Free Republic

Suppose, during a battle at sea— with missiles flying—an adversary is trying to disrupt a ship’s sensor- fusion system, so that it mischaracterizes what the sensors are seeing. With current cybersecurity methods, it could take minutes or even hours for analysts to determine that the system is being attacked. And by then it might be too late.However, a new approach that uses AI could, for example, send an alert to the combat systems officer—in real time—that there is a high probability that an attack on the sensor-fusion system is underway. Armed with that information, the CSO could limit any possible...

Over the past 10 to 15 years, the South China Sea (SCS) has emerged as an arena of strategic competition between the United States and the People’s Republic of China (PRC, or China). China’s actions in the SCS—including extensive island-building and base-construction activities at sites that it occupies in the Spratly Islands, as well as actions by its maritime forces to assert China’s claims against competing claims by regional neighbors such as the Philippines and Vietnam—have heightened concerns among U.S. observers that China is gaining effective control of the SCS, an area of strategic, political, and economic importance to the...

NAVAL BASE SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Approximately 25 percent of sailors in the surface fleet have bought into the “Get Real Get Better” principles two years after the Navy issued its push to improve culture in the service, according to surface fleet leaders.The rest know little about it, according to a survey of about 1,000 sailors that a San Diego-based command conducted among ship crews on the waterfront to gauge what they knew about the Navy’s initiative.“We’ve got a lot of work to do to really drive this down to the deck plate and have it be truly a part...

A resupply mission to the Philippine Coast Guard’s flagship stationed at a contested South China Sea feature was blocked by 40 Chinese vessels in the latest incident around Escoda Shoal, according to Manila.Two Philippine Coast Guard 44-meter-long patrol boats, BRP Cabra (MRRV-4409) and BRP Cape Engaño (MRRV-4411), approached Escoda to resupply agency flagship BRP Teresa Magbanua (MRRV-9701) on Monday morning. The vessels carried food, supplies, a contingent of journalists and a “special ice cream treat” from Commandant Adm. Ronnie Gil Gavan for Teresa Magbanua’s crew to celebrate National Heroes’ Day. Stationed at Escoda since April, the Japanese-made multi-mission response vessel...

Military Sealift Command has drafted a plan to remove the crews from 17 Navy support ships due to a lack of qualified mariners to operate the vessels across the Navy, USNI News learned.The MSC “force generation reset” identified two Lewis and Clark replenishment ships, one fleet oiler, a dozen Spearhead-class Expeditionary Fast Transports (EPF) and two forward-deployed Navy expeditionary sea bases that would enter an “extended maintenance” period and have their crews retasked to other ships in the fleet, three people familiar with the plan told USNI News Thursday.Based on the crew requirements on the platforms, sideling all the ships...

China’s military modernization effort, including its naval modernization effort, is the top focus of U.S. defense planning and budgeting. China’s naval modernization effort has been underway for about 30 years, since the early to mid-1990s, and has transformed China’s navy into a much more modern and capable force. China’s navy is a formidable military force within China’s near-seas region, and it is conducting a growing number of operations in the broader waters of the Western Pacific, the Indian Ocean, and waters around Europe.China’s navy is, by far, the largest of any country in East Asia, and sometime between 2015 and...

CHICAGO, IL — As top Democratic political leaders and influencers gathered in the Windy City for the week, the Democratic National Convention dyed the Chicago River red to celebrate abortion.The decision was made to make the river blood-colored for the party's convention as a striking visual to emphasize the Democrats' unending commitment to slaughtering defenseless babies in as large of quantities as possible."Turning the Chicago River blood-red is the perfect way to celebrate our party's national convention and remind everyone just how excited we get about killing babies," said DNC Chair Jaime Harrison. "We're just bummed we couldn't use actual...

The key difference between NatCons and FreeCons has to do with the character of the current political struggle against progressives on the Left. FreeCons believe we are mainly involved in policy arguments. FreeCon signatory Yuval Levin, for instance, writes that our divisions are a family argument between two forms of liberalism: progressive liberalism and conservative liberalism—we are not, he assures us, in a “political fight to the death.” National conservatives, on the other hand, generally believe we are involved in what the late Angelo Codevilla called a “Cold Civil War”—or as third waver Victor Davis Hanson has put it, we...

U.S. — Democrats continued their long-standing tradition of holding whites-only gatherings this week with the new "White Dudes for Harris" campaign.The Zoom call, featuring prominent politicians and celebrities, upheld the Democratic Party's proud heritage of gathering a large group of white men together to talk about black people just like the party did for decades with the Ku Klux Klan and other whites-only meetings."We're Democrats. It's what we do," said angry white man David Hogg. "We'd be remiss if we didn't seek to carry on the age-old Democratic Party tradition of having meetings that were only for white males. It's...

On a sweltering July afternoon in 1924, Eric Liddell walked onto the track in a Paris stadium carrying a trowel. Pinned to the front of his short-sleeved shirt was a piece of cloth bearing the number 451. When Liddell reached the track, he bent down and dug two small holes in the center of lane 6.Then he walked up to each of the other five competitors in the 400-meter dash final and shook their hands.Moments earlier, one of the British team’s masseurs had handed a note to the 22-year-old Scottish runner: “In the old book, it says, ‘He that honors...

Today, people caught with hard drugs (including heroin, fentanyl, LSD, and methamphetamine) should receive a $100 citation—max. But they can even have that waived if they call a toll-free number for a health assessment that can connect them to treatment and other services. Over 95 percent of people ignore the citations altogether. It didn’t take the police long to figure out writing them was a waste of time. They mostly gave up, which meant addicts were free to use narcotics openly, and they do.Timothy Desper works at the Portland Rescue Mission, a Christian nonprofit that helps people struggling with hunger,...

A video of the incident shows seven small boats surrounding RHIBs next to Sierra Madre. According to the Philippine military, the China Coast Guard used blaring sirens and strobe lights to disorient the personnel. Tear gas and rocks were also thrown at and onto the Philippine vessels. A Chinese military aircraft was also claimed to be flying overhead in what was described as “a further display of excessive force and intimidation.”A Philippine Navy RHIB transporting supplies, including seven disassembled and packaged CAR-15 rifles, was towed away from Sierra Madre, surrounded on by Chinese vessels and boarded. An image released by...

A Philippine sailor suffered severe injuries when Chinese forces blocked an Armed Forces of the Philippines resupply mission in the South China Sea, Pentagon officials confirmed to USNI News. The AFP mission to resupply the BRP Sierra Madre (LT-57) outpost at Second Thomas Shoal also resulted in damage to an unknown number of Philippine vessels.The Philippine sailor was injured as a result of the “PRC vessels’ dangerous and deliberate use of water cannons, ramming, and blocking maneuvers,” reads a Monday statement from Office of the Secretary of Defense spokesperson U.S. Army Maj Pete Nguyen to USNI News.This is the third...

U.S. — As summer ramped up heading into the important home stretch to the November presidential election, an alarming new study found that 33% of Americans are dumber than a bag of hammers.News channel CNN conducted a poll asking viewers who won last night's debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, with a shocking 33% of people responding that they suffer from advanced cognitive impairment, officially placing them at or beyond the stupidity of a box of rocks."We can confirm over one-third of the country is drooling morons," said Dr. Bradford Doran, head of the research team conducting the poll....

“And I would say that really, it’s the Houthis that have failed to deter the United States and the international community from continuing to operate in the Red Sea. You know, they’ve conducted over 190 attacks, the vast majority of which have been knocked down, thanks to U. S. and international efforts to help safeguard shipping and the lives of mariners through operations like Operation Prosperity Guardian,” Ryder said.“The United States has continued to destroy Houthi offensive capabilities in Yemen, but the terror group continues to have sufficient means to threaten shipping. This offers insights regarding the size of the...

Since November 2023, the Houthis have conducted dozens of attacks on commercial ships transiting the Red Sea, endangering civilian crews and threatening freedom of navigation through a critical global transportation route. The Houthis are non-state actors in Yemen who have used Iran’s support to gradually expand their military capabilities since at least 2015.In early December 2023, the Houthis threatened to attack any ships that they believed were heading to Israeli ports, though many of their attacks both before and since have been against civilian ships with either tenuous or no known Israeli affiliations or port calls. Since mid-December 2023, the...

If the Houthis make good on their threats, it would be an escalation of their attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. To date, they claim attacks have been limited to ships going to Israel or those with connections to Israel, the United States and the United Kingdom. The Pentagon disputes that claim and has said that the Houthis have targeted multinational ships. In at least one instance, the Houthis have targeted at least one Chinese ship, according to USNI News’ timeline of activity in the Red Sea. It is possible that the Houthis were...

General Dwight D. Eisenhower arrived in London January 2, 1944 to command Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) and to direct the last five months of planning for D-Day. Eisenhower’s study of leadership skills required he never express the apprehension and doubt, which inevitably arise as strain and tension wear away endurance. He was determined always to present confidence and optimism to those around him. He brought with him a confident, battle tested team that had led successful landings in North Africa, Sicily, and Salerno, despite experiencing German counterattacks nearly driving the Allies into the sea on the last two...

USS Carney (DDG-64) and USS Arleigh Burke (DDG-51) shot down between four and six Iranian-launched ballistic missiles, a senior military official told reporters Sunday.Both ships were in the Mediterranean. Carney most recently made a port visit to Palermo, Sicily, Italy, on April 10. Arleigh Burke is forward deployed to Rota, Spain.A senior military official said that land- and sea-based aircraft were also involved in the U.S. response. USNI News understands that the aircraft did not come from USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69). The aircraft carrier is in the Red Sea as part of the country’s Operation Prosperity Guardian, which aims...

PROSECUTORS HOLD a lot of power. They determine criminal charges, recommend bail and sentences, accept or reject plea deals. Their actions, or inaction, affect millions of Americans each year.But until fairly recently, elections for the more than 2,300 DA offices across the country were low-profile, down-ballot affairs. Candidates worked the radio circuit and hammered signs on street corners. They ran ads and shook hands. But campaigns started to change in 2015 when outside money poured into the Red River bottom lands of Caddo Parish, La., the spot George Soros selected for a test run of his new philanthropic plan. Soros’...