Free Republic

Iran has damaged 20 US military sites since the start of the war, satellite images and videos analysed by BBC Verify show, suggesting the attacks are more extensive than publicly acknowledged. Iran has targeted key facilities across eight countries in the Middle East since the end of February, causing millions of dollars of damage to state-of the-art air defence systems, refuelling aircraft and radars. Tehran has targeted both US bases and shared military facilities in retaliation to the US-Israeli strikes across Iran and Lebanon over the past three months. The Pentagon says it has hit more than 13,000 targets in...

Scroll through any social media platform long enough and you’ll notice something that doesn’t quite add up. The same talking points, phrasing, and sudden outrage cycles are appearing across completely different audiences at the same time. It feels coordinated. And that’s because it often is. Foreign adversaries have turned modern technology into a new kind of warfare, one the United States hasn’t fully named, hasn’t clearly assigned ownership of, and isn’t yet equipped to fight at the speed it’s being waged. This is something more insidious than traditional espionage: the deliberate, systematic manipulation of how millions of Americans perceive reality—their...

Chehel Sotun is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Isfahan, Iran. The palace was completed in 1647 during the Safavid era. It is known for its twenty columns, wall paintings, mirror work, and wooden decorations. In the course of the recent conflict, the Governor's Office building located several hundred meters from the palace was struck. No direct hit occurred on the palace itself. However, shockwaves from the nearby strike caused observable damage to the structure.

Death of a Salesman follows two days in the life of the Loman family, who live in Brooklyn and have, at long last, very nearly paid off their mortgage. But they have perhaps never felt more insecure. Bills are piling up. Willy’s job as a traveling salesman has stopped paying him a salary. In his 60s, he is beginning to feel his age, and as he works for scant commissions, he’s started to exhibit a faltering grasp on reality, and an increasingly vigorous drive toward self-destruction. His wife Linda — senses terrible possibilities just around the corner. Meanwhile, adult sons...

It’s not optional anymore. You must be a pro at it if you want to resist today’s flood of state propaganda. At its core, critical thinking means analyzing ideas and opinions without taking anything at face value. First Amendment expert Greg Lukianoff and social psychologist Jonathan Haidt note that the Socratic method fosters critical thinking by pushing individuals to question their own unexamined beliefs, as well as the accepted views of those around them. The principle of critical thinking has never been more important than it is today — because the cost of failure is no longer abstract. Battle for...

The Allen family are seen with Allen, second from right, together with brother Gabriel, his mother Kathy, father, Thomas, and sisters Stephanie and Avriana

TEHRAN/ANKARA: Iran has inflicted more “extensive” damage to United States bases and equipment in the Middle East since the start of US and Israeli strikes against Iran on February 28, NBC News reported on Saturday, citing sources. The report said that the damages from Iran’s retaliatory strikes against US military bases in seven Middle Eastern countries were “far worse than publicly acknowledged and is expected to cost billions of dollars to repair”. Iran has hit dozens of targets, including warehouses, command headquarters, aircraft hangars, satellite communications infrastructure, runways, high-end radar systems and dozens of aircraft, the report said. It added...

President Donald Trump was greeted by a packed crowd at UFC 327 in Miami Saturday night during the president's first appearance at a sporting event since the start of the Iran war. Trump has been a frequent fixture at UFC and other combat sports events during his presidency, during his 2024 campaign and even dating back to his first term. In 2025, Trump attended UFC 316 and Miami fight night. In 2024, he attended UFC 302 in June and UFC 309 in November. In 2019, he attended UFC 244. Before Saturday, the last major sporting event Trump attended was the...

The dust of conflict has settled. The fever of the moment has yielded to the cooler discipline of strategic reflection. It is time to ask, with unflinching clarity, what the United States and its partners should do with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Tehran’s propaganda organs were quick to claim victory. That claim, however theatrical, must be taken seriously -- not because it reflects battlefield reality, but because it reveals an uncomfortable truth: the regime cannot, or will not, abandon the terrorist and extremist doctrines that have defined it for more than four decades. No amount of quiet concessions extracted...

WANA (Apr 08) – The Full Text of the Supreme National Security Council Statement on the ceasefire is as follows: “The enemy, in its cowardly, illegal, and criminal war against the Iranian nation, has suffered an undeniable, historical, and crushing defeat. By the grace of the pure and holy blood of the Martyred Leader of the Islamic Revolution, His Eminence Grand Ayatollah Imam Khamenei (Peace be upon him), the prudent measures of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution and Commander-in-Chief, His Eminence Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei (May God protect him), and the struggle and bravery of the warriors of...

Two attempts on the life of a former president, less than two months apart, is unprecedented in American history. And yet it’s not entirely surprising given that the country’s most powerful institutions and industries have spent the last eight years weaponizing the most suggestible and mentally ill of our citizenry to target Donald Trump and his supporters. Now it seems the FBI may be recruiting from abroad as well. According to the Trump campaign, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence recently briefed the Republican candidate on “real and specific threats from Iran to assassinate him in an effort...

There’s nothing really new in the uproar surrounding the loss of a USAF F-15E Strike Eagle over Iran this past weekend. Media hysteria over the downing of a single U.S. aircraft has become a commonplace schtick in coverage of American wars over the past three decades. During WW II, the U.S. lost over 23,000 planes in combat. I kid you not, playmates: 23,000+ – and that’s only combat losses. Overall losses, including accidents, amounted to 65,164. The media talking heads would have had to be carried out in straitjackets if they’d been active at the time. Losses dropped sharply following...

In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful To the people of the United States of America, and to all those who, amid a flood of distortions and manufactured narratives, continue to seek the truth and aspire to a better life: Iran—by this very name, character, and identity—is one of the oldest continuous civilizations in human history. Despite its historical and geographical advantages at various times, Iran has never, in its modern history, chosen the path of aggression, expansion, colonialism, or domination. [Unless you count our colonization of Lebanon, Gaza, Syria, neighboring portions of Iraq, Kurdistan, and any other...

Citing the First Amendment, a federal judge on Tuesday agreed to permanently block the Trump administration from implementing a presidential directive to end federal funding for National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service, two media entities that the White House has said are counterproductive to American priorities. The operational impact of U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss’ decision was not immediately clear — both because it will likely be appealed and because too much damage to the public-broadcasting system has already been done, both by the president and Congress. Moss ruled that President Donald Trump’s executive order to cease funding...

The U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has been accused of “God-washing” the war in Iran. Leading a Christian worship service at the Pentagon, he prayed for "every round to find its mark" and for “overwhelming violence" against America's enemies. During the service, which was livestreamed and attended by military personnel, Hegseth also quoted from the Psalms, saying: "I pursued my enemies and overtook them, and did not turn back till they were consumed." Speaking to Sky News, U.S. pastor Rev Andy Campbell said the use of Scripture in conversations around the Iran war is troubling: “If you go to war...

Both Ayn Rand and George Orwell would have recognized what is going on—and, in fact, they warned us about it. A form of torture I endure for my research is reading the New York Times morning emails. The phrase “alternate universe” aptly describes its sly, misleading story titles, which demonstrate a built-in bias even before the report itself begins. A good example was a heading marked “Territorial Adventurism” used the other day in reference to Trump’s geopolitical strategy in Iran and elsewhere. Adventurism is defined as “Involvement in risky enterprises, especially in foreign affairs, while disregarding established principles or...

Here come the morality police: About 1-in-3 people under the age of 30 say being extremely wealthy is “morally wrong.” Just 19% say it’s acceptable, and another near-50% don’t think it’s an issue one way or another. That data comes from the latest Pew Research Center poll on morality. Compare Gen-Z to Boomers, and data becomes even more stark. Only 10% of those over 65 say it’s morally wrong to be extremely wealthy. But that checks out. Those over 65 have enjoyed one of the greatest growth engines in human history, post World War II America. Cheap education, cheap homes...

The Iranian regime has been running an online influence campaign using AI-generated photographs, videos and memes to sow confusion about the war in the Middle East. Experts say the main goal is to ramp up anti-war sentiment in the US and pressure President Trump to end the conflict. “The propaganda includes memes and cartoons that aren't meant to be perceived as real but are very good at spreading political messaging,” said Darren Linvill, author of the study and co-director of Clemson’s Media Forensics Hub. “The deepfakes portray a version of reality that [seems] genuine and often paint Iran as more...

I watched this last night and was blown away by how stupid it was. It had a good plot but the character portrayal of the military and executive government officials under the stress of nuclear missile launched against the US was horrific. Every one involved from the initial launch detection to the president issuing the go code was so overcome with stress that they couldn't focus and function. Missile commander left his position, SECDEF committed suicide, blah blah blah.

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — The dangerous heat wave shattering March records all over the U.S. Southwest is more than just another extreme weather blip. It’s the latest next-level weather wildness that is occurring ever more frequently as Earth’s warming builds.</p><p>Experts said unprecedented and deadly weather extremes that sometimes strike at abnormal times and in unusual places are putting more people in danger. For example, the Southwest is used to coping with deadly heat, but not months ahead of schedule, including a 110-degree Fahrenheit (43.3 Celsius) reading in the Arizona desert on Thursday that smashed the highest March temperature recorded in the U.S.</p>