Free Republic

European leaders stepped up pressure on Russia to accept an unconditional cease-fire in Ukraine, threatening to immediately impose a new round of punishing sanctions if the Kremlin did not change its stance by the end of Monday. “The clock is ticking — we still have 12 hours until the end of this day,” the German government spokesman, Stefan Kornelius, told a news conference. On Monday, the Kremlin spokesman brushed off the threat. “The language of ultimatums is unacceptable — you cannot talk to Russia like this,” the spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, told Russian news agencies.

---SNIP--- Ethan Parker, 12, was found unresponsive with a gunshot wound to his chest on the 1500 block of East Pastorius Street in the middle of the day on Saturday. He was rushed to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead just before 1 p.m. Parker and two teens were making a music video with guns, when one went off and killed the 12-year-old boy. Police recovered the gun and said other weapons were found in the home.

California Democrats are currently pushing a bill that could ban law-abiding citizens from buying Glock handguns in an attempt to stop criminals from using “Glock switches.” “Glock switches” are federally prohibited plastic pieces that can be affixed to the rear of a Glock slide to make the pistol shoot full auto. It has become in vogue for leftists to target Glock over the illegal use of the switches. For example, on March 19, 2024, Breitbart News noted that Chicago filed a lawsuit against Glock over the switches, although many of the switches in the U.S. originated in China. On February...

On the way back from Kyiv, journalists unexpectedly entered the leaders’ cabin. German advisor Merz hid a spoon used for cocaine, while French President Macron concealed a bag of it. ... What’s this? Reporters walk in, and boom - Merz hides a coke spoon, Macron tucks a bag. Awkward ride back from Kyiv. ... OLD BUT STILL RELEVANT: Traces of cocaine have been found in several toilets in the Reichstag (parliament) and in the Berlin House of Representatives. The drug had been detected in a test "in quantities where a drug dog would react” ... Macron in slow-mo ... You...

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is leading Republican Sen. John Cornyn by double digits in the 2026 Texas Senate race, according to a recent Republican primary poll. Paxton is ahead of Cornyn by 16 percentage points — 56% to 40% — in a two-way poll commissioned by the Senate Leadership Fund (SLF), Punchbowl News first reported on Monday. Meanwhile, in a hypothetical three-way matchup with Republican Texas Rep. Wesley Hunt, who is reportedly considering entering the primary contest, Paxton notched 44% of the vote to Cornyn’s 34% and Hunt’s 19%. SLF, a super PAC that supports Republicans, is backing Cornyn’s...

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent spoke with reporters on Monday following trade talks this past weekend with Chinese officials in Geneva, Switzerland. As The Gateway Pundit reported on Sunday, Bessent announced that they struck a deal during their eight-hour meetings. China and the United States have agreed to reduce tariffs by May 14, with China retaining a 10% tariff on American goods while the US retains a 10% reciprocal tariff on Chinese goods. Additionally, China has agreed to help the US “take aggressive actions to stem the flow of fentanyl and other precursors from China to illicit drug producers in...

* Sealing a US-Saudi security pact. [arms]. * UAE’s quest for AI dominance. * Qatar’s global diplomacy [propaganda fortress].

This is the most idiotic government regulation of the last decade (and that's saying something). The technology shuts off the engine every time the vehicle stops in traffic or at a red light/stop sign. The average driver might save $1,000 over a decade of using the vehicle if they live in an urban area with frequent stops, but Enhanced Flooded Batteries and heavy-duty starters also cost more, meaning maintenance swallows up much or all of their savings. (They also have to put up with the psychological torture of having their car turn off and on every five seconds.) Here's YouTuber...

Kanye West’s new single “Heil Hitler” is not getting the warm reception on streaming services that he’d imagined. West, now know as Ye, has teased the incendiary single for days on livestreams, but to little success on music streaming platforms. The rapper released it on Soundcloud on Thursday, only for it to vanish a day later. The rapper posted on X to lament the song’s fate in the digital marketplace. “‘Heil Hitler’ by Ye has been banned by all digital streaming platforms,” he wrote. (The song is currently not available on Spotify or Apple Music.) West then compared his fate...

The Vatican and President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed on Monday that Pope Leo XIV had spoken with the Ukrainian head of state, offering support to find an end to the ongoing invasion of his country. Vatican News, the official news outlet of the Holy See, offered few details on the conversation, reinforcing Zelensky’s public comments on the matter. Zelensky published an image on social media of himself apparently taking the pontiff’s phone call, praising Pope Leo for a “very warm and truly substantive” conversation. “I thanked His Holiness for his support of Ukraine and all our people. We deeply value his...

The House Ways and Means Committee will soon release the GOP’s first draft of the party’s tax proposals, and the irony is that the bill may be getting worse even as a good bill becomes more urgent. President Trump has pitched a tax-rate increase that even Democrats failed to pass, and parochial demands are shrinking the pro-growth value of the bill. Republicans seem to have forgotten the principles of sound tax policy, even the lessons of the successful 2017 reform. Most of the 26 GOP Members of Ways and Means weren’t in Congress in 2017. The intellectual capital of previous...

Sheriff's Office in Press Release 5/11/2025, Two teenagers from Tehama County were arrested after allegedly plotting an attack on Evergreen Middle School in Cottonwood, authorities said. The investigation began on May 9, 2025, when a Tennessee resident contacted the Tehama County Sheriff's Office. The individual reported concerns after engaging in online gaming with one of the teens, who discussed school violence and shared a manifesto and plans targeting the school.... The suspect also sent photographs of himself and an accomplice posing in attire similar to the Columbine school shooters, according to the sheriff's office. Allegedly, the attack was initially planned...

Nearly a third of American children experience parental divorce before adulthood. To understand its consequences, we use linked tax and Census records for over 5 million children to examine how divorce affects family arrangements and children's long-term outcomes. Following divorce, parents move apart, household income falls, parents work longer hours, families move more frequently, and households relocate to poorer neighborhoods with less economic opportunity. This bundle of changes in family circumstances suggests multiple channels through which divorce may affect children's development and outcomes. In the years following divorce, we observe sharp increases in teen births and child mortality. To examine...

For about 30 hours, the illusion of transatlantic unity over Ukraine was maintained. Europe and Ukraine had demanded a deal on the 30-day unconditional ceasefire the Trump administration proposed two months earlier. European leaders said US President Donald Trump had personally backed their plan – and threat of sanctions if Russia declined to sign up by Monday – in a Saturday phone call, a picture of which they posted online from Kyiv. Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, even joined a chorus of US allies demanding Russia adhere to the ceasefire demand. But then Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke,...

May 11 (UPI) — Operations are returning to normal after a unrelated equipment issues prompted ground stops at Newark Liberty and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International airports Sunday, the Federal Aviation Administration announced. “Technicians are working to address the problem,” the FAA said of the Newark issue. “The FAA briefly slowed aircraft in and out of the airport while we ensured redundancies were working as designed,” the agency said on X. “Operations have returned to normal.” As of Sunday afternoon, at least 150 flights to and from Newark were delayed and 80 were canceled. The FAA issued the ground stop Sunday morning...

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says China admitted they ignored trade commitments under Biden because they knew he wouldn’t enforce them: "Told us they ignored their obligations. We had an excellent trade agreement… Biden chose not to enforce it." https://x.com/bennyjohnson/status/1921907299704049986

From secure borders to functioning cities, America is shedding the hard-won pillars of civilization—by choice, not chance—in a sweeping, top-down descent into disorder. Secure borders and stationary populations were considered the mark of emerging civilization by classical historians. In contrast to nomadism and constant strife over disputed territory, peoples who had clearly defined and protected borders ascended to statehood, maintained a distinct culture, and achieved greater prosperity and security. In contrast, what we suffered from 2021 to 2025 was unprecedented. It was an intentional administration effort to de-civilize the nation by destroying its borders—as if to return to the premodern...

Trump has been in office for only a few months and has already managed to cut national debt growth by 92 percent. This is definitely one of the things that would cause people to say, ‘I voted for this.’While the left rants and raves over cuts to various government programs, Trump is securing the nation’s financial future by getting spending under control.And remember, while Trump and Republicans are taking care of this serious business, Democrats are obsessing over and defending illegal immigrant criminals. The contrast could not be sharper.The Washington Examiner reports:Trump has slowed national debt growth by 92%For all...

Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., has a message for the “anonymous” person who made a “credible threat” against his family: “You will not intimidate me.” Still, the Wisconsin Republican says the specificity of the latest threat against his wife, children, and grandchildren forced him to cancel an online town hall session last week and miss several votes as he rushed back to his southwest Wisconsin home to make sure his loved ones were safe. Van Orden said the letter, sent to his Washington, D.C. office, was immediately reported to the appropriate authorities. The lawmaker’s congressional colleague, Rep. Bryan Steil, a...

The partner of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes has raised millions of dollars for an artificial intelligence startup hoping to introduce a product that can be used in medical testing and other settings, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the endeavor who could not speak publicly because the company has not yet officially launched. The company is called Haemanthus, which is Greek for "blood flower." Holmes, a former Silicon Valley star, is serving an 11-year sentence in federal prison for misleading investors about her blood-testing startup Theranos, once heralded as a breakthrough in laboratory science before its core technology...