Free Republic

brief: Ukraine is seeking long-term Western funding to maintain an 800,000-strong army after the war to deter future Russian aggression. The proposal contrasts sharply with Moscow’s demands to limit Ukraine’s military, including a 2022 proposal to cap its forces at 85,000 troops. Trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi are also addressing NATO-style security guarantees and Europe’s future security architecture. Ukraine has asked its Western allies to finance an 800,000-strong army for at least 10 years after the war with Russia ends, seeking to deter another Russian invasion. The request was raised during discussions on security guarantees at trilateral talks between Ukraine,...

On Veterans Day, ABC's Sunny Hostin sparked controversy by arguing that enslaved Americans largely emancipated themselves rather than crediting Abraham Lincoln and the Union's victory in the Civil War. "The slaves basically emancipated themselves because they wanted freedom and they fought for their freedom," Hostin said. Enslaved Americans absolutely resisted slavery, escaped captivity and fought for their freedom. Their contributions deserve recognition. But the historical record also establishes:

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee looking into how the government dealt with the Jeffrey Epstein case tried so hard to tie Donald Trump to the sex pervert that they tampered with some of the “evidence” they leaked to the media. Oh, yes, they did, according to the head of the committee, James Comer. Indeed, their lies blew a 10 out of 10 on the Adam Schiff Prevarication Scale. And the guy behind it is the same one who will ascend to chair of the Oversight Committee come January, Robert Garcia. I’ll be writing more about that empty suit soon,...

New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) smiled and said nothing when confronted over a House Judiciary Committee report alleging the city's district attorneys instructed prosecutors to downgrade charges against illegal aliens to shield them from deportation. Now a former top ICE official in New York is explaining why that question may have been so uncomfortable. Scott Mechkowski, a retired deputy field office director for ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations in New York City, says Bronx DA Darcel Clark's (D) playbook for child sex abuse cases was designed to keep deportable offenders here. It's quite sickening when you think about...

Drivers are starting to see some relief from high fuel prices. For the first time in months, the average price of a gallon of gasoline has dipped below $4, according to AAA. The price crossed below the $4 threshold on Tuesday, and is currently down to a national average of $3.94 for a gallon of regular. Prices have dipped about 40 cents over the past month, with much of that decline happening in the past two weeks. "Many will assume the election had something to do with it, but that's a myth," Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at...

In multiple posts over the past year, I have expressed the opinion that the “net zero” climate/energy agenda will have a very hard time reviving at the national level after the devastation inflicted by the second Trump administration and the recent Republican Congress. Where we are now is that most of the regulatory support for “green” energy has been eliminated — most particularly the so-called “Endangerment Finding,” determining that greenhouse gases “endanger” human health and welfare — and also, Congress (in the OBBB) has zeroed out the subsidies and tax credits that enabled uneconomic wind and solar generators to get...

A wish for our sitch: MYSIT (pronounced "mice it") Not short for "my situation". An acronym. A heartfelt wish and greeting for all our FRiends: MayYouSurviveInterestingTimes

Spenser Rapone, who was booted from the Army after the graduation photos were made public, is now embracing Islamic extremism and cruel dictators. The notorious West Point graduate who wrote "communism will win" on his cap during graduation—and who now openly praises Oct. 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar, Hezbollah boss Hassan Nasrallah, and Syria's sadistic Assad family—is now a Ph.D. student at the prestigious University of Chicago, all expenses paid.Spenser Rapone, a self-described "revolutionary socialist" who was drummed out of the Army after declaring his support for communism and calling for violence against Republicans, has taken up residence at the University...

When New York wildlife officers euthanized a couple’s pet squirrel, Peanut, two years ago, Republicans including JD Vance seized on the critter’s killing as just another example of government overreach from meddling Democrats. “The same government that doesn’t care about hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrant criminals coming into our country doesn’t want us to have pets. It’s the craziest, the craziest thing,” Vance said at a rally just before the 2024 election. Now, the Department of Homeland Security under President Donald Trump has put one of the late squirrel’s owners in an immigration jail, pending possible deportation to Germany....

The White House on Nov. 9 asserted that potential Democrat-led congressional investigations into the Trump administration or its officials may run afoul of the law. snip “Compulsory process is a power Congress has for oversight functions, and only for oversight functions,” the letter states. “Abusive threats and public statements about the indiscriminate issuance of subpoenas, along with threats directed at prospective targets within the Administration make it abundantly clear that any forthcoming investigative processes will be deployed to harass and aggrandize, rather than to advance any legitimate legislative end.” Scharf argued that congressional subpoenas that are “designed merely to abuse...

Hiram R. Revels (Republican) – Served from 1870 to 1871. And so was the second: Blanche K. Bruce (Republican) – Served from 1875 to 1881. Just thought you all should know. Or in case anyone needed reminding... Would be nice for the Party to look back to its roots a bit...

While many news outlets are using colorful terms like “Super El Niño” to describe this year’s very strong weather event, it’s just feeding an alarmist narrative, meteorologist Christ Martz says. El Niño will have impacts, he said, but they won’t be catastrophic. ===================================================================== This year’s fall and winter will be hit with a meteorological phenomenon called El Niño, and multiple reports have latched onto the term “Super El Niño” to describe the expected elevated intensity of the current cycle. While the term makes for catchy headlines, meteorologist Chris Martz says “Super El Niño” is not a meteorological term and calling...

Taking shots of olive oil has become a popular trend on social media, with celebrities like Kourtney Kardashian and Hailey Bieber touting the practice for its supposed health benefits. However, some health professionals disagree with the claim that shooting olive oil is a viable wellness ritual. "I think health trends like these become popular because they're novel and go viral," Megan Meyer, Ph.D., a science communication consultant based in Durham, North Carolina, told Fox News Digital.

If you’re upset about the Midterm Election results, I have something I think you’re really going to like. This is Hank Kunneman and he has a pretty incredible word about the Midterms. Multiple words, in fact. And what’s really impressive to me is the fact that most of these he released BEFORE the Midterms and it’s incredible how well they hold up now looking back in hindsight. I think you’re going to love this, please enjoy (and a transcript and summary are provided below if you prefer that instead of watching): VIDEO AT LINK............. FULL TRANSCRIPT AT LINK.............

President Donald Trump said on Thursday he wanted Vice President JD Vance to focus “his complete and total attention” on any crime and corruption in Democratic-run US cities, saying that effort could save more money than a deal with Iran. “Our Budget could be quickly BALANCED with the correction of this large scale criminal activity. CORRUPTION is in the Democrat Leadership’s blood!” Trump wrote on social media. “We don’t need a deal with Iran. Those days have long since passed. We’ve got their money, Hundreds of Billions of Dollars, and we’ve got their Strait!” Vance has participated recently in outreach...

When an election produces outcomes that run completely counter to historical precedent, polling baselines, and raw mathematical probability, the dispute ceases to be a conventional political debate and transforms into an indictment of the process itself. The case asserting that this midterm was systematically subverted rests upon four primary pillars: statistical impossibility, software and algorithmic manipulation, unauthorized cyber penetration, and administrative chain-of-custody collapse. The foundational argument against the legitimacy of the results begins with the numbers that show uniform swings across non-contiguous battlegrounds violating basic demographic distribution principles. The primary anomaly centers on contested battleground outcomes where one party captures...

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and alleged Chinese spy Alice Huang aren't the only Huangs making headlines in the wake of their affair. Outlets including the New York Times have turned their lens on Lori Huang, the low-profile engineer-turned-philanthropist who married Jensen Huang in 1985 and has spent the past 40 years by his side. Forced into the spotlight with her husband's public apology, the 64-year-old president of the Jen-Hsun Lori Huang Foundation helped her husband launch his chip start-up and could now receive half his fortune, currently worth around $62 billion, should the couple divorce, per SFist. It could be...

At least 17 injured as rescuers were still pulling people from rubble early Thursday At least eight people have died after a three-story building in Brooklyn collapsed at the edge of a construction site, New York City's mayor said Thursday, as firefighters kept digging through the rubble to find others who may be trapped beneath the wreckage. ABC7 reports four of the victims are believed to be construction workers. The building came down Wednesday afternoon. At least 17 people have been injured, including three firefighters, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said. Scores of firefighters and police officers wielding pickaxes and power saws...

Colorado Democrats aren't bothering to hide their disdain for Coloradans and liberty anymore. California was once said to be the “laboratory of Democracy" that set the tone for the rest of the nation, but Colorado is hot on its heels. True, California hasn’t done that, except for its blue-state influence for a long time, and some of those states are working hard to out-Californicate California. Following the midterms, Colorado appears poised to influence, or at least largely reflect, congressional Democrat designs on America. The Washington Examiner explains: Last week, Colorado voters passed several propositions that run counter to the state...

One East Village block has transformed over the past few years into ground zero in the battle over delivery e-bikes in New York City. On any given day, hundreds of bikes line the curb of East 11th Street, between First Avenue and Avenue A, near a mosque where many workers congregate. The scene has drawn the ire of nearby residents, who complain of clogged streets. City officials have installed bike corrals and hired a contractor for extra street cleanings, and the NYPD has repeatedly confiscated bikes it says are parked illegally.