Free Republic

Just hours after the terse exchange at the White House between Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on one side and US President Trump and Vice President JD Vance on the other, European leaders were quick to voice their full support for the war-torn country.What the world hoped would be a productive meeting between leaders of the two countries after they traded jabs last week quickly turned into a heated spat, resulting in a shouting match in the White House's Oval Office. Trump berated Zelenskyy, saying: “You’re gambling with World War III, and what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country,...

President Donald Trump was left in disbelief as he was forced to listen to a woke bishop deliver a stunning sermon calling for him to show 'mercy' to migrants and transgender children. On the first full day of Trump's presidency Episcopal bishop Marianne Budde unleashed a wild sermon claiming trans kids were 'fearing for their lives' due to him being in the Oval Office. Trump sat stony-faced in the front row, next to First Lady Melania Trump, as the bishop claimed some people in America were afraid following his election. Addressing Trump directly during the service at Washington National Cathedral,...

Two U.S. Navy aviators are safe after their two-seat F/A-18F Super Hornet was shot down by an American ship by mistake, according to a late Saturday statement from U.S. Central Command. The Super Hornet, assigned to aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75), was flying over the Red Sea when guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg (CG-64) fired upon it, according to the CENTCOM statement. “Both pilots were safely recovered. Initial assessments indicate that one of the crew members sustained minor injuries. This incident was not the result of hostile fire, and a full investigation is underway,” reads a statement from CENTCOM....

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released photos of the Israeli Air Force (IAF) preparing for its overnight mission attacking Iran’s missile sites and air defenses — and the photos included several female pilots and crew members. As Breitbart News reported, the attack came in retaliation for massive Iranian attacks on Israel in April and early October. The strikes appeared to have been limited to military targets, not oil and gas industry sites or nuclear sites.

Evangelicals have expressed "disbelief" at comments made by the Archbishop of Canterbury in which he claimed that gay sex is not sinful if it is within a committed relationship. Archbishop Justin Welby made the comments on "The Rest is Politics" podcast hosted by former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell and former Tory MP Rory Stewart. Campbell used the podcast to pose a similar question to one he had asked Archbishop Welby in a 2017 interview for GQ magazine about whether he believed gay sex was sinful. Asked if he now had a "better answer" to that question, Welby said he...

Taxpayers in Pennsylvania were billed more than $2.5 million via Medicaid to pay for “irreversible sex change interventions” on children between 2019 and 2023, according to the organization Do No Harm.The Philly Leader reported that Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania (CHOP) and UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh were both named to Do No Harm’s “Dirty Dozen” list, consisting of the “12 worst offending children’s hospitals promoting sex change treatments for minors.”The Stop the Harm database, which is a project of Do No Harm, reported that hospitals in the Keystone State saw 822 minors who were “sex change patients” including 316 surgery...

gCaptain has received multiple reports that the US Navy oiler USNS Big Horn ran aground yesterday and partially flooded off the coast of Oman, leaving the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group without its primary fuel source. First reported on the gCaptain forum and by maritime historian Sal Mercogliano, a leaked video and photos show damage to the ship’s rudder post and water flooding into a mechanical space. US Navy vessels don’t typically transmit AIS signals, so we don’t know the exact location of the ship but a Navy source confirms she is anchored near Oman awaiting a full damage assessment....

I HATE THIS STORY. But what it demonstrates is the fragility of our maritime logistics system to support the fleet. With just 14 fleet oilers, 2 Supply class fast combat stores ships and 12 dry cargo/ammo ships, we don't have much depth in the fleet to support multiple strike group deployments, routine operations and training. The 3 Lewis class oilers have not completed or past post-delivery acceptance.

"I think the draft in the future scenario would look less like it did in Vietnam and more like it did during the world wars," Taren Sylvester said.

CNN — In some corners of society, there appears to be a shift in the way people talk about kids. Every so often, a provocative social media post sets off predictably polarizing discourse about the presence of children in daily life. There was the woman who snarkily suggested that toddlers should be leashed. There was the guy who proudly posed outside of an establishment that declared itself “dog friendly” and “child free,” and the person who defended him by proclaiming that it was “fine and normal to dislike children.” In certain online communities, people sometimes express these attitudes even more...

The U.S. Navy commissioned a new submarine on Saturday, the first vessel in its fleet designed to fully integrate male and female sailors. The USS New Jersey, a fast-attack Virginia-class submarine, was commissioned during a ceremony at Naval Weapons Station Earle in Middletown, New Jersey. "You operate the most complex platform on the planet and you continuously strive for excellence," New Jersey’s commanding officer Cmdr. Steve Halle addressed the submarine’s crew during the ceremony. "I’m amazed and humbled at what we have accomplished." "Our superior professionalism is enhanced by our crew integration and our diversity," Halle continued. "We have exceeded...

Analysis In an unprecedented joint public appearance, CIA Director William Burns and MI6 Chief Richard Moore assert the enduring strength of their intelligence agencies Last week, the heads of major Western intelligence agencies made a striking public appearance, first with a provocative op-ed and then in a high-profile interview with the Financial Times editor. Although some questions remained unanswered, their statements provided critical insights into their covert and overt operations. William Joseph Burns, Director of the CIA, and Richard Peter Moore, head of MI6/SIS, both distinguished diplomats before their current roles, asserted with conviction that their organisations are more formidable...

Retired state police officer James Whalen won a GOP primary and is now on a path to take on trans Democrat Sarah McBride in a general election for Delaware’s House seat. Whalen has a steep hill to climb to become the first Republican to hold a statewide office in Delaware since 2010. Now the GOP victor will likely take on McBride, who ran in her primary virtually unopposed as the only candidate to raise any funds in the race. McBride already became the first-ever transgender state senator in the U.S. after winning election to the Delaware Senate in 2020. The...

Coverage of the wars in Ukraine and Gaza is mostly dominated by talk of weapons. Reporters and analysts focus on suicide drones, on shell deficits, on targeting algorithms. But for all the attention devoted to modern weapons and munitions, both conflicts are proving that modern war still comes down to people.... ... Before Covid, fewer than 3 in 10 Americans in the prime recruiting demographic — ages 17 to 24 — were eligible to serve in uniform. Those numbers have shrunk further since the pandemic began. Only 23 percent of young Americans are qualified to enlist without a waiver.... In...

The Grok chatbot on the X social media platform has been updated following a letter sent to platform owner Elon Musk from five secretaries of state demanding he make changes over false election information. Democrat Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon announced the change Monday, after he had been informed of the change by the social media company last week. Simon, along with four other secretaries of state, sent a letter earlier this month to Musk claiming their combined "37 million constituents were recently impacted by false information" Grok provided about the election. The AI chatbot will direct users who...

Graham also took the opportunity to urge the Biden administration to send Ukraine the manpower and long-range weapons it needs to launch a full-scale attack and hit targets deep inside Russian territory.According to reports, Russia has yet to repel the Ukrainian incursion seven days after it began, as Ukraine’s top commander boasts that Kyiv controls around 600 square miles in the Kursk region of Russia.Sen. Graham, known as America’s premier warmonger, made the bellicose comments during a bipartisan visit to Kyiv with Democrat Sen. Richard Blumenthal.“What do I think about Kursk? Bold, brilliant, beautiful. Keep it up,” he enthused to...

The nation lacks the processes and systems to conduct a military draft in response to a near-peer conflict, according to a new report by a think tank based in Washington, D.C. The United States ended conscription in 1973, relying since on the all-volunteer force. But all U.S. males ages 18 to 25 are still required to register with the Selective Service System in case a draft is ever needed again. "To be clear, this report is not advocating for implementation of a draft," states the Center for a New American Security report, which was released June 18. "Rather, it is...

Pastor Greg Laurie and Pastor Don Stewart discuss why America is not mentioned in the Bible as a part of the last days. Are we no longer a Superpower? Are we no longer a nation? All this and more in this video you will not want to miss

House of Representatives passed a measure on Friday automatically registering men aged 18 to 26 for selective service. It was part of the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which sets out the U.S. government’s military and national security priorities over the next fiscal year. This year's NDAA authorizes $895.2 billion in military spending, a $9 billion increase from fiscal 2024. While it hasn’t been invoked in over half a century, it’s mandatory for all male U.S. citizens to register for the selective service, also known as the military draft, when they turn 18. Failure to register is classified as...

Florida's blanket restrictions on medical care for transgender children were ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge on Tuesday, striking down a key pillar of Gov. Ron DeSantis' platform. In his ruling from Tallahassee, U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle invalidated a Florida health code rule and a new state law that prohibited Medicaid payments for puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones. He found these bans violated federal laws, including the Affordable Care Act's prohibition on sex discrimination in healthcare. "Florida has adopted a statute and rules that ban gender-affirming care for minors even when medically appropriate," Judge Hinkle wrote in his 105-page...