Free Republic

Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is still recovering from severe facial and leg injuries suffered in the airstrike that killed his father at the beginning of the war, three people close to his inner circle told Reuters. Khamenei’s face was disfigured in the attack on the supreme leader’s compound in central Tehran and he suffered a significant injury to one or both legs, all three sources said. The 56-year-old is nonetheless recovering from his wounds and remains mentally ​sharp, according to the people, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. He is taking part in meetings with senior officials...

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office announced on Saturday that it is launching an investigation into California Rep. Eric Swalwell, over an alleged sexual assault involving a former staffer in 2024, according to a new report. Swalwell’s former staffer — who has not been identified — told CNN that after a night of drinking with her former boss in April 2024, she was heavily intoxicated and woke up to him having sex with her in his hotel bed. “I was pushing him off of me, saying no,” the woman told the outlet. “He didn’t stop.” The staffer — who is one...

An alleged California arsonist who filmed himself setting a warehouse full of people on fire compared himself to Luigi Mangione after starting the blaze, according to court documents. Chamel Abdulkarim, 29, allegedly posted a first-person video on Instagram on April 7 igniting multiple pallets at the Kimberly-Clark warehouse in Ontario, per a criminal complaint filed Thursday in the US District Court for the Central District of California viewed by the Daily Mail. 'If you're not going to pay us enough to ******* live or afford to live, at least pay us enough not to do this ****,' Abdulkarim said, according...

A maniac slashed three elderly people with a machete in an unprovoked attack and was fatally shot by cops at Grand Central Terminal Saturday morning — causing mayhem that sent commuters fleeing the iconic station, police and witnesses said. An 85-year-old man and a 65-year-old man were slashed in their heads on the 4, 5, 6 subway platform at at 9:50 a.m., police said. A 70-year-old woman was also slashed, but it wasn’t clear where on her body, cops said. Two NYPD detectives confronted the 44-year-old and told him to drop the machete. He ignored their commands and was shot...

What does this mean? Perhaps Donald Trump's latest statement is meant to paraphrase a line from the most worthwhile Star Wars film: You have altered the deal. Pray I do not alter it further.Sometime in the next few hours, talks will begin in Islamabad between the US and Iran in an attempt to end the war. Trump agreed to a two-week cease-fire that stopped a massive American attack on energy and transportation infrastructure in exchange for a full re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz and an end to Iranian missile and drone attacks. Not only has Iran not delivered on...

A female wolf (black, and very beautiful) brings, and drops off, her cub to the door of a human, which baffles the owner of the house.. until a bit later, she runs to the porch with a bear chasing her, where it attacks her. The owner runs out of the house attempting to scare off the bear, firing a gun in the process (can hear it in the video). The black wolf is laying on the porch... The owner of the house takes her in, gives her medical care until she is fit, then releases her and her cub. (Curiously,...

In the middle of an Easter lunch at the White House, President Donald Trump went off script to address speculation about JD Vance's role in securing a deal to end the war in Iran. "If it doesn't happen, I'm blaming JD Vance," Trump joked, drawing laughter at last week's East Room event attended by senior administration officials including the vice-president, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth. And "if it does happen," Trump added, "I'm taking full credit." The remarks perfectly captured Vance's predicament as he leads a US delegation holding talks with Iran in Pakistan. It...

In an arid valley near the village of Kourtimale in southern Djibouti, a tattered chain link fence marks the boundaries of what was once Abdi Guelleh's farm. ...was once meant to be one tiny brick in one of the world's most ambitious environmental projects: Africa's Great Green Wall. ... This multi-billion dollar project was launched by the African Union in 2007. The plan: to plant a "wall" of trees spanning the entire width of Africa — 4,350 miles long and 10 miles wide — to fight desertification in the Sahel, the arid region to the south of the Sahara desert....

A vile nurse who was fired after she went on an unhinged antisemitic rant in Times Square once traveled to Iran and bashed the US as the “most criminal, evil entity on the planet.” Clad in a headscarf, Jennifer Koonings rambled about New York City’s potholes while praising the “beauty” of Iran in the July 17, 2025 clip posted to the X account of the Sobh Festival, which is organized by the Iranian state media. Koonings, 35, made the trip nearly a month after the United States bombed Iranian nuclear sites in Isfahan and Fordow. The nurse went on to...

Javier Milei slashed poverty, tamed inflation, and turned a supposed “bloodbath” into a case study in market reform. We were promised an absolute bloodbath. During the 2023 election in Argentina, politicians, academics, journalists, and commentators lined up to denounce populist candidate Javier Milei and his plans for “shock therapy,” symbolized by the chainsaw he had taken to brandishing ominously on the campaign trail while shouting, “¡Viva la libertad, carajo!” (“Long live liberty, damn it!”) Just days before Argentina went to the polls, more than a hundred economists, including superstar Thomas Piketty, published an open letter. They said a win for...

Hollywood support for Eric Swalwell, who is currently leading a crowded field of Democratic candidates vying to become California governor remains steady — at least for now — despite rumors of inappropriate behavior with female staffers that have been swirling around the 45-year-old congressman for weeks. A fundraiser scheduled for April 18 which is being held at the home of producer David Miner and his wife Jennifer is moving forward. That event costs $250 for ‘guests’ and goes up to $10,000 for anyone seeking ‘host’ status. According to an invite, the event’s host committee includes lit agent and manager Lucy...

Violence has begun to feel routine in Pakistan, a grim normalization that reflects a deeper and more dangerous reality: the country’s security situation has deteriorated sharply, marking the sixth consecutive year of rising terrorism. The Global Terrorism Index 2026, released by the Institute for Economics and Peace, crystallizes this trend with stark clarity. While the world as a whole recorded a substantial fall in terrorism deaths by 28 percent and attacks by nearly 22 percent, Pakistan moved in the opposite direction. For the first time, it ranked number one on the index, recording 1,139 terrorism‑related deaths in 2025, a six...

Raise your hand if someone close to you – friend, relative, co-worker – has been personally touched by divorce. Sadly, I’ve been able to raise my hand for all three at certain points of my life, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you can as well. Perhaps you’ve even been divorced yourself. The prevalence of divorce in our culture is likely why so few say anything against it. Afraid of stepping on toes, we dance around the topic, telling divorcees that they’re “so brave” for separating from their partner, or that they did the right thing to get out and...

The dust of conflict has settled. The fever of the moment has yielded to the cooler discipline of strategic reflection. It is time to ask, with unflinching clarity, what the United States and its partners should do with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Tehran’s propaganda organs were quick to claim victory. That claim, however theatrical, must be taken seriously -- not because it reflects battlefield reality, but because it reveals an uncomfortable truth: the regime cannot, or will not, abandon the terrorist and extremist doctrines that have defined it for more than four decades. No amount of quiet concessions extracted...

An Arkansas woman is accused of holding onto nearly $20,000 that her employer accidentally paid her — and refusing to give it back. Rene Nichole Coleman, 50, is facing a felony theft charge after she was mistakenly paid $1,650 an hour for a 12-hour shift at her now-former job with Superior Senior Care, an in-home care company in Jonesboro, a city north of Memphis. Coleman normally earned $16.50 an hour before a payroll glitch suddenly sent her pay skyrocketing. Rene Nichole Coleman, 50, faces a felony theft charge after police say she kept $19,388 that her employer accidentally paid her....

A really good “astronaut’s eye view “ of earth reentry. It’s pretty wild, as you would imagine.

This YouTube Short from the Valuetainment channel (uploaded November 2024, over 6.6 million views) is titled "Here's a Clip of Melania Trump at Age 26". It features an old interview clip of a young Melania Knauss (before she married Donald Trump) responding to questions about their significant age gap and criticism that she was only with him for his money/wealth. Key parts of her response: She says critics don't really know her, and points out: "You don't see many 26-year-old supermodels on the arm of a 53-year-old car mechanic." She then highlights the nice lifestyle they share ("beautiful apartment, beautiful...

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Embattled Rep. Eric Swalwell on Friday night issued a full-throated denial of sexual misconduct and rape allegations leveled against him, calling them “absolutely false” while issuing an apology to his wife. “These allegations of sexual assault are flat false,” the Democratic candidate for California governor said in a more than minute-long video on social media. “They are absolutely false. They did not happen. They have never happened. And I will fight them with everything I have.” Swalwell was forced to swat down scathing allegations of sexual misconduct brought by four women this week — including a former staffer who claims...

The tenor saxophonist’s third Blue Note album blurred the lines between straight-ahead and progressive jazz.By the time Joe Henderson arrived at Rudy Van Gelder’s New Jersey recording facility in April 1964 to record his third Blue Note album, In ‘N Out, the 27-year-old saxophonist – who only twelve months earlier had made his debut as a sideman on trumpeter Kenny Dorham’s Una Mas LP – was known as an accomplished studio musician. The numerous sessions he logged during his first year with the iconic Big Apple jazz label – ranging from Lee Morgan’s The Sidewinder to Andrew Hill’s Point...