Free Republic

“Numerous commentators have identified the broader context of Israeli occupation as a cause of the [Israel-Hamas] war. The Associated Press wrote that Palestinians are ‘in despair over a never-ending occupation in the West Bank and suffocating blockade of Gaza.’ Several human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, B’Tselem and Human Rights Watch have likened the Israeli occupation to apartheid, although supporters of Israel dispute this characterization.” This quote, which seems to have an anti-Israel slant, is actually from the “Israeli policy” part of the background section on the main Wikipedia page documenting the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. One editor who has run...

Contrary to what many political pundits, including this one, thought would happen as soon as Donald Trump became the presumptive GOP nominee, the former president has maintained a slim but steady polling lead over President Joe Biden. As of today, the RCP Average has Trump with a 1.1% overall advantage, with Quinnipiac being the only May poll showing Biden leading, albeit by a mere 1%. By contrast, Biden enjoyed a 5.6% advantage this time in 2020, an election in which Trump never actually took the average polling lead.Still, are there signs that Trump's lead might be softer than we think?...

A Ukrainian missile attack triggered a fire on Monday in the Russian-held northeastern city of Luhansk, the latest in a series of strikes near the city, the regional Russia-installed governor said. Leonid Pasechnik, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said the strike was made with cluster munitions. "A fire has broken out as a result of the attack," Pasechnik said. Pasechnik said information on casualties was being clarified. Russia's Tass news agency, quoting emergency services, said there had been injuries. There was no official Ukrainian comment. Ukrainian media and war bloggers posted a picture of what they described as a...

Transcript available. Lots of footage, Russian sub-titled. Shows how Russia is now that the elections are over. No reading of comments from viewer. This is all narrating of Konstantin and footage illustrating. Basically a sh!t show.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg faulted climate change for the increase in severe turbulence on commercial airline flights while citing estimates that it has shot up by double digits over recent decades. “The reality is, the effects of climate change are already upon us in terms of our transportation,” Buttigieg told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “We’ve seen that in the form of everything from heat waves that shouldn’t statistically even be possible threatening to melt the cables of transit systems in the Pacific Northwest,” he went on before citing “indications that turbulence is up by about 15%.” Since taking...

In mid-2022, Gazprom restricted gas flows to Europe in what was seen as a move by Putin to get both leverage against Kyiv's allies ahead of the winter season and retaliate against Western sanctions and support of Ukraine. But the EU managed to find alternative long-term sources of gas imports and free itself from most Russian piped-gas imports ... Gazprom's revenue fell by 41 percent year-over-year in the first half of 2023, while sales profits dropped 71 percent and gas production by 25 percent... The report said the company's upstream gas-production base is now isolated because infrastructure connecting its main...

One of NATO’s primary missions is to spread instability throughout the world, using the military-industrial complex to bully and intimidate countries non-compliant with a militant anti-family anti-God agenda flowing out of Western capitals and promoted by Western media. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg asserted on Friday the alliance's commitment to defending the rights of LGBTQ individuals, aligning with numerous Western officials, institutions, and organizations in commemorating the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia. (snip) NATO is no longer seen by most nations of the world as a defensive alliance. NATO launched offensive wars against Yugoslavia in 1999 and Libya...

Is the economy booming or busting? Depends on whom you ask. The official data is buoyant — economic growth is solid, the job market is strong, and stocks keep hitting record highs. Yet many Americans think the economy stinks. The latest gloomy indicator is a Guardian-Harris survey in which 55% of respondents said they think the economy is shrinking and 56% think we’re in the midst of a recession. Economic output, adjusted for inflation, grew by a solid 3% during the most recent 12-month period. The unemployment rate is 3.9%. And the US economy created over 3.5 million jobs in...

Synopsis: A panel of Russian commentators discusses the failure of democracy and representative government in Russia. The discussion immediately descends into angry invective and personal attacks. One member of the panel storms off. Quote of the Day is from the host Vladimir Solovyov: "German Nazism is the highest level of development in this line of German society"

The film features an artificial intelligence depiction of the Russian President in a series of compromising positions, like an affair in his office or the floor of a hospital after soiling his diaper. Russian spies tried to curtail the making of a wild movie that shows an artificial-intelligence created Vladimir Putin in diapers, its director has claimed. 'Putin' serves as an alternative biopic about the Kremlin leader by Polish box office director Patryck Vega, who now goes by the artistic name Besaleel. -snip- Ahead of being shown at Cannes, the depiction is reportedly attracting a great deal of attention from...

Vladimir Putin faces yet another military farce after Russian bomber planes mistakenly dropped four bombs on a Russian village near the Ukrainian border - and it is far from the first time this has happened. Vladimir Putin's military force dropped four glide bombs intended for attacks on Ukraine's Kharkiv region on the Russian village of Shebekino instead last week. Shebekino is a village in the border region of Belgorod region, which has often borne the burnt of Ukrainian drone strikes. The Belgorod region houses several Russian military bases and training grounds. It has recently been rocked by near-daily explosions as...

Despite national attention and thousands of protesting parents, a federal court is refusing to allow parents to opt their children out of LGBT courses in school. The U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals decided on Wednesday that Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) in Maryland does not have to allow parents to opt their children out of LGBT-themed lessons. Judge G. Steven Agee, a George W. Bush appointee, claimed that the parents seeking to opt their children out of the lessons in question did not provide sufficient evidence to justify a preliminary injunction.In March of last year, MCPS added nearly two...

There are only three types of propaganda to which you are exposed every day: white, gray and black propaganda. White propaganda does not involve distortion of facts for achieving political ends. Gray propaganda involves such distortion, but only to a minor degree. Black propaganda allows for every possible distortion of reality to achieve propaganda objectives. The more shameless the propaganda, the more powerful its effect on the audience. Black propaganda is the most powerful because it is not constrained by the need to stick to the facts. I studied at the Journalism Faculty of the Moscow State University, we had...

The outlets include Voice of Europe, which was foiled as a Russian influence operation by Czech secret services in March. The European Union has announced a ban on four media outlets accused of spreading pro-Kremlin propaganda and "destabilising" Ukraine's neighbouring countries. The four blacklisted outlets - Voice of Europe, RIA Novosti, Izvestia and Rossiyskaya Gazeta - are "under the permanent direct or indirect control" of Russia and have been "instrumental" in fostering support for its illegal invasion of Ukraine, the European Council said in a statement on Friday. "The Russian Federation has engaged in a systematic, international campaign of media...

“Misinformation” — It has been one of the most-used buzzwords of the past few years. The “misinformation” label has been applied by advocates on both sides of the political divide in the attempt to discredit their opponents. Numerous assertions that have dominated the news cycle for months or even years have ultimately proven to be completely false, that is, “misinformation.” Examples of such assertions that have been established as “misinformation” include the assertion that Trump colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election; the assertion that the Hunter Biden laptop was a Russian plant; and the assertion that the Covid...

Russia wants to understand whom it can trust before engaging with partners on the Ukrainian conflict, President Vladimir Putin said during a trip to China on Friday. "We must understand with whom and how we can engage and whom and to what degree we can trust. We are of course analyzing everything that is going on," Putin told a press conference in Harbin. The president pointed to China as a stakeholder that was sincerely trying to put an end to the conflict in Ukraine. "We believe that China is sincere about its efforts to solve this problem. It has suggested...

Synopsis: The Russian T-14 'Armata' has been deployed to active duty in the Russian army but will not see combat in Ukraine. The Russians cannot afford to have their latest tank destroyed in combat. Which makes the T-14 a very expensive parade vehicle and nothing more. The video also includes footage of Russian soldiers looting a Ukrainian village. BS is called on the Russian narrative about their 2022 'Peace Deal'. Residents of Mariupol complain that Russian colonists are taking over the new apartments in the city while the 'liberated' ethnic Russians continue to live in squalor. The video ends with...

Russian President Vladimir Putin demoted Nikolai Patrushev, a Cold War warrior who crafted the Kremlin's national security strategy, to a job overseeing the shipbuilding industry while raising two younger lieutenants to senior Kremlin jobs. -snip- Patrushev, a former KGB officer from St Petersburg where Putin was born, was moved from the heart of the modern-day politburo, where he had worked for 16 years as secretary of the Security Council, to oversee shipbuilding as a Kremlin aide. -snip- Patrushev Senior was heavily demoted," a senior Russian source told Reuters on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of such public remarks....

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A Russian commander was reportedly killed in Crimea following a Ukrainian missile strike in the region. On Monday, the Russian independent outlet Astra said on its Telegram channel that a Russian air defense base located near Mount Ai-Petri in Crimea was hit with "an early morning missile attack" by Ukrainian forces. "The commander of the military unit was killed," Astra reported. "On the mountain, there is a 'secret' military air defense base of the 3rd radio technical regiment of the Russian Armed Forces." The outlet identified the Russian military commander as Alexander Kulakov. Another Russian soldier was also killed in...