Free Republic

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has torn into Vice President JD Vance's claim that a Franco-British peacekeeping force would be just "20,000 troops from some random country that hasn't fought a war in 30 or 40 years". Speaking to GB News from today's mass farmer protest in Westminster, Farage said the Vice President was "wrong, wrong, wrong" as he hailed how Britain "did our bit" alongside the US in Afghanistan. He told the People's Channel: "JD Vance is wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. For 20 years in Afghanistan, pro-rata, our size against America's, we spent the same amount of money, we...

Saudi Arabia said it would not establish ties with Israel unless a Palestinian state is created, shooting down U.S. President Donald Trump's claim that the Saudis were not demanding a Palestinian homeland when he floated the idea of the U.S. government taking control of the Gaza Strip. Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that the country rejects any attempts to displace the Palestinians from their homeland, stressing that its position on the Palestinians is not up to negotiation. The statement noted that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has affirmed the kingdom's position in "a clear...

On Monday, there were more Covid-19 hospitalizations in Florida than at any time in the pandemic. The chief executive of the Florida Hospital Association, Mary Mayhew, told MSNBC that about 95% of those hospitalized were unvaccinated. “Our beds are full of patients with Covid-19 who are predominately unvaccinated,” said the hospital’s chief operating officer, Stephanie Manson, in a statement. “In the past two weeks, we have seen a rapid influx of younger patients under the age of 50 come into our hospitals with the Delta variant.” 99.99% of people fully vaccinated against Covid-19 have not had a breakthrough case that...

The French film Cuties, currently available on Netflix, has outraged American politicians who say it sexualizes prepubescent girls. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D–Hawaii), a former presidential contender, warns that Cuties, which depicts an 11-year-old's participation in a risqué dance troupe that flouts the values of her conservative Muslim family, "will certainly whet the appetite of pedophiles & help fuel the child sex trafficking trade." Sen. Ted Cruz (R–Texas) goes even further, suggesting that Cuties is illegal. Whatever your take on the film's merits, Cruz presents no evidence to substantiate that claim. In a letter he sent Attorney General William Barr on...

U.S. deaths from COVID-19 rose for a third week in a row to more than 6,300 people in the seven days ended July 26, though the number of new cases fell 2%, dropping for the first time after rising for five weeks, a Reuters analysis found. ... There were nearly 460,000 new COVID-19 cases reported last week, according to the analysis. California, Florida and Texas collectively accounted for nearly 200,000 of the new cases, though the latter two states reported fewer new infections compared to the previous week.

Kevin Gough, a lawyer for Mr. Bryan, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. In an interview last week, he said Mr. Bryan “had no role or involvement in that shooting. He has committed no crime. He is a witness.” Mr. Arbery’s family and civil-rights activists have pressed for weeks for authorities to charge Mr. Bryan, arguing he wasn’t simply a witness but was involved in the young man’s killing. In an April letter to the Glynn County Police Department, George Barnhill, the district attorney in Waycross who oversaw the case for a period before recusing himself, wrote that...