Free Republic

Democrat Delaware Sen. Chris Coons told CNN Monday that the “average middle American” is too dumb to identify Greenland on a world map. Coons criticized President Donald Trump’s plan to purchase Greenland from Denmark and make it U.S. territory for resource and national security purposes, arguing that the plan will not resonate with the average American because they do not even know where the island is. Trump said no options for acquiring Greenland are off the table, emphasizing that a takeover of the island is a necessity to protect the U.S. against the threat of Russia and China’s increasing influence...

THE first-ever orbital rocket launched from Europe has crashed into the ground and exploded moments after its take off. German startup Isar Aerospace’s uncrewed Spectrum rocket fell into the sea and burst into flames just 40 seconds after blasting off from Norway’s Arctic Andøya Spaceport on Sunday. The dramatic fireball marked a fiery end to what had been billed as the continent’s first-ever orbital launch attempt — seen as a major step in Europe's bid to break into the booming commercial satellite market. The 28-metre Spectrum rocket lifted off at 12.30pm local time (10.30 am UK) after weather delays earlier...

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed a memorandum yesterday directing the realignment of the Defense Department's civilian workforce... "The net effect will be a reduction in the number of civilian full-time equivalent positions and increased resources in the areas where we need them most," the memo reads. It then lists two courses of action to implement Hegseth's intent... Hegseth calls on the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness to immediately implement DOD's Deferred Resignation Program and to also offer voluntary early retirement for all eligible DOD civilian employees...

Airbus will present its new uncrewed air defense system, LOAD (Low-cost Air Defence), at the "Unbemannte Systeme X" trade show in Bonn, Germany. The system is designed to effectively combat enemy kamikaze drone swarms.

Washington -- As President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk work to overhaul the federal government, they are forcing out thousands of workers with insider knowledge and connections who now need a job. For Russia, China and other adversaries, the upheaval in Washington as Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency guts government agencies presents an unprecedented opportunity to recruit informants, national security andintelligence experts say. Every former federal worker with knowledge of or access to sensitive information or systems could be a target. When thousands of them leave their jobs at the same time, that creates a lot of targets, as...

On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” host Bill Maher said that while President Donald Trump is going about it the wrong way, he’s correct that “Europe should pay for their own defense.” Maher said, “[T]here are some things I don’t like altogether, but there are some things, — I think you and I both agree, I don’t know if you do on all of these — but some of the things that Trump has ideas for, like, Europe should pay for their own defense. Yeah, they should. They’re rich. Border security, equity completely replacing the idea of equality. Some...

Jacksonville, Fla. — An early-morning shooting on Jacksonville’s Westside sent a man to the hospital. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office was called to a home on Dylan Michael Drive around 4 a.m. Sunday. Investigators said the victim was followed home from a nightclub. When he got home, the suspect showed a gun. The victim, who was also armed, fired several shots, hitting the suspect in the arm. The suspect left the area but was found a short time later and taken to the hospital. JSO said everyone involved in the incident has been detained. No arrests have been reported at this...

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is announcing the termination of $580,000,000.00 in DoD Contracts and Grants

On February 5, 2025, an officer responded to a “suspicious person with a weapon” call near a Jack-in-the-Box located on the 5900 block of Gulf Freeway. The video does not say what department the officer was with. The address is in downtown Houston, so the officer is probably from the Houston Police Department. The officer noticed a young man and started questioning him. The young man stated he had been inside the Jack-in-the-Box watching his brothers sell “waters” outside. A man, with a knife in hand, had rushed at his brothers. The young man said he had pulled out a...

* Canada is reviewing its contract with Lockheed Martin for F-35 fighter jets, the country's Defense Minister said. * The review comes amid rising tensions between Ottawa and Washington. * It comes after Portugal said it was also reconsidering purchasing the jet. Canada is reviewing its contract with US defense manufacturer Lockheed Martin to purchase F-35 fighter jets, its defense minister said on Friday. Speaking to CBC, Bill Blair said he had spoken with newly appointed Prime Minister Mark Carney and that they were now looking at "other alternatives" to the F-35. "It was the fighter jet identified by our...

[Video] After an outcry, the Army has republished a history of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team on its website. WASHINGTON, D.C. (Hawaii News Now) -- The U.S. Army has republished an article detailing the history of the famed 442nd Regimental Combat Team on it’s website. https://www.army.mil/article/283793 The article was republished Saturday, replacing the webpage that was taken down sometime earlier this month, https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2025/03/14/history-nisei-go-broke-wwii-unit-removed-army-website/ triggering an outcry from relatives of members of the unit and others, including U.S. Congressmen Ed Case of Hawaii and Mark Takano of California, whose great uncle was a veteran of the 442nd. The 442nd, combined with...

The U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance, under the leadership of Chairman Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), held a committee hearing focused on the right of law-abiding Americans to protect themselves. It’s a critical moment for Second Amendment rights as President Donald Trump campaigned on restoring community safety and vowing to protect the Constitutional rights of law-abiding Americans. That priority resonated with voters, including more than 26.2 million law-abiding Americans persuaded by crime and threats of violence in their communities to purchase a firearm for the first time over the past five years. This priority also aligns with...

European defense stocks surged on Monday after leaders met with Zelenskyy in London. Ukraine's president left Washington on Friday without a minerals deal after clashing with Trump. Rheinmetall, BAE Systems, and Leonardo rose sharply amid expectations of higher defense spending. European defense stocks surged again on Monday as the UK, France, and Ukraine agreed to work on a peace deal following Volodymyr Zelenskyy's clash with President Donald Trump. European leaders met with the Ukraine president in London on Sunday. Expectations of rising demand for weapons and other military equipment are behind the stock surges on European markets. UK Prime Minister...

BERLIN, March 2 (Reuters) - The parties in talks to form Germany's new government are considering quickly setting up two special funds potentially worth hundreds of billions of euros, one for defence and a second for infrastructure, three people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. Economists advising the parties that will likely form a new government coalition estimate around 400 billion euros ($415 billion) are needed for the defence fund and 400 billion to 500 billion euros for the infrastructure fund, the people said. Friday's heated White House meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and U.S. President Donald Trump...

Normal Americans have noticed many of the inestimable benefits of the Harris/Biden DEI years. To be fair, Barack Obama gave Biden’s handlers a real leg up on DEI, but the handlers really ran with it. Among the most noticeable of those "benefits" has been a dramatic increase not only of US Navy ships that look like third world rust buckets, but an equally dramatic apparent increase in those rust buckets running into other ships and geographic features. It's unusually difficult to find current data on ship collisions. There’s quite a bit of information on the 2017 collisions of the destroyers...

I posted yesterday that those that signed the letter demanding Congress investigate the firing of the CJCS, and their insubordinate remarks should be charge with Article 88 of the UCMJ and court-martialed. I received one response that stated that since they are retired, the UCMJ does not apply to them. Is that true? And if is not true, that they can be brought up on UCMJ charges, than is that true for all retired personnel?

Amid the war on terror and the many military conflicts of the past two decades, Democrats were often critics of foreign adventurism and military spending, pointing to the bloated Pentagon budget as an obvious target for cuts to balance the budget. Now that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered a sweeping budget review and the implementation of those cuts, Democrats -- determined to obstruct the Trump agenda -- are suddenly livid and sound like Bush-era Republicans warning of national security failures should the Defense Department lose funding. The fiscal year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act approved $883.7 billion in funding...

Links to video: https://podcast.hillsdale.edu/erik-prince-the-future-of-dynamic-warfare/ Or https://youtu.be/WPMgzm_9K50?si=sAiO_dDDrcHs847h

On Friday’s “PBS NewsHour,” Washington Post Associate Editor and MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart stated that it’s incorrect to claim that Europe is ripping off the United States on defense by not spending enough on their defense because they’re not “paying the United States money in a protection racket.” It’s just people want them to “spend more of your GDP on your own defense, rise up to the level of where the United States is, relatively speaking” so that “the burden is more fairly shared.” New York Times columnist David Brooks stated that Europe has increased its defense spending.

In what has become a horror show for the British army, the force is even more hollowed out than once thought. The Brits may only have 20 to 25 main battle tanks that they could count on should there be an overseas deployment. The Royal Armored Corps is supposed to have 59 Challenger 2 tanks, but there haven’t been that many in years. The problem started in the 1990s and got worse due to parts shortages, defense contractors going bankrupt, and maintenance and repair worker shortages.