Free Republic

Hypersonic weapons are reshaping modern military competitions. As the U.S. advances its capabilities, understanding the structure, progress, and strategic intent of its programs is essential. Current efforts focus on building reliability and interoperability across domains, creating a cohesive defense network. This integration provides a strategic advantage in contested environments, ensuring systems remain accurate, resilient, and adaptable for future operational needs. Background The United States is currently developing three hypersonic weapons programs: the Navy’s Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS), the Army’s Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW), and the Air Force’s Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM). Compared with China, which reportedly has five hypersonic...

President Donald Trump has announced the creation of a new Golden Fleet designed to jump start the Navy. During a press conference on Monday from Mar-a-Lago, Trump revealed that the Navy will begin constructing two new battleships with 100 times the power of existing war ships. The “all steel” vessels will be equipped with guns, missiles, hypersonic weapons and high-powered lasers. “They’ll be the fastest, the biggest and by far, 100 times more powerful than any battleship ever built,” Trump said while standing alongside Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Navy Secretary John Phelan and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The...

Fulton County, Georgia, recently made an admission that should have commanded national attention. During a hearing before the Georgia State Election Board, county officials acknowledged that approximately 315,000 early ballots cast in the 2020 presidential election were unlawfully certified yet were nonetheless included in Georgia’s final, official results, in a race Joe Biden was officially declared to have won by just 11,779 votes.The admission arose from a challenge filed by David Cross, an election integrity activist, who alleged that Fulton County violated Georgia election law in its handling of early voting. Under state statute, each ballot scanner is required to...

Former GOP Sen. Ben Sasse revealed Tuesday that he has been diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer and does not have long to live. In a lengthy statement on X, the 53-year-old said bluntly: “Last week I was diagnosed with metastasized, stage-four pancreatic cancer, and am gonna die.” “Death is a wicked thief, and the bastard pursues us all,” the former senator from Nebraska added. “Still, I’ve got less time than I’d prefer. This is hard for someone wired to work and build, but harder still as a husband and a dad.” The announcement drew an outpouring of support for...

Lawyers for former CIA Director John Brennan want the Justice Department to be prevented from steering an investigation of him and other former government officials to a “favored” judge in Florida who dismissed the classified documents case against President Donald Trump. The request Monday is addressed to U.S. District Judge Cecilia Altonaga, the chief judge in the Southern District of Florida, where federal prosecutors are pursuing a criminal investigation related to the U.S. government assessment of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Brennan and other former officials have received subpoenas, and Brennan's lawyers say he's been advised by prosecutors...

An Israeli man was violently assaulted and lost an eye in a horrific attack overnight in Limassol, Cyprus. According to media reports, the victim was apparently overheard speaking Hebrew on his phone outside his hotel when a group of local youths allegedly recognized the language, hurled insults, before viciously attacking him. Cyprus police are investigating the incident as a possible hate crime. Photo of victim

It’s the benchmark of success, a milestone of responsible adulthood, a time-tested way to amass wealth for you and your progeny. Homeownership, we’re told again and again, is a status that every right-thinking person should aspire to — the white-picket-fence-fronted embodiment of the American Dream. But what if it’s also a little overrated? For generations it has been taken as a near article of faith across the country that ownership is both the financially and socially superior way to inhabit a home and that public policy makers should always promote it. California legislators and housing advocates spent this past year...

Californians will see the minimum wage increase to $16.90 per hour starting Jan. 1. The adjustment — a boost of 40 cents per hour — was calculated in August by the Department of Finance as part of its minimum wage annual review required by state law. California has been raising its minimum wage over the past decade. Former Gov. Jerry Brown in 2016 signed a watershed law to increase minimum wage from $10.50 per hour to $15 per hour, plus annual adjustments for inflation. The current rate of $16.50 per hour suggests that a minimum wage worker needs to work...

Non-crime hate incidents should be scrapped and replaced with a "common sense" system, police leaders are set to recommend. The scheme would mean only the most serious incidents are recorded as anti-social behaviour. The recommendation is part of a review by leaders at the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) and College of Policing, which is set to be published next month and given to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood. Non-crime hate incidents are perceived to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards certain characteristics, such as race or gender, but do not meet the threshold of a criminal offence. Rather than...

Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican and a staunch defender of unborn children, is weighing another run for president in 2028 as he positions himself within the evolving Republican Party. Cruz, who finished as runner-up in the 2016 GOP presidential primary, has been fielding requests from supporters urging him to launch a bid in 2028. During a recent meeting near Washington, D.C., Cruz noted he had received requests to run. Should he launch a bid, he would be expected to face a primary against fellow pro-life advocate Vice President J.D. Vance and potentially other contenders. The Republican nomine could eventually...

A convicted Oregon killer is back on Salem’s police oversight board following a narrow city council vote that opponents say jeopardizes public trust and ignores warnings from law enforcement about his violent past.

The U.S. economy grew at a much greater-than-expected pace in the third quarter, boosted by strong consumer spending, a delayed report released Tuesday showed. U.S. gross domestic product, a sum of all goods and services produced in the sprawling U.S. economy, expanded by 4.3% in the July-September period, the Commerce Department said in its initial reading of third-quarter growth. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect a gain of 3.2%. Consumer spending expanded by 3.5% in the third quarter after rising 2.5% in the second quarter. Increases in exports and government spending also boosted growth, while a smaller dip in private...

This is the story of "Thomas Carrick" - not his real name but the moniker assigned him by Australian authorities. He is, in fact, Muslim - so "Thomas Carrick" is what he'll be called in the award-winning Netflix adaptation, where he'll be played by Macaulay Culkin's grandson. The real Islamic "Thomas" is a low-IQ autistic boy in the state of Victoria, and his parents noticed that he'd begun taking an interest in Isis. So they went to the local police station and informed the Victorian constabulary to see if the coppers could do anything to help. What they did to...

The U.S. economy grew at a much greater-than-expected pace in the third quarter, boosted by strong consumer spending, a delayed report released Tuesday showed. U.S. GDP expanded by 4.3% in the July-September period, the Commerce Department said in its initial reading of third-quarter growth. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect a gain of 3.2%. Consumer spending expanded by 3.5% in the third quarter after rising 2.5% in the second quarter.

The state of California, under the direction of woke Gov. Gavin Newsom, state Attorney General Rob Bonta, and the far-left legislature, passed a law in July 2024 — AB 1955 — which required teachers to affirm students’ gender identities but keep any changes secret from the parents. In other words, they demanded that teachers lie. Bad news for the gender extremists in the Golden State, of which there are many — U.S. District Court Judge Roger Benitez issued a summary judgment Monday, ruling that the law is unconstitutional. Finally, a 2024 story where a judge didn’t bend over backward for...

More than 125 congressional Democrats are pushing the Trump administration to withdraw a proposed rule that would open the door to denying a person a green card if they use public assistance, including Medicaid or food stamps. "This proposal punishes families for caring for their children. It would scare parents away from health care, food assistance, and early education that U.S. citizen children are legally entitled to, putting kids at risk and destabilizing entire communities," Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said in a statement to The Hill. "Congress never intended public charge to be used...

The education story of the year has been the “Southern Surge.” An intrepid group of southern states have led the nation in post-pandemic recovery. In a decade, Mississippi moved from 49th to seventh in the nation on fourth-grade reading scores, despite remaining the poorest state. According to Harvard’s 2024 Education Recovery Scorecard, Louisiana is the only state to recover to 2019 achievement levels in both reading and math, while Alabama matched pre-Covid scores in fourth-grade math alone. All other states continue to lag prior achievement levels. Much of this success has rightly been credited to a handful of commonsense reforms:...

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly said the US "needs" Greenland for security reasons and has refused to rule out using force to secure it.Denmark summoned the United States ambassador on Monday (Dec 22) after US President Donald Trump appointed a special envoy to Greenland who immediately vowed to make the Danish autonomous territory "a part of the US". Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has repeatedly said the US "needs" the resource-rich Arctic island for security reasons and has refused to rule out using force to secure it. On Sunday, Trump appointed Louisiana governor Jeff Landry...

Trump’s uncharacteristically wooden address to the nation revealed a panicked president

George Conway, the former conservative lawyer-turned-ardent critic of President Donald Trump, has filed paperwork to run for Congress in New York City as a Democrat, a source close to Conway confirmed. While he hasn’t formally launched a congressional bid or commented on it publicly, new paperwork filed Monday with the Federal Election Commission shows Conway plans to run in the crowded primary in the 12th Congressional District. Democrat Jerry Nadler, who currently represents the district, isn’t seeking re-election. “George is a seasoned fighter against Trump and Trumpism, and he’s considering taking that fight to Congress. Today, he filed paperwork that...