Free Republic

At the beginning of the Cold War, the Soviet Union bugged the U.S. Embassy with one of the most ingenious devices ever created. In the summer of 1952, an attaché at the American Embassy in Moscow was idly tuning his shortwave radio, searching for a broadcast from Washington. As he slowly turned the dial, a voice suddenly emerged from the static—a voice he knew all too well. It belonged to his superior, Ambassador George Kennan. At first, he assumed it was a recording. Then his blood ran cold. What he was hearing was not a broadcast at all. It was...

The US military fired several high-energy laser and high-power microwave weapons for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday. The US Defense Department demonstrated several high-energy laser and high-power microwave weapons for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday, Laser Wars has learned, the first publicly known instance of a sitting US defense secretary personally observing a live directed energy weapon firing. The demonstration, which occurred at the US Army’s White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, was attended by Hegseth and Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Emil Michael. “We have dramatically increased investment in scaling directed energy technologies, signaling...

Satellites don't always stay in orbit. As they get closer to Earth, atmospheric drag can pull them lower and lower until they burn up, with solar activity speeding up the process. NASA's Swift Space Observatory is facing that fate -- its orbit is decaying, and if left alone, it will be destroyed in a matter of months. But in a first-of-its-kind mission, Katalyst Space, a startup, is teaming up with NASA to try and rescue Swift using the company's newly developed robotic spacecraft, LINK. "This is a historic mission, you know, some would call it the first of its kind,...

A longstanding archaeological mystery has loomed over discoveries at ancient burial sites in eastern Siberia: why were so many children and adolescents among the dead?Now, according to a recent study in the journal Nature, DNA recovered from human remains found in burial sites at four cemeteries near Lake Baikal in eastern Siberia may finally reveal the answer.Thousands of years ago, prior to the rise of ancient medieval cities -- and their often-rat-infested streets -- a disease famously associated with these rodents had already ravaged communities of prehistoric hunter-gatherers.The research, based on reconstructions of ancient bacterial genomes preserved in the teeth...

More than 450 alleged fraudsters — including 90 doctors and medical professionals — were busted for bilking at least $6.5 billion in fake Medicare and Medicaid claims, with one greedy nurse splashing her ill-gotten gains on an $865,000 Bulgari necklace, $594,000 Ferrari and a $4.6 million Philippines beach resort, authorities said. The colossal crackdown, which spanned 45 US states and territories, was announced Tuesday by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who called it “the greatest combined federal and state effort combating health care fraud in history.” In total, 455 people were netted — including alleged con artists who blew the...

Far-left House candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier couldn't stand up to the questioning of mere radio hosts — abruptly ending the interview and storming out of the station. The dust up Tuesday morning unfolded when the La Mega radio hosts pressed the Mamdani-backed candidates in the NY13 race on her old social posts. The thin-skin socialist was set off when one of the hosts pressed her on a now-deleted post that referred to the Dominican flag as "violent" and decried the "f------ nationalism" of putting the flag in her profile. "As a Dominican, I come back and say it, I am...

A new ban on Glock handguns takes effect in California, starting July 1. The law will, once again, remind Americans why California has become the ultimate legislative laboratory for aggressive gun control. Firearms dealers across the state will no longer be permitted to sell new Glock handguns or similar models that state lawmakers have aggressively reclassified as a form of machine gun. The justification behind this radical pivot is that these pistols can supposedly be modified easily with illegal, aftermarket conversion devices that fundamentally alter their rate of fire. But rather than focusing energy and resources on the criminals who...

The shooter who was killed after he gunned down a Montreal police officer in a shooting in a Jewish neighborhood that left a local rabbi dead and another policewoman wounded left behind a twisted, 104-page manifesto. The gunman, identified by Quebec’s coroner as 25-year-old Seth Hatfield, raged in the rambling document against Zionists, capitalism, law enforcement, feminism and the pornography industry, among other grievances, according to the Montreal Gazette, which reviewed the manifesto. “Be unflinching, go forth, and KILL THEM ALL!” he said at the conclusion of the sick missive. In the manifesto, Hatfield blames feminism, liberalism and capitalism for...

Stay-at-home mom Bari Sinoyannis thought she was buying a natural, plant-based alternative to pain relievers when she picked up kratom powder at a North Carolina smoke shop in 2022. “The fact that it’s labeled as a natural alternative to pain medication was why I fell for it. I was like, you know what? I’m gonna try it. And pretty much immediately I was addicted,” the 37-year-old told The Post. “I was like, oh, this is a miracle drug. This is curing my pain. This is curing my depression. Everything’s better now. Until it wasn’t.” What Sinoyannis didn’t know is that,...

Ex-JPMorgan banker Chirayu Rana’s lawyer got the green light to dump his client – but the attorney will now have to disclose to JPMorgan if any false claims were made in his ex-client’s explosive sex-assault lawsuit. Daniel Kaiser’s motion to withdraw from repping Rana in his bombshell “sex slave” lawsuit was approved Tuesday during a brief hearing in Manhattan Supreme Court. Kaiser, who previously repped Jeffrey Epstein accusers, first requested to withdraw from the case in late May, though it remains unclear why. But, the judge on Tuesday also ordered Kaiser — who was absent from the hearing — to...

On March 21, 2026, the Danish Free Press Society awarded Raymond Ibrahim with the Sappho Prize. This video contains the official award ceremony, including Mr. Ibrahim’s talk, which took place in Copenhagen. In a press release, the Danish Free Press Society explained why Raymond Ibrahim was awarded the 2026 Sappho Prize. An excerpt follows: “For more than two decades, Raymond Ibrahim has been one of the most rigorous and intellectually consistent voices in the international debate on Christian persecution, Islamism, and the historical conflicts between Islam and the West. His work is grounded in extensive study of primary sources —...

CHICAGO – A man who has lived on Chicago’s South Side for 18 years and now lives in the shadow of the newly opened Barack Obama Presidential Center described to Fox News Digital the havoc he says the years-long construction project wreaked on his housing complex. Akoma Amanze is a local cab driver who lives in Jackson Park Terrace, a low-income housing community directly across the street from the 19.3 acre campus dedicated to the 44th president. Over the weekend, while thousands of people from across the country — celebrities and ordinary folks alike — swarmed the area to visit...

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, addressed her closely-watched race against scandal-plagued Democratic candidate Graham Platner, calling him the "antithesis" of the steady leadership she has provided Maine. "I never expected to have an opponent like Graham Platner," Collins said in her first national interview since Platner’s nomination. "He is very different from me. He's the antithesis of the steady leadership that I provide and Washington that has delivered real results for the state of Maine and for our nation." Platner, a military veteran and oyster farmer, has spent much of his campaign on the defensive as multiple scandals have rocked his...

LINCOLN — The Republican National Committee and two Nebraska voters have filed a lawsuit against Nebraska over a part of state election law that was meant to implement a 2009 federal election law. The lawsuit, which names Secretary of State Bob Evnen as the defendant, was filed in Lancaster District Court on Monday. It alleges that part of the state election law violates the state constitution because it allows U.S. citizens who have never resided in the state or country to vote in Nebraska elections. The law was passed during the Nebraska 101st legislative session in 2010, according to the...

Legislation to keep Georgia's embattled vote-counting method in place for this year's midterm elections faced strong opposition from state Democrats on Monday after Republicans in the Georgia Senate approved an amendment that would require a hand recount of ballots. Georgia's governor, Republican Brian Kemp, had called lawmakers into a special session in part to address a July 1 deadline that was set to ban the QR codes used for the official vote count. Legislators passed a law two years ago that set that deadline, but then failed to find a replacement for tabulating votes. Some voting rights activists had warned...

Whether you relate more to the allure of the green M&M or the charisma of the red one, you can rest easy in the fact that both of those colors are here to stay—which sadly can’t be said for all of the M&M’s colors you’ve come to know and love. That’s right, the popular chocolate candy brand is doing away with two of its iconic colors, but not without good reason. Mars, the maker of M&M’s, is phasing out synthetic food dyes, and M&M’s is slated to go au naturel come August. Currently, the small candy-coated chocolates come in seven...

WASHINGTON — The leaders of three Republican House committees threatened Monday to hold Democratic fundraising powerhouse ActBlue in contempt of Congress after the firm refused to turn over more than 400 documents, citing attorney-client privilege. A letter from House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil (R-Wis.), Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), and Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) gave ActBlue until Friday to provide the messages, including statements by two members of its legal team indicating the fundraiser was not being forthcoming about overseas donations that were illegally funneled to Democratic campaigns. “These documents reportedly contain evidence that ActBlue accepted...

A federal judge on Monday quashed grand jury subpoenas issued to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and other Minnesota officials. US District Judge Patrick Schiltz, a George W. Bush appointee said the subpoenas were retaliatory. The Justice Department in January issued subpoenas to Governor Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and other far-left Minnesota officials. The DOJ previously launched a criminal investigation into Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and far-left Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey for interfering with ICE operations. According to CBS News, the investigation centered around public statements made by Walz and Frey....

A massive exodus out of California is expected to happen after SpaceX’s historic and OpenAI’s confidential IPO, unleashing an unprecedented wave of tech millionaires to Florida. Following SpaceX’s IPO on June 12 that set the company’s valuation above $2 trillion and made Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire, around 4400 SpaceX employees also became millionaires. “The California area codes have already started showing up. It’s just that the conversations are evolving,” Fort Lauderdale Downtown Development Authority CEO and President Jenni Morejon said to Fox News. “The wealth doesn’t hide here… and I really think what we’re seeing now with AI...

For decades, young midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy have walked by “Ripley at the Bridge,” a dramatic diorama within the Memorial Hall foyer in Bancroft Hall featuring Marine Capt. John Ripley dangling from a girder over the Cua Viet River.On Thursday, 54 years after his actions in Vietnam that made him an iconic military hero and 18 years after his death in 2008, Ripley was posthumously presented with the Medal of Honor at the White House. Previously awarded the Navy Cross, Ripley’s upgrade to the military’s highest honor was approved by Congress in March, but was awaiting signoff by...