Free Republic

Ayear after a U.S. military operation rid this world of the Iranian terrorist-general Qasem Soleimani, the same tired voices are repeating the same tired message, even on the eve of their return to power: “The Trump administration is on the brink of war with Iran!” “Trump is a very wounded and very cornered animal in an end-game scenario. He’s got a few weeks left, and we know that he is capable of extremely erratic behavior,” says Professor Danny Postel of Northwestern University. After the events of last Wednesday, it’s hard to argue with Postel’s assessment of the president’s psyche. But...

“Thousands of protesters rushed to the … Capitol Wednesday night, forcing their way through doors, crawling through windows and jamming corridors.” That is how one newspaper described the storming of the Capitol — not the one in Washington last week, but the state Capitol in Madison, Wis., a decade ago. Back then, thousands of pro-union activists — many bused in from out of state — rampaged through the historic building in an effort to stop a vote on collective bargaining reform legislation. So, when I saw the images of a pro-Trump mob rampaging through the US Capitol last week, my...

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday that al Qaeda “has a new home base” inside Iran and he confirmed the killing of al Qaeda’s No 2. leader. Speaking at the National Press Club in Washington, Pompeo said the terrorist group has “burrowed deep inside” Iran and “threatens the progress of the Abraham Accords.”

It is nigh impossible to look away from the chaos in Washington, but U.S.-Iran relations in the waning days of the Trump administration deserve a wary glance. Two U.S. bombers flew a “deterrence mission” in the Gulf region this past Thursday. U.S. Central Command has yet to release a statement on the flight, but an official described the last such mission in December as a means of ensuring “that if the Iranians do think they have a plan that’s executable, that they think twice before executing it, because they do see that we have a robust posture and presence still...

Over 14,000 school boards, with about 100,000 members, set the course for instruction in classrooms across the country. To understand the views of parents and school board members in debates about K-12 content and policy, The Heritage Foundation commissioned a nationally representative survey.

Two Army National Guard members were removed Tuesday from the security operation to secure President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration after they were found to have ties to fringe right group militias, the Associated Press reported Tuesday. No plot against Biden was uncovered.

ill Trumpism survive President Donald Trump? For many observers, the answer is obvious: no. Trumpism is about Donald Trump, and only Donald Trump, and it has no substance beyond that. It is a rhetoric and an affect, in service to him, and that’s on its best days. On most others, it is a gibbering cult and series of baroque conspiracy theories. Trumpism is just is a giant sucking sound around the black hole of the man’s own vanity. It will eventually disappear, as he has, up his own backside.

Pollster Frank Luntz has always been a highly accurate expert over the years that I have always respected and is someone I would recommend following on Twitter. Luntz was on Fox News last night with some pretty important stats with his latest polls. One of his data points really was shocking to me: that so many Trump supporters would vote for him again, even considering events at the Capitol Building last week.

Over at Fox News last night on Special Report with Bret Baier, pollster Frank Lutz revealed a very interesting finding: 91% of 2020 Donald Trump voters would vote for him again in the 2024 election.

The Tromix Micro-12 resembles the iconic AK-47 in a slimmed-down profile while the shotgun certainly has a general look and characteristic of a modern Kalashnikov firearm. That of course is by design – literally, as in this is an AK design rebuilt and improved in the USA. The compact 12 gauge shotguns are essentially modified by Tromix from those based on the Saiga shotguns manufactured in Russia by Izhmash/Kalashnikov. However, here is where things get a bit tricky.

The Second World War saw significant advances in tanks, and throughout the war, all of the major powers sought to build bigger, heavier, and more powerful tanks. Keeping in step with those efforts was another move to develop better weapons to then take out and destroy the enemy’s tanks. When the war began the Germans and British, as well as other nations such as Finland, employed oversized rifles, and these were largely antiquated against even the earliest tanks of the war. Soon new efforts were developed to counter the tanks. Here is our effort to lay out what we consider...

Currently, there are only a few, combat-ready, fifth-generation fighter aircraft models in the world. Two of those are American-built and include Lockheed Martin’s F-22 Raptor, which entered service with the United States Air Force in 2005; and the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, which entered service in 2015. While the Russian Sukhoi Su-57 finally entered service in December 2020, China’s People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) has operated its own fifth-generation fighter since 2017, the J-20. China’s Stealth Fighter, but with a Flaw It is the Chengdu J-20 – also known as “Mighty Dragon.” The single-seat, twin-engine, all-weather multi-role combat...

In August 2020 the United States Air Force was set to receive its 250th Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II, and with that milestone, the fifth-generation multirole stealth warplane became the third-largest fighter fleet in the service’s fleet. That number also accounted for nearly half of the total F-35s of all variants delivered worldwide to that point. The Air Force’s program of record is to purchase and acquire a total of 1,763 F-35As – and 48 of the advanced aircraft have been requested in each of the last three budgets, while Congress has also increased the purchase in recent funding cycles.

Though not all the wartime military equipment made by Italy was top-notch, the Beretta Model 38 submachine gun was highly regarded by both the Axis and Allies. The Back Story Students of military history are no doubt familiar with the wide range of weaponry that made their combat debut during that conflict. Not only were new firearms seen for the first time, but new classes of firearms also proved their worth on austere, far-flung battlefields.

Designed to replace the variants of the Saab 35 Viggen and Saab 37 Draken combat aircraft, Sweden’s JAS 39 Gripen was first flown in December 1988 and entered operational service with the Swedish Air Force in 1997. Developed as part of a joint effort by an industrial consortium that consisted of Saab, Saab Microwave Systems (formerly Ericsson), Volvo Aero Corporation, Saab Avitronics and FFV Aerotech, the Gripen was the first Swedish multirole combat aircraft – capable of conducting interception, ground-attack, and reconnaissance.

The B-21 Raider, named after the Doolittle Raiders of World War II fame, could make its maiden flight sometime in mid-2022, according to reporting by Air Force Magazine. B-21 airframe number one has already completed, with construction on the second airframe already underway.

One of the most iconic scenes in the over-the-top Rambo: First Blood Part II involves the shirtless Sylvester Stallone wielding the M60E3 while firing from the hip. Even those who don’t know guns would recognize it as “Rambo’s gun.” While Stallone’s handling was cinematic, to say the least, it was still a very real weapon that saw use with the U.S. military around the world.

In 2004, the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) issued a solicitation that called for a new weapon for special operators. However, the Special Operations Forces Combat Assault Rifle wasn’t just to be a single rifle, but actually, a platform that would be designed around two different calibers yet maintain a high commonality of parts while having identical ergonomics. The weapon was to replace the various AR-15 derived 5.56x45mm rifles as the updated M-14s that were then in service with the special operators. Among the entries included the Heckler & Koch HK416 modular system, but in the end, the FN...

In Look to Windward, a science fiction novel from the late Scottish author Iain M. Banks, perfectly clear video and audio can be instantaneously transmitted across vast interstellar distances, yet people still vie to be physically present at a concert. This is something to consider the next time your local school board assures you that the classroom experience can be recreated on Zoom. Last spring, the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic forced schools across the country to adopt “online learning,” a euphemism for teachers yelling impotently at the disembodied heads of 20 students on a flickering video screen. The...

For many historians, the violence stemming from the storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6 brought to mind the pivotal year of 1814 when British forces in the War of 1812 tried to burn down the iconic building that was just fourteen years old at the time. The History After achieving victory over U.S. military forces at Bladensburg, Maryland, earlier that day, and seeking revenge for the sacking of York (present-day Toronto), the foreign invaders looted the Capitol first, then set the southern and northern wings ablaze, eventually destroying the Library of Congress. The British burned about three thousand...