Free Republic

Elon Musk has reportedly poured $1 billion into the media empire behind CNN and Paramount, potentially giving the billionaire a powerful new foothold in Hollywood and sending shockwaves through an industry packed with his fiercest critics. The world's richest man has acquired a stake in Skydance, the entertainment giant controlled by David Ellison, according to people familiar with the investment who spoke to Semafor. The blockbuster deal could mark the beginning of a much larger alliance between Musk and the Ellison family, whose sprawling media interests include CNN, HBO, CBS and Paramount. And for liberal commentators who have spent years...

Speaking to broadcaster Newsmax, the president blamed Volodymyr Zelensky for the war, claiming he – not Vladimir Putin – had 'destroyed' Ukraine. It came after Mr Zelensky resumed attacks on Russian oil refineries after hitting out at Mr Trump's 'betrayal' at a time of intense Russian attacks. In an interview with the Financial Times, the Ukrainian leader said the cutting off of US intelligence sharing and the simultaneous weakening of the Starlink satellite internet service was 'dangerous' for civilians. He added: 'The block [on attacking refineries] is out. We’re done.' 'Well, I think that's a disgrace,' Trump said yesterday, adding...

For young white American men, building a successful career in fiction has become something like trying to kick water uphill. An analysis by Jacob Savage in Compact of The New York Times’ annual “notable fiction” lists and that of several other leading magazines revealed the grim reality: "By 2021, there was not one white male millennial on the “Notable Fiction” list. There were none again in 2022, and just one apiece in 2023 and 2024 (since 2021, just 2 of 72 millennials featured were white American men). "There were no white male millennials featured in Vulture’s 2024 year-end fiction list,...

A new Toluna-Harris survey for French radio RTL and French television channel M6 published Monday showed that Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally (RN) party was set to win around 35 to 36 percent in the first round of voting for France's presidential elections on April 18, 2027, up from 33 percent in an earlier poll published on September 14. In the second round on May 2, she would easily beat hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, if he made the run-off, and also polls well ahead of centre-right candidate Édouard Philippe, who was seen winning 13 percent to...

California Democrats slammed Donald Trump after he joked the US should let Iran 'take out' Los Angeles and San Diego at a rally in Nebraska on Monday. The President campaigned in Grand Island alongside GOP Senator Pete Ricketts, who is running against an independent candidate backed by national Democrats. Trump was defending the Iran War and explaining that higher gas prices - which he hopes to lower with an Executive Order ⁠expanding ​access to tax-exempt ​diesel - are a small price to pay to keep Iran from having a nuclear weapon. 'And again, remember, with the war, it's just artificial....

Donald Trump attempted to turn up the heat on fellow Republican Tom Cotton in the fight to change daylight saving time, even giving out what appeared to be the Arkansas senator's personal cell phone number. The President spent much of Saturday speaking out in favor of The Sunshine Protection Act, which would make daylight saving time permanent. The bill passed the House in July but faces roadblocks among Republicans, including Cotton, who is strongly opposed. 'For some reason, Tom is stopping the Bill and, in the Senate, it´s very easy to do, it only takes one!' Trump wrote on social...

A total of 781 migrants arrived in 10 small boats on Wednesday, the highest number for a single day so far this year, Home Office figures show. So far this year 18,565 people have made the Channel crossing, which is 42% lower than the same period in 2025 when 32,188 had crossed in small boats. The government said its "progress this year in tackling small boats is indisputable" but it needed to "push further and harder in order to eradicate this vile trade". French authorities reported on Thursday that a man had died after having a cardiac arrest while people...

The Supreme Court handed President Donald Trump a major loss in his quest to restrict the use of mail-in ballots just weeks before the midterm elections. Lawyers for Trump had asked the Supreme Court to allow his executive order allowing US Postal Service rules allowing the government to 'check' mail-in ballots against a central repository of registered voters in each state - and reject ballots from voters not listed in the database. The appeal was the third time the Trump administration asked the high court to intervene - in a sign of its outsize interest in the matter. Critics have...

An American diplomat working at the US Embassy in London was detained and back to the US in a secret operation after authorities allegedly found child porn on his devices, according to a report. The unidentified diplomat is alleged to have received the twisted material from his US-based brother, leading to a raid by US Marines on his London apartment late last month, the UK Sun reported. Now, UK officials and authorities are expressing outrage, who say that the US had no legal authority to seize him, according to the the Sun. On Aug. 24, a day before the dawn...

Vice-president JD Vance appeared to partially row back on Donald Trump’s outlandish claims that every adult citizen in the US would receive $5,000 if the Republicans retain the House and Senate in the midterm elections. “If the Republicans win, you win with us, and you get $5,000,” Trump told a roaring crowd, during a nearly two-hour long speech at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas in which he also urged voters to “pretend that I’m on the ballot”. But Vance, speaking after the president, suggested the so-called dividend payments would not go to the wealthy and that it could be...

Vice President JD Vance is everything, everywhere, all at once, lending a hand to midterm candidates around the country, headlining MAGA Inc., fundraising dinners, and taking questions in the White House briefing room. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has been a repeat visitor to the early caucus state of Iowa, he hosts a podcast and syndicated radio show, and he has positioned himself as a different kind of Republican from Donald Trump and Vance. And what is Marco Rubio doing to lay the groundwork for a potential 2028 presidential run? Almost nothing. So while Cruz and Vance will both be appearing...

Mitch McConnell has missed 38 Senate votes since his June 12 fall. If absent Monday, it will be his 39th missed vote, extending his absence beyond six weeks.The United States Senate is set to convene on Monday, July 27, for a key vote to appoint Donald Trump's nominee Walter Clayton as the new Director of National Intelligence. But the lingering question remains on the Republican Party camp: will Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell be present for Monday's roll call at the Senate? McConnell remains hospitalized at the George Washington University Hospital in Washington DC undergoing rehabilitation after his treatment, according to...

Anthony S. Fauci, the former government official who helped lead the nation’s coronavirus response, is set to again face Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), who has spent years accusing Fauci of playing a role in the virus’s creation. Paul, the chairman of the Senate’s government oversight committee, announced Thursday morning that Fauci will testify on Wednesday after being subpoenaed. Paul has been investigating the potential origins of the outbreak. Fauci, who last testified in front of Congress in June 2024, has repeatedly denied accusations from Paul and other Republicans as “preposterous.” The 85-year-old former National Institutes of Health (NIH) official left...

A major police operation is under way in Berlin after a vehicle was driven into a crowd. One person is dead and at least 17 injured. The nearby Pride parade was cancelled hours after it began. Follow the latest on this story below. .... At least one person has died, with more than a dozen injured, several seriously, after a transporter reportedly drove into a crowd. A manhunt is under way, and police say a suspect was known to police as a member of the "Islamist scene." The suspect is said to have fled after crashing into a tree. Helicopters...

I was only a year old when the UK's deadliest terror attack shocked the world. In December 1988, Pan Am flight 103 exploded over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, killing all 259 people on board as well as 11 on the ground. I was a teenager by the time Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was convicted of the bombing in 2001 and, when he later died, I thought that was largely the end of the story. It wasn't. The case still rumbles on and, later this year, a man suspected of making the bomb which blew up the plane, Abu...

Dr. Anthony Fauci will testify next Wednesday in front of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee after being subpoenaed, panel Chair Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Thursday. Paul has been laser-focused on Fauci, the nation’s former top infectious diseases doctor, for allegedly covering up the U.S.’s involvement in risky viral research in a Chinese lab that the Kentucky senator says created the virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic. “I expect he will not tell the truth,” Paul said in a Fox Business interview Thursday. “I don’t expect him to be honest, he hasn’t been honest in the last six...

Iran has been accused of smuggling spies into the UK disguised as small boat migrants crossing the English Channel. UK authorities are said to have discovered individuals linked to Tehran's intelligence agencies among asylum seekers arriving in Britain by using face recognition technology fitted to drones and surveillance watchtowers. It is also understood that the routes used to traffic migrants are operated and 'owned' by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The Daily Mail reported in March how asylum seekers ostensibly fleeing the war in Iran had arrived in France to cross the Channel to the UK. Dozens were said...

I've never met Rupert Lowe and, judging from his latest comments this weekend, I'd say it's unlikely that's going to change. According to the leader of Restore Britain (we've got Reform and Restore; I'm looking forward to Replace and, even better, Retire) for a period in my life I wanted to destroy all that's good about Britain, create a dependency culture and, for good measure, sterilise the untermenschen. The MP for Great Yarmouth has not been looking into my soul and excavating its darkest secrets. He has, rather, been sounding off about one of the most bizarre conspiracy theories to...

The Labour Government has been accused of trying to block a report on migrant crimes from being released. The Ministry of Justice has launched legal action to prevent the publication of crime statistics by nationality. The Information Commissioner’s Office has ordered the department to release conviction data from between 2018 and 2024, which the department is now appealing. The Centre of Migration Control (CMC), a think tank, requested data on violence, sexual offences, drugs, arson, criminal damage, weapons, theft, and robbery under the Freedom of Information Act. The Ministry of Justice has argued that the data would be too expensive,...

Eating eggs could increase the risk of developing a dangerous heart rhythm problem that can trigger deadly stroke, a study has suggested. Researchers have found a link between a compound found in the bloodstream that's released after eating a number of everyday foods - including egg yolks and beef steak - and atrial fibrillation. The condition, which causes the heart to beat irregularly, can lead to heart failure and stroke. Now experts at the Cleveland Clinic in the US have found that those with the life-threatening problem have high levels of trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) - which is produced in the...