Free Republic

Average ground beef price per pound: 🔵 June 2024: $5.47 🔴 June 2025: $6.12 🔴 June 2026: $6.83 [Tr] Up 11.5% from 2025 and nearly 25% from 2024

Every August, the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Georgia is accompanied by familiar reflections about missed warning signs, intelligence failures, and a supposedly unexpected turning point in European security. The language has become so standardized that it obscures a far more uncomfortable reality. Georgia did not reveal a new Russia. It exposed a Russia that had been behaving consistently for nearly two decades while much of the West continued searching for evidence that Moscow had fundamentally changed after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Describing the failure to recognize this trajectory as a collection of mistakes understates what actually occurred....

State-owned VEB.RF (Vnesheconombank) has stated that Russia cannot win the economic confrontation with the West as long as Western countries continue to support Ukraine. According to him, the Russian economy is facing rising costs, falling investment, and technological lag, reports The Moscow Times. The bank's chief economist, Andrei Klepach, said during a session of the Nikitsky Club that sanctions and the Western blockade are increasing the costs of the Russian economy, and that Ukrainian strikes on ports, infrastructure, chemical plants, and oil refineries are causing ever-greater damage to Russia. Klepach stated that Russia is losing the technological and economic competition...

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...

Creeping doubts about Ichabodovich's judgement and leadership...

Danny Haiphong's take on the situation...

Terrifying footage shows a Russian drone hunting a street vendor in Ukraine – as Moscow intensifies its drone and missile attacks against the country. The nerve-wracking video, which has sparked allegations of war crimes from Ukrainian officials, shows a vegetable vendor being chased around his van stand by the low-flying craft before it explodes just as he dives behind his vehicle. The vendor, a man in his 50s, survived the blast but suffered shock and shrapnel injuries, officials said. An explosion occurring between two vehicles, with the Ukrainian National Police emblem visible in the corner.A Russian drone taunted and hunted...

The Iran War, the Epstein files and even the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool have prompted fierce debate on Capitol Hill since Donald Trump’s return to the White House. But there was one topic that even Washington’s political class probably didn’t expect to cause a storm among Republicans this week: the humble burrito. It began on Tuesday with a post on X from Andrew Kolvet, a spokesman for Turning Point USA. Recounting a recent conversation with one of the conservative group’s student supporters, he wrote: “One of our TPUSA college students gave me his take on affordability. A burrito shouldn’t cost...

At least 17 people were killed in a heavy Russian missile strike on Kiev and its surroundings, the Ukrainian Air Force said on Wednesday, exposing Ukraine's current inability to intercept ballistic missiles. The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia fired 28 ballistic missiles of various types overnight. Not a single projectile was intercepted. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the shortage of air-defence weapons.....

Donald Trump clashed with Pete Hegseth over a claim that a US munitions shortage could limit his options in the Iran war, according to reports. The US president confronted his defence secretary at Camp David, his country retreat in Maryland, demanding to know why he had been misled about the missile shortage. The clash occurred on the sidelines of Mr Trump’s cabinet meeting on Friday, at which he said that he thought the missile issue “had been fixed”, two people familiar with the matter told the Washington Post. The White House dismissed the claims as “fake news”, denying that the...

"The conservatives on here denying the affordability crisis are engaged in what I can only describe as an act of political suicide. They're also lying, which is the worst part. Grocery prices are up. Housing. Energy. Insurance. Health care. Basic living expenses. It's real. It's happening. Denying it just makes you look out of touch, deceitful, and untrustworthy. It's also a completely unnecessary and unforced error. No credible person is claiming that Trump caused these price surges. You don't have to disgrace yourself by denying the reality in front of your face just to prove your loyalty to Trump. The...

The House Foreign Affairs subcommittee chair invoked nearly $200 billion in U.S. support as attacks around Kazakhstan’s principal oil-export route forced production cuts and sharpened questions about Europe’s response. Representative Bill Huizenga has warned that further strikes affecting the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal will not be tolerated, explicitly linking Ukraine’s obligation to protect legitimate allied energy exports with the scale of American support for Kyiv. Huizenga, a Michigan Republican who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on South and Central Asia, was asked by The Times of Central Asia what immediate diplomatic steps the administration should take to safeguard Kazakhstan’s...

The request from a senior officer at the US military command carrying out President Donald Trump’s war with Iran came in an email: We need ideas. “We are looking for new creative and unconventional ways to pressure and punish Iran,” an officer in US Central Command’s intelligence branch wrote in a message sent Wednesday to a broad group of military analysts, according to a source familiar with the message. A second source also said that a senior US military officer sent the message last week soliciting new ideas for how to deal with Iran. The crowdsourcing-style query, which military officials...

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...

Egyptian officials have officially confirmed that an Iranian drone strike was responsible for damaging two US energy tankers at the port of Damietta. Following the strike, the United States carried out limited conventional air raids, opting against a broader military escalation despite warnings of a much harsher response. Egyptian authorities officially confirmed Thursday that an explosion damaging two American energy tankers at Damietta Port was caused by an Iranian drone strike. Egyptian officials emphasized that an investigation into the incident remains underway, noting that no group has formally claimed responsibility for the operation. The official confirmation from Cairo follows statements...

New York City business leaders aren’t inclined to go to war with Zohran Mamdani – but his latest stunt surrounding the controversial pied-à-terre tax is forcing them to reconsider, On The Money has learned. This week, our Marxist mayor released the names of taxpayers who are being subjected to his idiotic levy on owners of apartments worth $5 million or more that are not their primary residences. It’s idiotic partly because these wealthy out-of-state residents don’t use our services, but nevertheless already pay plenty of state and city taxes – the lion’s share in fact. They might decide to buy...

A drone struck the U.S.-owned gas tanker Energos Winter at Egypt’s Damietta port on Wednesday evening, setting it ablaze before the flames spread to a second tanker, Gaslog Salem, according to Reuters and maritime security firm Ambrey. Two security sources told Reuters that the tankers were hit by a drone, while three shipping industry sources identified Energos Winter as the vessel struck. Ambrey said the crews were evacuated and the fire was brought under control. No casualties were reported, and no country or organization has claimed responsibility. Damietta, located in the northern Nile Delta, had been named by Iranian television...

An explosion hit a liquefied natural gas terminal at Egypt's Damietta Port on Wednesday evening during cargo discharge operations, with maritime security officials suspecting an unmanned aerial vehicle attack. Maritime security firm Ambrey reported that a drone struck the American owned, Marshall Islands flagged floating storage tanker Energos Winter, causing a fire that subsequently spread to a second vessel, Gaslog Salem. Shipping agent Inchcape Shipping Services stated that affected vessels were moved outside the port area while emergency crews contained the flames, allowing other berths to resume operations. The incident follows a target map published by Iranian state television identifying...

Journalist and activist Laura Loomer decided to visit Ukraine for herself this week, after years of criticizing America's involvement in the conflict. Her trip culminated in a visit to the presidential palace and a nearly hour-long exclusive interview with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. 'I really wanted to see it up close and find out, wow, you know, is this a country full of Nazis? Are they laundering our taxpayer dollars to Democrats? You know, is Zelenskyy a cokehead?' she said in an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail while she was in Kiev.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a ceasefire would be the best possible outcome if it helps save Ukrainian lives. He also said US President Donald Trump now understands that Russia, not Ukraine, is the side unwilling to end the war, Zelenskyy said in an interview with American far-right blogger Laura Loomer. Ceasefire is preferable to a prolonged war President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine's top priority is saving lives, which makes a potential ceasefire a better scenario than a multi-year war for the sake of military victory. According to Zelenskyy, Ukraine has not abandoned its goal of winning the war, but...