Free Republic

In yet another major win for President Donald Trump’s Secretary of Defense, Army veteran Pete Hegseth, it is emerging that the story published in The Atlantic about a supposed group chat in which “war plans” were shared was a “hoax,” as there were no war plans shared in the chat, which is just what Hegseth said to discredit the story from the start. For reference, The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, the magazine’s editor-in-chief, released an explosive report in which he claimed to have been added to a group chat in which Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and...

Artificial intelligence systems are training themselves to do all sorts of things that they were never intended to do. They are literally teaching themselves new languages, they are training themselves to become “proficient in research-grade chemistry without ever being taught it” and they have learned to “lie and manipulate humans for their own advantage”. So what happens when these super-intelligent entities become powerful enough to start exerting control over the world around them? And what happens if these super-intelligent entities start merging with spiritual entities? In fact, could it be possible that there is evidence that this is already happening?

On Thursday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Deadline: White House,” Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) said that “everybody” accused 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris of being “too far to the right of center” when she ran for president the last time, but she’s really “right where the vast majority of the American people are.” Clyburn said, “[I]t’s kind of interesting, if you go back and look at her candidacy, back in 2019, before she dropped out of that race, everybody was saying at the time that she was too far to the right of center. Then, all of a sudden,...

The update by the Ministry of Defence added that the heavy losses would likely continue as Russia looked to make gains across the front lines in Ukraine. “The average daily Russian casualties (killed and wounded) in Ukraine, throughout May and June 2024, increased to conflict highs of 1,262 and 1,163 respectively,” the MoD wrote.

Excavations of bronze age burial sites have uncovered battle-scarred female archers, leading some archaeologists to posit that Amazons, the famed female warriors of Greek legend who are largely believed to be mythical, may have really existed. In Greek mythology, the Amazons were warrior women living northeast of ancient Greece during the late Bronze Age, between approximately 1900 and 1200 BC. The source of the Amazonian myths is Classical Greek literature in which they were first mentioned by Homer. As one of his 12 labors, Hercules has to get hold of the magic girdle of the Amazonian queen Hippolyte, and Achilles...

Ukraine's navy said in a statement published on Tuesday that Kyiv had "successfully destroyed" the Konstantin Olshansky, and the three other vessels it targeted since Saturday. In a later statement, Pletenchuk said the Ivan Khurs reconnaissance ship may have sustained damage. It was one of two of this type of reconnaissance vessel at Russia's disposal ... Ukraine used a home-grown Neptune anti-ship missile to strike the Konstantin Olshansky, which was being "prepared for use against Ukraine," Pletenchuk said. Pletenchuk said the attack on the Konstantin Olshansky landing ship had taken place on Saturday, the same day as the strikes on...

The Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist organization claimed responsibility for Friday's attack at a concert hall in Moscow in which at least 40 people were killed and 100 injured.

A top US legislator gave further credence Wednesday to assertions that Cairo had warned Israel of looming major violence by Hamas, three days before Gaza’s ruling terror group caught Israeli forces off-guard and massacred over 1,200 Israelis. Republican Michael McCaul, chairman of the powerful US House Foreign Affairs Committee, said: “We know that Egypt… warned the Israelis three days prior that an event like this could happen.” Speaking to reporters following a closed-door intelligence briefing for lawmakers on the crisis, he added: “I don’t want to get too much into classified [details], but a warning was given.

Russia's two most senior lawmakers on Sunday addressed a string of complaints about Russia's mobilisation drive, ordering regional officials to get a handle on the situation and swiftly solve the "excesses" that have stoked public anger. President Vladimir Putin's move to order Russia's first military mobilisation since World War Two triggered protests across the country and seen flocks of military-age men flee, causing tailbacks at borders and flights to sell out. Multiple reports have also documented how people with no military service have been issued draft papers - contrary to Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu's guarantee that only those with special...

Brazil has recorded more than 4,000 Covid-related deaths in 24 hours for the first time, as a more contagious variant fuels a surge in cases.Hospitals are overcrowded, with people dying as they wait for treatment in some cities, and the health system is on the brink of collapse in many areas.The country's total death toll is now almost 337,000, second only to the US.But President Jair Bolsonaro continues to oppose any lockdown measures to curb the outbreak.He argues that the damage to the economy would be worse than the effects of the virus itself, and has tried to reverse some...

Turkish leaders have said protecting Islamic sites in the Holy Land is a sacred mission for them, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan bluntly warning any attack against the 8th-century al-Aqsa Mosque is no different than an attack on the Kaaba in the holy city of Mecca. “The Israeli administration has to stop this despicableness, this barbarity; what would it say if this kind of attack had been launched against synagogues? The Masjid al-Aqsa is not only a shrine for Palestinians, but is the shrine of all Muslims,” Erdogan was quoted as saying on Nov. 7 during an official visit to...

Reuters is reporting that the Egyptian Army ousted former President Mohammed Morsi in part over his calls for backing the Syrian rebels against dictator Bashar al-Assad.

BERLIN (AP) - Nazi Germany tested a crude nuclear device in March 1945, killing hundreds of people in a massive explosion south of Berlin, a German researcher claims in a new book published Monday. That the Nazis conducted nuclear experiments has been known for decades, but "Hitler's Bomb," by Berlin academic Rainer Karlsch, suggests they may have been closer to building an atomic weapon for military use than previously believed. No independent corroboration of the claims was immediately available. "German physicians did not lag behind their colleagues in the United States and Britain in their understanding of theory," Karlsch told...