Free Republic

Even people who dislike Donald Trump tend to give him credit for one thing: getting NATO to pay its fair share. American presidents have long grumbled about burden sharing. Trump has been crude, theatrical and transactional, but the sentiment he expressed was broadly shared. And Europeans got the message. Non-American NATO countries collectively spent 1.4 percent of their combined gross domestic product on defense in 2014; in 2025, it was close to 2.3 percent.But be careful what you wish for.The usual assumption is that if Europe spends more, the United States will spend less. This is demonstrably wrong. European defense...

For the past few days, Justine Kirby has been sporting an N95 mask every time she leaves her house to walk in her quiet Upper East Side neighbourhood. She is keeping her apartment windows closed, too, as an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease grows to 46 cases, which the city has linked to contaminated water cooling towers. The cluster of Legionnaires' infections - a serious type of pneumonia caused by Legionella bacteria - has raised alarms among residents in the community, who packed a town hall in an Upper East side church this week to pose a series of questions to...

A convoy of police cars, lights flashing, tail the large yellow truck up to the back gates of London’s British Museum. It’s just before 3 a.m. on July 10, a date that has been kept under wraps for months. After the truck pulls into the museum’s loading bay, four men open its back doors to reveal a cage-like rectangular crate. Inside it is another crate, inside that crate is a metal shell, and inside that shell, folded back and forth on itself 28 times, is a precious and fragile artifact, nearly a thousand years old. The journey this truck has...

Over the last several years I have been posting nonstop on X about the same nightmares we’ve been living through…the COVID psyop, the experimental mRNA shots, the mandates that destroyed lives, the injuries, the excess deaths, and the relentless propaganda machine that tried to silence anyone who noticed the bodies piling up. I have watched it all in real time: the fear porn, the goalpost moving, the “safe and effective” lies repeated like gospel while real-world data told a different story. Now we have fresh, documented revelations that should have blown the lid off of everything. Instead? Crickets from the...

The internet is making sure the U.S. won’t exit the World Cup quietly, and Ryanair was the latest player to join the banter. The American dream of winning the 2026 FIFA World Cup was crushed in a 1-4 loss to Belgium, marking the team’s heaviest defeat since 1990. As the pomp and fanfare quickly fizzled out, memes mocking the U.S. team came pouring in, with Ryanair unabashedly joining the fun. The internet is making sure the U.S. won’t exit the World Cup quietly, and Ryanair was the latest player to join the banter The Irish airline has seemingly made a...

The star's latest album did not chart, though she says she is already hard at work on new music and focused on the future Lizzo is opening up about falling short of expectations for her new album Bitch — and why she's keeping her chin up. The Grammy winner, 38, put out Bitch, her first record in four years, on June 5. The record did not chart on the Billboard 200 albums chart, marking a surprising result for an album that followed a No. 2 record in 2022 for the star. In a conversation with Zachary Hourihane (also known as...

Explanation: The Mare Orientale, Latin for Eastern Sea, is one of the most striking large scale lunar features. The youngest of the large lunar impact basins it's very difficult to see from an earthbound perspective. Still, captured on July 7 during a period of favorable tilt, or libration of the lunar nearside, the Eastern Sea can be found at the upper right in this sharp telescopic view. In the image, the large lunar mare is extremely foreshortened and stretches along the Moon's western edge. Formed by the impact of an asteroid over 3 billion years ago and nearly 1000 kilometers...

StormWall, which involves school-bus-size satellites and a whole lot of salt, could provide an ionic ‘air bag’ for the EarthIt’s the year 2040, and the Big One—a civilization-smashing solar storm of a scale not seen since the 19th century—is on a collision course with Earth.Far out in space, where geostationary satellites orbit, a half-dozen school-bus-size satellites crack open and start dumping barium, lithium or sodium. Within minutes, sunlight transforms this material into an ionized gas shield that slows the oncoming massive blob of plasma.Down on our planet’s surface, a would-be global catastrophe—potentially knocking out entire electrical grids—is reduced to a...

The simplest, dumbest, most replaceable part on any vehicle since 1912, now gated behind a manufacturer login, a subscription, and a per-flash token. If you own a modern pickup truck, you do not own a battery. You own the authorization to use a battery. And when that battery dies, the dealer will tell you the part costs $250, the programming fee costs another $150, and the labor is booked at $200 an hour. In this investigation, we are going to expose the battery management scam, the gateway module lockout, and the AGM monopoly that turned the cheapest part on your...

Experts weighed in on what the World Cup star eats on a daily basisNorway's World Cup star Erling Braut Haaland reportedly consumes 6,000 calories per day, via foods like organ meat and raw milk -- a diet that has garnered attention given the striker's recent success on the field. But is a dietary routine like Haaland's actually feasible -- or healthy? It depends on a number of factors, and it's certainly not for everyone, experts told MedPage Today. Consuming 6,000 calories in a single day, "it's definitely high," Lauren Link, MS, RD, CSSD, assistant athletics director for sports nutrition at...

Sailors whose medical conditions prevent daily shaving now have up to 12 months of treatment options before the Navy evaluates them for continued service and, in some cases, administrative separation.A safety argument has ensued around facial hair, with the service saying it can break the seal on the masks that keep a crew breathing through fire or gas. Behind this argument sits a study the Navy has kept close to the vest.NAVADMIN 162/26, released July 7 under the signature of Vice Adm. Jeffrey J. Czerewko, The order reverses the Navy’s 2022 policy, which prohibited separation solely because PFB treatment had...

A chaotic fan fight broke out during the Giants-Rockies game at Oracle Park on July 9, turning a lower-level seating section into a messy scene that quickly spread across multiple rows. The fan video shows several fans already tangled up, with punches thrown and people shoving near the stairs. The situation escalated when a man wearing a black Raiders No. 52 jersey jumped into the scrum and appeared to strike multiple women, including people who were already knocked down or being pulled away. Other fans tried to separate the group, including a man in a white Giants jersey, but the...

"Only God can do that" Cain says of origin of hit songThere’s a deeper meaning to “Don’t Stop Believin’” — one that might not be widely evident to the some of the fans who hear the Journey anthem played at sporting events and on classic rock radio. The song, which was released on Journey’s seventh studio album “Escape” in 1981, is actually a song based on Christian faith and dealing directly with the Holy Spirit, says the song’s co-author Jonathan Cain. Cain says that, if one really thinks about it, the song is actually about the Holy Spirit. “We don’t...

Man arrested on suspicion of murder: What we know so far We've just heard from Devon and Cornwall Police, who said a 26-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after Anne Widdecombe's death. Assistant Chief Constable Matt Longman spoke to the media at the force's Exeter HQ. Here are the key things we learnt: A 26-year-old white British male has been arrested on suspicion of murder It is "too early to say" if the suspect was known to Widdecombe There is "no evidence at this time" to suggest this is a politically-motivated crime and it is not being...

A Ryainair passenger was partially sucked out of a window on Friday morning. The plane took off from Thessaloniki, Greece, on Friday morning en route to Germany when a 61-year-old passenger was sucked out of a broken window. Passengers had to pull the man back into the plane. The passenger is currently hospitalized. Oxygen masks dropped down in the cabin as the plane returned to Greece and safely landed. “Ryanair flight from Thessaloniki to Memmingen on Friday morning (10 July) returned to Thessaloniki shortly after takeoff when a passenger window dislodged inflight. The aircraft landed normally and passengers returned to...

Los Angeles County Point Dume State Beach, Malibu -- One of the closest public beaches to the launch path, Point Dume offers wide-open views over the Pacific. Santa Monica Beach With an unobstructed view toward the northwest over the ocean, Santa Monica Beach is an easy option for Westside residents and remains accessible into the evening. Rocky Peak Park, Simi Valley Orange County Inspiration Point, Corona del Mar -- The bluff-top overlook provides sweeping ocean views and an excellent vantage point to watch the rocket climb after liftoff. Heisler Park, Laguna Beach The cliffside park’s paved pathways and west-facing coastline...

1:07 VIDEO AT LINK............ SpacEx has competition!...............

Former Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau has been brutally roasted online for 'hopping like a rabbit' in a bizarre new video promoting his girlfriend, Katy Perry's new song. Perry, 41, took to Instagram on Thursday to share a clip of her and some pals dancing to her latest hit Watch It Burn, which dropped on June 25. The singer, who donned a polka-dotted red romper and thigh-high socks, jumped up and down to the beat with her friends as she mouthed along to the lyrics. At one point, her boyfriend Trudeau, 54, dressed in khaki pants and a green...

Tis the time to be silly!

A black bear consumed the body of a person whose remains were found by officers in Mesa County, according to the sheriff's office. Investigators with the Mesa County Sheriff's Office responded to a report of potential human remains found near the Wild Rose Picnic Area off of Lands End Road on the Grand Mesa, according to a sheriff's office news release July 9. When investigators arrived, they found the remains scattered and scavenged and determined the deceased had been consumed by a "bear and likely other wildlife." Investigators confirmed the remains were human, prompting a death investigation ... Witnesses who...