Free Republic

The world that we’re looking at today is radically different than that of just five years ago, radically different in the sense that it is much more in the interest of the United States. And I know that seems controversial because [President Donald] Trump is written off as someone who is too fluid and volatile... It’s more important to see what he’s done. Let’s go through the world abroad as it is today systematically. Look at Latin America. Five years ago, the Chinese were controlling, through their surrogate companies, the entry and exit to Panama. Russia and China were the...

On July 8, 2026,Turkey’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave presents to the other leaders of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member nations. The gifts were given at the meeting in Turkey. The present appears to be a rare Gümüsay .357 revolver, which was made by the Turkish company MKE about 30 years ago. Giving presents to NATO leaders is not unusual. Giving firearms to leaders of other countries was not unusual before WWI. Over a hundred years of demonization of civilian ownership of firearms has made it unusual. The revolver came in a presentation box which seems to have a...

A 61-year-old man was partially pulled through a cabin window after it dislodged on a Ryanair Boeing 737 shortly after take-off from the Greek city of Thessaloniki. His wife and nearby passengers managed to pull him back inside as the plane descended. Svetlana Maksimovic says her husband's face has been "completely disfigured" and that he is struggling to recover in hospital Svetlana Maksimovic and her husband, Ljubisa Karovic, had just settled into a Ryanair flight last week when they heard a deafening bang. Seconds later Ms Maksimovic turned to see her 61-year-old husband being sucked through a dislodged cabin window....

Riyadh strikes Yemeni airport (Sana’a) after Trump backs military action against Houthis The strike on Monday (13 July) damaged the runway and prevented an Iranian airliner from landing in the Yemeni capital, which is controlled by the Houthis, a pro-Tehran proxy militia... ...Two US officials told Axios that Donald Trump gave Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia his support for the military action... ...The incident breaks a four-year truce between Riyadh and the Shia militia, which followed a decade-long war that killed approximately 377,000 people, according to United Nations estimates, most of which were caused by starvation and...

Donald Trump has unleashed a fresh barrage on Iran in a bid to smash Tehran's power to wreak havoc in the Strait of Hormuz. US Central Command struck Iranian missile and radar sites along the Persian Gulf on Tuesday, hours before American forces were due to reimpose a naval blockade on the country's ports and coastline. 'The blockade goes into effect at 4 p.m. ET,' Central Command said. Tehran hit back within hours, unleashing its own salvo of missiles at American bases and allied targets across the region. One Iranian rocket was plastered with a sticker carrying a Biblical message...

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Mick Jagger briefly waded into Louisiana politics, taking a verbal jab at the state’s conservative governor, as The Rolling Stones performed at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. The band had finished “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” during Thursday evening’s set when Jagger began talking about inclusion, according to New Orleans news outlets. “We want to include him too,” Jagger said of Gov. Jeff Landry. “Even if he wants to take us back to the Stone Age.” Jagger didn’t mention specific policies. Landry is a Republican who was endorsed by former President Donald...

President Trump on Tuesday warned the US will pummel Iran until “I say it’s enough” and that “energy targets” are next in his ramped-up war effort. “I’ll save the energy targets for last, but ultimately we’ll hit energy targets,” Trump told Fox News reporter Trey Yingst in an interview on the stepped-up military operation. “We’re going to hit them very hard tonight. We’re going to hit them very hard tomorrow night. We’re going to hit them very hard the night after, and then next week it gets really bad for them because next week comes the power plants,” Trump said....

Video to watch. Another source, same information: https://nypost.com/2026/07/14/us-news/trump-says-us-will-knock-out-irans-power-plants-and-bridges-next-week-unless-regime-makes-a-deal/

en. Mark Kelly, a retired Navy Captain and former astronaut, earned the ire of the Pentagon last week for raising concerns over U.S. weapons stockpiles that have been depleted by the Iran War. Citing a Department of Defense (DOD) briefing he had received, Kelly told CBS’s “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan it could take “years” to replenish stockpiles of Tomahawks, Patriots, and other long-range munitions that have been deployed in the U.S. and Israel’s attack on Iran—a reality that could leave the U.S. vulnerable around the world. Those comments prompted Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to launch an investigation into...

US President Donald Trump urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a phone call last week to begin withdrawing Israeli troops from southern Syria and Lebanon, Barak Ravid of Channel 12 and Axios reported Tuesday, citing American and Israeli officials.According to the report on the Thursday call, Trump warned that Israel’s military presence in Syrian territory is creating tensions that could lead to an escalation, telling Netanyahu, “They don’t want you there. You should redeploy.” He reportedly made a similar request regarding Lebanon......Netanyahu was said to push back, citing Israel’s security needs.

German director Uwe Boll’s new hit movie Citizen Vigilante, in which (spoiler alert!) actor Armie Hammer shoots dead an entire family of Muslim immigrants in retaliation for one of their number’s brutal rape of a native white woman somewhere in continental Europe, has been controversial for many reasons: its violence, its alleged “racism,” and its supposed potential to inspire copycat crimes. An issue that should be causing far more controversy than the mere fictional vigilante violence depicted on-screen, however, may be the potential for real-life vigilante violence occurring off-screen, performed by Europe’s millions of imported Muslims. All over the continent...

The Red Cross will no longer deploy aid workers to the main asylum seeker registration in the Netherlands out of concern for their safety in the wake of multiple stabbings and other crimes in the area. “This is a very drastic decision. We realise what this means for the people we help. But we have no other choice, because a small group of troublemakers is causing insecurity for both our aid workers and those seeking help. Therefore, a structural solution is now needed,” local Red Cross director Harm Goossens said. The charity organisation said that in recent weeks, its workers,...

Former Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been placed under house arrest by the country’s notorious Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps following a failed Israeli plot to install him in place of the current theocratic regime, according to a stunning new report. The New York Times, citing four Iranian officials, reported Monday that the 69-year-old is being held by the IRGC’s intelligence wing after he left a safe house run by Israel’s Mossad. Before last week, Ahmadinejad had not been seen in public since an Israeli airstrike hit his compound in the early hours of Operation Epic Fury Feb. 28, after which...

If you are attending the parade in the Champs-Elyséés, don't forget to wear your QR code - Liberté, égalité, cybersecurité! A pioneering example of the extension of "online safety" to real life. In hopes of deferring my next trip to Comaland, I am trying hard to comply with my doctors' instructions to eschew the Internet and commune with the birds and flowers. But some news insists on breaking through. I learn from my pal Dan Wootton, for example, that, of three Mark Steyn Show guests, one has been brutally murdered, another subjected to (so far) less fatal political violence, and...

The back-and-forth voyages have been instrumental because only a small number of shipowners were willing to risk sending their tankers through HormuzIran’s attacks on commercial ships are turning off a lifeline for the global energy market—a stream of tankers ferrying crude through the hazardous Strait of Hormuz.The barrage of missiles and drones hit ships that specialize in short voyages in and out of the Persian Gulf known as “shuttle runs.” Unlike traditional tanker voyages, which carry crude through the strait to refineries in China, South Korea and elsewhere, these ships make repeated short trips moving oil from Gulf terminals to...

Agents will now only pursue traffic stops targeting individuals with serious or violent criminal histories U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are being instructed to end "most" vehicle stops nationwide in a major policy shift, effective immediately. According to multiple federal sources, ICE agents will cease making traffic stops, which have played a significant role in the agency’s operations until now. A federal source told Fox News that ICE will continue conducting vehicle stops only for those considered to be the most egregious targets with serious or violent criminal histories. This comes after two people were killed in ICE...

President Trump on Tuesday backed off his proposed 20% toll for ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz in favor of investment deals that Persian Gulf states will ink with the US. Trump in a Truth Social post said the decision was “[b]ased on highly productive conversations with Middle East Leadership.” “Those Investments will be MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” he added... Trump announced the new tolling scheme on Monday, declaring that the US would be the “guardian” of the Strait of Hormuz and would collect a reimbursement equal to 20% of...

President Trump on Tuesday backed off his proposed 20% toll for ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz in favor of investment deals that Persian Gulf states will ink with the US.Trump in a Truth Social post said the decision was “[b]ased on highly productive conversations with Middle East Leadership.” “Those Investments will be MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” he added. Trump also claimed that exports of oil were “flowing like never before” thanks to recent US airstrikes on Iran, and “the Strait of Hormuz is open to All Ship traffic except...

President Donald Trump signed an executive order drastically shrinking the size of two national monument areas in Utah on Monday. The order applies to the Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears national monuments, shrinking their total coverage by roughly 90% from 3 million acres to 300,000. The areas were established as federal monuments by President Bill Clinton in 1996 and Barack Obama in 2016, respectively. "They took the land from the people quite honestly," Trump said during the Monday signing ceremony. "We’re giving it back." Utah Gov. Spencer Cox also attended the signing and praised the move, saying the original size...

The US announced a new round of strikes on Iran on Monday, hours after President Donald Trump said that the United States is 'reinstating' a blockade on Iran in the Strait of Hormuz. 'We're taking out all of their capability for anything having to do with the strait, the Hormuz Strait,' Trump told CBS News Monday evening. 'And I think in the end we will end up just controlling the whole thing.' Trump said the US is prepared to hit Iran 'very hard' on Monday and Tuesday, saying the country’s heavily fortified nuclear facility at Pickaxe Mountain was a target....