Free Republic

Leaks the past few months out of David Ellison‘s inner circle said the CEO would take his Paramount ball and leave California if state attorneys general didn’t back off on their antitrust suit to stop the $111 billion merger with Warner Bros Discovery. And now it looks like the ball really is in play. Paramount brass have told key officials and stakeholders the company is “deadly serious” about leaving California and the home of Hollywood after over 100 years, sources tell me. Among those told a deposit has been put on the moving trucks is L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and...

New photos obtained exclusively by CBS News reveal for the first time the widespread damage and destruction of buildings and vehicles at multiple U.S. positions across the Middle East, as a result of Iranian missile and drone attacks. The Defense Department's inspector general this week released a fresh report on the war in Iran that revealed "equipment losses" worth up to $3.7 billion — including nearly 60 aircraft. In a first-of-its-kind mandatory report to Congress, the inspector general added that U.S. Central Command reported Iranian strikes at U.S. bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman and Jordan.

An up-and-coming drill rapper was shot and killed in an ambush at a Chicago gas station — with shocking video showing the killers running up and firing dozens of shots into his Tesla. Bloodhound Q50, who had more than a million monthly listeners on Spotify, was shot and killed early Sunday — just weeks after he ominously told a vlogger that he knew he could be a target. Surveillance footage shows the 22-year-old rapper, real name Mikquale Cooper, strolling out of a BP gas station and into his white Tesla where his pregnant girlfriend was waiting, according to Fox 32....

The holdout juror who caused Lindsay Clancy’s mistrial has a history of alleged domestic violence such as grabbing his wife by the throat and punching his nephew, according to a report. The still-unnamed juror, only described as a black man in his 30s, faced a criminal charge in September 2021 for allegedly assaulting his wife, NBC10 Boston reported. A 13-year-old nephew of the man called 911, stating that his uncle grabbed his wife by the throat and threw her into a dresser, according to a police report obtained by the outlet. The juror’s own mom repeatedly screamed, “You’re evil!” as...

Multiple American military aircraft were damaged in Iranian strikes overnight Tuesday into Wednesday local time on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, people with direct knowledge of the matter told CBS News. One A-10 Thunderbolt, an attack aircraft known as the Warthog, was struck and lost a wing, the sources said. Roughly eight F-15s sustained light damage and were reportedly put back into service, according to the people familiar with the damage, who spoke to CBS News under the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. No U.S. deaths have been reported in the strikes on...

Rafael Vela Gonzalez was a few steps away from the front door of his Silver Lake home when two Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents grabbed him in early January. The 66-year-old, originally from El Salvador, had been in the U.S. since he was a teenager. ... He has spent nearly eight months in ICE detention ... The 81-year-old and Vela Gonzalez have been together for more than 30 years" ... Vela Gonzalez arrived in time to qualify for the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, which provided nearly three million undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship. He applied for...

The Israeli government is running advertisements on a popular podcast hosted by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), raising questions about whether the staunchly pro-Israel lawmaker is indirectly receiving campaign funding from a foreign country. Radio and podcast giant iHeartMedia has syndicated Cruz’s show, “Verdict with Ted Cruz,” since 2022. Because of lobbying-related restrictions, the company cannot legally pay the senator for ad revenue. But, it turns out, that’s not the only way to ensure the money benefits Cruz. Under an unusual licensing deal, iHeartMedia agreed to donate revenue “associated with (the show’s) advertising sales” to the Truth and Courage PAC, a...

A popular Egyptian TV presenter has been sentenced to death by hanging after she was convicted for her role in a massive drug trafficking ring. Sarah Khalifa, a 39-year-old former host of Egyptian crime show “Mission Impossible” sobbed in court as she was ordered to be executed in Cairo, Al-Jazeera reported. “Please listen to me, sir. My parents raised me well; they are people who pray, and I don’t need drug money,” Khalifa, who has more than 2 million followers on social media, pleaded to officials. Khalifa and 11 others were sentenced to death after they were convicted of operating...

Moldova's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has criticized Moscow's plan to open additional polling stations for elections to the Russian State Duma in the unrecognized Transnistrian region. According to Ukrinform, NewsMaker stated this in an article. "The opening by Russia of an additional 16 polling stations in the Transnistrian region for elections to the Russian State Duma is unacceptable without the consent of Moldova's constitutional authorities," the diplomats said. The Moldovan Foreign Ministry was responding to a statement by Vadim Krasnoselsky, leader of the unrecognized Transnistrian region, who said that 17 polling stations would be opened in Transnistria for the Russian...

Ukraine thinks Russia is planning ​to draft an additional 300,000 troops for its war effort after Russian parliamentary elections in mid-September, Ukrainian President ‌Volodymyr Zelenskiy said. Moscow's forces are pressing ahead with an effort to capture the rest of eastern Ukraine's industrialised Donbas region, where its troops have ground forward at what Kyiv says is a great cost. In comments to reporters released on Sunday, Zelenskiy said Russia could draft more ​troops in 2027 to reach an overall goal of 500,000, part of what he described as a "peripheral mobilisation" ​targeting Russia's far-flung regions. "We believe it will not take...

Ariana Grande has warned US president Donald Trump not to use her music on TikTok. The world leader — who keeps getting called out for using songs by artists who do not want to be associated with his politics — posted a viral We Can't Be Friends (Wait For Your Love) clip highlighting the lyric: "Me and my truth we sit in silence." In the video, Trump is shown at a rally as the text "Men can't have babies and should never compete in women's sports" flashes across the screen. The Team Trump TikTok account captioned the post: "This shouldn't...

The San Diego Padres' minor league catching coordinator has been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Oswaldo Pirela, 34, who is from Venezuela, was taken into custody early Sunday at El Paso (Texas) International Airport, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed on Tuesday. He was not carrying his work permit card at the time, his brother, Jorge Pirela, told The Athletic. According to a statement from DHS, Pirela entered the country legally in 2014, but that expired in 2018 and he "was not in possession of legal documentation granting him status in the country." It said Pirela would remain...

Democrat Rep. Eugene Vindman walked into a meeting with local party activists expecting to talk about the midterms. He walked out after members of his own side confronted him, tempers exploded and the exchange turned profane. The August 11 meeting in King George County, Virginia, was supposed to help rally Democrats behind Vindman’s reelection campaign. Instead, transgender constituents pressed him over a vote he cast with House Republicans earlier this year. The first report on the confrontation is below: The Advocate reported that at least two transgender women and one transgender man challenged Vindman during the meeting. Several said they...

Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that the top US priority in the Iran war was keeping oil and gasoline prices low for Americans, with preventing Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon ranking second.The remarks contrasted with President Donald Trump's repeated framing of the fight: that entering the war had the sole objective of preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, even if that meant short-term economic sacrifices for Americans.Vance's comments also underscored the growing reality that the war now centers on control of the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has forced to the top of the negotiating agenda. "I...

For nearly two decades, Pew Research Center surveys delivered the same reliable finding: The world viewed the United States more favorably than China. That era is over. In its July 2026 report, Pew found China now ranks higher in favorability than the United States across most of the 36 countries surveyed. Gallup data from 2025 already showed China’s median approval edging past America’s. Confidence in Xi Jinping now exceeds confidence in Donald Trump by a clear margin in the countries Pew tracks annually. The Council on Foreign Relations rightly asked what happened. The answer is simpler – and more damning...

The Colorado River is approaching thresholds its dams were never meant to cross. What happens next could transform how water and electricity move across the American Southwest. There isn’t a flashing gauge or a chart on the canyon wall that warns visitors when one of the most important machines in America begins to fail. There’s only an invisible number: 3,490 feet above sea level. Engineers call it “minimum power pool.” Above that elevation, Lake Powell can still push water through Glen Canyon Dam’s massive penstocks, spin its turbines, and send electricity across the Southwest with no trouble. Below it, the...

Oil prices jumped about 5% Monday as doubt grew that the U.S. and Iran will reach a deal to increase ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures climbed about 5% to close at $82.13 per barrel. Brent crude , the international benchmark, also settled around 5% higher at $87.72 a barrel. President Donald Trump told Axios on Sunday that the U.S. is “only semi-negotiating” with Iran, after he insisted last week that Washington and Tehran were in fact holding talks. Trump indicated that he would rely on the U.S. naval blockade to pressure Tehran rather...

Russian and Malian troops fighting against a rebel offensive in northern Mali have been resupplied with a vast number of military vehicles that appear to have been delivered by a sanctioned cargo ship, BBC Verify has found. A large column of armoured vehicles were seen arriving in the capital Bamako in verified footage broadcast by Malian state TV on 25 July. Reporters said the convoy had travelled from Lomé port in Togo. A sanctioned Russian cargo ship, Mikhail Britnev, docked in Lomé on 9 July, according to ship tracking data reviewed by BBC Verify. Satellite images appear to show that...

The United States and Israel are planning what would be one of the harshest bombing campaigns to date against energy infrastructure targets in Iran, multiple sources told CBS News, with strikes possible throughout the weekend. There was some discussion about trying to conclude by the time financial markets open Monday because of concern about how the bombings will affect the U.S. and global economy, but an end point wasn't locked in. The Israelis have been notified and are coordinating with the United States, according to multiple U.S. sources. The president has yet to give the final go orders for the...

Former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been put under house arrest by Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps after intelligence authorities uncovered his secret dealings with Israel, The New York Times has claimed. For years, Israel conducted a covert operation aimed at grooming Ahmadinejad as an intelligence asset who could be installed as Iran's new leader, American and Iranian sources told the newspaper. Israel even secretly transferred money to Ahmadinejad for housing and travel, while operatives met him abroad on several occasions. The discovery of the secret relationship is shocking given that Ahmadinejad was known for accelerating Tehran's nuclear programme, calling regularly...