Free Republic

... I urge President Trump to stay the course, keep putting America first, and to not join in any war between other countries. Every American should hope and pray for peace.

For months, US economic data has shown resilience, with layoffs remaining low and business activity staying steady despite fears over policy uncertainty. But the tide may be shifting. Multiple data points this week have shown signs of slowing as a wide swath of tariffs has been in effect. On Thursday, weekly filings for unemployment benefits hit their highest level since October 2024, adding to a slew of data showing a cooling economy leading into the Friday morning release of the May jobs report. Earlier in the week, the Institute for Supply Management's Services PMI registered a reading of 49.9 in...

President Donald Trump's approval rating has dropped to 40 percent, lower than all other presidents at this point in their terms, new polling released by Pew Research Center on Wednesday shows. Americans want Trump to govern less by executive order, listen to the courts, and don't like tariffs. Trump is losing ground with people on the fence. From February to April, his approval rating fell from 88 percent to 75 percent among people who supported him in the 2024 election but "not strongly," and from 44 percent to 31 percent among nonvoters. Of course, partisans will be partisans, and Trump...

The housing development has advertised itself as an exclusive conclave for Muslims. The investigation adds to a growing list of legal and regulatory actions being taken by the state against EPIC and its planned 402-acre development in Collin County, commonly referred to as EPIC City—a compound centered around a mosque, Islamic school, and residential community.

...The team made the 'unprecedented' find after unsealing the 2,000-year-old sarcophagus in the historic 'Tomb of Cerberus' in Naples.The remains had been preserved by plant-based creams that were applied on the bodies prior to being sealed in the chamber...One of the bodies was found covered in a shroud, surrounded by grave goods, which the team unwrapped and found the individual was perfectly preserved.The particular care given to the deceased and the chronology of the objects found suggested that he may have been the founder of the family for whom the mausoleum was built...Archaeologists have previously found a large number of...

PARIS AND WASHINGTON — Congress is pushing for more U.S. soldiers in Europe in its fiscal 2023 draft defense policy bills as the Russian invasion of Ukraine grinds on into its fifth month.The move aligns with President Joe Biden’s June 29 remarks at the NATO summit in Madrid, Spain, where he said the U.S. will establish a permanent base in Poland and will also send two additional F-35 fighter jet squadrons to the UK as well as more air defense, among other capabilities, to Italy and Germany.

Navy veteran Patrick Lancaster describes himself on Facebook as “an independent crowdfunded journalist,” but critics argue that he is a foot soldier in the Kremlin’s information war against Ukraine. The Army is inviting social media influencers to DC to learn how to reach the youths On Monday, Lancaster posted a video from the city of Mariupol in southeastern Ukraine, which has been besieged by the Russian military for weeks. The Russians have blasted their way through the city the same way they razed other cities, including Grozny in Chechnya and Aleppo in Syria. The city’s mayor has claimed that at...

Dear Mike Le Deplorable [my Twitter handle], As part of our recent work to understand Russian-linked activities on Twitter during the 2016 U.S. presidential election, we identified and suspended a number of accounts that were potentially connected to a propaganda effort by a Russian government-linked organization known as the Internet Research Agency. Consistent with our commitment to transparency, we are emailing you because we have reason to believe that you either followed one of these accounts or retweeted or liked content from these accounts during the election period. This is purely for your own information purposes, and is not related...

Between Sept. 14-20, the Russian armed forces will conduct a major exercise, ZAPAD 2017. Employing forces from various Russian commands, the exercise will test the military's ability to conduct a combined arms offensive. That's exactly the kind of operation Russia would use to invade Europe. While there's nothing new in the Russians carrying out a military exercise, this situation is different due to the scale and location of the forces involved. Russia claims under 10,000 personnel will be involved but as many as 100,000 Russian soldiers are actually expected to deploy. Their number will include armored and artillery units, and...

The U.S. Navy has launched 59 Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles at a Syrian military airfield Thursday night, in retaliation for a Syrian chemical-weapons attack on its own civilians earlier this week. But make no mistake that this is a political move, not a decisive military one. Tomahawks are not the ideal weapon to do long-term damage to an airfield runway, like the one that launched the planes implicated in the chemical attack.