Free Republic

The proposed Massed Modular Aircraft would not necessarily replace every capability of the MQ-9 Reaper. The Pentagon wants these low-cost drones to feature modular designs. GA The U.S. Department of Defense is searching for a new generation of low-cost combat drones that can perform many of the same missions as the MQ-9A Reaper without carrying its hefty price tag. The step suggests a major shift in military approach as modern battlefields increasingly favor large numbers of affordable, expendable drones over a smaller fleet of expensive aircraft. Low-cost, long-range unmanned aircraft For this, the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) has launched...

Meta has abruptly taken down a new feature that allowed people to use its artificial intelligence (AI) tool to make fake images from user content on Instagram. The feature was part of a broad rollout of Muse Image, a new AI image generation tool Instagram's parent company released on Tuesday. It allowed users of the Meta AI chatbot to tag public-facing accounts on Instagram and quickly use content on those accounts to create AI-generated or altered content and images. The feature quickly sparked blowback due to privacy concerns, leading Meta to admit it had “missed the mark" so it was...

President Trump was sitting in the Oval Office earlier this year with Secretary of State Marco Rubio when an idea came to him. Maybe he should dispatch Mr. Rubio permanently to Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, where U.S. commandos had carried out the proudest foreign policy achievement of Mr. Trump’s second term: the capture of Nicolás Maduro, the country’s president. Mr. Rubio could be the next leader of Venezuela, Mr. Trump suggested. And while the president’s aides say he was joking — and that he frequently teases Mr. Rubio about an overseas assignment — the fact is that Mr. Rubio does...

Credit / SOURCE: SpaceX SpaceX "Critical Path" Documentary 4K | 34:15Launch Heaven | 16,148 views | July 10, 2026

Dear Readers, I know many of you have been hoping for more time. So was I. Today I write with news none of us wanted to receive. Jon Rappoport passed away peacefully on the evening of Wednesday, July 8, 2026. One week ago I wrote to let you know that Jon could no longer continue his daily publishing schedule. Two days ago I shared how I intend to steward his work. I now fulfill the final responsibility Jon personally entrusted to me. Several weeks before his passing, Jon recorded the message you are about to hear and asked me to...

The savage killing of 78-year-old Reform UK spokeswoman Ann Widdecombe has unleashed a torrent of vile celebration from left-wing activists, revealing the depths of ideological hatred among the left in the UK. Widdecombe, the outspoken former Conservative MP and prisons minister, was found dead with serious injuries at her Dartmoor home, prompting an immediate murder investigation by Devon and Cornwall Police. Police keenly informed the public that a 26-year-old white British man has been arrested on suspicion of the crime. The incident is not being treated as terrorism, but the public reaction—particularly from leftist corners—has shocked many and exposed a...

The U.S. is demanding that Iran make a public statement saying the Strait of Hormuz is open and that ships crossing the vital corridor won’t be attacked anymore, senior U.S. officials said Friday, adding that internal Tehran power struggles have made it difficult to reach and keep a deal. The U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe to reporters the state of play with Iran, said the resumption of strikes this week came after what they described as a rogue faction of Iranian hard-liners trying to sabotage the ceasefire between Tehran and Washington. It comes as U.S....

Stonewall Pride Mass draws Catholics for message of faith, inclusion, hopeWorshippers pray at a Pride Mass organized by Out at St. Paul's, the LGBTQ+ ministry of St. Paul the Apostle in Manhattan, at the Stonewall National Monument in Christopher Park in New York, steps away from the Stonewall Inn, June 25, 2026.Surrounded by rainbow flags and packed shoulder to shoulder with more than 150 worshippers, Christopher Park in New York's Greenwich Village became an open-air sanctuary at the start of New York's Pride weekend. Catholics, allies and visitors gathered for the 2026 Annual Pride Mass on June 25 at the...

35 years after the fall of the USSR the first official Communist DSA member, who admired Stalin, will likely be headed to Congress for the next term, in defiance of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment and the Communist Control Act. But who is out there voting for Communists? Despite the countless millions dead at the hands of the Communist regimes, a significant portion of the electorate has a positive view of Communism as a political movement. A recent Cato poll shows that more members of Gen Z, those born between 1997 and 2012, have a positive view of Communism than those...

Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed got a grilling from a lefty anchor Wednesday about whether he lied by describing himself as a physician despite lacking a current medical license. El-Sayed’s LinkedIn page describes him as a physician, and he claimed to be “a physician and epidemiologist” during an April debate. “You got attacked by your rivals for calling yourself a physician, not just a doctor, even though you don’t have a valid state medical license in New York or Michigan, which apparently is what you need legally to call yourself a physician,” Zeteo founder Mehdi Hasan pressed El-Sayed, questioning...

🚨 BREAKING: DOJ has just announced a criminal indictment against 8 people for plotting a massive violent terror attack against the White House while President Trump was there. Up to LIFE IN PRISON. NO MERCY. Maximum punishment! "This alleged plot was DISRUPTED before it could be carried out." The plot was meant for the Freedom 250 UFC White House event — which went on AS PLANNED because the plot was foiled. "The first count is a conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists by way of money, firearms, ammunition, body armor, explosives, drones, medical and communications equipment, as well as...

President Trump just put Iran on a very short clock. By Saturday, the regime is expected to publicly acknowledge that the Strait of Hormuz is open and pledge that commercial ships will not be attacked. Washington is demanding more than another foggy diplomatic promise. Tehran must say the words in public, where the entire world can hold the regime to them. Axios reported that the demand was delivered both directly to Tehran and through regional mediators, according to three U.S. officials who briefed reporters Friday. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is expected to meet Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi in...

There’s a new agency in California that promises to “protect consumers, support honest businesses, and advance affordability for Californians.” If Vegas were to give odds, they would be heavily against any of those ever occurring. It’s called the California Business and Consumer Services Agency, and it’s a cabinet-level department headed by Rohit Chopra, who was sworn in on July 1. It already has a bureaucratic acronym: BCSA. Catchy, isn’t it? Chopra promises his office “will sharpen and accelerate work to promote economic growth and protect the public from abuses.” Let us translate that from California-government-speak. What it really means...

As RedState’s Ward Clark reported Friday, Donald Trump has instructed the U.S. military to basically wipe out the Islamic Republic of Iran should they succeed in assassinating him. His statements come on the heels of a Thursday Wall Street Journal report alleging that Israel had informed the U.S. that Iran was mulling a new plot to kill him in retaliation for his 2020 decision to remove bloodthirsty IRGC Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani from the earth. Well, that and Operation Epic Fury, which sent former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to the freezer. On Friday night, the president got even...

Project Jade, Wyoming’s largest data center, is now Project Tembo, and the company behind the 2.7-gigawatt facility is a mystery no longer. The data center will be owned and operated by none other than Google, giving Cheyenne yet another of the world’s largest tech companies in what is fast becoming an emerging tech frontier. Cheyenne has hosted Microsoft data centers for the past decade or so and that company has announced plans for a major expansion on a 3,500-acre tract of land whose annexation is pending before the Cheyenne City Council. Meta announced last year it was joining the Wyoming...

During the heated exchange, Behar insisted she was simply focused on “winning” in what she called an “emergency” situation under President Donald Trump. There is something hilarious about women who spent years demonizing white men suddenly treating them as saviors and their only path to victory. Behar began by floating a list of white male candidates she believes could actually win, naming Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. She framed the suggestion as cold political reality, telling her co-hosts they needed to face facts after watching the country...

Image courtesy of Texas A&M AgriLife While the outbreak of New World screwworm continues in South Texas, an infestation of pasture mealybugs is beginning to threaten Texas’s agricultural industry. Pasture mealybugs primarily feed on important agricultural resources, such as hayfields and forage resources. Immature pasture mealybugs feed on plant sap and can inject toxins that poison plants, causing them to thin or die outright. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension offices across the state have been monitoring the pest. So far, pasture mealybugs have been detected in 70 counties. “It seems like we add new counties every week, sometimes every day,” said...

A banner reading “Destroy Israel” was unfurled during the opening ceremony of Spain’s annual St. Fermin Festival in Pamplona, drawing condemnation from Jewish organizations. Video circulating on social media showed the banner stretched above the crowd before the traditional chupinazo rocket launch yesterday that marks the start of the weeklong St. Fermin Festival, known for its encierro (running of the bulls through the town square to the bullring). The banner featured the words “Destroy Israel” alongside an image of an Israeli flag crossed out. The initials “EHKS” appeared at the bottom of the banner, referring to a far-left socialist organization...

The Number You Need To Understand First Before we start, one number puts everything in context. Fort Knox contains 147,341,858 fine troy ounces of gold. At current market prices near $4,000 per ounce, these reserves represent around $600 billion. But at the legal book value of $42.22 per ounce, fixed since 1973, the assets are officially valued at only $6.22 billion on the Treasury’s books. America owns $667 billion worth of gold. But it is recorded on the books at $6 billion. That $660 billion gap is the thread that connects everything that follows. January 2025: The Audit That Was...