Free Republic

An analysis of the Russo-Urainian War in 2025. I look at events essentially from the draw down in Kursk to the overall trajectory of the combat lines. Finally, I take a look at constraints on the west and challenges faced.

A new analysis of artwork left behind by the enigmatic inhabitants of the abandoned Mesoamerican city Teotihuacan suggests the colorful pictures and shapes may constitute a rudimentary language that ultimately evolved into the language of the Aztecs.If the team of researchers behind the discovery can successfully decipher the "lost language," they believe it could offer clues about the identity of Teotihuacan's builders and the reasons they abandoned the once thriving metropolis...Previous excavations and decades of research have determined that Teotihuacan was founded sometime around 100 AD. Researchers have also determined that the massive complex of buildings and roadways likely supported...

Mask-wearing pro-Palestine protestors have shut down London's Tower Bridge as they chanted 'from the river to the sea' ahead of a Downing Street march. People waved Palestinian flags and set off flares as they blocked traffic before a static protest near the PM's residence. They chanted 'Zionism, terrorism' and 'get your hands off Palestine' as Scotland Yard imposed Public Order Act restrictions and ordered the demonstration to end at 8pm. The protest in the capital has been organised by pro-Palestine group Intifada 87, who have planned to protest outside the BBC's headquarters before heading to Downing Street. Some 50 protestors...

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - A man arrested after a crash that killed a University of South Carolina student earlier this year is now serving a prison sentence. Public court records show Rosali Fernandez-Cruz pleaded guilty to a count of hit and run resulting in death on Aug. 11. He was sentenced to one year in prison, with credit for 131 days served. Records from the South Carolina Department of Corrections show he is scheduled to be released in March 2026. The count was related to an April 2 crash in which Fernandez-Cruz hit 21-year-old Nate Baker while driving a truck...

Charlie Kirk furiously criticized 'bullying' Jewish donors and said he was considering 'leaving the pro-Israel cause' before his death, it was confirmed today. The bombshell revelation comes after Candace Owens released a screenshot of Kirk fuming in a group chat that Jewish donors were pulling funding over his links to Tucker Carlson. Turning Point spokesman Andrew Kolvet confirmed the authenticity of the screenshots on Tuesday during the latest episode of The Charlie Kirk Show, In the text messages, Kirk privately complained that a Jewish donor had withdrawn a $2 million investment into the organization because he refused to disinvite Carlson...

In the board game Taboo, a speaker seeks to lead listeners to a certain answer and must point the way using only words that the game allows. The game sets a predetermined goal and censors the speech that would best help teams to achieve it. Such rules ensure a fun game night, but when states deploy them, it crashes the party and violates the First Amendment. Just ask Colorado counselors. In 2019, Colorado enacted a law that restricts them from having certain conversations about gender and sexuality with clients under the age of 18. Any counselor who speaks the forbidden...

PORTLAND, Ore. — U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem landed in Portland on Tuesday for a visit to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building in the South Waterfront, which has been the site of ongoing protests in recent months and a focal point in the Trump administration's push to send National Guard troops to Portland. KGW has a crew at the scene and will keep this story updated; check back for new developments.

In response to the political assassination of national hero Charlie Kirk and the disturbing rise of leftist violence across the country, Attorney General Ken Paxton has launched undercover investigations into various groups affiliated with left-wing political violence known to be operating in Texas. “Leftist political terrorism is a clear and present danger. Corrupted ideologies like transgenderism and Antifa are a cancer on our culture and have unleashed their deranged and drugged-up foot soldiers on the American people,” said Attorney General Paxton. “The martyrdom of Charlie Kirk marks a turning point in America. There can be no compromise with those who...

The Supreme Court appeared inclined Tuesday to side with a Christian counselor who brought a First Amendment challenge to Colorado’s ban on “conversion therapy.” Several justices seemed concerned that Colorado’s law was “viewpoint discrimination” against counselors like the petitioner, Kaley Chiles, who aims to help minors feel comfortable in their body rather than agreeing with their gender dysphoria. Colorado’s Minor Conversion Therapy Law (MCTL), passed in 2019, defines “conversion therapy” as efforts to “change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity,” including behaviors, gender expressions and romantic attractions. Nearly half of all U.S. states have similar bans on “conversion therapy.”...

An incident involving sightings of aerial objects in Lithuanian airspace led to a temporary shutdown at Vilnius Airport over the weekend, according to investigators. The sightings, which officials have now confirmed were nearly two-dozen unauthorized hot-air balloons, delayed flights for several hours on Sunday. The balloons were reportedly carrying contraband cigarettes into the country’s airspace, investigators said. Officials with Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Center said the incursion was one of the largest of its kind in recent memory, impacting close to 6,000 passengers on Sunday morning. The incident unfolded amid heightened concerns over recent reports of alleged drone incursions in...

Calls for Macron’s resignation have gone mainstream. After his seventh chosen Prime Minister resigned a month after being appointed and just hours after presenting the ‘new cabinet’, French President Emmanuel Macron is in the deepest crisis of his troublesome mandate. The British Times writes that Macron has become a ‘lame duck running out of options.’ French newspaper Le Monde adds that Macron faces a hard choice of three scenarios: 1) appoint a new prime minister, 2) dissolve the National Assembly again and hold elections, or 3) – in the worst case – resign himself. Reuters reported: “France’s President Emmanuel Macron...

In today’s column, I examine a newly announced AI product and service named Tinker that is being brought out by Thinking Machines Labs. TML is a startup company that was co-founded by the famed Mira Murati (former CTO at OpenAI). The nascent firm has been widely lauded as a shining star of top-grade AI startups. Note that Tinker is the first-ever product from TML. Expectations were high. Everyone was excitedly sitting on the edge of their seats. What would this amazing startup put together? Could their first product knock our socks off? Might they reveal some incredible, earth-shattering AI capacity,...

The board is set. The pieces are moving. Two days ago, Donald J. Trump presided over a grand celebration marking the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Navy’s founding called: Titans of the Sea: A Salute to the Fleet. Trump headlined a massive rally-like gathering, joined by First Lady Melania Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Navy Secretary John Phelan. In his 45-minute speech, Trump explicitly mentioned Venezuela multiple times, celebrating that ‘the Navy has supported our mission to blow the cartel terrorists the hell out of the water’. He also hinted at land-based operations, saying the U.S. would ‘turn attention...

After October 7, friends called me ‘filthy Zionist.’ Longtime colleagues refused to work with me. This isn’t criticism of Israel. It’s about making Jews pariahs.After three months in a remote Amazonian village with no internet or phone signal, I returned to a small Colombian town on October 9, 2023—still in the rainforest, but now with internet—and checked social media for the first time. The jungle was still in my ears—squawking macaws, torrential rain, the low hum of a generator—when my screen filled with ima…

Recent images purportedly depicting the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS during its closest approach to Mars last week have erupted in controversy online, as many took to social media with theories about what the object’s unusual shape could mean about its nature and origins. The new images obtained last week by NASA’s Perseverance rover appear to show 3I/ATLAS streaking through the Martian night sky as it passed through the field of view of the robotic explorer’s Right Navigation Camera (Navcam) from its position in Jezero Crater. The recent imagery was originally uploaded to NASA’s multimedia page in raw format. Since that time,...

Explanation: The most distant object easily visible to the unaided eye is M31, the great Andromeda Galaxy. Even at some two and a half million light-years distant, this immense spiral galaxy -- spanning over 200,000 light years -- is visible, although as a faint, nebulous cloud in the constellation Andromeda. In contrast, a bright yellow nucleus, dark winding dust lanes, and expansive spiral arms dotted with blue star clusters and red nebulae, are recorded in this stunning telescopic image which combines data from orbiting Hubble with ground-based images from Subaru and Mayall. In only about 5 billion years, the Andromeda...

Taylor Swift’s new album “The Life of a Showgirl” is barely three days old, and already woke killjoys are tearing it apart, finding offensive lyrics where there are none. Overly online social media critics of Swift apparently instantaneously decided the new album is rife with racism and homophobia, as well as secret messages of support for the patriarchy, eugenics, and Donald Trump. Forensic “investigations” have uncovered “dog-whistles,” but only woke detectives themselves are capable of hearing them. Either Swift is a covert alt-right influencer, or her young critics have been taught to see oppression everywhere, including where it quite clearly...

The Los Angeles Film School is caught up in a scandal over its alleged efforts to trick students into believing that its graduates do extraordinarily well in the Hollywood job market. The accusation comes from two former executives of the school, wherein no doubt there is the plot outline for a noir-ish movie about double- and triple-crosses in the shadows of Sunset Boulevard. Happily the Los Angeles Film School sits at 6363 Sunset Boulevard, and it is a private, for-profit entity, just like a movie studio or a casino. I admit that the troubles on the Boulevard of Broken Dreams...

President Donald Trump gave Democrats a deadline for when he would start making cuts to federal workers and other federal programs. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and the majority of his caucus again rejected a continuing resolution Monday, extending the government shutdown. Trump, who’s administration previously teased mass firings as a result of the shutdown, told reporters Tuesday that such could happen if the government shutdown continues for four to five days. “How many permanent jobs are you talking about eliminating?” a reporter asked Trump. “I’ll be able to tell you that in four or five days. If this keeps...

Democrat Virginia Attorney General candidate Jay Jones appears to have violated the community service terms for his 2022 reckless driving charge, according to a statement the office that prosecuted the case provided to the Daily Caller. Jones was arrested in New Kent County for driving 46 miles per hour over the speed limit in 2022. He avoided jail time through a “deferred deposition,” which allowed him to pay a fine and complete community service hours. New Kent Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Randy Del Rossi told the Caller that Virginia defines community service as “unpaid service or labor performed through any non-political,...