Free Republic

PARIS (AP) — France’s navy, working with intelligence provided by the United Kingdom, on Thursday intercepted an oil tanker in the Mediterranean Sea that traveled from Russia, in a mission targeting the sanctioned Russian shadow fleet, officials said. French maritime authorities for the Mediterranean said the ship, the Grinch, is suspected of operating with a false flag. The French navy is escorting the ship to anchorage for more checks, the statement said. The tanker departed from the city of Murmansk in northwestern Russia, it said.

Ranked at the top in his age group, a 12-year-old basketball phenom from Oakland is turning heads and is the first in his team’s history to receive an "offer" from a Division 1 college while in middle school. The 7th grader plays in the junior youth division of Bay Area-based Team Arsenal, an Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) club. Last month, he and his team announced that he received an "offer" from the University of San Francisco.

Before becoming the attorney general of Minnesota, Keith Ellison served in the House of Representatives, for the state’s 5th District, which includes the city of Minneapolis. During his time in congress, Ellison only sponsored one bill, the Money Remittances Improvement Act of 2014. This bill made it easier to transfer funds to places overseas, like Somalia. Isn’t that fascinating? You could not make this up. Couple this with the fact that Ellison was caught on tape basically promising favors to fraudsters, and things are not looking good for him. Hot Air has more on this: It turns out that this...

An elderly woman was euthanized within hours of her husband claiming she changed her mind after insisting she wanted to live. Canada's Medical Assistance in Dying laws allow patients to request a painless death if an assessor agrees their terminal condition meets certain requirements. Patients often wait weeks, but it can happen the same day the application is lodged if judged to be medically urgent by a MAiD provider. But a report by the Ontario MAiD Death Review Committee raised concerns that safeguards were being eroded that led to questionable deaths. One case study was that of a woman in...

Bad Bunny is planning on wearing a dress for the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show, according to a report from RadarOnline citing individuals familiar with the preparations. Sources told RadarOnline that the Puerto Rican performer intends to wear a dress during the halftime show as a tribute to queer icons, drag culture, and political resistance tied to Puerto Rican history. One stylist involved in the planning described the move as deliberate and provocative saying that Bad Bunny is intentionally trying to spark controversy. Another source said the outfit is already in production: "Let them complain. The dress is already being...

Nobody seems to have begun a thread for the snowstorm that is forecast for this weekend, so I thought I would. Where I live (DC Metro area) a big snowstorm is relatively rare. We're the ones who don't really know how to drive in it because we don't get a lot of practice; and we also crowd the grocery store and wipe out the shelves - often for stuff we don't really need, and for a forecast that doesn't amount to much but flurries. But once in a while, we really get whacked; and I think this may be one...

Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s Amarillo stop was pure performance—new tone, new talking points, suddenly pro-gun. It comes off as calculated and inauthentic.

I'm posting this especially for my fellow Generation Xers. This looks like it could be a big gloriously dumb and FUN movie! The kind of thing that could draw people to the theater and give them a good time. It's like they took the He-Man action figures we played with out of the box and onto the screen. Idris Elba is playing Man At Arms and Jared Leto is Skeletor.Hoping they'll have a Castle Grayskull popcorn bucket to go along with this.Click here for the Masters of the Universe first trailer

At his first appearance at the World Economic Forum, Elon Musk predicted artificial intelligence will soon be smarter than any human alive. “AI might be smarter than any human by the end of 2026,” Musk said, adding “no later than 2027.” Five years out, he went further: “AI will be smarter than all of humanity, collectively.” Musk also warned that robots are coming fast — and in massive numbers. “There will be far more robots than people,” he told the globalist audience, describing an automation boom that will upend labour, economics and power structures far sooner than regulators are ready...

Talarico: "Paul says that in Christ there is neither male nor female which is pretty woke for the first century."

Here’s one reason to own gold. The appreciation of Russia’s gold reserves has nearly replaced the value of the assets frozen by the European Union when the country invaded Ukraine. Based on calculations by Bloomberg, the value of Russian gold reserves has surged by $216 billion since February 2022. The EU froze approximately €210 billion in Russian sovereign assets held within the bloc. That equals about $244 billion. As Bloomberg put it, the surge in gold reserves “restores most of Russia’s lost financial capacity,” even if it never gets those assets back. Russia has held its gold reserve steady throughout...

..... The woman, who cannot be named due to British law, made the statement in testimony during the London-based trial of the 22-year-old man who is accused of beating her, Matvei Rumianstev, the U.K. Metro reported Wednesday. Barron, the court heard, contacted police after picking up a FaceTime call and allegedly seeing the woman being beaten by Rumianstev, who was reportedly jealous of the woman’s friendship with the then-president-elect’s son. “He helped save my life. That call was like a sign from God at that moment,” the woman said during cross-examination. The woman was responding to assertions by lawyers for...

The nominations for the 98th Academy Awards were announced Thursday morning. Leading the pack was “Sinners,” with a record-breaking 16 nominations, including best picture, best director for Ryan Coogler and best actor for Michael B. Jordan. “One Battle After Another” received one nomination after another for a total of 13, also including best picture, best director for Paul Thomas Anderson and best actor for Leonardo DiCaprio. Timothée Chalamet is in the running for best actor as well for “Marty Supreme,” which would make him one of the youngest best actor winners after Adrien Brody’s win for “The Pianist” in 2003....

@RepThomasMassie Ouch, I thought Switzerland was neutral territory !

Explanation: The silhouette of an intriguing dark nebula inhabits this cosmic scene. Lynds' Dark Nebula (LDN) 1622 appears against a faint background of glowing hydrogen gas only visible in long telescopic exposures of the region. In contrast, a brighter reflection nebula, vdB 62, is more easily seen just above the dusty dark nebula. LDN 1622 lies near the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy, close on the sky to Barnard's Loop, a large cloud surrounding the rich complex of emission nebulae found in the Belt and Sword of Orion. With swept-back outlines, the obscuring dust of LDN 1622 is thought...

An anti-deportation protester who dared Attorney General Pam Bondi to arrest him for crashing a Sunday church in Minnesota is now in custody, Bondi said Thursday.William Kelly was seen on video with a crowd invading and loudly disrupting a service at Cities Church in St. Paul over allegations that the pastor worked for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Bondi described the protest as an attack on congregants’ religious liberty and announced multiple related arrests, including Kelly’s, in Thursday X posts.

Former Labour minister Andrew Gwynne has announced he is standing down as an MP, paving the way for Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham to potentially run in a by-election in his Gorton and Denton constituency. In a statement, Gwynne said he had suffered "significant ill health" and had been advised by his GP that it wasn't safe for him to return to work as an MP. Gwynne's resignation possibly opens up a path for Burnham to return to the House of Commons and make a leadership challenge against Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. Speaking earlier, Burnham did not rule out...

Meet Chanda Petrey-Czaruk, the Vice President of @HomeFirstChoice in Ohio. She posted a video wishing for Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt to experience traumatic injuries during childbirth. This woman is in charge of a home health care company and is a registered nurse in Ohio. Terrifying that activists like this are in the medical field. She needs to have her license revoked. You can contact the Ohio Board of Nursing here: (614) 466-3947

Meet Lexie Lawler, a labor and delivery nurse at Baptist Health Boca Raton Regional Hospital (@BaptistHealthSF ). She says she hopes Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt suffers a severe 4th-degree tear during childbirth and has medical complications. "I hope you ******* rip from bow to stern and never **** normally again, you ****." This woman DELIVERS BABIES. Terrifying.

The Trump Justice Department charged Don Lemon and 7 others for storming Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota. However, the magistrate judge rejected the charges against Don Lemon. Politico reporter Josh Gerstein corrected his previous post to clarify that the judge rejected charges against Don Lemon. According to CBS News, the Justice Department is currently looking at other avenues to charge Don Lemon. BREAKING: Trump Justice Department charges journalist Don Lemon along with 7 others over church protest aimed at ICE agent — Josh Gerstein (@joshgerstein) January 22, 2026 It was reported earlier Thursday federal a magistrate judge rejected charges...