between two of ‌the biggest names of the political left in the Americas ahead of key elections in both Brazil and the United States. Lula is in ​the US for the United Nations General Assembly ​and received Mamdani in an Upper East Side house ⁠that serves as the residence and office of the Brazilian ​representation to the UN. Lula said in a brief declaration to ​reporters after the meeting that the two talked about problems that are common to both...

A Montgomery County, Maryland, proposal to impose new requirements on publicly funded community media has sparked resistance from within the left. Brutus was a member of the Roman Senate’s “deep state.” Every faction spawns fanatics who, to their peril, see only the facts that justify their zealotry. For today, here and now, we are being reminded again that the Dem’s deep state is real, embraced by real people concentrated in real places. One of those places is Montgomery County, Maryland, MoCo, a suburb of Washington, DC. This post will connect the actions of little MoCo to the large deep state...

IRGC police captain assassinated. Balluchi insurgents 86 another mass murderer. "Gas leaks" abound. Trump is ending Iranian civilian airlines. Unidentified objects in skies.

A travel nightmare engulfed five major Northeast airports Monday after construction contractors accidentally severed a Verizon cable. Ground stops are in effect for Newark Liberty International (EWR), Teterboro (TEB), Philadelphia International (PHL) and John F Kennedy International (JFK), with some delays reaching seven hours. Meanwhile, flights departing from LaGuardia Airport (LGA) in Queens, Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) and Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) are also facing ground delays. Bryan Bedford, the administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), said Monday that the 600-foot fiber cable cut occurred 'somewhere between' New Brunswick and Newark, New Jersey. 'Somebody dug it up,' Bedford...

Solomon’s Stables is an underground structure located beneath the southeastern corner of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Despite its traditional name, there is no historical or archaeological evidence linking it directly to King Solomon (reigned circa 970–931 BCE). The name originates from medieval Crusader traditions, as they believed the vast underground halls were once used to house the horses of King Solomon. The structure consists of a series of vaulted halls supported by massive stone pillars, showcasing a sophisticated architectural style that dates back to the Herodian period (circa 37 BCE–70 CE). The stables were historically part of the Temple...

The White House will oversee news outlets that will become part of the White House press, not the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA), a White House spokesperson said Tuesday. The WHCA has customary authority to choose a rotation of news outlets that can access oval offices and other regions with limited access, but the Trump administration has overturned that policy. Qualified White House presses have dropped from 1,417 members to 975 members after the White House announced new standards requiring annual renewals for hard passes, Politicico reported in 2023. The Biden White House also made changes to the White House...

The U.S. diplomat arrived in West Africa in mid-June with little fanfare, hopscotching along the Atlantic coastline for scheduled visits with senior government officials in the Ivory Coast, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Togo and Gabon, whose president greeted him inside an opulent seaside palace. The American, a career State Department official named Christian Ehrhardt, was an unlikely diplomatic VIP. For nearly two decades, he served as an officer in the agency’s security branch, focusing on embassy protection, before being summoned to Washington last year to lead a new initiative — the Office of Remigration. Since then, Ehrhardt, 41, has crisscrossed Africa, trying...

Denver socialist and city councilwoman Shontel Lewis said she's qualified to serve as the city's mayor because she was convicted of stealing food stamps, a crime she said made her familiar with "navigating all the ills of poverty." Lewis, the Denver Democratic Socialists of America's pick for mayor, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor theft in 2008 after stealing thousands of dollars in public benefits by using her position with the Colorado Department of Human Services East Food Stamp Office to reissue Electronic Benefit Transfer cards intended for others to her roommate and herself. She was sentenced to 18 months of probation...

The conventional wisdom says that the party that holds the White House always loses seats in the midterms. Since the GOP has such terribly slim margins, this makes it a virtual guarantee that the Democrats will win both houses of Congress this year, doesn’t it? Well, no, it doesn’t. To begin with, it really doesn’t “always” happen that way. There have been several occasions in the past century in which the party in the White House has gained seats in the midterms; who’s to say this won’t follow those examples instead? For example, just to look at the midterms of...