Free Republic

It is hard to overstate just how much public education in the United States was permanently changed by extended school closures of 2020 and 2021. For an entire year, millions of students across the country were forced to attend classes via Zoom, wear masks that affected their cognitive abilities, and were generally socially isolated. At the same time, decision-makers in school districts from Virginia to California were pushing a political agenda that blatantly sought to shut parents out of the education of their own children. The swift and intense backlash from parents changed the politics of education forever. And documenting...

NEW: Ukraine is making a new push to get Biden to lift his ban on using U.S.-made weapons to strike inside Russia, saying the policy kept them from attacking Russian positions as Moscow prepared for its major march toward Kharkiv

A disabled Canadian man is now celebrating his “deathaversary” after escaping being euthanized by his government over his crushing debts. Amir Farsoud was due to be euthanized by the Canadian government’s “assisted suicide” program because he was struggling to pay off his financial debts. Farsoud said he was booked into to be killed under Canada’s “Medical Assistance in Dying” (MAID) law after being faced with the grim choice of death or homelessness. However, just before he was scheduled to be euthanized, people raised enough money to improve his financial situation and he narrowly avoided death. A year and a half...

Over two years on from the invasion of Ukraine, Russia is the most sanctioned nation in the world. And yet the country’s economy is set to grow faster than any G7 democracy this year. How is this possible? Back in 2022, Boris Johnson vowed to ‘squeeze Russia from the global economy piece by piece, day by day and week by week’. President Joe Biden promised that sanctions would ‘impose a severe cost on the Russian economy, both immediately and over time’. Yet these dire warnings never materialised: Russia’s economy has proved resilient in the face of sanctions. Moscow’s flexibility in...

🔹 The West turns a blind eye on Ukraine carrying out terrorist acts on Russian territory 🔹 Russia and its partners are not satisfied with the state of affairs in the world when the West prevents other nations from choosing who to cooperate with 🔹 Ukraine and its Western patrons are not ready for equal, honest and open dialogue 🔹 Western elites are trying to “punish” Russia, isolate it, and weaken it, seeking to illegally appropriate its assets

Google unleashes AI in search, raising hopes for better results and fears about less web traffic, a shift promising to quicken the quest for information while also potentially disrupting the flow of money-making internet traffic.

The Mayor of Wildwood, New Jersey, Ernie Troiano, Jr., told Newsmax on Tuesday that former President Donald Trump's Saturday rally was well received by the oceanfront community and Wildwood would "love to have him come back." On Saturday, Trump spoke before an enthusiastic crowd in the deep blue state of New Jersey. While estimates vary on the official numbers, Troiano said it was easily larger than the 40,000 they get at many music festivals. Trump made sure to praise his hosts on Saturday telling the crowd, "Millions of people in so-called blue states are joining our movement based on love,...

Estonia has been "seriously" discussing sending troops to Ukraine in roles positioned away from the front lines, per a national security official. Madis Roll, national security advisor to Estonia's president, told military news outlet Breaking Defense that his country's leaders were assessing the viability of sending Estonian soldiers to "rear" roles that wouldn't see direct combat in Ukraine. Such a move would help relieve Ukraine's manpower crunch and allow it to send more soldiers to the front lines. And while Estonia, a North Atlantic Treaty Organization country, prefers to act together with the alliance's major members, it's also not closed...

Derrick Anderson is being backed by the swamp.

President Joe Biden’s 2024 campaign and affiliated groups announced a $90 million fundraising haul for March on Saturday. The total — which includes funds from the campaign, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and affiliated joint fundraising committees — out-paces former President Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee’s (RNC’s) $65.6 million raised in the same month. Biden’s fundraising apparatus now has more than double the amount of cash on hand as Trump’s, at $192 million compared to $93.1 million, according to a press release. “ The money we are raising is historic, and it’s going to the critical work of...

May 13, 1985 is a day that changed Philadelphia forever. On that day, police dropped a bomb on the MOVE compound on Osage Avenue in West Philadelphia, near Cobbs Creek, leaving 11 people, including children, dead. The ensuing fire destroyed the neighborhood and left decades of scars for everyone involved. The armed confrontation between Philadelphia authorities and the radical group MOVE has boiled for years. The day before it escalated and by Monday morning the shooting had begun and ended as a bomb was dropped from a state police helicopter onto the group's row house at 5:27 p.m., igniting a...

The expected delivery of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine may come too late to have a significant impact on Russia's ongoing offensive in Kharkiv, experts have told Newsweek. Ukrainian pilots, who for most of the more than two-year war have flown Soviet-era MiG aircraft, have recently been finishing up training on the U.S.-made jets in anticipation of receiving deliveries from Western allies including Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Belgium. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Monday that Ukraine could expect to receive the first batch of F-16s from Denmark "within the next month," before revising her comment on Tuesday...

Every year, former Republican congressional candidate Paul Chabot hosts a welcoming ceremony at a barn in North Texas that draws hundreds of people. There, barbecue vendors, military recruiters and line dance instructors indoctrinate their new neighbors, teaching them about their new home and the Southern lifestyle. After the festivities, the county sheriff hands them a red, white and blue certificate declaring them honorary Texas citizens. When these families sign their names and recite their oaths, they must not only “swear loyalty” to the Lone Star State, but profess that “there is no finer, greater or better place on the planet.”...

NIAMEY, Niger — A crucial military relationship between the United States and its closest West African ally, the country of Niger, ruptured this spring after a visiting U.S. official made threats during last-ditch negotiations over whether American troops based there would be allowed to remain, according to the country’s prime minister. In an exclusive interview, Prime Minister Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine put the blame for the breakdown squarely on the United States, accusing American officials of trying to dictate which countries Niger could partner with and failing to justify the U.S. troop presence, now scheduled to end in the coming...

King Charles III marked another first in his reign this week, unveiling the first official portrait of himself since his coronation last year. Charles and his wife Queen Camilla were on hand Tuesday as the king's portrait was unveiled at Buckingham Palace. The portrait, which stands over 6 feet tall, was painted over the course of three years by Jonathan Yeo, a U.K.-based artist, according to the palace. The painting features a striking red background and shows Charles wearing the uniform of the Welsh Guards, of which he was made Regimental Colonel in 1975, according to the palace.

Video at link.........

Is it just me, or do “Germany” and “socialism” not belong in the same sentence? Frankly, socialism doesn’t belong anywhere except an encyclopedia, to serve as an example of an “idiot plot” (along with communism). Useful terminology for your every day life: pic.twitter.com/aPUnXgyJTI — Moose (@LitMoose) April 27, 2024 Yet, it seems like if history were any consideration, Germany would make a concerted effort to distance itself from the political ideology—but alas, too many in this “information age” don’t really know much about anything. (In George Santayana’s purported words, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”)...

Donald Trump’s Manhattan “hush money” trial has been the place for prominent Republicans to see and be seen in recent days — with some hoping the 45th president will remember their loyalty if he gets elected the 47th president this fall, sources tell The Post. On Tuesday, Trump was flanked by former 2024 primary rivals Vivek Ramaswamy and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, as well as House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and a pair of Florida GOP congressmen, Byron Donalds and Cory Mills. Other boldface political names to swing by Manhattan Criminal Court include Sens. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), Tommy Tuberville...

Head of the Mezha Anti-Corruption Center, Martyna Bohuslavets, has written a report in Pravda asking "Where are the fortifications?" She reports that millions of dollars that were intended for the construction of fortifications in Ukraine were instead "transferred to Kharkiv OVA to front companies of avatars." Bohuslavets said the Ukrainian Kharkiv Regional Military Administration (Kharkiv OVA) paid out funds to fictitious companies during the construction and fortification of the Kharkiv region. The report comes as Russian forces have broken into the northern region of Ukraine and the US continues funding the war. According to Ukranian Pravda reports, the Russian military...

There is a large Russian operation underway in Ukraine focused on the Kharkov area. At the same time, the Russians are also attacking elsewhere, primarily in Donbas but also in Zaphorize. The threat in the north has compelled Ukraine to pull troops deployed elsewhere, including Chasiv Yar, to try and hold the line in the Kharkov area. If Russia intended to force Ukraine’s army to move its troops northwards, then it looks like a success so far. These troop movements will offer the Russian army the chance to do more damage to Ukraine’s army.