Free Republic

Canada has long prided itself on being a nation of tolerance, diversity, and freedom. Yet one of its latest military directives raises a troubling question: How tolerant is a society that increasingly excludes Christianity from public life?The Canadian Armed Forces has reportedly issued guidance instructing military chaplains to avoid using religious-specific language--including references to God--during public ceremonies and official events. The irony is difficult to ignore. Chaplains exist precisely because they are ministers of faith. Asking them to leave God out of public prayers is rather like asking a physician to avoid mentioning medicine.Even more striking is the fact that...

President Trump on Monday accused US Attorney Jeanine Pirro of folding “like an umbrella” for dismissing charges against former Olympian David Hearn — rather than standing by the case that alleged the canoeist vandalized the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall.“The judge was extremely unfriendly to Jeanine and frankly, I think she choked,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday. “The judge was really vicious. Instead of going after the people that did it, the judge went after her and went after her department, and I guess she choked.” “I was disappointed in Jeanine Pirro. Really disappointed in...

Summary Russian officials say at least seven people, including three children, have been killed by a Ukrainian drone on a beach in south-west Russia - BBC Verify examines footage It's not clear if the drone was intercepted before landing on the beach. It has been reported it may have been targeting a Russian naval base about 25 miles (40 km) away - Ukraine has not commented The area has long been a favourite of Russian holidaymakers, says our Europe reporter Earlier, an apparent Ukrainian drone strike hit a warehouse belonging to Russia's largest online retailer Wildberries, around 112 miles east...

US President Donald Trump criticized Iran’s leadership for being “unbelievably duplicitous” and accused them of being dishonest regarding the status of US-Iran negotiations in a post on Truth Social on Monday. “They ask for a meeting… talks begin, with more scheduled in the immediate future, and they say, openly and proudly, that they’re not having any discussions, that nothing is being talked about,” Trump lamented. He added that “nothing gets through to Iran, unless we want it to, and nothing will get through, unless a deal, or total surrender, is accomplished.” Trump also disputed Iranian claims of controlling the Strait...

Ukraine has said it carried out overnight strikes deep inside Russia, hitting a major oil refinery and an airfield that houses Russian strategic aviation. President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Engels airfield and the refinery, both in the Saratov region some 600km (373miles) from Ukraine's border, were hit. An oil depot was also struck in Kaluga region and a drone launch site in Bryansk. Russia said eight people were killed in the Ukrainian strikes, and 635 drones shot down or intercepted. It also reported yet another strike on a warehouse of Russia's biggest online retailer Wildberries. Meanwhile, Moscow said its forces...

For four years, Russia has bet on outlasting Ukraine in a war of attrition. Now, as Kyiv’s drones inflict growing damage on both Russia’s army and oil industry, Moscow is finding out that time isn’t necessarily on its side. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion force is making ever-smaller gains at the front line, its losses exceed recruitment, and it is struggling to adapt to a Ukrainian drone campaign pounding its supply routes to its forward positions. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s stretched army hasn’t buckled as Russia hoped and is even pushing back the invaders in places with small counterattacks. Its increasingly capable...

Andrew Moran, the economics editor at Liberty Nation News, writes that Canada seems to be quietly revising the core tenets of its “climate change” religion. Under a headline that bluntly announces, “Canada Admits Justin Trudeau’s Climate Agenda Was a Scam,” and a lede that asks, “Is it too little, too late for the struggling nation?” Moran analyzes a seventeen-minute YouTube video that Prime Minister Mark Carney published on June 30. In that video, Carney states that Canada can no longer afford to pursue the lofty “green energy” goals established by his predecessor, Justin Trudeau, which, among other directives, required Canada...

Russia’s lower-house State Duma on Wednesday passed sweeping legislation tying the legal status of migrant workers and their families to their financial earnings. Under the bills, migrant workers must prove they earn enough to support themselves and dependents according to official subsistence levels set by federal and regional governments. Falling short, or becoming unemployed, triggers non-renewal or annulment of their temporary low-skilled work “patents,” followed by deportation within 15 days. Migrants will also face a mandatory fixed advance income tax for themselves and each family member. Foreign dependents may remain in Russia only for the duration of the primary worker’s...

Prosecutor General's Office hasn't established Ukraine's involvement in the sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines, prosecutors said on July 9, adding that the investigation and evidence collection are still underway. The statement comes a week after Germany's federal prosecutor filed charges against a Ukrainian national suspected of sabotaging the Nord Stream gas pipelines in 2022. The suspect is Serhii Kuznietsov, Ukrainian veteran who was extradited to Germany in November 2025. Ukrainian law enforcement is investigating the case as part of criminal proceedings into Russia's war against Ukraine and other alleged offenses. Investigators are reviewing information...

Mark Carney swept to power on a backlash to President Trump’s talk of making Canada the 51st state, which many Americans took for mere shtick. But for the new prime minister, reading intelligence reports detailing the gravity of the crisis, it was a breaking point. In private phone conversations with Carney’s predecessor, Justin Trudeau, Trump had threatened to scrap the 1908 agreement delineating their shared border. “I tear that up and your whole country unravels,” Trump told Trudeau in one call, according to two people familiar with the matter. Over dinner at Mar-a-Lago, Trudeau’s envoys tried to dissuade Trump from...

Ukraine and Germany have formed a joint working group to discuss how to return Ukrainian men of military age who left the country illegally, according to Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany, Oleksiy Makeiev. As of late May, Germany hosted approximately 1.35 million Ukrainian refugees, including 356,000 men between the ages of 18 and 63. However, the specific mechanisms currently under discussion have not been disclosed. The development followed German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s April remarks that Berlin would limit the number of Ukrainian men seeking asylum and facilitate their return home during President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Germany. The ambassador outlined broader...

Zaluzhny is considered the favorite in a post-war election.We have been reporting here on TGP that, since May 20, 2024, when his mandate expired, Volodymyr Zelensky has been ruling Ukraine by force of Martial law, becoming illegitimate in the eyes of many. And, for over two years, a figure has been raising its profile to become a challenger if and when presidential elections take place: former Ukrainian top general Valery Zaluzhny, currently ambassador to the UK.

Moscow has come under the largest Ukrainian attack since the start of the full-scale war, with close to 200 drones hitting targets around the Russian capital and setting columns of thick smoke billowing high into the sky. Seventeen people were wounded in the Moscow region, according to local governor Andrei Vorobyov. Almost 1,000 drones and four Ukrainian cruise missiles were intercepted and destroyed across the country in 24 hours, Russia's defence ministry was quoted as saying. An oil depot was struck in the southern Rostov region, where one person was killed. Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv had once again hit the...

Ukraine is seeking an additional $20 billion in military funding from its allies, Defence ​Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said on Wednesday at a joint ‌press conference with his Dutch counterpart. A Ukrainian defence source told Reuters last week that Ukraine would make the request on Thursday at a meeting ​of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, an alliance of ​more than 50 countries also known as the Ramstein ⁠group that provides financial and military aid for Kyiv. Fedorov ​said that of the nearly $40 billion funding already announced, Ukraine saw $24 ​billion in the supply schedule. He added that Ukraine has been...

Canadian Senate passes bill removing religious defence from hate speech lawCanada’s Senate in early June approved legislation that removes a decades-old Criminal Code protection for good-faith religious expression based on sacred texts, advancing a measure widely seen by faith communities as a direct threat to the public proclamation of Christian teaching on marriage, sexuality and human nature.The Combatting Hate Act, known as Bill C-9, cleared the upper house on June 4 by a 45-13 vote, with two abstentions. It now returns to the House of Commons, which passed the bill in March, for final approval of Senate amendments before Royal...

Strongman Vladimir Putin was forced to halt his annual Russia Day showcase in Moscow’s Red Square for the first time in 23 years Friday, after a Ukrainian attack battered key energy targets and sparked massive fires on Russian soil. Kyiv launched drone strikes overnight into Friday on critical Russian energy and transportation points, including the Armiansk Bridge, which connects occupied Crimea with the motherland. The bombing of the bridge “completely paralysed” a key logistical route and destroyed about 50 vehicles carrying fuel and ammunition, according to Ukraine’s 1st Separate Assault Regiment Da Vinci. Moscow’s centerpiece Russia Day concert was hastily...

President Trump announced that he canceled planned strikes against Iran on Thursday and claimed Iran's leadership "approved" a draft agreement that would extend the ceasefire, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and launch 60 days of negotiations on Iran's nuclear program. (snip)The sources said the gaps were narrowed on three key issues: The mechanism for releasing Iran's frozen assets — the most important issue for the Iranians.Arrangements for reopening the Strait of Hormuz during the 60-day ceasefire period.How negotiations over Iran's nuclear program would be conducted during the 60-day ceasefire period.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on June 10 that it is "very important" for President Volodymyr Zelensky to attend the upcoming Group of Seven (G7) summit. Zelensky's participation "is very important for us because we need to rebuild consensus within the G7 in support of Ukraine on the various aspects of the war," Macron said at the Elysee Palace during a pre-summit discussion with civil society representatives. The leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States will convene at the G7 Summit in the French resort town of Evian-les-Bains from June 15-17. Macron's invitation...

At a recent meeting of the parliament's Standing Committee on Science and Research, conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Vincent Ho asked, 'What is the definition of a woman?' The simple question immediately sparked outrage with other members of the committee, who jumped down Ho's throat and attempted to prevent Chief Science Advisor Mona Nemer from replying. Ho asked the scientist: 'Before you became chief science advisor, you were a molecular geneticist by training, right? So you know a thing or two about X and Y chromosomes. So, I wanted to ask you, what is the definition of a woman?' Immediately,...

This applies to tankers described by Brussels as "shadow fleet"NICOSIA, June 8. /TASS/. EU member states have authorized their warships operating in the Mediterranean as part of Operation IRINI to detain foreign tankers suspected of transporting Russian oil as part of what Brussels describes as the "shadow fleet," EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said. TASS has summed up what is known to this moment. Kallas’ statementEU member countries have authorized their warships to detain foreign tankers suspected of shipping Russian oil, Kallas said. This applies to tankers described by Brussels as "shadow fleet." According to Kallas, the main objective...